Music Spider Web #1

So I had this fun idea today to link together a bunch of songs and artists by using a single theme. I want to post one of these on a semi-irregular, don’t expect one every week kind of basis, and the theme will be randomized to keep it interesting. Today’s theme comes from dropping a dictionary on the floor and looking at the images that illustrate certain definitions. Today’s theme is: Butterfly.

Here we go… “Butterfly” by Crazy Town is a rap-rock song from back in 2001. It samples the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ instrumental song “Pretty Little Ditty.” (One of the lyrics in “Butterfly” is “pretty little thing,” a reference the Chili Pepper’s song) The lyrics in Crazy town’s song are by Shifty Shellshock. Shifty sings a verse in DJ Paul Oakenfold’s “Starry Eyed Surprise” in which he references “Butterfly” with the lyrics, “Freaky, deaky, star speckles and pink butterflies.” “Butterfly” was covered by Tupac Shakur, you can listen to his version here. The comedic musician Richard Cheese also does a version of “Butterfly.” Richard Cheese’s band is called Lounge Against the Machine, which is a reference the band Rage Against the Machine. Rage Against the Machine has a similar musical style to an Australian band, The Butterfly Effect. If you don’t mind losing a little sanity, you can listen to “The Butterfly Song” which is featured in Dance Dance Revolution. Shifty Shellshock, Paul Oakenfold, Tupac, Richard Cheese, and Rage against the Machine all played DDR together. Every other weekend. (I’m not sure if that’s true.) (In fact, it probably isn’t.)

Well that was fun =) and it took a while to put together too… a nice challenge i suppose. I’ll get to work on another one, hopefully even bigger and more involved =)

OneRepublic

It’s my 21st birthday today =) So to celebrate, let’s do some math… joyous, I know:

(As of 2009) Earth’s population is 6,775,235,700

6,775,235,700 / 365 days in a year = 18,562,290

Yep, over eighteen and a half million people share your birthday with you. Aren’t you special =) Unless of course you were born on leap day:

365 days in a year x 4 years + 1 day (leap day) = 1,461 days

(1 day out of 1,461) x 6,775,235,700 = 4,637,396 people born on leap day

More than you’d think, but still goes to show you how unique your birthday really is. (or just how many people are actually on this planet…)

Enough of this nonsense, on with the music! With more….math…. yeah. So OneRepublic has a song called “Apologize,” and yes, it’s a deep song that moves even the hardest of souls, but that’s not the most impressive part. Shortly after the song was released, it got 10,331 radio plays in one week. No? Oh come on, that’s a lot. Ok, look at this then:

7 days per week x 24 hours per day = 168 hours per week

168 hours x 60 minutes per hour = 10,080 minutes per week

10,080 minutes per week / 10,331 plays = 0.975 plays per minute

Yeah, more than one play every minute for an entire week. That’s insane.

Anyway, OneRepublic is from Colorado Springs, Colorado. For those who don’t know, that’s not exactly a huge city. Just goes to show you, talent isn’t just a large-town California thing. =) In 1996, during their senior year in high school, Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins formed a group with a couple friends that they named This Beautiful Mess. It was short lived however, because they both went to college… different colleges.

But they met back up in 2003 in Los Angeles (large-town…. Califor- dang it!) Together with Eddie Fisher, Brent Kutzle (who plays my instrument, the cello) and Drew Brown, they formed a band called Republic. Columbia Records liked their stuff so they picked them up, conditional to that fact that they rename the band. Some marketing genius thought the name Republic would be so offensive to other bands the it would cause a global meltdown of all sanity and propel the moon into the Red Sea. Or something… whatever, it doesn’t have to make sense to anybody but the marketing guy. And it’s neither here nor there anyway because the band gladly agreed to soothe his ego and took up the moniker OneRepublic.

The band spent the next two and a half years recording their first full length album. Two months before it’s release however, Columbia Records dropped them. Nice right? The marketing guy strikes again! Columbia’s loss though, because Timbaland’s Mosley Music Group realized the true value of the group and signed them pretty much immediately. Which says something, because they usually only sign hip hop artists. The album Dreaming Out Loud was released, and it received spectacular reception.

Their second album, Waking Up, was released in November 2009. It peaked at #18 on Billboard’s Hot 100. This album also saw the return of the band to Colorado. (Take that Cali-jerks) And rumors of a third album were confirmed earlier this year via the band’s YouTube channel. No official name has been decided upon yet, but I’m keeping my ear to the ground. =)

Songs of theirs’ that I especially like:

• Apologize
• Secrets
• Good Life
• All the Right Moves
• Stop and Stare

_Saxton

The Fray

And here (as promised by my Flobots post) is an entry about The Fray. They, like the ‘bots are from Denver, Colorado. And also found their break through the local radio station, KTCL (Channel 93.3) Oh, and also have good music =)

Anyway, the members of The Fray are very religious, considering most of the group met while attending Faith Christian Academy. Despite this, their music is rarely classified as Christian Rock. Isaac Slade (piano) and Joe King (guitar) kept in touch after graduation and played music with each other as a hobby. They later invited Isaac’s younger brother Caleb (bass) and Zach Johnson (drums) to play. The group fell apart however, both because of Zach leaving to attend a New York art school, and Isaac and Caleb’s relationship. A relationship that sparked the inspiration for the song “Over My Head (Cable Car.)”

The departure of Caleb and Zach led to the addition of two of Isaac Slade’s former worship band members, Ben Wysocki (drums) and David Welsh (lead guitar.) This has been the current line-up since 2003. But wait you say… that means that the band doesn’t have a bassist! Indeed they do not. (Not officially anyway.) The Fray employs touring bass players on a part-time basis; Jeremy McCoy has filled the role since 2009. Jeremy has also played for the band OneRepublic. (I see a future post about them too.)

Getting famous should have been easy for these guys. I mean, really… their music is fairly good. Even so, Denver radio station KTCL rejected a full EIGHT of their songs before they submitted “Cable Car” in frustration. It’s good that they did though, because the station manager really liked it. It played on the station’s “Locals Only” show until it got too many requests to not have it in full rotation.

Epic Records picked them up soon after this and produced two albums for the band, How to Save a Life (2005) and The Fray (2009.) The rest, as they say, is history. =)

Don’t miss the songs:

• Over My Head (Cable Car)
• How to Save a Life
• You Found Me
• Never Say Never

_Saxton

U2 360° Tour

U2’s 360° tour is in Denver today. The Dublin band is playing at Invesco Field at Mile High (the Bronco’s stadium.) The picture here is of the set, affectionately nicknamed “The Claw.” The show is a world-wide event that either has, or will, visit most of Earth’s major cities. The phenomenon started in mid 2009 in Barcelona, Spain, and will end mid 2011 in Moncton, New Brunswick (Canada.)

Unfortunately, this show has been sold out for months. I didn’t even hear about it until it had been sold out for two weeks. =( But, I will be watching the concert footage that the band is generous enough to make available for free. =) I recommend you do the same.

_Saxton

Flobots

“I can ride my bike with no handlebars… No handlebars… No handlebars!”

Talk about a really catchy song! The video is a little graphic towards the end, but it has a very strong message that is sure to make you think. But before I start to digress, I’ll remind myself that this post isn’t about this song alone. The band itself is just too damn interesting.

The Flobots are from Denver, Colorado. Score one for the home team =) Formed by frontman Jamie “Jonny 5” Laurie, the other members are Stephen “Brer Rabbit” Brackett, Andy “Rok” Guerrero, Jesse Walker, Kenny Oritz, and Mackenzie Gault. They are lead vocals, lead vocals, guitar/vocals, bass guitar, drums, and viola/vocals respectively. Yes, the viola, an instrument that confuses me greatly (have you read my About Me page? It’s long, I know) But she plays it well. And I should know, I’ve seen these guys live. =)

In August of 2007, The Flobots opened for another Colorado band The Fray (more on them later) at Red Rocks Ampitheater, an all outdoors and near acoustically perfect venue up in the mountains. My little brother got four tickets somehow, and being the really cool guy that he is, he took me with him. I was astounded by their music. They were as good as the band they were opening for. But again, I’ve found myself on an train of thought with steadily eroding tracks, so let’s re-focus:

The holiday season of every year spurs a contest called “Hometown for the Holidays” on my favorite radio station, KTCL (Channel 93.3) here in Denver. (Note that they aren’t paying me to say that either.) Listeners get to vote for their favorite songs from 40 or so Colorado bands. Flobots won in both sides of the contest in 2007. (Radio and Live performance) The song was “Handlebars.”

“I can ride my bike with no handlebars… No handlebars… No handlebars!” Can you? =)

_Saxton

Foster the People

I’ve been silently watching these guys for a while now. Their song “Pumped Up Kicks” has been climbing the chart steadily for the past few weeks. I had honestly never heard of them before, but there they were, rising from 10th, to 8th, and then to 7th and now spot 6. I’ve been meaning to get around to giving them a listen but up until now I’ve just been putting it off. I’d get to it eventually right? Yeah… well long story short, I ended up hearing the song on the radio. The universe forced me to sit through it because it was tired of my shenanigans. Apparently I’d been missing out too, because the song is pretty cool. It has a light bouncy beat to it; a nice even rhythm that had me tapping my toes. I don’t usually tap my toes (or use a semi-colon, but this song does things to you.)

The band is from Los Angeles, California. It was formed in 2009 by Mark Foster (keyboards, guitars, and vocals,) Mark Pontius (drums,) and Cubbie Fink (bass and backing vocals.) They have been featured at The Hype Machine, a cool MP3 blog aggregator, and have an album coming out on May 23. The album is called Torches. The album will feature a few cool songs, such as:

• Pumped Up Kicks
• Houdini
• Helena Beat

Listen to the songs at their Vimeo page, and go get the album when it comes out on the 23rd if you feel so inclined.

That’s about all I can find out about them too. I wish I could tell you more, but information about these guys is rather elusive.

_Saxton

Middle Class Rut’s “New Low”

Middle Class Rut is a duo consisting of guitarist Zack Lopez and drummer Sean Stockham. Both of the guys sing also. From Sacramento California, the band was formed in 2006 after the dissolution of the group Leisure, a band the two were in when they were teenagers.

The video for this song shows Zack and Sean involved in various forms of execution. Digging their own graves, wearing nooses, and the like. It’s a strong visual that is sure to keep you morbidly interested if the song itself doesn’t do that already. (Spoiler, it does.) If you’ve managed to read through my long winded “About Me” page you’ll know that I’m more about the music itself than the lyrics, but the words are important too, so let’s explore the meaning:

I have no space, no room to move around
And this box is getting smaller
I’m trying to get out

He feels confined. Fairly straight forward, but (as it’s later on revealed) it’s the confinement of depression that he’s grappling with.

How did I get so far from where I was?
When did I decide to lose my way?
Who have I become?

He’s strayed from where he used to be, probably a happier place. His life has taken him somewhere he hasn’t intended and he doesn’t really know how to deal with that. He’s still trying to decide whether or not to accept it, or change it back.

I’ve got a new low
All 52 cards in a row
I see now that I won’t let go
No I won’t let go

A new low; a personal best for his life sucking. All 52 cards in a row is a metaphor for every card that it’s possible to get (everything in his life) has come to him at a time that is inconvenient for him. Nothing he is dealt makes a good hand (a good situation.) But he won’t let go. Some part of him wants to fix it.

Well who am I?
A cold shoulder left to cry
You feel bad? Well so do I
Yeah so do I

It seems to me that the two idiomatic expressions “To give someone a cold shoulder” and “to cry on one’s shoulder” are blended here. Who is he? a cold shoulder, because he’s ignoring others, and he’s sad about that. But who has the only shoulder he can cry about it on? Yeah, himself. And he feels bad about that. Do you?

I’ve been right, I’ve been left
I’ve been wrong, I’ve been left behind
I’ve been up but mostly down
(x2)

He’s been right, left, well everywhere really. Looking for companionship probably. He’s been wrong and abandoned for it. And sure he’s been up, but mostly down, as in sad of course. The whole stanza is repeated several times throughout the song, because it’s probably a significant part of the message. He is depressed. Fairly to the point I suppose.

I can not help feeling like I have so much at stake
So I lock myself inside my head
And I just run in place

If he fails now, or gives in to his depression, he’s afraid of what will happen. In order to try to cope with that he chooses to ignore it and “run in place.”

So many directions I don’t know which way to go
I’m so busy doing nothing
I got nothing to show

He realizes he has options here, but he hasn’t acted on any of them. He has nothing to show for his situation because he hasn’t done anything about it. This is the worst part about the viscious cycle of depression. You don’t feel like doing anything about it because you don’t think it will work anyway. But then nothing changes and you feel even more hopeless because nothing is changing. Ad infinitum. No bueno.

I’ve got a new low
All 52 cards in a row
I see now that I won’t let go
No I won’t let go

We’ve been over this one.

Well who am I?
A cold shoulder used to cry
You feel bad? Well so do I
Yeah so do I

This one too, though the word ‘left’ is now ‘used’

I’ve been right, I’ve been left
I’ve been wrong, I’ve been left behind
I’ve been up but mostly down
(x2)

And this one.

[Really cool guitar solo]

I make mistakes just like everybody else
But instead I’m letting go of it
I can’t forgive myself

He won’t let himself forget that his mistakes have got him to this point. But by not doing so, he holds himself accountable for something he isn’t willing to fix. Viscious cycle indeed.

Well I did my time in a windowless box, like it or not
All I got now is today, tomorrow ain’t here
And yesterday has gone dead on me anyway

Whether he wanted to or not, he did his time alone. He’s used to having only himself for company. And he doesn’t think he has much of a future, and his past certainly isn’t anything to brag about so he feels that he only has today. Right now. He lives in the moment, or as much as he feels up to doing so.

I’ve been right, I’ve been left
I’ve been wrong, I’ve been left behind
I’ve been up but mostly down
(x4)

Once again, repeated 4 times though. Driving home the point even more thoroughly.

(Spoken) “After your dreams have all died,
And morning isn’t morning,
What are you?”

Well that’s cryptic. My answer to his question is that you need to find a new dream. =) Stay hopeful, don’t give up.

The best part of song lyrics is that they are indeed a form of poetry, meaning you get to take whatever meaning from them you want to. These are my opinions, what are yours?

_Saxton

Phoenix

Phoenix is a French band from Versailles. Three of the four members, Thomas Mars, Deck d’Arcy, and Chris Mazzalai often played together recreationally in Mars’ garage in the Parisian suburbs. Mazzalai’s older brother Laurent Brancowitz joined them in 1995 when his band, Darlin’, broke up. (Interesting side note here, Laurent’s fellow band mates in Darlin’ were Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, who together became Daft Punk. The two groups still maintain a very close friendship.)

Phoenix won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album in January 2010 for their album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. And rightfully so in my opinion, because this album is full of life. Each song sounds different than the last, but they all have the same distinct sound to them that make them so obviously Phoenix. =)

My only issue with this band is their lyrics. Sometimes they are very hard to understand as you listen to them. I find myself having to look up their lyrics online and think about what they could mean. Which is cool in its own right I suppose, music that makes you think is always appreciated. One of their lyrics in “1901,” “Watch them build a material tower, Think it’s not gonna stay anyway, Think it’s over rated,” is interesting because it reveal the French sentiment that the Eiffel Tower is an eyesore. Not many people realize that the French don’t really like the tower, even though it has become an icon of their country. And now you know.

3OH!3

Not technically Alternative Rock, these guys fit more into a Hip-Hop, Electric based genre. Be that as it may, Colorado band 3OH!3 is still pretty cool. The guys are from the (People’s Republic of) Boulder. Yes, that is the official name of the city. The band is named after the area code of much of the state, including Boulder, 303. Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte met in their physics class at the University of Colorado. Both highly educated men with a shared affinity for hip-hop, it wasn’t long before they started mixing beats in their basements. Their songs started off short and lyrically uninspiring, however these days the lyrics are much more well written and have a certain arrogance to them that eggs on the rebellious side of you.

Many of their music videos show flocks of women being uncontrollably attracted to Sean and Nathaniel, something I don’t think ever happened to them in college. Nat graduated summa cum laude and was accepted to medical school, and Sean has degrees in both English and math. Impressive, but hardly chick-magnet material. In my opinion, their videos are a way they can show themselves living a life style that they dream about but have yet to achieve. With their rapidly increasing fan base, that life style may be a little closer than they think. So to them, I say this: “Keep it up guys, you’ll be there before you know it!” =)

_Saxton

AWOLNATION’s “Sail”

AWOLNATION has caught my attention. No, I’m not yelling, this group’s name is in fact in all capital letters. Actually it’s not a group but rather the solo project of Aaron Bruno, of Under the Influence of Giants fame. Yes, UTIOG who used to be called Home Town Hero. Now that that’s all out of the way, let’s talk about the music. =)

The official video to the song “Sail” is interesting. I’m not going to lie, it freaks me out a little. Something about alien abductions don’t sit right with me. But the song is very good. The message in this song is fairly short, but I think it’s rather deep.

“This is how I show my love
Made it in my mind because
Blame it on my ADD baby”

I think Aaron is trying to communicate his struggle with ADD. He shows his love in ways that might not always make sense to others. Like let’s say for example it’s his wife’s week to do the dishes, but she is stressed out and has to work late. He says he will do the dishes because he loves her and wants her to feel better. Through an inability to focus however, he instead ends up making a little card for her telling her all about how she shouldn’t stress so much because they always have each other. All he thinks about while making it is how much he loves her, but when she gets home, she sees that the dishes aren’t done. It makes her think that he doesn’t care about her because he said he would do them for her. This couldn’t be farther from the truth, as he is showing his love, just not in a way that would make sense to most other people. He blames it on his ADD (baby.) And he is right in doing so.

“This is how an angel cries
Blame it on my own sick pride
Blame it on my ADD baby”

The people in his life that he loves, his angels, get hurt because of him. Like, say, his wife. (I don’t know if Aaron is married, these are just examples) She is crying now because he didn’t do the dishes. In his “sick pride” he either refuses to get help with his disorder because he wants to try to fix it himself, or he doesn’t think it’s that big of a problem.

“Maybe I should cry for help
Maybe I should kill myself
Blame it on my ADD baby”

Pretty straight forward here. He is considering getting help, or removing himself from the situation permanently in order to “fix” it. (The probem with this solution is that it doesn’t make everyone else feel better, it causes insurmountable grief for the people you leave behind)

“Maybe I’m a different breed
Maybe I’m not listening
Blame it on my ADD baby”

In this part he is expressing his frustration with himself more directly. He feels that human beings simply don’t act the way he does, so maybe he isn’t one of them. Or maybe he really is just not listening. The line “blame it on my ADD baby” in this part is more of a pleading last ditch effort. As in, “please, oh please let it be that, please tell me I’m a human being capable of listening to you.”

“SAIL!”

The repeated “SAIL!” is (I believe) a combination of things. He wants to sail away from his problems, to be free from the torture of his ADD. He also wants to sail in to the sunset with a loved one who he can have a normal relationship with. Or maybe he wants to sail away from her to let her be happy. Any way you look at it, he wants something to change.

Am I right? Am I way off base? What do you think? Listen to the song, and form your own opinions.

_Saxton