Radio

Last week in class Mr. A asked us if we listened to the radio anymore. Most of the class answered that they only listen to it on the way to school. This past week I found myself listening to  it a lot more than I had previously thought. I realized that when I get bored of what I'm listening to on Spotify or Pandora, I'll go to whatever radio station I like on my computer and I just listen to it there. I heard a couple of songs that I really enjoy and I now have them on my Spotify playlist. I'm going to try to listen to actual radio more because it was pretty productive in my search for new music.

Zepp 4

In class we listened to "Zepp 4" by Led Zeppelin. I personally liked this album, I thought there were some pretty sweet guitar solos. I didn't like "The Battle of Evermore" I didn't like the way it sounded and I didn't like the lyrics at all. I personally haven't liked many of their lyrics in any of their songs. I really liked "Rock & Roll" I liked the sound a lot. It felt like "Stairway to Heaven" was much longer than it really is. I know it's a great song, but it's very boring, and I felt like they were trying to put people to sleep before the started to play the stringed instrument. The only part of the song that I enjoyed was the end, the end was sick. Overall I liked "Zepp 4".

RIP: A Remix Manifesto

This week in class, we watched a documentary called "RIP: A Remix Manifesto" This film was about the laws of copyright, and how people of America and all over the world misuse and abuse the law. The film started off by talking about a music domain, named Napster, that allowed anyone to get any song. Once the government found out about this, they shut it down. Next the documentary talked about an artist named "Girl Talk". He is an artist who takes bits and pieces from many different songs, slows them or speeds them up, adds a beat, and by trial and error creates music this way. The thing with this is that he takes bits and pieces from copyrighted songs, which therefore makes his music illegal. Although he has a nationwide fan base, his music is illegal. One way he can make it legal is by paying his dues, which would amount to close to, or more than $400,000 per song. There really is no solution to the problem, as long as artists like "Girl Talk" aren't making albums. The copyright agencies' policies are out of date, and if they want to prevent people from downloading music or making songs that should cost $400,000, they need to update their policies.

Neil Young and Simon &Garfunkel

This week we listened to Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" and Simon and Garunkel. I personally did not like Neil Young. I didn't like it because I do not like Neil Young's voice. Some things I did enjoy were the lyrics, I thought there was good harmonizing, and I also thought they had one or two good songs. My favorite song on the album was "Tell Me Why". I thought the album that we listened to by Simon and Garfunkel was alright. Some things I enjoyed about the album was the diversity in the sound of the music, I thought they had pretty good vocals, and I enjoyed a few of their songs. My favorite song on the album was "The Fighter". I had heard this song by Mumford and Sons, and I enjoyed hearing it slower. Here is a comparison of the two songs:

New Music

Over the break I started to listen to country a lot more. One day over the break I switched the radio station to country and I really enjoyed it. Ever since, I've been listening to artists such as: Black Shelton,  Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, Zac Brown Band, Luke Bryan, and a few others. I think I enjoy country now more than I used to because I have a different appreciation for what they do and how difficult it can be to do that. My favorite album that I've listened to so far is "Night Train" by Jason Aldean. Here are some songs I enjoy:

 

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by Luke Bryant

Something Like That by Tim McGraw

Black Sabbath and Zeppelin 3

In the past class we listend to part of Black Sabbath's first album "Black Sabbath" and to part of Led Zeppelin's album "Zeppelin 3". I personally didn't like the Black Sabbath album. I didn't like it because they didnt have great lyrics and I feel like Ozzie didn't have that great of a voice to be singing for as long as he was. I did like "Paranoid" but I had previously listened to it. In "Zeppelin 3" there was a strong influence on acoustic guitars and other instruments of that nature. It sounded odd to me, because it had the same attitude and the singer had the same sound, but it was on acoustic instruments. The songs were decent, but it just didn't sound right to me.