Do-do-do Do-Di-do It’s time for … The Album of the Week!
Hello by Karmin 
Karmin is: Amy Heidemann (Lead Vocals) and Nick Noonan (Keyboard, vocals)
I just bought the album which was released yesterday 5/8/12
Amy is amazing, she is the clearest rapper I have ever heard. I found this group on You Tube after they covered Look at Me Now by– Chris Brown feat Busta Rhymes. Amy was able to belt out this song with amazing pacing and clarity! Busta Rhymes would be proud!
I really enjoy this duo because they have such a different style. I am one of those people complaining about the lack of originality in popular music today, so a group like this is a fast favorite. My iPod has been playing singer/songwriter stuff for about a year now and I think that this group might help push me out from under my musical rock. If I had to compare this group to any other artist I would say that Amy does sound like a cheery version of Fergie when she raps. A bit nasally and she has a cute girl attitude when she spits her dope rhymes…yo.
Most of us have heard Brokenhearted on the radio in the past few weeks, there is one other song that I think will be released as their second single Hello which is also the title of the album. These two tracks stick out above the rest, but if you enjoy this upbeat-synth-pop-rap style you will enjoy this album. It is on sale at iTunes for $6.99.
His name is MCA I said howdy he said Hi
MCA co-founder of the hip-hop trio The Beastie Boys has passed away at the age of 47.
MCA was a lyricist, bassist and video director for the group. Personally, I think 47 is way too young for someone so talented.
Beastie boys had punk origins, but ended up helping to pave the way for hip hop in mainstream media. We all grew up with License to Ill in some way shape or form. We listened to The New Style and were introduced to Brass Monkey, Paul Revere, Girls etc… License to Ill is still one of my favorite hip hop albums because you can listen to it all the way through. It is one of those that pumps you up and keeps you there. You can dance to it and someone is always laughing when you recite the lyrics as emphatically as possible. The kids in the band picked up brass instruments because of it and all the suburban rappers felt like they were included in a pop culture phenomenon.
I feel like we are losing all the good ones. MCA was an amazing lyricist and enunciated well enough that we all understood and appreciated his wit and puns. It is always sad when we lose a celebrity because we allow them to represent a time in our lives and some even look to them as heroes. So many bands and artists look to the Beastie Boys as an influence and MCA’s loss will be felt all over.
So I invite you to help me celebrate his life by enjoying his music and watching his amazing music videos.
Comic Books + Music + Movies = Soundtrack.
The track list for the Avengers Soundtrack was released last month and they are taking my excitement level up a notch. The bands involved definitely confirm that this will be one of the most action-packed movies in this genre.
Here is the track list:
1. “Live to Rise” – Soundgarden
2. “I’m Alive”- Shinedown
3. “Dirt and Roses”- Rise Against
4. “Even if I Could”- Papa Roach
5. “Unbroken”- Black Veil Brides
6. “Breath”- Scott Weiland
7. “Comeback”- Redlight King
8. “Into the Blue”- Bush
9. “New Way to Bleed”- Evanescence
10. “Count Me Out”- PUSHERJONES
11. “Shoot to Thrill”- Theory of a Deadman
12. “Wherever I Go”- Buckcherry
13. “From Out of Nowhere”- Five Finger Death Punch
14. “Shake the Ground”- Cherri Bomb
15. “Pistols at Dawn”- Kasabian
Avengers is a long awaited movie. There have been excited whispers for years now and the story appeals to multiple generations. I’ll have one of the comic book experts actually go into detail, but I think the comics have been around since the sixties which creates quite a large fan base. However this soundtrack mainly caters to the fans from 1990 – present. The bands range from Alternative rock legends Soundgarden to new comers Black Veil Brides.
I have previewed a lot of these tracks and man my neck is sore. Heavy power chords definitely dominate.
Previous Superhero movies have made us all expect heavy metal and rock tracks to be the majority, but usually a few alternative songs get thrown in for those nice visceral moments. This soundtrack has opted for soundtrack favorites Evanescence. Cherri Bomb an all teen girl rock band has an awesome track, presumably for those Black Widow fans out there. This band is one of those you might wanna watch for. They have opened for Foo Fighters and Smashing Pumpkins and most of the members are only fifteen years old! Damn, doesn’t that make you feel a little unaccomplished right about now?
Moving on….
As If you needed more reason to be keyed up for this album, Soundgarden is back with its first original song in fifteen years! So exciting for Chris Cornell fans. It will be featured as the credits roll so if you are watching Avengers with die-hard fans you will have the chance to listen to it in its entirety while waiting with bated breath to find out if there is a secret sneak peek clip after the credits.
Enjoy! The soundtrack hits stores May 1st along with the score.
I’m leaving you with a track from the album:
Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
My name is actually Natalia, I will be covering the books and music portion of this blog (in part at least). The Princess Bride by William Goldman is one of the many books in my library as you can see from the post title.
The three of us: Ricky, Danny, and yours truly have many mutual interests. We have even read a few of the same books, like our 6 month tear through A song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. We had started watching the series together and the second a certain beheading happened the books came out. After that Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and other pop-culture oriented reads became our focus.
There is a book I read a few years ago called Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield. This book has a line that I felt summed me up perfectly. Rob’s wife was talking to some new friends about her husband and one of the friends asked, “Does he wear glasses?” She didn’t miss a beat before answering, “No, he wears a walkman.” I immediately identified with that line because I have always had some sort of portable music device. I remember being in grade school and using my recess hiding in the corner of the playground with my walkman to listen to mix tapes my mother would make me. Even now I have an iPod on me at all times and it is filled with almost every genre of music ever conceived. I live through my ears and have even resorted to reading through my ears. I am obsessed with Audible.com and burn through at least 50 books a year.
Despite my annual reading list I never considered myself a nerd. Actually until I met my boyfriend I thought nerds were guys who wore pants that were hemmed way too high and rocked pocket protectors. My boyfriend is a comic book / video game nerd ( this is a self awarded title by the way) he redefined the word Nerd for me and I assumed you had to be a part of that small cult-ish world in order to be considered a nerd. I believed this for years and then I read the Nerdist Way. According to Chris Hardwick a nerd is someone who is compulsively obsessive and it was after I heard that, that I realized oh shit… I’m a nerd.
Now the introductions are complete and I will leave you with my album of the week.
A Wasteland Companion – M. Ward
M. Ward is best known as half of the Indie-Pop duo She and Him. A Wasteland Companion is an album that you can listen to in the background and when you catch the lyrics you are pleasantly surprised that they are so entertaining and catchy even though they are so simple.
Call Yourself A Nerd 