I Want You To Hit Me As Hard As You Can

Ok , I have had this song stuck in my head for a good week now. So much so that I sat down and learned it myself and have played nothing else on my guitar since! Chad Lehr was the vocalist of the group My Hidden Track (mentioned in the Thanksgiving Blog) before they broke up. Following the break up of MHT, Chad set out on forming a group called This Is Me which featurted members from many previous groups around the Indianapolis area. A "dream team" made up with some of Indianapolis' favorite musicians, if you will. This video is an acoustic performance of the first song that Chad wrote for the group early in the developing stages. It is right...

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I Have Sailed 1,000 Ships To You...

but my messages don't seem to make it through... Why hello there! Again, I would like to take a second and apologize for my absence on here. After completing finals, I went on vacation with my family out of the country and didn't have cell service or internet for the week, and then came back right in time for a busy holiday weekend! I hope that you enjoyed your Christmas! We had a rough and tough start to the holiday here at the Malloy house, but...

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You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch

Keeping up the Christmas spirit, today I present to you the awesome little acoustic cover of You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch by VersaEmerge. I really like how they kept a touch of blues style to it and Blake (the guitarist) has one of my favorite voices for a male singer as well. So here you go! Enjoy! -And...

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There Is Nothing Like Home

This past weekend I finally had the first chance in a long while to just go home and enjoy it. I didn't have much work to do, or anything lingering and nagging in the back of my mind. It was great! While driving back I was listening to my Christmas music playlist (doesn't really feel right when it has been raining for a few days straight). The Advent Song by the duet Sarah Story came up and it got me thinking. The song opens up with the verse, "Nothing...

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Got My Heart In Your Hands, Like A Time Bomb Ticking

First off I would like to apologize and say sorry for the lack of posting recently and that will probably haunt me this coming week as well. As a college student approaching finals week, life has become hectic and I have let that affect how much I post on here. So, sorry for that, but it is going to get better soon! I do want to keep sharing music with you though so here is the new All Time Low video that they posted this afternoon! I posted about the band a couple weeks ago and acknowledge that they aren't the cleanest of bands but this song is awesome in my opinions and is the best off of their new record (which isn't saying much, but that's...

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Deck The Halls Yo!

FINALLY! Thanksgiving was this past weekend (I hope you had a great one by the way!). That means one thing that can be described by five words....IT IS FRICKIN' CHRISTMAS TIME! In honor of this, I would like to share with you the awesomeness of the christmas video that the band Tenth Avenue North put out earlier this month. It was all done in one take which is pretty sweet! Plus they were creative and kept it simple to keep it low budget. So enjoy the humorous video and the awesome Christmas music! And, make sure you are getting yourself stoked; because, there is more Christmas music to come here on Off the Record! It's going to be saaaaaaweet! Love...

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Thanksgiving - Music Style: Part 2

In this post I am going to focus on the top 5 mainstream bands that I am thankful for! 5. Underoath Underoath is arguably one of the most popular hardcore bands out there. They have been around since 1997 and have gone through multiple member changes leaving the group with none of the original members. I do still enjoy their newest albums, but my favorites are They're Only Chasing Safety and Define the Great Line. When I was first introduced to...

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Thanksgiving - Music Style: Part 1

Today, as we all celebrate a day of Thanksgiving by hanging out with family, eating a lot of food, and remembering what we are thankful for I just wanted to take the chance to share with you some of the bands that I am extremely thankful for! In doing this I wanted to make sure that I expressed my thanks for the mainstream bands that have impacted my life, but also my friends who are in bands from the midwest area! That being said, I decided to split...

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Hands Down This Is The Best Day I Can Ever Remember

We're going to take it old school tonight and look at the song Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional! Dashboard has been making a music for a long while and is led by the singer/song writer Chris Carrabba (picture to the left). Carrabba was also formerly the vocalist for the group Further Seems Forever before pursuing the Dashboard project. Dashboard has put out a total of six studio albums. The single Hands Down was released as part of the third...

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This Is Indiana, Yea We Do It Big

In honor of one of my favorite college basketball teams, the Indiana Hoosiers, going 4-0 with a win last night over Savannah State I have decided to share with you all the awesomeness of the "This Is Indiana" music video. This Is Indiana is a video put together by Brice Fox and Daniel Weber, two IU students who graduated last year. They put together the song and video and it exploded over the IU campus in Bloomington, Indiana. Eventually Fox and Weber even got their faces put on the side of a bus on campus. My favorite thing about the video is the fact that they threw in clips of classic games and moments. It's pretty sick! I included the original...

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I Just Want You To Know That You Deserve The Best

Hello! This is the last installment of this week's series on The Sing Off. Tonight's post is from this season, and it is Delilah performing Lil Wayne's song How To Love. I'll admit that every now and then I get into a Lil Wayne mood, but it doesn't happen often. I will reassure however that this performance resembles him in no way and it is just phenomenal. This performance has been one of my favorites to see and listen to on Spotify over and over again. Delilah is a group of all girls. Some of them are from groups that performed in previous seasons and didn't make it. I think it is safe to say that they have been my favorite group on the show...

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A Girl Like You Is A Dream Come True

My second pick for the Sing Off series this week is actually from last night's episode of the show! It is of the group Vocal Point. VP is a group of guys from BYU, a university in Utah and is one of the largest religious universities in the nation. The group has performed pretty well up to this point, but this performance was one of, if not THE best that they have pulled off. They did a cover of Bobby Brown's song Every Little Step. This performance made it on my list because of the different parts and roles they each have and how they fit together so well. It is exactly what a cappella should be in my opinion. Plus the percussionist's solo...

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She's A Looker, Don't Stand A Chance

Here's the deal. I am currently addicted to the show The Sing Off. For those of you who have never seen it or even heard of it, it is pretty much the a cappella American Idol. It is a competition of many groups of musicians that use only their voices, percussion and all. It is pretty sick! I know a lot of people may not like it, but if you aren't totally disgusted by it then keep giving it a chance. It may grow on you.  Well, now that that is said. I have decided to do a three part series on my favorite performances from The Sing Off. Today's pick comes from the first episode of last season (Season 2). It is the group Pitch Slapped's performance...

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Tell Me Something Sweet To Get Me By...

To conclude this week's set of YouTube covers I picked one of my favorite songs. I know that I talked about this song earlier on, but I love it so much that I decided to share it again for those new to reading the blog! The song is If It Means A Lot To You, by the band A Day To Remember. This song really strikes home to me because I have a lot of friends that are in the music industry and I personally hope to work in it one day as well. The lyrics to the song were written by ADTR's front man Jeremy McKinnon and the track also features Sierra Kusterbeck from VersaEmerge. McKinnon's words express the hardships of being on the road touring all of...

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We're Gonna Dance Forever

Hellllllo!  Ok, so last night I was hanging out with some friends and watching the show The Sing Off and it has gotten me into an a cappella mood all day. A cappella is a style where the songs are done entirely by voices and no instruments.  This translates into today's cover being from the YouTube a cappella wonder-boy Mike Tompkins. Mike started off with the song Dynamite by Taio Cruz and has since gained over 5 million views on that video alone!  Today's video is Chris Brown's song Forever, and it is one of my favorites that he has posted and it pretty much speaks for itself, so check it out! I will say that since it is studio...

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We Were The Kings and Queens of Promise

Hey everyone! I hope you are having a great Monday thus far! While going through previous posts trying to evaluate how I could improve my entries on here, I realized that I hadn't really shown any YouTube covers like I had promised at the beginning! Coincidentally, I saw on Cobus Potgieter's Facebook this afternoon that he is trying to get 1 million fews on one of his newest videos. He is only about 32,000 views away, and I decided to try to help him out a bit! This is his cover of 30 Seconds to  Mars' song Kings and Queens. It is really cool because not only is he a phenomenal drummer, but he is doing it on the side of a flippin' mountain!...

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The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...Well Almost

First and foremost I want to clarify one thing. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I love everything about it. The joy, the snow, the music, the family, the food, and most importantly what it stands for. I am not trying to be some bah-hum-bug Scrooge by any means, so please don't think that that is my aim. My biggest hang up of the holiday season is the ever-present (no pun intended ;]) premature launch of Christmas music. Every year, on November 1st it seems like...

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Music Effecting Marketers

Hello! I am going to stray from my normal style of posting to share this article that my friend @BeTheLink (hit him up on Twitter if you are on there) sent me!  It is about how live music is effecting brand marketers which intrigued me since I am taking my first marketing class and am learning a lot about it. So here you go. Also, make sure to check back tomorrow for some more music! http://www.businessinsider.com/live-nation-president-russell-wallach-future-music-201...

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Memories Of The Light In Your Eyes, Can Take Me Back In Time

Yellowcard Yellowcard has been around since 1997! They have some really popular songs such as Ocean Avenue, Only One, and Lights and Sounds. I even remember when some of those were played at middle school dances haha! One of their signatures is their violinist. He has a role in each song and it is one of the things that gives Yellowcard their recognizable sound. Anyways, Yellowcard took a hiatus from 2008 to 2010 and then returned by releasing their...

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Coffee Shop Soundtrack

Day 5's Pick: Coffee Shop Soundtrack by All Time Low The band All Time Low originally started as a bunch of high school guys wanting to make a Blink-182 cover band. By the time they had graduated high school, they had already signed with their second record label, Hopeless Records. They have since released five studio albums and are now signed to the record label, Interscope. My love for All Time Low is very bittersweet. I love their guitar tones,...

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She Likes My Bittersweet Love

Day 4's Pick is: "She Likes (Bittersweet Love)" by Forever the Sickest Kids Forever the Sickest Kids is a group based out of Dallas, Texas. The guys rely on their catchy vocals and melodic guitar riffs to keep their jams stuck in your head. I almost can't even go an entire week without having one of their choruses stuck in my head for an afternoon or more!  Another big plus of this group is the humor they bring to their performances and videos....

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Your Voice Was The Soundtrack Of My Summer

Day 3's Pick: "Thunder" by Boys Like Girls  The band Boys Like Girls is very intriguing to me. I loved their first album, but was very disappointed in the direction they decided to take off of stage and for their follow up release. They released a self-titled full length album in 2006 focused around catchy pop vocals followed by their synth heavy and auto-tune laden release Love Drunk in 2009. I also have heard a lot of rumors that as the...

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Give Me A Second Go

Day 2's Pick: "Second Go"by LIGHTS. I first discovered LIGHTS when searching YouTube for Owl City stuff. She has such a unique style that not many artists can match, but carries a similarity to Adam Young of Owl City. LIGHTS was started in 2006 by 19 year old Valerie Poxleitner in her bedroom with a synthesizer and key-tar. She made a couple of low budget music videos and slowly built a fan base. Later on she released her first full-length followed...

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Where Are Your Guts To Fly?

Day 1's Pick: Skyway Avenue by We The Kings Hello! This is the first installment of my week long series on "Unplugged" versions of some of my favorite songs. Each day I will post a little about one of my favorite songs and include the band's music video and an unplugged, or acoustic version of that song. Getting things started off, I chose Skyway Avenue by the band We the Kings. We the Kings have provided some awesome memories in my life from driving...

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I Am Trying To Learn I Can Do Nothing On My Own...

First off, I would like to apologize for two things. Number one, I am sorry that it has been a little while since I have posted! Number two, typically I try to refrain from posting on this style of music and keep it to myself due to the fact that not many of you are into it; however, if you are into it, enjoy it! If you are not, please hear me out on this song even if you aren't big into the sound. It is definitely a lot harder of a style than who...

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