What's up everyone? I am loving J-Term and having so much free time to blog whenever I want haha! Anyway, today I wanted to share one of my favorite Paramore songs with you. The song My Heart comes off of their album All We Know Is Falling. I love it because it balances the pop/punk-ish style with a little screaming towards the end. I know, I know. A lot of you don't like the screaming stuff, but it's not a big part of this song so I think you will still enjoy it! At least give it a try! Another reason I like it is because of the lyrics. Whether or not it was Haley's, the band's frontwomen, intent I don't know but the lyrics have a lot of faith based in them. What I like about it though is that it's not overbearing like a lot of what is played on Christian radio now-a-days.
One of the main reasons I like Paramore is that over the past few years Josh Farro, the former guitarist of the band, has been one of the biggest influences in my life. Even though I have never met the guy, I have looked up to him. From his playing style all the way to how he handled leaving the band, I have gained a ton of respect for him. I won't get into the whole deal about what happened between the band, his brother Zac, and himself; however, if you would like to read about it here is a link to his blog post on it: http://joshnfarro.blogspot.com/2010/12/josh-and-zacs-exit-statement.html
So here is My Heart. I included a video of the official album recording, and a live version that I like a lot as well. I hope you enjoy!
This past weekend I went to my friends', Pioneer (www.facebook.com/pioneertheband), record release show at The Earth House in Indy, and one of the bands that opened for them was this group called Wavorly. They came up from Nashville, TN to play the show and I wasn't really sure what to expect when they took the stage, but within seconds I was blown away. They hit hard with powerful guitars, catchy pop vocals, great demo tracks underlying each song and an energy that won't let your attention go elsewhere. Needless to say, I'm a huge fan of this group now and can't get enough of their music, so I thought I would share my two favorite tracks with you! Here is a piano version of One More Try, and then the track Part That Won't Let Go. Both of these songs are on their newest EP which can be found on iTunes. I hope you enjoy!
Over Christmas break I caved in and read The Hunger Game series by Suzanne Collins. Once I started, I couldn't put them down. I read all three in a 6 day period and have watched the trailer for the new movie multiple times. Call me a bandwagon jumper, that is fine by me but I love the series now that I took the time to read it!
As I mentioned above, there is a movie coming out (March 23rd) based on the first book. Taylor Swift did a collaborative effort with the group The Civil Wars for a track on the official soundtrack. They released the song Safe and Sound the day after Christmas and as of yet, it is one of the only songs off of the soundtrack to be released. While it is not Taylor's typical style, it is pretty killer in my opinion.
There are multiple opinions as to what the song is talking about. I am going to give my own personal opinion with some detail on the characters from the book, so if you are going to read them and don't want to know anything then this is probably a good spot to just skip down to the video itself just to be safe...
In the book, The Hunger Games are a vice of a Capitol city used to remind the 12 surrounding districts that the Capitol is in control. Each district has to give two "tributes" between the ages of 12 and 18. There has to be one boy and one girl. The tributes then are put into an arena of sorts and have to fight to the death until there is only one survivor, who is then crowned the victor. It's rather morbid, but hey! That's why it's fiction! District 12's tributes Katniss and Peeta compete together as a team. Inside and outside of the arena, which is unheard of in the history of The Hunger Games. Eventually they grow close together and just like every other victor or tribute in the games, their sleep is haunted by the images of the games, the people they killed, seeing their allies dying, and the things that tried to kill them. To cope with this, Katniss and Peeta begin to sleep next to each other and holding each other through the night. This is what I personally believe the song is about. There is more to my theory and definitely multiple ideas out there, but I'll let you read the books to come up with your own; but that is the general idea of what I think this song is about.
I hope you enjoy the song, and have a great start to the week!
Also, here is an interesting cover of the song (not sure how I feel about it yet, but thought I would share it anyway) along with the official movie trailer!
Hey everyone! Again, I apologize for the lack of posting. The ideas are there, I just have to try and manage my time better!
Anyways, this video has been blowing up on Facebook and I had to share it! This is a cover of Gotye's song Somebody I Used To Know. Here is the catch though...there are five people performing in this cover and they are all playing on the same guitar. That's all that needs to be said haha enjoy! :)
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 on spot with his style of meaningful lyrics that are straight from his heart. I know I say this a lot, but with this video you can really see that the words mean something to him. It isn't just a performance. That is one of my favorite things about Chad's music, in both MHT and This Is Me. I can really connect with his lyrics too, which makes their stuff more powerful and meaningful to me personally. So here it is! Let me know what you think! :)
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 are pushing through and remembering the reason for the season! Anyways, onto some music:
I just recently found a new artist by the name of Rachel Platten. She has been a front page hit on the NoiseTrade website for a good few days now, and I think I can easily say that I am in love haha...but she is taken and chances are that you aren't here to read my ramblings about my musician crushes so I will digress. The Boston born, and New York City residing singer/songwriter specializes in piano, singing, and also beatboxing! To top it off, she is very impressive at all three. She has been playing piano since she was about 4 years old and started writing when she was in college. Needless to say, she has a lot of talent and deserves some attention. She has a positive pop style with influences ranging from Regina Spektor, Sarah Bareilles, Ingrid Michealson, Ben Folds, and Kate Nash. So give her a listen. I posted my two favorite videos of hers bellow. The first is my favorite song of hers and it is called 1000 Ships, which is where I got the lyrics for the title of this post. The second is just a live performance of the song You Don't Have To Go that demonstrates some of her beatboxing skills. You can also download a special 5 track EP for free on NoiseTrade (link below). If you like these videos, please consider downloading it and even consider donating to help her out! I hope you enjoy her music as much as I have.
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!
Music impacts us daily. Whether we realize it or not, or even believe it. It has the capability and power to express the things that we are so excited about and even the things we are wrestling with deep within us. Music is one of my greatest passions in life. This has led to my drive to create this blog, which is to use it as a venue to share with everyone the music that is effecting me. I hope you enjoy!
My plan for this space is to collect the thoughts, stories and wonderings of my mind as I try to process my encounters through traveling and chasing the horizon of this winding road. As we begin, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Andrew. I am an Indiana boy through and through, with a heart for music and people. I am a strong believer in community and sharing in the joys and struggles through life. I am blessed with the opportunity to travel the country doing what I love, with people that I love. I hope that this serves as a medium for you to join along in my journey.
