Oh na na na na na

Pardon me, but I believe I have perfected a dance move.

I know you're scoffing right now. Please stop.

Anyways, the dance move is called shoulder raising. Sit in a chair in front of a mirror, put on a song with a nice beat, such as "Odessa" by Caribou or "You Spin Me Right Round (Like a Record Baby)" by Dead or Alive. The next step is to emphatically raise your left shoulder in time with the music.

It should look a little something like this:


You are very welcome.

(Now, it's quite possible that that image isn't moving like it's supposed to on your computer. If it isn't, imagine that the left shoulder is raising up and down repeatedly.)

Interview with Floco Torres

For the school newspaper here at the ol' First Presbyterian Day School, I recently (about a month ago) sat down with Floco Torres, a local hip-hop artist, at Books-a-Million, and talked about his music, the local scene, books, models, and other things. Here's the full interview, raw and uncut:

(Zach Shealy): Are you from Macon?

(Floco Torres): I am not from Macon – I am from Willingboro, new jersey. I lived in Macon from like age 3 to like 9, and then I just moved back here two and a half years ago. Macon at heart, I guess I could say, but I wasn't born here.

Were you always into rap?

I was always into writing and journalism and stuff like that. In high school a lot of my friends rapped and everything like that, and I, you know, wrote lyrics for other people and slowly got into it. Rap was probably one of the last things on my list.

What got you into it?

Pretty much just being in the environments and listening to a lot of music growing up. I wasn't one of those “I've been rapping since I was three years old!” Nah. I didn't buy my first rap cd until I was like 15 or 16. Being around the different people, like, the culture of it growing up, it's just something I slowly took a liking to.

How'd you discover you were good at it?

(Laughs) People started to react in a positive way I guess. In the beginning they were reacting really negatively, that was kind of like a “give it up” or “keep going” thing. I mean, I kept going. Ya know, people were saying positive things, I was starting to get booked a little bit more, started to learn more and have a little bit more fun with it.

Where were you when you first got into hip-hop?

I was in Willingboro, New Jersey when I wrote first song.

Do you still perform your first song?

Nah man, I gave that song up a long time ago. I read it a couple days ago, though, like, working on the new album and everything. I went back to a lot of the older stuff and read it and it was awful, so awful.

Macon has a rich musical history – is the current scene living up to that?

I feel like it is, but at the same time I feel like we're slowly making our own moment in history and a lot of people are starting to come to grips with it. We're not going to create an Otis Redding or a Little Richard, like, we're not trying to, but there is a Floco Torres, and there are Roly-bots, and there is the Citizen Insane. It's a lot of things going on right now that in twenty years we're going to be talking about.

Say somebody wanted to get involved and find out what's out there (in Macon). What do you suggest – just go downtown and find some shows?

Get out, man. Everybody's on Facebook, everybody's on Twitter. The outlets are there, the shows are there, creative people are there, the scene is there. If you don't tap yourself into it, you're left on the outside of what's going on. Which is amazing, like, people fifteen minutes across town that don't know what's going on. Fifteen minutes downtown in their own city, you know what I mean? It's crazy.

Why would you recommend someone tap into the local scene?

I've met a lot of people that were in Macon when Otis Redding was here and Little Richard was here and stuff like that, and they regret now ignoring that cross-dressing hippie that was doing this thing called rock and roll at the time. Or this guy that was literally leaving his soul on the stage singing these songs about the dock of the bay and everything like that. Don't miss that moment now and twenty years later make up stories to your grandkids like “I was there.” Nah, you wasn't there. Macon is really, like you said, rich in history and music. It's just, the city's gotta support it before the rest of the world is gonna get on to it, you know what I mean?

How well do think the city supports local artists?

Aw man it's crazy right now, like, it's amazing how many more people you see coming out to shows, like, when I'm out, how many people are coming up to me asking me about something they see on Facebook or a song that they heard, or “what does this mean?”. So I think, right now, like, the awareness of what we're doing, all of these musicians is at an all time high, and it's only going to get better with, you know, the better the music gets, and the more bands and more people come out to the shows.

Are you looking to expand and tour more outside of Macon, or have you done any of that in the past?

I've done a little bit of touring outside of Macon this year, but with the new album “Floco's Modern Life” we actually launched a campaign with a website called “Kickstarter on Monday” where we're trying to get the city and the entire music scene involved in this album because on my album I have so many different Macon musicians: Jerry Wright of Roly-bots is on there. Oh Dorian's on there. Sean Williamson with Citizen Insane. I've got Al K!ng on a record, Jubee of City Council's in a record. I was just with Chelsea Hughes yesterday working on a record. I'm getting as many Macon musicians as possible so when the album comes out and we get ready to hit the road it's not a Floco album, it's “look what we're doing in Macon.”

Do you record in Macon?

I do record in Macon. I'm actually going to be recording the album with a guy named Rob Evans, which I actually spoke to him today. I'm going to meet him tomorrow to let him know how crazy I actually am doing this album.

So the next step is getting this album out, then?

The next step is getting the album out. We're looking at late February, early March. Once the album comes out we're hitting the road.

Are you doing any shows while working on the album?

Here and there. It's really been more out of town stuff to, you know, bring the awareness from Savannah, Athens, Atlanta, stuff like that, but I'm planning one or two big shows before February or March. I don't quite have the dates on them yet but I'm gonna try to place them nicely and do something real cool. I'm kind of being quiet a little bit and getting ready to unleash this big thing I'm working on.

Can you tell me about the best show you've ever performed?

In Macon or just in general?

Both.

I'm gonna say in Macon it was probably Bragg Jam of this year. It was just a culmination of the last two years of people supporting me since I've been here and me really realizing how dope I am. (Laughs) Not in a cocky way! Just really realizing how hard I've worked. I'm at a comfortable place artistically where, ya know I really don't care, man. Like, I'm gonna do what makes me happy and what I think my fans like and it seems to be working. I'd say my best show out of town would probably be Buffapalooza at Buffington's in Milledgeville. It was like a music festival that they put on with the radio station and the crowd was just crazy. They were just ridiculous.

Are you able to support your music just through making music?

I do little things here and there, little part time gigs, I part time blog some times, I write little articles and everything like that. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get the bills paid, but my music does compensate a lot of itself which I think is a cool thing and I'm trying to open up that door for a lot of other artists that I do know who aren't quite there yet. That is one thing I can say, like, my music does pay for itself. It may not have me driving in a Bentley yet, but it definitely does pay for itself.

I've heard some of your music and it sounds pretty professional...

Thank you.

Do you try to get across a message with your music, or is it just about the sounds? What is your music about?

Hmm. This shirt I have on is, it was one of my grandfather's shirts from maybe like '94, '95 or whatever. He passed away and I got a whole bunch of his shirts. I never wore them until this year I came across them and I started wearing them, and they're just super comfortable, like, I could care less what they look like, how worn in they are, like, they're really, really comfortable. That is what my music's about. It's about being comfortable and learning things. Like, I knew nothing about these shirts, or really about my grandfather cuz I didn't know him at the time and then he passed away before I really got to know him, but I held on to the shirts and at the right time the universe lined it up that in my life I was supposed to start wearing these shirts. And that's how my music is. I could have learned something, you know, in '99, '98, and may not get it then, and I'll come across a beat tomorrow that is going to explain that situation perfectly, and I write about it. And then, you know, mixing the sounds and the energy I feel makes the song as close to perfect as possible...and this shirt is really comfortable.

What's you ultimate goal with making music? Where do you want to see yourself in 5/10 years?

The professional answer to that would be doing it for a living, you know, paying my bills and being able to live comfortably from my music. The spacey answer is to make a dope time capsule. Yes, I want, if I die tomorrow, I'm happy with the music I have right now, that people will go back and listen to it and be like “wow, dude was in a crazy place right here” or “nah, he was really feeling himself right here.” Like, I'm slowly doing for myself and my fans here right now, but really, really doing for their children and grandchildren. Cuz I feel like the music that I write and the people that listen to it were having a moment together and I want their grandkids and their kids to be able to experience that same moment without being there.

Have you ever felt discouraged, or started second guessing your decision to pursue music?

All the time. I think earlier this morning I woke up, like, you know I was calling people and everybody was at work and I couldn't get in touch with anybody, and I'm like, man, I'm one of the only people I know who doesn't have a set schedule. I go to sleep when I want, I get up when I want, I play video games when I want, whatever whatever. So yeah, you always have doubts and regrets, it's just, how you handle them makes the person that you are.

How do you get through that, how do you keep doing it?

Some times a lot of outside influences... (chuckles) …you just gotta fight through it, man, however you can. Some moments are harder than others. It's willpower and just believe in it yourself – that's the main two you gotta have.

So, you work with lots of other artists based in Macon. Do you often perform together?

I think what has made me the artist that I am is that I'm not really able to be put in a box. I work with the rock guys and the indie/acoustic guys, you know, you can put on stage with some of the best spitters you can find and I can go toe-to-toe with them. I pride myself in being...ambidextrous maybe? We'll go with that word and see what happens.

You incorporate a lot of different influences, but I guess hip hop is number one, right?

Nah. No, hip hop's probably number two or three. It's slowly moving down to three. Number one would probably be rock and roll. That was one of things that, like I said, I came across something in 1998 and didn't get it until now. Hip hop is number two because that's what I grew up on and that's what I do it for, but musical influence-wise right now i'm influenced by a lot more rock than I am hip hop.

If someone was to download one of your mixtapes or EPs, what's it going to sound like?

I think it's going to sound like something that is going to take more than one listen to understand, which is what I go for. It's gonna sound like something they want to grow with. If you download Psychadelphia, you are gonna want to hear Floco's Modern Life because you know Psychadelphia's where I was at last year and I'm explaining to you how my mind works. Floco's Modern Life is my entire life. How does every day, how has this entire process, gone. It keeps you interested, I think that's what my music does. You want to hear the next step.

If someone wanted to get into your music today, where do you recommend they start?

Of course iTunes and Amazon and that stuff, but if you go to my blog I have the links to everything: the free music, if you're so gracious to pay for something that's there too. I have loads of free music on the internet. I have stuff on youtube, like, they can watch videos. My blog is the central location for anything me. (hiimflocotorres.ning.com) Everything's there: pictures, videos, stuff I like, movies I've seen. I'm about to put up some pictures of Minka Kelly today. People need to know that she is the sexiest woman alive in 2010.

I'm trying to think of a few more questions for you.

It's all good, man. Read this book, too. (refers to book he has with him)

Bringing Down the House?

It's about six MIT kids who took on Vegas. Yes, and when I say took on, not like they went and had a blast. No, like, they financially took down Vegas. It's really, really cool.

Are you into a lot of reading?

Not as much as I should be, but, yeah, I read at a normal rate. I would like to read more, but sometimes I don't get the time to really indulge into a book, you know what I mean? I hit the Golden Bough bookstore up a lot, on Cotton Avenue downtown, and actually I was coming from there before I got here. The last book I read was, um, “Where the Money Was”, I think it's... David Lee Sutton? I might be wrong. Yeah, but it's about the most famous bank robber in forever. Yeah, I read a decent amount. Especially about Minka Kelly. I need to stop looking at her. (flips to next page of magazine) Whoa...who are these women?

What do you have to say to your fans?

I have to say “Thank you very much”, because without them I would not be existing. I would just be another rapper, but because of my fans I am of the elite of their taste and ipods and everything. Thank you. Stay tuned for the album, I've been putting my heart and soul into it and I hope you enjoy it, man. Definitely check out the Kickstarter campaign, you can go on kickstarter.com and search Floco Torres and you'll see the whole campaign for the album.*

What popular rappers out there are doing it right?

In Macon, or just in general?

Mainstream.

Mainstream, you know what, I don't really classify Kid Cudi as a rapper, but Kid Cudi would probably be my number one right now. He's doing exactly what he wants to do and you can tell. Of course, the Kanye Wests, the Jay-Zs, the stuff like that. J. Cole I really, really enjoy, like, he smashed you with like a bunch of music and you were like “Ah, he's dope” and he's like “Now I'm working on an album, so you get nothing,” and I was like “That's cool, yo. Make 'em wait.” I really like Wale, sometimes. I think he's dope. But I think he's dope at what he wants to do and he's not so great at what other people push him to do. Those are my main ones right now. I was listening to somebody... oh yeah, you know Lupe Fiasco and... I'm forgetting somebody I do not want to forget... and I'm probably going to forget them. Yeah, I can't remember anybody else right now, but the people know they're dope, whoever it is. But yeah, those are my main... I feel like creatively they're doing what they want to do and it's coming out dope. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who am I forgetting?

Anything else you feel you need to say? A question I need to ask?

Nah man. I, uh... I really want to redefine the definition of “a--hole”. I do, and I'm probably not supposed to say that. My bad if I wasn't, but I really want to redefine that definition, but I haven't figured out how to yet.

Sounds like something Kanye West would say.

(Laughs) Ah man, that's just one of those things in my career I'm never gonna be able to get past, cuz he was born before I was. But yeah, the first song on my new album is called “A--hole”, and I really want to redefine that definition, because I feel like there is the actual a--hole, and then there is the a--hole that you have to be to get things accomplished. People mix up those two. Like, the guy that snatches a purse in the alley? He's an a--hole, like, he deserves the crap beat out of him. But the guy that realizes he has to change certain things in his life to reach another level of success? Not an a--hole. There's a different word that needs to be created for it, but I need to do it before some rapper creates it and it really sucks and then we hear it all the time. Yeah, I'm working on that. Maybe I'll write a book.

Put it in your song.

Hey, I think that song represents it. It teeters between the line of like, “I'm right in between it” to “you decide which one I am.” And that, the whole comment probably made me the a--hole that I don't want to be. These things happen.

Yeah, I probably can't run that word in the story, at a Christian school and everything.

Yeah I figured that. So you go to First Presbyterian School?

First Presbyterian Day School.

That's what's up. Are you guys involved in the music scene a lot or is that one of the big purposes of the article?

Not much. Hopefully what the article will do is make people realize that there's stuff out there, stuff downtown, people making music that nobody knows about.

We should come out there and do a show. We should do a profanity free, gesture free show.

That would be really cool.

Yeah, I mean I'd be down to do it.

I think our environmental club is trying to put on some kind of concert.

Yeah, we'd come out there. I'd bring the band, come out there and try to sway some opinions.

Yeah, most people (at FPD) have never seen or heard any local music at all.

We gotta get them involved, cuz you guys are the main focal point. The people older than myself and all that, they care, but they care to a certain extent. They care from 6PM to 9PM. That's an hour after they get off of work, and two hours before they need to go to bed to do it again. Who we really need in the scene is, you know, 23 and under, because we are the ones going into the next generation, and if we don't support what's going on locally we're all going to end up just going to college and leaving, and it's left for the next person. If you don't set it up correctly it's just...it's just Daisy Lowe from the United Kingdom (looking at magazine again). She is a model, and she is gorgeous. Of course, all these women are models. Or actresses or something.

They all double as models.

Yeah, one of the only things I don't like. Like there are just...no, there are...I was gonna misspeak on that. There are beautiful women that just do regular things, but you can't find them! And if someone else finds them they tell 'em “Hey, you ever thought about taking pictures?” “No, but now I did.” And then they go take pictures. And then they end up here, and I never see her again...because she's out of my pay grade.

*Floco's Kickstarter campaign raised $2,000 to fund his new album, Floco's Modern Life, which comes out early next year.

My desert island

Instead of working on my stories for the newspaper, I'm going to compile a list of my favorite things.

My all-time favorite song
is either "Casimir Pulaski Day" or "Glory Box", both for entirely different reasons.

My all-time favorite album
is xx, from last year, though the greatest album of all time is Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The greatest band of all-time
is easily The Beatles, though there are about three artists that have meant more to me than them: Sufjan Stevens, the xx, and mewithoutYou.

My favorite movie is
The Truman Show, followed by It's a Wonderful Life and No Country for Old Men. The three most fascinatingly disturbing film characters are in There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, and The Silence of the Lambs.

The best book I've read is The Great Gatsby, and I haven't liked anything else near as much, except for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a kid.

The best movie of last year was Up in the Air, and the best movie of this year is, so far, The Social Network.

My two favorite songs of this year, so far, are "Dance Yrself Clean" and "Crown on the Ground". My two favorite albums of this year, so far, are Treats and The Age of Adz, in that order.

My favorite video game is The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Looking for a thrill

There is something about loudness and too much noise. There is something powerful. I've been really into this band called Sleigh Bells this year, and it's mostly because they're loud. When I ride alone in my car, you know, no passengers or anything, sometimes I turn Sleigh Bells up so loud that it almost physically hurts me.

Now, I'm not a masochist or anything, but if my mom ever reads what I said about hurting myself she'll probably get onto me for playing my music so loud. I mean, it's dumb for me to do that. I know for certain I am going to have hearing problems as an adult and I'm going to look back on my teenage self and shake my head in disapproval.

Darn it, I'm extremely self-aware, really.
There's just something about music that gets inside my head. There's a song by Goldfrapp called "Train", and the synth line in the backdrop is so penetrating, so angry...it moves me, and not in a positive way. But I can't get enough - it's a little like torturing myself.

I was amazed by "The Social Network", and the main reason was because it's a severe sensory overload. The characters talk extremely fast and the music is massive: one scene with Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg in a club is the perfect example. It's a movie with no special effects (well, no violent or scenic ones), but it simply must be seen on the big screen if only for the transcendent loudness of the flick. The only other two movies that I can think of that have affected me (enveloped me!) like this so completely are "No Country For Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood". And "2001: A Space Odyssey", which was basically not a movie and just an extreme sensory experience.

Really I'm just a teenager looking for a thrill. The best part of the roller coaster is always the first drop, and that feeling that comes with it.

Sigh... I'll try not to try drugs!

chill

At the end Kanye's official remix to his new single, "Power", one of the guest artists says "chill" like ten or fifteen times. "Chill, chill, chill, chill, man. Chill, ‘Ye, chill," he says.
I'll admit Kanye probably does need to chill, but so does everyone else. Everybody everywhere just needs to chill. Like, kick it in a chair for a few minutes, world. Grab some pretzels or something and chill. It'll do you some good, for real.
Right now, I'm listening to this band called Radiohead, just chillin'. One of their cds just randomly came in the mail to me today, so I'm just sittin' here listenin' to it. It's not really that chill of a cd, but it's pretty chill just sittin' here listenin' to it.

Top three things that are chill
1. going outside
2. checking the mailbox for mail
3. finding a Radiohead cd in your mailbox
Because I just did all three of those things, today is chill. I realize number 3 is probably only a one-time occurrence for most people, but anyone can easily manage number 1 and 2 on any given day.

Top three things that are not chill
1. applying to college
2. mowing your lawn
3. reading novels
Now, this list might inspire some controversy. A lot of you out there believe reading novels is a chill thing to do, because you're sitting down and everything. But it's actually not very chill. Reading a novel requires a lot of concentration and thinking, unlike listening to Radiohead or checking you mailbox. Now, reading a magazine or a newspaper is pretty chill, and so is reading novels in public places, so I guess it just really depends on the context.
Next, I'd like to address the chillness of mowing your lawn. Yeah, you have to go outside to do it, which is chill, but once you start the mower it becomes loud. Loud is not chill in this scenario.

Another thing that is chill is lowercase letters. I realized this just now, and I would go back and change all the capitol (capital?) letters to lowercase, but it's chiller just to leave what I already have. I'll settle with making my title lowercase

Empire of Dirt

Something about Johnny Cash makes anything he does sound incredibly urgent. Over the ten year period before his death, he recorded several albums covering songs by bands like Nine Inch Nails and The Beatles and U2.
And without effort he tops every single one of them, just by strumming a guitar and lazily mumbling the vocals in that distinctively deep voice of his.

Two of the highlights from the series of six albums are "Wayfaring Stranger" and "One", the latter by U2. Let's just say this eighty year old man had a knack for making you cry - every song sounds like he died right after he recorded it and every song makes a pretty convincing epitaph. Guy's got like fifty epitaphs. Some look back on life satisfied and accomplished, some look back dejected and alone. Even though the songs weren't originally written about death, Cash makes them about death.

It's terrifyingly affecting, and it puts everything in perspective. Johnny Cash is gone forever, and someday I will be too - just without any kind of legacy.
In Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", Cash wallows in his sense of the meaninglessness of all his accomplishment. "You can have it all," he promises. "My empire of dirt."

Nostalgia for '05

Don't read this post if you've never liked pop music or you are older than twenty-three.

The year that I got into music is the year 2005. My favorite bands at that point were Green Day and The Black Eyed Peas, not necessarily in that order. I really liked the song "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson, but not as much as the much grittier "Behind These Hazel Eyes". The only cd I owned was TobyMac's Welcome to Diverse City, and I spun that junk on repeat. I had Fall Out Boy's "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" and "Dance, Dance" memorized, but I felt guilty for listening to them because I thought they were very inappropriate. The only rap songs I had ever heard were "Yeah" by Usher and the rap half of Welcome to Diverse City. A year later I heard "Soul Survivor" (edited, obviously) by Young Jeezy and memorized that. If you asked me what my favorite song was, I would've said either "Holiday" or "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day.

Fact is, I listen to pop music extremely sporadically. I know almost every pop song released from 2004-2006, but I could hardly name any song from 2007-2009. This thing called Lady Gaga happened somewhere around '09 and I dug it, but that's about it for those years. I tried to return to my roots this year, though, by downloading a bunch of what is on the top pop lists, so I can tell you what is good and what is not (Good: "Break Your Heart" and Drake. Bad: "California Gurls", "OMG", and Kesha).

In conclusion, pop music peaked in 2006 with "Every Time We Touch" by Cascada.

mp3: Kelly Clarkson - Behind These Hazel Eyes

One dozen starving, crazed weasels

Weird Al Yankovic is funny at first, but his annoying voice can really start to wear on you. Some of his parody songs are pretty clever, but most of them lose the novelty after a few listens. Al's magnum opus, however, never gets old.

One of the most brilliant, quirky, unique things to come out of the musical world is Weird Al's eleven minute epic, "Albuquerque". It's a stream of consciousness spoken word narrative over a rambling guitar track, and it gets funnier every time. The ridiculous places he takes you, the ridiculous characters he introduces you to...there's about thirty laugh out loud moments, thirty amused chuckle moments, and five gasp in shock moments.

One time i was feeling a little bit sad, and I was bored, and I needed a good way to kill eleven minutes. So I listened to "Albuquerque". This has happened many times.

Say, that reminds me of another amusing anecdote*. This guy comes up to me on the street and tells me he hasn't had a bite in THREE WHOLE DAYS. Well, I knew what he meant, but just to be funny I took a big bite out of his jugular vein. And he's yellin' and screamin' and bleedin' all over and I'm like, "Hey man, don'tcha get it?"

Man, some people just can't take a joke, ya know?

*amusing anecdote taken word for word from Weird Al

Sexist me

Lately, i got into this dreamy pop artist from Sweden: jj. The three songs i heard were incredibly engaging and addictive - the kind of stuff i'd expect to hear at high class beaches. One of them went with this ridiculous "my swag, my life" hook and ran through my head for a week or so. The music was pretty much written for me, and i fell in love with the lead singer guy's voice.

BUT THEN...
I was looking up jj on the internet to see if i could find some info on the band, and i was having a tough time. I finally found an article posted on pitchfork about the band, and my heart sunk. Apparently, the "lead singer guy" was actually a girl. For some strange reason, jj all of the sudden didn't click with me.

I guess i just have a natural prejudice against female singers. The only girl artist's voice i genuinely like is Portishead's singer, but i can name about fifty guys i go crazy for. When i thought jj was a feminine sounding guy, i loved it! Now, not so much. I don't know what i was thinking before - i guess i'm just sexist, because now i see that jj isn't even good. Because she's a girl.

Get out of my head

Man, I'm annoyed. I've got that Shakira song stuck in my brain. You know, that one that goes "Ooh baby when you talk like that, you make a woman go mad", the one that was popular a year or so ago. I don't even know most of the words - the two lines of the song that I do know are torturing my soul. Ack. Stop.
I just don't have the willpower to expel this Shakira woman from my thoughts. It's not even a good song, it's just catchy. So flipping catchy. The lyrics are as dumb as the people who don't read my blog. "My hips don't lie"? What is that supposed to mean? Oh man, just shut up. Shut up and get out of my head.
You don't make me want to speak Spanish. You are capitalizing on people's stupidity and your infectiousness. You are a virus. You lodge yourself in the mind and force unluckily exposed people to want you and your music. It's like addiction. You are a drug.
For my sake, become a female hermit and go bother the forest animals with your pop junk food. Leave us humans alone, Shakira.

Qu. A live-action commentary.

Usually, it takes a little bit of time to decide I really like a band. With Sherwood, it took about five seconds. I just loaded up their myspace page and hit play, not knowing what to expect.
I am now soaking up the entirety of Qu. The first song is only one minute long, and it is a minute of Beach Boys-esque love. Almost pure triple layered vocals.
Now, I'm listening to "Ground Beneath My Feet" and I am being stunned. This band is so good. Beautiful. It builds from being light and sung by one guy to a transcendent sweeping harmonic masterpiece.
Instrumentation is powerful and diverse, with a laid back drumbeat, a xylophone, and a techno-synth driving "Around You". Wow, now there's an electric guitar solo. Gang vocal echoes on the bridge? Check. This song rocks.

"What Are You Waiting For?" sounds like stereotypical "let's go to California" pop-punk. It is. Still, it's very catchy and better than other bands with this sound.
(minutes later)
Alright, I've made it to the last song. It's starting out slow, I'm predicting that this is going to get epic. "So this is how every family ends...a black cloud hangs over our house...so give up and let it rain down." This is sad. And it's not getting epic, it's staying sad. The album ends on a downer... "No Better" will make people cry. I guess a lot of the best music out there is depressing...
Anyways, amazon.com is selling this album for $2.99 tomorrow, and I know they will be getting my three dollars. It's so worth it.
Recommended if you like: Relient K, The Beach Boys, Yellowcard, crying

Album art

I am a cd person. When a favorite band puts out a new cd, you can find me on the Walmart music aisle disappointed by Walmart's decision not to stock it.
However, I am also a downloads person. It would be wrong for me to ignore the cornucopia of free or cheap (and legal!) music on the internet. So what decides if I buy the hard copy or the download? Generally, the art.

Every single person on the face of the earth recognizes The Beatles' Abbey Road. And it is so simple - just four guys crossing the street on, of all places, the crosswalk. They aren't even edgy enough to jaywalk. This picture is why so many people list Abbey Road as their favorite Beatles' album, despite it being easily inferior to others like Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's. Good art + good music = classic picture.
One time, I almost bought Joy Electric's The Otherly Opus, just because I fell in love in the art. The color scheme is perfect, the idea is commendable. But then I realized I wasn't even that into the music, which should be the whole point of buying the cd in the first place. I wish they'd just put that design on a shirt.
Sometimes, the art is so bad (or weird), it stops me from buying the cd. Welcome to the Masquerade is supposedly the best Thousand Foot Krutch album yet, far above the two cds that I already have...but why would I want to have that picture sitting out in my room?
I didn't buy Copeland's Eat, Sleep, Repeat for this same reason.

I chose to download The Killers' Day & Age, even though I really did like the artwork. There was an Amazon deal...
Sometimes, like in Matisyahu's case, the art can tell you exactly what is on the cd...

...but other times you have no idea what is going on.

A few upcoming albums I already like just based on their art:

Try imagining yourself in space, walking down a giant mosaic tunnel. The picture gets more epic when you put yourself in the little man's position.

The White Album is the Times New Roman of album covers. I went to Barnes & Noble once and saw they were selling puzzles of this. I laughed.

I am not much of an artist, and neither am I a photographer, but I think coming up with creative art for your cd could be one of the best parts of the whole process.

In other news, Weezer's next is the opposite of The White Album.

Satanism in Christian music?

The sun won't rise, my spirit dies, All hope has withdrawn,
So here I lay because either way I know we'll all be dead by dawn.
A chainsaw can remove a limb or act as a replacement,
Smell the gas as hours pass, contrary to my statement,
The corpses wish to cover me with kisses,
So just maybe I'll cover this cabin with their blood,
Hail to the king baby.

You wait for me, a wretch of a man, no record of wrongs do You keep
You are comfort when I mourn, You are strength when I am weak
Jesus Christ, the king of kings
Though we ache, though we cry, never break, never die
We sing of His great love again and again
And His love reigns forever, and forevermore
Forever and ever, Amen

Believe it or not, both the above verses were penned by the same Jesus claiming hard rock band. In the conservative Christian community, Showbread is a hot topic of controversy. In response to their lyrics from songs such as "Dead by Dawn" (the first song above), as well as their affection for lip piercings and skull tattoos, an article from Worldview Weekend entitled “Christian Gore: Death Enthusiasts for Jesus?” condemns Showbread as “clearly in utter rebellion to God's Word” and asks “why would a band like Showbread be allowed on church property unless it was for purposes of evangelizing the band members?” After reading the article, most of the complaints do not seem too unfounded. What does seem unfounded is describing the band as "satanic". Hmm... there must be two sides to this story.

After an intense thirty second combing of the internet, I stumbled upon a blog post that Josh Dies, the lead singer/screamer for the band, had written in response to the alleged offensive content in Showbread’s work. But what first popped out to me from the blog was an unrelated post about how Satanism is simply the philosophy of “you are your own God, do whatever you want.” Well, by that definition of Satanism, Showbread certainly could fall into that category…(funny that the party on trial would be the one to explain the accusation). Anyways, the post I was looking for was at the very bottom of the page. Dies clarifies that the song “Dead by Dawn” is about a campy, low-budget, cult classic horror film called “Evil Dead” (where, get this, the main character has a chainsaw for an arm)... Now why would Christians write about such a violent topic? Dies argues that merely the depicting violence is not evil, unlike the glorification of violence. Even some passages in the Bible are gruesomely violent, such as Jesus’ death on the cross or the story of Cain and Abel. Just a bit of violence doesn't qualify you for Satanism.

But this doesn’t change the fact that a “Christian rock” band sing songs about violence and not about God. Is a band like Showbread allowed to write a fun, pointless song like “Dead by Dawn”? Or does every song have to be an “I love you, Jesus” style worship song? Chris Tomlin is all well and good, but I don't think anyone really sits down and listens to “How Great is Our God/Holy is the Lord/Jesus Messiah” all day long*. Enjoying some simple, shallow entertainment doesn't make one wholly worldly. Christianity has never been and will never be about what you can and can’t do. Is there anything sinful about a group of friends watching a cheesy horror movie, laughing and screaming and enjoying the company and growing closer together? That was all this band was trying to accomplish with their song.

Despite Showbread's a passion for meaningless, fun songs, they know when to keep it serious, and they have a passion for Jesus. “Matthias Replaces Judas” and more recently “The Fear of God” (the second song at the top) begin as simple prayers but morph into raw, obvious worship songs overflowing with respect and awe. I doubt Ingrid Schlueter (author of the anti-Showbread article) has heard either of these tracks.

What’s really inspiring about a band like Showbread is how they can go into a totally secular venue and still proclaim their faith like it’s the greatest part of them, even when the bands immediately before them are over-the-top profane and proud of it, or the crowd is violent and drunk. They don’t share in a forceful “accept my faith or go to hell” type of way, it’s more of a “don't believe anything because someone tells you to, and don't not believe anything because someone tells you to. Discover the truth yourself. I personally believe the truth is Jesus Christ, and in that truth I find my comfort.” (jumping, screaming, and guitar-ing ensue)

So should a band’s love of horror b-movies turn you away from them? (I don’t even like horror flicks myself…I scare easily…) Their unique style, enthralling lyrics, genuine charisma, and love for God all combine to make me a fan. They are Christians having a good time.

Peace

*Chris Tomlin is awesome. I am all for worship music in the right setting.