In the spirit of the season???

SO. Today I'm going to break tradition and perhaps run the chance of being attacked for blasphemy? Maybe now is a good time to write my disclaimer *I do not in any way, shape or form believe that Jesus loves rap, nor do I think he traveled around with a stereo*
Now... the break with tradition writing on a Friday... oooo aahhhhhh, and also just give a playlist! Whoa, I know, I'm really stepping outside of the box today.

The playlist for today will be a playlist of "pump up"-esque songs... or songs that just make you want to jump around, dance or do both!

Alright, so some songs are poppy, some are rocky, some are weird and some are mellow with fast parts... pick and choose. Also because I'm super nerdy I also put some other good pumpy songs for the bands... YAY!

*disclaimer#2-playlist alphabetical, because that's how iTunes sorts my music*

1. Bulls in Brooklyn... The Academy Is...
- This band is amazing, this song is different from everything else, it starts heavy on the drums and bass... so good. There's even a background part "whoawhooaaaa" so good. Other songs to download by this band that are pumpy, Chop Chop and We've Got a Big Mess on Our Hands

2. Sometime Around Midnight... The Airbourne Toxic Event
-Alright so this is a super mellow song... but it's amazing. It builds so well and just bursts with the lead singer's voice... right after he says "there's a change in your emotions..." and it starts with violins, who can resist?! The rest of the songs are fairly mellow, I'm sure I'll feature them soon...but download them anyway... no real pumpy songs though... so I'll move on.

3. Godspeed... Anberlin
- These guys are more alternative/rock... but they are also amazing... fast drums, fast lyrics, fast , fast, fast. This song is ridiculously fast, or well decently fast, and has some awesome guitar and even a building "ohohhhohhhhhhh" part in it...so it's fun to sing along to. Other noteable songs... Breaking and Blame Me! Blame Me!

4. She Is Beautiful... Andrew W.K.
- He was my full on obsession in high school, much to my sister's annoyance. Again really rocky, but whatever it's awesome. The piano, the drums, the guitars... his bloody face on the album cover (not so much). He's phenomenal, actually. The lyrics are awesome too and it just makes you want to scream them out... or sing quietly so you don't get caught in a car or in public yelling them. Other awesome songs It's Time to Party and Party Hard.

5. Approach The Bench... The Audition
- My sister is or was obsessed with this band... and I will admit, this song is catchy and fast and pumpy upy!!! The lead singers vocals are so cool, he has a really uhhh I'll say gutsy voice and it's so cool. Other cool songs... Los Angeles and the Ultimate Cover-up.

6. Shattered Faith... Bad Religion
- This song was actually my favourite song, probably all through grade 8. It's old, but so good. They're more punk, but it's so cool... good message over all. I won't put any other songs, because this is the only one that really stands out.

7. Kennedy Killed the Hat... Buck 65
- This is a really weird song, but it's amazing. AND I believe he's from Halifax (ZOE!!!) He's so weird but so cool. The lyrics are ridiculous, amazing. Another good song is Devil's Eyes.

8. 27 Steps... Cartel
- Fast guitar and fast drums=willingness to dance... or attempt to make a music video for the song. This directly correlates with pump up music. Most definitely. Other songs?? Let's Go and Lose It.

9. Still Breathing... Cauterize
- So good. Fast and slow at the same time, as in the music for the chorus and is fast but then the verses are slow. They're rockish again. It's good. Other fast songs? Something Beautiful and Choke.


10. Passing the Hat... Cold War Kids
- Incredibly "indie", but still so good. This song builds so much again, and you can just hear it in his voice. Holy poop, amazing. Other songs? Hospital Beds.


11. Big Chomper, Big Chomper... Dr. Manhattan
- Probably the most "scene" song ever... but it's so good. Weird again, but so awesome. It's kind of electric-y, but this song you can actually dance to, it's awesome. The only real problem is that the lead singer has a weird punkish voice, so you have to sidestep that. What else is decent? You Put the I in Team and Gunpowder: A Ballet.


12. Southern Belles in London Sing... The Faint
- AMAZING. This is probably the weirdest thing on the list. It as an orchestra playing at the beginning, and then goes into the weirdest set of lyrics and weirdest voice... but it's still cool. If you enjoy this other fast songs by this band are Desperate Guys and Take Me to the Hospital.


13. Zelda... Farewell
- These guys are kind of awesome. I saw them live, that's how I ended up discovering them. They have fast music, clever lyrics and again are the dancey kind of rock. Other songs that are fast by them are Eighty-Eights and Stay Pretty.


14. Watch Me Move... Fefe Dobson
-Another serious obsession of my childhood. She's so cool, very in your face. Watch Me Move is a more recent song, but other awesome songs by her are Give It Up and Unforgiven.


15. Scar That Never Heals... Jeremy Fisher
- This song just puts me in a really good mood, it's very 1960s Monkees.


16. Seventeen... J.E.T.
- This band is also amazing. They're Australian, everyone knows them from the iPod commerical, but they're so much more!!! Good songs off of ther new album, She's A Genius and K.I.A. (Killed in Action).


17. Get It Faster... Jimmy Eat World
- Words cannot describe my love for this band. I won't go into detail about these guys because I could go on for days and days and days and days. Now. This song. SO AMAZING. If you want other fast songs by them, try Nothingwrong and Sweetness.


18. Ruby... Kaiser Chiefs
- This song is just really really fun to sing along with. RUBY RUBY RUBY RUBY!! Another really good song by them is Na na na na, it's like you're being chased... and it's awesome.


19. Black Cat... Mayday Parade
- Bad luck right? NO WRONG! This band is crazy live and their music on their records is just as good. This song is fast and makes me want to pretend I'm in a rock band, or appearing on stage performing with them. Ya I said it. Now, other songs that are fast by them When I Get Home You Are So Dead and Walk on Water or Drown.


20. Nth Degree... Morningwood
- Ridiculous is the only word that can explain this song, but I still love it. This song is extremely dancey and makes anyone smile... because of the ways you want to dance when you hear the song. The lyrics are pretty ridiculous too. This band has a bunch of other songs, but I don't really like the other ones, this is the only really notable one.


21.Raise the Dead... Phantom Planet
- CALIFORNIA!!!! Ya the famous OC theme song is by this band. Raise the Dead is so good, and so is Quarantine and Do the Panic.


22. Ricochet... Shiny Toy Guns
- This band is awesome because they have a guy and a girl singing and that contrast is always sooo cool. This song has cool lyrics that are very uhh in your face I guess. Another awesome song by them is Ghost Town (seriously it's so fast and so good, maybe I should have picked this instead but Ricochet is still amazing), and Le Disko... this was played a lot on commercials, I can't remember which one though.


23. Painted by Numbers... The Sounds
- These guys are from Sweden and I love them. This song is so fast and so dancey, I love it. It's a little more electric than other things but still rocky. Other good songs are Ego and Tony The Beat.


24. She's the Blade... Sugarcult
-This song is so good and catchy. It follows the pattern again with it being rock, but it's so good. They were featured on one of the NHL xbox games... another really good song by them is Memory, but it's more of a slow song.. still "uplifting"


25. Chokechain... 3OH!3
- Everyone is obsessed with this band, just because they had one song on the radio... BUT they're so much better than that song. Chokechain, is awesome. It's rap, but it's so funny oh god. They're amazing. Other non radio play songs by them are Electroshock and I Can't Do It Alone.


There we go, a little bit of everything. YAY.

Every Avenue

Alright, SO. Next band is Every Avenue...

On the surface they seem like just your regular everyday pop-rock-alternative-whatever band. But oh no! They are not! I accidentally ran into these guys playing on stage... so I guess I didn't really run into them but whatever. They were awesome, as in I just stood there with probably about 10 other people and watched them play. Even with hot sauce on his mic (a prank apparently) lead singer, David Strauchman (the guy with the AWESOME socks, which I'm sure I owned) managed to sing along and have burning eyes. The best part is, they sounded possibly better than they did on their first full length release, but that was due to the mixing of their full length.

Before I go any further... I would just like to point out how funny this picture is, I'm sad that I had to stray away from the funny pictures for the past few bands. They're just so awesome! The socks, the shorts, the jumping the moustaches (which they spelled wrong... which is a pet peeve, but whatever they're a. American and b. good, so it doesn't matter)!!

Now, back to the band. They're from Michigan (almost Canadian) and started out in 2003. They released their first EP in 2003 and it all went downhill from there. There are five guys in the group, David Strauchman, the lead singer AND piano (remember my weakness) is the awesome looker up there with the socks. Josh Randall is the skinny guy jumping on the right. He plays guitar and is seriously GIANT, he holds a special place in my heart. Jimmy Deeghan, is the other guy jumping (or at least I think) he also plays guitar and adds some backing vocals, he has pretty hair. Matt Black slaps the bass and I'm completely at a loss to who he is in the picture... I'm that bad, I think it's an old picture because he does not resemble any of them in the funny one... but it was funny, so I refuse to change it. The same goes from drummer Dennis Wilson, something else I can say about him is besides Matt Black and Josh Randall, he is the only one in the band who doesn't want me to spell check his name! WOOOOO.

Time to talk about music now. Ok SO. As stated before, (ya I'm in essay writing mode right now) the band released several EPs before they released their first full length in 2008. The first full length is called Shhh... Just Go With It. It's awesome, catchy songs that are the awkward rock dance worthy and they're just so happy go lucky. The only problem with it is that some of the songs they re-recorded and the originals sounded way better (but what else is new eh?). Their most recent release is Picture Perfect, album cover above. Again, the album is SOOOO catchy and has some fast songs, some slow songs and everything in between. Now, if you like bands like All Time Low and Fall Out Boy and Boys Like Girls and all of those bands you'll love these guys. And the best part is that they aren't as big as those bands YET! They're less mainstream, now, than these bands.

Apparently I've written a lot up to now... as in my procrastination for my essay shouldn't go any longer. Onto songs to download...

Think of You Later

Where Were You

Until I get Caught Red Handed

Mindset

I Forgive You

Think of You Later... was on Shhh... Just Go With It, BUT was originally released on their EP Ah! and the version is much better on there, they did some weird mixing thing on it for Shhh... Just Go With It. Now this song, is so good, so catchy. It's a mix of fast and slow. Good, good, good!

Where Were You.. also on Shhh... Just Go With It and was also featured on an EP also Ah! again the original version is better... but the version on the full length does have an awesome backing vocals part that just goes "oooohooo" either way it's catchy and fast talks about picking up someone drunk... makes my life.

Until I Get Caught Red Handed... this is the bonus track on Picture Perfect, and is fast again. But ya, it's awesome. LOVE IT.

Mindset... now this song, is maybe my favourite on their new album. Mostly because in the song they meet by running into each other, she literally runs into him and he spills his coffee all over himself. This gives me hope that my clumsiness will lead my to a steamy lead singer... yes? AND in the song she as turquoise eyes, mine are bluey green (maybe? sometimes?) ya it's definitely happening. Anyway... the song is good and fast and catchy and makes me feel fuzzy on the inside.

I Forgive You... ok SO... I changed the last song abruptly... there are just so many catchy good songs by them, the reason why I chose this song over the other ones is simply because it says "... please forgive me while I laugh my ass off" And because I love laughing, I chose it... bad reason? I don't care. It's about a break up slash liar and he's gotten over it and maybe forgiven her... who cares I love it. Especially the chorus! WEOOOO.

Now GO download or youtube or whatever.

My love for them has grown since re-listening to them... excuse my while I have a dance break, further procrastination on my school work.

Automatic Loveletter

Next, is Automatic Loveletter...
The first thing that needs to be done is.
Wait for it.
Look at how awesome the lead singer's hair is! She is SO COOL. Her name is Juliet Simms.
A closer look you say... why SURE.
LOOK at how wickedly awesome her hair is. Oh my god, when she did this I actually almost peed my pants from excitement, it's so cool!!
How I wish I could pull of this look, butttt I have a feeling my wavy locks would look horrible like this. Ya. She just oozes coolness and I'm so tremendously jealous of her for solely that reason. AND this is my first, uhhh feature I guess you could call it, on a female fronted band!! I listen to few actually which is sad... but nevertheless they're fantastic!
Alright so on with the band. But one quick look at her hair again. Sigh.
Here we go.
SO. Automatic Loveletter. AMAZING. Lead singer is Juliet Simms, she's very Janice Joplin esque and is phenomenal. The lyrics she sings hit home and her voice just rings though every song. The drummer is Daniel Currier, lead guitarist is Joe Nelson and the bassist is Sean Noll. Oh and Juliet also plays some guitar too. The band has recently made new additions, with Tommy Simms, Juliet's brother I believe, and he plays guitar as well as some backing vocals. The other addition was James Bowen, who plays rhythm guitar. Now back to her vocals, they're seriously so good. She's made "guest appearances" on songs with bands such as All Time Low (ya love them) with Remembering Sunday, Cartel (love them too) with Lose It, Secondhand Serenade (kind of love) with Fix You and a bunch of others. She's a hot commodity in the music world!
Pictured above, op no not her awesome hair again. BUT The picture directly above is their most recent album... which you can download on iTunes! Actually that's a picture of the EP but they're the same cover. The EP is called Recover, released in 2007 and the Automatic Loveletter EP was released in 2009. Both EPs have pretty much the same playlist, with some random additions to the later versions and sometimes re-recordings of the songs.
NOW. BOTH are amazing, filled with everything nice. Some songs are simple and acoustic and others are fast and ballad worthy (but a rock type ballad). They have a new CD, entitled Truth or Dare, due out on June 8 2010. BOY am I pumped.

Now, you ask... as you do every week. WHAT SONGS CAN I DOWNLOAD?!
Here we go.

The Day That Saved Us
Hush
Just Keep Breathing
Parker
Make Up Smeared Eyes

The Day That Saved Us... upbeat and a rockish song. Holy I love her. Her vocals are fantastic on this. Seriously, I love her.

Hush... so good, I like the old version better BUT the new one is also amazing! Jealously.. everyone experiences it right? Or is it just me and Juliet Simms that does? hahaahahaa...

Just Keep Breathing... this is my number one favourite Automatic Loveletter song. It's slower and acoustic again her vocals are fantastic. And the lyrics in it are so good too. But I won't spoil it. AMAZING.

Parker... when I listen to this song I imagine screaming it at someone.... mostly because the chorus goes "PARRRRRRKKKKKEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRR... do you remember..." this one is faster but still so good.

Make-up Smeared Eyes... again a slower acoustic type song... a break-up song I guess... or maybe just a realization of how crappy the relationship was? But holy.. again phenomenal, and makes you remember that you shouldn't cry or throw a tantrum if you have a lot of eye make-up on... because your eyes will become make-up smeared.


And that's all folks.
But one last time. LOOK AT HER HAIR AND HOW AWESOME SHE IS!! That's it. Really.

The Almost

This is for my one and only religious reader... Zoe. SO hopefully you like them!!!
Anyway... THE ALMOST!!! (Isn't that picture so cute, they're all laughing and having a good time!)
They're absolutely amazing! The quintet are from Florida and most likely love oranges (haha get it?) The front man, Aaron Gillespie is originally the drummer from Underoath. He is lead vocals for The Almost and also plays guitay, keyboards AND percussion... I know HOLY CRAP! Now I know everyone (yes you Zoe) are wondering, how the eff is the drummer so good at singing, WELL let me inform you! He even sang for Underoath, providing them with the "actual singing", he's the voice that isn't screaming throughout all of Underoath's songs... cool fun fact eh?! Oh and he's the one with the florescent red hair, I love gingers!!
So now that I've given a crazy amount of information about the lead singer, I'll inform about the rest of the band. The lead guitariest is Dusty Redmon. Jay Vilardi plays guitar and back up vocals. Alex Aponte plays bass and Joe Musten plays the drums. NOW, when they're touring, they have Matthew Schwartz (like the hot dogs!!) play keyboards, extra percussion and also backing vocals. Lots of stuff going on with this band.

Ok SO... above is the cover of their most recent album Monster Monster which came out in 2009. It's filled with catchy lyrics and Gillespie's enrapturing voice... ya it's that good, try singing along to some of the songs, the key is impossible!! Their debut album, Southern Weather, was released in 2007 and is also AMAZING... it's a little bit of a mix of everything and some songs are kind of Goddy but still I love it. Between the two full length albums they released two eps, which are short but sweet. Again, catchy catchy lyrics, some dancey songs and some mellow slow cute songs. Almost (hahah) all of the songs are full of awesome guitar, the ones that aren't are filled with awesome acoustic guitar and Gillespie's vocals fill the void of the other instruments. The slow songs also take the old root of starting acoustic and bringing in other instruments, according to my History of Led Zeppelin prof, this is called eclecticism and cohesion!

Now, SONGS TO DOWNLOAD... I'll only give a few but pretty much everything by them is worth a listen.

Monster Monster
Monster
Amazing Because It Is
Say This Sooner
Hands

Monster Monster: obviously the title track of their most recent album... holy, ok it's so fast and so catchy and I love it. It's a little more rockish than the other stuff... but the lyrics are so good n it!!

Monster: ok this is an example of a slower song, the exact opposite of Monster Monster, coincidence I THINK NOT! It is phenomenal so cute and again catchy, even though it's slow. AND it brings in all the other instruments at the climax of the song. Holy, getting chills... ya so good.

Say This Sooner: From Southern Weather... this is the song that I first heard by the band. It's catchy, fast and you can kind of dance to it... or well I can. Kind of an in your face type song. It was my obsession for a while.

Amazing Because It Is... again a slower song, no real pick up of beat in it though, just a chorus that comes into the background that gives you the chills. This is the Goddy song... but whatever you can apply any meaning you want to it. Regardless, it's so good.

Hands: Ok SO. I'm obsessed with the beginning of this song. The echo is so cool, the rest of the song is ok, kind of uplifting and inspirational... but the beginning/chorus is so good.


And there you have my procrastination post.
That and I have way too many bands to give out. AND MORE COME TO ME EACH DAY!! So everyone will be well informed.

House of Fools

Alright, can we first recognize that in this picture of the band there is ONE guy not looking at the camera... why would they use this?! Couldn't they have been like "hey Jim! Look at the stupid camera please... no one is going to care if you're looking at a squirrel over on the side!!"
Anyway... this band is House of Fools... I stumbled upon them about three years ago when they first released their album. It's weird... but I love it.
So the band is from North Carolina. There are SIX, count'em SIX guys in this band. Josh King is the vocals of this band and he has a kind of mellow voice put to rockish happy -go-lucky music. David McLaughlin (I don't think there's a relation to Sarah McLaughlin) plays lead guitar and backing vocals. Joel Kiser (pronounced like the bun?!) also plays guitar. Matt Bowers, probably my favourite in the band... plays keyboards (ya I know the obsession with piano deepens and deepens). Now. A very cool thing about this band... which I've started to notice a fair amount of bands do is THEY HAVE TWO DRUMMERS!! I know so cool.. anyway. Their two drummers are Jordan Powers (who used to play for another awesome band called Far-less) and Phil Bell, who makes me wonder if he also is good at playing Cow-bell... just because of his last name... it's a legitimate question right? Wouldn't that be cool.... Phil Bell plays the COW-BELL!!
Their songs are filled with awesome hidden meanings and metaphors and a cool spin on life too. The lyrics and melodies are super catchy and, if you feel like singing like a weirdo, you can sing along easily!! The best part!
NOW. The picture above, is the cover of their latest album. Called Live and Learn. It's old, released in 2007, but according to my wicked friend, Wikipedia, they're trying to release their most recent album, it's done but there are some troubles with putting it out or something. They also attribute the forever-ness between albums to their constant touring. Which they do all the time BUT I have yet to see them and everyone who has seen them I am incredibly jealous! Youtube videos lead me to believe that they put on a really good show!

Now, songs to download by this awesomely mellow band?

I Heard a Rumor
Pour Me Out
Live and Learn
Kiss the Haze
Coke and Smoke

I Heard a Rumor... AMAZING. The end is so epic so climatic and his voice is so cool and different. Best line is ANYTHING WORTH SAYING IS BETTER OFF UNSAID! Oh god. In such an awesome voice. Holy poop. It's love.

Pour Me Out... ok so trying to find the underlying meaning of this, I'm going to say it's about love? Maybe... either way it's so good.

Live and Learn. The title track. Enough said. It's awesome. Holy.

Kiss the Haze. It's upbeat and has King's mellow voice to a upbeat background...

Coke and Smoke. Not for the morals of the title of this song, but that's beside the point. But it's good. It's sort of acoustic, as in there's more acoustic guitar than the other songs and kind of makes me feel all fuzzy on the inside. YAY!