Who makes these bloody ideas?!
Sweeter the second time around
The first time I heard Last Winter’s music was when I stumbled upon Karen Teh’s Multiply page and I saw her playlist of the band there. The moment I heard their music, I was hooked. They have a mix of deep and simplistic lyric, coupled with really nice vocals and backed by not-too-noisy-but-not-too-soft melodies. It kept my head banging at work back in 2005. Since then, I could not bring myself to remove their songs from my iPod even if I was already running out of space. I own a simple 8Gb iPod Nano 2nd gen and filling it up with songs is easy. But Last Winter had always been a fixture in my iPod and in my computer. I did lose track of what was going on with the band and only recently did I find out that their songs have already been featured in some MTV shows. They are still worth listening to though despite their exposure in MTV and their sounds remains to be the same in their 2007 album and I am happy with that.
I can see the Milky Way from Illinois…
Recently, I have been going through MySpace pages mainly those in the alternative rock genre and I rediscovered Last Winter. I was a bit saddened when I read in their blog that they had to part ways but recently, they updated their fans about the group coming back together again. Definitely something to look forward to for 2009.
Under the Silver of Machines has some new material but almost half of it are songs from their Transmission: Skyline album like Chasing Lights, Standing Here and Don’t Forget To Write. Do note that the ones taken from the Transmission: Skyline album aren’t just copies of the 2005 version. They come with new vocals, better harmonization and a better, more organized sound. I am definitely loving these newer versions of the songs that I have always liked from Last Winter.
The new material are no less pleasurable to the ear. The song I like most from the new stuff is The Violent Things. That definitely gets my head banging in the office when it starts playing.
I can honestly say this band is worth giving a listen to and their 2007 album is a welcome improvement quality-wise from Transmission: Skyline. Below is the line-up of their songs:
- Cassiopeia – 0:59
- The Violent Things – 3:21
- A Pacific Romance – 3:13
- Kiss So Hard – 2:56
- Girl Next Door – 4:00
- Standing Here – 3:48
- Our Summer In Illinois – 3:36
- Made For TV – 3:48
- Don’t Forget To Write – 3:38
- Chasing Lights – 4:01
- Starlight Drive – 4:22
- Vela To Norma – 5:52
Rebooting yet again
This used to be a photoblog but I figured I’m not really shooting non-otaku stuff often enough to put something it that would be considered significant for a photoblog. So I had to let go of the idea. Instead, this place would be used to talk about music that I hunt down by hopping from one MySpace account to another, from referrals from friends and from what I hear from obscure radio stations. Basically, it is about music that is mostly unknown to the general listening populace.
Why?
Because I like listening to something that is not necessarily mainstream. I am not one of those snobby music folk who think they are all high and mighty just because they listen to something that is indie or alternative or progressive or basically music that is uncommon. I simply like to get ahead of the pack on groups, bands, solo artists and individuals who have a really good sound but have yet to be signed to an album or have been signed but their following does not necessarily rival that of Michael Jackson.
It is an ego trip of sorts to have been listening to a band or a song way before it became popular on the local radio stations. Like when some punk rock wannabes in our neighborhood started raving about Blue and Yellow by The Used like they had hit a gold mine, my brother, who knew some of them just smiled and said we have heard of that song two years ago. The same with Your Guardian Angel by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. It was only a couple of months ago that it entered the mainstream music scene but my iPod has been playing it for almost two years. I’m Yours by Jason Mraz has been enjoyed by my family and close friends for almost two years now and it is only recently that it has gained popularity.
It IS an ego trip of sorts. And I will bet there are others who ego trip on what I am currently listening to right now.
I will still follow my preference in music which is basically what I think sounds good. Not what the general populace dictates but not necessarily deviating from the taste of the season completely. I did listen to Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown. I got both their albums and enjoyed a lot of their songs that did not get into mainstream radio. That is why when Superhuman by Chris Brown came up on the radio, I was already more or less tired of listening to it.
I am no expert in music. I am just here to write about what I like to listen to and perhaps you can drop by every now and then to see if for once, our tastes matched.
