This time out, I have no pseudo-scientific, mumbo-jumbo nonsense to joke with, and I'm not going to write a semi-fictional stream-of-conscious piece about my life or the experiences of people that I know who live or attend school in Scranton. No, this time out, I'm going to write about something that is actually important to me: music.
There is nothing more important in life than Rock and Roll. School takes a back seat to a killer Zeppelin riff that totally shreds your ears and pisses off your neighbors who live on the other side of the paper-thin wall that separates your rooms.
Relationships are second-best to an ethereal, alien-sounding, drum-machine laced acoustic number by Radiohead that talks about some obscure rabbit disease or some dude that talks in math and buzzes like a fridge—a song which forces your musically humdrum roommate to steal your headphones and listen to Jimmy Buffet (nothing against the B-man) and 80's hair-metal (long live Poison!) on repeat.
Homework is a distant consideration when you're rocking out to Green Day's seminal album, Dookie, at full blast, while your housemates a floor below you are desperately trying to catch some much-needed sleep after their marathon study session for a test that is still four weeks away. Nothing is more important than Rock and Roll. Nothing.
This is why you need to start listening to some of the music I'm listening to, and if you already are, we need to get together and waste time listening to this music. Here is a quick list of some of the albums I've recently purchased with my parents' money which totally rock and which you need to purchase for yourself. Following that is a mix I encourage you to make and play loud enough to draw complaints.
Ryan Adams: Rock and Roll
Alt-country heartthrob Ryan Adams has made one of the first genuine Rock and Roll albums of the year and it's full of gut-wrenching heartbreak, punk-rock approved guitar shredding, and f___ you lyrics that only a snobby, Greenwich Village socialite that smokes too much, drinks too much, dates hot actresses, and doesn't give a shit what you think can pull off. Go buy the album and listen to "This Is It," the first single, "So Alive," and the very rock-and-roll-named, "Note to Self: Don't Die."
Pete Yorn: Musicforthemorningafter
This isn't a new album, but all the same, you should still check it out if you haven't heard any of Pete Yorn's stuff. This New Jersey native (I won't hold it against him) and Syracuse University alum is a hardcore rocker to the bone. Evident throughout his music are bits of Bruce Springsteen's dead honest rock-and-roll story-telling, probably because like most Jersey natives, Yorn worships Springsteen as a God (it's state law in Jersey that all inhabitants place Bruce Springsteen as the second most important man in the universe) and his music is obviously influenced by the Boss. His lyrics are personal stories about his rumbles, stumbles, and general shuffles through his life in Jersey. Like Springsteen's songs, each "story" is universal enough so that anyone not from the Garden State—people who don't refer to where they live in relation to their Parkway exit—can still relate. Standout tracks include "Life on a Chain," "Murray," "For Nancy," and "Closet."
Better Than Ezra: How Does Your Garden Grow?
Remember "Good" and "Desperately Wanting?" Remember thinking these guys were one-hit wonders? I do. Unfortunately for Better Than Ezra, I believe most people still think they will see a thirty second clip somewhere in the future on VH1's Where Are They Now? Fortunately for you, however, I am here to tell you that Ezra's second album, "How Does Your Garden Grow?" is one of the best pop/rock albums that has been released in the last decade. Dulling the studio glimmer that their first albums shined of, Ezra beefed up the content and darkened the context with "How Does Your Garden Grow." Looped throughout an album's worth of acoustic/electric guitar songs—all of which are mostly about lead singer Kevin Griffin's life as a poet-on-the-move—drummer Cary Bonnecaze mixes in some interesting drum-loops and synthesized sounds which make this album more than a throw-away pop/rock adventure. Standout tracks really include the entire album, but the ones that I would recommend for you downloaders are "At the Stars," "Live Again," "Pull," and "Particle" (my favorite song of all time).
So now that you have some new music to acquaint yourself with over the unnecessarily long winter break (trust me underclassmen, it's longer than you think and you'll want it over soon), I will give you two lists of songs you can download and compile as a mix however you like. However, I do recommend ordering the tracks as I give them because it flows better—and because I am totally awesome at making mixes.
Mix One:
- New York, New York - Ryan Adams
- For Nancy - Pete Yorn
- This Love - Maroon 5
- Seven Nation Army - White Stripes
- Graduate - 3rd Eye Blind
- When I Come Around - Greenday
- Slave - David Garza
- Sincerely Me - Better Than Ezra
- Crazy Beat - Blur
- There There - Radiohead
Mix Two:
- I Want To Take You Higher - Sly and Family Stone
- Beast of Burden - Rolling Stones
- Old Man - Neil Young
- Rosalita - Bruce Springsteen
- Don't Let Me Down - The Beatles
- Mona Lisa and Madhatters - Elton John
- Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley
- Into the Mystic - Van Morrison
- The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan
- Truckin' - The Grateful Dead
- My Antonia - Emmy Lou Harris w/ Dave Matthews