With Field Hockey Comes Good Tunes

So this past weekend (reason for lack of blogging) was an experience in eastern Pennsylvania in which field hockey players, including myself (and Bre) gathered together to play competitively and possibly be evaluated by coaches at higher level institutions. So on we went to West Chester University in West Chester, PA., and I found myself grouped on Team "South Africa," which allowed me to be able to play on a team with an energetic Canadian, a legitimate "B.E.N.N.Y.," and a Chicago native, to name only a few. In our discussions about diversity and our sessions allowing us to brag about why our homes are the best (I totally won those arguments), we had an exchange of music in our last night of camp. Let me tell you, I heard some music and found out about artists that I had to ask how to spell the name at least three times. The Canadian mentioned this band TV on the Radio, and the name definitely caught my eye, so I checked them out today when I got home. "Wolf Like Me" is a really cool song, not gonna lie. So besides being completely made fun of for how I said "hot" and "water" and being told my accent is like The Sopranos, I found out some really cool music and made some genuinely different friends.

www.myspace.com/tvotr

Ingrid Michaelson Tour

Aside from supporting Dave Matthews Band on their tour this summer, songstress Ingrid Michaelson has introduced a headlining tour beginning June 1 and ending on July 2. Michaelson, whose songs are often featured on ABC's hit television show Grey's Anatomy (favorite show), will be playing in our surrounding area (kind of) quite a few times on her tour, including Terminal 5 in New York City on June 20. If it weren't for my brother graduating from high school... I would most definitely be going.

For a full list of dates, including others around our area...

http://www.ingridmichaelson.com

School House Rock: America Rock

Back in 2003, Allenwood School students, including myself, were introduced to musical bliss - School House Rock. By far the most well-produced and informative of all the rocks was America rock, including Elbow Room, a tale about the largest real estate deal in America's history, the Louisiana Purchase, as well as No More Kings, a rebellious tale about breaking away from British rule. And who could forget "The Great American Melting Pot?" Or "The Preamble?" Thanks to that 2:59 second song, I can recite the whole preamble to the Constitution (We the people, in order to form a more perfect union...)

There's not too much relativity to my beat on this one...but seriously. Credit must be given where credit is due.

Jack's Mannequin in NJ

Well they were at Bamboozle, a two-day festival of music in East Rutherford, N.J., but I went on Jack's Mannequin's website to just filter through the site and check things out that may be blog-worthy. In my search, I found that the most recent photos added are from their show at the Stone Pony. Here's the link...

I heard new Chemtrail music

That's surely a perk of being the guitarist's sister. But seriously, not being unethical or bias or anything, but I know a lot of students at our school have been introduced to Chemtrail recently, as they played at the "Rock Away Hate" concert in the Wall High School cafeteria. I was writing a self-reflection essay this weekend and my brother Mr. Christopher Camano came into the room and handed me the unedited edition of their new cd. I don't know if I can say album names or song titles or anything...but all I can say is it's good.

The Mercury Program

Whenever I'm doing anything, there's got to be music on. I think that's a pretty standard statement for anybody. The thing is, if I'm doing homework or anything that requires a decent amount of thinking, it's not uncommon for me to be singing the songs and accidentally write the lyrics to a song that I'm really into on my chemistry homework instead of writing the oxidation of a copper (II) ion. What I've come up with is that listening to music without words isn't even bad when you listen to artists like The Mercury Program or Maserati or Explosions in the Sky.

Most recently I've been listening to The Mercury Program, specifically "You Give Me Problems About My Business." It allows me to concentrate on my work rather than the lyrics to my frequent flyer iTunes songs. It goes to show that the music's not just about the words. It's about the quarter notes and eighth notes and all the notes in between. It's about the sudden change of tempo or the crescendo before the bridge. Sure, some artists are meant to sing and write meaningful lyrics to accompany their songs, but artists like The Mercury Program are fine left by themselves.

Songs I Actually Leave on the Radio

I don't often listen to the radio. If I'm in the car, sure, but there's not much music that's too appealing to me on there. Lately, however, I don't know if my taste has been altered or if there's just better music on the radio, but I find myself enjoying a bunch of songs I'll hear on z100...and I actually like it.

American Idol winner Jordin Sparks' most recent hit "No Air" is very catchy to me, and I'm not even an avid Idol fan. I mean, her last song "Tattoo" was even pretty good.

Now, I have felt a little bit of confusion with Rihanna's new song "Take A Bow." Other than her song "Breakin' Dishes," which I haven't heard on the radio, I believe it's one of her best. The thing is, she's talking about dropping her cheater boyfriend...isn't that a little hypocritical, Rihanna? I mean, you did sing "Unfaithful" and all... Anyway, moral to the story is that "Take A Bow" is something I have since downloaded and have played on my iTunes quite a few times.

"Run the Show" by Kat DeLuna is an upbeat hit incorporating Latin roots into popular music appealing to many radio listeners today. This song was on our lacrosse warm-up C.D. and when it was blasting over the speakers you couldn't help but get your body moving.

So there you have it, a few songs I've noticed are worthy of mentioning on my blog. That takes a lot. Enjoy your radio hits and I'll hopefully be finding some more with my station surfing soon.