All Is Fair in Good Old War...

            The band I will introduce to all of you this week is an indie-folk band coming all the way from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania called Good Old War.  There are three official members to this group including Keith Goodwin, Tim Arnold, and Daniel Schwartz, each name relating to the decision of their band name Good Old War (GOODwin, ArnOLD, and SchWARtz).  The band put out its debut album in 2008 called Only Way to Be Alone.  This was made possible for Good Old War because of Sargent House Records.  Good Old War has been said to radiate warmth and vulnerability through their musical style, of which I totally agree.  My brother introduced me to the band about a year ago, and I have to say that when I first hear them, I thought they were just alright.  I didn’t think they were anything special.  I remember being drawn to two songs and the rest I thought was mediocre, nothing too spectacular.  However, one particular night I gave the band another listen while I was doing my homework, (I like to listen to music that I don’t know the words to while I work), and I started to really enjoy them.  After a few more listens I can honestly say that Good Old War is one of my favorite bands.  And I don’t really understand why!  They have such a simple style to their art, but I think that is exactly why I love them so much.  I love singing along to the sweet harmonies, and I like listening to the voices that are real and not auto tuned by some machine.  I was looking up music videos for Good Old War, and even when I came across the live versions of the songs, the music sounded the same.  That is what a talented band should sound like; it shouldn’t matter if the band is live or recorded, the quality of the music should stay the same.

            Throughout 2009, Good Old War toured around a bit, hit up some local radio shows, and even sang God Bless America at a hometown Phillies game.  And it seems to me that they’re musical career is just getting started.  In fact, in June of 2010 Good Old War released another album entitled Good Old War.  I didn’t know any of the songs off of this album, but when I was researching the band I definitely was impressed with Good Old War’s style on this newer album.  I love how Good Old War just knows who they are as musical artists; they don’t try to be like any of the mainstream artists around today or anybody else.  They are always themselves, and it shows in their music.  So what are you waiting for? Take a listen; Good Old War will definitely not disappoint. J

            This first song “No Time” is one of my favorites.  It is one of the more upbeat, faster-paced tracks and can be found on Good Old War’s debut album Only Way to Be Alone.  It is about one person who doesn’t understand why his “lover” doesn’t care for him in the same way he cares for her. 

            The next song I will show you is “That’s Some Dream” from the second album Good Old War.  The music is so soothing and peaceful.

            I have so many other favorites from this band, so here is the Myspace music page so you can check them out too!  Two more of my favorites are “Coney Island” and “Sneaky Louise”.

 http://www.myspace.com/goodoldwar/music/songs?filter=popular

            I hope you enjoy!  J

Carlos Bertonatti gets an Easy A when it comes to his music...

     This week I hope you all get the chance to know…. Carlos Bertonatti!  I stumbled upon this artist via a popular movie that many of you may have already seen called “Easy A”.  I watched this movie with my friend Krista, who enjoyed this movie (and its music) a lot.  Therefore, promptly the day after watching the movie, she downloaded the movie’s musical soundtrack.  That’s where Carlos Bertonatti comes in.  On the soundtrack is a “dance in your room while singing into the hairbrush” feel-good kind of song called “Picture Perfect” which caught my ears’ attention.  And who sings this happy-go-lucky type of song?  You guessed it, Carlos Bertonatti.

            To my surprise, I found out that Carlos Bertonatti grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, Bariloche, Argentina, and Miami Florida.  His family moved around a lot.  Growing up, he was able to let out his emotions through playing a guitar.  Eventually though, people found out about his voice and he started to sing along with the songs he played.  Carlos, being very good looking, also starting catching the eyes of many young females.  His populartiy started to grow.  

          In 2005 Carlos began recording with Miami based producer Chris Rodriguez.  The album that they started to right together showed Bertonatti’s Latin percussion and hip-hop flavor.  He also has the ability to show his classical and heartfelt side with some of his other tracks.  Sadly, I tried to find out more about this artist, but it looks as though this is the only album that is out there as of right now.  Hopefully, Bertonatti will keep writing his music and produce another album.  As for now however, I hope you enjoy Carlos Bertonatti!

          This first song I will show you by Carlos Bertonatti is called “Picture Perfect”. This peppy song was featured on the “Easy A” comedy.  I love the unique instrumentation in Carlo’s music.

  

          I could not find many other decent quality videos of Carlos Bertonatti's music, so I will leave you with his Myspace link.  He has four of his songs on this site.  His song "The Little Things" can be compared to Jack Johnson's easy going style.

http://www.myspace.com/carlosbertonatti

I know your ears won't be disappointed!

Rooney is Rewarded for their Persistence

            This week I am going to introduce to you a band with a little old school flavor.  This band has been compared to bands including The Beatles, The Cars, and Cheap Trick.  The rockin’ band I am going to introduce to you all this week is called Rooney.  Sadly, Rooney seems to have been born in the wrong era.  With their old school sound, Rooney has been trying to make it big for a very long time.  And finally, their perseverance has recently been starting to pay off.

            Back in 1999, the band formed being called the name of Ed Rooney.  The band released a series of independent EPs through to 2002.  Moving up in the musical social ladder, Rooney got the chance to sign on a recording deal with Geffen Records.  The band never really slowed down enough to quit but album sales were definitely slow.  The group held a cameo appearance on the O.C. where they sang a few of their songs, and then had a song featured on the daytime soap opera “All My Children”.  Rooney kept persisting to try to make it to the big time, and had many songs featured on different television shows.  They even toured with different artists including Weezer and The Strokes.  However, things still came slowly for the band.  Still pushing forward, Rooney started working on their second album called “Calling the World”.  In 2007 the band’s single “When Did Your Heart Go Missing?” became popular and was used in a commercial for the TV show “Beauty and the Geek”.  Their new album with this popular single debuted at #42 on the Billboard Top 100 Albums chart. 

            The following year of 2008 Rooney started with opening for teen heartthrobs, The Jonas Brothers, on the Jonas Brothers’ “Look Me in the Eyes” tour.  In 2009 the band started working on their album entitled Eureka.  Rooney is actually currently on tour covering this new album.  The tour goes until the end of May, with Rooney playing music in various cities all over the United States.  Even though it has been a long and winding road towards musical fame for Rooney, they have definitely never given up and are not about to be taken out of the race any time soon. 

            I first heard of the band Rooney a few years ago.  My friend Andy has been dubbed the nickname of “Rooney” in comparison to the CBS news spokesman Andy Rooney, so when she saw an album of a band named Rooney at the musical store, she thought she just had to buy the CD.  She had never heard of the band and didn’t even know what they were going to sound like.  Luckily, she liked their sound a lot, and then introduced them to me.  I hope you enjoy them as well!

            First, I will show you one of Rooney’s first hit singles, “When Did Your Heart Go Missing”.

The next song I will show you is one of my personal favorites, “I Should’ve Been After You”.  This song is one of my favorites because it is upbeat, and a good song to jam to in the car.  I hope you agree!

Niemann, is the New Man, in Country Music

The artist I am going to introduce to you guys this week is country music artist Jerrod Niemann.  Jerrod Niemann was born in Harper, Kansas (there’s no place like home!) and was influenced by country music at an early age.  The very first musical instrument Niemann learned how to play was a Tracy Lawrence autographed guitar that his mother won at a Tracy Lawrence concert.  He has been in love with music ever since.  Niemann went on to compete in various talent shows, (across the country!) and finally won the national finals with Tracy Lawrence’s hit song “Texas Tornado” in 1996.  After high school, Niemann attended South Plains College in Levelland, Texas on the pursuit of an Associate of Arts degree.  It was here that he started playing acoustic guitar and singing in Texas clubs and bars, kind of on the start to kick off his music career. 

            Wanting to get more of a “country outlook” Jerrod Niemann moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2000.  He and his band started playing concerts at various clubs around the country, but never got any radio time.  He then went to Europe to tour with the band Kane. 

Luckily, in 2006 he signed to Category 5 Records and made the country singles charts with his “I Love Women (My Mama Can’t Stand) single.  Then, Jerrod Niemann signed to a different record company co-owned by Brad Paisley in 2010.  His debut single “Lover, Lover” became his first number one country hit by August.  Jerrod was flying high.  Though it has been a long and winding road for Jerrod, his persistence in the musical world has definitely paid off for him.

            The first song I will show you today will of course be this number one hit, “Lover, Lover”.  I went to Tennessee over spring break on the UMary STLF trip, and this song was a hit with many of our group members.  It is a fun song full of soul that can be sung on the bus by everyone. (Why yes, we did actually do this.) J  It is a great song to let out frustrations, especially if any of you out there have ever been heartbroken by a so-called “lover”.

            The next song I hope you enjoy is called “What Do You Want”.  I think the reason listeners love Jerrod Niemann so much is the simplicity in his voice, and how sweet his voice is on their ears.  His voice kind of has a relaxing, and almost lazy? feel to it (but in a good way of course).  I hope you enjoy Jerrod Niemann!

Psh, Twilight? How About Vampire Weekend!

                The artist I hope you all will learn to love this week is called Vampire Weekend.  Now, I know what you all are thinking and the answer is no, this band is not just some teenage dream “Edward and Bella romance hookup”.  Vampire Weekend started off signing to XL Recordings in 2006 in New York City.  The band consists of Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson, and Chris Baio.  The name Vampire Weekend comes from a movie that Ezra Koenig made in the summer of his freshman year at college.  This band released their debut album “Vampire Weekend” in January of 2008 which ended up being a startling success, and peaked at #17 on the Billboard 200.  If any of you viewers out there have ever played the game “Just Dance 2”, you have probably even heard or danced to one of their hit songs off of this album called “A-Punk”.  Many of their songs have pumping beats to dance around to, so it is very fitting that the band would be featured in such a game.  Vampire Weekend’s second album “Contra” was released in January of 2010.  A friend showed me a pretty rocking mix off this album called “Cousins” which I will be showing you today.  A lot of their tracks give you a sort of “tropical” feel, even though the band originated from New York City.  However one may look at it, Vampire Weekend is extremely talented showing off with their many happy-go-lucky sounding guitar riffs and their odd sounding rhythms playing behind their sweet sounding vocals.  This music is hopefully nothing like you have heard before.  Vampire Weekend takes pride in its’ unique sound and is still rising to musical fame.  I hope you enjoy and maybe you will find room in your music collection for Vampire Weekend!

The first song I will be showing you is called “Cousins” off of the 2010 album “Contra”.

The next song is called “A-Punk” and is featured on the current “Just Dance 2” game.  I put the video from “Just Dance 2” on here so you can dance along to the song if you would like!

A City.... Filled With Owls??

            Would you believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies lit up the world as you fell asleep?  Adam Young the maker of the band Owl City thinks that you would not be able to believe your eyes.  And now humorously, many of you probably have Adam’s hit single “Fireflies” by Owl City floating around in your heads.  J  Adam Young started his musical stylings a few years ago when he lived with his parents at their home in Owantanna, Minnesota.  Young suffered from severe insomnia.  Not being able to sleep, he started to spend his nights in the basement at the computer putting different electronica and other techno-flavorful sounds together.  He eventually started recording his music merely by using his computer and a few keyboards. Once completed, Young uploaded the finished tracks to a Myspace profile.  His debut single of “Hello Seattle” which was released in 2007 received more than six million plays on the web.  Adam’s music was a hit.  He kept his fans happy by releasing a mini album of seven total tracks titled “Of June” after the success of his debut single.  Fans wanted more.  Even though Young was unsigned, that did not stop him from making more music.  In 2008 his album “Maybe I’m Dreaming” came out onto the Myspace scene.  Having two albums topping the Top 20 of the U.S. electronic albums chart brought Adam Young’s creation of Owl City to the attention of musical experts.  Early in 2009, Adam Young was signed to Universal Republic.  He then released his album of “Ocean Eyes” in July of that same year.

            On his new album “Ocean Eyes”, Young sings a duet with Matt Thiessen from the band of Relient K.  This track called “Fireflies” skyrocketed to the top of the charts.  It is also funny if listeners take a closer look at the lyrics to Young’s tracks because a lot of the songs mention him being an “insomniac” and how he “cannot sleep”.  Adam Young takes listeners into a place of their imaginations that they have never gone before.  His lyrics are extremely poetic and are almost as sweet as dreaming.  Owl City became such an overnight sensation that Adam Young has had the privilege of touring around the world.  So, what happened to the quiet kid from Minnesota who cannot sleep?  He is a now a worldwide hit!

This first song that I am going to have you listen to is one of my personal favorites, “Hot Air Balloon”.  This song almost feels like listeners are being placed right alongside Adam Young in one of his imaginative dreams.



            The next song I will introduce you to is called “Tidal Wave”. This song takes listeners along on a journey starting off with a sense of sadness and depression, but then towards the end, things start turning up.  One can also hear Young’s religious feeling in the very end of this song as he sings “…then I was given grace and love, I was blind but now I can see.  ‘Cuz I found a new hope from above, and courage swept over me”.  I hope you enjoy Owl City!



London's (Not So Little) Lion Men...

                This week I have a very special band to introduce to you all.  Mumford and Sons started playing music together in December of 2007.  Starting out in London, England, Marcus Mumford, Country Winston, Ben Lovett, and Ted Dwane are on the journey of living their dreams.  With each new song released, Mumford and Son’s music gets stronger and more meaningful.  Each song tells a personal story and listeners can hear the powerful passion through the band’s voices with each new lyric.  “What we write about is real, and we sing and play our instruments more passionately ‘cause we feel like we need to. We love honest music,” says Winston.  The harmonies being sung and the various types of instruments these musicians play make for some really entertaining music.  These guys are extremely talented!  Their next show will be in London, but Americans can catch them in Indio, California on April 16^th and New Orleans, Louisiana on April 29^th.  Other concert dates after these can be found on the Mumford and Sons website, http://www.mumfordandsons.com/.  Check them out, and then go buy their album Sigh No More.  Q Magazine once said about this album, “A record that swings from arresting fragility to hearty dynamics.”  You will not be disappointed!

     The first single on Sigh No More, “Little Lion Man,” is already being boasted as “The Hottest Record In The World” by Radio 1′s Zane Lowe, and the band has been longlisted for the BBC Sounds Of 2008 Poll, which features the most promising new music talent.  This single does drop the “F-bomb” a few times in the chorus, but if listeners can get past this use of foul language, I am sure their ears will be pleased.

     Some of my other favorites include "The Cave" and "Winter Winds".  Here is "After the Storm".