Free After-Friday! Zelda!

I spaced posting this on Friday! Please forgive me!!

So, if you, like me, love any of the Legend of Zelda series, then this is the site for you:

People, meet ZREO, ZREO, meet people.

ZREO stands for Zelda Re-Orchestrated, a group dedicated to providing high quality orchestrated versions of Zelda songs, and yes, it's ALL free.

Head on over there and click on the Listen tab, and yes, there are hundreds of songs, and yes, they really are ALL free!

You can check out their story on the site, as well, it's pretty sweet!

Enjoy the awesome music!!

Know of any places to get free songs? Let me know!

You're awesome. Peace.

Moments of Vice Verses

For those of you who haven't heard, Switchfoot released their latest album...TODAY! (Although I got my copy a bit earlier). You should all buy it, because it is an all-around amazing album of brilliant songs strung together by the journey of life.

The Super Deluxe version includes a handwritten liner which defines Vice Verses as:
1. Against the vices
2. Verses about the vices
3. A direction change, the opposite of
4. The polarity, the didactic nature of existence:

• Death-life, highs-lows, joy-pain, truth-lie. These are always happening

5. Verses of hope, looking beyond


Throughout my listens of Vice Verses, I noticed that there were several moments that really stood out to me in the songs, both musically and spiritually.

First off, the second verse of Afterlife. Just, remember this part, it's important later. Then, after the guitar solo, Jon comes in with a muted guitar, singing "Everyday a choice is made. Everyday I choose my fate"
"I'm ready now, I'm not waiting for the afterlife"

Next up, The War Inside. This whole song is energetic, especially the chorus, but highlight, for me, at the end of the last verse: "Yeah, every thought or deed, yeah, every tree or seed. The big things come from the little dreams. Every world is made by *make believe*". Just amazing... Listen to it!!

Ahh, Restless. It's been one of my favorites ever since I'd heard the live acoustic versions. This whole song really is amazing, but the first part that  I love is in the second verse:

"Running hard for the infinite
With the tears of saints and hypocrites

Oh, blood of black and white and grey
Oh, death in life and night in day
One by one by one
We let our rivers run"

Then, the part that really gets me: (You need to listen to get it)

"Until the sea of glass we meet
At last completed and complete
Where tide and tear and pain subside
And laughter drinks them dry

I’ll be waiting
Anticipating
All that I aim for
What I was made for

With every heartbeat
All of my blood bleeds
Running inside me
I’m looking for you"

Just amazing

Blinding Light -- This whole song is great, but it's the chorus, it manages to give me goosebumps every time with it's "Still looking for the blinding light! Still looking for the reason why! Still looking for the sunshine to take me higher"

Selling the News was noted as the closest Jon will ever get to doing a rap song, and it certainly is different than anything he's done before. This part begins with a *heavy* beat as Jon accuses "Substance, oh, substance, where have you been? You've been replaced by the masters of spin", while the beat continually grows deeper and deeper until "We're still on the air, it must be the truth, We're selling the news"

 Thrive... it's just amazing, incredible: "I'm always close but I'm never enough. I'm always in line but never in love. I get so down, but I won't give up"

 Dark Horses? Honestly, who Doesn't like the "Laa la-la-la-la-la-la" 's. Then, Jon's eerie voice comes in at the end with "Keep running with the dark horses, hope makes the blood change courses."

Souvenirs, oh souvenirs. This entire song is a moment, or, more like, the moments of my life. This song takes you back, to look at the memories throughout your time here. "I wouldn't trade it for anything, my souvenirs". This one speaks to me more than any other.

 Vice Verses, the title track, written along the high tide line:
 "Where is God in the city life?
Where is God in the city light?
Where is God in the earthquake?
Where is God in the genocide?

Where are you in my broken heart?
Everything seems to fall apart
Everything feels rusted over
Tell me that you’re there"

Finally, Where I belong, a true masterpiece. From the first "Oooaaaahh" to "Forever now", nearly 7 minutes, yet it feels like it could go a bit longer, if it wanted. The first words that catch me are "I take a deep breath and close my eyes...One last time".

Jon talks of of a place where the weak are made strong and the righteous right the wrongs. Later: "This body's not my own, This world is not my own, But I can hear the sound of my heart beating out, 'So lets go boys, Play it loud!!'"

"And when I reach the other side
I want to look You in the eye
And know that I've arrived
In a world where I belong"

Then, finally, in a memory of the beginning, Afterlife, he repeats:
"I still believe we can live forever, you and I we begin forever now. Forever now"

There you have it. This came out much different than I imagined, but I hope you enjoyed it, and that it wasn't too disjointed to read.

If you made it this far, Thank You!! You are awesome! Leave a comment with your thoughts/opinions on these songs and what they mean to you!

Free Friday! Part Two!

There aren't many things that I like more than Switchfoot's music. Wanna know what IS better?

Free Switchfoot music.

And that's what I'm giving you today.

Let me introduce you to Land of Broken Hearts, the just-turned-5-year-old, biggest Switchfoot fan site around. It is THE resource for anything Switchfoot related, with the band even commenting on how the site is more on top of what they're doing than they themselves are.

Anyways, the place I really wanted to point you to is the media section of the site. This area is full of rare, recorded songs, concerts, acoustic versions of songs, and many other things. Hundreds of songs, and many of them have made it on to my mp3 player (although, I admit, some of them are bad quality)

So yeah, that's pretty much all I've got so say about it for now, I can give you guys some lists of mine/others favorites on there if you'd like

What do you think?? Do you have any free songs/albums/sites? Let me know! Oh, and, enjoy the music :)

Peace.


P.S. Vice Verses (their new album) is AMAZING

Song Review!!! Sorta?

"You've one life, you've one life, you've one life left to lead. You've one life, you've one life, you've one life left to leave"

So I'm really not much of a critic (although I can be on certain things), so I don't know if I can call this a review as much as I can a discovery of what it's about. Was that confusing enough for you?

Anywho's, the song that I'm 'reviewing' is titled "Faust, Midas, and Me" from Switchfoot's 7th album "Oh! Gravity."

How did I come across this song? It has long been my goal (for the last few months, at least) to buy/obtain all of Switchfoot's albums. This last Wednesday (Or was it Thursday?) I finally complete my goal with the purchase (through iTunes) of Oh! Gravity, and this song was one of the few that really stuck out at me.

So, I listened: 

It's pretty self-explanatory song: this man has done/given up certain things to give himself the 'golden' life. One day, he realizes that in the process he went through to gain this life, he's lost himself and what he truly needs, so he sets out to fix it, and eventually, he is granted this.

One thing that confused me was the title, especially Faust and Midas. They sounded familiar, but who were they? What made them so important to this song?

Like any good nerd, Google was my answer (and by extension, Wikipedia):

Faust (from a German legend), was a successful scholar, but he was never satisfied with it all, so he sold his soul to the devil for infinite knowledge and magic for 24 years, after which, he'd be taken to hell. I found this really described this song well.

Next up, Midas (Greek mythology), who I really should have remembered. After entertaining a satyr for 10 days, the satyr took King Midas to Bacchus, and he offered Midas any wish that he wanted. Midas, of course, wished that everything he touched would turn into gold. He absolutely loved his new gift! .... Until he found out he couldn't eat or drink (because gold, clearly, cannot be digested). Distraught, he prayed for this gift/bane to be taken away, and Bacchus consented. Sick of gold/riches, Midas left his kingdom to become a peasant.

So Midas' story obviously relates with the golden parts of the song, along with the resolution to start over again.


Well, that's my take on the song Faust, Midas, and Myself. What are your thought on it?

Also, how is this post? Is it long? Boring? Horrible? All of the above? Any thoughts (and by extension, comments) greatly appreciated!

FREE FRIDAY!!

That's right! Every friday I'm going out of my way to find free music for you guys (That is, if people are even reading this If you are, let me know in the comments!)!

So for this first edition, I'd like to introduce you to a little Pennsylvania band called The Revere (not to be confused with just Revere). For their first public album, The Great City, they decided they'd try and promote themselves by giving it away for free!

This is a concept/storytelling album that tells the story of several travelers, all called to an inn to start an adventure together, that leads them to a Great City. In addition to the songs, you can download the full story/adventure of these travelers in a pdf file.

You can get it all here: http://therevere.net/

 ALSO, the continuation of the story is continued in Ashia (http://www.amazon.com/Ashia-Amazon-MP3-Exclusive/dp/B0053A837O), a 4 song EP for less than two dollars!

What do you think of this album? Enjoy the songs!!

It's a mystery, really...

But MysteryGuitarMan (MGM) is one of the few youtubers that I absolutely love, he's one of the guys that helped me to start my own channel (which has, I admit, been lacking). He is most known for his crazy songs made out of random/everyday objects, and is one of the most popular Youtube stars.

Here's the video that originally got him famous:

Yeah, crazy, huh?

In addition to music videos like this, lately, he's also been going into more effects and stuff, check out this one (Also be sure to look at the making of, it's incredible):

Anyways, that's MysteryGuitarMan, hope you enjy his videos!

Be sure to check back here tomorrow!

Another Blog??

Yes.

Another one.

Along with my photo blog, I've wanted to create a blog to share with people my views on music; what I like, why I like it, what I do with it, etc, and I hope you will follow me in this journey.

The very first thing you must know about me (anyone who knows me knows this): Switchfoot is my absolute favorite band ever. None of the others have come close. I currently have purchased 7/8 of their albums, with plans of buying the last one sometime this week.

To start this out I'd like to show you cover I did of a Sky Sailing song:

How do you think I did? I've been wanting to do more covers of other songs

Anyways, glad to get this started, stay tuned!