I'm so excited!

Ok so I was super stoked when I received an email from the artist I'm about to talk about. One of the things I was hoping for when I started this blog was that bands and musicians would start to send me their stuff to listen to and talk about. Well, it's begun. I hope it doesn't end here.

The artist's name is Alan Wilkis and he's made an album called "Babies Dream Big". It's one of the few times in my life that I've pressed play at the beginning of an album and had almost no idea of what to expect. He described his album like this:

"The album does a fair amount of genre-hopping, but it's pretty firmly rooted in 70s - 80s soul, electronic, and soft rock music, and it features a few special guests: Jason Treuting of So Percussion and Eric Biondo of Antibalas."

So, I'm all about the genre hopping and he's very true to his word. You know the Beck album Midnite Vultures? Certain parts of this album feel like the lost sequel to that album. Other parts feel like Ben Folds when he's feeling particularly funky. Genre-hopping indeed. Oh, and this is pretty much specific to Nat from Mini-Obs. The song "Astronaut (Would You Be One?)" is something maybe you should check out. I'm no expert, but I think it's pretty psychedelic. "Far out", you might say. I don't recall your opinions on Pink Floyd, but this sounds like really early Pink Floyd stuff.

So you see? It's something for everyone on "Babies Dream Big"

Here's what I mean

Alan Wilkis - Bad Mamma Jamma
Alan Wlkis - In My Dreams
Alan Wilkis - Astronaut (Would You Be One?)

Here's the link to more info about the album
Here's his myspace

Round 1a!!! and something of an actual update, too!

Ok everyone. We're starting. This is the real deal. The first two match-ups of the first round are:

1. Barenaked Ladies vs. Alkaline Trio

Barenaked Ladies - What a Letdown from Are Men
Alkaline Trio - Back to Hell from Crimson

2. Green Day vs. Pearl Jam

Green Day - American Idiot from American Idiot
Pearl Jam - Nothing as It Seems from Binaural


In other news, we are putting the hammer down when it comes to buying a house. It's a big scary process to buy your first house, but we have a kickass support system and things are looking good on that front. I'll post here if anything big happens (after the family knows), so check this page for all my incredibly interesting adventures in real estate.

Also, has anyone heard the new R.E.M. album? I'm hearing really really good things about it and I'm seriously considering picking it up. They can be hit or miss, but when they're hitting, they hit HARD. Automatic For the People is one of my all-time favorite albums and if you haven't heard it, you should check it out. Here's a great song from it to whet your whistle.

R.E.M. - Ignoreland from Automatic For the People

Clarification

So, I think I may have been confusing about this bracket thing. You need to vote in the comments section. I'm going to extend this to 11 pm EST on Wednesday (4/9) for you to vote on the matchups in the last post. Let's get voting, people!

Brackets

Ok. So NCAA Basketball March Madness is pretty much over now, but I decided I wanted to try something related to tournament brackets. The classic rock station that we occasionally listen to at work is having a battle of the bands with this tournament bracket and everything. So that's what I'd like to do too.

I'm a part of this website called Last.fm that keeps track of music that I listen to on my iPod or computer. And so, using the chart that it has for the Artists I've listened to most, I have made up a bracket of my own. It's really neat, but I don't think you get to see it yet. First, I'm going to gauge the interest in this endeavour with something of a pre-tournament set of match-ups. There are some positions on the bracket that are ties (basically, I've listened to two or more artists the same number of times) and so we're going to pick who gets those positions right now.


RULES FOR SAMPLE SONGS (Pre-tournament and Round 1):

For the first two contests, I will be posting songs from the contestants' most recent LP (not including greatest hits, live, or B-sides collections) that I own. Round 2 will have a different set of rules.


Oh, and the winner of the whole thing will have an entire post devoted to them including a playlist created by yours truly that you can download and burn to a CD in memory of the time we've spent together! Awww.

OK. So here are the pre-tournament match-ups and their sample songs:

1. Fall Out Boy vs. Sufjan Stevens
Fall Out Boy - You're Crashing, But You're No Wave from Infinity on High
Sufjan Stevens - Decatur, or, Round of Applause For Your Stepmother! from Come On Feel the Illinoise

2. Outkast vs. Blink-182
Outkast - Idlewild Blue (Don't Chu Worry 'Bout Me) from Idlewild
Blink-182 - Easy Target from Blink-182

3. Coheed and Cambria vs. Catch-22 vs. Taking Back Sunday
Coheed and Cambria - Feathers from Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV: Volume 2: No World For Tomorrow
Catch-22 - So Cold from Dinosaur Sounds
Taking Back Sunday - My Blue Heaven from Louder Now

4. Jack Johnson vs. Sublime
Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static from Sleep Through the Static
Sublime - Jailhouse from Sublime

5. Alanis Morissette vs. MxPx
Alanis Morissette - Everything from So-Called Chaos
MxPx - Well Adjusted from Before Everything and After

6. Ben Folds vs. The Get Up Kids vs. Foo Fighters (Now, that's Ben Folds (solo) not Ben Folds Five)
Ben Folds - You to Thank from Songs For Silverman
The Get Up Kids - Martyr Me from Guilt Show
Foo Fighters - Let It Die from Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace

7. Descendents vs. Linkin Park vs. No Use For a Name
Descendents - I Won't Let Me from Everything Sucks
Linkin Park - Given Up from Minutes to Midnight
No Use For a Name - Bullets from Keep Them Confused


So, take a listen if you don't know the artist, leave a comment with your votes and I guess the voting will close at like 11 pm EST on Monday. Thanks in advance for participating!