Album Pick: Been to the Future

This is a great solo acoustic album by Joey Eppard, lead singer of the prog rock band 3. If you didn't like 3 because you thought it was too heavy or fast-paced, you might want to give it another try with this album. Eppard does a lot of acoustic covers of 3 songs which you might find easier to listen to. His guitar technique is unlike anyone I've seen before. He combines finger picking techniques with slap/flamenco to make for a very unique guitar sound. His voice sounds like he could be a member of the backstreet boys, which isn't a bad thing, but it does give the music a very pop-like sound. It's hard to pin any kind of genre on this music because he experiments with different styles from hip-hop to prog rock to folk. If you don't like the first song you hear, try listening to a couple other tracks and see if you like those. This album is definitely worth listening to for any fan of acoustic solo performances. My favourite track off this album is "Amaze Disgrace." Check it out!

London Music Club - UWO Students Perform Tonight!

Tonight the London Music Club is hosting UWO Bands and Songwriters Society for their second open mic of the year! BANDSS is a great club at Western for students who want to get involved with music at school. Come to London Music Club tonight between 8:30 and 12:30 and check out the student talent. There are some great musicians at Western and this is the perfect way to see them. You'll get to see everything from solo performances to a full band. If you enjoy the show and think you might want to perform yourself, all you have to do is ask.

"The End" Response

I just watched a 3-part series call “The End,” for my blogging class. Even though this is an assignment, it is has a lot to do with music so you might want to give this a read anyway!

“The End” isn’t about some crazy 2012 apocalyptic theory for the end of the world, but it does ask the question about whether or not we’re facing the apocalypse of print and broadcast radio/tv. All three of these mediums are losing their audience, especially young people, to the internet, where people can access pretty much whatever they want, whether it is a song, movie, tv show or news article. Text, images, audio and video can all be viewed on a computer screen and the internet stores it for us to access whenever we want for free! The video even mentions the Open Content Alliance, which is working with Yahoo and Microsoft to digitize all the world’s books! Imagine having every book imaginable at your fingertips, but is this a good thing?

The issue for mainstream media isn’t how we consume the content we want, it’s about getting us to see the advertisements that pay a lot of money to get our attention. When we download a tv show, we don’t see the ads that paid for that show to go on the air, and so the advertisers lose money and thus the tv station loses money. This could be a bad thing since networks would have less money to spend on making quality content for us, OR we could look at it as a way of putting pressure on the tv networks to make better content that would encourage us to watch more television. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of garbage on television these days, and I think it’s a possible reason for the lack of success we see in television today, rather than the rise of the internet.

What about the music industry? It has been fighting things like file sharing and torrents since it first began with the likes of Napster and other file sharing software. Do you know anyone in university who has an iTunes library with thousands of songs and has paid for all of them? I’d be surprised if you do. Our generation is used to free music, and we get to carry it all in our pockets with an iPod, with thousands of songs at our fingertips. FM radio is losing its audience too because we can access whatever song we want for free, and there are no annoying advertisements either. When we download music are we hurting the artist (who make very little profit off record sales) or the record label? Artists make most of their money from touring live, and the more fans they have (through downloading music perhaps?) could mean a larger audience that want to see them on stage. Some artists like Nine Inch Nails have embraced this idea by releasing their music for free and increasing their ticket sales.

Bottom line, mainstream media conglomerates need to adapt to this new information environment rather than try to fight it. The 2 questions they need to ask are how can they get an audience and how can they profit from it. I don’t think we’ll see the end of print, radio and tv, but they will undoubtedly change. For better or for worse? What do you think?

Album Pick: Brave New World

If you're a metal fan then this should not be an unfamiliar band to you. Though I wouldn't consider myself a huge Iron Maiden fan, their music is a strong influence for some of my favourite bands including Dream Theater and Coheed & Cambria. This particular album was released shortly after lead singer Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith rejoined the band after 5 years. Because the albums that were released after Dickinson left were Iron Maiden's least successful, the reunion was a big deal for fans. Brave New World shows the band is still strong. The thing I find most impressing about the band is their ability to keep writing amazing guitar riffs even after releasing over 10 studio albums. The standout tracks here are "The Ghost of Navigator," "Brave New World," and "Dream of Mirrors." Give them a listen. Even if you're not a metal fan. You might be surprised.

Metropolis Pt. 1 Live!

I was just watching some live concert videos on youtube and stumbled on this video. Metropolis Pt. 1 is one of Dream Theater's best tracks, and it represents pretty much everything that the band is about. This song is very progressive with a great metal/rush kind of sound. This particular performance is from their 20th anniversary show, "Score," featuring an entire orchestra backing up the band. I watched the concert today and whether you're a fan of Dream Theater or not, you can't help but be impressed by what these guys do live. I can't htink of any other band where each member is so good at their respective instruments. Check it out!

Album Pick: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3

This is the second album I've recommended by Coheed and Cambria. It's their second studio album and arguably their best work to date. It sounds pretty different from GAIBS4 (album 3) since this one was recorded on an indie label, so it sounds less produced than their more recent albums. If you can look past that and listen to what they wrote, you'll be impressed. This band really takes advantage of having 2 guitarists, which makes for some awesome riffs that I've even begun to learn on guitar. Of course, the centerpiece of the album is Claudio Sanchez and his vocal work. He's got a very unique voice. It might take some getting used to but it sets this band apart from others. If you're a fan of Rush or Iron Maiden, then this music should be easily accessible since they are big influences in this album. My favourite tracks are "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3," "The Crowing," and "The Light and the Glass." Check it out!

The band got most of their following from their lives performances. Here's why:

Stone Temple Pilots - in London Thursday!

If you're in the mood for some good ol' rock and roll, you should visit the John Labatt Centre to see the Stone Temple Pilots!

They'll be playing at the John Labatt Centre this Thursday, November 19th, so if you're a fan and you haven't got a ticket yet, you might still have a chance. I don't know this band very well but I listened to some of their songs on their MySpace and I think it's pretty good. They sound semi-metal semi-pop rock, so if you like either genre you might be into this music. I can't make it to the concert so if you got to see it let me know how good they are live!