crash_override

Ok, so I really need to stop neglecting this journal. By doing so, I'm becomming the same people I complain about, letting good threads die. I've been back off hiatus for a while now and it's time to start making entries more frequently now.

- 25 AUG 2010 -

Song of The Day: 'Directions' by Josh Rouse



Ok, so this song is one of the few songs to have a serious impact on my life in that it inspired a MAJOR life change for me. I first discovered this song from one of my favorite movies, Vanilla Sky (2001), I have since turned to this song several times when the mood calls for it. When my life had semmingly lost all "direction", this song and a lot of thinking pushed me towards a major turning point in my life, and eventually ended up with me joining the US Military. So here we are, almost 2 years exactly since I made this huge jump into the unknown, and this song still resonates through my bones like a tuning fork dropped on the sidewalk.

I can only hope it means as much to one of you as it does to me.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

Crash.... out.

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My MB music journal

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- 26 AUG 2010 -

So today has been good so far, took the day off work for my Psych final, which I felt pretty good about. Weather is good today in sunny San Diego, so good in fact, that I may make a rare appearance at the beach. Who knows, it's just one of those days you feel free. Song of the day has been getting me moving since late last night in the shoutbox Dr. Seussicide, Paloma, and a few others know what I'm talking about. Lol, it's almost the weekend in my book, so let's do it.

As some of you may know, I've been delving more into electronic music lately. It's really feeding my bass-head like cravings lately, and with the ongoing project that is my new car stereo system I'm always looking for new stuff to push it to new limits.

Joker is definitely one of my favorite electronic artists right now. There was a point in time that I was close-minded to electronic music because I thought it didn't have any feeling or emotion to it... My question is, where the hell was this song when I was thinking like that? What a masterful display of talent in electronic music this is. The beat is heavier than a ton of bricks and the haunting yet upbeat melody is so infectious. This is a song to play on a day like to day, and it's makes me feel like getting out and doing some driving. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Enjoy.

Song of The Day: Digidesign by Joker

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- 27 AUG 2010 -

So in high contrast to yesterday, today was not a good day. Work sucked and it was just overall one of those days you want to curl up in the corner and sleep the day away. But an afternoon nap has alleviated most of that and now I'm left with a residual drowsy, almost numb feeling. So I'm going to kick back a few cold ones and watch a movie, and of course jam on the song of the day a few times and I'll just call myself in the morning.

Normally I'm pumped on Friday's, and as Shannon Hoon once said, "Friday's are always fresh days". But todays was some sort of weird exception to that logic, today just felt long and monotonous, like the same ****ty day I've lived over and over again like some disgruntled postal worker. So, in a tribute to getting a buzz being the answer to all your problems on a day when you could just blow someone away, here's the song of the day...

Song of The Day: Smoke & Wine (Acoustic) - Hank Williams III



Ah, if a song described the kind of day I just had any better than this song, it would just be creepy to me. This song is a gem of a traditional country song that stands out in a landfill full of commercialized Keith Urban, tractor drivin', designer cowboy hat wearin' garbage. This song stands out to me because it's what country is traditionally all about, drinking your problems away the old fashioned way, al la Merle Haggard, George Jones, and Johnny Cash; Hank III takes us back a step and forward a step at the same time, and you can't ask for much more than that from a modern country star. So, enough with the talk, lets turn that bottle upside down. Enjoy.

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- 28 AUG 2010 -

So it's finally the weekend, although I find myself broke as a joke and I probably won't end up leaving the apartment until Monday morning. But it's worth it for the time off work alone after a week like last week. So today is a tribute to locking yourself away, detached from the outside world, which is seemingly the only way to avoid spending every penny you have these days. But, like always we'll make the best of it. So, to an uneventful weekend of relaxation and recollection, let's have some chill hipster tunage.

Song of The Day: Love Addicts by Mad Planet



Ok so, If you've heard of this band, I'm surprised. I discovered this gem of a regionally recognized So Cal band a few weeks back when they played at my local neighborhood hipster music festival. This duo has a great chill vibe and a great sound, both live and on record. They play as a 2 piece, consisting of a guy on drums and a female bassist/vocalist who has not only an amazing voice, but a great unique bass style as well. They also have some electronic stuff going on in the back, and occasionally mix in some hip-hop influence, which adds a great element to their sound. So I picked up a disk they had for sale at the show, with a few tunes on it, this song sticks out to me the most. Feel free to search for more of their music and information on MySpace, they also have a couple videos on YouTube. Overall, I say check this band out. They have a great sound with a chill vibe that won't put you to sleep unlike post-rock or some of that other "chill music" people are talking about these days. Keep it fresh, keep it interesting, and check out Mad Planet.

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- 29 AUG 2010 -

Well, not much going on today, Sunday, no church for us atheists and what not. So today is a day of rest, not because the bible says it, but because I felt like being lazy when I woke up today. So I did my laundry and am basically calling it a day, boring? I know right. But anyway, not a lot to write about today so lets to the song of the day, that's right, we're going grunge...

Song of The Day: Greasebox by Tad



Tad is one of my favorite bands period. Let alone grunge bands, this band has always stood out to me as far as the grunge scene is concerned. If there is one grunge band that I feel is criminally under-recognized that came out of Seattle in the early 90's, it would be Tad. Their sound has always been heavy, bordering on Metal. Some people even say they invented Grunge-Metal, and I have to agree. Tad never received the commercial recognition they deserved, and for obvious reasons. Tad has the exact opposite of what most people would consider a radio friendly or marketable image. The guys from Tad look like the guys your mom would lock the car doors if they were walking by. I mean these guys are the grungiest, fattest, sloppiest band you will more than likely ever see in your life, but don't let that ruin the music for you. Tad has a great sound, and in retrospect, they define the grunge genre in both image and sound.

So all of my grunge heads, button up that long-sleeve flannel and crank it up, it's time to rock out on a Sunday. Enjoy.

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- 30 AUG 2010 -

Back to work today for me and the majority of the working world, unless you're on one of those ridiculous night shift schedules, in which case you have my sympathy. If you know me at all, then you know I'm already planning the long weekend coming up, It'll be here before you know it. So, here's to an uneventful week and a great evening. But enough of the boring stuff, let's get to the music... We're going to Progressive Post-Hardcore town today boys and girls, and I hope you brought your permission slips.

Song of The Day: One: Twentyseven by As Cities Burn



2005, my senior year in high school. This song, and many others like it were the center of my music interest at the time. That's right, I was a bit of a scene kid, I can admit that. But I never grew my hair out, or had bangs, or wore girl pants. But I was a frequent wearer of black band-tee's, and I did go to A LOT of scene shows, both locally and regionally. Yes I was also in a scene band... but that's not the point here.

The point is that this album, and this song in particular, played a huge musical role in my life at a very important time for me. This song has all the elements required to be a great song of it's type, a great progressive structure, killer lyrics, great instrumentals, and of course... the breakdown. No one does it better, or more tastefully than ACB does on this track. Unlike most scene bands that are associated with breakdowns in post-hardcore music during this time, ACB takes it to a new level of almost classic status. The swaying feel of the short breakdown is executed perfectly, and the eerie sounding bends add an almost haunting overtone to the whole sequence. The song continues to move along nicely, and is well paced, a trait that most progressive songs lack. If there's one thing I can say about ACB it's that they have timing, they know when something is becoming monotonous and boring, and they avoid that point at all costs. It pays off on this track, and it makes for one hell of a memorable jam.

This song has given me a portal back to some of my best memories, of some of my best times as a human being, and I don't want to forget that. So, in a tribute to remembering your roots and where you come from, no matter how far from that you may be now... enjoy.

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Flower Child

You always make me proud, Crash.

I've actually never really checked out Hank III. Partly because I thought he looked like a modern day Jed Clampett and partly because I listened to Shooter Jennings, son of Waylon, once and was dissapointed so I guess I just dismissed the rest of the country star kin too quickly.

I'm so glad you posted this. I really enjoyed that guitar and banjo intro. I have to say I really have to applaud the guy for stepping out of that 'I have a deep voice, a twang, and a cute western shirt so that makes me a country music star' fasad.

He reminds me more of Hank Sr. than his father with that bluegrassy hillbilly sound. He sounds just like something that would have come out of the Ozark Mountains back in the 30s. I like it. Great write up.

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- 31 AUG 2010 -

Eh, what can I say? Today is just another day at work. I did however, get to do one of my favorite work related activities, which is pay a visit to the industrial destruction site to dispose of some documents and hard-drives. It's basically a giant conveyor belt that feeds into a paper shredder on steroids, this things pulverizes anything you can put in there, I mean it just EATS hard-drives and anything else you feed into it, it's pretty intense ****. Which may seem boring to some people, but you have to understand the nature of my work, this is the highlight of my month. So in honor of grinding things to a pulp with a giant industrial machine, we're going to delve into one of my new favorite genres today, Dubstep.

Song of The Day: Alert by Liquid Stranger




One of the recurring themes in this tunes is "annihiliation" both in lyrical content and sound. Liquid Stranger drops a beat that's larger than life on this stellar electronic track. Like many of Liquid Stranger's tracks this one contains audio samples from video games, including several clips from Fallout 3, a popular post-apocalyptic action role-playing game. The post apocalyptic theme only adds to the track, supplementing the dark overtones that are already set in place by the slow, heavy, grinding beat. This creates a furious mixture of sound, resulting in complete annihilation of your face and inevitably, complete deterioration of your soul. Ok, so maybe not quite that last part, but it certainly has that feel to it. Bottom line, this is the heaviest electronic track on my playlist at the moment, and it's really satisfying my ever growing bass-head craving right now. So let's crank it up until you feel the annihilation in your chest. Enjoy.

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- 1 SEP 2010 -

Today was a good day for a couple reasons. First being that it was pay day, and that's always good, I don't care who you are. I also accomplished a few more tasks involved in the epic excursion that it the upgrade of my car audio system. Hopefully that gets done soon, I'm really tired of messing with it at this point and I'm past the deadline I had originally given myself on the project. But the long weekend coming up is really starting to get me excited, I have almost forgotten what it feels like to have four days off of work consecutively. But there's not really a whole lot to report today, so enough of that, let's get to the music.

Song of The Day: Postcards And Letters by My American Heart




Ok, so there's two possible excuses for not having at least one of this bands albums in your possession. One being that you're dead, deaf, or dumb. Two being that you haven't had the pleasure of discovering them yet. My American Heart is one of those bands you can't really easily label into a specific genre, they mix in several elements of the Alternative Rock genre in with some sort of "scene" that would probably end in 'core'. The song I have chosen for today is one of my favorites from the bands debut album 'The Meaning in Makeup', which is comprised entirely of first rate songs. I highly recommend anyone into this type of music to check it out. Not much to say about this song that it doesn't say for itself. Great vocals, guitar, bass, and an overall great song. Enjoy.

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- 3 SEP 2010 -

Well there was no entry yesterday, was a busy day and I just didn't have time, and by the time I did have the time I was too drunk to make a decent entry. So my epic 4-day weekend is officially underway, and I'm pretty excited about it. I actually have a bit of money to fool about with, and I plan on making it a fun 4 days. A trip to the casino perhaps??? It's a possibility. So lets kick back on labor day with a genre that has not been covered in this journal yet. Hip-hop.


Song of The Day: If I Had by Eminem





So the release and subsequent insane popularity of Eminem's latest release Recovery (2010) has sparked some controversy and debate. Is Eminem better now than he has ever been? Well, quite simply the answer from Crash is: No, Hell no. I say this for a few reasons: first, Eminem's subject matter is nowhere close to where it was in the Slim Shady LP and Marshall Mathers LP days, this song is proof of that. What makes a great hip-hop album? is it over produced club bangers? No. Is it songs about money, cars, women, and drugs? Well, sometimes. But what it's really about it authenticity. How real is it? How much can you feel what the artist is feeling? How much can you relate to the music? A great hip-hop album, or any album for that matter, invokes several strong emotions on the listener upon listening. This album, and this song especially, does that. Period.

The Slim Shady LP is hands down one of the best hip-hop albums of all time, and this song is one of the best of the bunch on the album. The album is full of great subject matter, everything from hard times, murder, envy, drugs, and offers a great look into one of the most twisted and talented minds of our time. In the song If I Had, Eminem takes us to some of his most intimate thoughts about life, and money. The song is a saga of how money always seems solve everything, but in reality only complicates things, a la Mo' Money, Mo' Problems. Overall, Eminem offers up everything you could want from a great hip-hop song on this track; great lyrical content, strong delivery, a simple yet solid beat. Bottom line, this song invokes empathy and emotion into the listener, and that is rare. So let's turn up the bass, burn one, and kick back on the weekend... Enjoy.

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