hardcore

Just over a week ago, I went to see a hardcore show.

My girlfriend's brother is the drummer in a hardcore band that appears to have a fairly large underground following. So, we rented a car and drove to a venue in Lemoyne, PA to see them play.


Great guys, all around. I have a few friends who have played in metal bands, too, and they're also great guys. Hardcore is (relatively) new to me. Not my type of music, but mostly because of the vocal styling. I've always been a sucker for lyrics I can understand. Still, I had a good time. These guys were definitely talented - I was especially impressed with the drummer/brother. Plus, we went to Waffle House after the show (before the longish drive back to DC).

What really got me was the...dancing? I don't know what you would call it. Mosh pits are so 1990s. It's the aughts, and the new style is flailing wildly and jump kicking. I didn't see anyone accidentally punch anyone else in the face, which was shocking considering how close they were to one another. I did see someone purposefully punch someone else in the face, which is always nice.

Anyway, if you're into hardcore, check them out. They're a talented group with a shockingly positive social message. Keep them 'taters peeled, y'all, for Ignite the Will.

For you Minnesotans, they'll be at the Triple Rock Social Club in February. Go have some punk rock breakfast and then go back to see the show.

on top of christmas

I'll say it.

I'm not really into Christmas music.

It's not that I dislike Christmas music, but I don't exactly have a hankering for it this time of year, either. I mean, sure. There's plenty of good Christmas songs. Much of it, however, strikes me as painfully sentimental. Of course, this may just be the inner, bitter darkness speaking.

By far my favorite Christmas Song is "Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi. You may recognize the song from such Christmas specials as "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

That's right - I just gave you the whole special. The song I refer to is playing in the background during the beginning of the show (though the instrumental is about a billion times better than the version above). In fact, I think it may be my favorite piano-driven jazz song of all time, narrowly defeated Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" (which is possibly the coolest song on the planet).

Vince Guaraldi is my favorite Jazz pianist. That's probably not saying much, since I know very little about jazz. Still, anybody who could put together both "Christmas Time Is Here" and "Linus and Lucy" (commonly called the Peanuts theme) is solid in my book.

I can also recommend Sufjan Stevens' five-disc Christmas album...especially to those who really are into Sufjan Stevens. Some of it is probably too out there for a lot of folks (me included), but there's enough that's really good to make it worthwhile. When you consider that there are 42 songs spread across the set, it's a good value as well. There are a few songs that are repeated, but the versions vary so greatly from one another that you don't even notice.

Even if you spent the whole day listening to little cousins sing arias about the Batmobile losing a wheel, I hope you had a great Christmas.

Vince Guaraldi's "Greatest Hits" -
Amazon


Vince Guaraldi Trio's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" -
Amazon


Sufjan Stevens: Songs for Christmas -
Amazon

Christmas

It's late on Christmas night, I've been doing family stuff for the last three days, and I'm staring at a very long day of work tomorrow preparing for a trial in a couple of weeks (don't worry, it's nothing cool. I'm fourth chair.) Instead of doing the smart thing and going to bed or unpacking my new apartment, I'm making my first blog post ever. I've been meaning to post here for the last month, but have been trying to think of a good subject. I hadn't thought of anything worthwhile, but inspired by the Christmas Spirit, I'm going to make the most untimely blog post ever, and ruminate on Christmas music.

For me, Christmas music is like any other kind of music in that I can't stand it when bad versions of it are forced on me at stores and other places, but when I can pick the good songs and listen to them on my own terms I really like it. Between the decoration-barren existence of bachelorhood, moving, and work, I haven't had much of a chance to get in the Christmas mood this year. Conequently, I had listened to virtually no good Christmas music until getting together with the family the past few days. Perhaps this post is to make up for the lost season.

Anyway, these are a few of my favorites that I think are great songs, regardless of religious or Holiday affiliation (yup, this sentence is to keep Scott and Jason reading if they haven't stopped already). I can't say that I have a single favorite. It's more of a group of songs that I really like.

I'm going to start with O Holy Night. As goes for any of these songs, I generally prefer the traditional stuff. Basically that means no large variations on the original melody or freelancing. It is vital that the singer have some old school chops and can hit all the notes. For instance, tonight at my sister's house, she had two versions. One by Josh Groban, the other by The Fray. I normally like The Fray, but this O Holy Night was just bad. (Note: If you had told me a couple years ago that I would be writing my first blog entry, I wouldn't have believed you. If you had also told me that in that entry I would profess my preference for Josh Groban, I probably would have slapped you.) But O Holy Night is just a great, melodic, beautiful piece of music.

Next come What Child Is This? and Carol of the Bells. What Child Is This? has been a favorite of mine ever since childhood. I think I almost prefer the instrumental version of it. It's also one of those Christmas songs that doubles as a year round song, under the title Greensleeves. Just a phenomenal song.

Carol of the Bells I have like ever since we played in the handbell choir in church growing up. My favorite version is by The American Boys Choir. That version's harmony and swells of crescendo always put me in a Christmas mood.

Two underrated Christmas songs are Do You Hear What I Hear? and The Holly And The Ivy. Do You Hear What I Hear? reminds me of my childhood. Most years we went to a children's mass on Christmas Eve, where the kids would perform most of the ministries. Each year, someone sang this song, and I always loved it. I also learned a version of it on the piano when I got older, and it's one of the few songs I can still bang my way through with the music in front of me.

The version of The Holly And The Ivy that I know is from A Fresh Aire Christmas, by Mannheim Steamroller. This is not a group that I would normally like, but my Dad loves them, and he always played this CD around Christmas. It's one of those things that I really hated the first couple of years he played it, but something I eventually came to associate with family and good times. The version of The Holly and The Ivy on that CD is excellent. Incidentally, the CD also contains several of the songs mentioned in this entry, as well as a couple of original songs that I really like, especially Traditions of Christmas.

So, for those of you scoring at home, in my first entry that's recommendations for Josh Groban, pre-pubescent boys, and New Age music. I'm going to be the best author ever. Regardless, Merry Christmas to everyone, and Happy Hanukkah as well.

comedic folk metal comes to washington

One week ago, I ventured out to the Patriot Center on the campus of George Mason University to be rocked like I have never been rocked before. That's right - Tenacious D was in town.

If you're not familiar with Tenacious D, here's the brief summary. Portly poseurs rocking as hard as they can on acoustic guitars while singing humorous and often vulgar lyrics.

If you're familiar with the band, you would be expect that the show would be peppered with skits. And you would not have been disappointed. The band played in front of a backdrop that represented Kyle's duplex, complete with stage accessories like a couch, a fridge, and the band's one and only fan, Lee. Most of the songs were preceded by some kind of skit that made the song relevant. For example, Kyle and Jack had a fight, and Kyle left. This was followed by "Dude, I Totally Miss You" and "Kyle Quit the Band." One skit had Jack and Kyle die, after which a video of them entering hell was shown on the backdrop. After the video ended, the backdrop fell, and the new set was revealed. It, of course, was hell, complete with towering fiery spires and appearances by the devil.

Now that the band was in the place from which all rock comes, they could really rock. And rock they did. The backup band joined them for a set of songs that were less acoustic and more actual metal. The Antichrist played a mean lead guitar, backed by Colonel Sanders on drums, and of course Charlie Chaplin on bass. Don't ask.

They played everything I wanted to hear. This included nearly the entire first album, and the best stuff from the soundtrack to their new movie. I mean, they only have two short albums and a few songs from their 6 episode HBO series of shorts, so it's easy to get through almost all of it in a 2-hour set. Personally, my favorite was a medley of Led Zeppelin's "Good Times, Bad Times" and D non-album classics "Exploding Brains" and "Jesus Ranch." They also closed the encore with an excellent medley of songs from Tommy. All in all, worth a trip.

Search for Tenacious D on:
Amazon
iTunes

the invisible friends

Last Saturday night, I went with the lady and two friends to see my favorite Venezuelan disco-funk band, Los Amigos Invisibles.

I'll let that phrase sink in for a minute.

The first time I Los Amigos Invisibles on saw the band was when they opened for Soul Coughing on my college campus. The second time was this past year at the Austin City Limits festival. Obviously, I enjoyed them enough that I thought it was time to make a third trip.

The show was at Black Cat here in D.C.; a small venue with a raised stage ("small venue" referring to Black Cat, and not to The District).

The opening band was Bio Ritmo, a salsa band. They were clearly talented, but the music was hit-or-miss. I'm glad that we were there for part of their set, and also glad that we missed part of it. That seems reasonable for an opening act, and so I can't complain.

Los Amigos Invisibles came on after a reasonable break, and they brought a lot of energy with them. I can't tell you how long their first song was, but I can tell you that they played for an hour straight right at the top of the show. No breaks, no sit-downs...just a solid hour of songs blended together.

Okay, so I used Photoshop. It didn't really look like this.

The band sounds very much like you would expect a Venezuelan disco-funk band to sound. They're very upbeat, they use keyboard and bongos, and play a sometimes breezy guitar. Also, plenty of the songs are in Spanish. I'm sure that I missed a lot of the lyrics, as my skills have regressed to maybe 2nd year high school Spanish class (past perfective? mwuh?), but the lyrics weren't really the point for me.

I can't really recommend a particular album for you, since I don't have any of them. I can however recommend that you see the live show, if you want to boogie. Or, as in my case, boogie down.

Search for Los Amigos Invisibles on:
Amazon
iTunes

res musicata

If you've found your way here, and you don't write for this blog, then an introduction is in order.

All of the authors of this blog went to law school together. We decided to start this project because it's a good way to keep in touch, and to recommend new music to each other and anyone else who finds their way here.

The title of the blog is a lame play on legal latin. "Res judicata" (race jood.ih.cah.tah) is a legal term meaning roughly "the thing has been decided." Hence, "the thing has been rocked."

You'll notice there's an "add to google" button on the right side of the page. If you use Google Reader for your blog feeds, then click there to stay updated. If you don't use Google Reader, or you don't know what I'm talking about, you should click there to start. If you're in love with your own feed reader, there's an Atom link at the bottom of the page.

Anyway, welcome!