Conclusion

My Last Encore

This post will mark my last entry in my series of blogs on the different indie bands I hold very dear to me. I have been writing these blogs for about two months now and I enjoyed every minute of it. Most English teachers do not let you express yourself creatively through a topic you truly enjoy writing about. Luckily, professor Wong was extremely enthusiastic with my topic and helped push me to improve my writing to the level it is at now. The main reason I am not continuing this blog is the lack of audience that comes with a student-teacher inspired blog. If I had continuous support and an actual following of people who really enjoyed what I wrote about, I would gladly write more! 

Indie music has been a huge passion of mine for the longest time and I hope the select amount of people who read my blogs were influenced by what I said. If I got you to try listening to at least one song or group I talked about, then I will be satisfied. Music affected my life to such a high degree and I really want to push everyone to listen to what they want, whether it be indie, hip hop, death metal or polka. Through my blog I didn't want to just promote indie music, but music in general! 

The best way to express music is to play music yourself and indulge yourself with concerts. Picking up a guitar two years ago was the best thing I have ever done for myself, as it became the best hobby for me. Being able to play the songs you love and singalong with your friends is such an amazing feeling. I was able to meet my lover Sareen at a STRFKR concert almost two years back, maybe the same will happen to you! Seeing a band play live with all their energy is truly a bliss for me and probably for you as well. Concerts are the very special place to let your stress go and just enjoy yourself.

I sincerely hope those of you who read my blog enjoyed yourself and danced awkwardly to my music suggestions. Hopefully one day you will come see me playing a show and start a blog about my band. It's been great writing these and I really hope you all took something from it! Every time I wrote these blogs I would constantly have music on and would periodically break out dancing or singing. I promise that I will return to this blog if I am able to headline at the Coachella music festival. Until then! Here is a nice goodbye song for all of you to enjoy. Peace!

The Strokes Vs. Arctic Monkeys

                                                       BATTLE OF THE BANDS!
                                                                        PART 2

We are back for the final round of this exciting entry of BATTLE OF THE BANDS! For this post I will be facing off two of my favorite bands, The Strokes and the Arctic Monkeys. Both bands have gotten very popular over the years and I hold a special place in my heart for both of them, but in this battle only one band can come out on top! Read on, grab a weapon and join the battle to see who will be victorious!

                                                              Round 1 - The Band 

Starting off with The Strokes, the band was formed by lead singer, Julian Casablancas, as well as their bassist and drummer when they were only 13 years old. To help improve his studies Julian was sent studying abroad where he met future lead guitarist, Albert Hammand Jr. where they would eventually go to New York and start playing shows. The band sent demos of their music to a few record labels which ignited a war between record labels to see who could get them. In 2001 they released one of my all time favorite albums, Is This It, the album would go on to great critical acclaim and see them touring all over the world. The album is a perfect example of the best kind of garage rock to come out in the 2000's. Julian is a big sex symbol for the band and it shows through his incredibly unique vocals and clothing attire. He has somewhat of a rough voice, but it shines through with their music and sets them apart from the bands out there. Their music is great to singalong with, my roommates know this all too well from how much I sing in the shower! If a band gets me singing their music in the shower, they should be extremely flattered!

The Arctic Monkeys were one of the first indie bands I really got into! Alex Turner is a very talented musician, and the same can be said about the rest of the band. Their drummer, Matt Helder, drums away to almost a point that seems like he is destroying his drumset. The Arctic Monkeys have been around for a little while now and saw their popularity increase from each of their album releases. Their album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, is one of my favorite albums. They sound so young and new on this album, as it was their first album, but in my opinion it's their best. I personally saw them play at Coachella, 2 years ago and it was quite the experience! They were easily one of my favorite bands that I saw play at the music festival. My roommate and I like to play their song, "Mardy Bum", together whenever we feel like jamming. The Arctic Monkeys are also one of my girlfriend's favorite bands, as she was obsessed with the singer for years and years. She helped to get me into them.

                                                            ROUND 2 - LIVE SHOWS

The Strokes garage rock vibe brings about an interesting live show. As they enter you can expect many girls shrieking over Julian, shouting how much they love him. I'm not ashamed to say I am one of those people! One of my favorite things that the band does is that they play most of their older songs, something which a lot of bands frown upon. Most bands like to highlight their newer music but The Strokes seem to like playing their oldies. The only thing I think that could be improved on for them is having a little more energy. Julian, their lead singer kind of just sings, he needs to feel the vibe more! Below I will post an older video of their song "Last Night".

The Arctic Monkeys have showmanship down to a note, as they come out and rock every show. Alex Turner really knows how to put on a show and frequently interacts with the crowd, showing he cares about his fans. When I saw them at Coachella they came out and played their very fast paced song, "Brianstorm", which got everyone moshing and jumping around. The only thing I was disappointed  in by them was their lack of playing fan favorites and older songs. They like to focus on their newer music which I respect, but it is nice to hear some of their classics like "Mardy Bum" and "When the Sun Goes Down". Just like for The Strokes I will put my favorite Arctic Monkey's live performance down below.

                                            WHO IS THE WINNER OF THIS ROUND?

I really hate choosing a winner for these because it's so hard for me to choose between two bands I hold dear. Both bands would be amazing to see live and I sincerely recommend everyone to listen to their music. But alas, I told you I would choose a winner so I will! The winner of this heated battle has to be the Arctic Monkeys! Personally I believe The Strokes earliest albums are some of the best albums ever released but the Arctic Monkey's matured into one of the best bands out there. This will be my last battle of the bands for the time being, but feel free to leave some bands for me to review!

Tame Impala Vs. Toro Y Moi

                                               BATTLE OF THE BANDS!
Today is a very special post where I will be comparing two different bands, both of which I love very much. On the left corner we got the psychedelic band who are seeing new found popularity with their latest album Lonerism, Tame Impala!. On the right with his killer afro and chill wave music vibrating all around, we have Toro Y Moi!

                                                          ROUND 1 - THE BAND
Starting off with Tame Impala, Kevin Parker started the rock project with home recordings and releasing tracks on his Myspace page. This brought him attention from several recording labels and eventually lead to him being signed to Modular Recordings and releasing his first EP. In 2010 Tame Impala's first album, Innerspeaker, was released to critical acclaim and lead them to opening gigs for the pop synth band MGMT(another personal favorite of mine). Kevin Parker recruited Jay Watson and Dominic Simper and they started touring all over the world and playing at major musical festivals. There are currently 5 people total in the band encompassing a wide variety of instruments to produce their unique sound. They truly are a band that should have been around in the 60's with their psychedelic out of this world sound. 

Now for the one and only Toro Y Moi. The genius behind Toro is none other than Chaz Bundick. He became apart of what is called the "chill wave moment" a type of music that emphasizes using a synths and producing a mellow and I guess best called chill vibe. He has been producing music since 2009 and released his first album Causers of This to great acclaim. He has released two other albums since his 2010 album and plays his music with a live band when he tours. A lot of music is produced by himself and he enlists the help of his band to transform it to be able to play live. 

                                                          ROUND 2 - LIVE SHOWS
Tame Impala is a very interesting band that knows how to bring a lot energy into their live shows. One of my favorite things that they do in almost every live show is an improvised jam! How many bands would dare try anything like that in front of so many people? Not many, and that's why I love Tame Impala. Sadly I haven't seen Tame Impala live, I was so close to being able to go see their show with the Flaming Lips which would have been so amazing. They perfectly replicate their album's sounds into a blend of psychedelia that doesn't require a person to be tripping on acid to fully see and hear how amazing they are. Right below this I will post a video of one of my favorite performances of their song "Half Full Glass of Wine".

Toro Y Moi is one of my favorite bands for one simple reason, he gets me up and dancing! The vibe he brings to his live shows is insane, he gets extremely funky and is almost reminiscent of disco music. His soulful beats and echoing vocals soar all over and really get you moving. I think it is truly amazing how he is able to convert his very computerized electronic music into something a live band can play. He is a very talented artist and it shows in all of his shows. Just like for Tame Impala I will post my favorite live performance of Toro's down below. 

                                                         NOW WHO IS THE WINNER?
It is extremely hard for me to choose a winner over these two wonderful bands but I must! There are still a lot of factors to consider but I must choose this one band as the winner. Coming out on top for me is Tame Impala, they are simply one of the best bands. Toro was so close to winning as well but halfway into writing this post I started playing some Tame Impala and it just felt so right. I still got another post to write about next week so you should all recommend two bands for me to write about!