Songs to Discover - Defying Gravity - Glee

Hey everyone,

First thing's first. I apologize. I took a step away from the song discovery theme which I've been getting some great feedback from only as "Blogger" seems to be doing a switch and will no longer allow FTP upload so we are thinking of switching everything to Wordpress. I'll keep you posted on that one. For now, I couldn't hold off on showing you a little something.

I don't watch the show but have a close friend who's a huge fan of "Glee" and knows I'm big into music so has always tried getting me to give it a shot. I just don't want to get addicted to another television show.

That said, this friend of mine sat me down in front of YouTube recently and said, dude, give this a listen ...

This is the first broadway type song I'm sharing with you because after a listen, there was just something with the song that really hit me that I haven't felt too often with this style of music.

First impression, when I heard that chorus that first time, the melody was just so strong. It felt unexpected and not predictable especially with the much more broadway feel to the verses.

My Interpretation

Well, it's a packed 2 minutes of what feels like a straight forward theme but I love the simplicity of the lyrics that were able to bring such a positive and important message across with ease. Don't be scared, take that leap towards whatever it is you're gunning for, don't let others stop you or take you down, you know, all that usual stuff. I've heard a lot of songs with the same theme but this one flows so well and just has the perfect musical and melodic accompaniment to pull it off.

I personally love it and hit repeat a good +10 times that same day it was shown to me. I hope you take a second, give it a listen, and enjoy it even half as much as I did.

As mentioned above, we may move everything to Wordpress so stay tuned since after May 1st, they are stopping this FTP upload bit that is very convenient so to all our subscribers, put a little mark in the calendar cause you may have to re-subscribe once the new set up is done.

Till then, enjoy the tune and I'll talk to you guys soon with some more little musical gems and other great music download sites news of course!

Songs to Discover : The Fray - You Found Me

Songs to Discover

The Fray - You Found Me

Getting back to a serious note with the "Songs to Discover", for this week, I wanted to share with you a song with very strong lyrics and great melodies. This week goes to The Fray's You Found Me.

This is the first time I talk about a song that did hit radio but it's so good that if you've never heard it before, but heard a few times and didn't know who it was, I felt it was completely worth sharing.

Originally titled "Amistad" back in 2007, You Found Me went on to seling over 2,000,000 music downloads, taking the 13th spot on the Hot 100 Songs of 2009 list, and 36th on Billboard's Best Adult Pop SOngs of the Decade. Pretty impressive but when you take a listen to the song, any music lover who appreciates a strong and emtional vocal performance, meaningful lyrics, and a catchy melody would rush to hit repeat.

My Interpretation

For me, the song is of someone who lost his faith in God after stepping back and taking a look at how much crap there is in the world. None of his prayers have been answered so he figures there is no God, or if there is one, maybe he forgot about us. The character bumps in to God on a street corner and asks where He's been, and letting all of his thoughts and anger out saying how it's too late now. He lost his faith already and now he shows up ... what timing.

Take a listen to the lyrics yourself. They are beautiful and the kind that get you into the story and thinking from the first few lines. Fantastic job The Fray!

If you've never heard the song before, take 4 minutes of your life, hit play on the YouTube video above and enjoy!

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Songs to Discover : Paramore - Decoy

Songs to Discover

Paramore - Decoy

Last week's "Songs to Discover" was Missy Higgins, "Where I Stood" which is probably one of my favorite songs of all time from a song writting prespective. This week, I wanted to spread the variety and genre a little to one of my favorite feel good songs, more from a music a driving perspective than a lyrical one. The type that you are waiting for at a concert that can get the place moving and you'd want to learn on guitar just cause it's a catchy riff. This week's blog is dedicated to Paramore's "Decoy".

For starters, I'm a huge fan of the band. I paid $100 to see them open for No Doubt in Montreal where they played a 25 minute set and I felt it was worth it. It's too bad I wasn't into No Doubt cause they played for what felt like hours. I don't know, Gwen wasn't doing it for me that evening. Everything felt too routine. It's fine if it is, but don't make it seem like it. Now back to Paramore.

The girl can sing and live has the cardio of a marathon running which really makes a difference in their live performance. Can't stand the pogo stick rock bands that come on and seem to have an invisible cage around them stopping any type of stage performance.

"Decoy" is off of their very successful "Riot" album but only on certain extended versions of it. For some reason, I couldn't find it through Amazon so I included the regular "Riot" album with samples at the bottom of this post as the whole album is awesome (stay tuned for a review). There are so many on there that I'd like to mention but keeping with the theme of songs to discover, "Decoy" was the non radio hit that really got me after a listen and had me looping it for a while.

I'd usually go into the "My Interpretation" section about here but honestly, I don't find it very deep lyrically especially next to some of the past "Songs to Discover". It has a great melody, guitar riff, and overall production with a catchiness factor through the roof.

I'll go back to a song with deeper lyrical meaning for the next entry I promise but sometimes, you need that song to get the blood flowing without the brain thinking. There is quite a good batch out there that aren't too well known that I'll be throwing in from time to time. For now, relax a little, clear your thoughts, don't think too hard on this one and just let the music do the talking.

Enjoy!

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Songs to Discover : Missy Higgins - Where I Stood

Songs to Discover

Missy Higgins - Where I Stood

You guys seem to be enjoying the "Songs to Discover" thing so I'll keep going on it. This blog is going to Missy Higgins' "Where I Stood", one of the strongest songs lyrically I've come across that accomplishes bringing out an incredible amount of emotion through such simple text.

While finding lyric version of the song on YouTube for you guys, I also landed on the following live version. Just when I thought I couldn't love this song any more and then an incredible live performance. Writting this blog brought me another favorite live clip from YouTube so thanks guys for reading these and letting me discover more because of them along the way:

Listening to the album version first may make you appreciate the live version a little more actually but you owe it to yourself to check both out.

I honestly first heard this song when I walked into a room and someone was watching "Smallville" at my place. There was a scene going on with this song playing in the background. Now I don't particularly like sitting in front of the television but I heard a part of this song, stopped in my footsteps, and sat in front to listen and watch the scene. Incredible song.

This is another song that around my area never really hit radio very much but holy crap, such a powerful song. The vocal performance on the album version is intense. I don't think you could pin point even a word of it that isn't perfect vocally. The production of it is simple and a perfect fit as well.

My Interpretation

"Where I Stood" is one of those songs that are an easy listen. So strong lyrically, but so simple that you don't have to put a puzzle together. In a first listen, even tuning in and out of the song, you'll still understand it quite well and catching a few key lines will make you want to re-listen to catch the rest.

As always, lyrics are very open to interpretation so I simply share what I hear. I'll quit saying this line after a few more posts :)

This song is of a woman in a heavy relationship with someone she loves. Though she loves him, she has to let him go cause she knows deep down it's not right and they aren't right for each other which takes more guts and a very strong person as oppossed to someone who would have been in the same situation and perhaps drag it out, or even stick around for the conviniance of it all.

In the song, she goes through with the break up which is hard on both of them. Even he is telling her to stay which doesn't make things easier obviously, but she trusts herself enough to still go through with it. You can see she is doing it for the right reasons though as she does give many compliments to the relationship, examples of how she's learned from it, and as the love was genuine, even says that she'll always be close by if ever he needs anything.

The strongest lines are in the chorus though:

'Cos I dont know who I am, who I am without you
All I know is that I should
And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you
All I know is that I should
'Cos she will love you more than I could
She who dares to stand where I stood

Feel free to share your thoughts on the song but either way take a listen. You owe it to yourself to hear this one as a music lover, songwriter, singer, anyone really.

Here are some samples from the entire CD which hold other great songs, but none topping "Where I Stood".

Enjoy!

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Songs to Discover : Shinedown - What a Shame

Songs to Discover

Shinedown - What a Shame

Keeping on with the "Songs to Discover", this blog is dedicated to one of my favorite artists, Shinedown, and to my favorite "underground" song of theirs; What a Shame.

First off, to me, the singer (Brent Smith) has one of the best modern rock vocals out there. The vocal performances in general on each of their albums is amazing. He has an insane range staying with his full voice (not falsetto), really pushing it to the max on the album tracks, and you get a good idea of it with this song.

Shinedown has quite a few hits. The weren't the biggest band around in my area but I have always been a fan ever since one of their first hits here, "45". The track I'm showing you guys today though is off of their more recent "Sound of Madness" album which is starting to have a few radio singles from but this song is not one of them yet, at least here.

My Interpretation

"What a Shame" has a great build up and story line lyrically. To each their own interpretation but for me, I see it as someone who has lost a friend who's relatively close. As they were good friends, the character knew him very well and saw sides of him others may not have seen where as he was a loving and caring soul but had his troubles in life as in general, things along the way, or people along the way made it hard for him and in turn, made him seem like bitter person around others who didn't know him as well. After this person passed away, the character in the song is singing his letter to God, trying to convince him that regardless what a lot of others may have seen, this was a good man so please "give this man his wings" ... let him go to heaven.

You may disagree. Feel free to share your thoughts or at the least, take a listen to the song. If you like rock in general, I'd be surprised after a few listens that you don't enjoy this one. Either way, you can check out samples below of all their songs from their latest album "Sound of Madness" which is overall a great album. Keep an eye for an upcoming review on it.

For now, take in the samples and take in the song. It's a great one to discover if you've never heard it before.

Enjoy!

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Songs to Discover : Flyleaf - Circles

Songs to Discover

Flyleaf - Circles

Flyleaf had a few hit songs and music videos that got some airplay in the last few years but this one was not one of them (yet).

After listening to their new album Memento Mori which is overall a pretty descent album (I'll keep my full comments for an eventual full review of the album), this song in particular, Circles, was the one that I was repeating in my car quite a few times and still am loving it every time it plays.

The story makes for a great build up, the emotion in the vocal take, and the killer bridge both musicially and lyrically towards the end tops it off making this a simply great song to discover that I wanted to share with you guys.

A full review will be coming for this and many other albums so subscribe to our blog, follow us on twitter, and all that good stuff. For now, here are music samples of all the songs off of Memento.

Enjoy!

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