THE TOWERLIGHT - Baltimore Student Media

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u
Jack Johnson
Sleep Through
the Static
Brushfire
Records
J a c k
Johnson’s new
album “Sleep
Through the
Static” is just
as mellow as
the rest of the
albums he’s ever released.
By no means do I hate Jack Johnson because everyone
enjoys some “windows down in your car and just
cruising” type of music.
Johnson sings with a
rhythmic, catchy type of
sound.
His lyrics sometimes
may not make much
sense, but his songs work. The words he uses just tend
to fit with the beats to his guitar. After all, Johnson is
known for his acoustic, relaxing songs.
The norm of Johnson’s happy and cute music does
have a little more variety than the usual. The song “All
At Once” is a bit depressing.
Johnson continues with “Sleep Through the Static,”
s a more upbeat song. The rest of his album continues
hroughout with a happier tone.
To be honest, Johnson is past his “Flake” days. It
eems that his songs are getting a little slower than his
revious albums.
I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy Johnson’s new
lbum, I think I’m just tired of the same types of songs
n every album he’s created.
--Lily Lee
s
i c
Ingrid
Michaelson
Girls and Boys
Cabin 24
Often compared
to Lisa
Loeb from the
‘90s, Ingrid
Michaelson
will most likely
appeal to a crowd
who was either
too ignorant or just too young to even remember her bispectacled
predecessor.
Which is probably for the better. Best known from
“Grey’s Anatomy,”
Michaelson exudes
a girl-next-door confidence
that makes
her pop-like album
neither spectacular
nor boring. It’s not to say that “Girls and Boys” is a bad
album, as it’s quite enjoyable, it’s just that each song
sounds like something that’s been recorded before.
The opening song “Die Alone” sounds as if it was
penned by Rivers Cuomo, aside from the “ba-da-da’s”
that open each verse. The chorus would have worked
just as well on Weezer’s “Blue Album” as it does here.
The piano driven “Breakable” is convincingly a Regina
Spektor outtake. Michaelson shows confidence in her
airy voice, but the crescendo of a chorus sounds much
like her Russian counterpart.
While Michelson’s lyrics are endearing, their playful
nature can become a bit off-putting. “You take me the
way I am,” Michaelson sings on “The Way I Am.”
Maybe she should’ve stayed true to that sentiment.
--Alex Plimack
Diary plays to home crowd
Local band American Diary performs at Recher Theatre
in support of its newest release ‘The Brightest Colors’
Katherine M. Hill
Staff Writer
The Recher Theatre’s doors had
been open for 20 minutes, but a
long line of local music fans was still
snaked around the block, waiting to
enter the venue Friday night. Inside,
concertgoers were waiting for local
pop-punk group American Diary to
take the stage in support of its new
EP “The Brightest Colors.”
While fans waited to enter the
venue, Towson University senior
and American Diary’s guitarist Mike
Clark greeted fans and helped them
find extra tickets. Two girls leapt
out of line to speak to Clark, who
stood outside for more than 20
minutes.
“Every time we play here it’s
always a huge show,” Clark said in
an interview before the show started.
“I think we have super fans.”
When the doors opened he
watched the concertgoers rush for
he merchandise table to buy the
and’s newest release and obtain
heir signatures.
For guitarist Ben DeHan, every
an is a friend.
“They’ll really try to help us out
without even having to ask. They’ll
pread our names to all our fans and
we couldn’t be more appreciative,”
eHan said.
Long-term, DeHan said he hopes
the fan base, spread as far as Japan,
where American Diary is a part of
the Fabtone Records family, and
across the U.S., where the band
is the main candidate on the roster
for Toss Up Records, will bring
more nights like Friday at Recher
Theatre.
“Every Every time we play
here, it’s aalways
a
huge show. I think we
have super fans.
Michael Clark
Guitarist, American Diary
“I think what I see is us making
a career out of it, hopefully
meeting new people and affecting
people’s lives. These guys are my
best friends,” DeHan said.
During the group’s performance,
fans in the front row announced
that they’d driven more than eight
hours to see American Diary, which
also includes vocalist and bassist
Brandon Ingley and drummer
Brandon Reeder.
“It’s something you can really
get down to,” Clark said about their
newest release. DeHan described
“The Brightest Colors” as an album
worthy of a summer drive.
During a detailed description
of American Diary’s sound and
new album, the members couldn’t
help but have fun: “Imagine the
Teletubbies got older and started a
band,” Ingley said.
The band’s fun doesn’t stop with
their music, though. Ingley said his
primary goal offstage is to pull as
many pranks at Reeder’s expense
as possible. Luckily for the band,
Reeder said he takes it in stride.
Despite the group’s penchant for
pranks and fun, American Diary
remains focused.
“We want [our listeners] to have
fun and have a good time,” Clark
said. “They can have as much fun
listening to our music as we have
writing it.”
The music and new EP embody
the same joy as “singing every single
word at the party with your friends,”
Clark said.
As for the future, American
Diary’s said they hope to film a
music video this spring before joining
the Vans Warped Tour on the
East Coast Independent Stage. They
also said a full-length album will follow
“The Brightest Colors” within
the next year.
Anyone with a mouse and some will power can fill
their scrubby little folders with some free music, and
that's the beauty of being the wired know-how generation.
We "steal" music, and the trend won't die out
anytime soon. Record labels, big and small, know it.
Musicians know it. Digital music providers like iTunes
and Amazon know it. Music fans with Web access can
rape and pillage any label catalog they so desire, and
as the result of this illegal trade-off, the music industry
is cut off at its knees and looking for any device
that'll get it to walk freely again.
Yet, the solution, or at least part of the solution,
may not be so uncharted. Record labels, digital distributors and entrepreneurial
young-bloods are already chipping away at the new block: a business
venture called ad-supported music.
It's not a tough concept to swallow, or a totally new one. The basis of adsupported
music is to embrace the listener and their ways. Instead of giving
them a good ruler slapping for all those albums they stole, throw a bow on
that virtual CD case and give it to them for free. The trade off is their time
and consciousness, both to be flooded with advertising.
Advertising as a sole means of income is not a fresh concept: the sale of
ads keeps most print magazines on shelves; Web sites have been supporting
themselves on ad space for years. Ad supported music, on the same but
slightly different side, often uses social networking and blogging techniques
in accordance. Some of them are pretty neat too.
Imeem.com is a viral content sharing Web site, meaning users post video,
pictures, audio and play lists with the purpose of sharing. Each user has his
or her own profile and identity, and they can interact with other users by
posting comments and sending messages. This then makes Imeem a social
networking community, similar to Buzznet or MySpace. A simple search
uncovers nearly anything you would like to listen to in a streaming format.
Also among the front-runners of ad-supported music is RCRD LBL. Part
blog, part label, RCRD LBL acts as a music news and feature Web site.
There are tons of videos to watch, and a nearly unhealthy display of new
bands and artist to discover. More so, RCRD LBL gives away free music,
offering mp3 downloads of many of their newsworthy artists. Embedded in
the news post or lining the sidebars are ads, of course.
Free music in-exchange of commercial overexposure? No problem. We
live in a free market country. Everywhere we turn an ad is convincing us of
its glorified product. Advertising is engraved in the daily grain of American
life. If I can handle overexposure on TV, or when I read a magazine, then I
can surely deal when I open my laptop. Nothing but more rad beats for us.
Sweet Tunes:
Ads making music
listening legal again
Julia Conny
Columnist
The Everlove - Born from the ashes of Towson's very own Adelphi,
members of the band have formed a new project: upbeat, happy and really
well-structured pop-indie rock hits, and it's worth a try.
Rocket From The Crypt - The band disbanded some years ago, but
Vagrant Records is releasing a remembrance CD/DVD combo. The costumed
ska band always knew how to enliven the audience, and now we get
another taste.
Courtesy imdb.com
Metallica with lead singer James Hetfield led the charge against
Napster and illegal music downloading in the late 1990s.
The Towerlight February 18, 2008
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