Guero - Beck

In 2005 Beck released his 9th studio album Guero under the Interscope Records label. Guero takes its name from the Mexican slang term for "blonde boy". The album peaked at number 2 on the Billboard top 200 Albums. To date Guero sold more than 868,000 copies enshrining the album as an RIAA gold album. In 2005 a limited edition DVD was released with the album that contains bonus tracks and videos not released on the US album.

A quick note explaining my Beck background: I have never been a huge fan of Beck. That said, prior to this review, I judged the entire Beck discography off of one song Sissyneck off the album Odelay. Whenever people recommend Beck they said to listen to Odelay. Based off how much I despised Sissyneck I shrugged off the whole album. Therefore when a friend told me to check out Guero I was skeptical at best. It took me a while to get around to actually listening to the whole album because of my ambivalence towards all things Beck.

I implore you all to keep an ear out to new music, so I took my own advice and gave it a shot. That said this is the first Beck album I have listened to in it's entirety so the scores will reflect that this is my first time hearing a Beck album in it's entirety, so there will be no comparison to other Beck albums. Score and breakdown below.

Score 28.5 /40

Sound 8 - If I were to summarize the sound of Guero in one word it would have to be "groovin". From E-Pro to Emergency Exit Beck's album Guero is well polished. Every sound has its place and for the most part they mesh really well together. The opening song E-Pro (a close second for favorite song on the album) starts with a dirty blues guitar that throws the listener into the music. The guitar stops when Beck starts singing (talking?) and rejoins the band for the rousing chorus of "Na-Na-Na". I am not going to shit on the use of "Na-Na-Na", I love it.

The next song on the album Que Onda Guero, which Wikipedia says means "what up white boy" or What up Blonde Boy". Emulates sounds from latin streets. To get this effect Beck has a bunch of guys yell in spanish on the track, has some sirens going off, cat calling, the sound of cars ect. All these noises come together underneath a really solid beat and really place this track on a into an environment.

Missing is my least favorite song on this whole album. It's not a bad song, I just hate the wood block. It plays for the entire song and drives me crazy. It is buried in the background but when you listen to this album with a solid pair of headphones you'll hear it. It might not annoy you, but I find it maddening.

Musical Ingenuity 6 - When reading what other people have to say about this album, the most common thing I hear is that it is an attempt by Beck to return to the glory of Odelay. I have never listened to Odelay so I have nothing to say on that point. Guero isn't going to blow your mind, its not a particularly innovative album, but it is well polished and the sounds go well together.

The aforementioned Que Onda Guero, is creative. Beck does a fantastic job of placing this song into the moment.

Broken Drum is really out of place on this album. It sounds like it was written with a completely different concept than the rest of the album. When it comes on, I always figure my itunes somehow got on shuffle and I am listening to a different artist.

Farewell Ride is really good. I am sure that it has been used on TV more than once, google it and let me know where in the comments. The music on this song really illustrates the end of the line, you hear it and think "alright, this is over". But it's not. There are two more songs, they aren't bad, but you would think a song entitled Farewell Ride would end the album.

Lyrics 6.5 - I liked the lyrics on this album. Once again, they don't blow me away but they're fun. Beck's vocal style on Guero utilizes more speaking than singing. You'll get a couple of vocal melodies, but they are usually preceded by a fast sting of spoken phrases. On Missing Beck does sing for just about the entire time, but that fucking wood block. Hell Yes which is my favorite song on the album is pretty much all spoken. A lot of the lyrics don't make sense, for instance:

Looking for my place
On assembly lines
Fake prizes
Risin out of the bombholes
Skeleton boys hyped up on purple
Smoke rings blow from across the disco
Bank notes burn like broken equipment
Lookin for shelter readjust your position
Thought control ghost written confessions
Two dimensions dumb your head down
Duck don't look now company missiles
Power is raunchy rent-a-cops are watching
Makin their dreams out of paper mache
Cliche wasted hate taste tested

I have no idea what that means, nor do I care. It's fun.

Approachability 8 - Take this one with a grain of salt folks. If you hadn't noticed its been a little while since my last review. I originally gave this album a ten on approachability, then when I started writing this review gave it a nine and now I am at eight. Why the change? Well readers, I listen to these albums before I review them, maybe a bit to much. I have listened to this album so many times because honestly, I've been avoiding writing this review. I liked he album a lot, but it isn't an album that I want to listen to for a while. I don't want to be disingenuous in these reviews, so I kept putting it off until I really wanted to write this.

A friend described this album as having "some seriously crunchy grooves". Truth, great groove album. However after listening to this album quite a few times, I am growing sick of it. Which is where the points are lost. E-Pro really makes you want to keep listening, but the songs between Girl and Hell Yes end up running together. After Hell Yes the song placement gets funky but not in a good way. Hell Yes is followed by Broken Drum which ruins the potential for 49 minutes of total groove. I would certainly recommend this album as a solid listen every once in a while, but after a couple days of listening to it you're ready for a break.

Favorite Track: Hell Yes

Hell Yes - Beck

Overall: 28.5/40 I will eat my words about Beck. This album was really fun, a great car album with some really good grooves. A lot of other review sites are ready to throw Guero out as a desperate attempt to return to the glory of Odelay. I think that's a bit to harsh. I haven't listened to all of Odelay but after listening to an entire Beck album I went back and gave Sissyneck one more shot, this time with an open mind. It's still not one of my favorite songs, but I can't say that I hate it as much as I used to. Beck isn't going to blow your mind away with his music but if you're looking for a solid, well polished, groovin album then Guero is for you.

Next Review: Contra - Vampire Weekend OR Rebirth - Lil Wayne

Stay tuned to see which I do.

PS: I am sorry for the abnormally long period between these two reviews. I started listening to this album right after I finished Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, a week ago this was a 33 point album. The delay hurts the reviews but I think it also gives me a better chance to listen to the album and hear whats actually going on. I'll try to keep the time between posts down, but keep on checking and post comments. Peace out folks.

Keep Rocking.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco

In 2001 Wilco finished production of the album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (YHF), due to a debacle with Reprise Records the albums release was delayed for a year. On April 23, 2002 the band released the album under a new record label, Nonesuch Records. As a result of the time delay Wilco streamed the entire album on their website, which allowed thousands to experience YHF.

I am going to preface this review by saying that I listened to this album multiple times before the review; each time I put a pencil to paper in an attempt to take notes on my likes, my dislikes and the subtle nuances of the songs. My paper is still blank. I was completely engrossed in this album. I just can't believe it took me almost eight years to finally experience YHF. That said, score and the breakdown below.

Score: 34/40

Sound 10- I loved the sound of this album. A lot of bands with singers rely on the singer to produce the emotion any given song is intended to convey. Wilco does just the opposite in YHF. Jeff Tweedy has a solid voice, very much indie/alternative rock, but his voice rarely makes you feel the music. If the portrayal of emotion through sound is a foreign concept to you (the reader) listen to Karma Police by Radiohead. On Karma Police Thom Yorke's voice drips with emotion and the band is really just background noise. In YHF it is the band that breathes life into the album. Although the vocals are spotlighted, Tweedy's lyrics really play second fiddle to the instrumental. You're not going to forget that Tweedy is there singing, but when you really listen and hear the album you hear how the instrumental is the driving force behind YHF.

I am Trying to Break Your Heart, the first song on the album is divine. Listening to the words the song tells the story of an inebriated Tweedy, looking for love. The song starts with drums that are just a bit off, not out of time but there is something noticeably queer about their beat. As the song progresses Tweedy reveals his intentions with the girl is he trying to bone and the instrumental gets more focused. I mean at the end of a long night of drinking who doesn't want to do the horizontal mambo? The prospect of making whoopie gets pretty much anyone pretty focused and the band portrays this through their music. The song concludes with Tweedy and the band expressing the rage that Tweedy feels for himself, and for his actions with a series of crashing and agonizing cries of "I am trying to break your heart". It's reallly quite brilliant.

Musical Ingenuity 10- It is a disservice to write about the musical ingenuity of YHF without mentioning a bit of its back story. The music samples The Conet Project heavily. I know all of you readers are rushing to your itunes to see if you have The Conet Project, but you probably don't and for good reason. The Conet Project is a series of shortwave radio station transmissions whose origins are a well kept secret. Perusing the internet you hear that the frequencies are for spies in the field, but the intention of the transmission was not for it to be made into music. Enter Akin Fernandez. Fernandez, finding brilliance in the mundane, puts together these short wave radio transmissions and creates a 4 disc set called the The Conet Project. Wilco took samples from these songs and used them throughout their album to produce a lot of the radio like sounds including the scratching and focusing one hears when trying to tune an old radio.

Enough back story, on the to the music. Its 2010, retroactively reviewing an album from 2002 is a difficult task. Wilco made it pretty easy, how? Well they made a great album. I mentioned earlier the concept of emotion through sound that Wilco masterfully captures in I am Trying to Break Your Heart, the rest of the album follows suit. Most notably there is masterful imagery and emotion expressed in Ashes of American Flags.

Ashes of American Flags paints a vivid picture with sound. Wind chimes open the song to a simple and somber piano medley. The slow marching sound is reminiscent of walking through an empty town, devoid of life. The artists use a series of sounds that create an ambient wind like noise (most likely from The Conet Project) which promotes the idea of a place lost to the world. The whole song really comes to a head when he states "I would die if I could come back new" everything dies down and two piano chords and a guitar melody play. Then the wind noises come to the forefront, in what I imagine is the sound of time just speeding up around you.A quick escape of air and the song ends. My picture may not be the same as yours, but when a group can make me not only hear, but see their song it is a huge accomplishment.

There are some simpler indie-rock songs, such as Heavy Metal Drummer and I'm the Man who Loves You. Heavy Metal Drummer consist of a catchy drum beat, some maracas and simple light guitar chords. It sets itself apart with blatant but unobtrusive electronic parts. I'm the man who Loves You sounds like a Beatles song. This song isn't a pitiful copy of a Beatles song, it creates an identity that defines it as a Wilco song.

The music on this album is beautiful, the instruments don't take a backseat to the singer, and this sets YHF apart from the crowd.

Lyrics 7- The lyrics on this album are fun to sing a long to, but comprehending what Tweedy is actually talking about is another matter. I am sure that Tweedy has some meanings to his songs that over the last eight years fans have been trying to interpret. While interpretation and finding your own meanings in the songs is great (I would encourage it), some of these lines upon reading them just made me exclaim, "what?". Let's take a look at Poor Places shall we?

Excerpt from Poor Places:

"it's my father's voice trailing off

sailors sailing off in the morning

for the air conditioned rooms

at the top of the stairs

his jaw's been broken

his bandage is wrapped too tight

his fangs have been pulled

and I really wanna see you tonight"

I have no idea what this could possibly mean, which is consistent with a lot of the lyrics on this album. Heavy Metal Drummer is pretty easy to decipher, making it anomaly on YHF.

I am a big fan of when a band drops the album name in the album somewhere. I don't know why, I just like it. Makes it seem like the album name has a purpose and wasn't just a bunch of words thrown at the wall and seeing which stuck. The name Yankee Hotel Foxtrot comes once again from The Conet Project. The woman on The Conet Project repeats "Yankee. Hotel. Foxtrot" on the 4th track and this part was sampled by Wilco and placed eloquently in the end of Poor Places. It also happens to be where the album name came from.

Approachability-7 This is a great album that is really easy to listen to over and over again. During the course of this review I listened to it multiple times and loved it. You don't need to know all the subtle details to understand it, and the words dont need to make sense for it to sound good. Some people may be off put by the lyrics, because they really don't make sense a lot of the time. Also the samplings from The Conet Project may not be pleasurable for some. However if you really give this album a good listen, there is a lot to love about it.

Favorite Track: I am Trying to Break Your Heart

I am trying to break your hear...

Overall: 34/40 This album is a great addition to any music library. If you enjoy alternative rock you should have it already, if you like good music (that sweet soul music) you should invest in YHF, and if you just need something to listen to give this album a thorough listen and post your opinions in the comments.

Next Review: Guero -Beck

PS: If you want to check out the emotion in Thom Yorke's voice duing Karma Police here is the link.

Official Video is here, it looks better

Quick Note: School has started back up and as much as I would love to post everyday, I can't. It wouldnt be fair to rush through an album while studying only to partially hear it then write a shitty review. Therefore reviews might be a little farther and fewer between but I will try to put out at least one or two a week. Tell your friends about the blog, leave comments and find new music.

Keep Rocking.

Before I Self Destruct- 50 Cent

50 cent's album Before I Self Destruct (BISD), released November 9, 2009 is 50's fourth studio album. The album is the first studio album since Curtis in 2007. 50's pissed, and he wants people to know it. The drama that encompasses the feud between 50 and the Game that has been percolating since 2005 was not forgotten or forgiven in BISD.The album so far has only sold 349,000 copies making it 50's most unsuccessful album to date. The score and the breakdown below.

Overall: 19/40

Sound- 6. In the song Death to My Enemies 50 says "This isn't Tha Carter, this is Sparta". Yeah, it's not. I loved Lil Wayne's Carter trilogy and BISD does not compare to any of the three albums. Furthermore, Sparta? What does that even mean? The romanticized image of Sparta as a warring nation chock full of badass men who just love fighting is probably the imagery that 50 is hoping this line will illicit but it just doesn't come across well.

The first song The Invitation starts off with a standard 1, 2 count (which I've never understood, is the listener supposed to think the artist did this in one take?) and the bass starts off and for a couple measures is off beat (listen carefully, it changes just a little while into the song).

Death to my Enemies starts off with a gun clocking (surprise surprise) and then what sounds like an acoustic bass lays down a groove that really stands out, but at points seems out of place.

This feels like a multi-themed album. The first couple songs are just about guns and killing 50's enemies. 50's attempt at trying to appear fearsome. In Stretch, 50 begins revealing the secrets of building wealth through selling drugs. Stretch your product...GOLDEN IDEAS. Followed by a quick return to the big bad 50 presence. The album ends with generic club/radio fodder, I'll be surprised if I don't here Gangsta's Delight while out on the town. Baby By Me is already getting a lot of radio play, and is one of the better songs on the album solely because Ne-Yo puts in all the leg work.

Musical Ingenuity- 4. Unoriginal. There are some good beats, that a better artist probably could have used to make something worthwhile. But the whole album just screams generic gangsta rap. You'll hear a good bit of this on the radio, but it probably won't jump out at you because it sounds uninspired and unoriginal.

Lyrics - 4 Oh man. With a lot of hip-hop albums, you can expect to have decent sound, musical ingenuity is going to be probably be low, but lyrics are usually a redeeming quality. BISD does not do itself any favors with the lyrical content. From the beginning of the album the common theme is guns and murder. When I first listened to this album I couldn't help but think about the Dr. Dre's 1992 album The Chronic specifically the line "rollin' round talking bout guns like I ain't got none. What'cha think I sold them all". 50 makes a point of you knowing that he is strapped, but seriously? Nobody cares. I was hard pressed to find a song on this album that didn't mention guns. I am pretty sure that Could've been You, the bonus track, is the only song that doesn't mention guns at all. On Could've been you despite the lack of gun talk, there are still lyrical gems such as "'Cause I've been smellin' my shit too, now how you like that?". I don't like it 50, I don't like it at all. In fact I feel a tad bit violated and nauseous at that mental image.

Then there is the feud. 50 wants to pick a fight, he hasn't put out in an album in 2 years and he wants people to know that "[He'll] come back, bigger stronger and angry". In So Disrespectful, which will probably be the most discussed song on the album, 50 takes jabs at Jay-Z, The Game, Young Buck and B.G. (Baby Gangsta) I know 50 wants to come across as hard but c'mon man. Jay has sold more albums than you can shake a stick at. The Blueprint 3 (which only has two months on BISD) has sold 2,900,000 compared to BISD's 349,000.

Psycho is just a disturbing song. Eminem dominates the song, but still singing about chopping off heads is not my style. All I wrote after listening to Psycho was, Really? If you want to look up the lyrics they're right here http://www.directlyrics.com/50-cent-psycho-lyrics.html

The lyrics on this album are why rap is enjoying the reputation that it does right now. After looking at other reviews, and perusing forums to gather opinions of the album it is shocking how many people think that they connect with this album. But this album is really just awful, there are few if any redeeming qualities and I believe that most people who truly enjoy hip-hop are going to agree with me. To quote Common's Chi-City "I wonder if these whack niggaz realize they whack, they the reason that my people say they tired of rap"

Approachability -5 Sadly, this album is going to sell just cause its 50 cent. Certain songs are going to end up getting a ton of radio play. It can easily rack up sales because there are certain groups of people who love shitty music. This isn't hip hop, its garbage. But sadly its commercial hip hop and so it will sell. You can listen to it, cause you'll hear it a ton on the radio; but I hope that you don't like it.

Favorite Track: Baby By Me (Feat. Ne-Yo)

Baby By Me (Featuring Ne-Yo) -...

Just cause its so ridiculous: So Disrespectful

Overall 19/40. Not a good album. Please don't buy it so as not to promote this garbage. For my less scrupulous readers, its not even worth the space on your hard drive to download.

Next Review: Foxtrot Yankee Hotel

Keep Rocking.

Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective

Animal Collective's 2009 album Merriweather Post Pavilion (MPP) has gained notoriety as Pitchfork's top album of 2009 and was also deemed the best album of 2009 by UK music critics. With all the praise that has been heaved on this album, this is a great place to start this blog. The album MPP is named after a venue in Maryland (Awesome). I have been to the venue a number of times and have never heard anything like the psychedelic sounds Animal Collective has gathered for their break out hit. Below is the breakdown and explanations of their score.

Overall 34/40

Sound- 10. From the start of the album, you know this is going to be weird. The pulsing crunching sounds(that to me sounds like "Mm'Bitch" but I doubt thats accurate)leads into the soft verse keeps the listener entranced. As the experience of In Flowers (the first song on the album) continues, an eclectic grouping of sounds (including water drops and people clapping) leads to the awesome lyric "If I could just leave my body for a night". The song completely changes from this point and this sound is the bread and butter of MPP.

The next song My Girls (ranked Pitchfork's top track of 2009) continues the psychedelic craze that is MPP. Songs like thesee are why headphones are so important. When listening to this song without proper headphones (or a good sound system) a lot of the sounds that make My girls such a great song are lost. However with proper sound equipment, the song is amazing. The bass (it sounds like it may even be a timpani) is simple yet captivating. The bass mixed with great harmonies and a persistent synthesizer melody make My Girls a hit.

There are 11 songs on the album, some are better than others but each one will ensure you keep listening.

Musical Ingenuity - 10. This isn't an album you are going to hear on the radio. It's original, it's fresh and is a great listening experience. I am not implying that things heard on the radio aren't ever good, but Animal Collective is far removed from standard radio tunage.

To continue the cookie cutter analogy I used in my last post, I don't know if Animal Collective ever set out to classify this album into a genre. My itunes says its "Alternative Rock" and to judge the album on that standard, this album creates its own mold that I hope other Alternative Rock bands will be inspired by.

Lyrics -8. Not exactly a sing a long in your car kind of album. But Animal Collective probably didn't set out to make a sing-a-long album. The lyrics in the songs are fun, imaginative and not overly generic.

An excerpt from Summertime Clothes -

"Rip off your sleeves and I'll ditch my socks
We'll dance to the songs from the cars as they pass
Weave through the cardboard, smell that trash
Walking around in our summertime clothes,
Nowhere to go while our bodies glow
And we'll greet the dawn in its morning blues
With purple yawn, you'll be sleeping soon"

Approachability-6. This is where the album loses the most pointsl. MPP is pretty much that hot girl, who knows she's hot and flaunts it. At first you want to go talk to her, and you really try to but then end up chickening out and talking to your friends about "oh yeah, I tottally could have got with her if I tried". Appropriate analogy? I think so.

The first time I listened to MPP I didn't like it. I thought it was weird, and turned it off after Daily Routine. I sat around for a couple of weeks and then kept seeing it pop up o various music websites. I gave it another a careful listen and I fell in LOVE with their sound. This album is harder to get behind because it's so different, but give it a shot and I'm pretty sure you'll find something you love about it.

Favorite Track: My Girls

My Girls - Animal Collective

Overall: 34/40 A great album that I think everyone should give a shot.

Next Review: Before I Self Destruct- 50 Cent

Keep Rocking.

Tips for listening to music and enjoying my blog

First off, as I've said, I am no musical authority so take everything I write with a grain of salt, if I give something a particularly scathing review give it a listen for yourself and see if I'm just talking out of my ass.

Second: Have Fun! Music is great, dance along, sing until your throat is dry, when you find a song that you love don't be afraid to put it on repeat and listen to it over and over again (I recommend using headphones for this, because other people might get annoyed. Especially if its that Fireflies song by Owl City, I love it but my roommate is sick of hearing me play it over and over again)

Third: HEADPHONES. If you're using the stock headphones that came with your ipod I bequeath you THROW THEM AWAY. Apple headphones best feature is that they're white and when people look at you, they know that you're listening to an ipod.

A good pair of headphones will change your whole listening experience. They can get expensive but there is a big sound difference between a 10 dollar pair of GUMY headphones and a 40 dollar pair of headphones. Personally when buying headphones, I like the over ear headphones you get a better sound and they are just more comfortable. I only have closed back over the ear headphones which isolate the sound a bit more but I have a friend who swears by the open ear headphones so its all a matter of opinion.

Sennheiser, Skullcandy, Bose, Sony all have good sets of cans. I had a pair of Bose over-ears AMAZING sound, ridiculously comfortable and just great headphones. The only issue was the price, as a student I had to choose between paying rent and keeping the 100+ pair of headphones...it took a while but I reluctantly returned them. Then I got my Senn's and I love them. the ones I own have an abnormally long chord but great sound which is what matters right?

Earbuds: Earbuds, the headphones that go in your ear seem to have become the most popular type of headphones probably because they are ultra portable. I used to hate these, because they were uncomfortable the sound wasn't that great and they seemed to break every couple of weeks. Then I got my V-Moda headphones when I got Darth Vader (see first post), I love them. They are super portable i just unplug them from the jack, and then wrap them around my ipod, I can take my music pretty much anywhere. A luxury you don't get with the over ear headphones. Having to carry around a back pack just so you have somewhere to put your headphones when you are done with them gets pretty annoying.

Klipsch, V-Moda, Sennheiser, JBuds series, Shure, and yeah the Bose in ear's are all solid headphones that will provide way better listening than the stock ipod headphones or a ten dollar set of buds.

Fourth: How I'm going to do my ratings.

Based out of 40 points, I am going to award 0-10 in four categories:

Sound: How does the album sound basically? Does it make you want to listen and dance or do you hear the music and want to drown a kitten?

Musical Ingenuity: Where does this album fall on the cookie cutter scale? Does it fit the mold awkwardly? fits in perfectly? or does it break the mold and redefine boundaries?

Lyrics: How are the Lyrics? Are they good bad, stupid to clever. This one will be weird, cause some of the music I review (like post-rock) won't have lyrics so the other sections will be weighted, I'll address this when reviewing post rock albums.

Approachability: How approachable is the album? Is it something pretty much anyone could listen to and enjoy or is it a niche album that only certain groups of people are going to like? (This section may be a bit inflated sometimes because I think everyone should listen to everything and give it a shot, but its getting put in anyway)

Fifth: Explore and share. explore new sounds, new techniques music is evolving for better or for worse so keep an ear out for new sounds even if I don't have them on here. If you find something you enjoy SHARE it with people. I am not condoning stealing music, what I'm saying is tell your friends to give it a listen. www.pandora.com is an internet radio site that lets you put in the artist or song you like and then it finds new music for you based on that. Take advantage of the opportunity, its FREE.

Sixth: Get a lala account at www.lala.com they have tons of music to listen to, you can find music that you want to check out and listen there. Make internet playlists. Plus I am going to link my favorite song from albums I review through Lala so all the more reason to sign up.

Seventh: Don't be a music snob. If you don't like the music I review, please tell me what you want me to check out. I listen to an eclectic range of music, some of my library I am proud of, some of that very same library makes me hang my head in shame when people find certain songs (I know every word to aarons party)

Why would he throw a party if his parents are only out of town for a couple hours? Setting up a stage and everything c'mon Aaron, rookie moves.

Thats pretty much all I can think of right now for listening to music and enjoying my blog.

Next Review: Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective

Keep Rocking.

In the beginning...

Thanks for reading this I hope that it will be entertaining, informative and fun.

About this blog:

This is going to be a music review website, not any sort of music in particular just what I am currently listening to. It might be new music, or older music pretty much anything thats blaring through my headphones.

About me:

My name is Kevin, I'm 22 and not a music major. I just love music and love talking about it. I did my undergraduate at the University of Maryland (Go Terps!) and am now at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law pursing a law degree. I listen to music while I study, while I commute and when I find time to do anything else. I do not have a particular favorite style of music, I give most things a chance because I love music. I find new music through billboard, itunes, pitchfork and just word of mouth. So I encourage you the reader to post any music suggestions in the comments I'll give it a listen and probably write a review. There are some musicians I don't like (Dave Matthews Band, can't stand them) but that doesn't mean I hate the style so even if I say I don't like one thing from a genre doesn't mean I won't like another.

What I use:

I listen to music on my ipods mostly because I LOVE headphones. The best thing you can do for your music listening experience is investing in a good pair of headphones, it will change your life.

Ipods: Ipod Nano 16gb (Darth Vader), Ipod Classic (Millennium Falcon).

Headphones:

V-Moda Faze noise-isolating headphones

http://www.amazon.com/V-Moda-Faze-Headphones-iPod-iPhone/dp/B002XYUHFY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1263587861&sr=8-1

Sennheiser EH-150 Evolution Hi-Fi Stereo Headphones

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-EH-150-Evolution-Stereo-Headphones/dp/B00067OF80/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1263587923&sr=1-1

Skullcandy SC-NC Proletariat NC Noise Cancelling Headphones

http://www.digitalgiftstore.com/sc-nc.html

I am having a hard time finding the Skullcandy headphones again, they're a decent set of cans, but I am confident that there are way better noise cancelling headphones than these.

My friend Mike gave me a set of Wireless headphones that I am trying to figure out how to use. When I figure it out I will put in an updated gear section.

Well that's me and my gear.

Keep Rocking.