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.
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