Friday, January 30, 2009

Friday Night Mulligans

It's only January and I've already decided that I need a mulligan on my Top 12 Albums of 2008 countdown. This is exactly why I hate making lists of my favorite music because it is impossible to remember every album and what happens when you overlook a band all together? One might say that this must mean that you didn't really like them otherwise they would have been on your list. What if you just never heard it? There is too much good music out there just waiting to be found and that is the biggest shortcoming of any list that claims itself to be definitive.

This past Tuesday I was driving to work and listening to a podcast of someone's list of top songs of 2008. The podcaster, Mr. Paul Shirley says, "Here is my number 2 song of 2008 called Sometime Around Midnight by The Airborne Toxic Event." The Airborne Toxic Event, I think to myself, where have I heard of these guys? As I listen to the song I realize that this might be one of the greatest songs mine ears have heard in some time. I then remember that I had recently noticed in my downloaded music folder this very band, yet for some reason I had never given them a listen. I always figured it must have been some sort of metal band or something I had downloaded while in a Yerba Mate haze. Once I got to work I immediately downloaded the song I had just heard and proceeded to listen to it approximately 172 times in a row (give or take 160 times). Needless to say I checked for the band as soon as I got home and sure enough I had downloaded the album on Sept 7, 2008 at 6:51 pm. I had deprived myself and the good readers of the Skog Blog of these tunes for 4 months, 3 weeks and a few hours. To make ammends I offer these olive branches - a bunch of their tunes and an invite to Skog Blog Meet n Greet 2...











If you like what you have heard from The Airborne Toxic Event please join Wheels and I for Skog Blog Meet n Greet - 2. Saturday, February 21st. Tix are only $15 with all applicable service charges. Here is the link:

http://ev8.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS%3ADATATIX%3ACLUB09%3AMTAT0221%3A&linkID=datatix&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=

Friday, January 9, 2009

Friday Night Confessions Are Back!

With a new year comes a new opportunity to confess your pecadillos. I had discontinued this somewhat due to lack of interest and because I had only sinned 5 times in my life and I had already confessed them all here. I kid. So since I keep reading about everyone's fresh starts I figured we'd all be ready to play a little game called - Name the Lamest Tunes On Your MP3 Player!

The rules of this game are quite simple but I will write them below:

1. Turn on your portable listening device ie: Creative Zen, Zune, Sansa or iPod (for all you sheep out there.)
2. Scroll through the folder titled 'Albums.'
3. Look at each album carefully and think to yourself about how ashamed you would be if someone were to catch you listening to said album.
4. Decide which album would cause you the greatest amount of shame.
5. Post the name of said album in the comments section on this here blog.

It's that simple folks.

I would like to provide the following intro for my album...



Go ahead and mock. I am not ashamed. The first words out of my mouth as a child were "I can't smile without you..." (sung in a lovely boy soprano voice of course) - it's true. Just ask my mother. And if loving the greatest showman of our generation is wrong than I don't wanna be right.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Monday Night New Music - Break Out Your Glockenspiels or Xylophones!

Welcome to another year at the Skog Blog. One of my goals or I dare say, resolutions, for the new year was to get more sleep. In order to accomplish said resolution, I need some cooperation from Little Toots. Toots, has decided that she doesn't much like sleeping, in fact if there was one video to describe her it would be this:



Day or night, night or day, Toots doesn't need no stinking sleep. However, KG and Wheels DO need their sleep. I may or may not have found the miracle cure. It seems to be working and I almost decided not to post this as to not jinx myself. This past Sat night, Wheels was out on the town and I was left to get Toots to sleep. After lots of screaming by... uh... Toots (I would NEVER scream at a one year old...) I was at a loss. I then remembered something so ridiculous that it just might work.

Awhile back I had downloaded some albums of lullabies. These lullabies aren't the standard, run of the mill crap you hear every time you turn on your kids' toys or mobiles, these were quality songs. There are two 'brands' if you will - 'Rockabye Baby' and 'Babies Go...' Both of these companies pump out lullaby renditions from your favorite groups. Here is a short list of bands/artists that I have downloaded and I'm sure there are more: Radiohead, Coldplay, Guns N Roses, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Doors, Led Zep, Sting, Bob Marley, Nirvana, Green Day, Metallica, U2, NIN, Rolling Stones, The Cure, The Eagles... and many more. I'm sure there is at least one group in there that might interest you. So anyway, back to the story at hand, Sat night I finally decide to break one of these out. We had listened to these a time or two with P but only while driving around in the car, never as an actual sleep aid. I loaded 'Babies Go Sting' on my Creative Zen, plugged in some speakers in Toots' room, turned it on, handed her a bottle and I didn't hear another peep all night long. So much for partying all the time, eh Toots?

Generally speaking I think the good folks at Rockabye Music do a better job than the Babies Go people. I'm a believer now though. Best of all you are priming your kids for quality tunes without having to stoop to the level of Kidz Bop. Below are a few samples. Listen at your own risk, I'd hate for you to fall asleep at your desk...