Archive
Red – Release The Panic
… is available today.. been looking forward to this album for awhile.. it is delivers all that I would expect from a Red Record. They do have a bit of a different sound on this album but it is good.. check it out!
My 2012 top 11 new albums
2012 was a great year for music. So many good new albums to enjoy. So for the first time I compiled my favorites. Hope you enjoy and I would love to hear any comments on albums you thought were great this year.
Here is my Spotify playlist of my top 11. Top 11 Albums for 2012
11. Holy Weather – Civil Twilight
10. No Direction – The Wedding
9. True Defiance – Demon Hunter
8. World We View – Nine Lashes
7. The End is Where We Begin – Thousand Foot Krutch
6. O God Save Us ALL – Disciple
5. Amaryllis – Shinedown
4. Beneath the Scars – 12 Stones
3. Living Things – Linkin Park
2. Vital – Anberlin
1. Phoenix – The Classic Crime
Best song of the year – The Precipice – The Classic Crime The Classic Crime – The Precipice
Newly Discovered Group – A Perfect Circle – A Perfect Circle
I must comment on my #1 choice for album of the year. I have always liked The Classic Crime although they never were in my top 10 bands.. they were good but there music was ok.. in certain settings and at certain times. I thought the direction of their albums were headed in a downward direction since Albatross. Something was a bit missing in their music especially Vagabonds.. should have liked the album but something just was to average about it.. so when Phoenix was released I honestly didn’t even notice. I was in Europe at the time. Specifically Warsaw, Poland. It was an amazing trip back in August… and so much was going on in my head.. emotionally.. life changing stuff.. once in a lifetime stuff. Things were happening to me that were making me rethink the course and direction in my life. It was and still is an amazing time to reflect back upon.
One evening before I was to leave back to the United States I was going through my Spotify music and notice the new album from The Classic Crime – Phoenix. I started playing with the first song One Many Army (Intro) and was totally captivated. This was something different … something new. I don’t know if it was because of what was going through my head at that time or what but it totally made me fall to my knees.. and by the time I got to the song The Precipice I was weeping like a baby… This album had gripped my heart.. my soul.. my life.. by the time I got to I Will Wait I was a mess. So much was going through my head.. so many questions.. so many answers.. I was exploding and in many ways I was being reborn. Yes I was being reborn.. a rebirth.. freedom.. passion.. it was all there.. and so overwhelming that I am still .. to this very day trying to understand it.. but I am glad for it.
You see.. there are few times in ones life that something grips you and demands your attention like this. This Album did this for me. The struggles and passions of the artists came through screaming at me.. I related.. I connected.. and it changed me forever! I am so thankful for this album.. and in the years to come it will be the theme for many things in my life. I pity the man or women who can go through a year and not have something break them. We need to be broken at some point and reborn… even if in the slightest way. If we are not.. we are lost in our false sense of security.. our false sense of hope. In 2013 seek out that which will change you. Even if it is in a small way.. we need to be progressing.. or we are truly lost.
New Android Spotify App
I just came across an announcement for a new Spotify app. Which I downloaded and LOVE.. I thought the interface to the existing mobile app was “odd”. Check it out for yourself if you are a Spotify user and have an Android phone…
Download Spotify’s new Android app
Toastify
If you are a Spotify user like I am… I came across this really cool add on. It is called Toastify. This plugin shows a popup menu showing the name of the artist and song currently playing. Looks much like the popup you get in Tweet Deck. If you are a developer it is also open source so you can download and look at the code. I definitely recommend this for any Spotify user.
You can get your own free copy here : http://toastify.codeplex.com/
The new Spotify
When I was first introduce to Spotify back in September I was impressed. Unlike many I liked the client software and the reputation it had world wide. Now it was available in the US and I jumped on the band wagon.
Spotify was very different than Zune or Rhapsody that I had been using. I actually found myself struggling to find new and interesting music to listen to. In fact if it wasn’t for Last.Fm and the other Spotify users I found there I might have given up on Spotify after the first month. But I began to see the light of playlists and discovering new music from my new friends on Last.Fm.
Well with the latest release of Spotify we now have Apps. And as one of the first apps to ship is a Last.Fm App. It integrates with my Last.Fm account making suggestions and playlists based on the music data I listen too. Ah the joy!!!
Just as good is the new Radio feature. The new visual of the tracks as you play is awesome and taken from the look you would see on iTunes. The music it selects for you seems to be more consistent to what I like to listen too.
Overall I am really enjoying the new Spotify client software. If you haven’t check it out you should and make me one of your friends. Also if you are a music listener and are not scrobbling your music to Last.Fm SHAME on you!! Last.Fm is amazing.
Avenroot 