So here's the thing: I really, really wanted to try to pick a great selection of songs that were perfect for the Spring, but I just couldn't get them together. It's not just pulling a bunch of songs that I like, it's also making sure that they form a cohesive playlist and it was just too hard-- I gave up. But! To make up for my inability to do a purely Spring playlist, I decided to go with something that I hinted at in my Current Kicks for May. I have been looking for new music within the indie world and I'm coming up short; it seems as though there's a lull in the action in the indie rock scene and some new acts need to break out and not be so indie that people can have access to their music. I'm waiting for this to happen, but in the meantime, I have looked back into older music to find new inspiration. → read more…

I have wanted to do this post for a very, very long time...but it took a lot of thinking, consideration, more thinking, and then all of this was followed by a debate with some of my insanely music-knowledgeable friends on the subject. After all of this, which approximately was a span of a month or so, I managed to put together a list of the five artists that I feel played a pivotal role in establishing the indie music genre. I should also mention that I am using the term "indie" to refer to mostly indie rock which also includes art rock and experimental indie music. If I were to include all of the sub-group indie movements, I'd be here all day... A brief explanation of how I formed this list is that I have heard strong resemblances of these artists in the music of modern day indie bands. I have also read countless interviews with modern day indie bands with many of them saying that they were influenced by one or more of these mentioned artists. → read more…

I am a fan of indie rock music, this is a fact. One thing that I've noticed about my music playlist, however, is that it lacks the female vocalists. Honestly, I'd say 90% of my playlist consists of musicians who are male vocalists. Oops? It's not that I don't like the sound of the female voice-- I love it-- but! I guess the ladies just aren't as into the scene yet, but they're getting there. You just have so many big personalities and sometimes the ladies get lost along the way-- this blog is where all of that ends. The purpose of this blog is to highlight some of the loveliest ladies of the indie rock world. Some of these gals aren't technically in the "rock" genre, they're sort of in their own genre, but they're indie nonetheless and that is why they're on this list! As always, share with me your most favorites and we'll compare! → read more…

One band that I love and often talk about on here is Sigur Rós and I used to get really excited when I saw that they were performing around here, but then I never made it to one of their shows. While I'd love to see them one of these days, I'm actually not sure how much I'd enjoy being at one of their concerts because I like to go to rock concerts; I'm just not sure how well I'd fair at a shoegazing concert. Quite frankly, I'd sort of be concerned that I was going to fall asleep! I began to recognize that I am a rock concert type of girl after I saw Radiohead last year in Cleveland with Brett and Steve. I love Radiohead-- adore-- admire-- but.... I was getting really sleepy at their concert. They did a few upbeat songs, but the majority of the concert was focused a lot more on their down tempo collection. The concert was amazing; but I could feel inside that there was this lion that wanted to engage in a jam session at any minute....and I just never had the opportunity to let that lion roar. I'm sure I will still go to shoegazing/down tempo shows in the future mainly because the next time around I'll know what I'm getting myself into. → read more…

Ah, it's so wonderful to be in love. People often say that words cannot express the feeling of love because it is just something you must experience, sort of like eating bananas foster. Sometimes the best way for us to express our feelings is through art and artistic mediums, like music. There are so many ooey-gooey love songs out there that are drenching with power chords, poetic lyrics, and in the case of the 80's-- just the right amount of mullet to top it all off. I think of a good love song like I do a pretty cake (or if you just want to read the last few lines, I compare a lot of things to food); I think that a song by itself will appear pretty because you have the music and the lyrics all of which makes for a very nice song, but then you consider the lyrical genius and that's what makes it delicious and wonderful. Indie rock can sometimes be known for having great lyrics, other times not so much. When it comes to Indie rock love songs, they come in so many different styles from electronic-infused to purely acoustic and needless to say, I love them all. → read more…

I have a very love/hate relationship with Christmas music. After December 1st, I begin to listen to it even though the radio stations will start to play it in the beginning of November. If I started to listen to it at the beginning of November, I would be pulling out my hair and going mad by the time Christmas came around, so...I play it safe and make sure to start at an appropriate time. Secondly, if Christmas music is bad and it's overplayed, it can put me in a sour mood and let me tell you, there isn't a lot of Christmas-related stuff that can do that! I began my Christmas music blog by listing out all of my favorite Christmas songs which soon reminded me of all of my least favorite Christmas songs and unfortunately...this list far outweighed the favorites. → read more…

I am a lover and a hater of Halloween parties. On the one hand, I love dressing up and seeing everyone else in their costumes, taking pictures, laughing, drinking a little bit...and all of the positives that come up with a festive shindig. On the other hand, I hate people who get too drunk too soon and ruin the fun for everyone by creating a "hilarious" wardrobe malfunction and then scooting around the dance floor in a drunken stupor. Another item on my list of Halloween party annoyances is hearing "Monster Mash" over and over again, complimented with some bursts of "Thriller" which is like a cooler version of a line dance that even the worst dancers can stumble along to in an attempt to fit in and make people believe that they actually can dance, or at least follow directions. The reason for the popularity of "Monster Mash" at Halloween parties is that a lot of people don't really know any other options for a festive playlist and those "Spooky Halloween Sounds" CD's don't really provide music that you can dance to; if you don't believe me, just try to get your groove on to that one classic song that's often played by Frankenstein on the organ. → read more…

I am proud to say that I am a product of the 80’s…even though I really didn’t get to experience much of it seeing as how I was born in the late 80’s. The cultural aspects of the time period are being recycled into modern times, specifically the fashion! My mom was shocked to see me come downstairs wearing leggings and a shirt dress which was similar to something she wore in the 80’s; ah…the style of the 80’s Ladies. I think another interesting quality about the fashion is that it really showed the influence that celebrities had over the scene, examples being Madonna, Pat Benatar, and Cindy Lauper. Those influential ladies are just the iceberg of the celeb-inspired garb worn in the 80’s and even sported today! I can tell that my fashion roots are starting to show and this blog is supposed to be about music! → read more…

We've all done it before. You are driving alone in the car at night, flipping through the radio stations, and you happen to come across one of those sappy love songs and pretend that you don't know all of the words and that you'd never be caught dead singing along... but then figure, "what the hell; no one is here to see me do this!" You crank it up and start belting along with them. I do this all the time, even if there are people in the car with me (usually laughing at me)...or if they're ultra cool they'll sing along with me, and if they're insanely cool they'll harmonize with me. After years of doing this, I noticed that some of those supposed "sappy" love songs...aren't really all that lovely at all. In fact, the majority of them have been wrongfully branded as love songs when they're nothing of the sort! → read more…

I will be perfectly honest with you; when I watch a movie... I rarely go into it expecting to pay close attention to the soundtrack. My feelings are that if you pay more attention to the music and not the content of the movie then it's more like a music video than a full-length movie. I think that the perfect soundtrack to a movie should supplement the material without drowning it out or being too distracting. I also think that if this is done right... you are able to remember the movie and the music, but more importantly: remember the movie with the music. There are many movies that have memorable moments because of the music that was playing and of course there are movies that aren't so great, but the music was excellent (i.e.: The Big Chill). Nowadays, soundtracks play a key role to providing movies with that certain something that leaves an impression on the viewer so that when they hear that music... they will instantly think of the scene in the movie. → read more…