Are you watching The Voice?

This week I'm changing things up a bit, and for the first time talking about a TV show.  If you don't live under a rock, then I'm sure you've heard that NBC's The Voice began its second season earlier this year.  The show is now quite a ways in with just finishing up its second week of the live shows.  If you don't know anything about The Voice, it's a singing competition where the contestants were chosen strictly by their voices by one of four celebrity coaches:  Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.  As of this week, each team has four remaining members.

This season of The Voice, in my opinion, has tougher competition than it did last year.  There are so many contestants with unique voices.  There were a lot that I've liked and some that I didn't understand why they were even on the show.  However, I don't want to go into too much detail of all of my opinions of this season, so instead I'm just going to talk about a member of each team that's still on the show.

 First up is Team Adam's Mathai.  A nursing student from Texas Women's University, Mathai has one of the most unique voices on the show.  During the blind auditions, Levine, Shelton and Green all turned their chairs around when hearing Mathai's rendition of Adele's "Rumor Has It".  A funny story is that I actually met Mathai about a year ago.  She is a part of the same campus organization as me, Intervarsity, and we met at a conference during a music workshop.  I remember then how all of us there were completely captivated by her original, jazzy sounding voice.  If you like music to sound like nothing you've ever heard before, then I definitely recommend voting for Mathai.  She does covers such as this one of "Can't Make You Love Me" on her YouTube page. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifT1o2P3l8w 

Second is Juliet Simms who is a part of Team Cee Lo.  You may know Simms from the rock band Automatic Loveletter, which I personally love.  She is from San Francisco and has been lead singer of the band since 2005.  Automatic Loveletter has released two albums and two EPs with hits such as "Hush" and "Make-up Smeared Eyes".  I wasn't sure originally how I felt about Simms on The Voice.  It was nice to hear her sing more music than Automatic Lovelettter's emo tunes, but I didn't think her voice had much substance to it.  However, Simms completely won me over with her cover of "Roxanne" this week.  Adam Levine called it the best performance on the show so far, and I definitely think his statement has a lot of merit.  It definitely showed off Simms' true talent. Listen to Juliet Simms in her band Automatic Loveletter here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsONBKFbL-w&feature=plcp&context=C446d69cVDvjVQa1PpcFObF2yMuXT5UmHaQ8Nx2LYspy2_7ZJelZY%3D


For Team Christina, Jesse Campbell seems to be a public favorite.  An older contestant from Illinois, Campbell's voice is strong and soulful.  He wowed the crowd with his version of "What a Wonderful World" and received a lot of attention for his battle round performance with gospel singer Anthony Evans.  Their performance of "If I Ain't Got You" was called "the best contested match-up" and later received millions of YouTube hits.  Personally, I would have chosen Evans as the winner of that battle, but Campbell has been proving himself as a powerful force as the show has progressed.  Watch Campbell and Evans battle here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkhTpA15VPE

Finally, one of the most talked about artists from Team Blake is R&B singer Jermaine Paul.  Paul was constantly being described on the show as finally getting the spotlight.  The reason for this is that Paul has for years been touring the country with famous artists Mary J. Blige and Alicia Keys.  Keys even sent in a video wishing Paul good luck that was shown during the introduction of his audition.  Paul is such a talented artist that all four judges turned their chairs around wanting him to be on their team during his blind audition.  Paul has been featured on many albums, is a writer and producer.  He overwhelmingly beat his openent in the battle rounds and has been making a name for himself pulling off flawless performances every week. Check out his performance of "Livin' on a Prayer" from last week's show here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLRO98pKDSU

       
So, who will you vote for?

Sam McCabe

Beautiful, serene, and passionate are words that I think perfectly describe this album by Houston area worship artist, Sam McCabe.  His album "Passion for Your Pressence" was released on iTunes in February and was recorded and produced by one of my best friends.

Even though McCabe is unsigned and this album was made by a couple of college students, it has an enormous amount of professional quality.  McCabe's talent can definitely be paralleled with the likes of many more established and experienced singer-songwriters.

McCabe is from the suburb called Spring, Texas and says uses music as a way to inspire and reach out to people.  "I want to be one who prophesies and ministers through my music," he says.

The tone of "Passion for Your Presence" is soft and peaceful yet with a hint of desperation in McCabe's voice.  While his music is very unique, its acoustic worship sound is reminiscent of artists such as Cory Asbury or Jon Foreman.

McCabe isn't the only star of this album though.  Samantha Jo, McCabe's music partner as well as girlfriend, provides those lovely, clear harmonies in the background as well as the power lead vocal of the classic hymn "Nothing But the Blood".

"Passion for Your Presence" is full of ethereal love songs and you can hear the sense of longing in McCabe's voice. Personal favorites of this album include "Waiting Here" for the beautiful lyrics and "Spirit" for its unique and optimistic sound.

 Each song though is great.  The album is cohesive and flows smoothly from one song to the next.

Not to say though that the songs aren't unique from each other, because they are both musically and lyrically.  They represent different ideas and include a variety of different instruments, not to mention even some verbal reading on the last track.

Whether you're a fan of Christian music or not, I definitely recommend a listen and maybe even a purchase of this album.  I think that everyone could find something that they like on it and it's wonderful music to listen to when you need to just unwind and feel at peace.

You can preview the album on iTunes through this link: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fartist%2Fsam-mccabe%2Fid500809703%3Fign-mpt%3Duo%253D4&h=yAQEKJVTE

Of Monsters and Men release new album

You may have heard their hit "Little Talks" or seen them at this year's South by Southwest.  And though I can't pronounce any of the band members' names, I am extremely excited about the full album that was just released by Iceland natives, Of Monsters and Men.

If you are a regular to this blog or know me at all, you might know that I am a sucker for duets with both a male and female voice.  Well, in Of Monsters and Men there are two lead singers,  Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, a girl, and Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson, a guy.  However, that's not the only reason why I'm in love with this band.

Of Monsters and Men have a really unique folk sound.  Their voices are different and distinct, completely pleasant to listen to.  

Their instrument choices are also unique.  In many tracks of the album you can hear organs, horns and a wide variation of percussion.  

Of Monsters and Men, as before mentioned, reign from a small (by American standards) town in Iceland called Garðabær.  They were the 2010 winners of a band competition called Músíktilraunir and instantly hit success in their homeland.  

Until now, all of us American fans had to listen to from Of Monsters and Men was the Into The Woods EP. Fortunately, Universal now has signed the band and released this full length album My Head Is an Animal. 

They also just began their first North American tour.  

Every song on the My Head Is an Animal is fun and full of wonderful lyrics.  It includes the four songs from the EP as well as a whopping eight new ones.

Did I mention that no one in this country had even heard of them until the end of 2011?  Obviously, with this quick growing popularity, Of Monsters and Men are in for some major success here in the U.S.

Dave Barnes releases new album

A little over two weeks ago, singer-songwriter Dave Barnes released his new album "Stories to Tell".  While I am completely in love with Barnes and his music, I can't help but be a little disappointed in this album.

Dave Barnes has been around for quite sometime (his first album came out in 2000), but he more recently received a lot of recognition for his 2010 hit song "God Gave Me You" (which was also covered by country star Blake Shelton).  However, I became a big fan of Barnes when his romantic and beautiful album "Me and You and the World" came out in 2008.

Barnes' music is usually acoustic and serene, but this new album is very different.  It has more of a pop mainstream vibe, which takes away a lot of the raw beauty of Barnes' voice.

This album doesn't give the goosebumps or make me go "Awwwww" after hearing a line of sweet lyrics.  It doesn't make me want to marry Dave or have a boy someday serenade me with one of these songs.

These are the reasons why I usually love Dave Barnes' CDs.  His music ranges from inspiring, to spiritual, to sexy.  "Stories to Tell" though is just pretty blah.

The songs all seem to blend together, but not in good way.  They all sound similar, generic and unoriginal.

Songs like  "White Flag" and "Stories to Tell"  are more upbeat and produced songs than Barnes' usual work. Others like "Mine to Love" and "Love Will Be Enough For Us" show themes from past Dave Barnes albums, but with much more radio friendly sounding vibes and beats.

Regardless, Dave Barnes still proves himself to be wonderfully talented vocally.  His albums have been getting progressively more produced and more poppy, and this album seems like a definite way for him to promote himself and gain more popularity.

 Is it his best work though?  How about I let you decide for yourself.

NEW:





OLD:

SXSW draws huge crowds

This past week one of the most popular events and famous Austin music festival, South by Southwest took place.

South by Southwest has been drawing crowds of people from all over the nation and the world to Austin since its birth in 1987.  The music portion of the festival lasted from Tuesday the 13th to Sunday the 18th and featured artists from a wide variety of different genres.

Although, I didn't have the opportunity to attend any SXSW shows myself, I got to talk to a lot of friends about the concerts that they went to.  Most of what I heard was about the bigger artists that performed.

While SXSW serves as a great platform for local and lesser-known bands to gain attention, many high profile bands held concerts as well.  Some of the biggest stars here included Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West, and John Meyer.

Furthermore, many of Hollywood's biggest celebrities attended shows or had special appearances.  These included Nick Cannon, Toby Maguire, and even Leonardo DiCaprio.

From rap to indie rock, different shows drew in huge crowds of thousands each.  Some of the biggest performances were from fun., 50 Cent, and Mumford and Sons.

A ton of people packed into Austin Music Hall for the Shady 2.0 Showcase featuring 50 Cent.  Attendees watching the rapper perform his "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" album for its tenth anniversary, were in for a huge surprise as Eminem came out on stage to join him.

"I won free tickets to the show, and when Eminem came out it just made it that much better," junior Texas State University student Adam Brown said.  "This was one of the coolest things I've ever been to!"

Another one of the biggest shows of the week, Mumford and Sons, had over 7,000 people in attendance.  What made this show so big was that it was a special performance at the LBJ library at The University of Texas at Austin.

"It was so packed that my friends and I decided to just watch from a hill nearby,"  Alex Schuppe, junior UT chemistry major, said.  "The show was still awesome though and it was one of the highlights of my time in college for sure."

Review of Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die"

Internet sensation, Lana Del Rey released her debut album "Born to Die" this January.  The singer who describes herself as the "gangsta Nancy Sinatra" is creating lots of buzz in the hipster blogosphere and music industry as a whole.

I first heard about this singer in my Rhetoric of Music Blogs class last semester.  Her catchy songs and unique style instantly hooked me, and one of my friends bought me her CD for my birthday last month.

This CD is constantly on in my car and makes for excellent driving music.  This is particularly true for the songs "Off to the Races", "This is What Makes Us Girls" and "Lolita".

However, this artist causes me some of the most distress I have experienced this year thus far.  She is definitely one of those people that you really want to hate but can't help but be addicted to.

Lana Del Rey's songs have absolutely no substance what so ever, which is what bothers me the most of my liking of her.  Besides that, she is an absolutely terrible live performer.

She is so bad live that there is a lot of talk that she may have had "the worst Saturday Night Live performance ever".  Lana performed on the show on January 14 and had so many negative comments that a parody segment about her featuring Kristen Wiig was performed later on February 4.

On her album, Lana doesn't sound half bad, but in her live performances however, everything sounds so contrived.  She constantly changes keys, fails at her attempts to sing runs, and tries way to hard to make her voice sound deep to where it almost sounds as if she's burping.

Regardless, Lana Del Rey's popularity is still rising with millions buying her album and watching her home-made and self-directed videos, which just goes to show you the state of the modern-day music industry.  These days, being pretty and singing about scandalous topics will get you very far.  Who needs talent?

I'm not one to try to convince people of my opinions though, so decide for yourself!

The live performance:


The auto-tuned track music video:



Vocals on album: 4.5
Vocals in live performances: 1.5

Top Eleven Christmas Albums to Check Out This Year

Some classics, some personal favorites, and some new ones as well

11.  Civil Wars - Tracks in the Snow
















10.  Family Force 5 - Christmas Pageant

9.  Hillsong - Born is the King

8.  Ella Fitzgerald - A Swinging Christmas

7.  Michael Buble -Christmas

6.  The Maine - ...And a Happy New Year

5.  David Crowder Band - Oh the Joy

4.  Deas Vail - For Shepherds & Kings

3.  Relient K - Let it Snow, Let it Reindeer














2.  Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby - Christmas with Frank and Bing

1.  Dave Barnes - Very Merry Christmas