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.

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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