Time For A Little Self Promotion

The long & short of it is tonight I'm feeling pretty lazy and don't want to try to actually write anything about anything.

So my solution to that is this weeks band to be things I was involved with
What kind of musician would I be if I didn't indulge in some shameless self promotion?
Not a very good one thats for sure.

So here we go

First up is JFTR.

Kind of a gay picture, but hey I'm okay with it. I know we aren't a band anymore, but it doesn't mean I cant show people the stuff. JFTR ( Just For The Record ) has been a huge part of my life, almost Eight years in the making. Alot of crap, and I mean A LOT, but I wouldn't trade a second of it, not even the sucky shows that we played for maybe 3 people tops, some of those were the best.

And those five guys are family, I love those guys....no homo. And while we're on the topic of love, I'm eternally grateful to anyone who supported us throughout those years, ESPECIALLY those who were there from when we started (and sucked so much it was ridiculous) right up to the end! We wouldn't have made it so far without people like that. So here's where you can check out our stuff!

Just head on over to www.facebook.com/jftrmusic SIMPLE. AS.PIE YO! :)

This is a picture from our last show. We closed with "Avenue Earthquake" Which I thought was quite fitting with it being the first song we ever wrote (since we changed styles) it made sense for it to be the last song we ever played as JFTR. I'll be straight up, when Garrett said "This is the last song you'll ever hear from JFTR, etc." I almost cried haha. I Love every single person that was there for that moment and everybody that came up on stage to share that with us. you're the best.

SECONDLY!
The Bonus Bandits.

Me and Matts rap group, I know you're probably thinking "Rap? Seriously?"

Yes. Seriously. Not about pimps & hoes though, we figured we would rap about what we love. which is beards, yo yos, mario, zombies. things like that. We were pretty much 100% serious about joke rap, and those shows were some of the funnest i've ever played, and the easiest. Plug in an ipod and rap, done and done :) (I'm aware that funnest isn't a word.)
you can go listen to some of our stuff at www.facebook.com/thebonusbandits

Oh and also, we made a music video, most awkward thing I've ever done, but I love it more than a puppy. It was probably the best 3 days of my life.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST!:

This Is Paramount

Something Me Chris & Garrett have been working on.

We just finished up our cover of Set Fire To The Rain by Adele. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The other song "Hit & Run" we just decided hey lets go record something just to be playing music again, and Hit & Run was born. We may be going up to re-record it pretty soon so thats always good news.  Anyway, you can listen to both at www.facebook.com/thisisparamount

Thats it, I'm done for the day! If you want any of the stuff let me know and I'll figure out how to get it to you, thanks for reading this 

As always, everything I say on here is my opinion, nothing more. Acceptance of it as my own personal opinion is all I ask for, and if you want to disagree you can go right ahead, but my opinions will stay my opinions.

Much Love,

Jes

Thrice: Beggars

Okay First off, this ones kinda long, so I apologize for that.

So hands down,
and I mean HANDS DOWN
Thrice is probably my favorite band, it's tied up there with Emarosa.
For many reasons, their music is just straight up amazing, and they are amazing musicians. The singer Dustin Kensrue reads a lot which makes everything, lyrically, really well put together, and there are tons of CS Lewis & Bible references which is always a plus in my book. CS Lewis is pretty mindblowing so songs that talk about his stuff are pretty neat in my opinion
on top of that they are really good live so more bonus'

However there is seriously absolutely no way I could put up just a few songs by Thrice and call it good.
So you'll have to bear
(or is it bare? pretty sure its bear, anyways)
with me because I'm gonna do it by albums. I figure thats the only way to do it so I dont have a million videos on one page, and it will give you time to actually appreciate the music.

So lets get this bih started!

First on the list: Beggars.  No particular ordering keep that in mind, I just chose to talk about Beggars first.
So I'm not sure what it is about this album, but when I listen to it it just puts me in a very relaxed mood. It has a sort of jazzy feel to it maybe? Well I wouldn't say jazzy but its pretty chill. And yet at the same time its got an interesting (for lack of a better word) upbeat side to it.

For example they have songs like "Wood & Wire" which is one of the chill ones in my opinion,
and then you have "All The World Is Mad", which has a very Muse-ish feel to it, with things like a very predominant bass line with a distortion on it along with the guitars and harmonies that once again make me think of Muse songs.
And on top of all that they have a few songs that sound almost bluesish or maybe jazzy? (The Weight & Beggars)

Anyways I could sit here going on and on.....and on some more after that about how much I love this band, and how great I think they are, but I'll just let the music do the talking for me. I personally feel like this entire album is something you should listen to, but I've narrowed it down to 3 or 4 that in my opinion are pretty great that you should have a listen to.

First off "Doublespeak" This song is one of my favorites. Everything about it, construction, melody, lyrics, various instruments, its all good. There's something about the verse's that is super chill, but at the same time has some swag to it if that makes any sense. Anyways, have a listen its good.

Secondly "Beggars" The album was named after this song so its safe to assume its pretty good. Once again something about how chill this song is and yet the style behind it is what makes it amazing to me. This is one of the ones I said had a chill kind of jazzish side to it fyi. Also sorry its one of those lyrics videos, I hate those, but its the best I could find.

Third "All The World Is Mad" This is one of the upbeat ones. As I said it seems like its got a Muse-ish feel to it right? I love the crunchy bassline in this song too

Last is "The Weight" An all around good song. Enjoy!

So thats Beggars! once again I think that you should get this whole album, its freakin great, but if you dont I guess I'm alright with that. And if you decide "Hey, I like Thrice lets hear more" don't worry, because there's like....Four more albums I'm going to talk about! But I'll space it out over a while.

And if you don't like it....well then that kinda sucks for you I guess? Sorry and I hope I put up something you do like.

As always, everything I say on here is my opinion, nothing more. Acceptance of it as my own personal opinion is all I ask for, and if you want to disagree you can go right ahead, but my opinions will stay my opinions.

Especially when it comes to Thrice.

Much love,
Jes.

The Head & The Heart.

The Head & The Heart.........

Holy crap.
These guys are straight up prime! I saw them for the first time when Iron & Wine came through and these guys opened up for them. If I'm being 100% honest here, they were probably my favorite part of the whole show.

Now don't get me wrong, Iron & Wine was freakin amazing. I was expecting it to be him and his guitar like the first time I saw him, but he was rocking the full band and everything this time and it was every bit as good as the first time. especially when he played "Your fake name is good enough for me" and it had the crazy crescendo and everything. Whoa, that moment in time is one I would definitely go back to.

But back to The Head & The Heart.

Everything about these guys was amazing. They had great stage presence, like they were eternally grateful to be up there playing for the crowd, which I'm sure they were, but they were up there playing music just to play music. Musically they were great too, everything flowed together incredibly, and the three and sometimes four part harmonies were pretty much mindblowing. As soon as they were done I went and picked up a CD and some shirts. Anyways I dont have much time so the long and short of it is these guys are great. I love every song they've done, but I'm gonna put up just a few I think are good. Give it a listen, pretty sure you'll be happy about it.


Rivers and Roads - First song I heard and still one of my favorite. This is just a live video of them playing, still way good though.

Ghosts - Not sure what it is about this one, I just think its overall a good one, especially at the last part. This one is another live video because I cant find a regular one or one of those dumb lyric videos.

Lost In My Mind - Out of their whole CD I would probably say this one is my favorite.

So there you have it. The Head & The Heart. Easily one of the best bands I've seen live, and one of my top favorites. Go ahead and take a listen and pick up their stuff if you like it. I wouldnt even be mad about it.

Much Love,

Jes

So I Guess I Started A Blog.

Like so many people I have fallen to the blog, and like so many others, I tried and failed to come up with a title thats cool/catchy/awe-inspiring or whatever you want to call it. In the end I just settled on Acceptance. Basically I chose it because what I say and share music wise most likely won't be actual fact, just my opinion of a song I like, my thoughts on something I found interesting, and things like that. I don't ask that you believe what I say, just that you accept that what I said is simply the opinion of some guy with a beard. Easy as that, accept its just my opinion and I'm not trying to offend anyone or shove anything down anyones throat. And that ends the story of how I named my blog.

Clever right? 

Not so much, but hey I'm not losing any sleep over it.

So I'm going to be straight up. I've never liked blogs much, I think there are way too many out there that aren't really about anything. I don't even care much for the word Blog, seeing as how it just conjured up thoughts of said blogs about nothing. But seeing as how its on a billion other peoples list of things to do before they die, I might as well throw it on mine and get started right? 

As for what its about........still working on that. Here's how I'm assuming it's going to go.

Most posts will be related to music in some way or another.

Be it a band/song etc. that I think is worth a listen, or something along those lines, chances are pretty good it'll be music related. 

If you know me you know music is a passion, I may not be the best at it, but its one of the only things in this world that I think I legitimately feel a passion for. If you don't know me, then you'll learn that soon because of how much I talk about music. Either way, music is involved in everything I do and this blog wont be any different. 

Thats how it is, simple facts. 

So as I said, thats the long and short of it. Im going to try to put up at least a new song or band every week, any suggestions go to town and I'll take a look at them. Another thing about me is I like pretty much everything, so pretty much everything is what I'm going to share, but just as an FYI I'll let you know if the music I'm putting up is more on the heavier side just to give you fair warning. If the heavy stuff isn't your cup of tea, then check back and chances are good I'll have something the opposite up soon.

Until next time I guess? 

Lets just hope I don't forget I started one of these.