The biggest development from last week, was that after weeks of thinking about it and talking about it on this journal, I finally published my digital garden online. You can find it here.
It's a work in progress, so there will be changes. In fact, the nature of it means it will probably be forever under construction. When you go through it, don't think of it as a blog. It is not. There are no published dates. There's no RSS feed. There's no email subscription. The URLs to specific notes will probably change every week. It is really a digital garden/personal knowledge-base.
Matt shared this wonderful website on Mastodon. What an amazing find! It allows you to watch, what looks like dashcam videos, from all over the world. In an age where travel and road trips are put on-hold, this website lets you experience virtually driving in another country. It's a mesmerizing and very interesting way to see what other countries/cities look like.
Power outages and water shut-offs all across Texas. People have died in accidents on the road and at their own homes because of the cold. It's extremely disheartening. We've been extremely lucky to not have lost power or water at all. But that wasn't the case for everyone else. Last week's winter storm really showed how the state of Texas is just not ready for this kind of weather. I'm hoping that the state can learn from this and be better prepared for the next one.
For today's music log, I have two songs with really great intros. I'm talking about the kind of intros that will get you pumped up and ready to rock. I'm deviating from my usual sharing of songs from Spotify, to instead sharing music videos from Youtube. This is so you can actually listen to the intros of these two great rock songs.
First up is the song “Hell Yeah” by Rev Theory. I've only heard of Rev Theory a few years ago, but this song is apparently from way back in 2008. I know musical taste is subjective, but I believe this song has one of the best intros as far as rock and roll songs goes.
Similar to my previous music log entry, the two songs I have lined up today are punk rock covers of popular hit songs.
Let's start off with “Hello” by Dayseeker. As you can probably tell by the title, this is another cover of a famous song from Adele. I've heard a number of covers for this song, including one from Lukas Rossi and another from Coheed and Cambria. As far as rock covers go though, this might be the best one.
It's Friday, so it's time for another music log. I have two songs for today that were from a “punk goes pop” playlist somewhere in Spotify.
First one is “Torn” by Hands Like Houses. This is a great cover of Natalie Imbruglia's hit song from the 90s. The way they did this cover gives it a little more weight. It sounds angrier. A more serious take on the original.
Another Friday, another music log. I only have two songs for today but they are really good rock songs.
Let's start with “Sick of Me” by Beartooth. Most of their songs fall on the heavy metal, hard rock side of things, but they have a few which are the perfect combination of those genres. This song is one of them. This is a great song about making the effort and pushing yourself, so you end up in a far better place than where you are right now.
I lost six of my years
Fighting fire with fear
And it's tearing me apart inside
I can point all the blame
Try to relieve the shame
But I think it's time I took back my life
'Cause I'm sick of the person I used to be
So stressed out, burned out, living in my agony
Hated all the words that they said to me
So I jacked up, blacked out, wasted all those memories
I won't go back
...
'Cause I'm sick of you
I'm sick of me
I'm sick of the person I used to be
It is a rainy Friday in Texas, time for another music log.
The first song for today is “What Would Love Do?” by Scott Stapp. If you don't know who Scott Stapp is, he was the vocalist for the rock band Creed, which was one of my favorite bands back in high school. I don't remember why they've disbanded, but the rest of the band members are still making music in another rock band, Alter Bridge.
Anyway back to the song, this is a beautiful song about the power of love. Not the cheesy corny kind, but the kind of love that stops you from giving in to your rage. I really love the lyrics on this song.
Go ahead and throw it in my face
Remind me of each of my mistakes
Turn on me tell me I'm wrong that it's all my fault
I feel I'm losing control
Putting my fists through the wall
This is the place that I break I can't take anymore
I see the fear in your eyes
I'm frozen standing still in time
What would love do?
If it were here in this room, standing between me and you.
What would love do?
It would look in my face and stop me from hurting you.
That's what love would do
For my first music log for 2020, I'm starting off with a band I've rediscovered on Spotify, The Cranberries. Listening to their songs transports me back to my high-school/college days. It is very unfortunate that their vocalist passed away as they were finishing up their latest album. Dolores is one of those singers with a unique voice and singing style. You could easily tell if The Cranberries were on the radio because of how she sang.
First song for today is their hit song “Zombie”. This is one of those songs that defined a generation, a generation that was growing up during the 90s. It was one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar so it has something of a sentimental value to me.
This is a great song to learn on an acoustic or bass guitar. The chord pattern is so simple, Em – C – G – D, so all open chords. You could play this over and over again in what would be a fun jamming session with friends.
For my last music log for the year 2019, I'm sharing my top 3 songs as reported by Spotify.
The first song is “Throne” by Bring Me The Horizon. Apparently this rock band has been making music for awhile now, but it wasn't until their 2015 album “That's The Spirit” that I really started to take notice. This track is probably my favorite Bring Me The Horizon song, so I'm not surprised it is at the top of the list. However, there is another reason why this ended up being my top song for 2019.
Early this year, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown came out and I was hooked on that game for months. During that time, I seriously thought about making an Ace Combat 7 music video using this song. I thought that the lyrics in this song, fits really well with some of the narrative in the game. So I kept listening to this song, constructing the scenes in my mind. Eventually I decided not to go through with it due to copyright issues, but I guess I listened to the song too much that it is now my top song for 2019.
Update 06/05/2020 — Redid this music log with YouTube videos and an updated post slug. This used to be Music Log – 014 | Falling in Reverse Part 2. With the updated post slug,you should be able to use the footer links to navigate from this entry, all the way down to the first one (Music Log – 001), and vice versa. Note that the footer links will only show up if you have Javascript enabled.
This is part 2 of the Falling In Reverse music log edition. Let's start off with the song “Fuck You and All Your Friends”. Don't let the title of the song stop you from trying to listen to it. It is a really great track with an awesome build up to the chorus. The reason the title is so negative, is because if I'm not mistaken, the song is based off the fractured relationship between the band's vocalist and his friends from his previous band (before he formed Falling In Reverse).
It's a beautiful Friday in North Texas. It is sunny outside but the temp is 48F right now. Felt good when I went out for a drive on my lunch break. Anyway since it is Friday, time for another music log.
This will be Part 1 of the Falling In Reverse music log edition. Wow Falling in Reverse. I don't even know how to describe their music, other than that it might be the best combination of metal, emo, punk, rock, electronica and rap that I've heard so far. Their lead singer Ronnie Radke has had a rough life having been involved with drugs and going to prison. However he uses his personal experiences and uses it as fuel to write some really, really good emotionally charged tracks.
Note: Most of their songs haveexplicit lyrics. You have been warned.
Let's start with one of their more recent songs, “Losing My Life.” One of the best combination of rap and rock that I've ever heard in a song. I love how it transitions from rap to rock just before the chorus. It also has this sci-fi movie vibe to it.