A day of love...

I tried to wait an entire week before writing a post about this, but alas, it was in vain. I thought maybe a portion of my excitement would die down over the last few days, but I have to write about this now.

The MUTEMATH show.

My good friend Tim once told me that MUTEMATH put on one of the best shows he'd ever seen. True, their albums are pretty awesome, but I thought he was exaggerating. I mean, the music is great and everything, and I'd been listening to the first two albums for a while. I wasn't sure how the newest one would be, so I hadn't gotten it yet.

It was NOT an exaggeration. Seeing MUTEMATH Valentine's Day blew my mind. I'd say I've been to quite a few live shows, and this was incredible.

I've spent the last few days analyzing the concert, trying to decide what made it so much better than anything else I'd seen before. I've come up with two things:

1. Drummer Darren King is a beast. He walked on stage and immediately taped his headphones to his head. By the end, he had sweat so much the adhesive was completely gone and the headphones just slipped off.

2. The band is lined up at the front of the stage. Normally, the drummer is positioned behind the other members of the band, but these guys had all four of them up at the front, with King furthest stage left. He was so full of energy, the other guys fed off of it and it made the show incredible.

Oh, and these guys were so classy. They were in sweaters, collared shirts, suits, ties... they looked brilliant. They were so in sync with each other, like they knew exactly how they played and how to play together. The bassist was incredible; he won my heart when he whipped out a fretless bass. The new guitarist is fantastic and completely held his own with the other guys. And of course, singer/keyboardist/frontman Paul Meany was a crowd favorite.

They played a full 2 hour set, going through every song from their latest album and some additional ones from the last two records. They came out in the middle of the crowd, Paul crowd-surfed on a lit-up mattress, they paraded in under a canopy of Christmas lights... it was the best kind of crazy.

Best Valentine's Day ever.

First album: MUTEMATH
Song: Typical
This is the most popular song from the album. Man, the crowd went wild when they played this one. And they had to learn how to sing/play the song backwards for the music video... so crazy.


Second album: Armistice
Song: Backfire
I love the melody of the verses. The choruses are super fun, but I think the verses are beautifully put together.


Third album: Odd Soul
Song: Allies
I probably should've put one of the most popular songs from this album up, like "Odd Soul," "Blood Pressure," or "Tell Your Heart Heads Up." But I'm a music nerd, hence, the songs that stick with me might be a little different. In the verses of this one, they sort of fake you out with a key change and then slip back into the original key. I thought it was weird at first, but now I'm hooked. It's absolutely brilliant.

21.

I should probably try to write more often. This is what happens when I don't:

I get older.

You music people may have thought this post would be about Adele's latest album, but it's not. I'm going to be selfish and talk about me for a second. I've officially reached legal adulthood, and I'm not sure how I'm feeling about it. I was just barely 17, wasn't I? Didn't I just graduate from high school? Don't I still think boys have cooties and that Santa is a wizard?

Yes. Yes I do. Oh well. Now on to some musical musings.

This place in time has brought me a lot of firsts. Last week, for the first time in my life, I was told by a music teacher not to practice so much. Love this. I have also purchased a ukulele for the first time in my life, which should be here tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. My best friend plays fantastically, so we'll see if we can get her to show me the ropes.

fun.'s new album comes out in a month. Hopefully it's as good as the first one. Deas Vail's new album is self-titled and outstanding; check it out. Phantom Planet makes me smile and think of warm beaches. And I have been incredibly impressed with The Airborne Toxic Event's live concert album, All I Ever Wanted. The music is even better than their studio albums, if that's even possible. "I laughed, I cried... it moved me, Bob." 10 points for Gryffindor if you can get that quote. No, it's not from Harry Potter.

Lately, I've been going back in time a little bit. Musically. Been listening to some Cream, some Magnetic Fields, some Alan Parson's Project, some Tom Petty. Who knew Johnny Depp was in a Tom Petty music video? Or of his sweet guitar skills?



Oh, and Matt LeBlanc, aka Joey from Friends. Fantastic. Backtracking a little bit, if you'd like to hear some clean, beautifully produced music, check out The Alan Parson's Project. "Time" is beautiful, "Games People Play" gets stuck in my head for hours... it's awesome. It's an older style, but I love it.

Happy listening.