Music Monday: Locksley Forward | Summer

Katie September 26, 2016 0 Comments

Glory!
Vilas Beach
Touch & Go

Locksley’s latest EP was something I went into listening being a bit unsure.  I really loved their “Don’t Make Me Wait” album from 2007 back when they opened for Hanson and I saw them a handful of times on the tour.  They since replaced a band members and reworked a lot of the songs that I had grown to know and love when I had seen them perform live a few years back.  I wasn’t exactly which direction this EP was going to go in.  The first track, Glory! is a bit strange to me and not really my style.  Vilas Beach was more of a throwback to the old Locksley mixed a bit with Rooney.  The last track Touch & Go was also more of what I was hoping for.  Looking forward to the Fall portion of this EP!

Music Monday: Britney Spears Glory

Katie September 19, 2016 0 Comments

Invitation
Make Me…
Private Show
Man on the Moon
Just Luv Me
Clumsy
Do You Wanna Come Over?
Slumber Party
Just Like Me
Love Me Down
Hard To Forget Ya
What You Need
Better
Change Your Mind (No Seas Cortes)
Liar
If I’m Dancing
Coupure Electrique

I kind of went into this album with no expectations. I haven’t been a fan of too much of Britney’s more recent work and was on the fence about the first single, “Make Me” which has been on the radio quite a bit since it’s release. But I was actually pleasantly surprised and there are very few songs, if any, that I’ve been skipping after multiple times listening.  A lot of the songs are very catchy and I find them sneaking into my head – especially the music intro to “Private Show”, ah so catchy.  The sound of Britney in that song is also a bit of a throwback too. I also really enjoy Clumsy, Hard To Forget Ya and Liar!

CD Review: Nick Fradiani Hurricane

Katie August 22, 2016 0 Comments

Every Day
Nothing To Lose
In The Long Run
Forget2ForgetU
Get You Home
Howl At The Moon
Nobody
Love is Blind
All On You
Hurricane
If I Didn’t Know You
Beautiful Life

Hurricane is the debut release from American Idol Season 14 winner Nick Fradiani.  At first, I didn’t like Nick, but he is slowly beginning to grow on me.  This album is pretty good, although a lot of it seems to be about an ex girlfriend. But the tracks are catchy enough that there aren’t any on here that I’ve been skipping and it’s been on heavy rotation in the last week or so in the car.  Despite this album being pretty solid, it is the worst debut of any of the Idol winners to date.  I have to say that a lot of this is probably due to the decline in record sales and the music industry just being in a weird place right now. (Because how else can you explain Caleb, WHO?, selling twice as much!?)

Music Monday: Nick Jonas Last Year Was Complicated

Katie June 13, 2016 0 Comments

Voodoo
Champagne Problems
Close
Chainsaw
Touch
Bacon
Good Girls
The Difference
Don’t Make Me Choose
Under You
Unhinged
Comfortable

 Nick Jonas’ latest solo release “Last Year Was Complicated” was just released. Unfortunately my CD that I pre-ordered has yet to arrive so I had to listen to the album on Spotify in order to write this review so I didn’t get a chance to listen to it as many times as I would have liked before writing this review. (But at least my pre-order came with soundcheck access for Nick’s show here next month – that should be fun!)

It seems like with Nick’s songs, I need to listen to them more than a couple of times before I really get into them, right now I’ve listened a couple times and I can tell there are a couple of contenders for super catchy not going to stop listening to these for a while once I get the CD. The songs released as singles Champagne Problems and Close are more front runners for me at the moment, but I know that is just because I’ve listened to them more – I wasn’t really into Close when I first heard it but it has grown on me a lot.

I may have to come back and edit this post once I’ve had a chance to really listen to the CD over and over!

Music Monday: Hanson “Play” EP (Preview)

Katie June 6, 2016 0 Comments

In October, Hanson will be releasing the companion to their “Loud” (Members Only) EP in the EP called “Play”.  This EP will not be members only and is currently available to pre-order on Hanson.net – however it is only available as a digital download purchase to the public and as a vinyl for Hanson.net Members paired with it’s companion so you get L + P = LP. (Get it?)

A few weeks back in Tulsa I had the pleasure of not only being treated to a sneak peak of 4 of the 5 songs live – but also had the chance to lend some vocals and stomps to the recordings as well.

If the live performances were any indication – this is going to be a Hanson release you don’t want to miss out on.

Man on Top
Do You Believe In Love
Joyful Noise
Feeling Alive

We had the chance to hear a very early version of Zac writing “Do You Believe In Love” on a stream that Hanson played on their site during the recording of “Loud” and I’m pretty sure we all unanimously decided that we HAD to hear this song sooner rather than later.  It turned from a piano ballad to a song in the style of The Darkness, but I’m pretty sure I would love it no matter what kind of arrangement they did to it.

I have the countdown to October started and can not wait to do an actual formal review on this EP soon!

Music Monday: Hanson.net EP “LOUD”

Katie May 23, 2016 0 Comments

Ooh La La La
Stop Me In My Tracks
No Rest For The Weary
Something Loud
Siren Call

Each year Hanson releases an EP to paid members of their fanclub.  This year they came up with the concept of “Loud” for the EP and I have to say that this is one of my favorite EPs in a long time.  I have been playing it on repeat on the way to and from work since I got it. (I can’t play it at work because the CD player on my work computer is busted, figures right?)  This EP also has a companion piece called “PLAY” which we recorded elements of in Tulsa last week and will be released on October 10th.  At the moment it will be available as a digital download or vinyl only, though we are “fighting” for a physical CD to be released as well since Loud is a CD and the cover art are supposed to be companion pieces.

I’m not sure what my favorite is on the EP – it seriously changes every hour – sometimes I’ll have Stop Me In My Tracks stuck in my head, most of the time it’s Something Loud (loud loud), I think the one stuck in my head the least has been Ooh la la la which may be because that is the one that they didn’t do a stream of when they were recording it, so I am the least familiar with it but that doesn’t make it any less great than the rest.

If you want to get your hands on this CD, and I recommend you do, you’ll have to join Hanson.net in 2016.  If not, it will go into the vault until 2018!

Music Monday: Hamilton OBC CD 1

Katie May 16, 2016 1 Comments

The Broadway show Hamilton has seemed to taken the world by storm.  It is sold out until January 2017 and is the hottest ticket on the secondary market. They are trying to figure out new ways to stop scalpers from getting tickets and people are coming from far and wide to see the show.  Even though I live fairly close to NYC, I have not yet seen the show but I am hoping when more tickets open up I can grab a couple and wait it out for however long I have to.  Originally I wasn’t going to listen to the soundtrack but was told that I shouldn’t deprive myself of it since I couldn’t get tickets so I recently decided to listen to just the first CD of the OBC Recording (via Spotify)

Was it a good idea? Maybe not… because now I want to see it even more than I already did – and have to wait at least 8 months!  I just have to make sure I don’t play it out before I get the chance to see it now 😉

Music Monday: Rooney Washed Away

Katie May 9, 2016 0 Comments

All The Beautiful People
My Heart Beats 4 U
Don’t Be A Hero
Why
Washed Away
Time Alone
Do You Have to Go?
Come on Baby
Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow
I Miss You When You’re Gone
You’re All I Ever Need
Sad by True

I think that I was first introduced to Rooney when they were on The OC… even if I had known of them earlier than that, I can’t help but think if Luke asking “WHICH ONE IS ROONEY!?” every time I hear their name.  I’ve seen them live a few times since they opened for both The Jonas Brothers and Hanson. (And lead singer Rob was one of the special guests at Hanson’s Back to the Island event as well.)  Their newest album Washed Away came out last week.  I wasn’t sure what to expect because the band had been on a break for quite some time before this release.  This album felt really familiar to me for some reason, I guess it was just the Rooney sound that I was expecting so it sounded like I had heard some of the songs before (or maybe I had an just don’t remember it?)  I’m not sure of a favorite track but I certainly hope that Rooney will end up doing a larger scale tour and I’ll be able to hit up one of the shows. As of right now they’re playing NY when I’ll be in OK for Hanson Day Weekend.

The first single off the album is My Heart Beats 4U and here’s the music video:

Music Monday: Haley Reinhart Better

Katie May 2, 2016 0 Comments

My Cake
Behave
Better
Can’t Help Falling in Love
Check Please
Bad Light
Talkin’ About
Good or Bad
Love Is Worth Fighting For
I Belong To You
Listen

It’s no secret that Season 10 of American Idol was my favorite. A big part of the reason why is Haley Reinhart – who came in 3rd place. She has one of the most amazing voices and growls I’ve ever heard so I was thrilled to find out that she had released another album recently.  The album and first single are both called “Better” and the album in full is nothing short of amazing.  The singing just seems to come so naturally to her and I love it! My favorite tracks are Check Please, Good or Bad and Love Is Worth Fighting For but the full album is definitely worth a listen or 2 or 10 or 100.

Music Monday: Javier Colon Gravity

Katie April 25, 2016 0 Comments

Close To You
Clear the Air
Giant
Gravity
My Perspective
Say
The Hard Way
For a Reason
It Don’t Matter To The Sun
Walkin’
Never Know
Walking Blind
Hallelujah

JAVIER COLON HARNESSES THE FORCE OF GRAVITY

Acclaimed singer-songwriter-guitarist and The Voice winner to make April 15, 2016 Concord debut with eagerly-awaited new album.

You might remember Javier Colon as the winner of the first season of The Voice. He is a Connecticut native and has just released his fourth album – Gravity.

“Music is powerful,” says Colon.  “It can make you cry, it can make you laugh, it can make you dance, and it can make you feel like you’re not alone.  It can allow you to confront your life, or it can make you forget about life for awhile.  It’s important to me as an artist to try and move people emotionally.  My songs have always come from the heart, and from a place of wanting to move people or make people feel something inside.

I won tickets to see Javier this week (details on that next week) so I figured it would be appropriate to review his new album that came out on the 15th and prepare myself for what I can expect him to sing when I see him.  He has such a beautiful voice and I love just about all the songs on the album but I think if I had to pick a favorite I would go with For a Reason.  There are a handful that I am hoping he will do live – I have my fingers crossed they make it into the setlist.