Unplugged Music Reviews

Shakey Graves is a very new artist to me. New as in 3 days ago new. I have heard of him prior but have never looked into his music before this week, and to say the least, I am very impressed. The warm vocals and guitar really make you feel like your driving down a dirt road at night, blasting music, and just thrashing every ounce of life your car still has in it. He encapsulated this equal measure of adventure and familiarity that doesn't deter you from diving deeper into what he has to offer. The bass drum acts as a heartbeat or cornerstone of the melodies and the guitar weaves from a steady riff to a exciting lick and then back again. In between, adding silent moments that offer a build and release to their songs. As compared to his studio albums, Shakey Graves' live performance is a much warmer feeling. his audio, from the guitar at least, sounds like it's coming from a Vox amp. It has that classic hum to it that adds authenticity. While there are big differences in...

Cage the Elephant has been a largely popular band since 2011. They first started gaining traction in the when their song "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" was used in the unveiling trailer for the video game Borderlands. Their first two studio albums were very Indie style and their live performance portrayed that careless style that Indie music is known for. I have seen them once back in 2013 before their album Melophobia was released. They played a few of their Icon songs including the one above "In One Ear" and they also played half of their Melophobia album before it was released. The performance was amazing. Now saying this, I know the difference between style and shitty sound. They intentionally have amazing sounding instrumentals while the vocals are very sparse and sang almost lazily. This is the Indie style. A care-free performance that is focused on the arousal of the concertgoers rather than the quality perfectionism that most artists strive to get i...

I'm changing things up a bit this week. I will be talking about music, but it will be about how it influenced one of the most spontaneous decisions I've made. A few weeks ago at the end of September I got a phone call from my buddy on a Thursday asking if I wanted to drive overnight to Colorado and film some long boarding the following morning. I had class the next day but decided to say "Fuck it" and have a little adventure (Sorry Prof. Nyquist). We drove all night, nearly 8 hours, and the whole time we were listening to some bands that I haven't heard since high school. We played Mogwai's newest album as we traveled open plains in western Kansas and watched the stars light up the fields of wheat. The steady builds of instrumentals that would burst into soulful, perfectly orchestrated, melodies that flushed me with nostalgia. It perfectly fit the atmosphere and created a unique mood. As we rounded the crest of the mountains and saw Denver lighting up ...