Music Monday - A couple song thoughts

1. Today Kris Allen, this past year's American Idol winner debut his first signle. I found out beforehand that it was actually written by a band I like, the Script. I actually always liked Kris Allen as a contestant on Idol. He was one of my initial underdog picks (even before the top 32) to make it all the way. For a while in the middle he didn't impress me thaat much, but it looks like things worked out for him. So I like the song...although I have mixed thoughts on it. It's mostly because I really like the Script...and I really like the lead singer, his voice and intonations. And when Kris Allen sings it, he takes on some of the same things. It kinda bothers me because I Know that's not Kris Allen coming through but really the Script. Anyways, I'm sure you will be hearing the song "Live Like We're Dying," in the coming days, weeks and months. So here's the Script's version...to see where it all came from.



2. Right now Boys Like Girls are pretty popular for the single "Love Drunk" They also had a couple popular singles in 2007: "Hero/Heroine" and "The Great Escape." A couple weeks ago I discovered their duo with Taylor Swift entitled "Two is Better Than One." I pretty much fell in love. :) I have their album on my computer but hadn't listened to the whole thing. Today a song came on while I was working and really caught my attention. (This is my favorite way to rate music I own. If it comes on and I take notice and make sure I know who it is and such, I know it's a song worth listening to...) But that's what happened with their song "Someone Like You." It's another slower ballad and I like it. I'm a big fan of more punk-type of bands doing slow songs...this fits right in. I hope you enjoy.

Crooks and Battistelli

So I've been excited about an assorted of music I've found lately. Really I'm amazed at how you can always be finding new music and hearing about new artists and such. Considering I've be so actively exploring the music scene the past little while, I really thought I'd see a little drag in finding new artists that I really like. But I've proven myself wrong. First up: Shanna Crooks.

As I listen to her music, Shanna Crooks kinda reminds me of a Natasha Bedingfield meets B*witched (the Irish girl group popular in the late 90s) mix. And I love it. She is definitely a girl's music type of singer. (Seeing that I'm not a guy, I can't exactly predict whether it's something they'd enjoy too...but let me know.) Visit her myspace page to check out her single, "Wakin' Up To Love," which is currently available on iTunes and various other online venders. She also has other great songs posted, but as far as I know, they haven't yet been released and aren't available...yet!

The single was recently featured in a commercial for Clean and Clear's new morning burst product.

The next shout out goes to Francesca Battistelli. I've come across her name before but hadn't actually looked into her stuff. Last night she had a song featured on The Biggest Loser (one of my new addictions). I heard it and thought, oh I need to look up that song. I searched for it at work, finally found the info and here we are. She's actually a Christian musician and released her first studio album last summer (July 2008). Her first single, "I'm Letting Go," was the top 16th song on Christian stations. She's recently been nominated for five Dove Awards. Check out her myspace as well! I've posted the song from the show, "It's Your Life."

Parachute VA

Joshua Radin, “Simple Times” 1.99

Amazon is doing it again! I’m really going to have to follow this $1.99 deal more closely, because they’ve featured some great albums already. But again: It’s TODAY only!

This time it’s Joshua Radin’s 2008 album “Simple Times.” If you haven’t heard any of Radin’s stuff, this is a great time to venture into his music. I actually love this album and its low-key nature. His songs have great lyrics and meanings if you want to get way into them, plus they are really relaxing and can serve as excellent background music. (I always put it on when I feel I really need to focus at work!)

From this album I’d suggest “I’d Rather Be With You,” “You’ve Got Growin’ Up to Do,” and “One of Those Days.” If you like his stuff, I’d also suggest “The Fear You Won’t Fall,” which was actually featured of Grey’s Anatomy just a little while ago.

The album was only released last September and debuted at No. 34. The music video for “I’d Rather Be With You” was released in November 2008. Plus it's currently a part of VH1's video countdown.

Oh and Ellen Degeneres actually sought out this artist to sing at her own wedding.

Joshua Radin's Myspace Page

2.99 Album on Amazon- TODAY ONLY

I know, I know; I just posted about Plain White T's. But they are just featured on lots of things in the last little while. First off, CNN conducted an interview with Tom Higgenson, the group's lead singer. They talked about the new video, the interactive feature, and a little behind the scenes stuff about the band and this singer.

Next, it looks like their new album Big Bad World is being featured today only for only $2.99. With as much as I’ve been saying about them, especially comparatively…well, you’d think I like them a lot more than I do. But in addition to “1,2,3,4” I also suggest listening to “That Girl” (do-do-do, ba-ba-ba, oh-oh-oh, la-la-la), and “Someday.” Come on, it’s 2.99!

With that said, I do want to say that I hope to soon find the time and the means to start adding some serious content—like features and articles rather than update posts. Hopefully soon!

White Horse

Taylor Swift has released the music video for her second single from her "Fearless" album: "White Horse." In addition, she has announced the tour dates for her first headlining tour.

American Idol

As much as I hate to admit the role American Idol has in bringing new artists into the industry, I remember the moment a couple years ago when I realized several artists I found myself liking had, in fact, been discovered on Idol. Daughtry, Kellie Pickler, Elliot Yamin, Katharine McPhee. It's probably a bit obvious that I missed watching the show for several years.

Even though these individuals did not end up winning the glorious Idol title, they have each found their own kind of success in doing what they love to do. Anyone remember Jon Peter Lewis from, what season, uh, three? In 2008, his single "Break the Silence" made it onto my own Summer Songs and the album under the same title, ended up being one of my favorites for the year. (Yea, I do have a lot of favorites.)
See what Jon Peter Lewis is up to.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do love American Idol; I'm just a little hesitant to let the widely publicized series based on the voting records of the 12-year-old masses seriously dictate some of my personal music decisions. But, despite who else might like them, I recognize that I may, in fact, end up really liking some of the future American idols.

All in all, I realize that this music blog can not get by without some mention of this years promising artists. And as I'm looking a little bit into more of the contestants, I'm gaining more of a mindset that all of these singers, whether established before or not, really could be just like any of the emerging artists I've found on my own…if that makes sense.

Wednesday night the Top 36 for American Idol's Season 8 were announced and just a couple hours afterwards changed (I'm personally thankful; I didn't really like Joanna Paciti despite her struggling Hard Knock Life.) But regardless of how any of these contestants will do on the show, I'm excited to perhaps see more promising music coming from the likes of my personal favorites thus far:

Jamar Rogers: OK I know he didn't make the 36 cut, but this was my biggest disappointment of the evening. (I was grumbling to myself for the rest of the episode and with each new male accepted.) But perhaps the future remains bright and we'll be seeing more from him outside of the Idol arena. In fact, I checked out his Myspace page where he's posted a video with him and fellow former-Idol contestant Frankie Jordan. Looks like there will be more to come.

Kris Allen – The mass audience hasn't seen much of this contestant yet—only a brief part of his initial audition was shown—but perhaps this is my way of rooting for the underdog (and he just so happens to be pretty cute). He was, however, part of the White Chocolate Hollywood group (see video below.) Reining from Arkansas, where he studies business at the University of Central Arkansas, he has been a small, local performing with an album of self-written songs. In 2007 he released an album entitled, "Brand New Shoes" and I really want to hear it.

Danny Gokey: Yes he's been one of the fan and judge favorites for a while and has gotten a lot of screen time. He will be performing in the first semi-final round next week so let's see what he pulls out.

Adam Lambert: Maybe it all stems back to his connection to Wicked…

With Utah ties myself, I can't help but secretly root for locals Megan Corkrey and Taylor Vaifanua. Perhaps Taylor can by Utah's female version of Archuleta for this season. But nothing has absolutely wowed me yet.

I’m also undecided about Jackie Tohn. She’s a singer and actress who has appeared on shows such as The Nanny, Bad Boy and Return to Sleepaway Camp. She has a personality that is apparently good for the show cuz they keep featuring her. Her voice has not impressed me too much as of now…oh, and her run away from getting a yes from the judges was a little annoying. But, of course, nothing can compete with dear Tatiana.

iTunes featured music

I'm all about free music and some of my current favorite artists are ones who have chosen to give at least some of their music away. More will come on this later, but who can complain about free music? It probably doesn't come as much of a surprise that as each Tuesday rolls around, it doesn't take me long to remember to click the iTunes Store button in my player so I can check out, what else, the updated Free on iTunes section.

iTunes may not be my personal top choice for purchasing music (I prefer independent providers, Amazon, or even sources like iLike), but I do enjoy these free downloads and sometimes really, really like what's offered. In fact, “Can’t Find the Words,” by Karina is just one free iTunes dowload featured on Summer Songs. Also considered were Joel Auge’s “So Deep in Love,” and Eric Hutchinson’s “Rock and Roll.”

This week there are a couple available downloads I'd like to feature. First off, Adam Gregory's "Crazy Days." This song was considered for Summer Songs but didn't end up fitting in. It's a catch country song first released in mid-2008 and is the artist's first U.S. single. Gregory is familiar with the Canadian music scene with two Billboard Top 40 hits. However, his 2009 self-titled album will be his first U.S. release.Next, SafetySuit is featured with the free video download for their single “Someone Like You.” This is a group I actually only checked out this past month, so it’s interesting that they are featured as soon as I really heard about them. This single isn’t my favorite song from them but it is up there. In fact, it peaked at #15 on the Alternative rock chart. I’d suggest also checking out “Stay” and “Something I Said.”


These are all off their 2008 debut album, “Life Left to Go.” The band is from Tulsa and currently resides in Nashville. On their official Web site, the band says everything about them can be summed up with the word “safety” featured in their name.

“I think the key word is ‘safety,’ explains singer/guitarist Doug Brown. “The four of us in the band have been friends forever. We feel comfortable around each other. We’re in a safe environment…and that makes us feel free to be who we are. And, if we can inspire that moment or that feeling in our fans, we’ve succeeded.”

1, 2, 3, 4

Plain White T's released their new video for their single "1, 2, 3, 4" today on their Myspace page.

"1, 2, 3, 4" was featured on "The Songs in My Head" of Summer Songs 2008.

Check out this video—it has a very personable and real feel, as was intended by the artist. The ending made me like it even more because it lets you know WHY this song was written. That's always one of the things I'm most interested in about specific songs—what were the songwriters thinking, does it really relate how I see it doing, etc. etc.

Here's the introduction from Tom of Plain White T's

A couple weeks ago I was out to lunch with my friend Mike at Portillo's. The Christmas buzz was wearing off and we were throwing around ideas of making a fun, youtube style video for 1,2,3,4. After brainstorming for a while we came up with the idea of heading into Chicago armed only with a camera and a guitar. He would film me breaking out the guitar and playing the song at random locations around the city. The focus however, would be on the people who stopped to watch. The song is a simple love song so we wanted to capture various little love stories throughout Chicago, and feature them in the video. We had no idea how it was gonna turn out- Would anyone even stop at all? Would I get mobbed? Would people give permission to be filmed? Was this even a cool idea? We had no clue what was gonna happen, but the next day we ventured out to do it. We made a pact that we would give it our best shot and just roll with it. Whatever happened we would just edit together and put up online. So we went around the city freezing our butts off (it was 18 degrees outside) following through with the plan and meeting some great people. After about seven hours in the cold we called it a day and drove back to the burbs. I was honestly concerned my ears were gonna fall off, that's how cold I was! Needless to say they didn't, and after a week of editing Mike sent me his first cut of the video. I almost cried. I couldn't believe how perfectly it captured the sentiment of the song. I knew we had something here, so we showed it to the guys in the band, our managers, and our label. They all loved it and now this simple idea we thought of over lunch and filmed the next day is getting all this hype before anyone has even seen it! We made this video for you, for the fans, so enjoy it with love, from the Plain White T's.

-Tom

Check out the video here