Earl Sweatshirt

Recently I've realized that I've been posting a lot of bands within the same genre, so today I'm mixing it up. I'm sure most of you have heard of the music collective Odd Future (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All). Well Earl Sweatshirt is part of that collective. Earl is one of my favorite rappers from the collective alongside Jasper and Hodgy Beats. I haven't quite figured out why Earl is my all-time fave. maybe it's the quirky and undeniably smart lines. OFWGTA is a collective that is extremely offensive. The thing I like most about Earl Sweatshirt is that his music isn't always like that. The thing about being a music collective is that the collective is usually a self-titled (or self-owned) record label, like Wu-Tang Clan. Earl also happens to signed to Columbia Records. Earl has released music with actual meaning and no offense (kind of). He's released a song with no swearing. Which is a pretty big thing if you think about it, rap, with absolutely no swearing? Different that's for sure. Despite the lack of curse words, it doesn't lack any of its potency. There is a reason why he belongs to OFWGKTA, and collective's music is needless to say, controversial. He released a song titled, “Chum”, which explains his struggles growing up and in order to understand it you should probably know his history since the lines are pretty difficult to understand. People always said rap was just poetry put into song, and for “Chum” that seems to be the case. Lines don’t always rhyme throughout the song and it can be pretty confusing since people these days think that’s all rap is.

     Earl Sweatshirt was really born Thebe Neruda Kgositsile on February 24, 1994. He was born to mother Cheryl who is a law professor at the University of California and his dad who is South African and has an even more unpronounceable name than Earl’s. Earl’s father was a poet and a political activist who fled back to South Africa when Earl was six years old.

     So how did Earl become a part OFWGKTA anyways? Well, for that story we go to 2009. At this point in time, there was no Facebook or Twitter. MySpace was the cool place to be. Earl called himself Sly Tendencies and was working on a mix tape (I don’t really think I need to explain this, but he was on MySpace). Tyler The Creator, who is the founder for OFWGKTA found him on the site and instantly recruited him. On Match 31^st, 2010, Earl self-released his debut album, Earl. Most of the album was produced by Tyler and it was a huge hit. Even though Earl’s music was a huge hit, there were rumours that he had stopped making music with Odd Future. Everybody was really curious and didn't understand why. Tyler confirmed these rumours via Twitter and Formspring saying that Earl’s mother wouldn't give them permission to release his music. Later on Earl's mother has sent him to Coral Reef Academy located in Apia, Samoa. There, Earl was given little freedom and even had to have supervision when going to the bathroom, which in my opinion is very creepy and an invasion of privacy. However, he did end up becoming a roll model for new students as the school was for at-risk male teens and had to earn his privilege to go back home. Earl wrote rhymes while he was in Samoa including his verse for the song "Oldie" by Odd Future. In 2011 Earl was nominated to be a candidate for XXL Magazine's Freshman List and released three previously unreleased songs.

     By February 8th, 2012 the word on the street, or rather the internet, was that Earl had returned from Samoa. There was an official twitter for him, and a preview for a new song on Youtube. The rumour was confirmed on this new twitter and he released the full song after he achieved 50,000 followers. The song was called "Home" which is pretty ironic. Earl also made an official website for himself. In an interview Earl had explained that his mother had sent him to Samoa explicitly because of his bad behaviour, and not because of his music's lyrical content.

     Blah blah blah. He released a lot of music and mixtapes, but the most important piece of information is that Earl created his own record label through Columbia Records. He is still a part of Odd Future, but run's his own show now too. His first solo song since returning from boarding school was "Chum"from his album Doris which was released on August 20th, 2013.

"Chum" By Earl Sweatshirt
http://c400862.r62.cf1.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/tumblr_mcty2k6a6T1qb8q0zo1.mp3


"Oldie" By OFWGKTA (Earl's verse is at 7:00-9:00)*Warning Explicit Content, Parental Advisory*
http://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_m15wu7DZP31qeadb2o1.mp3

"Molliwopped"By Earl Sweatshirt
http://dc476.4shared.com/img/1456173105/6ac7156a/dlink__2Fdownload_2FBwynRPwf_3Ftsid_3D20131106-103416-a50ad9f0/preview.mp3

Warning & Disclaimer: If you plan on listening to anymore of Earl's music, it is highly explicit including, but not limited to music pertaining to and associated with: Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All(all members, including Frank Ocean), Mac Miller, Casey Veggies, The Alchemist, Vince Staples, Action Bronson, Flying Lotus, Captain Murphy, MellowHype, Ommas Keith, Thundercat, The Neptunes, Christian Rich, BadBadNotGood, Pharrell Williams, Samiyam, The Internet, RZA, Columbia Records music label, Tan Cressida music label and Matt Martians. This is not endorsed, and my intentions are not to corrupt, or offend anyone. I have given full warning of explicit content and do not take any responsibility what so ever. 

Mobile posting

Hey guys! Raven here. Well duh, but I'd just like to point out the fact that you can take your posting on the go. I have an iPhone and I know a lot of you guys do as well. I'm fairly sure it also is available for blackberry and android. This shouldn't count as an "official" post in Mickie's terms, just an announcement from little old moi. I thought it'd be pretty nice to know that you can take your posting on the go, and as high school students that seems to be the only thing we do. Coming and going, and wow does that ever become more true as we get older. So let's say you see something interesting on the buss and you absolutely, MUST post about it. Well here ya go, a solution. You can add pictured and use your bolding and italics as well. Anyways, enough of the mindless chatter, happy posting and I hope to see some mobile posters soon! :) 

Let's Buy Happiness

     So, I'm all about the things unknown. Life is a little bit more fun that way. So, when I stumble upon a band that literally no one I know, knows about, well it's a gold mine. It's like my own personal band of preference that was made just for me and only I get to enjoy it. So when I intro this band, I mean they're fairly indie. Like barely on the map. Like MAYBE 300 views on YouTube kinda indie. In other words, be happy that I am sharing this band with you, because I wasn't quite sure if I was going to keep them in my private collection or not. Needless to say, because they are so small time this blog will be short and sweet. Let's Buy Happiness is a British band. It falls under the indie category as well as alternative rock genre. They are a self released band that started out playing local shows in Newcastle, England. The band has only released on EP and that is "No Hot Ashes." The band has been invited twice over to record in Maida Vale Studios for BBC radio. As far as it goes for touring, they've toured the U.K twice and have supported many popular British bands such as The Temper Trap. The band's single "Dirty Lakes" is on Spotify's song list of 2011. Within a year of their debut show, they played at Glastonbury Festival 2010 along side major bands like Florence And The Machine and Mumford And Sons. In 2012 the band stated that they were working on a "fresh" new EP for the new year and that the EP was really going to showcase the band and what it's about.

Sadly, the music I'm posting can only be found on YouTube. Grr. Except for one. For one dumb reason. GRRRR. HATE TECHNOLOGY djehipfewufhpeivnreiqpgnuirieqg.
I'm done.

                                          Let's Buy Happiness- Fast Fast

                                         Let's Buy Happiness-Dirty Lakes

                                          Let's Buy Happiness- Works Better On Paper

Death Cab for Cutie Part II

     Last post I talked about Death Cab For Cutie. It was a long post for just the origins of the band so I split it up to give you guys a break. I'm going to jump right back in head first. So, we know Death Cab for Cutie produced their album Transatlanticism and obviously it was a huge hit. The band was gaining a lot of attention in the indie music scene, that being said there were a lot of labels out there that wanted to scoop them up. The band stated that they did talk to everyone, and Atlantic Records won. So, like the little band that loves change that they are, up and left long time record label Barsuk Records. They didn't leave on bad terms, so I suppose that's a good thing. I suppose when you're so used to be left, or leaving people, you get good at it. >.> *cough, DCFC, cough*. Despite just signing with Atlantic Records, the band still encouraged fans to download their music from the internet due to their worry about corporate economics. So, now that the band was with Atlantic Records, they needed to produce an album. This album was Plans and was released in August of 2005. Of course, everyone enjoyed it, and it take very long for the album to become popular. The band received a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album 2005. Other events that happened up until the end of 2006 were a touring DVD, supporting animal rights group PETA, the release of Directions (a series of short films based on Plans), a first appearance at Neil Young's Bridge School, and a lengthy tour of the United States to top it all off. I suppose you could say they're busy guys huh?

     Now, we got to 2007 *Time travel noise/Whoosh*. O.K we're they're (not really, stupid), and it is October. Walla had announced that the band was working on their new album, and that this was going to be something that nobody would be expecting and that it truly was spectacular. Walla said, "I'm really excited. It's really got some teeth. The landscape of the thing is way, way more lunar than the urban meadow sort of thing that's been happening for the last couple of records." Walla also went on to say that the album was more "loud" and "abrasive". The first track that was released from the album was "I Will Possess Your Heart" on March 18, 2007. Again DCFC was Grammy nominated for best "Alternative Music Album" in 2008 and also received a nomination for "Best Rock Song" for the track "I Will Possess Your Heart." They were also nominated for "Best Alternative Album" in 2009, yet again. Hmm... sounds a little like Leonardo DiCaprio never seeming to be able to win a Golden Globe. Just Saying.

     Okay now we head off to 2011. The band released the album "Codes And Keys" on May 31st, 2011. And now, fast forward to 3013! It was rumored that Death Cab For Cutie was going to produce their 8th album, and was announced by the band on their Instagram. It will be released on October 29th, 2013 (which is tomorrow btw).

Death Cab For Cutie

      This post is about Death Cab For Cutie, one of my personal favorites. Their music appeals to me no matter what mood I am in. They also create the ultimate love songs if you're into that ooey gooey crap. So, to learn more we go back to the beginning. OOH. AAH. O.k, we're there. So, when (the majority) if the class was about one year old, the band got together. And for those who can't do math that's 1997. Death Cab For Cutie originally began as a solo project of Ben Gibbard who was lead guitarist of the band Pinwheel at the time. Ben was recording under the alias All-Time Quarterback. Not too sure why, but I suppose that was a cool thing to do in the eighties. Ben Gibbard released a cassette titled "You Can Play These Songs With Chords" and because it was the eighties, everyone bought music especially in the ancient form of cassettes and it was successful. Out of this successful cassette, a band was born. This band was Death Cab For Cutie, and recruited his band. One of them was Chris Walla, who also worked on the cassette (no skewered...maybe) and became lead guitarist for the band. Nick Harmer became the bass player and Nathan Good played the drums. After the sugar, spice and everything nice with a pinch of chemical X Death Cab for Cutie officially became a band out of Bellingham, Washington. Fun Fact: They all went to Western Washington University, so who said you can't have fun in Uni? Also, I think it's slightly funny they wasted money on degrees they'll never use because the band took off. Most of their early songs were recorded in a-oh what a surprise- Gibbard's basement. So far this blog is starting to sound like a fairy tale because this whole thing is so cliche. I often wonder as I'm writing this if this really was how the band got together because it sounds so fake. Maybe it was some sick joke they unleashed onto the internets to watch poor blogger like falsely write about them. Oh well. Anyways, back to the main story. So blah blah blah, still in the early years of the band, blah. So in the early years, they released an LP. Also some notable stuff that happened, Good left the band and was replaced by Jayson Tolzdorf-Larson during the production of first album We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes. The new guy with the weird and difficult last name was later on replaced by another guy with a difficulty last name when they released their EP The Forbidden Love.
Just for names sake his name was Michael Schorr. A little into the future and the band released another LP. P.s sorry if this is short and sweet, this is only the bands beginning and I have a lot of ground to cover. Or should is say pixels ;) *wink wink*. In 98' they met their long term manager Jordan Kurland (Thank god one person is solid in this story...maybe). OK, so the band has made it 2003. Pretty good for a band with a constantly changing drummer. By this time the band was getting a lot of popularity especially on the Indie music scene. But then, oh what a surprise *insert understanding of sarcasm here*, another drummer. His name was Jason McGerr. And again, this is for names sake only because I'm really starting to doubt the importance of listing the drummers names. Well, McGerr turned out to be pretty damn important since he was on the Transatlanticism album released by the band in October of 2003. Songs from the album were on shows like CSI: Miami, The O.C and Californication. The tracks also made it into films like Easy A and Wedding Crashers.

     Whew. Ok that was only just the beginning! For your sake, I'm going to be splitting it into a two-part blogging series because that was a lot to digest already. Here's a picture of the band currently, and I will also be linking some music down below as per usual. Can you guess which one I love the most?

Death Of An Interior Decorator by Death Cab For Cutie
http://www.huskyindenial.com/music/share/deathcab/trans/09%20Death%20of%20an%20Interior%20Decorator.mp3

I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab For Cutie
http://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo6dv3vLCb1qdcjz4o1.mp3

Talking Bird by Death Cab For Cutie
http://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_kw3au43gPv1qa2h81o1.mp3

Dear and the Headlights

     Dear and the Headlights is a small time indie band that broke up in July of 2011. The band unofficially began back in 2002 when Joel Marquard and Ian Metzger started playing together, Joel playing the keyboard and guitar and Ian on vocals. Joel wanted to start a band and approached Ian about it but was somewhat reluctant to due to his bad experience with christian band Justifide in which he co-founded in 1999. Eventually Ian caved in and that was the beginning of Dear and the Headlights.  Joel found PJ Waxman who originally started out playing drums but ended up becoming the guitarist after his talent was recognized. There was still one slight problem...the band was left without a bass player and a drummer. The band tried to make several people work, but it never did. Joel received a call one day from old friend/former band mate Chuckie Duff, who played bass, and also recently purchased some recording equipment he wanted to try out. The very next day they recorded three tracks which were titled Daysleeper, Sweet Talk and Run in the Front. Even though the three tracks were successful, Ian was tired of looking for band members and wanted to call it quits and move to California. Chuckie, who fell in love with the demo, decided to offer to play bass. Chuckie decided that he wasn't going to let the band give up and promised that the band would find a drummer. Evidently right, they found drummer Mark Kulvinskas. Ian did end up moving to California, but Chuckie was determined and practiced the songs with Ian still gone. Chuckie booked a show and Ian flew down to meet the drummer the day of and played that night. After playing several more shows, Ian decided to move back and the band decided to make and album with producer Bob Hoag. Nearing the completion of their album Small Steps, Heavy Hooves, they signed with popular indie label, Equal Vision Records. They gained a higher status from touring with bands such as Jimmy Eat World and Paramore. In September 2007 Joel left the band due to the heavy touring schedule and was replaced by Robert Cissell. After a couple more laps around the country, they recorded album Drunk Like Bible Times in 2008. In September 2009 Chuckie Duff left the band so he could focus on graduate school and his recording studio. Chuckie was replaced by Patrick Taylor in January 2010. Despite the replacement, the band was not mean to last. PJ announced that the band had broken up in July 2011. Dear and the Headlights had broken up because of a negative experience with the industry and felt as thought "they got all that they wanted through the band" (Wikipedia). PJ also said that the band wasn't producing music from their original intentions. In my opinion, it's hard to tell when the band started drifting from their original sound. They only produced 2 albums, but I believe it is better that way. I always say it's better to produce few well-made albums then many crappy albums (like most artists do these days). The quality of the albums is sufficient enough for me, though I still wish they were producing music. Music was always the most profound thing for them, but was unfortunately difficult for them. I will link a couple of songs below that I really enjoy. If you want a subject to comment on, what do you think are the meanings of the songs Daysleeper and It's Getting Easy?

It's Getting Easy by Dear and the Headlights
http://media.gibson.com/audio/Downloads/MP3/ItsGettinEasy.mp3

Daysleeper by Dear and the Headlights
http://www.birp.fm/music/playlists/2009/march/26%20-%20Dear%20And%20The%20Headlights%20-%20Daysleeper.mp3

Sweet Talk by Dear and the Headlights
http://podcast.fredflare.com/boombox/data/playlists/01_julieOCT/01.mp3

Some More About Jonny Craig

     So last post I introduce to you, my loyal following, to the band Dance Gavin Dance. I talked a little bit about ex-vocalist Jonny Craig. In my opinion, Dance Gavin Dance was a much better band when he was the lead singer. He was the original lead singer of the band, and was the reason for the name of the band. Jonny had wanted to name a previous band Dance Gavin Dance, and the name stuck. Though Jonny has an amazing voice, he's kind of an asshole. He left the band back in November 2007 not too long after the release of their second album Downtown Battle Mountain. He later on asked to come back and the band rejected him due to his extreme tensions with other band members. Tensions we so bad that in August 2007, guitarist Sean O'Sullivan quit the band due to conflict with Jonny as well as Matt Mingus. After that, Jonny went on to join the band Emarosa in 2010. After two more albums, Dance Gavin Dance was not doing well and it was rumored that the band was going to split. Kurt Travis (the new clean vocalist) had officially quit the band, and Jonny came back. Jonny Craig was the lead vocalist for both band until he was kicked out of Emarosa in 2011. It was later on announced the the band was going to release their album Downtown Battle Mountain II  later that year. In October 2011 the band announced that they would be taking a hiatus due to issues with Jonny. Then, they announced that Kurt Travis and Matt Guise would be the vocalist for their upcoming tour. On August 21, 2012, Dance Gavin Dance announced Craig's departure via Facebook saying "When Jonny rejoined DGD, we were about to call it quits. Tired of touring and being away from home for 8 months of the year, we wanted to shake things up. We thought it'd be fun to do a dbm sequel with Jonny and go out on that. We recorded dbm2 and felt it would be a disservice to our fans not to let them hear the new record live. We did a tour and felt rejuvenated but Jonny wasn't in a good place. After trying to convince him into getting help over warped tour, we canceled a headliner in November/December 2011 and told him we wouldn't tour until he sought out real help for his addiction. We got our good friend Matt Geise to fill in for a short run we did earlier this year while Jonny was in rehab. He was released and wanted to be out on the road immediately. We weren't sure how things would go so we only booked a small portion of the all stars tour to see if Jonny could still function as our lead singer. After a week and a half things were not going well. Everything came to a head when Jonny was publicly scolded by the owner of sumerian records for multiple offenses. It was then that we realized that our time with Jonny had reached its end. We wish Jonny the best In his future endeavors but he will no longer be a part of DGD. We however will continue playing and writing music because it's what we love doing."" (Wikipedia). Jonny Craig was also part of the superband Isles and Glaciers from 2008-2010. The vocalist included Craig Owens from Chiodos and Vic Fuentes from Pierce the Veil. They released one EP when tensions were stirring within the band. Jonny had been involved in a "Mac Book scandal" with several fans. Jonny had advertised that he would be selling a few Mac-Books, and a couple of fans sent him money but the computers never came. After that scandal Craig Owens tweeted "... and people wonder why we won't do another I & G record." Ever since Isles and Glaciers broke up in 2010, Jonny Craig has been producing numerous solo albums. Many fans believe that Jonny Craig is doing much better for himself and Dance Gavin Dance has agreed that Jonny is doing much better now that he is on his own. 

Children of Divorce by Jonny Craig
http://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_lefaflsf3q1qbyv20o1.mp3

Viola Lion by Isles and Glaciers
http://awmusic.ca/1/mp3/Isles%20and%20Glaciers%20-%20Viola%20Lion.mp3

Cemetery Weather by Isles and Glaciers
http://dc249.4shared.com/img/968840961/ba99d999/dlink__2Fdownload_2FAcdwsKz2_3Ftsid_3D20131002-24428-1a0995f0/preview.mp3