Stephanie directed me to the site the other day and I finally decided to give it a try this afternoon. The concept is very simple, and nearly perfect. Just enter one of your favorite bands and the website will create a radio station for you based off that band’s music style. If you’re like me and are into discovering new bands, this is a great way of doing so. I entered Rogue Wave and have listened to about six songs so far. I knew three of the bands, the other were new to me, and good.

Another tool is the ability to mix all or selected radio stations as a “Quick Mix”. I’m into latin stuff so I created a station of Bachata, Salsa, Reggaeton, etc and mixed them to create a pretty sweet mix. I don’t know a lot of latin artists, so this is good for me to discover more.

You can also rename your stations. The default name is (bands name) Radio. You can change it to a certain genre, etc. And for Mac users you can download a Dashboard widget here, which allows you have to have it open in the background instead of relying on an open browser window. They also have it for the Iphone, which I don’t have.

Anyways. All this to say: Make sure you check the site out, if you haven’t already…

The other day in the gym, my Ipod happened upon an MxPx song that took me back to the high school/college years. Back then I listened to a lot of Christian “Punk” and “Ska” music. I’ve been reminiscing ever since, playing a lot of the old jams, so I thought I’d share some albums that I listened to religiously (no pun intended) when I was younger.

Here they are…

The band is named after the greatest invention of all time, so right there they get bonus points. I first heard Slick Shoes at a Christian rock festival when I was 18 years old. Burn Out is probably one of my favorite albums of all time and is only a hair better than Rusty, which you should also listen to if you want to be cool.

Favorite tracks include East on Tracks, For Better For Worse, Late Night Showing.

Sample Track: East on Tracks

 

MxPx is from Seattle, make that Bremerton, so that means they’re cool even if they suck. Luckily, they don’t. They’ve been around for over 10 years and have put out a ton of albums, but none of them compare with this one, their third. This was the album that got me into punk music in the first place.

This album has most of my favorite MxPx songs including Doing Time, Christalena, Southbound I-5, Middlename, and what might be their biggest hit: Chick Magnet.

Sample Track: Doing Time

 

I wasn’t a big fan of Ska before I heard Five Iron Frenzy; then I picked up this album and things changed. All of the sudden I started liking music with horns in it and stuff; listen to the song and you’ll know why. If you’re not a big fan of ska, maybe the same will happen to you. I still pull out this album every once in awhile because it brings back great memories.

Favorite tracks include Blue Comb ‘78, Oh Canada, Handbook for the Sellout and Every New Day.

Sample Track: Every New Day

  
 

I picked this album up, finally, my first year in college. I say finally because everyone around me told me to get it, but I just ignored them. I liked Five Iron, but I didn’t want to admit I actually liked Ska music. I’m glad I finally gave in. This is easily my second favorite ska album, maybe because it’s not your typical ska…it’s edgier. Every track makes you want to jump up and down like a loser…

Favorite tracks include Resolution, Little Man, Unite, and Supertones Strike Back.

Sample Track: Supertones Strike Back

  
 

The W’s were different from other bands because they were swing, not ska. There is a difference…at least that’s what I told myself. There were other swing bands that came out around that time, but this album was my favorite by far.

Favorite tracks include Moses, King of Polyester, Flower Tattoo, and The Devil is Bad.

Sample Track: The Devil is Bad

  

  

 

If you like any or all of these bands (which again, if you’re cool, you will) I would also recommend these albums:

Ghoti Hook - Sumo Surprise
Value Pac - Value Pac
Dogwood - More Than Conquerors
Fanmail - The Latest Craze

This is just a quick note to say one thing: I love the new Moby CD.

“Play” is one of my favorite albums of all time, I think I listened to that CD every day for about a year…but I am the first to admit that every Moby CD since hasn’t been half as good. “Hotel”, his last one, was good, but not great. His new one is great.

On “Last Night”, he reverts to the form that made Play so good. I downloaded it off Itunes a couple days ago and haven’t been able to stop listening to it yet. It’s funky, fresh, smooth, clean…umm, what else? Good? Yes, very good. You should definitely check it out, says I…and Rolling Stone