Scratch & Mix: A Music Blog

R.D. 22. LSU Graduate. MUSIC Lover. This is my music blog. Here you will find a collection of some of my favorite songs, old and new, and my thoughts about them. Follow me! Enjoy! Note* All this music is copyrighted in some way or another and is only used on this blog for listening purposes. If you like it, I encourage you to buy legally. :)

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John Newman - Love Me Again

Major props to these guys for making the FIFA14 soundtrack. The track rocks and fits the mood of scrolling menus so well.

By the way, the ending of this video made me jump. You'll see why.

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Icona Pop - Girlfriend

Recreating some old-school 2Pac vibes is definitely a way to get to my heart. I'm digging this.

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Slight music rant..

I hate when people complain that they wished they lived a couple decades back because the music today is crap and that [insert music era here] was the "golden age" of music. While I do have great admiration of older artists and their craft, I just can't help but feel adamant that we live the greatest age of music, today. We have access to musical potentials that probably could never have been achieved in the past. Artists have access to technology and techniques that far superior to what has ever existed. And even better, listeners have more means to access this "pot of gold" than ever before (legally or illegally). There is a way and means to search for anything you ever thought you wanted to listen to. My response to those people who feel the way I previously mentioned is to look harder and deeper. I promise you that what we have access to now is what music listeners of the past dreamed about having.

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Passenger - Let Her Go

Only you know you love her when you let her go

And you let her go..

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The Smith family watches Miley “dance” at the VMAs.

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I felt the same way Smith family.

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Justin Timberlake - Mirrors

Just wanted to acknowledge how the "Best Music Video" VMA definitely went to the best music video this year. It's undeniable that this track is a stunner. I think what I like most about the video is it's intent. The video is a ode to JT's grandparents and the ups and downs of their relationship.

People change like seasons. We're always growing, always evolving, and to know that the other half of a special part of your life is, like I said, mirroring you, but also being an individual in their own way. -JT

The video serves as a primary example of what JT and his misses Jessica Biel aspire to be. Great vid. Congrats JT!

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The amount of Miley Cyrus GIFs appearing right now...

…could potentially break the Internet.

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Local Natives - Who Knows Who Cares

There is something about the way this song builds upon itself that I love. For a song that does well to question its own sense of meaning and abstractness based on its lyrics, the song is built incredibly well. It's layers upon layers of added elements lead into a climax that embodies the sense of free release from the pressures of life's expectations that the track intended to reach in the first place.

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I love how incredibly ballsy this cover is. The looks on the faces in the crowd are just hilarious. This cover is surprisingly tasteful and unique...for being the song that it is.

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John Mayer's latest album..

Paradise Valley is streaming on iTunes for free? Please excuse me, I'll be right back...

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David Bowie - Heroes

I got to rewatch The Perks of Being a Wallflower last night for possibly the 3rd or 4th time and I got thinking about how great the film soundtrack is. Let me get this out of the way and say how much I am a fan of this film. I remember reading the novel in 8th grade and I'm pleased to see that it has aged so well.

With the number of great things in this film, I think it's the music that puts it over the top for me. To have that "mysterious tunnel song" be David Bowie's Heroes was unexpected for me the first time I heard it. Actually, to be honest, that scene in the movie was probably the first time I heard that song. Being a 90s kid, that era is foreign to me so I did what most musically obsessed folk like me do: dug around and listened to more.

I'm really glad I did.

I like to think that everyone, internally, has their list of iconic movie songs. For me, I think about these:

My Heart Will Go On from Titanic

Jurassic Park's theme song

Anyone Else But You from Juno

Circle of Life from The Lion King

You'll Be In My Heart from Tarzan

And there are countless others. I think I'm going to add this track my ever-growing list. I've always wonder what exactly makes songs in films so iconic and memorable.

In terms of this film, I think it finally clicked for me. And it resides in Stephen Chbosky’s most famous line from this story:

And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.

Every one of the songs I mentioned envelopes the characters and audience in that moment as one entity. For a moment, you don't feel as if you're sitting in a theater or on your couch anymore. Watching Emma Watson's character travel through that tunnel, you would have believed you felt as free and infinite as she did.

What have been some of your favorite songs from film? I think much can be said about the cinematography of a fantastic film, but even more can be said in terms of the music chosen to accompany those iconic moments.

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Hoodie Allen - Long Night (feat. Chance The Rapper)

This has been buzzing in my head today.

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Maroon 5 - Beautiful Goodbye

It's really special and kind of contained and small. It doesn't try to be too big for its breeches, which is cool. - Adam Levine

Honestly, I probably couldn't describe this track better myself. Today, I've really just been digging back into albums I've reviewed months ago and falling back in love with certain songs. This is one of those songs. While I do love the new Maroon 5 sound, this song is a throwback to the grassroots of M5. The soul and sincerity that made Songs About Jane so great are definitely present in this song.

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Taylor Swift - Everything Has Changed (Feat. Ed Sheeran)

Alright, I've given in. Although I felt that I've thoroughly given my brief thoughts about this song and its album Red in my top albums of 2012 post, the recent resurgence of this track via radio and this music video has left me with a couple of thoughts:

Firstly, the video is cute. I admit it. As someone very comfortable with my own manhood I have no problem admitting it. The mini-Taylor Swift and mini-Ed Sheeran characters are cute. However, it's their young adult mannerisms that put them both over the top. It's just humorous to me to see an 8-10 year old (that's what I'm estimating these children to be) to reading the post while sipping a "cup of joe" riding the school bus or seeing young children finding some source of "inner peace" through yoga while there is a conveniently placed photo-esque sunset (at soccer practice?). I'm not sure about you but my memories of soccer practice are of the blazing sun, sweat, and grass stains. And don't even get me started about how loud I was laughing when mini-Ed Sheeran was reading "The Notebook." All of it's incredibly corny themes asides, it has the over-the-top mystic and theme of a T. Swift video that love happens, it just does, at any age. Love or hate the theme all you want but there's no denying the video holds true to what Taylor Swift is about.

Secondly, while I firmly believe that this is may be the most underrated track on Red, I get how people think it gets stale. This track isn't even my favorite track on the record (Red is), but this song is worth the listen because it's the result of a collaboration of two people possibly in the limelight of their musical careers. Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran (thoughts on Sheeran's album +) are as relevant today as they ever had been. Trust me, they are. They are both great songwriters, performers, and young starlets. This is dream collaboration for many fans of both artists.

Thirdly, this song is NOT a country ballad. This track dances the gray area between pop and folk as a crossover at best. Red, in general, I don't feel is a country album..and to be frankly, that's why I like it so much. A song like this doesn't exist if Taylor Swift decides to within her "country ballad" box.

Fourthly, there is a remix to this track. Let me save you the trouble and tell you it's not worth it. Essentially, it's just a re-recording of the track in which Ed Sheeran completes the entire 2nd verse (in which I don't mind) and the addition of a drum set and incessant shaking of tambourine layer that just drowns out the entire song and pisses me off. I understand that this was most likely a step taken to give this song more radio playability but it's a step in the wrong direction. The original, the version in this video, is just fine for radio.

Overall, I think there is much to be appreciated about this track and its place in the T. Swift discography. Just avoid the remix.

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Jonsi - Go Do (KEXP Live Acoustic)

The man is a genius. This is genuinely one of the purest and most organic performances recorded.

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Well I bought my dad an acoustic guitar and amp for his upcoming birthday..

and I think he's really enjoying it. I'm enjoying the fact I just upgraded amps for my strat ;)