This Week in Chuck Music

aka This Week in Stephanie’s Recent Purchases

New Music

I always like to start off a new semester (or a new year) with some new music. Here’s a sampling of  what I’ve been listening to lately:

“Silvia” by Miike Snow. I bought this song after hearing it on Chuck this week. I’ve discovered a lot of great music from that show. Check it out! (Both the song and the show–you won’t be disappointed)

“Rise” by The Frames. I just finally purchased this song after listening to it on youtube a dozen times. I have Monday night tv to thank for this one as well. It was featured on this week’s incredible episode of Castle. (If you’re not watching Castle, what are you waiting for? Go watch now. After watching “Knockdown,” I dare you not to want to watch more.)

Infinite Arms by Band of Horses. I first discovered Band of Horses thanks to–you guessed it–two tv shows that used their music, Chuck and Psych. Infinite Arms is their third album, which came out last year, and is definitely worth buying. “Dilly” is currently my favorite song on the album. (The video is kind of weird, but the song is good.)

Five Years Ago

“Don’t Stop Believing” just came up on my itunes; it still makes me emotional. I can’t believe this was five years ago:

Weekend Productivity

I loooove the weekends. Not only because I don’t have to go to school or work, but also because so far I have been able to be very productive. This weekend, I wrote two essays, finished an exercise for class, and did some reading. The weekends are also my cooking/baking time!

I made pad thai today!

It was a lot easier to make than I expected. Yesterday, I made bean & rice burgers, curried millet, and pizza crust. I made enough of everything to last me at least through the first half of the week (the pizza crusts will last at least a couple of weeks though because I made three).

So I have this thing where if I’m reading for class, I can only listen to instrumental music (usually movie scores, but sometimes classical), but when I’m writing I can listen to music with words or, even better, watch movies/tv as long as it’s something I’ve already seen. So since the weekends have been my writing time, I’ve been having some very fun marathons. Today, I’ve indulged in Bones and Chuck dvds while I finished my essay.

Speaking of tv, happy premiere week! I’m so excited for all of my shows to return this week even though I will be in class during most of them. Thank goodness my computer doubles as a dvr. When I get back from class tomorrow night I will be watching Chuck and Castle. Thankfully, I have Tuesdays off from work, so I feel like I can indulge a bit and watch both Monday night.

TV & Music

So if you know me, you probably know that a hobby of mine is discovering new music through my favorite tv shows. After watching last night’s incredible finale to season four of Psych, I bought the song featured in the closing montage, “I Go to the Barn Because I Like the” by Band of Horses. Listen:

Another of their songs, “No One’s Gonna Love You,” was used in a season one episode of Chuck. I have that song as well.

However, while I love both of these songs, when I checked out their album Cease to Begin, I didn’t like it that much.

Hopelessly Devoted To You

Last night I started thinking about one of my favorite scenes from the short-lived Pushing Daisies. I always enjoyed it when they had Kristin Chenoweth randomly burst into song.

I think the saddest thing about the show getting canceled halfway into season 2 is that they never got to do a musical episode.

New, Free Music

I am always on the lookout for new music. When a free download is offered, that just makes me even more willing to check it out.

So my attention was caught the other day when Zachary Levi tweeted that one could get a free download of a new single from a band he is friends with–The Daylights.

I am definitely glad I took the time to visit their website and download the single “Rogue Machine.” I am hooked on it and it’s my favorite song right now. I am now eagerly awaiting the release of the full album, which I will definitely be checking out.

In the process of wanting to learn more about The Daylights, I’ve discovered that they spent four months touring with OneRepublic, have collaborated with bands such as Switchfoot and Collective Soul, and have appeared on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

So what are you waiting for? Go to their website and download “Rogue Machine.” While you’re there you can also listen to streaming of three other songs.

Music Review: Slice by Five For Fighting

Like many Americans, I’d heard “100 Years” and “Superman,” but outside of those songs I’d never paid much attention to Five For Fighting. Then I read this interview with John Ondrasik, the man behind Five For Fighting, on Big Hollywood in early December. The interview inspired me to check out Slice, Five For Fighting’s most recent album, from my local library.

It’s inevitable that every artist puts a part of himself into his work. After all, that’s what makes what each artist has to offer unique. Not surprisingly, often some of the more foundational beliefs of the artist make their way in, such as religious beliefs, political beliefs, etc. We have free speech though, so even when these beliefs are annoying, extreme, or just plain ridiculous, those making them do have a right to them. All too often though, I feel that people espousing more conservative or traditional views keep it to themselves. That’s why listening to Slice was so refreshing.

The whole album is a pleasure to listen to and I recommend you check it out. “Note to the Unknown Soldier” is a lovely song written as “a letter of appreciation to all American soldiers, past, present, and future.” Those of you who saw The Blind Side may recognize “Chances” as the song that played during the credits. The song that got to me the most though, and which gave me goosebumps as I drove to work, is “Tuesday.” This song is about 9/11 and expresses the writer’s fear that people are forgetting the lessons learned on that Tuesday and returning back to Monday.

And if that’s not enough to entice you to check out Five For Fighting, “Two Lights,” off of the album by the same name, was inspired by a chat John Ondrasik had with Victor Davis Hanson along with one of VDH’s former students. Anyone who gets inspired to write music after talking to VDH is ok in my book.

Slice was well worth checking out from the library and deserves to be listened to beyond the three week checkout limit. So now I know what I am going to buy with the rest of the itunes gift card I received for Christmas.

New Page: Library

Happy New Year’s Eve!

I’ve started a new page, which you can reach by clicking on the “Library” tab. Years ago when I was on blogger, I had my consumption posted to my blog directly from allconsuming.net, but since wordpress does not allow javascipt, I just decided to make another page and post the list the old fashioned way.

There are two lists on the library page. The top list is all of the items I am currently consuming: cds, dvds, and books. The second list will be the five items I most recently finished consuming.

At least for now, I am also going to provide amazon links for each of the items in the consumption lists to make it easier for you if you want to check out any of the items for yourself.

New Music

I love discovering new music. One of my main ways of finding new songs and artists is through the tv shows I watch. One of my new favorites is “My Ghost” by Glass Pear, which I heard on Bones a couple of weeks ago. Have you discovered any new music lately?