31 = AWESOME!

Ok, so it's not quite the 31st of October yet, but it IS only 1 day away. And besides the number 31 is totally awesome. Not only is it the date of my birthday, but I just checked the followers list and now I finally have 31 followers! Thanks Stephen!!!!! You have no idea how long I've been waiting for that "30 followers" sidebar to creep up.
But I guess in the last couple of months there hasn't really been anything much worth following. So today I thought I'd do something different for a change, and post 31 reasons why YOU should keep on reading The Falling Movement!

1. There's usually photos to look at! Like this pretty sweet picture of a whole lot of 31's. Or 13's if you read them backwards....
I'd love to say that I was the insanely creative person who took these pictures and compiled them all together, but unfortunately I have to give all the credit to Google Images this time.

2. I can make a lot of average things sound interesting when I really want to. Even just talking about my day makes for a few good yarns usually.

3. I'm from New Zealand. 'Nuff said.

4.  Blogging is so much cooler than Facebook.

5. I have a fetish for writing lists (like the one you're reading now), which always seems to work well because it means I can say a whole lot of stuff and include numbers like 31. Actually, maybe not - this has probably been my longest list to date. But some of the others have been pretty decent - this one's a particular favorite: http://thefallingmovement.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/my-top-15-guitarists.html

6. One day I want to write for a living. And I think that's worth getting behind!!

7. I post slightly nerdy musical posts on occasion. If that's your thing, then there's another reason to stay! If not, keep scrolling and you're bound to find something you like!!!

8. On occasion I do spontaneous awesome random things, and chronicle the events Like for example I was supposed to be writing this post last night, but at 11.30 my mate messaged me on Facebook and was like "Hey, want to come to the beach?" So I ended up out at Himitangi at 1.30 under the light of a full moon walking across the sand, staring at squashed blowfish, doing the Gangam Style dance (or trying too), and almost getting "trapped" by a super big wave with 3 really good friends. It was such a good way of spending the night!!!!

9. One day soon, I'm going to post about zombies.

10. 31 followers can't be wrong!

11. I really, really, really like music. And I post about it heaps!!! In fact, it would be an interesting challenge to sift through my blog and find how many posts don't talk about/include the word music. Bet it would be a very small percentage!!!
Any takers?

12. Speaking of music, I've written some pretty rad music reviews about artists/albums. Here's a few of my best: Four, The xx, Valtari.

13. I get really excited about this cool band Imagine Dragons who are making a few waves in the music scene at the moment.... http://thefallingmovement.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/album-review-night-visions.html

14. Spontaneous rhyming: http://thefallingmovement.blogspot.co.nz/2011/04/mumerings-of-assent.html

15. One day I might just post up some short fictional tales. And that could be interesting.

16. Sometimes I start getting a bit deep and it's interesting to see what topics come out: love, running, other things....

17. God totally makes my life! And that's worth raving about in multiple posts.

18. There's totally enough links in this post alone for you to be reading for ages. And we're not even up to number 20 yet!!!

19. My blog is kind of like a "Message in a Bottle".
(Actually I only said that because I'm listening to The Police right now...)

20. If you don't keep reading, then this guys coming to get you!!
Haha I joke, I joke....

21.  As noted in the previous reason, I have quite a good sense of humour :D

22. I write songs and usually some, if not all, of the lyrics get posted up here. I love getting feedback from other bloggers about them, and it's just awesome being able to share my words and music with people in this extremely personal way. My best (so far) have been Symphony Of The Heart, Love is More Than This, and Breathe. For more, go into the LYRICS list in the sidebar! Check it out!

23. Speaking of songwriting, I wrote this awesome as BRAND NEW song last weekend, and the lyrics are definitely going to be posted up here in the next couple of days. Get excited!!!

24. The 25th reason is simply because this blog is awesome!

25. This blog is awesome!

26. The whole reason I changed my blog to it's current, awesome name is to promote this on-off side project I've got going called The Falling Movement music. The reason behind the title is because the words "falling" and "movement" have so much meaning and have been themes which run through both my life and my music.

27. And on occasion, music does get released! So far just one instrumental track has been put out onto the world wide web, the song in question found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxOGFh67Ss&feature=g-user-lik. But rest assured, there's more coming your way!



28. People from Alaska have read my blog! :O

29. I do try to dish up healthy servings of inspiration and meaning. Not just always blog about random stuff. Though that's always fun.

30. I stayed up till 12.12 writing this (wow what an exact time!) Now that's got to be worth at least one comment, if not three or four! Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaseeee? :)

31. 31 reasons weren't actually to hard to find (though I do apologize for 24 & 25, I got a bit tired there sorry) and that must mean we've got something good going on here!

Cheers for reading/ following guys!!!

Part 2: In which I attempt to make noise come from an old guitar, dress up like a nerd, and other stuff happens.

The old guitar in question happened to be this beast. We got it years ago for my younger brother to learn on. It arrived in a beat up case from a family friend who said it was left handed, but clearly didn't know a thing about guitars because it was actually just right handed as usual. Anyway, despite the fact that it looks pretty fantastic, the fact that the tuners on it were so darn stiff and the general construction was pretty sloppy (got to love high action haha) means it's almost impossible to make it sound any good, despite me replacing the strings on it about a year and a half ago.
However, it's ridiculously photogenic, probably about a hundred times more so than me, so it was always our favorite thing to take with us when we did photoshoots.

 

Those days seem like such a long time ago now. I went home for a day over the long weekend with Beka who drove down from Auckland like the crazy awesome person she is. And I was chilling by the fireplace and I saw it lying there. And so like any guitarist worth his salt, I couldn't keep my fingers to myself and picked it up and had a bit of a jam. 

It brought back so many memories. The time when we got it and laughed for ages cos it wasn't actually left handed. The time we took it to the beach, and to the railway station. The day this photo was taken, on a tree that doesn't even exist any more.

It's funny how inanimate objects can hold that many fragments of the past...

Anyway even though Dannevirke was super cold, it was real nice seeing the family again. Especially my Nan and Pop who were there visiting from Australia. I hadn't seen them for years and years cos we never got over to Oz much, and so it was awesome just getting to hang out there with them for a bit. Unfortunately Nan wasn't too well, but we still managed to have a few chats, and she gave me some legit good advice about writing and just life in general. Pop seemed in real good health though, and we had a sweet as conversation about music and how much The Eagles rocked. Made me so super keen to get into it and never give up my dreams, no matter how hard it's going to be. Which was good because things have been so slow to start I sometimes wonder if they'll ever happen at all... but they will!!! 

After the good, if slightly odd, times in our hometown (it's never the same going back), we headed back to P-Town for a friends 22nd. Now me and Beka had to be super sneaky, cos she knew I was coming but not Beka so I had to make up lame as excuses like "I'm getting dropped off by a friend" and "I've been super busy tonight, but I'll be there as soon as possible". It got a little bit intense when we almost got spotted before we even got there, but somehow we made it to the front door without ANYONE other than me knowing she was there. Great surprise right there haha.

Anyway, the party turned out to be pretty fabulous. It was one of those themed parties, so we were all dressed up like preps (whatever they are). I actually made a pretty decent effort if I say so myself, acquiring a pair of red suspenders and fake glasses on the way. I felt a like a bit of a hipster, and even more of a nerd, but it was totally worth it! It was such a good night out in town! For once there wasn't too many weirdos (well apart from this one guy) and we just had a sweet time dancing and hanging out. We even hit up Murpheys were a real band was playing which was a lot more like my scene finally haha. But even the crappy club music wasn't too bad once you were getting into it (still, it belongs in clubs and nowhere else haha). And the first place we were in was playing Imagine Dragons! So we were pretty much guaranteed an awesome night!

However it's slightly ironic now that I think about it. I've always been slightly nervous of being nerdy just in case I end with glasses when I'm 25 and am always on the outside in society, or something like that. I guess there's certain behaviour patterns which I've been scared of reflecting just in case I become something I'm not. But on that Saturday night, I didn't even care. I could act nerdy, dress nerdy, be who ever I wanted. But I'd still be me. 

Man, it's hard to believe that two years ago I dreamed of having that kind of confidence. And it's not like anything magic just happened. There's still heaps of days when I don't have any at all. But God has blessed abundantly this year, and how can I not have assurance when he's given me so much to be thankful for and is making me into something far better than I ever deserved to be....

Cheers for reading guys, hope you had as much fun over the long weekend as I did! Leave a comment about what you got up to and we can chat and be friends and stuff. You don't just do that on Facebook you know!!!

Part 1: In which I take a deter into country, and other things...

Heeeeey everyone!!!
Holidays are finally over, and it's back into it. Kinda ironic that I decide to post now (when I should probably really be studying for my test on Friday), but oh well. Procrastination always seems to win out in the end.
Lately I've been feeling a little bit under the weather. Last night I was coughing so much I started to feel sick. Then I stupidly decided to do some situps, which was a really bad idea in hindsight because I pretty much died. Not worth the pain for the muscles haha. It was just annoying because I can usually do them without any worries. But no. When you're sick, you can't do anything right.
So tonight I decided to play it easy, skip going to indoor soccer and instead had a weak one-hour jam (weak, because usually I do two/three hours per night). Also probably not a good idea considering I have a GAZILLION songs to practice/learn but I really wasn't feeling up to it. And it didn't help much that I left my headphones in class and kept coughing halfway through trying to play a solo. Which makes it pretty difficult.
Anyway, UCOL's been pretty interesting this week. The current genre of the month is country.
Now to my mind, country has always been terribly bland, boring, and tasteless. I blame this on a few experiences I had in my childhood: such as watching far too much line dancing, seeing a guitarist play a country song which had only something like 2 chords in (and those were only changed about every twenty seconds or so). But recently, I've been discovering that although some country songs are downright appalling, there's actually a whole lot of it which is awesome.
Although country-pop isn't really my thing (thanks to Taylor Swift haha), the piano-driven tunes of Rascal Flatts and the ballads of Keith Urban are actually quite tasty.
Then there's the classics, like Johnny Cash and Neil Young. You literally can't go wrong with those guys! I remember hearing "Walk the Line" by Cash two years ago in a cabin halfway up Mt Ruapahu and loving it almost immediately. And yesterday I was listening to his cover of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails - and it was absolutely beautiful. That guy is a legend! Neil Young is incredible too - "Heart of Gold" gets me every time I hear it. I can only dream of writing a song that awesome!
Then there's a new style of music I've been cranking lately: alt-country. It's still country, but with little twists and nuances in it that make it real different and original. Definitely worth checking out if those traditional country standards are getting you down. My favorite artist in this style is Ryan Adams - he's SO good! I love how he delves into all styles while keeping his country roots - if you just listen to even one of his albums there's so much in there: from acoustic tunes, to punk rock, to foot-stomping no-holds-bared classic country (and sometimes a smidgen of slight metal on the side). Good songs of his to check out are "Everybody Knows" and "Oh My Sweet Carolina" (which is such a good song!!!).

So with the country obsessions flying around, and an irritating cold keeping me under the weather, I better bid you all adieu before it gets to late and I end up getting no sleep. Which happens way to much these days than it ought too....

Album Review: "Four"

"Four" - Bloc Party

I'm sort of a loss to know where to start with this album. So I'll attempt to draw a deep analogy: it's not that I have nothing to say about it. It's just my thoughts about it are all over the place and have no consistent beginning and end. So, much like this album then.
Even though Brit-pop band Bloc Party seem to be one of the better artists out there in the English music scene at the moment, and they certainly serve up originality in spades in this album, there's just something about it which just doesn't seem to work.
Yet at first glance it seems to have all the right ingredients. Fantastic artwork, the promise of Bloc Party getting back to their rock roots, and the great sounding single "Octopus" with it's faltering guitar leads and punchy chorus. So what went wrong?
Well, it might be that only four or five of the tracks on this album actually sound like songs. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the album is not a complete write-off. Musically the other tracks sound incredible: like the blues-based riffing in "Coliseum", the non-stop rhythm of "So He Begins To Lie" and the construction of songs like "Team A" which are just interesting to listen too. But at times this sudden interest in song/riff construction actually starts to drag the song down - for example in the metal-esque "We Are Not Good People" and the previously mentioned "Coliseum", the vocals are so quiet in the mix you can't help but listen to the guitar. Which is totally excusable, because it sounds like that's all the singer is doing too.
On top of that, the cd is punctuated with the most annoying little interludes EVER. Sometimes it's quite cool hearing these little snippets of dialogue (in fact I'd venture to suggest it makes a couple of songs on Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" that much better), but here it just doesn't work. Seriously I have no idea why the band decided to keep these in - they're not funny, well-placed, or meaningful at all.

That aside, the songs "Four" has which actually work almost make up for the lack of filler on this album. "V.A.L.I.S" (despite featuring some of the worst lyrics ever with the nonsensical line "Talks in circles and Greek") is actually a really good song with one of the catchiest choruses you'll find on this album, and in fact in Bloc Party's discography altogether. "Day Four" is another standout track which slows the mood (and the tempo) down a bit, which is where this band finally really shines. Another one definitely worth mentioning is "Kettling" with it's decent vocal performance, incredible riffing and one of the coolest guitar solos I've heard in a while. If only the rest of the album had stuck to this format, I would probably be shouting it's accolades from the bottom to the top of the blogging world.
Still, "Four", though not quite as impressive an album as I had thought, definitely has it's merits and Bloc Party is a band worth checking out.

Rating: 3.5/5 All up a rather medicore offering, but saved somewhat by a couple of really good songs, fantastic musicianship and some incredibly tasty guitar lines.

Writing, and five other things...

Seeing as it's holidays, I've had a lot of time to sit around doing nothing. Which is kind of fun for a bit, but it does get boring after awhile. So after looking up hipsters, Mr Bean, and internet memes on Wikipedia, scaring myself silly playing Slender, and going on Facebook way to much, I've decided there's really only one thing left to do.

Start writing!

Should definitely get rid of this boredom...
Except now that I think about it (which usually happens when I start writing), there's heaps of other ways to get over being bored.

1) Learning another language.
Not going to lie, I have a great amount of respect and admiration for people who are bilingual. I love hearing people talk in other languages and trying to guess what they're saying. But it would be even more awesome to actually be able to understand them! I have a few friends who can speak more than one language, and while they say that it can be hard to adjust back into English, they do get the occasional perk (such as dreaming in other languages - how cool would that be!).
Personally, I would love to learn Italian. I've been absolutely fascinated with the country for quite a few years now, and it would be incredible to master it's native tongue. It's a pity they didn't offer it at my school, because I would have loved to have learned it when I was a bit younger. Unfortunately they didn't though, and I've had to make do with a few scattered phrases from a couple of guide books. This would definitely be worth devoting more of my time though, especially if I plan on traveling. Hmm, now to find myself an Italian friend...

2) Tune your guitar down.
After a while, you get sick of playing in standard E tuning and start wondering about how you can change your tone. A really great way of getting creative with your guitar playing is tuning down (never up as my friend James says) and just experimenting. It's actually really hard because it forces you to not rely on your basic knowledge and just make stuff up. Which can be quite freeing actually once you get it right. Though you can tune to "lower versions" of E standard (such as drop C, or half-a-step down) where things sound sort of similar but a bit more hardcore, my personal favorites are open tunings (such as open G). These sound absolutely gorgeous, especially on an acoustic, and really have some of the nicest tones and chords out.
Speaking for myself, I don't really tune down as much as I ought to - probably because sometimes it takes quite a bit of time and effort to get it there. But when I do, I really enjoy the different tones and notes you get out of it. Last tuning I did was on Wednesday to play some Trivium. And it was a pretty intense jam session after that, let me tell you!

3)  Watch movies.
I know this is a bit of a no-brainer, but sometimes all you feel like doing is blobbing out to a good film. Or a bad one for that matter. Last night me and my brother watched the worst film of my life in an attempt to find this scene:

 

Why? Because it's got the worlds worst acting in. And therefore it's unintentionally hilarious!
Unfortunately we're idiots and wasted a good hour watching the first film all because I forgot to put a "2" in the Youtube search.

Oh yes, and I plan on watching "Battlefield" later. This really is a week for terrible movies :D

4)  Check out some good comedy.

New Zealand is a pretty tiny country, so it's kind of no fault of our own that we don't do so well at a couple of things. Besides rugby, we don't do so well in team sports, and our music scene is pretty tiny. But one thing we do get right is comedy. If you've never seen some New Zealand comedy, then you're really missing out! I'm not sure if it's their deadpan humor, or just the fact that they know some really good jokes, but they never fail to make me laugh.

My personal favorites are Rhys Darby and the comedians on Jonno and Ben at 10. Which I'm watching now coincidentally :D. It's such a good program! Except for Dad's laughing was possibly even more funny. He completely lost it when at this bit. 

5) Read blogs!

I know this sounds like a bit of shameless promotion for myself, but seriously! Blogs make for some good reading, and definitely fill up heaps of your time. Speaking from experience, I can honestly say that us bloggers really appreciate the fact that there are people out there who enjoy reading our ramblings. Well, maybe just my ramblings - heaps of other blogs have a lot more structure to them! When I'm not busy writing my own, I enjoy checking out all the ones listed in my "links" bar, as well as quite a few others. Whether they're about movies, music, or just peoples lives, they're real interesting and definitely worth the 5 minutes or so it takes to read through them! 

Oh and seeing as you've made the effort to get this far, please take the option of spending a few more minutes of your free time to post a comment. Which will also be greatly appreciated, and no doubt replied to! 

Jordan

Every Saturday

I usually really enjoy Saturday mornings because I get to catch up on the sleep I've missed in the weekdays.
Unfortunately, my body clock decided that was a bad idea and thought 6 am was a far better time to wake up. My brain didn't agree with this, and they argued about it for the next two hours. Eventually I couldn't be bothered and just got up.
After a lovely breakfast where I smashed back some well-needed coffee, I drove my sisters car to the garage to get fixed. Which was quite an interesting experience, because it was an automatic. All I can say is you don't appreciate a good gearstick until it's gone. Or a clutch for that matter.
Surprisingly enough, I did manage to get some study done. But by the time I turned to rhythm dictation (one of the most boring things to study ever), my brain was complete mush so I gave up and jammed out some guitar instead. Always a better alternative haha.
After I went on a huge mish uptown with my friends to grab some speciality food. Cos we're cool like that. We managed to get hopelessly lost, and then it was really ironic because some people asked us for directions as if we were locals. Hilarious! Anyway, we finally found the place we were looking for (or one close enough) but then I had to ditch to go pick up the car. Managed to find my own way back though, after a really confusing text conversation. Oh and I paid for parking for like the first time ever - really feeling pretty grown up today. We had a lovely sushi lunch in the square where I ate way to much wasabi (oh that stuff is incredible!), spilled half my sushi on the ground (cos I suck at using chopsticks) tried root beer for the first time (it wasn't too bad) and drunk chrysanthemum tea (which tasted strangely like medicine).
Then we boosted it back to the hostel, where I was meaning to do some more study - but once again the old brain failed on me. I really should try getting more sleep haha. So I ended up spending most of the rest of the afternoon messing around on Logic. There wasn't much I could do without a MIDI input or loops, so I had to improvise using the built in microphone on my Mac. So I ended up with a 23 second long loop which was just basically me tapping my desk and other various things to stimulate drum sounds and then putting all sorts of effects on them. Gotta love found sounds. It probably would have sounded a lot better if I'd managed to get the metronome going properly (it's really quiet in the mix for some reason which makes it real hard to hear it when you're recording), but oh well. I found out a few interesting things while doing it, like blowing on the top of an empty coke bottle while playing through a filtered delayed microphone gives a lovely phase-type effect. And that a single key makes a really interesting cymbal sound. It was kind of pointless as I don't know how to save any of the loops (and they're most probably out of time anyway) but it was a fun and creative way of spending time, and helped get my mind off things. Music programs for the win!!! I'm going to have to get an interface sometime this holidays, and then I can get into the real stuff!
After that it was tea time, and then we watched a few films. Saw half of The Two Towers Extended Edition which was real interesting because there was so many scenes in there I hadn't seen!!! And also because Lord of the Rings is awesome. Then we watched Phonebooth which was also quite good despite the plot summary basically being: 1) Guy gets into a phone booth 2) Mysterious caller on the other end of the phone threatens to shoot him 3) Guy gets out of the phone booth 4) Guy gets back into the phone booth and stays there for most of the rest of the movie 5) Guy finally gets out of the phone booth for good (and promptly gets shot for his pains). The result? I don't plan on getting in a phone booth anytime soon...
And now I'm mega tired and slightly confused because it's daylight saving and my clock says 12.47 when really it's only 11.47. But soon it will be actually an hour forward which I feel is going to mess up my already messed up sleep patterns. Oh well it doesn't matter to much because I'm going for a run tomorrow at 7 anyway. Beats me why, but you only live once - anyway the exercise will do me good....

What's your weekend been like so far? Got up to anything crazy?

Album Review: Night Visions

As anyone following this blog may have noticed, in the last couple of months there's been a new band on the block which have been occupying my eardrums for a significant amount of time. For those of you who are new to this blog, or perhaps haven't visited for a while, that band is Imagine Dragons. This incredible indie-pop band absolutely blew my mind with their EP, Continued Silence (check out my review of it here), which introduced me to their awesome music and left me wanting more (6 songs is not enough!!!!).
And a few days ago, I finally got my hands on a copy of their debut album, Night Visions, ordered all the way from the USA (cos New Zealand is laaaaaaame when it comes to selling music not made by the "big names").

This me in class with the album. I guess I look a bit shocked, but it's actually supposed to be excitement or something like that. Because, not going to lie, this has probably been the most excited I've ever been about an album release EVER. I was actually buzzing on the day it got released (5th of September was the official date I think),  but I had to force myself to resist the urge to listen to the tracks online as I waited for my copy to arrive. So when it turned up in the post it was all new and exciting for me (with the exception of one track, Tiptoe. My patience couldn't handle listening to nothing).
First of all I should point out that this album does draw on a lot of the material found in Continued Silence, with 4 of the first 5 songs from their EP. I guess that can't be helped what with it's release coming only months after, but it did make listening to this album pretty hard to listen to as a whole as it seemed to me to be more like a collection of songs mixed in with the tracks of their EP. But this might have just been because I was listening to the new songs more, as I'd already thrashed the 'older' ones.

My first reaction to Night Visions was of slight disappointment. Maybe it was because I'd hyped it up to much, or because the EP was so good, but on the first listen, something didn't seem quite right. Gone was the indie instrumentation and good-time vibes, replaced by some uber-slick production and soaring vocal hooks. Once again, Imagine Dragons completely surprised me by bringing in a completely different element into the mix. Except this time I was a little unprepared for it and it took me a while to adjust to this new, poppy-er sound. But now that I've had a few more listens the album has grown on me, and I've found that if it's not completely, then it's pretty close to being worth all the hype I gave it.

No doubt though, this is a much more pop-orientated album than Continued Silence. Imagine Dragons lean a la Coldplay on several of the tracks, with synth based arena rock seasoned with huge beats coming to the foreground on this, rather than hiding away in the indie tracks somewhere. Of the tracks on the album, there was only two which stood out on the first listen. "Underdog" is one of those infectious tunes that you can't help smiling to whenever it comes on. With a chirpy modulated synth opening and a uplifting chorus where Dan Reynolds unashamedly drops pop hooks with just the faintest hint of irony"Hey, that sounds like my luck, I get the short end of it, Oh I love to be the underdog", this is a stand out moment on the album. The next one to grab my attention was the track directly after, "Nothing Left To Say/Rocks". Sitting at just under 9 minutes, this is really the surprise of the album as it is actually two complete songs merged together into a single track. "Nothing Left To Say" is a driving slow-burner with an incredibly soulful outro which features the viola skills of drummer Daniel Platzman. The words for this song are some of the most well-crafted on this album too - the line "Who knows what's right? The lines keep getting thinner" gets me every time. Then just as you're getting into the viola & acoustic breakdown, it suddenly stops. About five seconds of silence pass, and then "Rocks" kicks in. It's a really interesting choice to merge them together in this way, because in many ways "Rocks" completely different from "Nothing Left To Say" with it's upbeat tempo, nonsensical lyrics and instant catchiness - but somehow it works.

The rest of the album carries within the same vein. The previously mentioned "Tiptoe", stuck as unfortunately as it is between "Radioactive" and "It's Time" is another stand out track with a catchy chorus about heading to the top - much in the vein of "It's Time" lyrically I suppose. "Amsterdam" starts of with an excellent piano opening but somehow never delivers as much as it could. "Hear Me" is probably my least favorite track on the album - despite soaring chorus vocals and a few tasty guitar licks, it's over-saturated pop sound makes it seem almost as if Imagine Dragons are trying too hard. This is followed by yet another surprise - the barbershop styled intro to "Every Night" which somehow reminded me of Fun's song "Some Nights" when I first heard it. Only the difference is Imagine Dragons don't use autotune and the song gets even better after the opening. In fact it could possibly be my favorite song from the album - with an incredible vocal performance, a sweet hook line ("I'm coming home to you every night") and a well-placed guitar solo from Wayne Sermon, "Every Night" is another highlight on an already incredible album.

Despite the more pop-orientated sound, it's safe to say that this album is already sitting in my collection of favorite CD's. I was talking to a friend the other day about music and we both agreed that you know you've found a great band when you like pretty much every song on their album. In today's world where you're lucky to find 4 good songs and then a pile of album filler, it's refreshing to find a band like Imagine Dragons who hard work and struggles finally pay off in this incredible debut. If you've never heard of them, it's time you bought this album and got yourself acquainted.


Album Rating: 4.5/5
Lyrical content: 3/5
Additional comments: Go buy it now!

What is this thing called Love?

Love.
Some say it makes the world go round. Others say it's just a feeling when you see that special someone. Some people even use it to describe their addiction to the cocoa-based substance called chocolate. Yeap, if you were to search in a dictionary or ask only three people, I'm sure you'd get a lot of definitions of the word.

And don't get me started on songs! Ever since rock 'n' roll erupted back in the 50's, the main lyrical content behind almost every chart topping song was.... (I'm going to give you a hint here, it wasn't world peace)
Yeap you guessed it. LOVE. The subject matter has been ripped apart, pieced together and then thrashed on radio more times than I want to even imagine. Of course, everyone's got their own take on it, and after awhile you start to get mixed messages. I mean Crowded House are proclaiming "Love will always win" while Joy Division assures us that "Love will tear us apart".

While all this gets super confusing, I guess the real question is: what is love to you?

So, with this question in mind, I will attempt to tackle the much-debated subject. Here goes...

I always get super nervous when talking about love. I guess one of the reasons why is because I haven't really had experience with it, so I always think my thoughts don't really count for anything. But then again, I have stepped close to the edge of this mysterious feeling. And like pretty much every other person on the planet, sometimes I've stepped back with a few scars. Luckily enough so far I've just skirted the edges so my heart has managed to stay relatively unbroken. You know, falling in love always seemed like a bad idea to me. When you fall, you don't know what's going to happen once you hit the ground. And if obstacles are cluttering up the place you land, then you're bound to come off worse for wear.
But then sometimes I wonder what it would feel like to be in love. To have that one person which you care more about than anything else in the world. And to have the stability of knowing they will be behind you every step of the way. It sounds like a pretty good deal right?

My thoughts on love are varied. There's a pessimistic part of me which feels like screaming every time I see a couple. This side believes it's never going to work out - that human love is something which only lasts for a period of time before it dies. And this side tells me that I'm never going to be good enough, cool enough or talented enough for anyone to love me.
But then there's another side of me which knows what love really is.
I wrote a song about it once. The one and only song I've written about it so far. It was called "Love is more than this" and was the best thing I'd ever written at the time. After a late night chat with a really close friend (SHOUTOUT RACHEL!!! Sorry it's been a long time coming) I went away feeling super inspired, and wrote this awesome song about how love is not just a story about boy meeting girl and the feelings and actions they do after that; instead it's about how God loved us and sent his son to die for us. And man even now I get the chills when I think about that revelation. See I can't even imagine living for someone every day of my life, let alone dying for someone. And Jesus didn't do it just for one person, he did it for the world. Can you imagine how many people that is? To put it one way, it would be like every second of his life, he was dying for someone. And man, that just blows everything else out of the water.

It's amazing how knowing all that we still want more.
Perfect love has been shown for us, and yet for some strange reason, we still crave imperfect, human love.
And lately it's been getting me down how long I've been able to live without it. Suddenly my heart starts doing backflips inside my chest and my palms start sweating and I start worrying if I'm ever going to find anyone. Or if I've already found them. Or if I've found them and lost them. My head starts thinking down for or five different trains of thoughts and my heart doesn't even know where to look or what to say. And it's been screwing me over.

Last night, I went to Wellington for this conference on relationships called Huge. And it was super well-timed what with me worrying about it all and everything. I went up not really expecting a lot other than some fun times with my awesome Life Group, but came away so completely refreshed and blown away once again by God's mercy and grace and how very relevant he is to my every moment. As well as getting some legit good advice, I loved how we started and finished with worship and prayer. Just making sure he stays in the center - like it SHOULD be, both in relationships and in life itself.
So, I want to share with you know some of the best quotes and advice I've heard about love (some from last night, some from other places...)

"Love is a verb" -from the book "I would Die for you"
"And these three things remain, faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." - 1 Corinthians 13:13.
"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear." - 1 John 4:8. This really relates to last nights advice about not getting into a relationship for the wrong reasons, such as fear that you'll be alone.
 "Patience is not waiting. Patience is how you act while you are waiting." - On the same trail of advice.
"Hey girl do you know what love is? You think you know, you've got all the clothes, and the makeup but it's another breakup.... Do you really know, or are you just dying to go?"

I don't know about you, but I think I've finally got this in the right order. My relationship with Christ is going to be above and beyond anything I ever feel about any girl. I don't just want to know Him, I know I want Him. And I'm looking forward to how awesome life is going to be when I put him first.

"What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met."   

-Matthew 6:31-32 (The Message)

I love this time of night.

When the lights go down, and it's just you and the music.
For the briefest of moments, there is no worries, no pressures. Nothing you have to get done, nothing you worry about having to do, nothing you regret doing. Nothing you can't do another day. For the briefest of moments, everything else falls away like a thick woolen blanket sliding off your shoulders.
It feels like putting down your briefcase (or when it comes to me, a guitar case) after a long hard day of work. It feels like jumping into a cold pool on a warm day. It feels like the things in this life which we get so hung up on don't even matter in the face of eternity. And what is this life for if all we do is just worry about things we're probably never going to be brave enough to change?

You ask me why I'm an insomniac. I ask you why you're not....

The Return!

I've been thinking a lot lately about writing.

Even though I'm a musician first and foremost, writing has always been a big part of my life. It's one of those rare talents which comes easier to me than most other things. 

See, music I have to work at. Sure, I can enjoy it -I can even just relax and let it take me places (something which is finally starting to get a little easier for me this year, judging from the amount of instrumentals and original improvisation I've been cramming out this year). But it's something I have to constantly work at, practice, practice, and PRACTICE again till it starts to sink in. Most of the time, I can't just pull a song or a sweet riff out from thin air - but I can craft it, molding ideas into notes, into tunes, fitting words to chords... 

Writing on the other hand, just seems to flow. 

I don't even really think about it sometimes. Like at the moment as I'm writing this my minds thinking about
a) it being 10.00 b) the song currently playing on Spotify (Imagine Dragons) and c) whether my friend's going to agree to playing Nirvana or not. Only half my attention is actually focused on what I'm saying... but my fingers are doing a pretty good job of doing the talking.

What I'm getting at here is I really need to pay more attention to this blog. And I'm not just saying that because I've said it before, or because I made a resolution, or anything like that. No, me coming back to this blog is all about my writing. And honestly, I need to do that more. I've missed it quite a bit. Putting time and effort into creating a piece of text for no other reason than because you feel you have something to say is one of the most satisfying feelings I know. 

And I have so many things to say! It's just when I'm put on the spot, my mind draws a blank. And it's much easier to hit up Facebook for a few hours than sit here staring at my computer thinking about what to say in the shortest amount of time possible. Sad I know, but unfortunately true. So to avoid going into that awkward phase, I've hatched upon a brilliant idea. Well, at least I think it's worth talking about. 

Instead of me having to sort through whatever's going on while facing the degenerating wall of laziness, you the reader, can decide...

Now this involves a little bit of interaction on your part. But the rules are pretty simple. I'll post up a list of  topics which interest me, and you leave a comment on whatever ones you'd like to read about. Or, if you want to, anything I could blog about (within reason). Don't be afraid to suggest stuff! 

• Mini-devotionals on some of my favorite bible verses.
• MORE music reviews!!! (You might have to suggest the artists though!)
• 10 things about me most people don't know. 
• Short stories (Yeah I used to write stories heaps! But I always sucked at the shorter ones.... my problem is I usually have to many words, and they turn into mini-novels).
• My slight obsession with superheroes.
• What to do in a zombie apocalypse.
• People I would love to meet, and what I'd like to say to them.
• Why religion is stupid.
• Old school music vs the tunes of the modern day.
• The Christian 'scene' - with all it's pro's and con's.

If that's not enough to start with, I don't know what is! Happy voting guys!