Best Friends Forever – Romance Conflict Adventure

I haven’t enjoyed an indie pop album this much in quite awhile….Released in 2007 by a group of Minneapolis, Minnesotans, if you enjoy upbeat, catchy indie pop w/ female vocals DO NOT pass this recommendation up…seriously, you will love this…spunky bass parts, catchy guitar and drums, and some keys laden throughout…check them out and let me know what you think…

http://www.myspace.com/bestfriendsforeverandfriends

Gaming Corner: Post 2

Lately i’ve been playing alot of Left 4 Dead which I picked up a couple weeks ago…This game is a BLAST, as long as you’re playing with friends or people that actually know and understand how to play this game….Basically, stick together as a team and you will succeed at reaching each safe room along the level, but go off and deviate on your own and you’re more than likely going to be dragged off by a Smoker or pinned by a Hunter and be “Left 4 Dead” because you’re teammates are halfway across the map and dealing with zombies of their own. New DLC is coming down the pipeline and that should keep people coming back for Zombie breakfast, lunch and dinner for awhile.

Rating: 8.5/10

I also finally picked up a copy of Madden 09..I own Madden 08, but i couldnt pass ’09 up any longer after it went on sell at Target for $40. Now I’m a Madden nut, as i practically play Madden (mostly Franchise mode) year round..I have to say, some of the features they added in this game were worth the price of admission, but frustratingly some of the things they had right in last year’s version they changed and made worse in my opinion…The Madden 09 passing system basically makes it impossible to throw the deep ball unless you just tap the button and let go of a hanging air ball…While the new My Skill feature is a nice addition, it basically needs a bit of tweaking and to take more variables than game stats in mind when adjusting your skill level…Say you’re a great RB like Frank Gore and you rack up 200 yards rushing versus the Lions. This should not increase your Rushing offense difficulty as much as, say rushing for as many yards against a stout Run Defense like Minnesota. Hopefully they take a few more variables in mind and tweak this feature to perfection for next year’s version.

Rating: 7.8/10

Gaming Corner: Post 1

I finally got around to picking up one of the games I should have picked up loooooong ago for the 360, or any system, or any video game enthusiast for that matter, none other than this bad boy…

I have to say, back when it came out it and everyone had a chance to play it the hype machine built up to magnificent proportions for this one, but my god even playing it for the first time in the last couple days, the hype was well deserved…Now I love multiplayer and this certainly is a game I will be coming back to for a considerable length of time, but even more so I enjoy a solid FPS single story and boy does this deliver….The feel of the weapons, the aiming, certain “wow” moments & visuals laced throughout make this a ridiculously satisfying experience…And once the ending came around and played out, I realized Infinity Ward also did a fantastic job in making you feel for your squad mates…I’m a big fan of Cpt. Price so i have to say, the ending had me almost alittle in tears. Very satisfying finish though.

Other than COD4, Ive been engrossed in this little puppy since it landed a month or so back, trying to up my rank (currently Rank2 atm) on multiplayer which I absolutely love  when its actually working…

hopefully EPIC gets the matchmaking system fixed soon,  as the wait time for finding matches is way too sporadic and lengthy….

Ill hopefully be picking up another new game here soon as well….thinking between Little Big Planet, Resistance 2, World At War but who knows….until next Gaming Corner, over n out.

xbox live gt: icedopethblind
PS3 Network: warandlove

Bon Iver – Blood Bank EP

Bon Iver, singer-songwriter Justin Vernon’s latest reincarnation of a folk music project, has no doubt picked up most of its steam  in 2008 with 2007 debut album For Emma, Forever Ago ‘s becoming widely acclaimed across the blogsphere and music sites like Absolutepunk.net this year…and this EP, due out officially in early 2009 through Jagjaguwar Records, marks the first music since For Emma… to be recorded, sealed and sent off for indie/folk enthusisasts to eagerly devour…

“Blood Bank” starts the EP off with a very somber yet warm vibe, very akin to most of For Emma… Very simple percussion moves the song along into a buildup of a repeated lyric and scratchy guitar overdubs until fading right into “Beach Baby”, a slightly slower number that really hits its stride a couple minutes in with a very pretty slide guitar line that finishes off the track….”Babys” begins with persistent piano chords that, while pleasant sounding,  dont really add up to much more than a backing track for Vernon’s vocal lines…Honestly, this song shouldve been abit shorter than the 4 minutes and 38 seconds it takes to get through…”Woods” rounds out the EP w/ Vernon craftily using vocoder in a style much like that of a few Imogen Heap songs…Though this track seems to drag at points during its duration as well, it is a very interesting flavor for Vernon to incorporate in with the Bon Iver style…

All in all, short but sweet, I believe this EP comes out with a 7/10.

“Pullin’ At Your Heart”

1 Brian Howard – Fading Away (an instrumental of mine that i feel fits the mood of this mix)
2 Tokyo Police Club – Centennial
3 DeYarmond Edison – Silent Signs (Justin Vernon of Bon Iver fame’s old band, incredible song)
4 The Mountain Goats – Wild Sage
5 Wilco – Impossible Germany
6 Ryan Adams – The Shadowlands
7 AA Bondy – Black Rain, Black Rain
8 Dear and The Headlights – Daysleeper (from an old demo)
9  Justin Vernon – Hazelton
10 American Football – I’ll See You When We’re Both Not So Emotional
11 Rachael Yamagata – Elephants
12 As Tall As Lions – Kickin’ Myself
13 Tilly & The Wall – Lost Girls
14 Jeromy Barber – It’s For You (an older friend from back at college, really good songwriter and musician)
15 Death Cab For Cutie – Brothers On A Hotel Bed
16 The Early November – Figure It Out
17 Abandoned Pools – Goodbye Song

http://www.mediafire.com/?mhmzgxmj1jf

worked really hard on this one, the flow is excellent imo….very melancholy…hope someone can enjoy it…i know some of these songs are widely popular and known but if somehow youve missed out heres a chance to check them out.

i recommend grabbin’ a cup of coffee, a few smokes if youre into that kind of thing, and seein’ where this takes you for an hour….

regards,

brian