Ethan's Playlist for July [Pt. 1?]

Yeah, I gotta apologize because I haven't posted in a while for anything! So I will now and it will be a longer list, maybe?

Well, I gotta quick story. My cousin listens to Canto pop, so I am her source of American music, so I play music for her to listen to, haha I have converted her to a COUNTRY lover and she likes One Direction... bleh... sorry y'all. She also likes Owl City, but she loves Jana Kramer a lot, and Linkin Park! hahahaha!

BTW, these songs are not in the right order as usual, sorry, the first 2 are right, but after that, they are random, yeah..

1. [Spectrum (Say My Name) {Calvin Harris Remix}] - Florence + The Machine
So I was on Facebook and Flo was talking about Spectrum hitting number one! And I was like what?!? I didn't even know a song was released! So I went to the iTunes store and it wasn't there, and I looked closer and it said it hit number 1 in the UK. So I got the track anyway and I LOVE IT! I think I just love Florence + The Machine too much... Got a pretty awesome beat. CALVIN HARRIS! (No I didn't bandwagon along,  I first listened to Feel So Close a year ago)

2. [What I Love About Your Love] - Jana Kramer
<COUGH> LISA SHAO! Well, I gotta a confession to make. Honestly, I never knew why I hated on Jana so hard as I did. I apologize. I do really like her now and my favorite song is this one! I kinda got hooked on it when Lisa set it as her ringtone... yeah, I guess I secretly liked her music longer than most people thought... teehee...

3. [One Thing] - Megan Nicole & Jason Chen
Gosh, I guess this looks kinda bad for me right now, so I will say it! I AM NOT A DIRECTIONER! Whew I got it out. I will admit they have good voices, but I can't say I love them, I might if they weren't manufactured, they are a product of Simon Cowell, they probably don't like each and every person in the band. Well, back to the song! 2 of my favorite artists in one! I kinda just recently found out about Jason Chen! He is pretty awesome, one downside to him is he autotunes waaay too much, but still a great voice. I used to think that Megan Nicole autotuned a lot, but I listened to a live performance and she sounded the same... YAY!

4. [Guardian] - Alanis Morissette
AAH! ALANIS! NEW SINGLE! ROCK ON! Yeah, I really like Alanis and this song is good!

5. [Good Time] - Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen
I never liked Call Me Maybe, I just sang along and made a parody, but I do like Carly Rae Jepsen's voice, I would rather her not be backed by Bieber, but that doesn't change her voice. I like Owl City and this is a decent song, a bit too catchy for my taste but yeah.

6. [CASTLE OF GLASS] - Linkin Park
Best song of the record, LIVING THINGS by Linkin Park! :D A good calm/folky song rather than the usual screaming, not that the screaming isn't good, just that this is a good change!

7. [Baby, I Love You] - Tiffany Alvord
I kinda always hated on Tiffany Alvord as well, I didn't think her voice was special, and I kinda don't think it is still, but her songwriting is decent and it is a nice song.

8. [Wide Awake] - Sam Tsui
I don't really like Katy Perry or her songs at all, but I love the way Sam does them. I don't know why.

9. [Met Him In a Motel Room] - Gwen Sebastian
I first heard of Gwen from The Voice, and this song is one of my favorite Country songs of all time! The title seems kinda deceiving, yes, the song is about meeting someone in a motel room, but not just a someone... SHE MET JESUS :D! (Not an autobiographical song)

10. [Over] - Blake Shelton
This song is BS! Yes it is! BLAKE SHELTON AT HIS BEST! This is my favorite song of his latest record, Red River Blue, which isn't new... but it is really good. 

11. [Masterpiece] - Meg & Dia
Didn't think you were going to see a song from Meg & Dia would you? Well, Meg recently blogged about this song and she said it was the first song she ever wrote, so I gave it a second chance, and it is so good! I think it is my favorite off their 2nd record, Something Real!

I don't know when I will blog again on my playlist, so I made an extra long playlist! A big music post coming out soon! I hope to do at least one more playlist this month, but if I can't I am sorry.

Ethan's Playlist 6/18/12

This week’s playlist is a bit different, ranging from electronic, to dubstep/violin (How can these 2 go together?), to extreme alternative rock, to singer/songwriter, to hip hop/ rap. It is a very diverse playlist. (I seem to be keeping up reputation)

1. [Titanium (feat. Sia)] – David Guetta

Wow, this song is pretty amazing! I remember first hearing Sia from Wild Ones, I really liked her voice, but I didn’t like the song, so I quickly glanced over the song without approval. Then, hearing her voice (and not to forget power) in this song and seeing how well it actually matched this time, it clicked and worked for me! Her voice is truly remarkable and the electronic beats always fit well for me. (Did I mention this song is catchy?)

2. [Crystallize] – Lindsey Stirling

I remember first seeing Lindsey Stirling in the first blog post I read, and that was my friends! (Shout out to A**** M*!) It was the Lord of the Rings’ Medley, I like the movies, but not an avid follower of them, so yet again I glanced over talent, and I didn’t listen to it. I can say that I found her again in We Found Love, but I didn’t really understand it, so I glanced over it again! (What a big mistake yet again, yet again!) Then I listened to her cover of Starships that she did with Megan Nicole and then I looked at her channel and started to listen to her songs, and they were so good! This was her biggest hit and my favorite by far! I love dubstep and what she did with her violin accompanied the beats so well! For some reason, I just love Lindsey’s! Lindsey Pavao and now Lindsey Sterling!

3. [Every Single Night] – Fiona Apple

 I remembered in Lindsey Pavao’s blind audition, Blake said she sounded like Fiona Apple and then Lindsey cited her as a big influence. So, when I saw that she was getting a new album, I got the first single as well as her big hits. I love her voice, and now I see that Blake knew exactly what he was talking about, because she sounds a lot like Lindsey, just a little more extreme. She is a bit weird, 2 of her albums are titled long titles. One with over 190 words and one with over 20! She is a bit out there, but she is good. This is her lead single from the album!

4. [Wide Awake] – Tiffany Alvord

I love listening to covers! I wasn’t a big cover person back then, but then I was recommended Sam Tsui and Tyler Ward! Then, further pursuing led to Megan Nicolle, Tiffany Alvord, Boyce Avenue, Luke Conard, Alex Goot, Alex G, and more! I like this version of Wide Awake a lot. It is a different take, but it is good.

5. [The Fighter] – Gym Class Heroes 

I really like this song, and the lyrics are really meaningful as well as clean! I don’t remember where I heard this song, but I really like it and I hope it is covered! Ryan Tedder is so good! 

Ethan's Playlist 6/11/12 [All Around]

Well, as usual my playlist is pretty diverse, one of my "claim to fames" is listening to all kinds of music, most people claim the same thing, but they usually have 1 "exception" that exception being... dun dun dun.. COUNTRY! Well, I used to be a hater of country until my friends officially introduced it to me, at first I still was hatin' on it, but I gradually started to like it. Another problem I had was with metal, but then apparently not all metal is screamo, and the music I thought was rock was metal, and I had been listening to it all along.

The one genre I sometimes have problems with is Hip Hop/ Rap. Yea, I listen to rap, yeah, I even have "rap" on this playlist. I mean I used to listen to rap, like a decent amount, that along with pop. Thankfully, I got caught, by myself, that these songs had quite a bit of swear words and usually had a very negative meaning. So my most listened to, turned to my least listened to. I mean, clean rap is totally fine with me, and meaning clean doesn't mean "bleeped" out words, it means clean words from the get go and decent meanings. Does this mean that I don't listen to bad rap? Most of the time I don't but some songs manage to sneak in, and if that is the case, I get the clean version.

Pop is around the same, I mean, most of the time there are no cuss words, but the meanings are sometimes awful. Have you ever sat listening to lyrics? And then realized that they suck? Yeah, it's the same thing. "Oh, I listen to the song, it is so catchy! But I would never actually do that kinda stuff!" Well, sometimes, it is just as bad to be complacent to listening to that type of music. I do admit that I am not guilt-free, but hey it's sometimes the effort that counts, as long it is substantial effort.

Well, off-topic, now back to blogging. This week's playlist is pretty diverse, it includes: alternative, christian, dubstep remix, rap, pop, and country.

1. [Breath of Life] - Florence + The Machine

I feel like this band gets disregarded a lot, but this band is pretty legit. I mean this song is a great example as well as "Dog Days Are Over" and "No Light, No Light" which was featured as TIME Magazine's top song of 2011, which is kinda odd, because it really wasn't... Adele was definitely top, but the song is good nonetheless. This is on the soundtrack of "Snow White and the Huntsman" and it totally fits, even though I didn't watch the movie yet...

2. [I Will Go] - Starfield

Well, we recently had a pretty good conference @ White Oak and this was one of my favorite songs from the conference, My definite fave was "You Are Good", but the studio version is like a choir and that is good live only for me. I was really surprised by the original, it was a lot cooler than I thought it would be, I thought it would be relatively the same, but it had all the cool guitar moves and sounds added to it. The lyrics are amazing, my definite favorite is "Take everything I am, I'm clay within your hands." This should definitely be our prayer to God.

3. [Lights (Bassnectar Remix)] - Ellie Goulding

The first time I heard the song was like last year. I was kinda shocked at how it sounded, I didn't really listen to dubstep back then and couldn't really understand it and then later when I realized how awesome dubstep was, I was quite happy with the genre, totally forgetting the song. So this was one of my first dubstep songs, and I actually really like it now. It is my favorite! I am a fan of unique voices and dubstep, so this was a good  match. Either this was the first dubstep song, or a Skrillex mashup  was. My friends were listening to "Scary Like A G6" a mashup of "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" and "Like A G6".

4. [Coming Up Strong] - Karmin

Did you know that no one in the duo of Karmin is named Karmin? Actually the duo was named Karmin after the play Carmen and they believe in karma so they made it Karmin. I love pretty much all their songs, but the reason this one stood out was because it was different. They usually rap a lot but this wasn't as much. It was a soft song with an amazing intro by NICK! I really never heard him sing other than in harmony and he is really good, and of course the switch back into rap is always amazing as well, so good job Amy. This is one of my favorites from them, joining the favorites are Hello & Walking On the Moon.

5. [Honey Bee] - Blake Shelton

I really wanted to blog about a song that I didn't blog about last week, since it was all country last week. This right now isn't on my playlist but the other country songs that were featured last week are on it. Well, back to Shelton, I heard this song for the first time, on The Voice! It was last season and he sang it with Dia Frampton & Xenia! My favorites from last season! I kinda didn't know how to react to the song, because I wasn't a country fan then. So, I kinda was like, my 3 favorites are on stage awesome, and I didn't pay attention to the song, but later I really was amazed by the song and it was my favorite for a while, and I still listen to it occasionally, like today.

Well, I think that was the longest I ever blogged on a playlist, so you guys better come read it! Follow Me Please! I want some followers! I have 3, and one is me... Hahaha! If you get this far into the blog, I'll tell you the best bet to make with a friend. Have the bet money on the table from your friend and 2 glasses of liquid, put the glasses on your friend's fingers and say the first part is about balance, and then take the money and run! :)

The Voice 2 Season Finale!

Jermaine Paul:
I Believe I Can Fly [8/10] Best solo performance other than Blinds
God Gave Me You [9/10]
Soul Man [10/10]

Juliet Simms
Free Bird [8/10]
Crazy [7/10]
Born to Be Wild [7/10]

Chris Mann
You Raise Me Up [9/10]
The Voice Within [8/10]
The Prayer [11/10]

Tony Lucca
99 Problems [6/10]
Harder to Breathe [5/10]
Yesterday [10/10]

I wish Juliet won, but Jermaine deserves it just as much!

Jermaine - The Voice
Juliet - Runner Up
Tony - 3rd
Chris - 4th

Final Album Covers!

EK10 2/20/12 with DJ Kwokodile

WOW! I really don't like this @ all! I regret not posting The Voice reviews, but I couldn't find the songs anywhere but iTunes... I'll leave it @ that... I regret this choice, but there was a lotttt of pop this week. I apologize for that... I do have a good country song :) Voice songs are almost all gone but that's because this week's songs weren't available... I will publish this one earlier... I feel like I'll forget... So disregard the date I put up :) I have no idea when the Voice songs will come out so... don't anticipate... I've been checking my phone every hour to see if the phones are there... It hasn't paid off. I really wish that I didn't wait those 3+ hours looking around. So enjoy this pop filled charts. Again apologies, I'm usually an alternative guy.

1. [Butt Back Home] - Gym Class Heroes
Well I can say the rap is kinda bad... it's not that great. All I love is the catchy chorus... Not all that great of a reason to like this song... That's all I have to say is that, and oh btw... I listen to the clean version :)

2. [Country Girl (Shake It For Me)] - Luke Bryan
Wow, long song name... Oh well, It makes up for it in the song :) It's a pretty great song. Great country, makes me happy, all I care about :P Luke Bryan has to be my fave country artist!


3. [God Gave Me You] - Blake Shelton
Wow! I love this song. :D He has to be my second favorite! Blake Shelton is the bomb! I really want to go to see his concert... If any of my friends want to go with me, I would love to go to watch a race! It's 39 for a ticket + 20 for better concert seats! So you get a race, and a good spot @ a concert for $59! Not too bad! It's a Nascar Race btw... MEG & DIA THERE 2! Another reason Blake is great, is that he actually invited Dia to go on tour with him! No other coaches did that! But this is one of my favorite country songs :)

4. [The Cave] - Mumford & Sons
Wow! I remember listening to this album April of last year! So glad my school friends got me hooked on the Mumfs! I think they're amazing! My fave song used to be Little Lion Man... but I totally didn't know the f-word was in it. :( So the Cave erupts as my favorite! :D

5. [Bed Intruder Song] - Antoine Dodson
Wow! What a story behind this song! I totally did not know that this song was a real deal! I totally thought this was a gag! I just realized this was real when we watched the news cast on Thursday... I am so smart!

6. [Somebody That I Used To Know] - Gotye
Totally lost faith in this song! I was so wrong! I still love it and it's great! Still love it for the same reasons...

7. [Say Aah (feat. Fabolous] - Trey Songz
Well, this song faded away from glory... It's still good but ehhh its very meh now to me. It's still the same image :) Not to appropriate of an album cover still.

8. [International Love (feat. Chris Brown)] - Pitbull
Hmm... This isn't a very good song :( But I kinda like Pitbull at times, and this is one of the songs I do like. That's all I'm saying, and the album cover's not that great either...

10. [7 x 70] - Chris August
YAY! I still love this song! For the same reasons!

 Well enjoy my overly pop chart!

DJ Kwokodile :)

Took #9 out :) one of my better collab decisions :)