Music Could Set You Free

Today I find myself sitting around in my office listing to some new music.  Despite the fact that we are feeling the pinch economically, Kel was nice enough to buy me a gift card to Best Buy.  While buying CDs is a bit archaic, I still do it.  It seems like a safer way to store your music.  If your computer crashes, at least you have everything on disc.  Sure I back everything up on other hard drives but you never know when you're gonna lose it all.

With that in mind, I just loaded three new CDs in iTunes and am getting a chance to grace my ears with new music.  Music is a bit of a craving for me so new music is like a trip to church for a good Christian, its good for my soul.  I find that music opens up my creativity and is a bit like pushing the mental reset button.  It just makes everything feel a little better and the world seem a little less hectic.

I purchased John Mayer's new CD, "Where the Light Is", Jason Mraz's newest, "We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things." and O.A.R's newest, "All Sides."  All in all I'm pretty pleased with my purchases but find the new O.A.R. disc to be the big surprise of the group.  The first five to seven songs are exactly what I love: up beat, catchy, fun music.  The first song, "This Town," is just awesome!  I love it and could play it over and over again.

Mraz's disc was a bit of a let-down.  I really loved his stuff when he first came out.  I had been listening to bootlegs of his stuff for at least a few months and just really loved his extra-verbal upbeat funky stuff.  Instead, he has moved into a very introspective and more enlightened direction.  I guess that I tend to like more upbeat fun music than introspective moodiness.  Its not that his CD is bad its just not my favorite daily listening stuff.

You can never go wrong with John Mayer.  As a musician I'm always impressed with his guitar prowess and find his songs to be well written and usually pop-e enough for my liking.  This offering is all live and involves three different incarnations of Mayer's music.  Live stuff, JMT music and full band Mayer stuff all mixed together.  No surprise that as a guitarist I tend to love the JMT (John Mayer Trio) stuff the best but really I can't find fault with any of it.  

I guess I would tell the average person go with Mayer, you can't go wrong.  But, if you crave something a  little less known and a little more fun, go with the new O.A.R. stuff.  "All Sides" is new, fresh and fun which sets it apart from most new music I've picked up in the last year or so.  Of course, I'll always direct anyone who asks in a fun direction, its just who I am.  The Mraz disc is good but slow.  Its good music to sleep to or listen to when feeling mellow, but stay away from it if you want fun, upbeat and uplifting.

Well, enough music posturing for now.  Hope everyone out there in reader land is having a wonderful day.