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5 Songs I Love

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Favorites of Mine  1) Keep the Car Running- Arcade Fire 2) 745- Vince Staples These are two very different songs. I love them both, though. The Arcade Fire one gets me amped up. To me the lyrics are just pure Americana. "Every night my dream's the same Same old story with a different name."  It's kind of like a Springsteen tune that was written by... not him. The Staples tune is really witty & macho. He sounds bossy, sure, but  in a charming kind of  way. It's a difficult blend to achieve, but this  California MC really nailed it. 3) Funky Monks- Red Hot Chili Peppers So fun! I feel like Chad Smith is the secret weapon on this track. He had a Vulcan mind meld with Flea when they recorded. Technically there WERE saints in California, and had been for a long time. Some Mormon pioneers (also called Latter Day Saints) left Brigham Young for the Gold Rush. Guess which church I go to on Sundays. 4) Drive Away/Main Theme: A Series of Unfo

5 Songs on Repeat!

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I'm Spencer Ericksen. I live in the Southern part of Utah, and am studying Communications at Southern Utah University. These are 5 Songs on My Mind. #1 "The Impossible Dream" as sung by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir This song is stunning. I find it to be inspiring. This is a music theater song- from a play about a man who jousts with windmills. "Man of La Mancha" itself may be considered a complex story, but the song is straightforward. "To dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe... to reach the unreachable star". I love these lyrics. To me, they convey an immense amount of bravery. I enjoy the very Spanish quality to the rhythm. They often perform/record with the Orchestra at Temple Square, though there are songs without them too. #2 "I Got You" by Jack Johnson This song makes me a little emotional. I recently decided to try out some more Jack Johnson music, & it paid off in a big way. On "I Go

10 Songs on Repeat Right Now

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Hey I'm Spencer Ericksen, and these are my 10 Songs on Repeat. Enjoy. 1) "Tears" by Rush Rush is a band known for complexity. Neil Peart plays long drum solos, on lots of cymbals and drums. Some of his drums are electronic, but most are normal DW drums that are fine tuned by a drum tech who knows how to do that stuff. A song by Rush can have melodies that flow over different meters, and sometimes the lyrics are too sci-fi for casual rock fans. Rush exists in a subcategory of music known as progressive rock music. The name alone sounds kind of niche, but Rush is a hugely popular band in many countries. They are very talented trio of musicians. "Tears" appeals to me largely because of its simplicity. It's a sad song off of their "2112" album. It's a somewhat bleak and introspective song about wanting to connect with someone else. I describe it as a sad song, but it doesn't go as far as despair. Geddy Lee com

About Me as a Person...

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This is Me I enjoy listening to music. My favorite genres right now are rock and jazz. I occasionally listen to hip-hop, but being a practicing member of my religion interferes with me becoming more than a casual fan. Or at least, I think so. I shy away from songs about big pimping. Hip hop has its mad creative and random side too though, and I like that stuff a lot. The best example might be "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" by Snoop Dogg and Gorillaz. I am a Mormon. I served a 2 year mission for my church from July 2011 until July 2013. I was a missionary in Lima, Peru. Above is a picture of me in Chiclayo, Peru, a few years ago. Obviously, were I still a missionary I would be wearing a tie. But since I wasn't, and I was forgetful, I left my tie in Utah before visiting Northern Peru with my mom. I only needed my tie for one day during my family trip: Sunday. Above that is a picture of me and an Idahoan friend freezing in the cold Provo n

About my Music...

Dear Blog Visitors,    I was initially doing this project as part of a big assignment for a Social Media course that I was taking for my Major, but it has grown into something else. This morning I woke up early (unfortunately), but decided to make the best of it by listening to music on my phone. I used to use my iPod Touch that I bought in 2013, but no mas. Now I use Spotify and Amazon Prime Music.    Here's my verdict on iTunes Music: it's too big for its own good. I remember occasionally using the first iPod I ever really saw: my big brother's iPod video in a thick rubber case for protection. Back then, iTunes better customer retention. They had a great deal for us back in like 2008. They offered us any song we wanted for 99 cents.    The iPods were much better designed than any MP3 player available in those days. The iPod never lost your music initially, it didn't even pause during your songs unless you tapped the play/pause button. Now, three devices later, I

Some More Buzzfeed Stuff

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This quiz will grill you on your Beatles knowledge. Can you get all their lyrics right? Beatles Lyrics Quiz This one is about the QUEEN smash hit song- "Bohemian Rhapsody." I got 100%- see how you do! BoRap Quiz Here are some highlights from Phife Dawg's career. The legendary rapper from the hit group A Tribe Called Quest recently lost his battle with diabetes and died. His influence on hip hop can not be overstated. Phife Dawg

CNN on iTunes, Some other Content

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CNN on iTunes I would just like to add that mixtapes are still possible, it's called "burning a CD." You select songs from your iTunes library and put them into a playlist. Then you burn that into a CD. You hand that CD to a friend and wa-la! You have shared a personal mix of music with a friend. All quirky tips aside, it's a great article that captures the excitement of those early iTunes days. Photo Gallery- Ways to Listen to Music I just love this. From cassettes to CDs to vinyls and beyond, it's all basically here. Do you prefer vinyl? Do you think that the digitizing of music has cheapened the process or hurt its sound quality?