In addition to Pandora having a wonderful database of music to listen to, it also has a newly founded Podcast section. Pandora explores a different aspect of music every other Wednesday and shares it via a Podcast. Don’t worry if you don’t have something to play a Podcast such as iTunes, they also come in MP3 format that you can download as a file. Currently I have my iPod synched to add each Podcast as they release them, so I grab it and listen to it while I’m out.

Now what each of these episodes (like I said released every other Wednesday) do is tackle a different aspect of music and a different genre within that. For example, one of their recent podcasts is “Recording Vocals” having to do with the different characteristics of singing. It not only covers that but covers what it sounds like in Soul, Pop, etc. Now naturally being a drummer, I’m into more of the instrumental episodes they have. Their most recent episode released yesterday covers the second part of Drums and Drumming, which I found to be very interesting and enlightening. Of course they have other instruments such as electric guitar (and effects), and soon to come bass guitar. But for now they are doing more back to basics to get things rolling.

Although it may seem like each individual sector or instrument of what makes up music or songs is being explained, there are other episodes that delve into the elements of genres. Take for example the episode before this past Wednesday’s that tackles Salsa and what makes it up. So if your the type to learn about new genres, they have plenty more coming your way.

The only thing about these Podcasts from Pandora is that they are relatively new with only 7 episodes that have been released. Since the new year they have been consistent with the release dates of every other Wednesday or about two a month. This was just an insight that Pandora does more than give you new music to listen to, it also explains what music is as weird as that sounds. You can find the already released Podcasts here and the upcoming list of episodes they have planned here. I can’t wait for some of the new ones such as Mixing and Mastering, Pedal Point, and The Science of the Riff. Be sure to subscribe to this Podcast on iTunes to get them sent to you automatically so as soon as they release it, your listening. Hope you enjoy these. I’m learning a lot about stuff I thought I knew on drums because it’s always the basics that build upon the advanced stuff. And you can never learn enough basics.

How about U2? Yup, that’s what I’ve been listening to lately. Not on Pandora but I’ve been listening to their best of 1980-1990 and 1990-2000 albums. I started off by listening to One and let my iPod shuffle the two albums from there. It took me to Even Better Than The Real Thing to Beautiful Day right down to Mysterious Ways. After that I jumped decades and went to songs like I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and With Or Without You.

Now U2 for those of you who know them you’re probably saying, “Yeah, their OK for an older band” or you might be saying “Yeah, I love their music from no matter what era!” Whatever the case may be U2 has been around for quite a few decades still putting albums out every several years. Me, I’m the one saying the latter statement. I grew up on U2, a lot having to do with my parent’s influence since they listened to them a lot when I was young. I guess you can say it caught on. Since then I’ve taken their albums on the road with me and listen to them now on my iPod. I believe they’re a band I’ll still be listening to years from now. It’s hard to get tired of their music because each album is like a new band, one that explores a new sector of music each time but still holds onto the “U2 roots.”

Now there’s a difference between a group that can record well in the studio and a group that can perform well live. I can personally say they can do both. I’ve seen U2 live at Madison Square Garden in November of ‘05 while on their Vertigo tour. They by far have put on the best shows music and entertainment wise out of the bands I have seen. Sounding good is one thing, entertaining is another, Bono and the entire group for that matter know how to do that.

They definitely have some good songs from the past 10 years and you’re also probably wondering why I was playing all the 80’s and 90’s stuff. I just figured I would listen to the U2 of then rather than the U2 of now (not that I don’t because I enjoy both) especially with songs like I mentioned. I needed some change in music after what I’ve been listening to has seemed repetitious (see What I Tend To Listen To). U2 definitely has a different style, whether it is drumming or guitar or even singing, it all is different.

Now for those of you not familiar with U2 I’ll give you some background. The band formed in 1976 in Ireland with drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and then grew with bass player Adam Clayton, guitar player David Howell Evans aka “The Edge”, and Paul Hewson aka “Bono.” All of which make up U2 to this day. They started as “Feedback” then quickly to “Hype” before they settled on their name “U2.” It’s definitely an interesting band that I think deserves a lot of credit for being around so long without having any problems. Their induction into the Rock and Roll hall of fame I believe is well deserving. If you still want to check out more on the band then check their bio here.

Shoot your thoughts at me, I would like to know what you think of U2 and their years worth of music, new and old.

Well it wasn’t a great week except for a few things. To start off I was sick all day Sunday and went home from work early. But because I was sick I was then worried I would miss the Senior Trip Monday (the following day). Fortunately for me, I woke up 6 am Monday morning feeling quite good. The trip was a lot of fun and I had quite a good time hanging out with my senior friends, some of which I really don’t get to hang out with in school. For some reason it wound up being the girls that I hung out with more (never a bad thing ) which is what I really enjoyed.

Then Tuesday came along and we expected this great snow storm. Well it wasn’t exactly snow, we got some of that, but for the most part it was ice about 4 inches thick. So therefore, school was closed Wednesday and I got to stay home…boy I wish I didn’t. Why you say? Well because with a day off from school that allowed me to re-format my hard drive and put a fresh install of Windows XP on it. Yeah, great…well I backed up all my music, movies, downloaded files, and pictures/images…but I forgot one thing…hmmm…Oh yeah! All of my school files from this year. I ran a few programs to recover lost data and got back some files but for the most part they were lost. I kicked myself in the butt a few times before I forgave myself for doing such a stupid move.

Thursday was boring, nothing interesting. Friday, well that was sorta boring except I took a Calculus quiz that I felt like I took blind folded because I couldn’t remember any of it. Usually I can pull off some guesses on a Calc test or quiz that I can’t think of but this time I really had no idea. Friday night was better because I had services and we did some good worship I might say. Granted I wasn’t playing drums, but the CDs were still good.

Saturday wasn’t bad but I had work from 9am-1pm. However, I did put in my two week notice because I’m leaving for track so therefore I’m free from work (but hopefully not out of money ).

What you expected a more uplifting and positive week? This’ll be my first official “non music” post. Expect some more music and off topic stuff real soon!

Now that we have all the formal stuff out of the way I think it’s time to move onto the music. First off I will share what channels I have created and what I’ve liked so far

I have stations (channels) from everything from Counting Crows to Van Halen to U2 to Live. But I’m going to talk about a station that I recently created (around January 20th or so, if not that date). I call it “Chilling Music” because well, it is. It’s a mix of rock that isn’t soft to the point of falling asleep or hard to the point where your trying to turn the bass down (I mean that literally too). I seeded the channel with a band called Third Eye Blind and listened to more music from them. If you’ve never heard of this band or don’t know too much about them then check them out here. From this station I have found new songs by Third Eye Blind such as Deep Inside Of You, Blinded, and Burning Man. Now granted these are more secular than I like they still have a solid beat and fit into the tempo that I consider “Chilling Music.”

Now as for new artists I have found (or artists I already know and again new songs I didn’t hear from them) here is a few. At the top of my list would have to be a group called Tonic. Tonic is more of a less secular band that has great riffs and beats along with the tempo I like, obviously. I have found a few songs by them that I like but one that stands out to me is Take Me As I Am. Let’s just say this band has found a spot on my iPod.

Another band that I have found is called Stereo Fuse. This band is almost exactly what I would call a more “laid back” type of music. It’s not heavy rock nor is it un-instrumental. They combine everything into a nice flow. One specific song that I have thumbed up on Pandora is Everything. I think it’s a good song, although not something I would call outrageous or an absolute hit. Either way it’s still book-marked on my account on Pandora.

The final thing that I would like to mention is Puddle of Mudd. Now granted this group has been around longer and is more popular than some of the groups I have been mentioning but I have found a song by them that I didn’t hear before this station. That song would be Drift and Die. This song, too, has found its way onto my iPod and into a Playlist that I now play in my car. Overall it’s a heavier rock song than the previous mentioned songs but that’s alright because you need something heavier every now and then in a Chilling mood.

As you may have already noticed I linked to all the bands I mentioned as well as the songs. So if you would like to hear a sample of each song just click the link and Pandora will play a clip of it for you. Thoughts? Comments? I’d love to hear what you think, just post a comment to this post. Enjoy!

Now that I have made this place somewhat more easy on the eyes with the new banner and rearranged things, I think it’s time to get started on business. I mentioned in my previous (and first) post something called “Pandora.” Pandora is basically the following as quoted from their website:

Can you help me discover more music that I’ll like?

Those questions often evolved into great conversations. Each friend told us their favorite artists and songs, explored the music we suggested, gave us feedback, and we in turn made new suggestions. Everybody started joking that we were now their personal DJs.

We created Pandora so that we can have that same kind of conversation with you.

In a nutshell this is what Pandora was made for. So people like me and you could find new music. If I had to sum up what listening to Pandora does it would be this: In addition to listening to the radio and talking to friends to find different music, Pandora speeds up this process by throwing song after song and artist after artist at you specifically designed to give you a variety based off of what you told them. That’s the experience that I have had with Pandora and I’ve only been using it for a handful of months now.

Some notes about Pandora that I would like to throw at you. One, it is free and there is no charge to listen to this music. Two, the license that they have to share this music only allows them to skip a song, pause, and play it. You can’t go back a song and listen to it again (just like you can’t on a radio and this is basically what it is only designed for your listening). Three, all songs are the original and not the clean version, so that’s just a warning incase your the type to listen to clean lyrics. Last, Pandora makes you a profile where you can “bookmark” songs and artists and you can view your profile and review what you’ve bookmarked.

Pandora also has a feature that “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” a song based on if you liked it. Thumbs up means they’ll play it again and thumbs down means they won’t. You can also make more than one “station.” Each station is based off the first song or artist you put in. So if you want to listen to Van Halen instead of U2 you can make two stations or if you want you can put both artists on one station and hear new artists and songs based off of both Van Halen and U2.

That’s pretty much about Pandora that I can give to you without being their spokesperson. So go on and check it out. Here’s the link again. Check out Pandora. Oh one last thing. If you noticed on the right hand side at the bottom of all the links is my Pandora list of bookmarked songs. There’s your first taste of what’s to come post wise and what songs I’ve liked so far.