http://virb.com/travisthompson ]]> Virb 2.0 (@travisthompson) en http://virb.com/travisthompson/audio/109177 Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:26:29 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/audio/109177 http://virb.com/travisthompson/audio/108813 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:55:18 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/audio/108813 http://virb.com/travisthompson/audio/108808 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:25:09 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/audio/108808 http://virb.com/travisthompson/audio/108805 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:22:24 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/audio/108805 http://virb.com/travisthompson/audio/108802 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:19:33 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/audio/108802 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1232417 ]]> Wed, 25 Apr 2007 22:16:53 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1232417 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1196311 ]]> Fri, 06 Apr 2007 21:21:45 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1196311 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1196310 ]]> Fri, 06 Apr 2007 21:14:29 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1196310 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1196309 ]]> Fri, 06 Apr 2007 21:14:08 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1196309 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1196308 ]]> Fri, 06 Apr 2007 21:13:45 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1196308 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1196307 ]]> Fri, 06 Apr 2007 21:11:44 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/photos/1196307 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/389258 Fri, 28 Dec 2007 01:22:15 -0800 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/389258 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/345682 Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:56:05 -0800 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/345682 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/277101 Sherwood at the Showbox and it was awesome. They are just incredible and I am always left wanting more from them, can't wait to see them again; 'nuff said. My most recent purchase was the self titled EP from the Reign of Kindo. I heard about it on RELEVANTmagazine.com (you can listen to the entire album on the site) and it is awesome. It's sort of an indy/jazz type of sound with some awesome musicianship and great songs. The timing of some of the songs seem to be crazy but then you realize they're just 6/6 or 4/4 which really comes as a surprise. It's good stuff. I also finally picked up "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" by the Flaming Lips, and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" by Wilco; both of which I have been meaning to buy for ages. Both have more than their fair share of 'weird", and I'm still trying to figure out whether they're actually good or just weird for weird's sake. So far I'm leaning toward good. One of the best things that happened this past summer was that my brother Chase had an internship at Tooth and Nail, a Seattle based record company, so he supplied me with a fresh stream of (free) CDs while the funds were tight. The real highlight of those is "Brother Sister" by mewithoutYou. It's a bit of a noisy one which takes some getting used to but has amazing lyrics and very cool arrangements. Finally my latest in Hip Hop is the solo record by Mr. J Medeiros from The Procussions. It's got some amazing lyrics and as would be expected some awesome instrumentation and crazy beats. As soon as I get paid I will promptly be purchasing both "The Alchemy Index, Vols I and II: Fire and Water" by Thrice and "Chase This Light" by Jimmy Eat World. I can't wait for either. ]]> Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:21:00 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/277101 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/95147 My next choice was the new release from Wilco "Sky Blue Sky". It's my first Wilco record and I do plan on buying their old records, but I'm a sucker for the new ones (always cheaper). Its a very good record, very alt-country, very laid back. Its not quite as abstract as I was expecting. My friend Nathan Tang says it's missing the mystique of the previous albums, so this makes sense. The song writing is very good and the lyrics seem fine as far as I've listened to them so far. The most standoutish part of the album is the guitar solos. The band apparently added a new guitarist who makes his presence very clear on the album. The solos are all over the place and have quite a range, often seemingly out of tune, yet perfectly fitting. Finally the last album I bought that day was "Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?" by "of Montreal". I had heard about this record on Relevant Magazine and on a blog by Chris Thile. It's definitely my token 'weird' album. It's different from almost anything else I have. It is mostly electronica-like, similar to Ratatat, with vocals that range from quite and introspective to a high-pitch screech. It sounds at times like 70's disco and new age dance rock at others. It is very happy sounding with very strange, often somewhat depressing lyrics. It will take a while to get used to, but it has some very cool sounding stuff. Ok, one more. My brother Chase got me the new Modest Mouse album "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank". Its a bit weird too, but also very good. I like their songwriting and their guitar work. It'll take me a while to get used to the singer's voice but I'm not worried about it. I'm greatly anticipating the new Jimmy Eat World album which I think is supposed to arrive around the end of the year. ]]> Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:47:35 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/95147 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/65476 ]]> Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:24:34 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/65476 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/39388 Mon, 14 May 2007 19:31:46 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/39388 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/27344 myspace blog, which was really only about shows that I played. I sort of always wanted to expand the blog, but since it was my music page, I didn't really feel like just writing about just anything. This is still the case here on VIRB, but I realized that I do more musically than just play shows! So I will hopefully be writing some more blogs on albums I buy (probably the most frequent), shows I go to, and any recording I do in addition to blogs about shows I play (probably the least frequent!). To start off I'll mention the three albums I bought just yesterday. They were the first albums I bought in over a month, so I was really excited and had been thinking about what to buy for a while. So after a little deliberation in the ol' Sonic Boom records in Fremont, I chose "5 Sparrows For 2 Cents" by The Procussions, "These Friends of Mine" by Rosie Thomas, and "Cities" by Anberlin. "5 Sparrows..." was my token hip-hop record which I've decided to try to do regularly since my hip-hop collection is very lacking. So far I'm loving this one. It's very energetic, great beats, and very good positive lyrics. It has awesome instrumentation too, which is always a plus for hip-hop. "These Friends of Mine" is a great mellow album which Thomas recorded with two of my favorite indy/folk artists Denison Witmer and Sufjan Stephens. It's very relaxing and calming. I bought it after seeing Rosie and Denison at the Tripple Door (best venue EVER!) a couple weeks ago, they were very fun, funny and played some fantastic music. Finally "Cities" was my standard 'rock' selection and it does just that: rock. I like it. All right, hopefully that's not too boring. I'll try to keep this interesting... I'm still new to the whole blogging thing, so bear with me. Take it easy. -Travis]]> Fri, 04 May 2007 00:44:06 -0700 http://virb.com/travisthompson/posts/text/27344