Recommendations: "Summer Rocks (Energetic)!"

So, after finishing with the last "Summer Rocks!" I decided that the next one should be something that was completely different from the romantic and mellow nature of the previous one. So, coincidentally (and very strangely as I usually listen to the bands I'm writing about) I was listening to the two bands featured in this post: Metro Station and Fall Out Boy. While listening to them I got a huge surge of energy and though "Well, this should be in the next 'Summer Rocks!'".

Metro Station (I must admit I adore that name) was an American pop rock/synthrock band formed by Trace Cyrus, Mason Musso, Anthony Improgo, and Blake Healy. I must say that the band had an amazing sound and a characteristic energetic feel. In their first (and unfortunately last) self-titled album, Metro Station, the band shows us their versatility and introduces us to their characteristic sound.

The band exhibits the best synthrock sound in their song "Control", which is accompanied with great vocals. In "Kelsey" the band shows a more mellow synthetic sound but yet the vocals imprint energy and force to the song. Now, my absolute favorite songs by Metro Station are "Shake It" and "Seventeen Forever" (especially the latter), in which the vocals literally lift you up in a surge of absolute rock energy.

Second and last in this post is the band Fall Out Boy, which consists of vocalist-rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, bassist Pete Wentz, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band has an unmistakable sound and has become one of the biggest alternative/punk rock bands in the last decade.

With over 5 albums, Fall Out Boy has proven itself and the world its energetic sound and image. This energy is especially transmitted in the songs "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", "Thnks fr th Mmrs", "Sugar, We're Goin' Down", "The Take Over, the Breaks Over", "Dance, Dance", "I Don't Care", and their Michael Jackson cover, "Beat It.

Hoped you felt the energy in this songs! Expect the last entry from the "Summer Rocks!" recommendations-- I still haven't named it but... expect something big!

*By the way, I have decided that I will officially "sign" my posts at the end of them rather than at the beginning-- I find it more authentic like that. Also, I have noticed that my posts really carry my style and essence in them, while David's posts carry his, so I don't think you really NEED to have the "by: Me" at the beginning of every post. So...


Keep on rocking it!!
-- Carlos 

The Essentials: John Kappas

by: Carlos Figueroa

Well, at this point I'm guessing that many of you are going "WHO THE FUCK IS JOHN KAPPAS?" It´s a question that many have asked me in the past, which I'll answer in a moment. You may probably also be asking "WHY THE FUCK IS HE AN ESSENTIAL AND WHY IS THIS ESSENTIAL NOT A BAND?"... To that question I'm gonna answer a bit more bluntly: He is an essential because he's awesome and because I feel like it!! So yes, that's it for my dramatic intro for this Essential artist. Now, let's get into the music.

John Kappas is a singer/songwriter from Los Angeles, California. Although he may be regarded as a "local artist" by some (as he is mostly a star in LA and he's STILL not an international artist), John acquired public attention as a YouTube Star, mainly as a semi-CoverLover-- in John's case, he took mainstream pop songs and made them total acoustic masterpieces, thus not ruining the originals (in some cases being even better than the originals). Also, he writes his own songs too, and he only released one of his covers in his debut EP, History Repeats Itself.

Now, let's discuss his sound and style. John's style could be described as a kind of acoustic rock meets piano rock in some of his songs, although in some songs he goes more into electro rock or pop rock. Probably what gives his songs that characteristic boldness and feeling is his voice; John exceeds vocally and shows a great deal of versatility (which can be appreciated in his live performances and covers).

For example, in songs like "History Repeats Itself" and "This Is the End" John provides us with entrancing vocals, amazing guitar screeches and pronounced beats. Also, this are the 2 songs in which John displays and edgy, a bit darker mood to his songs. In some other songs, namely "Highschool Sociopath (I Hate You)" and "I Want You", he displays a more pop rock sound, with the vocals being in the spotlight but with the addition of more prominent keyboards/piano.

Where his vocals really shine though is in his covers and acoustic, original live songs. From his covers (which you can check in his YouTube channel) I must say that, in my opinion, the best is Miley Cyrus's "See You Again" or Britney Spears's "Toxic". In his original acoustic songs, John's songwriting is appreciated at its best, with songs like "Come Back to LA", "It Might Take a While", and "Explain Myself".

John Kappas is the epitome of an artist who deserves fame more than some mainstream artists as he is full of raw talent. Also, he shows us that being famous is not related in any way to being talented, and that the business is a punk bitch that is reserved for a few people. Because of his talent and all the reasons above listed, John Kappas is an Essential.

Recommendations: "Summer Rocks (with the Heart)" Part 2

by: Carlos Figueroa

Well, here we have it: Part 2 of the "Summer Rocks (with the Heart)!". So, I must confess that I'm really enjoying writing this recommendations even though at first I was kinda not wanting to write them (that's why it took about a week and a half for me to right the last one); maybe it is because of the bands in them (most are bands that I really love). Part 2 will essentially kinda like Part 1 except it is reversed: this means there will be 2 newcomers to the FGI and a veteran in this post.

In Part 1 we started of with the veterans, right? So, I think (if this post is to be a reversed version of Part 1) newcomers should come first this time, isn't it? Well to start out we have The Fray one of the first bands I started to follow (*Pop Culture Invasion: probably this was so because of me hearing the song "How to Save a Life" in Grey's Anatomy*). This band probably fits the love and heartbreak themes because of its piano-based sound-- it is extremely mellow and peaceful, which helps giving a longing feel to most of their songs. To start it out, none of this band's songs is a happy love song, so there's no lovey-dovey here. The songs I like the most from The Fray probably are "Over My Head (Cable Car)", "All At Once", the two songs that SCREAM "I love you": "Look After You" and "How to Save a Life", and the a bit more uplifting songs"You Found Me", "Happiness", "Syndicate" and "Never Say Never".

Now the newcomers! One of my latest discoveries (and by that I mean I heard a song of theirs for the first time... like... two months ago maybe?) in bands (and guess what? They're signed to Fueled by Ramen... haha remember what I said in the first post of the "Summer Rocks!" posts?), A Rocket to the Moon (ARTTM). They are totally a pop rock/punk band, with love and the like being the theme in their songs generally. Songs like "If Only They Knew" and "Just Another One" are more of the regretful love songs, but other songs such as "I'll Be Your Sunset", "Baby We're Invincible", and "Like We Used To" depart from the band's usual sound and fall more into synthpop and are EXTREMELY CORNY (not that I don't like them.... but, I mean, dude... just read the titles!). The songs "Annabelle" and "Fear of Flying" are more like a mix of the previous songs.

Now, The Kooks, a band that (as any good FGI reader would know) I love and has made it to the blog since the very beginning of the FGI being the first Indiespensables. For starters, I have noticed that their sound usually reflects the feelings in the lyrics; for example, in song's like "Seaside", "Gap", and "Sway", in which the songs deal with longing, the sound leans more towards acoustic rock/pop. In songs like "Naïve" and "You Don't Love Me" the songs are completely indie rock to match their bitter or frustrated tones; in songs which talk about happier sides of love, such as "She Moves in Her Own Way", "Always Where I Need to Be", and "Shine On", the songs beats and lyrics lean towards the more britpop sounds (including catchy choruses and bridges).


Hope you enjoyed it!! Get ready for "Summer Rocks (Energetic)!".

Recommendations: "Summer Rocks (with the Heart)" Part 1

by: Carlos Figueroa


Well, as I have noticed lately (Facebook's been full of romantic quotes and sayings...), romance and love are a (big) part of summer (it is so "big" lately that I'll have to make 2 parts of the same topic). In this part I'll talk about 3 bands that I absolutely love, two of which have already been featured in the FGI and a newcomer to the FGI. I'll start with the veterans; I'll try to be brief and focus rather on this bands' songs than their style (which have already been discussed thoroughly).

Our first veteran band is The Academy Is..., one of my favorites because of their lyrics and sound. Most of TAI's songs deal with romance, but what i like is the fact that they don't get stuck in the mellow and gooey realms of pre-teens and pop stars; of course, they've had their moments, but they know how to get over it. For all of you who have fallen into depression or are in a stage of total denial, the song "About a Girl" is a spot-on stab to your heart. Now, if you are going for a less "loving" song you can have songs like "Summer Hair=Forever Young" or "The Test"; if you have bittersweet memories, then you should listen to "Rumored Nights" and "After the Last Midtown Show". Last but not least, if you really want to go into an over-the-top dedicatory to your boy/girlfriend you should totally listen "I'm Yours Tonight" (and no-- it's not about THAT, dirty heads! Sorry, I could keep myself from joking with the title.).

As our second veteran we have Paramore, coincidentally another one of my beloved bands (and, along with TAI, member of Fueled by Ramen) which talks about love in some of their songs. To make it simple I'll divide the songs by themes into 2 categories and a sub-category: (a) Lovey-dovey songs and (b) Regret songs, which I'll divide into (i)Broken-hearted songs and (ii) Fuck You songs (I think it makes it more clear this way). In the lovey-dovey set we have "My Heart" (which could also kinda fit in the next category, too) and "The Only Exception". For the Broken-hearted ones we have "When It Rains", "Stuck on You", "Never Let This Go", "Playing God", "For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic", "We are Broken", "Decode", and "That's What You Get". Last, for the Fuck You songs we have "Ignorance", "Misery Business", and "Brick by Boring Brick".

Last but not least, another of my great favorites and FGI newcomer, the Irish band The Script. This band really is the crème de la crème in terms of love songs. The two songs which really take love to the next level are "Breakeven" (lyrically and vocally the song really makes you believe the line "I'm falling to pieces") and "The Man Who Can't be Moved". Other songs by this band that also fit in this recommendations are "Talk you Down", "We Cry", "Before the Worst", "Fall for Anything", and "Live Like We're Dying".


Get ready for Part 2. Keep on rocking!

Rock 101: FGI Nation Language

by: Carlos Figueroa

As you may have noticed if you have read the FGI's posts (mostly my posts), we (which means I) like to use portmanteaus (in simple words, mixing different words together into a single word). And no, this is not by any means a real life vocab lesson, but, as I am taking charge of the FGI for a while (while David reappears on the Earth's surface), I would like to explain the meaning of the terms and portmanteaus I will use and have used in the past (also some of them will always be color coded in my posts, so the color will appear with the meaning).

(The) FGI (Nation): the Feel Good Inc. blog.
The Essentials: artists/bands that (in our opinion) you should have at all costs in your Pod.
Pod: iPod without the i (that's how I call mine).
Indiespensables: portmanteau of indie and indispensable; used to describe indie music/artists/bands full of awesomeness.                
Awesomeness: completely awesome.
*Pop Culture Invasion:*: tid-bits of pop music info on the FGI.
tid-bit: small pieces.
uncool: something boring; not cool.
YouTube Star: band/artist who rose to fame via YouTube or some other video-sharing community.
CoverLover: artist prone to cover (or sample) other artist songs (usually ruining the original).

Recomendations: "Summer Rocks (with Pop)!"

by: Carlos Figueroa

Well, as if the title didn't make it obvious, I would like to recommend some bands which in my opinion embody all what summer should be about: fun, sun, friends, and adventure. By saying this I make rather obvious that this bands will all be leaning more to the poppy side of rock and will likely be a bit more mainstream, but that doesn't take the awesomeness out of them does it? To start off, I will tell you something weird I noticed while selecting this bands: most are signed into Fueled by Ramen and most are in the pop/punk rock scene. Very coincidental, huh?

For starters we have Disco Curtis, a band who's image SCREAMS pop (to a point that is reminiscent of the 90's boy bands as the Backstreet Boys or N'Sync-- talk about bubblegum pop), but deliver a solid pop rock/punk pop performance. Apparently they are some kind of frustrated pop stars: their lyrics are quite... pop and they have a cover of Lady GaGa's hit debut single, "Just Dance" (which sounds very good in fact). Their debut album, titled Play with Fire Get Burned, has quite good songs (although for those who search for Shakespearean masterpieces in the lyrics... you won't find them here) such as "Ashley", "Surprise Me", and "Alone and Loving It".

Now, one of my favorites in this set, the Frenchie band, Phoenix. Now this band has had about three albums published before their latest (and for all the ignorants-- debut) album, Wolfang Amadeus Phoenix, which is probably the band's worldwide breakthrough album (*Pop Culture Invasion: this is just the case as Owl City's success with their chart-topping "Fireflies"*), probably because this album is influenced more by pop than their previous albums. Out of the album, the two tracks that are best are "Lisztomania"  and "1901", which are amazing tracks, with heavy keyboards, blatant choruses, addictive vocals, and pure chords and beats. Other tracks such as "Girlfriend" and "Lasso" are amazing too.

Be prepared for the next entry of the Summer Rocks recommendations, "Summer Rocks (with the Heart)!" Hoped you liked it; keep on rocking summer out!

I´MA BACK (AGAIN)!!

HOLY SHIT!! I can´t believe how much time has gone by!! I feel terrible!!! I haven't written anything in ages!! But the good news is I'm here to stay... I mean it's vacations after all... I have to have time to write (and btw I have TONS and LOADS of things to write about!) 


So... I hope you like the little revamp I gave to the blog. I think it makes it look... more... pop (hmm... that was not the intention but well..)? Well, David hasn't seen it yet, so I still have to get his approval...


Now talking about what we care about (that's MUSIC... ROCK music to be specific!!) I have many artists and bands to talk about, so expect some new articles coming!


Keep on rocking
-- Carlos