Ryan Thomas Goodenough

Remember those mid-90s “rock” bands that had a slight country feel to them (Sister Hazel, Counting Crowes, etc.)? Not necessarily the twang, but just the instrumental arrangements and writing style. “Love Don’t Live Here” follows that formula to the T. I can’t quite decide if this is a country song or a rock song, but it doesn’t really matter too much. The lead singer’s voice has a nice tone to it and the song remains a pleasant romp. Nothing fancy here–it’s cookie cutter music, for sure. But it’s well done and has some nice moments at the end.

Grade: B+

No, they’re not a female version of The Killers. Although they are female and have a fairly similar name.

This is one of those songs that make you think something big is coming. It doesn’t necessarily “build,” but it’s just too boring to simply continue for the whole song. It’s not awful–I actually like the singer’s voice. But nothing happens. The lyrics are boring and the best we get is a silly drum roll. Sort of pathetic as far as singles go.

Grade: D

Okay, “Mercy” immediately reminds me of Amy Winehouse which, in my humble opinion, is not a good thing. I understand Amy’s appeal, but I really don’t like her or her sound. However!–I actually do like the opening of “Mercy.” The 70s electric organ working in the background, Duffy’s strong vocals, and a good arrangement make the single immediately appealing.

The refrain itself gets my feet tapping and I’m drawn into the song by Duffy’s unique and likable voice. She has a polished, dry voice with a good range. A great stripdown of the song to just the drums and her voice provides a nice marcato before ending in a morendo (I’m exploring my music dynamics lingo so that I can add to my vocabulary and move beyond “it sounds cool because it gets quiet).

Grade: B+

Hmm…Latin music–this is trickier. I like the pep and soul to Latin music. Paradise definitely has the pep. Ana has a voice that lulls you in and doesn’t let you go until the end of the song. She bounces around the lyrics and works muted sounds into the refrain. This is definitely a happy song–a good one to blast while you’re driving along the coast during the summer (windows down and on a sunny day, of course).

C

Sunday night at 9pm, only on NBC: the second episode of “Quarterlife.” Well, actually, make that Bravo, not NBC.

After dismal ratings last Tuesday, NBC decided to move the new show “Quarterlife” from NBC Sundays to Bravo Sundays, which is just about as good as canceling it. Of course, I don’t receive Bravo, so I couldn’t watch it.

This is not a new trend. I stick by what I said before–shows should be given 6 episodes on the same day, the same network, and at the same time. If after that trial period the ratings are still bad, then cancel the show. But otherwise, let the audience watch the show and grow to like or dislike it. It’s stupid to spend all this money and not give a show any chance. If someone had to determine what type of person I was based on just one day in my life, I’m not sure if I would like my chances. We all have bad days. Of course, Quarterlife’s first episode happened to be a great one–meaning that everyone else was just having a bad day.

This week’s free iTunes single, 11h30 by Danger, is an iTunes Plus single, which means you get excellent audio quality. With a track like this one (techno), it is absolutely essential.

I actually really like this genre of music, when done well. 11h30 packs a good beat and an interesting vocalist. At just a little over 3 minutes, it’s thankfully short. I’d prefer to see them do a little more with their drum kits throughout the song, but the end of the song finally gets most of it right. A nice breakdown precedes an appropriate abrupt ending (can you have a techno/dance song without an abrupt ending?).

C

Is sounding like Avril Lavigne a good thing? I mean, I’ll be the first one to admit that I’ve enjoyed several of Avril’s singles. Her writing isn’t too bad and she knows how to craft a catchy song and an occasional good ballad. But a clone of Avril?

I Nine isn’t a pure clone, because I think there’s a little Michelle Branch and Kelly Clarkson thrown in for good measure. Still, I’m not sure if there’s anything too good here–the song is very familiar and pretty boring. I like this type of music just fine, but I don’t think this song is very good.

C

Well, that’s not surprising.

Following announcements that NetFlix would stop carrying HD DVDs and that Best Buy was going to start pushing BluRays (they had previously adopted a format-neutral stance), Toshiba announced today that they are giving up on the HD DVD format. This is a welcome sign for most, as format wars can often leave people confused and frustrated. As some of you may recall from my earlier post, I recommended the following:

Blu-Ray will most likely win the HD War, especially with the recent (January 5) switch of Warner Studios from HD-DVD to Blu-Ray. However, Blu-Ray players are still prohibitively expensive. My advice? Amazon.com has a great sale on HD-DVD players right now. You can get a good Toshiba (the inventor of the HD-DVD platform) HD-DVD player for under $200 plus 10 free HD-DVD movies valued at $20 a pop.

The HD-DVD player will upconvert your standard DVDs to HD-like quality (Blu-Ray does this too, but it is still an expensive alternative), you’ll get to see HD movies for cheap, and, if and when Blu-Ray wins, you’ll see huge clearances on HD-DVD movies. At that time, you can buy a Blu-Ray player that hopefully resolves some of the slow load times associated with current Blu-Ray players and use your HD-DVD player as a good, HD movie player in another room.

I still think this was good advice, because those HD DVDs are going to go on sale soon. And, for those of you who took up this advice, you now have an upconverting DVD player. Add a cheaper Blu Ray in a couple months, and you should be very happy with your purchases. Of course, seeing that Blu Rays still sell for about $30 a movie, you may just want to stick with DVDs until the price really comes down.

Yeah, this is pretty dorky, but for you’ll probably get some of the references. Ah, the problem of finding the “right job,” especially if you’re typecast.