Instant Inspiration: Stephen Ashbrook

Telling people about this song seems like the most important thing I can do right now.  There's not a good video of it on youtube, but you can hear a sample (and buy it) here.  

Instant Inspiration: Mae

This song delivers on a number of levels; but I think that my favorite part is the simplicity of the chorus. There are so many ways a line as simple as "I just wanna wake up in someone elses arms." can go wrong. The whole execution of this song is masterful. Not to mention I really do just want to wake up in someone elses arms.

Instant Inspiration: August Burns Red

Instant Inspiration: Darkest Hour

I saw Darkest Hour for the first time at the now defunct Nancy Raygun in Richmond, VA. For many reasons it was unlike any show I'd ever seen. There's nothing I can say for this song that it can't scream for itself.

Instant Inspiration: Winter Solstice

The relatively obscure metalcore badasses put out a great album in 2005 called The Fall of Rome. The lead track and only single from that album can viewed below:

 

Though the band is now defunct, several members went on to form Ghost of A Fallen Age.

If you like this song, you'll enjoy the rest of the album also.  Get rocked.

Instant Inspiration: Criteria

The "Instant Insperation" tags are for songs that might randomly come up on shuffle (or just get stuck in head) that no matter what the circumstances just really juice me the fuck up: the following is such a song. Not only is thia song totally awesome, but despite its simplicity, it's one of the best music videos I've ever seen too. It's very possible that Criteria are one of the best alt rock bands that you've never heard; and if you have heard of them, why haven't you told your friends...dick.

It's a shame that this band has fallen into relative obscurity. If you like this song, you'll definately like the rest of their album. Pick it up at you local record store or get it on Amazon.

Darkest Hour

Get familiar...

Don't let this win over you...

Another track and video from Set Your Goals:



Listning to the lyrics and watching the video I got even more upset that I hadn't heard about this band before I did. The lines: "You will have to let this make you stronger...Soon you will end the pain, and you will say that it did make you stronger."
really make me wish I had this song to blast in my office last year when it felt like everything was crashing around me.
Though the song is about losing a loved one, it certainly has application beyond that (besides it being so damn catchy).

Listen to Set Your Goals.

Can we be friends?

Instant inspiration:


I'm so upset that I only learned about this song a little while ago. I can only image how many times I would have played this too loud and danced around wherever I was like a total asshole. For me this is one of those songs that no matter what's going on, or where you are, totally overshadows everything else.