Top 11 of '11 Songs & Albums

Top 11 of '11 - Songs
These are my favorite songs in or around the year 2011.

1. Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People
(I know, I know, this is the cliche song of 2011... also why it is number 1)

2. Live Those Days Tonight - Friendly Fires

(Need a good song for groovin'? This is it. Great tune.)


3. C'mon Talk (Live) - Bernhoft

(This song will blow you away. Very talented singer.)

4. Usual Suspect - Ha Ha Tonka

(Band out of Missouri, love the feel of the entire album)

5. Paradise - Coldplay

(A great song with some unexpected moments. Good song to cruise to.)

6. Darling Buds of May - Viva Brother

(Maybe my most surprising song choice, fun song from a EuroPop band)

7. On The Ocean - Guster

(This song never gets old. Neither does this band.)


8. Jaques Cousteau - Swimming With Dolphins

(Electro-pop vibe. Been liking this song since it came out in May)


9. Heaven Come My Way - Abandon Kansas

(Great tune. Great lyrics. Great band. Great guys.)

10. Barton Hollow - The Civil Wars

(Another country-ish song snuck on here. And for good reason, this song is fantastic)

11. Monte Carlo - U.S. Royalty

(Amazing guitar riffs and catchy tune. Good song to get lost in.)


Honorable Mention
This Is Why We Fight - Decemberists
Every Drop A Waterfall - Coldplay
The Canyon - From Indian Lakes
Windows Are Rolled Down - Amos Lee


Top 11 of '11 - Albums

1. Coldplay - Myloto Xyloto - Easy choice for the number 1 album. Fun album to listen to over and over.
2. Friendly Fires - Pala - Great album to groove to. Catchy rhythms and fun lyrics.
3. Abandon Kansas - Ad Astra Per Aspera - Outstanding album. Looking forward to what these guys have in store for 2012.
4. Cut Copy - Zonoscope - Another good groovin' album that got a fair share of play time this year.
5. Adele - 21 - Album of the year on everybody's charts. And for good reason. It was the 'Year of Adele'. However, I got burned out on this album overall. Great singing, but whiny lyrics.
6. Hyland - Weights & Measures - Excellent album. Awesome lyrics and great rock songs.
7. Mutemath - Odd Soul - Love this band. Not overly impressed with this album, felt like it was over-produced. Still some good tunes.
8. Animals as Leaders - Weightless - Instrumental rock? Youbetchya! One of my favorite finds of 2011.
9. Guster - Easy Wonderful - Just a fun album. This band's music never gets old.
10. Swimming With Dolphins - Water Colours - Anticipated this album since this time last year and was not disappointed.
11. Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk - Must surprising album award goes to... Hugh Laurie. Known for playing Dr. House on TV, this guy can lay it down. He put together a great country-ish album full of good knee-slappin' tunes fit for a hootenanny.

Honorable Mention:
M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Viva Brothers - Famous First Words
Boy & Bear - Moonfire
Foster The People - Torches
Childish Gambino - CAMP
Fang Island - Fang Island

Top Songs + Albums of 2010

TOP SONGS 2010

1. Minus The Bear - Hold Me Down

2. Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man

3. Brandon Flowers - Crossfire

4. Freelance Whales - Second Floor Generator

5. Anberlin - To The Wolves

6. The Daylights - Weapons

7. Icon Parade - Jukebox Collective

8. Five Finger Death Punch - Bad Company

9. Jónsi - Go Do

10. Young The Giant - My Body

11. Michael Franti - Sound of Sunshine

12. Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work



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TOP ALBUMS 2010

1. Jónsi - Go

2. Brandon Flowers - Flamingo

3. Freelance Whales - Weathervanes

4. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More

5. Queens Club - Young Giant

6. Anberlin - Dark is the Way, Light is the Place

7. Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History

8. Timid Tigers - Electric Island

9. House of Heroes - Suburbia

10. Ivoryline - Vessels

11. American Bang - American Bang

12. Tallest Man On Earth - Wild Hunt

13. Band of Horses - Infinate Arms

14. Hammock - Chasing After Shadows...Living With The Ghosts



2009 in Review

Stephen's Best of 2009:
*Graduation with Bachelor in Fine Arts (and a Minor in Literature) in May
*Getting a full-time job at Keating in May
*Leaving Keating in August
*Finding an apartment in one weekend in Overland Park in August
*Getting a job at Crossover Graphics in August
*Paying my truck off completely
*Traveling to Colorado to see my Uncle and go hiking and fishing in the Rockies
*Turning 24 (old dude)
*Late Night Trivia at Auntie Mae's with Matt, John, Aubrey, Dillon, Todd, and others
*Kings of Leon concert with the Abandon Kansas boys
*Swell Season concert with Kyle + friends
*Killers concert with Jeremy, Brad and others
*Abandon Kansas includes me in their first released CD on their new label
*Winning tix on the radio to the Jet/Flock of Seagulls/Black Joe Lewis/Ravonettes/White Rabbits concert with Aubrey, Matt
*Minus The Bear/As Tall As Lions concert with Jeremy
*VIP at Spoon/Hockey/Metric/The Bravery concert with Jeremy
*KC Royals game vs Red Sox with Cy Young winner Zack Grienke pitched a shutout
*Becoming roommate with Kyle Gach (then sadly, ditching him for KC)
*ENGAGED to my beautiful girlfriend
*Designing a mural for West Hall 4th Floor (link to old post)
*Dallas Design conference with friends AND getting my poster entered
*Commerce Bank Student Art Show in Manhattan, getting poster entered
*Seeing Abandon Kansas live about 20 times
*Justin's wedding
*Kenny's wedding
*Ali+James wedding
*Applying to Hatch Show Print
*My brother Sam getting Prom Prince
*Another great year with Antony Miguel Cardenas Cortez, my sponsored child

(please feel free to help me add to this list if I'm missing anything!)

Top 10 of '09 - Songs

Top 10 of '09 - Songs
These are my favorite songs in or around the year 2009.

1. Percussion Gun - White Rabbits

2. 1901 - Phoenix


3. Spaceman - Killers


4. Furr - Blitzen Trapper


5. I Want You To - Weezer


6. Meet Me On The Equinox - Death Cab For Cutie


7. Electrify - MuteMath


8. 11th Dimension - Julian Casablancas


9. Help I'm Alive - Metric


10. Oscar Wilde - Company of Thieves


Honorable Mention
Kings & Queens - 30 Seconds to Mars
The Reeling - Passion Pit
Uprising - Muse
In One Ear - Cage The Elephant
Alligator Pie - Dave Matthews Band

Top 10 of '09 - Albums

(The first of a few lists of my Top 10 of '09)

Top 10 of '09 - Albums

1. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix
2. Armistice - Mute Math
3. The Resistance - Muse
4. Ocean Eyes - Owl City
5. Cosmic Egg - Wolfmother
6. Cage The Elephant - Cage The Elephant
7. I Told You I Was Freaky - Flight of the Conchords
8. Twilight Soundtrack - Various
9. Tell 'Em What Your Name Is - Black Joe Lewis
10. Brand New Eyes - Paramore

Honorable Mention:
Strict Joy - The Swell Season
Fantasies - Metric
Manners - Passion Pit
Best of - Foo Fighters

MuteMath - 'Spotlight' Vid

MUTEMATH - Spotlight


MuteMath is my favorite band of all time. I have seen them in concert more than anyone else. Even saw them in NYC when I was there. They flat out ROCK.
This is their latest and greatest music video to their song "Spotlight", not quite as revolutionary as their all-backwards "Typical" video, but not easy to make a song look like its being sung in real time while the tape is in fast-forward. Enjoy!

Gotees & Mullets

(Had to post something about my excitement for these guys!)

Some of my very best friends are in a band called Abandon Kansas. The lead singer, Jeremy Spring, has been one of my best friends ever since he moved to Kansas in 6th grade. He and I grew up thru high school and eventually put together a band called $12 Skolarship (even won the talent show Senior year, hear a song here). That didn't last past high school for me, but as for Jeremy it was only the beginning of what would become Abandon Kansas.
They are responsible for much of the beginnings of my design work. They let me design all sorts of shirts, posters, etc for their band. It was pro-bono work, but had it not been for them, I wouldn't have had nearly the amount of contacts that I had to be able to have a semi-steady income from doing free-lance work.
I was also able to spend a whole month last summer on tour with these guys. One of the most incredible adventures I had ever been on.
I was talking with Jeremy last night and he told me some of the most exciting news I had heard all week:
Abandon Kansas is signed to a label!!!
They signed with Gotee Records who has produced such artists as: Relient K, TobyMac, DC Talk, John Reuben, Force Family 5, Jennifer Knapp, and many more of the top christian artists. This is very exciting news for the guys. I have been told it is a 3 year contract and that they will be recording their first album under the label in May.

Irish Music - LIVE

While in Kansas City this past weekend, I got the luxury of hearing the band "Flannigan's Right Hook" perform at the Raglan Road in the Power & Lights district. What an awesome show! They did some original music as well as quite a few awesome covers.
Here is some video I took to highlight their music:

Abandon Kansas stops in Manhattan

Some of my best buds, the Abandon Kansas boys, made a stop last night and played a show at PJ's in Manhattan last night.

Fun pics:
(that's me making a cameo and shakin my groove thang)

Really fun show!

New song, "Make Believe":

Betchya Didn't Know (pt. 2 of 5)

(This is part 2 of a 5 part series of getting to know little known facts about me - some of these you may already know, some you may not)
I listen to (and LOVE) funny/parody music
I do. It may not be kosher with today's class of males 23ish...but I can't help it. The obsession began one Christmas when I was given both a Ray Stevens Music VHS and a set of 3 cassette tapes (yes, cassette tapes and a VHS, ok?) that were chalked full of silly songs; like "Disco Duck", "Monster Mash", "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", "Boy Named Sue", and "Yakety Yak". My dad then introduced me to Weird Al and also Dr. Demento (much to my mom's dismay) - and the rest is history.

I would go around singing these ridiculous song all the time. I would constantly be asking my friends about these songs, not realizing that it was a little odd for a 5th grader to know the lyrics to "Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda". Naturally, my very first concert was Weird Al, at the Cotillion in Wichita. He had just released his album, "Running With Scissors" (one of 7 Weird Al albums I have) where the hit song was "Saga Begins" a parody of the famous "American Pie" by Don McLean. There are many songs that I cannot listen to thanks to these parodies that I filled my head with as a child. Here are some examples:
*Queen "Another One Bits The Dust" - Weird Al "Another One Rides The Bus"
*Offspring "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" - Weird Al "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi"
*Michael Jackson "Bad" - Weird Al "Fat"
*Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under The Bridge" & "Give It Away" - Weird Al "Bed Rock Anthem"

How can you not be inspired by the creative, nerdy lyrics from Weird Al's song "All About The Pentiums" (parody of "All About The Benjamins"):

Hey fella, I bet you're still livin' in your parents' cellar
Downloadin' pictures of Sarah Michelle Gellar
And postin' "Me too!" like some brain-dead AOL-er
I should do the world a favor and cap you like Old Yella'
You're just about as useless as jpegs to Hellen Keller!

Other musical parody influences include Spike Jones, Dr. Demento, Ray Stevens (whom I have also seen in concert), and of course Bob Rivers (Christmas parodies: "Walkin' 'Round in Womens' Underwear", "I am Santa Claus", "Chipmunks Roasting On An Open Fire", and "Buttcracker Suite")

The introduction to this music lead to my love of '80s slap-stick farce movies like "Airplane!", "Hot Shots", "Space Balls" & "Blazing Saddles" (just about any Mel Brooks really). Not to mention my love for any and all "Monty Python", "Three Stooges", and "Marx Brothers" movies, skits, and songs.

All of this off-the-wall humor and sarcasm has definitely played an important role in allowing me to be creative and think outside of the box when it comes to graphic design. It keeps me on my toes and for some strange reason, I can't ever get enough of it. Thanks dad!

Now you know.

Operation: "Get Stephen His Music Back"

Over this Christmas break tragedy struck. I accidentally deleted ALL of my music from my lappy. I had a stupid amount of music - about 70GB worth. Ouch. I didn't know that my mac had stored all of the iTunes files in a little folder called 'iTunes' in my 'Music' folder (which does make sense now, it just never occurred to me). I was needing to create some space and boy did I ever!
Thankfully the I am surrounded by the Music Red Cross. After telling some co-workers about my awful tragedy they came to my rescue. Dan Richards allowed me into his vault of a crazy amount of cds and has granted me access to it at my convenience. This will significantly help restore much of my lost 70's and 80's (yes, i am a synthesizer sympathizer) Larry "Opa" Weigel a talented musician himself has allowed me the key to his sacred treasure chest of music. I am pretty pumped about this since this little dandy is mostly filled with jazz and instrumental tuneage (excellent when getting my design on).
I am not putting this up to shove in the face of my roommate Luke and his even greater tragedy, no I'm putting this up to say thank you to those who help me in my time of need. This is for them. And to show you Luke, that there is someone to turn to in your greatest time of need: A friend with a crap-ton of music.