Hey Monday- Hold On Tight

Hey, y'all! It's time for me to talk about another CD on my shelf! As always, I put my iTunes on shuffle, and the CD containing the first song that played is the one I'll be talking about!

Release Date: October 7, 2008

Genre: Alternative, Pop Punk

When I bought the CD: Sometime in the fall of 2008. When I saw that they were opening for The Academy Is... and We The Kings (two of my FAVORITE bands at that time), my interest was peaked and I wanted to see if they were any good. I listened to some music and fell in love.

Track Listing

1. Set Off
2. How You Love Me Now
3. Homecoming
4. Obvious
5. Candles
6. Run, Don't Walk
7. Josey
8. Hurricane Streets
9. Arizona
10. Should've Tried Harder
11. 6 Months

(Also, side note- I just listed off the track listing perfectly without looking at my iTunes. Clearly, I've listened to this CD a lot)

Hey Monday lineup on this CD:
Cassadee Pope- vocals, guitar
Mike Gentile- guitar
Alex Lipshaw- guitar
Jersey Moriarty- bass
Elliot James- Drums

L-R: Alex, Elliot, Cassadee, Mike, Jersey

About Hey Monday: 
Hey Monday formed in early 2008. Pete Wentz actually discovered one of their demos and that's how they really got their name out there. In fall of 2008, they were touring with well-known pop punk bands like The Academy Is..., We The Kings, and All Time Low. They only released one CD, followed by an EP called Beneath It All in 2010, and a Christmas EP in 2011. In their short history, they've had a few line-up changes. Elliot left the band in 2009, and Jersey left the following year. They've since been replaced with Chris Gentile on bass and Patrick McKenzie on drums. In 2011, Hey Monday announced that they were going on hiatus. Since then, Cassadee started a solo career. Now, she's best known for being the season 3 winner of The Voice, and is currently pursuing a solo career in country music. Although the band claims to not be broken up, unfortunately, I'm pretty sure we've seen the last of Hey Monday.

My Opinion about Hey Monday:
Although they only released one CD and a couple EPs, I count Hey Monday among my favorite bands. Hold On Tight is one of my favorite CDs, and I also really like their Beneath It All EP. I don't listen to them as much as I used to, but I do really enjoy their music. I really wish they would get back together and continue to make music, because I know I'd love it.

About the CD:  

As I said, it's their debut and only CD. Unlike a lot of these CDs, I don't really have much of a story about this CD. One tidbit of info that I do find interesting is that the lead single off the CD, Homecoming, was co-written by William Beckett, who at the time was the lead singer of The Academy Is... and is also one of my absolute favorite musicians.

IMHO: 
I really love this CD. All of the songs are really good, and I think it's a really strong debut!

As always, I'm going to give each song a rating out of 10 and then give a brief explanation of why it got that rating. 

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Set Off- 10/10. This is a really great CD opener. It's really fun and exciting, especially the chorus. I really like this one.

How You Love Me Now- 9/10. I really love Cassadee's vocals on the chorus. The music video is really funny too. 

Homecoming- 10/10. This was the song that started my love of Hey Monday, and I still absolutely love this song. Once again, Cassadee's vocals in the chorus are what especially shine. But I also love the guitar hook. 

Obvious- 9.5/10. I hate to talk about the same thing on all of these, but it's the standout- Cassadee on the chorus. Maybe it's just that Hey Monday is really good at awesome choruses. Who knows.

Candles- 9/10. We're talking about the original version here. Not the Glee version (ew) or the over-produced EP version. This original CD version is really pretty. 

Run, Don't Walk- 8.5/10. As usual with Hey Monday, the chorus is really great. Although this time, it's the combination of the music and Cassadee's voice that makes it good.

Josey- 10/10. I absolutely love the guitar in this one. This is also one of the only songs written by just band members, and it's one of their strongest. The music and vocals are just spot on. It's one that I like to blast.

Hurricane Streets- 7.5/10. This one has always been my least favorite on the CD. I'm not quite sure why I don't like it as much, but it's just not as exciting for me for some reason.

Arizona- 8/10. This one has always been a pretty average Hey Monday song for me. I don't like the guitar part quite as much as on some of the other songs, and although the chorus is again the best part of the song, I don't like it as much as I do on other songs.

Should've Tried Harder- 8.5/10. I like the juxtaposition of the guitar and vocal parts, especially in the verses. This may be the only song where I like the verses better than the chorus. 

6 Months- 10/10. I had a hard time figuring out what to give this one. This has always been one of my favorites and I really love it and think it's really sweet. But when I was dating my ex, I always associated this song with our relationship and since we broke up, I've never been able to love it as much as I used to. But it's a really great song and deserves all the stars. 

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Favorite Songs: Josey, Homecoming, Set Off, 6 Months, and Obvious.

Least Favorite Songs: Hurricane Streets, for sure.

Video! 

Homecoming music video

How You Love Me Now music video

Rating: 9.5/10. I struggled with what to give this, but I decided that it wasn't quite good enough to get the full 10/10. Part of my reasoning was that I didn't give Motion in the Ocean a full 10/10, I couldn't give this one 10/10.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Have any questions? What are your opinions on Hey Monda? Let me know in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Hope you enjoyed! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!

The Higher- On Fire

Hey, y'all! It's time for me to talk about another CD on my shelf! As always, I put my iTunes on shuffle, and the CD containing the first song that played is the one I'll be talking about!

Release Date: March 6, 2007

Genre: Pop Rock, Alternative

Track Listing

1. Insurance
2. Guts
3. Rock My Body
4. Weapons Wired
5. Histrionics
6. Movements
7. Carly
8. Darkpop
9. Dare
10. 31 Floors
11. Our Movie Rules
12. Pace Yourself (Patrick Stump Remix)

The Higher lineup on this CD:
Seth Trotter- vocals
Tom Oakes- guitar
Robert Ragan- guitar
Jason Centeno- bass
Pat Harter- drums

About The Higher: 
The Higher was originally formed when the founding members were in high school, and it was called September Star. They released two EPs: Star is Dead in 2003 and Pace Yourself in 2006, as well as 3 CDs: Histrionics in 2005, On Fire in 2007, and It's Only Natural in 2009. After the series of lineup changes, the band broke up in 2012.

My Opinion about The Higher:
Honestly, I don't have much of an opinion on them. This is the only CD I have by them, and I bought it on a bit of a whim. While I like this CD, I haven't gotten any other CDs by them. I guess I like them, but I'm just not blown away enough to want to get more of their music.

About the CD:  

On Fire was The Higher's second full-length CD, released in 2007. It was their first CD released on Epitaph records. While signed to Epitaph, they adopted a more poppy style than they had on previous CDs.

IMHO: 
It's a pretty good CD, but I tend to overlook it quite a bit on my iTunes. Since it's not by a band I SUPER love, and it's just a good-ish CD, I just tend to overlook it and forget it's there.

As always, I'm going to give each song a rating out of 10 and then give a brief explanation of why it got that rating. 

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Insurance- 9.5/10. It's a great opener, and is definitely one of the most exciting songs on the CD. I especially really like the breakdown with the heavy guitar.

Guts- 6/10. I'm not a huge fan of this song. It just seems like it doesn't go anywhere. It tries to build up to the chorus, but it's hardly more interesting than the verses. The bridge is pretty cool, but it's the only standout part for me.

Rock My Body- 7/10. I have a lot of the same complaints about this song that I had about Guts. However, it has an interesting beat, and I like the bridge and following guitar solo. But other than that, it's a pretty static and uninteresting song. Especially the over-autotuned bit at the end. I get that it's for artistic effect, I just don't like it.

Weapons Wired- 8.5/10. I really like the Spanish influence of the acoustic guitars in the verses and the way they contrast with the very rock-driven electric guitars.

Histrionics- 9/10. I think this is one of the most interesting songs on the CD. It's very simple, but that's what makes it really cool.

Movements- 8/10. While I think it's a bit static like some of the songs before it, I really enjoy the chorus, especially the vocals. It's not outstanding, but I think it's pretty cool.

Carly- 9.5/10. This is just a fun, light-hearted song. I really like the vocal line in the chorus. I especially really like the bridge. This is just one of those songs that technically isn't that great, but I really like it anyway.

Darkpop- 9/10. The bridge of this song is one of the highlights of the CD for me. It's so cool with just the vocals and the drums. The rest of the song is really cool too, but that's just SO great.

Dare- 9/10. This one is a lot like Carly in the fact that it's just really fun and has a light-hearted feel to it. It's so chill. The guitar part is especially cool in this one.

31 Floors- 9.5/10. Another of the best songs on the CD. I just really like the way that the guitar and drums interact with the vocal line and absolutely love the chorus. This could be my favorite song on the CD... maybe. I'm not sure I really have a favorite.

Our Movie Rules- 7/10. It's ok. The chorus is kinda cool. Nothing about this song really stands out for me as being either great or awful.

Pace Yourself (Patrick Stump Remix)- 5/10. I'm not a fan of remixes. It sounds like it was a pretty interesting song before it was remixed. I should probably look it up when I finish this.

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Favorite Songs: Insurance, Histrionics, Carly, Darkpop, Dare, and 31 Floors.

Least Favorite Songs: Pace Yourself (Patrick Stump Remix) and Guts.

Video! 

Insurance music video

31 Floors

Rating: 7.5/10. While the songs averaged to ~8, I docked it .5 for the fact that it's so disjunct. I had forgotten how many of these songs I really enjoy, and the main reason I forgot about them was because the other half of the songs aren't interesting.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Have any questions? What did you think of The Higher? Let me know in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Hope you enjoyed! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!

New Posts Coming Soon and Some Changes!

Hey, y'all! Once again it has been quite a while since I've posted. I've been working on several things, but the past few weeks have been crazy. My finals are over on Tuesday, so I'll be on break and able to begin posting again.

Also, I've been working on some makeup reviews, which have now officially been moved back over to my Adventures of a Makeup Noob blog, which you can view by clicking here. A new post (A review of 55 ELF makeup products!) went up at the exact same time as this post, so if you click the link at the end of the last sentence, it'll take you right to it! I've got a lot of great things going up on that blog, as well as my Tumblr Challenges blog (click here to check that one out- new post sometime in the next few days!). Also, there should be a new CDs On My Shelf post coming sometime next week (again, click here to view that one). As for THIS blog... just sit tight. Having a month long break from classes should give me a great opportunity to decide where From Kristen's Brain is headed. Until then, I'll see y'all soon!