The Magic Conch

I really don’t listen to rap music too entirely often. That being said, I do occasionally enjoy listening to Tyler the Creator and Kendrick Lamar when I’m in the mood for it. A friend of mine asked me my personal opinion of American Rapper, Kanye West earlier this week and the truth is, I always avoided listening to Kanye just because I disagree with the way he carries himself and acts in public towards fans and other celebrities. As someone who is usually pretty happy and carefree, it’s hard to respect and want to support someone like Kanye West. Despite all of this, I decided to give Mr. West’s music a chance. Before typing his name into Spotify, I had only heard the songs “All of the Lights” and “Heartless.” Honestly, the only reason I had even heard those two songs is because of my friends in middle school. I had to do some research on Kanye and figure out what his story is. Everyone knows that he is now married to Kim Kardashian. This marriage seems to get more publicity than...

Though the election is officially over with Donald Trump being elected our 45th president, the United States still witnessed one of the most controversial elections of all time. The candidates have became more desperate to sway voters their way as time went on. Harsh words were thrown around during debates; true and false accusations arose, and social media has been and is still booming with citizens’ opinions through hashtags like #ElectionNight and #Election2016. Both candidates have said things that the public has reacted negatively to during their attempt to get the nation behind them and their campaign. Donald Trump claimed that the election was rigged against him and that the media was attempting to ruining his chances of becoming the next president of the Unites States. Trump tweeted “This election is being rigged by the media pushing false and unsubstantiated charges, and outright lies, in order to elect Crooked Hillary!” In an article on MSNBC’s website (http://on.msnbc.co...

While most of Missouri and other football-loving states were either enjoying the rush of Friday night football or at home preparing for College Gameday football, I was in my favorite city watching yet another alternative band scream their hearts out to hundreds of fans. It’s hard for me to ever say anything negative about the band Grouplove just because of how positive their music is and how easy it is to see their passion for life and love through the music they create, so this is going to a fairly happy blog post. The first thing I feel I should discuss is the atmosphere that’s created by the fans. Once the doors open for the venue and security starts taking tickets, everyone immediately becomes one big family. We prefer to call ourselves “Buzz Family” here in Kansas City because of the time and effort that our local radio station, 96.5 The Buzz, puts into organizing the events that we all love so much. The two bands that performed before Grouplove were two bands that I had ne...

One of my favorite things about living near Kansas City is the radio station 96.5 The Buzz. The Buzz brings more new alternative music to the area than any other radio station in Missouri, and I feel it is very important to support this radio station and everything that they do for the area. I’ve been able to see a great number of fantastic bands in the past couple of years because of Afentra, Lazlo, Snowcone, and the rest of the gang. I’ve seen AWOLNATION scream “Sail” into a crowd of their biggest fans. I’ve watched Alt-J perform the best light show imaginable. I’ve seen the Greeting Committee get up-close and personal with the fans that have followed them from their start. These have been amazing experiences, and without the right amount of organization and love for music that The Buzz has, I wouldn’t have experienced them. Waking up on the day of a concert that you’ve been waiting forever for is almost better than waking up on Christmas morning when you’re a young child. Sta...

Today marks day 20 of my adventure in Africa this summer, so I wanted to veer away from music once again to throw some of my thoughts on here. The weather is pretty chilly since it is winter time here, so I’m always in full trousers and a jersey (That’s what Catherine calls pants and a hoodie). The cool weather has forced me to do something I never thought I would do – sleep in my socks. *gasp* That might be a habit that sticks with me once I get back to The States! There are incredible animals everywhere! We see anything from honey badgers to hippos. Fun fact: Mole Rats don’t like it when you pick them up off the side of the road. They WILL bite you and escape from the truck. I share a house with about 11 girls, and this has been quite the experience. I used to complain about sharing bathrooms with Jake and Thomas, so this was harder to adjust to, but we’ve survived so far! I wake up every morning and look out my window to see a gorgeous blue sky and the Indian Ocean in the...

As much as I like to claim that I am a well-rounded music lover, I have to admit that I never fully got on board with the electronic music movement. I had Skrillex’s “Bangarang” on my iPod just like everyone else, but there were few times when I jammed in my room to the album. That being said, I recently gave a newer electronic album a listen and had mixed thoughts. The album in discussion is “Adventure” which is by French electronic music producer Madeon. The 22 year old musician released this album on the 27th of March 2015. As far as live performances go, Madeon has played at several American music festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza, and the Ultra Music Festival. His fame has grown slowly, but surely with songs featured on Dancing with the Stars and popular video games like Need for Speed and FIFA 15. Madeon featured a few very popular artists in “Adventure”. The album consists of pieces from Passion Pit, Mark Foster from Foster the People, Kyan, Dan Smith from Bastill...

My family has always spent our summers travelling the world, seeing new things and meeting new people. I’ve rode donkeys up the mountains in Santorini, seen dolphins swim in the Mediterranean Sea, and eaten authentic Mexican food on 5th Avenue in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Despite all of these amazing adventures that I have been on, one summer memory stands out from the rest. My family spent a week in Cabo San Lucas the summer before my senior year of high school. My dad paid a mariachi band each night to play us “Hotel California” by The Eagles and it soon became one of my favorite songs--even in Spanish. Because of this memory, I have really grown to love the world famous band that is The Eagles. Since I just got back from yet another trip in Mexico, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the band’s album “Hotel California” for this week’s blog post. The Eagles formed in 1971 by Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner. The band is one of the most p...

Music is a very important part of my family’s life. We all enjoy different types of music and we all try to broaden our horizons every chance we get. However, there is one genre of music that everyone tends to stay away from. This “plague-like” genre is modern country, and my family members wouldn’t touch it with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole. That being said, my guilty pleasure music genre is modern country, and I can’t help but feel that my family is somewhat disappointed in me for this. A metal-loving family usually isn’t too accepting of this type of behavior. Oh well, they’ll get over it. There is one country group of today that I believe stands out from the rest because of the content of their music, the emotion put into each song, and the talent that the band carries. Rascal Flatts is a music group that was formed in Columbus, Ohio in 1999. The members of the band are Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus, and Joe Don Rooney. Since the band’s start, they have released 10 album...

Back to music! This week I wanted to talk about one of the fastest rising bands of the year. To many people, twenty one pilots came out of nowhere and blasted everyone with their talent and unique songs. The first time that I had heard of this band was my junior year of high school  when I heard “House of Gold”. I immediately saw something in this band and predicted that they would become mainstream very soon. I had the opportunity to see twenty one pilots in Kansas City in 2013, before they got too big, but I unfortunately had to miss the concert. Now, three years later, the band has sold out the biggest venue in Downtown KC. I am very proud of how much the band has grown since I was first intrigued by their sound. Fans took the band’s newest album, “Blurryface”, and ran off into the nearest cave to binge the album. Even people who hadn’t heard of the band were given the beautiful gift of the new music through just about every pop and alternative radio station in the ...

I know that this has been strictly a music page since I started it a couple of months ago, but I figured talking about another one of my favorite things wouldn’t hurt any. I grew up on a farm in rural Missouri, which is heaven for most kids because there is always a pond to jump in, tree to climb, and haybale to sit on. However, that was not the case for me. I had terrible allergies growing up as a kid. I learned by the time I was 6 that I was allergic to trees, horse hair, hay, and pretty much everything else that was in my backyard. While most kids were outside getting sunburned and hitting each other with sticks, I was inside either watching TV or playing with my Polly Pockets. I fell in love with cartoons just like any child in my position would. Turns out, I never grew out of my cartoon-loving stage. I still find myself popping in “The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie” to relax after a long night of waiting tables. I see that most cartoon characters actually teach kids impo...

Since it usually doesn’t take too much to make me smile and get excited, there are many combinations of words that will make me jump for joy. That being said, I do have a favorite and that string of words has to be, “We are releasing a new album.” I couldn’t help but smile when I heard that the Lumineers were working on releasing a new album because this meant I had a new CD to play while I studied. I realized that the album was going to become a perfect one for me to talk about on Leah’ Music Vibes just because it went along with the idea of new bands making an impact on today’s music that I have been hitting on when I talk about modern albums. The Lumineers are a band based out of Denver, Colorado. One of the most admiring qualities of the band is that they write all of their lyrics. The music process for each song is done almost entirely by the members within the band. The new album by The Lumineers is called “Cleopatra”, and it isn’t too different from works that the band ha...

"My mama always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on." - Forrest Gump. I decided to spend my Sunday watching one of the world's favorite movies, "Forrest Gump", so why not write about the music intertwined with Forrest and his travels. This movie is iconic for so many reasons, but my favorite thing about this film is the soundtrack. The movie follows Forrest throughout his adventures in life, and the soundtrack takes the audience through time. The movie plays the songs in the order of when they were released and most popular, with a few exceptions. Each time the story takes a turn, a new song plays. For example, when Jenny comes back into Forrest’s life after he is financially stable, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” plays. This gives the scene a happy feel to it while also explaining that Forrest feels at home again for the first time since his mother’s passing. Each song adds an extra something to the movie. Mu...

This past weekend, I was given the opportunity to see the band Jah Lion perform live and interview one of the members. The reggae band played a set at The Bay, a bar in my hometown of Warrensburg on Saturday. This was their third time playing in Warrensburg.             Jah Lion consists of five band members that all play unique instruments. Drummer, Arthur Seabury, sat down and with me and a few other UCM students to answer a few questions about the band.             Seabury is from Sedalia, but currently lives in Kansas City. He visits Jamaica every so often and plays his music there. We asked Seabury exactly what “Jah Lion” meant, and he told us it stood for “The roar of God”.             When asked what his goals for the future of the band were, Seabury told us, “We really just want to spread the love. If the band...

One of my dad’s favorite bands has always been Led Zeppelin. I can still remember waking up on Sunday mornings and hearing him singing “Dazed and Confused” while he was making my favorite breakfast—which is French toast in case you’re wondering. I will always feel like I have a special connection to this band because of how much their songs will remind me of my childhood. My very first album that I got for my record player was “Led Zeppelin” and it will always be my go to album for battling the blues or even for pumping up for parties. “Led Zeppelin” was released in January of 1969 and it featured different original creations from John Bonham (drums, tympani, vocals), Robert Plant (vocals, harmonica), Jimmy Paige (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, steel guitar, vocals), and John Paul Jones (bass, organ, vocals). Besides the music itself, the album artwork is one of the best things about the album. The cover shows a zeppelin with a smoke cloud coming out of it. Modern album cover...

            One of my favorite movies as a child was the popular Disney movie about a boy who is raised by gorillas in the wild, but still finds a way to meet a human woman and fall in love. The movie hits on every emotion that a ten year old girl could want. There’s action, romance, singing monkeys, and of course, a killer soundtrack.             The soundtrack’s official name is “Tarzan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack”. All of the songs were composed by Phil Collins and the instrumental score was by Mark Mancina.             One of the most popular songs on the soundtrack, “You’ll be in My Heart”, won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.             The soundtrack was extremely successful and was also a fantastic comeback for Collins that pu...

I got the opportunity to see The Greeting Committee perform live this weekend at KC Live in Kansas City for the Homegrown Buzz Music Showcase. It was the second time that I have been able to see the young band play live, but I was still very impressed by the amount of energy and talent on the stage. All of the band members are still in high school, and this became obvious to me once I saw the band up close-not only because of how young they look, but also how they interacted with Kansas City fans. During the performance, all of the members were very close to the audience and treated the concert as if it was their high school talent show. This is one of my favorite things about small, local, alternative bands. Music lovers are able to see great bands up close before these bands hit it big and gain a big following. In a couple of years, The Greeting Committee will be playing at bigger venues which will make it more difficult for their fans to get close to them and really enjoy the p...

One of the first albums that I got when my parents bought me my record player was Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors”. Since Rolling Stone claims that this is one of the best albums of all time, I figured it would be a great album to talk about. “Rumors” was released in February of 1977 and it was the 11 th album by Fleetwood Mac. Two of the most popular songs on the album includes “Go Your Own Way” and “Don’t Stop”. The album has a soft rock and pop rock sound that many listeners throughout the years have enjoyed. All of the songs on “Rumors” have a healing sort of feel to them. The lyrics in “Chains” explain the feelings of someone going through heartbreak. “And if you don’t love me now, you will never love me again. I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain.” On the flip side of that, “You Make Loving Fun” has a more positive and loving feel to it. The variety of feelings within the album helps it appeal to more people than it would if it only had a melancholy vibe ...

            According to the band’s Twitter page, The Mowgli’s have been working on a new album that should be released in a couple of months. It seemed necessary to talk about one of their other albums and give my opinion on it.             One of my favorite things about The Mowgli’s is how positive and upbeat their music is. Their latest album, “Kids in Love”, is evidence of this.             “Kids in Love” was released in April of 2015. The album had a very popular song that was heard on many radio stations. “I’m Good” quickly became a happy anthem for many alternative music lovers.             One song on the album, “Bad Dream” says, “With all the love that I know, how can anybody be living in a bad dream.” Lyrics like this have the ability to make the happy happier and make the...

I really started appreciating different music genres a couple of years ago. I have been attempting to keep up with the new types of music that have started to become popular while also trying to catch up with what I missed when I was too young to realize that Radio Disney wasn’t going to keep my attention forever. Alternative music really caught my eye in 2012. As soon as I heard Muse’s new album for that year, I knew I was going to be tuning into alternative radio stations instead of playing the Motley Crue mix CD that my mom made for me in middle school. Ever since then, I have tried extra hard to keep up with the alternative charts. I recently took the time to listen to “I Like it When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It” by The 1975.             This is the second album that The 1975 has released, and it was released February of 2016. The lead single, “Love Me” can be heard on many different local rad...

            I finally sat down to listen to David Bowie’s last album, Blackstar. It’s hard to objectively listen to this album without having some sort of bias because of the emotions that a typical music lover has since the death of one of the most unique musical artists of all time. Everyone knows that Bowie will be missed, but with all the mourning going on, is anyone actually analyzing the Blackstar, or are we just holding onto the last piece of art from Mr. Bowie? Blackstar was the 25 th and final album that David Bowie gave the world. The album was released on January 8 of 2016, which was two days before his death. Bowie was battling cancer during the making of this album, which makes his fans respect this experimental rock music even more than usual. Blackstar sold 146,000 copies in its first week on sale in the United Kingdom and more than 181,000 in the United States. The album has many similarities to Bowie’s other work, but still sho...

             In the past couple of years, electronic pop music has become more and more enjoyed by lovers of alternative and pop music. The band CHVRCHES recently released a new album, Every Eye Open, on the 25 th of this past September. The album consists of 15 electronic songs, one of which has become very popular on many radio stations. The album has a very light feeling which makes it easy to listen to the whole thing all the way through without wanting to put your iPod on shuffle. This is relaxing, but the songs still have deep and meaningful lyrics that are refreshing. In “Make Them Gold”, the listener hears “We are made of our longest days. We are falling but not alone. We will take the best parts of ourselves. And make them gold.”             All of the songs sound somewhat similar, but the listener is still able to tell the songs apart with their distinct parts. In “Never Ending...