On My iPod Today

At the gym last night I was listenning to The Reason by Hoobastank.

I was introduced to Hoobastank about 5 years by a friend from work. Having listenned to their major-label 2001 debut - simply called Hoobastank - I remember saying to that friend that although I thought the music was excellent the band were let down by the clarity - or lack of - the vocals. Call me old fashioned but if someone's gone to the trouble of writing lyrics then I'd like to hear them. OK, I know I'm old-fashioned in many ways but I think you get my point.

Two years later and the band were back in the recording studio and released The Reason and I was delighted to find that even when the lead singer - Doug Robb - is screaming at the top of his voice I could understand him: perhaps a combination of developing his vocal style to suit the bands sound and an intelligent sound engineer.

The radio-breakthrough track from the album is the melodic album title track and my own favourite is Out of Control when Robb ably demonstrates his screaming qualities.

Subsequent releases confirmed the bands obvious quality - in 2006 they released Every Man for Himself and earlier this year For(N)ever.

Find out more - including videos for both The Reason and Out of Control - at their excellent website www.hoobastank.com

On My iPod Today

Last night at the gym I was enjoying listenning to All We Know Is Falling, the debut album from Paramore.

I discovered Paramore around about 3 years ago when the video for the song Emergency was first shown on TV here in England. I loved the sound - lead singer Hayley Williams' voice blended into the guitar-driver music sounded really fresh. Having picked up the album I was delighted that it was a case of 'more of the same' with standout tracks for me being Pressure and My Heart (if ever there was a song that could be described as 'screamo' then it's My Heart).

Since the first album the band have released a second studio album - Riot! - in the summer of 2007 and a live album with DVD - The Final Riot! late in 2008.

Listen to and watch Paramore at www.paramore.net and watch the video to Emergency here.

On My iPod Today: Ten by Pearl Jam

I was chatting with a friend the other day and he mentioned that he'd been advised that on each of his visits to his gym he should listen to something different on his iPod - the logic being that although the workout itself may be the same the different music would freshen things up.

So, with this in mind, this morning at the gym my music of choice was Ten from Pearl Jam.

I was trying work out when this album was released and I thought it was probably about 1994 - having checked on line it was actually 1991. I remember around this time Nirvana were the big rock band - their album Nevermind was released just after Ten - and they tended to overshadow Pearl Jam both in terms of musical aclaim and, for obvious reasons*, the media spotlight.

I didn't realise (or perhaps I'd forgotten) that Ten was the debut release from Pearl Jam - making the maturity of the song-writing and the confident sound all the more remarkable in my opinion.

The standout track for me is Jeremy which alongside a number of other truly great tracks - Even Flow, Alive, Why Go - means that Ten would comfortably be in my all-time top 10 albums.

Jeremy by Pearl Jam: video directed by Mark Pellington.