Musical Discoveries

Here's a question for you: how do you discover new music?

I'm asking, because yesterday I re-read a story I first read... two years ago? I think it was two years. And then there was an author's note mentioning Ian Hunter, which suddenly reminded me that, yes, that particular author is to blame for me liking Ian Hunter. I'd never even heard the name before.
That wasn't the first time either, another story made me start listening to ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, another band I'd never heard of. I think Snow Patrol was such a case, too, and I really wouldn't be surprised to find more examples.

Of course there's also the tried and true method of simply listening to the radio - hello Misery Loves Co. and Backyard Babies, not to mention Savatage.

Friends usually are also a good source for music recommendations. I solely blame Katie for my fangirling of Kenny Wayne Shepherd (brand new album, check it out!), and Dani has made me start listening to so many bands, I can't list them all up here. (Okay, I could, but I'm lazy like that.)

My very first source for music was my brother, who is almost eleven years older than me. Yes, the age difference is worth mentioning - I was born in 1980, he in 1969. Regarding music it makes for a world of difference. The first two bands I really listened to were Die Toten Hosen, a German punk band, and AC/DC. Granted, I had no idea what the lyrics of the AC/DC songs meant, seeing as I was 10 years old at the time and didn't speak English, but still. He is also to blame for Metallica, Megadeth, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Idol, Guns 'N' Roses, and lots more hard rock and metal. Yes, my taste in music was vastly different from most of my friends during school.

Then we have the bands/artist that you just can't escape - because everybody you know likes them, or they get played on the radio all the damn time. Bon Jovi comes to mind there, for one.

Movies and tv shows are also a good source for music. The Supernatural soundtrack alone has almost everything a rock lover like me could ever want. Anime of course startet me on J-Rock.

So, that's me. I don't usually go and search for new artists - I don't have to. How about you?

Out of My Depths

Today I had the brilliant idea to sort my music files by genre, to get a little more order into my folder mess. It was... enlightening? Especially considering that I had to use the help of Wikipedia and MySpace to figure the respective genres out.

In conclusion... what the fuck? Post Grunge? Funk Metal? And what is supposed to be so alternative about Alternative Rock or Alternative Metal? It seems that these days pretty much every band and musician makes alternative something. My favorite is without question Alternative Country. (A/N: that was sarcasm.)

There's a reason why I never cared about music genres. There's music I like, and there's music I don't like, that's it. Okay, so let's divide that into a few groups:

Rock, Metal, Blues, Jazz, Pop, Classical, Electronic, Instrumental, Musical, Country

That pretty much covers everything I usually listen to. You can call it Alternative Rock if you want, to me it's Rock. Or Metal, or Country, or whatever else. What's up with all those pseudo genres?

Years ago I read something about that - in fact it was something the singer of ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead had written as an answer to the often asked question what kind of music exactly his band was making. The short answer was: nothing specific. They don't care about genres, because they play what they like and are in the mood for. They experiment. You can't put simply one label on that.

I guess I listen to music the same way they make it - experimentally. Yes, I will always favor Rock, but that doesn't mean I'll let myself be bound to that genre. Or to any genre.

...where is my point, has anybody seen my point? I think I had one when I started writing. Music genres are bloody confusing? Let's go with that.

Brandon Sanderson - The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2)

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Spoilers are blacked out, highlight to read.

Oh ye gods, I'm done! While I really liked the first book in the Mistborn trilogy, this one was... a serious letdown. Let me count the ways...

The Characters.
Vin should be renamed to Mary Sue. That's really all there is to it. While the tendency was already developing in book 1, it really came to the fore here. And without Kelsier as a counter point to Vin it really became too much. Vin is just too good. It doesn't matter that she gets hurt, in the end she always wins without any dire consequences. Be it luck, amazing skill, or a brilliant idea that comes to her just at the right moment, you know every time that she'll get out of it alright. Which takes pretty much all the suspense out of any fight and conflict she's in.
Her teenage angsting about Elend and their relationship just makes her all the more annoying.

Which brings me to Elend Venture - and I'm still hung up on the name, I'm sorry. But Sanderson really should've checked first what Elend means - and I sincerely hope that he didn't and the name isn't intentional. (For the confused ones, Elend is a German word and means misery.)
Aside from that... As with Vin, it only gets worse in the second book. We already knew that Elend is an idealist, but I didn't think he would be that much of a naive, stupid idealist. The man grew up as the heir to one of the most powerful noble houses, and he still behaves like a bumbling idiot who knows nothing about real politics and human nature. Elend, of all people, should know that in the end almost everybody does what's best for themselves, not the 'people'. The only surprising thing about the council getting rid of him, is that it took them so long.
(Or not, I guess having a king who lets his council walk all over him wasn't the worst situation for them.)

Sazed; I have to say, I wish there'd been more about him. He and Breeze are about the only the characters in this book that experienced some development. I enjoyed learning more about Breeze and his thoughts and motivations, but as with Sazed, there should've been more.

Zane had, without a doubt, a lot of potential, and that made me miss him all the more for the last part of the book. I don't believe he's gone though. Come on, you think Sanderson would throw a revelation like that at us and then just kill him off? Especially knowing that there's pretty much only one way to kill him, which Vin didn't know and therefore didn't use?
I hope to see a lot more of him, and please please go deeper than just the surface. All the potential in the world doesn't do any good if it's not realized.
(If he actually is dead, then I can only wonder what the hell his purpose in the story was.)

The most interesting character in this book was the Kandra. And that was even before finding out about TenSoon. Again, I'll hope he'll be back in book 3, or that at least there'll be more about the Kandra in general.


The Story.
Over all not bad, though given how much the two main characters annoy me that's not much of a saving grace. I think there was exactly one thing in this story that came as a surprise, and that was TenSoon. Well, and Zane's secret.
Aside from that...

Zane turning against Vin? Don't tell me you didn't see that coming.

Vin finding a way to control the Koloss? Do I have to mention the Mary Sue factor again?

Marsh turning on them? Please, it was mentioned right from the beginning that he was changing. And after finding out what it was that caused Zane to go around the bend it really wasn't that much of a logical leap.

The Well not being the salvation everyone thought it would be? Now there's the least surprising thing of all.

Or maybe the least surprising thing was Elend becoming an Allomancer. No really, I was expecting that since the beginning of the book.

I'm sorry to say this, but I just could not get into this book. The characters were mostly too flat or annoying to get invested in them, the story didn't really hold any surprises, and the whole thing dragged like old chewing gum. I sincerely hope that the third book will be better than this.

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Ilona Andrews - Magic Slays (Kates Daniels #5)

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you ever want to read something that has humor, horror, mystery, magic, steamy romance, shapeshifters, vampires and witches (oh my), and that is simply entertaining and fun to read, I fully recommend the Kate Daniels books. Of course there's also blood and gore, but what else would you expect from sword fights, gunfights, and half human huge beasts with fangs and claws?

In this book of the series we have vampires on the loose, a scientist and his super secret project gone missing, a murder sacrifice, a cranky and jobless hyenawere, and a foul tempered as ever ex-merc/ex-Order employee turned PI. Oh yes, she's also the brand new mate of Curran, the local Beast Lord.

Not only has Kate a crime to solve, she's also frustrated with her overprotective mate, not to mention pack business. And with learning new things about her mother and foster father she suddenly has to wonder why exactly Curran chose her of all women to be his mate - and if his decision had anything to do with Kate's heritage.

Like all other books in this series it is almost impossible to put this one away again once you've started reading.

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