March: 31 days, 32 new-to-me albums

I've made it a goal of mine to listen to an album a day in 2010. I typically listen to at least an hour (if not 12+) of music every day and love the album as a creative format. So hearing 365 over the course of a year seems like it should be a snap, assuming I can accumulate enough additional albums worthy of my time and ears of course.

We're now 1/4 of the way through the year and I've accomplished my goal thus far, but I was randomly inspired to make March an entirely "new-to-me" music month. Between digging through a massive pile of albums from my roommates' stash downstairs, having albums given to me by a few especially loyal and supportive friends, and buying a few albums I really wanted (or even just on a whim), new music March was a success.

Go to my website and punch in the Konami Code (Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A) on your keyboard to access the "secret" section, then go to March under "Album of the Day". Notice how EVERY date that month has a red box around it? Any "red" tags are albums I hadn't previously owned or heard before, so you can easily figure out what I've been adding and what I already had. Plus each album links to a Twitter post where I say something random associated with it too.

Here's a breakdown of what March was for me, musically speaking of course. (You do NOT want to hear how my March went otherwise.) Want to know what albums & artists I'm actually referring to though? Go to my website!

1: Dug this out of the stash downstairs, and since it includes some of their biggest hits I thought it worthy of my attention.

2: This quirky but cool rock band has always sort of resided on the outer edge of my consciousness, so it only made sense to give this album a shot. Didn't have any real expectations but now I think they definitely rock.

3: This band was TORTURING me for months with their singles from this Grammy-nominated album. Every time I'd hear one I'd love the music/hooks/melodies but would be instantly turned off by the annoying vocals, which is what I refer to as "Oasis Syndrome". (Sorry Oasis fans, I love it when someone covers "Wonderwall" but can't stand the original.) But after hearing one song covered enough by some friends of mine and the two other big singles elsewhere, I decided to give the full album a shot. And it rocked. Not the whole way through, but I definitely don't dislike this band anymore.

4: Another quirky but cool band I've really wanted to see more often (they're local) but haven't really had much opportunity to do so. Though their lead singer refers to this album as "a relic" (it's from 1999), I dug it. Most bands can't even make a 12-minute song, but they can make it and have it be cool even.

5: I love rock supergroups (especially this one), though I didn't actually know who all was in this band until I borrowed this album from a friend.

6: This local band largely flew under my radar until this year. I wish the album would've been recorded a little bit better (the mix seems iffy at times) but it's still totally awesome.

7: Remember the Bee Gees? They aren't all dead yet but they were already reincarnated as this band.

8: The solo debut by the frontman of one of my favorite bands. Imagine that band with longer songs and synth-heavy music and you've got yet another winner.

9: A highly-anticipated album that I waited until its release day to hear. While underwhelming at first, I know over time it'll grow on me. I just wish the frontman had more lead vocals on it.

10: I actually did two albums by the same artist. Let's just say that I REALLLLLLLLY stretched the boundaries of my taste on this day, and it was quite weird to listen to at times. While I certainly love the use of lyrical pun and some of the music is actually quite catchy, I can't help but laugh most of the time while I'm listening to this artist for the sheer reason that I probably shouldn't be listening to them.

11: Oh, to have been in my prime in that particular decade...

12: This artist that I recently got into is so bizarre yet makes music so cool that I can't help but love everything they've done that I've heard so far.

13: I'm very skeptical when it comes to "all-ages" music, or at least the music that tends to be popular with teenagers these days cause most of it sucks. But this band defied my expectations and I'm now sold. Gotta get out to a show now sometime cause they're (technically) local too.

14: Love this artist but can't say that I really dug the new/alternate versions on some of these classic songs. But he's still one of the greatest all-time in my book.

15: The 2010 Rock and/or Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was on this night, so I dug this band's debut album out of the pile downstairs. Not bad, but it wasn't as amazing as I was expecting it to be either.

16: When I came of age musically (i.e., I hit my teens in the late 90's/early 00's), this band's frontman was busy working on another project that I got way more into first. So while I may have had a "backwards" experience with hearing this band, it didn't diminish my enjoyment of this album.

17: This group has always proven to be catchy and cool to my ears, so it was about time I got to hear an album. And it was awesome. Will be getting more albums in the future for sure.

18: Yet another classic album, but one that I hadn't heard the whole way through yet. Gotta love a song where the title is simply just a swear word as well, haha.

19: Arguably one of the most inspiring artists of all-time. The second-to-last track of this album is one of three songs which I associate with literally my most early memories in life, or at least the ones I can remember...

20: A new band on the local scene, those the members were already quite close to say the least. I didn't have any expectations before hearing it but thought it was a cool little album.

21: One of my three biggest musical idols fronts this band, and I'm eventually going to own their whole collection. Though they technically aren't one of my "true favorite" bands (yet), I did get to see them in 2005 and it was quite an awesome (though also quite violent) 2-hour experience in their most pit.

22: Another local band which largely flew under my radar until recently, but as they kept popping up on bills with some of my favorite local acts I started to dig them. They're giving this album away for free now online, so go get it!

23: The frontman for this band already has two other bands which I dig, so it only made sense to hear what his third band sounded like.

24: I shot this band in June 2007 and dug their sound, but they completely fell off my radar until a friend gave me their debut album. And it's awesome! Makes me wish they could tour more often, or at least tour around here anyway.

25: Dug this out of the pile downstairs, and it's the second album I've heard from this band. While I don't think they're as great as my all-time favorite band in this particular genre, I definitely dig them.

26: Someone gave me an advance copy of this album, which I had initially planned to wait until its release date to hear. But with all the talk surrounding it I had to go ahead and give it a listen. It's not nearly as "pop" as their first album but it's still most definitely their sound, or whatever I envision that to be. Either way it's weird, which is not a bad thing in this case.

27: On the rare occasions where I listen to The Current, this band would occasionally pop up and actually impressed me with their catchy tunes. Was definitely glad to give their first album a full listen, and now I am a fan.

28: I wish more bands could be as cool as this one.

29: Back when MTV had TRL (or even music videos on rare occasions), this band's video for their second single was EVERYWHERE. And I liked it. And I had that song on my iTunes for a long time before I ever heard this album, which I had high hopes for upon hearing it for the first time on this day. But, it was way too emo for my tastes unfortunately. Eh, can't win 'em all.

30: A local band that, while gaining quite a following over the past 2 years since I first saw them, didn't really catch my interest until the Saturday before this day when I saw them for the 2nd time ever. I'm now a fan.

31: This band completely blew me away at First Avenue a little over two years ago yet this is only the third album of theirs that I have. I'm very patient with acquiring music from the bands I enjoy, albeit a 1 1/2+ year gap between getting albums that are already released is a little much for me.

An album a day keeps insanity at bay.

I've been posting a new rock photo every day in my Facebook group since April 2007, which is pretty awesome cause I've now tallied over 1100 photos. I'm currently broke and unemployed though, so I have to be really picky on what shows I see (or you can always put me on the list!) these days.

But another idea I had for 2010 was to try to listen to an album a day. Seemed easy enough at first; I listen to music anywhere from 1-12 hours a day depending on what I'm doing and I'm a bit of a purist in that I still love the idea of the album as a creative format. Singles are nice obviously but albums are what really get you hooked on a band.

In order to make this a reality though, I'm probably going to need to acquire about 100+ more albums since my library isn't as deep as it should be for this idea. Believe me, I've got a lot of great music, but I'm also missing out on a lot of stuff I should have as well. Plus it doesn't hurt to be exposed to new stuff either sometimes.

I'm a very picky dude when it comes to the music I like (I do try to keep an open mind too of course) but if you've got any CDs you'd be willing to loan (or even give) to me, hit me up. And if you'd like to follow along with my album of the day series, enter the Konami Code (Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A) on your keyboard while on www.mikeminehart.com to bring up the "secret" section that also houses some other fun hidden goodies.



P.S. - If you're opposed to sharing music like this, know that I still buy CDs (I don't actually buy off iTunes or any digital retailer) when I'm not broke and I haven't illegally downloaded a song online in over 3 years. I'm not a distributor either; I occasionally receive albums that haven't been released yet but I sure ain't gonna be a prick and leak them to the masses. So show some love for a fellow music lover and lemme hear some of your cool albums.

Coming soon: The new and improved mikeminehart.com

These past few weeks, I've been digging through my archive of photography unrelated to live shows with the goal of creating a brand-new section for my website. Obviously everyone knows me for my concert photography, but when I think about it, the very essence of what I love doing is people photography.

It's always been that way for me ever since I first started shooting back in high school. The office had a digital camera to check out, and I found myself regularly bringing it to sporting events and whatnot. I liked capturing the atmosphere of life in high school, and funny/candid photo opportunities were plentiful. I didn't shoot as much right after high school, but when I finally discovered the Twin Cities music scene during my sophomore year of college, that reignited my love for people photography and subsequently propelled me to where I am today.

Though since 2007 I've averaged seeing over 200 shows per year, I've still found time to be creative and shoot things other than just music on occasion. And that's a side of me you're going to get to see soon when I eventually unveil a new "People" section (featuring band promos and other portraits) on www.mikeminehart.com.

Here's a little sample of what's to come with the new People section, for which I also have a new logo to accompany those photos with. These past two weekends I had shoots with my friends Lindsay and Kristin, and we definitely captured some pretty great photos. I'm not nearly as good yet at shooting portraits as I am at shooting live music, but with time and experience, who knows? I was a no-clue nobody when I first started shooting music, but I now feel that having that experience and being able to apply that style of shooting to portraits makes my work more than just your run-of-the-mill kind of photography.













P.S. - Yes, I am available for hire for shoots starting at $50. You can reach me via FaceSpace, E-mail, cellphone, face-to-face conversation, or even the Bat-signal if you work it right.