Awesome New Music: Crash Kings

I don’t know what music has to do with college, but I thought music profiles would be something that would appear on a college blog. I wanted to use to this blog to show support for my latest obsession in the music world. They’re called the Crash Kings.

I was searching iTunes the other night for bands similar to Cage the Elephant and their album popped up. It was released in 2009 but I’m just now finding it. I figure they’re due to release another one soon because I’ve observed, that most musicians release a new album every 2 years or so.

Anyways, what’s unique about the Crash Kings is that they strive to produce a big rock sound without a guitar (alright, they have a bass guitar, but everything else is keyboard and drums.) They use specialized instruments to create and bend sound the way a normal electric guitar would.

I love this album because the music is fun and upbeat sounding (whether the lyrics are or not.) I feel like they’re a strange mixing of Dashboard Confessional, Cage the Elephant, and maybe a little bit of Black Keys thrown in there. But even that description isn’t completely accurate. They do have elements of those bands but they have a sound unique to themselves. And I highly recommend everyone check it out.

http://crashkingsmusic.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/CrashKingsMusic

College Quilt

So much for not posting until orientation.
I just wanted to post about my quilt I’ve started planning.

Since I’m going to college in the frozen north (haha) I wanted to make a quilt I could bring with me. It’s going to be 5 feet wide and 8 feet long. It’s HUGE!! But I want it to fit over an extra long twin bed and still have some fabric hanging off.

I started planning out the dimensions of my squares and checking my seam allowances yesterday. I’m making one block in paper first to make sure everything is measured correctly. The technique I want to use involves making a 9×9 square and then cutting it in to quarters. It creates a pretty awesome looking pattern. Here’s the tutorial. But the internet tutorial didn’t account for the extra seam allowances, so i had to figure those out on my own (and I’m not super gifted at math!!).

But I am excited about this quilt. It’s full of bright colors ad fun patterns. The great thing is, it that it’s made out of fabric scraps we already had lying around my house, which means cost will be minimal. The only big expense I’ll have will be buying batting. Today I think I’ll wash all the fabrics I’m going to use. It’s not an extremely necessary step but because I’m mixing different types and weights of fabrics, it will make sewing easier and prevent problems in the future.