Shuffleboard 3

#1 "Safe And Sound" by Chris Cornell from Carry On

I first found Chris Cornell after he sung the title song "You Know My Name" from Casino Royale. My friend had his solo album (I since then discovered Audioslave, and liked their first CD immensely), and it is mostly enjoyable, if mostly predictable.

This is one of the mostly forgettable songs. Weird balladish-vibe, boring lyrics, and inexplicable trumpets.

Cornell is better with Rage Against The Machine backing him.

#2 "Heaven Or Hell" by Lecrae from Real Talk

Lecrae is one of the most underrated rappers out there today. He's a Christian, and you can't help but tell. There's not one song of his that doesn't present the Gospel and can't lead you to Christ. He takes Romans 1:16 seriously.

This track is best summed up by it's hook:

"I hope that ya'll listening well, there's only two places to dwell
Heaven and Hell
And if you representing the first, I pray you're representing well
Heaven and Hell."

#3 "The Incredits" by Michael Giacchino from The Incredibles

I love Michael Giacchino. He's a fresh composer that writes some varied and exciting stuff, including the scores to The Incredibles, Ratatouille, LOST, Fringe, MI:3, and a bunch of other stuff.

He's fresh, got great ideas, and he writes very uniquely for each project.

For instance, his score for The Incredibles (the first score of his I heard), is heavily jazz-influenced, with markings of old-school superhero music and action music. Just a really fun score.

And, as you can see from the track title, he names his tracks really entertaining things.

#4 "Main Theme" by Hans Zimmer from Black Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down is one of the essential guy movies, up there with Braveheart, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, etc.

Hans Zimmer wrote a great, if predictable, score, that basically invented the rock/Arabic crossover music that's used so heavily in video games now.

This is one of his more creative tracks, with a woman and man singing in Breton, a celtic language. I have no idea why it's called the Main Theme, because the main theme is either bullets or Zimmer's pounding bass.

Still, it's haunting, and a cool contrast to the crazy war theme of the movie.

#5 "Up and Up" by Relient K from Five Score and Seven Years Ago

Good ol' Relient K. I've already posted why I love this band.

And this song is no exception. This is a great fresh start, motiviational, pump it up song. And on their B-sides album, it had a great acoustic version.

"I'm just trying to be a better version of me for you."

Good stuff.