ABOUT

Hey, thanks for checking out our site! This web page is a collaboration between two great friends, James and Aaron, and collects all their musings, ramblings, reviews and (sometimes) utter nonsense about music. Lots of sites write about music, and many of them do it way better than we do. We encourage you to read those sites as well! But you won’t find this level of heartfelt love (or indifference or hate) for the subject matter just anywhere. Nope, the KMA gives it to you straight.

We’re not paid to do this. It’s just for shits and giggles.

A brief history:

The KMA started on the web in October of 2006, and has lived in several homes. It currently resides on Word Press because, for the time being, WP works. Some of those other sites did not, and around here we just don’t have time or patience for troubleshooting assinine problems with free blog sites.

The name Keeps Me Alive comes from an old Black Flag song called Room 13. Aaron loves Black Flag. A lot. But more than that, music really does keep us alive. It fuels us and excites us. It helps us through those long, bitter winter nights. It is the soundtrack of our lives.

We hope you enjoy your stay. There’s lots to dig through, in these archives. We love comments, so if you see something that you just have to tell us about, please feel free to do so! We will reply! And if you have your own music and you want to see a review of it here so that you can impress all your friends, by all means contact us and we’ll make arrangements for getting your sounds into our ears. We’d love to hear it – whatever it is.

Ever onward towards new sounds, let’s give ‘er!

the KMA

57 thoughts on “ABOUT”

  1. Reply
    Susie Schwartz says:

    Hello! My name is Susie Schwartz and music has literally kept me alive! Having chronic illness since a young age, I’ve lost my site (it’s back now, thanks to surgery), have Type 1 diabetes, Fibromyalgia, and even had a brain tumour (Don’t worry, it’s gone now!) over the years, to name a few of my health trials. So yeah, sitting at the piano and composing and writing has been my saviour. I just discovered you through a friend that follows you. I’m liking what you are doing here! Originally from Winnipeg, MB I now live in the UK. My song ‘Basement Bungalow’ is about to be released at the end of the month, and I recently released two other singles, ‘You Don’t Know Who I Really Am’ and ‘Grace and Grit’. I’m wondering if you might be interested in giving a review? If you’d like to review Basement Bungalow, I can send you a link privately for now, and you can hear the others for consideration at https://open.spotify.com/artist/2NR2K56f3zu9neL9tA2iDW

    Like

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      Thank you so much for your reply, Susie. It really does sound like you’ve been through the wringer, I’m so glad music sustains you through it all. I will check out your song, thanks for the link. And thanks to your friend for sending along our little corner of the internets. Cheers!

      Like

          1. Reply
            I Heart Noise says:

            It was on my end…one of the two plugins I installed lately apparently led to a page crashing on Mac.

            Try it again, should work fine now (so I was told, at least)

            Like

      1. Reply
        I Heart Noise says:

        There’s a subscribe button at the top and one in the sidebar…

        Glad to see its finally working for you!

        Like

  3. Reply
    Lana Teramae says:

    Music is one of the only things that keep me alive as well. I’ve learned that different types of music affected my mental health too. With the right songs, music can be very comforting! Also, I love the record spinning and the caption, “No dress rehearsal, this is our life!” What a true statement!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      Hello kindred spirit Lana! Music really is the glue and the fuel, a constant and an inspiration. That tagline is from the Tragically Hip’s brilliant song Ahead By A Century… that band had a plethora of killer lines (and tunes). As for the spinning record, I just Googled how to add a .gif to a WP header, it worked well. Thanks for checking out our little corner of the internet!

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Reply
        Lana Teramae says:

        Oh the spinning record is creative and what a beautiful lyric! I agree that music is the glue and the fuel, a constant and an inspiration. I couldn’t have said it better myself. What a great website title too! Take care!

        Like

  5. Reply
    alexraphael says:

    Really like your blog and your music taste 🙂 Great to see Bryan Adams and A-ha mentioned. Like how you mentioned Depeche Mode and Tears for Fears in your analysis too.

    Like

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      Hey thanks! I just found your comments in our Pending folder, replying to them now (very late). Glad you found things to enjoy in the blog, that 80s stuff is a lot of music from my childhood for sure, but I still love it today. Cheers!

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Reply
    SpeedySailor says:

    Wassup! We were wondering whether or not you’d wanna do some guest work for us over at Stuff And That and maybe vice versa. We can’t seem to find many great music bloggers (although by the looks of things we haven’t been looking hard enough) and we think your writing style would be at home among our stuff. Contact me if your interested, mate: milowhite74@gmail.com
    Milo

    Like

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      Hey thanks for the invite, Milo! I would be all over this, but as I posted recently, I am looking at a couple of things going on here that will take up blogging time here on the KMA. Not sure about contributing to another blog too! I will say, thogh, if you’re ever wanting to do something like a one-off group post on a record, let me know. I could jump in on something like that…

      Thanks for thinking of me! A

      Liked by 2 people

  7. Pingback: Two Sunshine Blogger Awards | vinnieh
  9. Reply
    Jacque' says:

    The wife and I really love this blog and appreciate the quirkiness and fun you provide. We would like to encourage you to keep writing and never abandon this blog. When you decide to have a mobile app version, I would love to be of service. I appreciate the hard work you have put into this blog and wish you all future success in business and in life.
    Thank you for your time, it is the most precious thing we all possess.
    -Jacque’

    Like

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      Hey Jacque’, thanks for the encouragement. We don’t intend on giving up the blog any time soon. Not sure on a mobile app, but thanks for the offer at any rate. You’re right, time is our most precious resource, non-refundable and fleeting. Success to you as well.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      We would absolutely love to hear your album. We love receiving work from artists for review! Thanks very much for the link.

      If you have anything you’d like me to copy/paste into the top of the review, an artists’ mission statement or anything about the album and how/why it got made, you can reach us at keepsmealive at gmail dot com.

      Cheers! Aaron of the KMA

      Liked by 1 person

  16. Reply
    ianbalentine says:

    Hey Aaron, just wanted to let you know that I just finished viewing you and LeBrain’s Toronto record shop excursions and found it mightily entertaining! I believe you and I and Le Brain may be around the same age (I’m 47…forgive me if I’m way off here), and the vids took me back to my youth living in Milton, before we could drive we would take the GO train and pretty much do what you two did…hike it down town TO and come back with a bag of CDs. Anyway, great series, and this blog along with LeBrain’s are two of the purest and best.

    Like

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      Thanks for the comment ianbalentine! I’m really glad you enjoy the series – Mike does a fabulous job on the videos. I half-ass the music! Yup, we’ve been bombing down to Taranna for years, ever since we were teenagers. Record shopping has played a role in many of those trips! We used to park at Yorkdale and subway downtown. You’re not far off on ages, I turn 42 in July. Thanks for stopping by, I’m glad you dig the blog. I hope we can keep giving you posts to enjoy. Cheers!

      Like

  17. Reply
    emmakwall says:

    I had to follow you. I saw you on VinnieH’s film blog and he was asking how people would react to a blog about bums. You said “they’d get BEHIND it” – I HAD to follow you 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      Hey Emma thanks for stopping by! I hope you can find enough to keep you interested, around here. We talk mostly about music and we’re part of a great community of bloggers. As for the puns, well, I have been known to fire those off every once in a while, but I do try not to make an ASS of myself. Thanks so much for the Follow!

      Like

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      Danica! Thank you so much, we are honoured! I love the idea of this award, because it is close to a big part of this blogging thing we have going: COMMUNITY!

      I’ll address this in the KMA Sunday Service #14, this weekend. Thanks again!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Reply
      keepsmealive says:

      Well-played, sir! Have to say, that song didn’t occur to me at the time, though you’re right it contins the line several times. No, I was immersed in the mighty Black Flag at the time, and they are never disappointing! 😉 If you’re not fortunate enough to have Damaged in your collection, you can hear that particular song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syN5og3xZes TURN IT UP!

      Like

      1. Reply
        keepsmealive says:

        It is indeed a very good guess, but nope. It’s the mighty Flag! There’s a link for it in another comment up above, but here it is again! Play it loud, and play it often!

        Like

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