Oh Boy, Do I Love Ludo

First off, I didn't make it to 50k like I wanted. *cringes in preparation for e-beheading* I did make it to 49k, though, so that's something. (Maybe you can just smack my knuckles with an e-ruler instead?)

Anywho--you guys may remember me mentioning in yesterday's post that Ludo is my favorite band of all time. Well, considering I haven't been doing anything but listening to their new album lately, I thought I'd use them for the basis of today's post.

Why do I love Ludo so much?

(What's not to love?)

Aside from the humor, the variety of sounds they cover, Andrew Volpe's voice, and the fact they named their band after a character in my favorite nostalgic movie ever (seriously, I was fueled by Labyrinth as a kid. Rented it every weekend. Don't know why I didn't buy a copy until I was thirteen or so. I'm rambling...), their ability to tell a story is freaking amazing. Any band who can tell a good story is automatically cool in my book, but Ludo wins a lot of extra points for the unique stories they tell.

Who out there likes love songs?

Give these a listen:

There are plenty of love songs out there, but not many invoke the poignant, beautiful images Ludo's music brings to mind. I really appreciate this kind imaginative writing in a world so full of...blandness. And this is only scratching the surface of the places Ludo's songs will take you.
("This song is about when you're on vacation and your friends get eaten by a fuckin' lake." -- Andrew Volpe, lead singer and songwriter for Ludo, on Lake Pontchartrain.)

I like to write by music--I'm sure most of you already know that. Music stirs up the emotions I need to crank out a good story. And, of all the 1,800 songs on my playlist, the ones tagged LUDO work the best, partly due to their wide range of sounds, styles and subjects (Prepare the Preparations covers things like skeletons, pirates, cyborgs, robots, leprechauns, witches, curses, Bonnie and Clyde, and ‘50s R&B), and to Andrew Volpe's unbelievable ability to take a cliche or a stale idea and make it shine like new.


Andrew's refreshing creativity ranks pretty high on my list of favorite things--up there with coffee and that trip I took to the zoo where we jumped the fence into the orangutan cage (True story, bro. Didn't go over so well).

Example: Ludo's Broken Bride album is the story of a man who builds a time machine to save his wife from the car accident that takes her life. Miscalculations send the man, instead, on an adventure spanning from the reptilian horrors of prehistory, to the gruesome zombie warfare of the Apocalypse.

When I first heard this album, two things happened. First, I cried. By the last song on the album, I was literally moved to tears. And second,  I took a moment to admire (and, let's be honest, envy) the power behind the story I had just taken in. It's nothing incredibly new--I've read plenty of books about time travelers--but it struck me all the same. As a writer, seeing someone take an idea that's been done half-to-death and giving it new life...well, that's enough to bring a tear to my eye. (Lololol. It did.)

Then to see the same band that just made me cry like a four-year-old who dropped her lollipop turn around and make me bust a lung laughing with songs like Whipped Cream, Go-Getter Greg, and Girls on Trampolines is just...I don't think there are words to properly describe how awesome that is.

Ludo is unlike any other band I've ever come across.

It's this sort of uniqueness that inspires me to do the same in my writing--to plunge headfirst into my well of creativity instead of just skimming off the top.

I've been reading a lot of posts lately about how the Sea of New Ideas is pretty close to running dry, and Ludo's music makes me confident in saying a) that's not true, and b) if it is true, big whoop--you can make old ideas glitter too.

They motivate me to be better at my craft. They ignite the love of words inside me. I wish I could thank them and pay them back for all their music has done for me and my writing.

Y'know, I feel like I'm gushing, but it's all true. If there's a band out there I think every writer should at least sample, it's Ludo.

So yeah...here's my fangirl post.

What about you?
Do you have a band that inspires you?
Or one you just especially love?

HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!

**EDIT**

Also, I want to share this video.
Ahhh...these guys made me lol so hard.

Yeah, great going guys. Undermining all that stuff I said about you being unique. ("Basically it's the movie A.I.--totally ripped off," Andrew Volpe, 2:16, on the inspiration for Cyborgs vs. Robots)