Tag: growing up

The Flock: Singer/Songwriter: Simon Lewis & Onk Lou, Martha Hill, keatsu, Kaiak, Boyce Avenue, David Madras

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*This first paragraph is a copy of a previously written synopsis of the point behind the new section, The Flock.*

We have two goals here with our blog and our podcast; we want to help you find a bunch of new artists that you love, and we also want to support those artists. We came up with a new idea for a post where we take a genre, and give you a few artists within that genre. That way, it helps everyone. If you come here because you love one artist, you’ve got five more that you’re probably going to love now. That helps you load up your playlist with tracks that will impress your friends, and it also helps the artists hit untapped markets and possibly network with likeminded artists they didn’t know existed. Without further ado, I present “The Flock.”

ARTISTS LOOK HERE: Caleb and I have started a Facebook group that we want to turn into a place for artists from around the country to find likeminded bands to fill shows out, find shows, and really just a community made by artists to talk about the industry. If you’re interested in joining that, CLICK HERE.

Simon Lewis & Onk Lou – “Home 2.0”

The way this was described when it was sent to us was simply: “Two incredible voices in one song that couldn’t be more variant.” When I first started listening to the music, I was like, okay, this first guy has a beautiful voice; I’m sure the other guy does too, but how variant could they really be? And then the second guy came in; and I immediately started to type my response about wanting to feature this song on the blog. Then they harmonize together and I had to stop typing and just listen to the rest of the song before I responded. I was trying to think of who they reminded me of; and I couldn’t come up with anyone that they actually sounded like. They remind me slightly of Middle Brother in the sense that they have very different voices and beautiful lyricism, but these guys have much better voices than Middle Brother (not hating, I love Middle Brother). Let’s dive in briefly to the beautiful lyricism I mentioned:

“I dig a hole in the woods and I grow with the roots and I go with the flood as life tells me so, I let go of the mess created in my head because,
Home is where the heart is and that’s wherever I go.
bridge:
I close my eyes to feel the moment, I walk this path made out of cobblestone, I take a breath before I let it go, when stars collide they fall apart but in the end there’ll always be a start, till than I’ll dance beneath the waterfall”

I could’ve really picked any section of the song and found something to talk about, but I particularly like the message of home being different for different people. In particular; it doesn’t have to be a place with roots stuck in one place, it can also be a flooded river you float down. “Home is where the heart is, and that’s wherever I go.”

Martha Hill – “Spiders”

Do you ever feel like you’re losing your mind? Well this song perfectly describes exactly what that feels like:

“One head two minds

Hands pressing glass from separate sides

Three seconds till I dive

1 2 3 stop

CHORUS

The spiders in my head they just won’t leave me alone

I pick the legs off while I wait for the seconds to slow ”

There’s something about the lyrics that remind me a bit of the short story “The Yellow Wall Paper”, a story where a woman being shut in the house by her husband, becomes increasingly crazy; which causes her husband to shut her in even more for…being crazy.

The beautiful instrumentals that have a nice beat throughout, and then go off the rails like a Pink Floyd bridge at the 2 minutes mark only add to Martha’s haunting vocals that carry you right up to the very last second of the very last “1, 2, 3, stop.” It’s a song that strikes a perfect balance between catchy and disorienting; and I really can’t get enough of it.

Bio: “Martha Hill is a an alternative pop artist based in Newcastle upon Tyne.

After growing up as one of six siblings on a remote Scottish peninsula, where the only link to the mainland was via ferry, she left home at 17 and spent two years touring across Europe as a street musician.

Eventually relocating to north-east England and falling in with a local ‘scene’ for the first time, Martha and her band have spent the past year touring all over the UK – supporting the likes of Holy Moly & The Crackers and Let’s Eat Grandma at venues such as Borderline, The Cluny etc. – with two DIY tours of Europe falling in between. Her most recent gig was for BBC Introducing, supporting Atlantic-signed Mahalia on The Biggest Weekend Fringe Tour.”

keatsu – “Feel Good”

I realize this isn’t necessarily what you might initially think of as “Singer/Songwriter”, but keatsu is basically a one man show, and it’s my blog, so don’t worry about it. Also, if you only listened to the first little bit, you’d assume the whole thing was just a normal lo-fi project with a guy with an acoustic guitar, and then you quickly see it advance and evolve from there into a beautiful call and response with himself that repeats “I just feel good on the dance floor.” This is something you’d expect to be said by Justin Timberlake with a break beat behind it, but is instead said with lo-fi effects and an a minimalistic guitar. The irony and self awareness of keatsu is my favorite thing about all his projects. He’s one of my favorite artists out the moment. On his full-length, he references everything from Nirvana, to Linkin Park, to pop songs, and it all just works. Literally go throw a dart at his Spotify page and you’ll find 3 new favorite songs. We can get you started with our Spotify link at the bottom of this page (don’t skip down there yet, still plenty of good music to hear).

Kaiak – “No Regrets”

I really could see this song making waves on some mainstream channels in the summer months. The thing that really solidified this song for me, other than the beautiful production and vocals, was the interesting use of horns during the later half of the song. It really was a nice surprise for me that took this song from a nice sounding song that I would listen to again, to a song I immediately saved to all of my Spotify playlists. “Lesson learned, passed the test, life goes on, no regrets.” It’s a message that we’ve all heard before, but gets solidified by the pretty package that Kaiak has presented it in here.

Boyce Avenue – “Ride The Wave”

I immediately thought this looked like an advertisement. I guess that might come off as a bad thing; but I mean like a Super Bowl Ad. It’s one of those heartfelt ones that you expect from Budweiser or something. It’s just so beautifully shot, and the music itself fits the vibe that it’s created so well.

“The tide will rise and fall; some days you will feel small, but ride a wave, I’ll ride it in with you.”

I don’t have kids, but that sentiment is just so beautiful to me. It’s both a lesson and a show of support, an acknowledgment of the harshness of the world, but also saying “I have your back as long as I can.” This message mixed with the family fun and love shown in the video can melt the coldest of hearts. Trust me on that.

David Madras – “Me & You”

And last, but certainly not least. Do you like Phosphorescent? Who doesn’t? David Madras’ voice reminds me so much of Phosphorescent. I’m really excited to announce that this song will be a part of our upcoming podcast episode that focuses on Existentialism. Oh you didn’t know we had a podcast? Check it out here. Since we are focusing on it on the podcast, I don’t want to spoil too much here, but let’s dive briefly into one of the lines.

“She said she had a little revelation, about the way the clouds appear, and how a day becomes a year. She said she had a little realization, about everything she’s ever feared, and suddenly it’s drawing near.”

I don’t know about you guys, but I connect to the “she” in this song so strongly. The existentialism episode is going to talk about it at length, but basically the idea is that you suddenly feel and question how tiny and insignificant you are in the cosmos; and this song perfectly captures that feeling. Is that a bad feeling? Yeah, sometimes. But it can also be empowering. “She says, we are young, me and you, there’s so much that I don’t know and I’m never going to. We are young, there’s so much left to do, all the wonders of the world for a boy and girl like me and you.”

 

-Caleb

Did you like these songs? Good, me too. Want to hear them again? They are all on our July TOTD Playlist on Spotify. 

The Flock: New Release Friday: Dave Cavalier, Juliana Strangelove, Flo, Loneborn, Sarah MacDougall, Skout

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*This first paragraph is a copy of a previously written synopsis of the point behind the new section, The Flock.*

We have two goals here with our blog and our podcast; we want to help you find a bunch of new artists that you love, and we also want to support those artists. We came up with a new idea for a post where we take a genre, and give you a few artists within that genre. That way, it helps everyone. If you come here because you love one artist, you’ve got five more that you’re probably going to love now. That helps you load up your playlist with tracks that will impress your friends, and it also helps the artists hit untapped markets and possibly network with likeminded artists they didn’t know existed. Without further ado, I present “The Flock.”

ARTISTS LOOK HERE: Caleb and I have started a Facebook group that we want to turn into a place for artists from around the country to find likeminded bands to fill shows out, find shows, and really just a community made by artists to talk about the industry. If you’re interested in joining that, CLICK HERE.

Dave Cavalier: “Snap Out of It”

Have you ever had a relationship that you knew was bad for you, but you continued it anyway? Yeah me too. That’s why I really love this song and video from Dave Cavalier, where we see an alluring relationship slowly fade into both parties leaving dark marks on the other until they are both completely covered. It’s not just the video either, the lyrics lend itself to a similar theme:

“She put something on my tongue in Paris
“20 minutes and you’ll be fine”
Now we’re driving bout hundred seven
Down a back road quarter mile
This street goes straight to heaven
We wanna get lost for a while”

“Rent my gun but ya buying the bullet
I’m a semi automatic tearing through your mind
Whisper like a twister cuz
I’m up to something”

So in both scenarios, they are playing with fire and pushing it as close as they can without getting burned. As we all know, that can only last for so long before things start to deteriorate. Which is why the song ends like this:

“My bad habits
Make me a freak, love
When I’m howling
At the moon
If you wanna
Take em from me
They’ve tried and they’ve tried
Snap out of it”

This song is my new “bad habit” because no matter what, I can’t stop listening to it. Don’t forget to check out all these songs on our July TOTD playlist (it’s linked at the bottom of the post).

Juliana Strangelove – “Far From Moscow”

If you weren’t immediately sucked in with that opening riff, I don’t think we can be friends. Then when the kick drum kicks in, there’s pretty much no way not to tap your foot along. This song completely blew me away when I first heard it. It went from, “oh that’s a great southern/bluegrass riff”, to “oh I didn’t know that Billy Corgan was here”, to “wow these lyrics are so delightfully grungy and aggressive.”

I never knew how to describe these vocals, but luckily, Juliana’s camp explained it to us: “Contra-alto Corner describes it as ‘unique, dark and powerful’, with the heavy richness that makes the Profondo voice such a mesmerizing instrument’. In layman’s terms: Juliana sings in male keys and does it well.” I have to agree completely. If someone had thrown this on without telling me the name, I would’ve assumed it was a guy (specifically Billy Corgan like I mentioned before). It kind of reminds me of my first time hearing Alabama Shakes and then seeing Brittany for the first time and being blown away. I expect a similar come up for Juliana Strangelove, and can’t wait to see what else she creates.

One more fun fact before we move on that proves a little bit more about her badassery: She has another song called “Moscow Heterosexual Blues” which we’ve added to the July TOTD playlist. The video featured men in drag, which in and of itself isn’t all that wild, but then consider where she is from (Russia), and how Putin feels about LGBTQ+ rights and it adds a whole new level of rebellion to her character.

Flo – “Velvet”

“Looking backwards and forwards at once,

finding loopholes for time to start.”

I actually feel like that line describes my feelings on this song pretty well. It is stepping into a tradition of other pop/folk/singer-songwriters but it doesn’t sound like a retread. Flo has her own…flow. I know, I know, dad-jokes. Something you may also find impressive (I did), is that Floraine Hu (Flo), plays guitar and keys along with her beautiful singing voice.

The song title, “Velvet” gets referenced in the opening lines that describe wrapping someone in a velvet cloth to keep them warm, only to have them leave you again soon after recovering. It brings to mind nursing a baby bird back to health, and then letting it take to the skies again. I tend to think it’s more of a metaphor than literal. It seems like a good way to describe a relationship in which one person leans heavily on the other, and then leaves without appreciation. It’s really gut wrenching, yet hidden discretely within Flo’s cherubic vocals.

Loneborn – “Ghosts”

“I see a ghost who’s trying to pretend,

haunting memories of things I never did.

I see a ghost that’s staring back at me,

the echoes of a dream, a door without a key.”

I really love the chorus of this song. I’m not sure I fully understand it, but it feels important. At first when I heard/read it, I thought “haunting memories of things I never did” meant that this ghost was accusing the speaker of things and the speaker was like “no bro, I didn’t do that.” But the more I listened, and thought about it, I think the ghost is haunting the speaker by pointing out missed opportunities. “The echoes of a dream, a door without a key” then becomes those points in our past that we look back and think “what if”, all of those times where maybe we could’ve changed things: new relationships, bad decisions, moments of trauma.

About Loneborn

“Loneborn is an odd-ball collaboration between a producer with years of experience in the industry writing jingles and a graphic designer with brilliantly contagious musical ideas but no traditional musical knowledge. Having originally met in middle school, the duo took on separate career paths throughout the years and lost touch. Raul Garcia, a prolific commercial jingle-writer and indie rock producer, was reacquainted with Jonathan Tuckler, a percussionist & graphic designer on the rise, when the two decided to jam over some beers. When Tuckler began humming melodies and plotting out entire songs using only drums, Garcia decided the two should hit the studio to see how far the ideas could go.”

 

Sarah MacDougall – “Empire”

This is just one of those songs that gives you goosebumps. It has the slow build of an almost acapella first verse, and then those first “woah”s kick in and you can’t help but feel a flood of emotion, just like the singer seems to. And when you dive into the lyrics:

“We destroyed everything

Destroyed everything that was good

We destroyed everything good

Oh oh oh

Is this our empire, Is this our empire?

Oh oh oh

Is this our empire, is this our empire at our feet? ”

It is pretty clear we are singing about a tragedy of epic proportions. It almost reminds me of that line in NIN’s song “Hurt” that mentions “my empire of dirt”. Both songs are thinking about our lives as an empire, and how fleeting those empires are.

“There is so much I could have said And now I’m counting

all the hours I have left to tell you anything

We are born and then we die and in between we

are alive so let the bells ring, let the bells ring”

Now, it does seem to end on a somewhat positive note, even when it’s clouded in realism. We all have a set amount of time here, to say the things we want to say, to see the things we want to see, and that is admittedly tragic. But with the bells ringing out at “in between we are alive”, we can think about all the bells that ring in human lives. Bells of celebration, like a birth, or a wedding, bells of mourning, like a funeral, but all the bells are good bells, because we do get this time at all. What are you doing with yours?

Skout – “Space in Between”

I like putting this song right after the intensity of that last one. It has a similar feel, in the sense that it clearly acknowledges that not everything is rosy all the time. The speaker is desperately looking for “the space in between” to breathe for a while. It seems like at times they are lost in the hustle and bustle of life, and feeling the time slip away. They say, “I don’t need to know where I’ll be in five years.” In a world, especially an America, that says if you aren’t moving you are losing, we often forget how important it is to stop and smell the roses for a moment.

“Where do I go when living is home?”

This refrain has me a little perplexed, but also I find it so beautiful. I guess with what we’ve already said about the song, it is a preponderance on how to find “the space in between”. The ticking clock doesn’t stop, the hustle and need for money doesn’t stop; you can very quickly blink and wake up with years passing you by. Don’t forget to breathe, and look for the spaces that you can hold onto.

 

-Caleb

Want to hear more? These songs and more can be found on our July TOTD playlist right here.

Also, did you know we have a podcast? It’s got enough music and content you’ve never heard to last you for a 30 hour road trip. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Morning Commute: Coyle Girelli – “My Blue Heart”

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Happy Fourth of July! Let’s start it off right with some raw Americana that involves both Red and Blue as a mainstay in the lyrics.:”I’ve got a blue, blue, blue heart and it’s bleeding red”. I really can’t get enough of this song. It sounds like it stepped right out of almost any era, with ranges from Johnny Cash to Jason Isbell to Roy Orbison. Let’s dive a bit into the lyrics:

“I’m Mr Nameless
In a town full of ghosts
I’m walking this road alone
Everywhere I go

I’m got a blue, blue blue heart
And it’s bleeding red

I hope tomorrow won’t hurt as much
And all my sorrow be gone gone gone with just a little love

Maybe there’s someone
As lonely as me
Looking out at the moon
Asking for somebody ”

So it’s someone who feels like their entire worldview is blue and doesn’t see much hope. He does seem to hope that one day he can find someone to share his sorrow with, and that maybe they can start to fix each other with that empathy. It’s really a beautiful sentiment, and very romanticized. From experience, two broken people can definitely make each other feel better, even if it’s not the most stable relationship all the time. I’ve never been able to sustain something like that, but it’s definitely a good starting point.

Bio: “The Chevin frontman, Coyle Girelli, releases his second solo single — “My Blue Heart” —

on Friday, June 8. The song, which follows on the heels of the first single “Where’s My Girl?,” is the second from his upcoming debut solo album, “Love Kills,” out in summer 2018.

“My Blue Heart” opens with a dirty guitar riff and stomps with an Americana heartbeat all the way through its two-minute length. The simplicity and straightforwardness of the shortest song on the album is a nod to an era of classic songwriting that inspires Girelli. Like most of the songs on the album, Girelli is the solo songwriter of “My Blue Heart.” Notably, “My Blue Heart” is the only song that he also mixed.

“I loved the rawness of this recording and this song. It’s honest, simple and satisfying like a good plate of mac & cheese,” said Girelli.

The “Love Kills” album will offer up a moody, romantic, cinematic tone, which Girelli labels Modern Noir.”

 

I certainly know if it sounds anything like this song, I’ll be all about it. Want to hear more? Check out this song and more on our July TOTD playlist on Spotify.

 

The Flock: Singer-Songwriter – Sis, Erika Davidson, Gabrielle Marlena, Emergency Tiara, weareforests, Freyr Flodgren

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*This first paragraph is a copy of a previously written synopsis of the point behind the new section, The Flock.*

We have two goals here with our blog and our podcast; we want to help you find a bunch of new artists that you love, and we also want to support those artists. We came up with a new idea for a post where we take a genre, and give you a few artists within that genre. That way, it helps everyone. If you come here because you love one artist, you’ve got five more that you’re probably going to love now. That helps you load up your playlist with tracks that will impress your friends, and it also helps the artists hit untapped markets and possibly network with likeminded artists they didn’t know existed. Without further ado, I present “The Flock.”

Sis – “Gene”

Let’s get this party started with Sis’ song “Gene.” “Gene” is the fourth single off of Sis’ forthcoming album EUPHORBIA, out on Native Cat Recordings 8/8/2018. So definitely keep a look out for that.
I realize this is technically a full band, but I thought it was stripped back enough to include in our Singer/Songwriter section. Also, the singer, Jenny Gillespie Mason started most of these songs out as folk songs, before bringing the full band into the project that we see today. One thing that really stands out to me about this song is how playful the lyrics are around the word “gene”. It means a name, it means DNA, it is short for “genius” all at once. I don’t know what the full intent is, but this song is pretty genius to me.

 

Erika Davidson – “Memory Lane”

“Jim Morrison set the tone, as you and I dance alone”

Not to be too cheeky, but that opening line immediately “sets the tone” for the excellent track from Erika Davidson. “Memory Lane” seems to be both a nostalgic look at a past relationship and a heart wrenching ballad about a past relationship. The speaker is trying to recreate something deep with something shallow in hopes to get over someone. It’s a very relatable scenario that, as anyone who has tried it knows, doesn’t really work out the way you might hope.

Press release: “Her new single Memory Lane was heavily influenced by a late night binge of The Doors and The Eagles. Their haunting impressions inspired her to write a captivating lullaby. Memory Lane is the tale of heartbreak. It is the story of being lost in nostalgia and trying to fill a void with familiarity. Cinematic cello and piano entwine with her delicate vocal delivery and leave you wanting more.
Memory Lane was produced and engineered at Silverside Recording Studio where she is currently recording her new EP. Her single will be released in digital stores and on all major platforms in June 2018. Shortly after, she will be releasing her EP in the fall of 2018. When done right, mixing genres can be the start of something beautiful. Erika’s EP may be the union you’ve been waiting for.”

I know I personally can’t wait.

Gabrielle Marlena – “Easier Love”

I enjoyed putting this song right after Erika Davidson’s because of how opposite it is. It is still a breakup song, but Gabrielle Marlena seems to be thinking through it a little more optimistically. I mean sure, it’s a little bit of an ironic optimism, but she seems to be wishing this person the best, even if it’s bittersweet. She seems to take a lot of the blame for the failure of their relationship on herself.

Photo by Sarah Midkiff

Let me give you a little bit from the artist herself, because she puts it much more eloquently than I do: “The song is an indie folk ballad detailing a rainy afternoon when I called an ex boyfriend. It’s about how we all romanticize the past, imagining it as so much more perfect than it actually was. I took my first relationship, turned it into an album, put my ex’s face on the cover, and distributed it in the form of canvas tote bags, T-shirts, mugs, and CDs. I sang about my experience in 21 different states. Sometimes on tour, I would get confused between the emotions I was singing about and the present. The song is about snapping back to reality and realizing that, almost 3 years after I left the continent he lived on, I definitely was NOT still hung up on my ex.”

I can’t say that I’ve done the whole tour part, but I have certainly created art that feels unfamiliar to me now. It’s a really weird feeling, and I think this song captures it perfectly.

Emergency Tiara – “It’s A Good Day”

Alright. Enough break up songs for a second. Let’s get a summer song up in here. “It’s a good day to have a good day, life’s a cabaret, it’s time to go out and play”. I realize this song also has some accompaniment, sue me. It still has a very solo vibe to it. It actually sounds a lot to me like it belongs in a classic movie, like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or Casblanca (well maybe not Casablanca, too upbeat).

Press release: “Emergency Tiara kicks off the summer season with her brand new song ‘It’s a Good Day’. Showcasing her signature, vintage-inspired sound, the single is an instant feel-good classic.

Fresh off the back of a series of UK tour dates, Emergency Tiara is the New York based artist you need to get to know. Fronted by Juri, the lead singer, queen, curator and ringleader extraordinaire to the Emergency Tiara kingdom. In Juri’s kingdom, everyone can feel like royalty in an instant – through her unique and intriguing pop sounds, ranging from sultry soul to rampaging swing anthems – taking in everything from French noir to J-Pop in between.”

It certainly captures something classic and familiar and something unique and fresh all at once. I can’t wait to see what else Emergency Tiara creates.

weareforests – “Plea For Winter”

That last song was summery, so let’s get to a wintery one. If you are a fan of Bon Iver’s early albums, I have a new artist for you to explore. weareforests is one of my favorite projects right now. Based out of Fort Collins, CO, he mixes lo-fi vocals and gorgeous lyrics to create a listening experience suited for rainy days and coffee.

“I’ll hold back the burning tide
That floods the rivers of my mind
Burning bright
Oh burning bright
Waters cool and wrought with ice

With your hand in mine
With your hand in mine
With your head right by
My side”

Something particularly effective to me, is the repetition in the hook, and how familiar and cozy it makes everything feel. I hate winter most of the time, but I can’t deny how wonderful it is on a cold day to snuggle up with someone you love in bed hand in hand and heads side by side. It’s a simplistic yet absolutely beautiful image.

Freyr Flodgren – “Over My Head”

This song is just gorgeous. Freyr Flodgren’s voice has to be one of my favorites at the moment. Something really effective to me about this song is the slow reveal of what’s happening. He mentions a fire, and a thunderstorm that come down “right over my head” in the first two verses, but what really drives home the message is the last verse:

“I heard the whisper of the many foreign years
and until the door burns
the beating time slows down
right over my head
right over my head
right over my head”

Now it’s still ambiguous, but to me it seems to be pointing to these destructive forces, fire, storms, time, and appreciating the beauty of them: “the whisper of the many foreign years” contained in all of it. Sure, they are still destructive, the fire is going to burn the door down, time is going to degrade us, but they are beautiful while they are here.

Now, that was my interpretation. That’s the fun thing about art. Here’s what Freyr says the song is about: “It is a play with one of these moments where dream and reality cannot be separated. Freyr dreamt (he realised later) that the house he was living in was burning and he saw himself in one of the windows, smoke billowing out. In memory that dream stands out as just as real as anything else. The way this song was arranged in the end was highly influenced by the fact that it was recorded in this wonderful studio in the mountains around Bergen, Norway. The sound of rain in the beginning and end is the rain falling on the roof during recording.”

So, not the same at all. Isn’t that awesome? I love how different art becomes between the artist and the consumer. I also love that the rain you hear in the track is completely natural and not dubbed in.

 

-Caleb

You can find all of these tracks on a convenient Spotify playlist along with all our other June Tracks right here.

Did you know we make a podcast? We are releasing a new episode tomorrow (June 25), you can find that on this page, along with 13 other episodes.

 

Mid-Day Music Blast: Baraka – “Plateau”

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Let’s explore a chill and jazzy track on this lazy Sunday. I don’t know about you guys, but around here, all the bars do jazz on Sunday afternoon, and though this isn’t really classical jazz, I thought this song fit perfectly. What is your favorite part of this song? I think for me it’s the various use of woodwinds. Flutes, and piccolos and pipes are all under utilized in music today I think. (note: I don’t know enough to say if these are flutes, piccolos, some synth made to sound like them, but it’s a nice touch regardless)

Bio: “Baraka aka Geoffrey Dean is an Electronic Music composer and jazz pianist originating out of Washington D.C. The sound is a unique blend of Electronic, Hip hop, Jazz, R&B, Chillout, Downtempo, Glitch Hop and a variety of other influences.  Baraka adds a unique hybrid of harmonies and original compositions that are sure to interest you with mellow grooves and unique glitch soundscapes. Baraka‘s latest release “Lazarus Chamber” on Itunes, Spotify, and other resellers.”

I hope wherever you are today, sipping mimosas, lounging in chair, resting in bed, that this song gives back to you exactly what you need.

-Caleb

Want to hear to hear more? Check out this song and others on our June TOTD playlist right here.

 

TOTD: The Delivery “take the chance”

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I love this song. It mixes a lot of elements that I don’t normally hear together. It has some 80s driving at night vibes musically, but lyrically and vocally it has some 1st wave emo elements. I guess the closest comparison I can think of is Jimmy Eat World or something, but it’s still not a great comparison. I love the hook though. “Don’t be afraid to show/ what lingers deep within your soul.” He also calls out the “masquerade of fools”. I can’t help but feel like this song is very appropriate for the present, where we show only certain masks on social media and in person, and rarely show what lingers deep within our soul.

About The Delivery

Hailing from the city of Munich in Germany, Markus Klaas makes his debut album New Days. The Delivery is at once influenced by his childhood; making and collecting songs in Germany, and by his extensive travel experience. A few years in London secured his focus on the alternative pop rock, guitar sounds he now produces.

 

You can find his entire album streaming on Spotify or wherever you get your music. To give you a good start, check out this song posted on our monthly Spotify playlist.

-Caleb

 

Morning Commute: Air Stranger “Sunday So Good”

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Let’s get funky this Saturday morning. I love getting these studio session versions of songs. You really get a feel for how talented each member is, and how well her voice holds up in a personal setting. I was kind of half listening when the song first came up, and then I heard the voice and wasn’t expecting it to be coming from a tiny white girl. I don’t know where she stores all that soul and lung capacity, but it’s very impressive. She has a spoken word break down, she hits every note on the range, and she’s seemingly pretty charismatic with her presence. This band has quickly hit the top of my “must see in person” list. It seems like they are mostly around Vancouver at the moment, but I’m holding out hope for an eventual U.S. tour.

Image result for air stranger

Luckily for us, Air Stranger has given us some insight to what inspired this song:

“Sunday So Good takes its inspiration from a Richard Pryor stand-up routine where he imitates an old man reminiscing about the days when the sun came out only on Wednesdays and people used to rub it all over their bodies. That monologue spurred Irish vocalist Sophie Ricshar to write a verse for the song Summertime and she superimposed the melody over a Meters song. When she traveled from her hometown in Dublin to Vancouver, Canada, she met Air Stranger, who had composed a funk jam that fit her idea perfectly.

The line, ‘Working five to live two is not a thing that you should do,’ exemplifies how life should not be experienced through the monotony of a day job just to live on the weekends. The lyrics are a call for society to get out of the routine of everyday life and ‘make each day a Sunday So Good.'”

So I guess Sophie kind of does her own thing and this is a one time installment? Hopefully they can make more music together, because this track really works. I also love the Richard Pryor reference and the lesson to not live for the weekend, but find a life that you want to live daily. I know that is something that a lot of us in the music world are working hard at achieving.

-Caleb

Did you know we do a podcast? It’s pretty great. I’m editing our most recent episode today, so look out for a new one Monday. In the meantime, check out our first 13 episodes here.

 

Video of the Day: Jules Rendell ft. Goz-i-am – “The Return”

It really doesn’t get much more gorgeous than this. The music is soothing and beautifully sung. The cinematography knows how to be subtle with it’s shots of the gorgeous piano. On their press package they explained a bit about why they chose to do such a stripped down version of this track:

“There was something about the third single from my album IMAGINE, The Return, that called out for a more raw, emotional offering… maybe it’s because we all worry too much and deep down we want to be free of it. We stripped out the electronic aspects of the song and took it back to basics with just a grand piano and vocal, reminiscent of an Emeli Sandé reworking or an intimate Jessie Ware vocal.

We spend our lives worrying about things that don’t really matter. We chase after success, value achievement and stature, but it’s a trap that can tie us up. I think love is what can free us from all that stuff, a place of acceptance. That’s what the song is about.”

That’s what I love most about this song too. It almost sounds like a gospel song in structure, though she nicely mentions the “chains of religion” in the song. But what I mean is it’s one of those songs that makes you tear up and you don’t really know why. It warns us of worrying our lives away, while also seeming to swell to a sea of positivity and hope that touches something deeply human inside us. If it doesn’t, poke yourself with a stick or something.

-Caleb

Want to hear the original album version of “The Return”? We did too, so we added it to our June TOTD Spotify playlist. Check that out here.

 

New Release Friday: HAUS Music, Ryan Svendsen, Jesse Jo Stark, Cara Hammond, Joe Garvey, The Millennial Club, The Little Miss, The Fey

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Happy official Summer everyone! To kick off this most glorious season, we have a bevy of brand new summer related tracks for you to check out. Some of you may have come here because your favorite band shared this on social media, and please, do check their write up, but stick around for a while; if we have good enough taste to like your favorite band, I bet we have more out there for you too.

HAUS Music – “Rêves Ephémères”

Let’s get this started strong here with HAUS Music. This is another one of those songs we like to share where we don’t understand any of the lyrics (because we are stupid Americans) but the vibe of the song is so infectious that I don’t think I need to. Music is a universal language. Luckily I do have a little bit of background with what they are talking about:

“Mitchell says, “Rêves Ephémères translates to Ephemeral Dreams. It is an acknowledgment that stories that we invent for ourselves to carry us forward can and will just as often carry us somewhere we didn’t intend to go. For me it is a gentle reminder that happiness doesn’t come all at once at some point in the future; instead, it grows slowly over time. Don’t get trapped in a cycle of unhappiness thinking it can bring you anything but pain.”

There’s no doubt that this song is Ephemeral, whether you know every word that is being mentioned or not. I hope we can remember his message about happiness, and avoiding unhappiness throughout this summer.

Ryan Svendsen – “One Hundred Percent Ft. Jerome Thomas”

Have you figured out the beautiful thing about these lists yet? If you come in for one band, of a certain style, you may find another band of a completely different style to also add to your list. I think this song has to be on everyone’s list. Ryan Svendsen is a talented musician who has been featured on tracks by Christina Aguilera and Demi Lovato, and here you can see his creative vision taking shape under his own direction. I have to say, it’s gorgeous. Like all the songs in this list, it is absolutely perfect summer music, and luckily Ryan released this just in time for the first day of summer. Let me encourage anyone who likes horns to go check out Ryan’s back discography. It’s perfect for chilling out, background for work, or a party. It’s multifarious.

 

Jesse Jo Stark – “Dandelion”

The first thing I thought when I heard this song was how anyone who likes Lana Del Rey will almost certainly get a kick out of Jesse Jo Stark. They have similar vocal styles, and musical accompaniment. With this song, Jesse Jo Stark sings about loving something that you shouldn’t, and how complicated that quickly gets. Anyone got any theories on the title? I mean obviously Dandelions are a nice yellow flower, but I also tend to think of the seed heads, and how quickly they can blow away. Maybe this relationship is more like the latter?

Cara Hammond – “How I Feel”

How about this amazing bluesy single from Cara Hammond? This is the first song off new EP called Nice Girl, coming out in the fall. When asked about the song Cara describes it as: “How I Feel is a very relatable song about love, loss and nostalgia,” explains Cara “I think the track picks up on those little details and memories which are present in all types of relationships, making it a very powerful song” I can certainly hear that. There is a  mention of going out to bars, just hoping to see someone and ask how they are, and a lot of that terrible feeling after breaking up with someone that was once important, and no longer feeling very important to them. Really heart wrenching stuff, wrapped in a beautifully sung package.

 

Joe Garvey – “What Your Time Is Worth”

Joe Garvey asks us an important question with this smooth funk/pop song: “Do you know what your time is worth?” He begs us to consider how quickly the time passes, even a nice 80 year life is too short. In an age of increasing technology, distraction, and hustle and bustle, it seems that time isn’t what it used to be. Are you using yours the way you want to? Are you wasting days? I read once that we have about 4500 days worth of free time, meaning not work, not sleep, etc. That’s a disturbingly low number. Do you know what your time is worth?

 

The Millennial Club – “Santa Barbara”

This track is the perfect summer track. It has the perfect amount of groove to it; it even has a little bit of a California Dre whine going in the background. According to their promo materials: “At an early age, The Millennial Club has managed to blend dance-inspired 80’s pop, beat-driven 90’s R&B, and emotional love-centered lyricism to shape their original Southern California sound.” I would say that says it better than I can. These guys are on the rise, and I could even see them breaking into a top 40 style market eventually. They mix everything I love about summer into one convenient package.

The Little Miss – “American Dream”

Usually I like to get into the lyrics and try to dissect them, put my own spin on the song, etc. This song is too important to not get the words straight from the artist’s mouth. I will say this though, the irony is something that you can taste in this song, and it doesn’t taste like apple pie. The American Dream is an afterthought, a delusion that people once had, a book that you never got around to reading, collecting dust in the attic. I think it should be, at least. The thought that the American Dream has to be this perfect series of check boxes is just a way to sell more ranch style homes and Coke.

“I wrote ‘American Dream’ at a time when the tension in our country felt palpable. This was five years ago. Now, seemingly more divided than ever, I questioned whether or not I should release a song that sounds so blindly idealistic. To be clear, “American Dream” is not an endorsement of this country as it stands now. I don’t think that it is unpatriotic to think that we can do better than this. The American Dream, as it has been fed to us – Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – has not delivered on its promises for many (if not most of us). So, while the song yearns for this made-up, sepia-toned time that never existed, it notes exactly that: that it never existed. We’re enchanted by our own, but very limited folklore – the pioneers, the Wild West, the civil war, the nuclear family, the moon landing, etc. We have romantic notions about who we are and who we’ve been, and it is tempting, for all of us, to want to wear those rose-colored glasses. But in order to become better, and in order to progress, we need to take off the glasses and take a good look in the mirror. We all want the same thing: to feel proud of the country we call home – we just need to accept the fact that it might be healthier to learn from our history rather than glamorize it. The lives of so many depend on it.”

 

The Fey – Contender

What is this?!? I seriously have no idea. It blends so many different genres into one crazy rollercoaster, and I loved every second of the ride. I read the bands description of their sound, and it reads as follows: “Dominantly a new age American rock-soul-r&b band, The Fey, also expresses a touch of the contemporary vibes of hip-hop and pop.” As a guy who listens to over 20 new bands a day, when you read a statement like that, you think, “Yeah, okay. Which part do you do well, though?” Most of the time it’s like a restaurant that has 50 menu items, and all of them are average. This is not most of the time. These guys know who they are, and they do rock, soul, r&b, hip-hop, and pop equally well. With strong guitar riffs and organs, smooth vocal runs, and a nice hip-hop verse, The Fey is the true definition of a multi-genre group.

 

-Caleb and Seth

 

As always, check out all of these tracks and more on our June Spotify Playlist. 

Morning Commute: The Moving Stills “Photo Upload”

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It’s Friday guys! Time to wake up and dance. I have just the track for you. This sounds straight out of the grungy New York streets, with a nice mix of poppy sing-along overtones that this has quickly become one of my favorite new songs. From the first few seconds when that high pitched melodic guitar riff kicks in, you know this is something you can tap your feet to all day, especially on a Friday when you are watching the clock to the weekend.

The song seems to be an anthem for those of us confused about people’s intentions. It’s something I don’t miss at all about the dating scene. So many of my friends seem to have almost zero open communication with the people they are romantically involved with, which I understand because it’s difficult, but it’s maddening. So when they scream “Tell me what you want”, I’m sure a lot of you out there can relate.

I’m not going to say much more about this track, because you’ll be finding it on our podcast soon. Oh, you didn’t know we had a podcast? Check it out. And we have a new episode dropping in a few days.

-Caleb

As always, this song has been added to our monthly Spotify playlist right here.