Tag: rock

Caleb’s Weekly Favorites: No Kind Of Rider – “Sophia”, Coyle Girelli – “Never Thought I’d See You Again”, Sam Ryder – “Little One”

Leave a comment

Hey guys,

If you’re like me, you don’t really just focus on one genre of music when there is so much awesome variety out there. This post is meant to hit on 3 of my favorite songs that I just can’t get out of my head this week, regardless of genre. If you like, or already know one of these artists, stick around and check out the others, expand your horizons a bit.

No Kind of Rider – “Sophia”

All of us lazy logicals

We leave our hearts behind

They tell you when you’re young

Don’t be so blind

“Sophia” – No Kind Of Rider

:30 seconds in, when the beat drops, is when I start to transcend to outer space on this song. This song immediately hooked me with it’s unique vocals that give me a bit of a mix between some 80s synth song but also touches of Panic! At The Disco playfulness. The most relateable part of this song is the seeming angst over aging, and wondering what the consequences will be. How many nights of fun and freedom can we really have before we are the old person at the club? It’s something that begins to hit you as you enter your 3rd decade (or it did for me), and while I still love to go out with friends, there is a sense that we can’t necessarily go on like that forever, but there’s certainly some fun in trying. “Now the old is done/traded for the young.”

Bio: No Kind of Rider is an American five-piece indie rock/electronic band based in Portland, OR. Their debut album “Savage Coast” (2018) blends indie rock, shoegaze, r&b and electronica influences. The close-knit group met while teenagers in Tulsa, OK and write songs in conflict – both chaotic and intricately calculated. “Savage Coast” finds those boys now older and wiser – four of the five band members lost their fathers during the album’s completion and while the gravity of loss is fully explored as a theme, “Savage Coast” isn’t content to remain in despair. In the album’s ending track, “Autumn”, seeds of new hope take root as Samuel Alexander (lead vocals/guitar) sings with resolve, “We all have to die, to be reborn”.

Coyle Girelli – “Never Thought I’d See You Again”

But I never thought id see you again

Looking as pretty as you did back then

And it caught me off guard

Like a dagger through the heart

Cos I never thought id see you again

“Never Thought I’d See You Again” – Coyle Girelli

Coyle Girelli is an artist we’ve been wanting to feature for a long, long time, and it’s easy to see why. Mixing classic style that sounds like it belongs on a vinyl playing in your dad’s sitting room in the 60s, with modern aesthetics, Girelli gives that nostalgic feeling that’s hard to fully put into words. It gives me chill bumps everytime he let’s out “I never thought I’d see you again.” The song is so relateable for anyone who has ever tried to move on and focus on themsevles, only to get sucked back in by someone’s charm, even if they aren’t the best thing for you. If nothing else, this song is a “dagger through the heart.”

Bio: Coyle Girelli is an English multi-platinum selling composer, singer, songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist. Formerly frontman of Your Vegas and The Chevin he released his debut solo album, Love Kills, in 2018. He has written songs for BTS, Macklemore, Robin Schulz, Westlife and many others, including the BTS worldwide number 1 single “heartbeat”[1] and co-composed songs for the record breaking French musicals Robin des Bois and Les Trois Mousquetaires

Sam Ryder – “Little One”

Wait, don’t feel bad
You did well to love and be loved back
So don’t be so cold dear
You weren’t the only one left down here
You knew it all along
Full speed around the sun

“Little One” – Sam Ryder

Another incredible song that builds in a truly epic way. The crescendo when he belts “I know you yearn for someone” with the quick drop to “I yearn for you” is so heart wrenching I couldn’t help but restart the song immediately after it ended to feel that build and rug pull one more time. Sam Ryder has crafted the feeling of really caring about someone, and having no hard feelings, but still feeling a sense of loss that your love seems to be unrequited. Here’s to hoping we all have good luck in 2022 in being around people who yearn for us as much as we yearn for them.

Bio: Sam Ryder is a singer/songwriter and producer out of of small town outside of London. Sam spent over 10 years touring in the rock world which brought him placements on Billboard charts, songs featured on TV shows and films, and playing shows in over 20 different countries. A couple years ago, Sam took a step back from the band world to develop his own solo project and pursue other creative ventures. Those ventures ended up having him co-found the brand Lone Wolves Creative and the plant-based Lone Wolves Cafe.

Until next week,

Caleb

New Release Friday: Luke Sullivan Jones, Curly Chuck and TyC, Caolifhionn Rose, Shoot The Duke

Leave a comment

These are our favorite new songs of the past couple days. Every song has been released within the last 48 hours, so you can tell your friends about not only new artists, but their new songs that they’ve never heard.

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.

Luke Sullivan Jones – “A Fire from the Dark”

“You don’t feel like yourself
You’re swallowed by the pain
Buried deep inside
Some things have to change

You can spark the flame
You can start again
A fire from the dark”

This song is so empathetic and hopeful! It does a great job of describing how hopeless and lonely life sometimes can be, but it encourages you to start the flame again in the dark. From a musical perspective, I really can’t get enough of the strings in the background of this song, and the interesting vocal style of Luke Sullivan Jones. This is a song that I can see myself listening to a ton this winter when I haven’t seen the sun in weeks, and I’m starting to get down.

“So tear it all apart
You’ll find your way through
Don’t wait for the world
To come and rescue you”

Bio: Luke Sullivan Jones is an independent Folk-indie artist from the UK. After the successful release of his EP ‘Through the Satellites’ two years ago, he has further developed his sound to find a unique voice in a ever evolving, yet crowded, genre.

Curly Chuck and TyC – “Get It”

How many of you checked to see if your phone was ringing when the song first started? I did too, and I’ve heard it like 10 times now. I also love how it sort sounds like parts of the beat throughout. The reason it “sort of” sounds like that is that TyC sampled all of the original Mac OS sounds, including the horns which came from the Mac “delete” song.  I also had to share this song because of how incredible his change ups in flow are throughout the song. Keep a look out for their debut EP, “Get It” is the first track, that’s going to be coming out later this summer. You better be sure to….get it.

Bio: Cleveland native, Curly Chuck has been quickly making waves on the underground scene for good reason. XXL recently said “he has the sound that can make his career go from zero to 100 in the blink of an eye.” He’s had a very busy last few months finishing up two EP’s, and spent the last week with Currency, so we can definitely expect some big things from him soon!

TyC, also from Cleveland, left Berklee School Of Music to tour with the band Carousel. A writer first, he picked up production on the road and has been honing in ever since. His single “BW/U” already has over 115,000 plays on Spotify and his last video featuring Curly Chuck, “GET DOWN” has over 35,000 views on Youtube!

Caoilfhionn Rose – Awaken

I would watch this video with no music for how beautiful the landscapes and scenes are. Luckily, we get to pair it with some beautiful music that actually sounds like it’s being sung from one of those echoey mountain tops. It seems the main message of this song, is to go outside and see the world. It’s the cure to most of what ails you. As someone who went on a 40 day road trip last summer, I have to agree with the assessment. Everyone should do their best to find a way to travel, especially in the spectacle of nature. It’s possible to do on a budget, google it. If you were like me, and didn’t know what Caoilfhionn meant, it’s a name that is described as: Derived from the Gaelic elements caol “slender” and fionn “fair”. This was the name of several Irish saints.

“So go outside
Pick the flowers in the park
Feel the sunshine
So go outside
Awaken to the world you can hear all new sounds

Don’t get left behind
Pulled down by the roots of your mind
See the new dawn on the horizon
See the colours of life again

Awaken to the world you can hear all new sounds”

If I was standing in the middle of any of the landscapes that are shown in this video, I think I’d have to be singing “go outside” at the top of my lungs too.

Bio: Caoilfhionn (pronounced Keelin) Rose will release her debut album with Gondwana Records in Autumn 2018 and ‘Awaken’ is the title track. The song is about noticing nature and everything around you, about taking a step back from your problems and going for a walk outside.

Shoot The Duke – Cash

Ah man this song is so incredible. This is a perfect example of how to properly emphasize raw vocals. They aren’t out of tune, they just peak into an emotive state that can’t be replicated by overly polished ones. This reminds me a lot of a mix between Shakey Graves and Kaleo. The song itself is about just what the name suggests, money:

“So give me some money, oh let me have some cash. I promise I’ll give it back. One day at a time. ×2

I get up at the brink of the day. I apply for jobs but they all just send me away. Sorry son but you need more experience. How can I get some experience? I didn’t know I needed any to work in Morrison’s. Come on now, make my day.”

I guess more accurately the song is about the frustration between making and keeping money, especially if you are an artist:

“I go outside to play some guitar, policeman comes to tell me no you can’t do that. He gives me a fine so I sold my guitar away.

I lay down to get some sleep. Policeman comes again, he’s bothering me. Get off the floor boy, you ain’t worth a dime.”

I think on an individual level, the story is really nice and relatable, but I also think it’s an appropriate metaphor for how a lot of modern society treats artists, or anyone who doesn’t want to be an entrepreneur or work in a cubicle. There is an emphasis on “contributing” to society, without an acknowledgement that art and philosophy are equally important pursuits for humanity. Ultimately, the song ends with a haunting image of a frustrated man robbing a store for money. After being told the things he is good at/passionate about are worthless in a monetary sense, he is left with very little choices for how to proceed in a society that doesn’t seem to value him at all. It’s a really interesting look at the fringes of modern capitalism, and who gets left behind, and why.

-Caleb

Looking for more music? Don’t forget to check out: Our Newest Podcast Episode

You can also find all these songs and more on our August TOTD Spotify Playlist.

Episode 15: Addiction

2 Comments

Links:

Stitcher

Soundcloud

iTunes

Youtube

Show Notes:

Join Seth and Caleb as they discuss strange Addictions, what kind of drunks they are, stumbling through their first livestream, an excellent interview with Aaron B. Thompson, and tons of music you’ve never heard before.

Full Video Version, warts and al: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L4mdmwqcn4&t=10s

INTRO: Leon Stapleton – Lima
Leonstapleton – Lima

Brother Toaster – Bupropion Blues
brothertoaster.bandcamp.com/track/bupropion-blues

Riley Catherall – Watered Down Man (submithub/email)
The-same-tune – Rileycatherallwatereddownman

Aaron B Thompson – Middle of My Own Nowhere (submithub/email)
Aaronbthompson1 – 07-aaron-b-thomspon-midde-of
Youtube of Interview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgPVCP1Ya6M&t=174s

Johnny Raincloud – White Noize (submithub/email)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZTHMZzp-…&feature=youtu.be

Little Sain+ – Remedy (submithub/email)
Tniaselttil – Little-sain-feat-marger-remedyprod-by-sibling

Thanks to Juliana Strangelove for participating in the live stream: bsideguys.com/2018/07/06/the-flo…-macdougall-skout/

Video of the Day: River Whyless – “Born In The Right Country”

Leave a comment

This one is a thinker guys. Did you already watch it? Go watch it again, I’ll wait. This is one of my favorite pieces of art I’ve seen in a long time. There’s a ton to unpack here, and I’m going to try, but first let me tell you why I connect with this song so intensely. There are two primary reasons.

  1. I grew up in the South. Like the real South. Let’s call it a state Trump won with 54%. The South isn’t inherently racist, but it’s hard not to grow up around some racist attitudes, even from people who I consider good people. For example, my parents would claim not to be racist, but I remember some stern warnings to my sister about a black kid named Jovan that was coming around. I don’t think my parents are bad people, and they are not KKK level racist, but I’m using them as an example to explain that even my educated parents, who are charitable and kind, are racist. The last frame of this video that scrolls “wolves don’t exist” after we’ve watched an entire video of a black kid being led around by a wolf is exactly how baffled I’ve felt for most of my life, watching good natured people, stay willfully ignorant to the prejudices they hold, and the damage that does.
  2. I don’t live in the South anymore, but that doesn’t solve the racism problem the way you might idealize when you’re growing up in a small town dreaming of moving to a liberal utopia. I teach at a private school in the suburbs of Rhode Island where an administrator was removed last year for getting caught using a few racial slurs. I have students sitting behind desks every day who swear Colin Kaepernick is un-American, and Michael Brown deserved to be shot for being a “thug.” I don’t necessarily think these are bad people, mostly because I’ve made it my goal in life to talk through ignorance with people, and if I believe people can’t learn and change, I think I’d become quite depressed. The thing that I most associate with both of these experiences, my past, and my present, is that most of these people just have no idea the amount of privilege they are carrying. It seems somehow offensive to their character to suggest that they are not “self-made” or that someone has it harder than them. Mostly I think this is because we all have our struggles, and it makes us feel bad that we aren’t billionaires either, so how dare people say they have it harder than us? On the other hand, to admit some people are living with a level of prejudice and difference that you can’t fully comprehend somehow seems like a weak thing for these people to admit.

Alright, enough about me. Let’s talk about the video. We can immediately get the sense where it’s going when we read the title, “Born in the Right Country”. The title itself evokes a lot of the immigration struggles we have going on right now, where a person or family is attempting to find a better life in America, despite the risks involved, and is being treated inhuman because of it. But in the video, we see a slightly different angle. We follow the story of a young black male going to high school, with a wolf around his wrist. We also see that his mother, and a girl wearing a hijab also have their own wolves, while the white kids do not. This seems to suggest that even though presumably these characters didn’t immigrate here, they were still born in the “wrong” country. Not in a literal sense, but in the sense that the rules operate differently for them because of generations of social prejudice and oppression. The video shows this clearly with the white father looking disapprovingly at the potential of his daughter being in an interracial relationship, and also with the boy being stopped on the way home by the police, when he was just minding his own business. It obviously clinches up your stomach when you see those blue lights because of the countless ways that’s gone badly over the past several years (Micheal Brown, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, etc. etc.).

When we explore the lyrics, we see them dripping with sarcasm from the perspective of Trump, or his followers, or anyone who feels like they are superior purely because they were born white and/or affluent.

“I’ll tell you baby, a secret Manufactured truth is easy to sell When you own the factory And you own the hearts of the clientele But can you really blame me? Built on a system where some must fail So that you can break through If you’ve got the right skin Or you’re born in the right country”

The perspective shifts after this point to directly talk to these people and attempt to wake them out of their ignorance:

“Don’t you know you’re lucky kid You were raised on the right side of town Born rich, now you’re yelling “I’ve seen the inside and you’re out” But can I truly blame you? We’re built on the dreams we feed to the poor So that you can break through If you’ve got the right name Or you’ve got the right god Or you’re born in the right country”

But unfortunately, the system is set up this way. There are people profiting from the lower and middle class fighting amongst themselves. Instead of placing the blame at the top, we are continually told to look at our neighbor with different skin, heritage, religion, and blame them for any short comings or failures. It’s classic scapegoating, and this current regime is not the first to use it. My only hope is that more and more people can try to see through it for what it really is; and the best way to do that is through people using their artistic talents, like River Whyless to try to break through to people in a language they can understand.

-Caleb

We’ve added this to our July TOTD playlist. Check it out here.

We just released a new podcast episode, on the theme of Addiction. You can check that out along with all the others, right here. 

 

The Flock: New Release Friday: Mike Xavier, Foresteater, Chris Noah, Callum Pitt, Sean Tobin

Leave a comment

*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.

Mike Xavier – “Time to Reflect”

I love when a song says something that we’ve heard before, but says it in such a eloquent way that it reaffirms everything you know. At it’s core, this song is about society, racism, and the difficulties we all face, but Mike Xavier is just so eloquent that it illuminates these issues in a way that is impossible to ignore. Other than Mike’s obvious lyrical talent, something you may not notice unless you are paying attention is that he isn’t just rapping over a track. He has a live trumpet, sax, keys, guitar, bass, and drums accompanying his songs. It really gives this song a fuller sound that you can’t accomplish from beats, no matter how good the DJ is. When asked about his inspiration Mike’s message is simple: “We just got to teach our kids they can change the world,” Xavier raps with his calm though upbeat tone. “They used to tell me, ‘Try them drugs.’ I ain’t never try it.” Mike is a shining example of using art to make the world a better place, and I’m happy to share this as our first track of New Release Friday.

Foresteater – “Unbutton”

“Momma’s shopping at the mall
Daddy’s sipping alchohol
Baby’s watching TV shows
Shoving things up in her nose

Why do the opposites look the same?
Our manufactured outfit came
and is it sincerity
or artificial empathy?

Unbutton my head
Get me out of my head
Unbutton my head please
Get me out of my head”

This song is an anthem for middle class malaise. It does the same thing several 90s movies did by taking a closer look at suburbia and showing the horrors beneath the surface. Sure, money makes some things easier, but it also brings a new set of problems. Having grown up squarely in middle class suburbia, I saw many of the things this song mentions, and experienced the surreal plasticity that it tends to create for those who inhabit these spaces but can’t fully enjoy shopping sprees, keeping up with the Joneses, and the skewed relationships created by making money and materialism such an integral part of our happiness.

Chris Noah – “River”

This song reminds me a lot of some of my favorite summertime music. It mixes pop vocals with some really interesting electronic beats to create an experience that surrounds you completely. Let’s dive into some of the lyrics:

“This state that I’m in, I can do nothing about,
Starting to wear me out, do we need disclosure
Your voice has become an eco in my mind
I don’t really recognize and you still have me reeling

Don’t swim so fast, i can’t keep up, don’t let me drown in your river
Don’t waste your love on someone else, while I’m still here in the picture ”

So it’s a very familiar scenario. The speaker is still in love with someone who is falling out of love with him, and he feels himself being left behind. It’s a really tragic position to be in, and the haunting background vocals as the song builds really hammer home the crescendo of pain that can inhabit these moments where you aren’t ready to move on, but you know it’s not your choice anymore. Keep an eye out for Noah’s upcoming 3 song compilation due in September. He has already won “Debut of the Year” last year at the Annual Latvian Music Awards, and I can’t wait to see what else he comes up with.

Callum Pitt – “Away From The Rousing Parades”

This song just starts off so calming and soothing. The mix of the intricate picking and the beautiful vocals take you to a sunny day driving with the windows down.

“There’s a warm wind coming, marching along with a big brass band

I’m waving an outstretched aching hand, so slow”

When these lines kick in, the song transforms into an anthem worth screaming at the top of your lungs. The thing I like most about this song though, is despite how upbeat and warm the song sounds; it has some truly existential moments.

“We search fora meaning before disappearing and hope that our memories survive”

Ultimately the song ends in a conclusion that all we can do is try to find someone to share the time we do have with and hope for the best. It’s a grounded but hopeful ending to a very complex poetic song.

Sean Tobin – “This Midnight”

And last, but certainly not least. Enjoy this single off of Sean Tobin’s new release of the same name. Throughout the song, he seems amazed that he is currently where he is in life, considering some of his past and the way he viewed the world. My favorite word play in the whole song is probably:

“Met a girl one February evening, swore to God there was no God at all,

Sunday came, she was praying for God knows what she done,

guess she was just talking to the wall”

The several switch ups and double meanings in that one line are astounding. Ultimately, the song seems to have a similar message to the one before this: life is potentially meaningless, there are no guarantees, life is short, thank god I have you, let’s enjoy the time we have for now and hope it lasts forever. “Baby, we could make this midnight last, come the morning, our stories will be in the past.”

-Caleb

If you enjoyed these songs, we’ve uploaded them all to our July TOTD playlist on Spotify.

If you haven’t followed us on Facebook, check it out. We have two new live streams that we posted today.

TOTD: Tim the Lion Tamer – “Dancer”

Leave a comment

I really feel like I could break down every single line in this song. It’s one of those haunting songs with minimal production that relies on the beauty of the voice and the depth of the lyrics to carry everything, and damn, does it ever carry everything in this song.

“i’ve never seen nobody
dance like you
in times like these i wonder
if that’s true
if you are lonely too
’cause we’ve always been
hopelessly fucked up”

I don’t know if any of you have ever been in a relationship like the one described here, but it’s brutally beautiful. Two people messed up and in love and unstable, like a collapsing star. It’s full of passion and beauty, but it also isn’t sustainable. Ultimately the song sees the instability become too much, but it’s not as easy as just walking away and never thinking about it again.

“i guess i should move away
’cause in some sad way
i’m already gone”

I’m a known crier. I cry during emotional movies. I cry the first time I realize what an emotional song is really saying, like “Limousine” by Brand New, or “Honey Jars” by Bryan John Appleby, or a billion other instances. This song can now be added to that list, because when I read this last stanza, I couldn’t help but cry:

“it hits me when there’s nothing
left to give
in the ashes of my failures
there you live
ageless and possible
i’m watching you
dancing in your prime
twenty-some
frozen in time”

It may hit me particularly, because I had a 5 year relationship fall apart in my early twenties, and even though it was the best possible thing for me and her, I can relate to the idea of an ageless dancer, stuck at twenty something, frozen in time. Also, from a songwriting standpoint, the symmetry of the first and last stanza are just perfect. Go check out more of Tim the Lion Tamer’s stuff. It’s been added to our July TOTD Spotify playlist.

-Caleb

 

Mid-Day Music Blast: MOWUKIS – “A Quick Stab In The Heart”

Leave a comment

 

I don’t know about you guys, but I immediately thought of Radiohead or Polyneso when I first heard these guys. Considering those are two of my favorite bands, that immediately made this one of my favorite new songs. MOWUKIS bio says simple: “I write music to lower the weight.” I’m not entirely sure what it means, but I have some guesses. My silly answer is that he writes so much music that he doesn’t have time to over eat. My serious answer is that he’s using music as a form of therapy, like a lot of us artists tend to. He’s lowering the weight of the world, or his soul, or whatever metaphor you want to use.

The song only has two verses, so even though I normally wouldn’t put a full song’s lyrics, it’s not too egregious. Let’s check them out:

“I…
I just fed the lions
made them such cowards
made them such a lie.
I had,
I had to draw out solutions
to keep this jungle of eyes
from eating my delights.

King,
Alone in full possession
A kingdom-broken-passion
A quick stab in the heart.
Walls,
To keep ourselves from motion
Citizens as pollution
Are slowly passing by.”

I feel like I could attempt to write an essay on these lyrics. Instead, I’ll hit a couple of high points. How does feeding the lions make them cowards? If you put them in captivity and give them a consistent meal, does their drive for hunting start to dissipate? If that’s true, and we generally know that it is. It changes them into a “lie”, a shell of what nature shaped them into over the millennia. We then see this King, who can make lions into cowards, ruling over a kingdom with a broken passion. A citizenry that is safe behind walls, but wasting their lives away now that all the passions are gone. It’s a really great mirror to the lions before and a beautiful song overall.

-Caleb

 

TOTD: Jay Man Sun – “The Day You Left Me”

Leave a comment

Are you ready for an epic ballad? Who isn’t at all times? This song sounds like it’s straight out of the brain and mouth of Morrissey. Dripping with sadness and a self awareness that keeps it from veering into cheesy, “The Day You Left Me” is easily one of my favorite songs of Summer 2018. Stick around for the 3:40 mark when it explodes into an emotional crescendo like I haven’t heard in quite some time. The whole song, which focuses on loss of love, takes the listener straight back to the day each of our “you”s left us standing on a doorstep.

Want to hear more? We’ve added this song to our July TOTD playlist on Spotify.

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

1 Comment

*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.