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noodledog · 6 years ago

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Music for DND classes

This isn’t so much what the classes listen to (which I might make some day) and more music that exemplifies them. I’ve tried my best to not fall into the usual songs for each class cause like.... We don’t need a list of only the LOTR/GOT soundtracks.

Most of this is based off my own experiences with DND but some of it is just working off the wiki pages, oh well! Everyone’s characters are so different, it’s hard to distill a class to so little!

Since there are so many different subclasses (There are 18 for clerics!!!) I’ve decided to split each class into three; Standard (the archetypical figure), Legendary (Those that are more mystical leaning or overall high fantasy, think those who want to fight God vs standard adventurers) and Social (For those big on intrigue, seduction and diplomacy)

Thank you so much to @momnar and @plinzer for helping me find songs.

On to the music!

Barbarian

Standard: Your standard barbarian is a strong, rage fueled berzerker who decimates their foes in battle and probably isn’t the brightest bulb outside of it. As one can expect their music is usually loud, aggressive and bound to get your heart pounding. If they could rip the head off a deity, they would. Most of the time they’ll be played a bit goofy outside of battle.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: Totem barbarians are the most magical version of Barbarians in the game (I’m not entirely happy with this whole barbarian/totem connection, but take that up with Wizards of the Coast) They are more connected to nature with animal guides granting them additional strength in battle. They use their righteous anger to protect what is under attack or just at risk of being lost to ‘civilization’. They’re Momma Bears. Their music is more focused on traditional sounds and punk messages. That can be defending the environment, traditions or even people.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Social: You want to play a barbarian in an intrigue game? Doesn’t sound like the smartest idea, until you realize that Barbarians may know obscure languages others don’t, and have the intimidating presence of a bull moose. Songs about them are more downplayed, full of the steady, long lasting burn that a grudge can hold.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Bard

Standard: Bards love to be the center of attention- but maybe not in battle with how squishy they are. As the most musical class, clearly just about any song fits with them, but even better if it’s bragging or insulting another!

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: These bards will gather together a mob with their voices and insult Gods to their faces. Songs will be sung about them for ages (and they wrote most of them!)

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Social: Social focused bards will tempt and trick others without them even realizing what is happening. They have friends and lovers everywhere, and a quick exit prepared for when something backfires. Their music is usually about getting along or getting into bed.

Example: (X) (X) (X NSFW warning!)

Cleric

Standard: Squishy. Praises God. Is the only one keeping you from dying. Stressed. Somebody save them. Expect spiritual music, and some calls to please get along, for once?

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: Will drag you right back from the dead so they can slap you. They have the power of god AND anime on their side. They are done with dancing around difficult situations and they WILL get it sorted out.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: I CAST ZONE OF TRUTH! Kindhearted but kind of a one trick pony when it comes to stepping in, and that’s mostly catching others doing the wrong thing and supporting others (emotionally or more often than not, by undoing curses and poisons).

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Druid

Standard: Hermits in the woods, lots of quiet ambient music with sounds of wildlife, or maybe some simple folk tunes than can be played alone with simple instruments. Pretty relaxed. (But we really know you just picked druid to shapeshift)

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: You're gonna shapeshift into a dragon and nobody can stop you! Oh, and probably control the weather and become the Avatar, but DRAGON!

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: Druids are supposed to be hermits, but that never stops players. You're probably performing for the crowds as a dancing bear, or looking elegant by moonlight with a deer. Maybe making friends through 'Magical Herbs'. Think folk and Indie music.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Fighter

Standard: Rough and tough fight boys (and girls and others) They hit stuff and they hit it well. Not afraid to get in a scrap and willing to protect their friends. Their music is simple, motivated and perfect to work out to.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: They have mastered the art of fighting! Arrows miss their marks, foe's armor is no obstacle, they lead a battle charge with a fearless yell. Punk, heavy metal, or just ol rock and roll is a good baseline to start from musically.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Social: Elegant fencers, charming folk heroes, a social focused fighter inspires others through their fighting skill. They're less likely to be on a battlefield as they are to be accepting a duel or scrapping in a bar with their friends by their side. Changing minds one fight at a time.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Monk

Standard: Meditative fighter with the sneaky ability to channel their chi or disrupt another’s. They have complete mastery over their body. Their music reflects their contemplative, inner-looking and martial arts background.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: Breaking the speed of sound and paralyzing foes. Pretty much the closest thing to an anime character.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: I haven't met any monks yet that were focused on the social game, they are supposed to be rather focused studious types after all, but the closest were those attempting to promote peace or distract a crowd with a demonstration of their skill. The focus is less on the music and more on the performance with the music.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Paladin

Standard: Often Lawful Good, the epitome of valorous conduct. Paladins are here to protect and smite with divine blessings on their side.

Example: (X) (X) (X -Vengance paladin, probably evil-aligned)

Legendary: If the gods are wrong, this paladin will do all in their ability to correct things with blinding, burning light. Possibly even ascending into godhood themselves.

Example: (X) (X) (X -For Broken Oath)

Social: The social focused paladin sees the good in all people and strives to change minds rather than smite evil. With a heavy focus on uplifting the downtrodden, bringing hope to the hopeless and shielding the vulnerable. Their music is about acceptance and strength.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Ranger

Standard: Look we know you just picked this for the animal companion. That you basically get to be Legolas is only a bonus. Think folk music. Something that can be played around a campfire by a solitary traveler.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: You can snipe just about anything and make friends with any animal (and maybe a few people, if you HAVE to)

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: Rangers are often individualistic, but I prefer to think of it as self-sufficient. They can live off the wilds by themselves, far from civilization, but give them a bit of companionship and they’ll be very glad for it. They might protect and guide others, but they won’t put up with stuffy personalities. Find some music that’s kind of awestruck and happy that they’ve got people with them, or heartbroken lonesome songs.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Rogue

Standard: You’re sneaky and that’s how you like it, squishy as you are. People will catch you humming the mission impossible theme at random moments, but you commit the biggest sin the most often: DON’T SPLIT THE PARTY.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: People can’t hit what they can’t see. You also have a handful of spells up your sleeves to trick people or steal things at a distance. You’re essentially a living poltergeist.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: Be professional. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Sorcerer

Standard: Sorcerer is just bursting with magic! You’re kind of show-off-y and this all comes naturally to you! But... Sometimes things get a bit out of control... You’re still working on finding that balance. Grab some tunes you can dance/groove to.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: You’ve tapped into your magical heritage to it’s fullest extent. You hardly even seem like a mortal anymore.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: EEEEEY WHO WANTS TO SEE ME SHOOT FIRE OUT MY ASS??! Party themes. It’s gonna get weeeeiiiird.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Warlock

Standard: Flunked out of Wizard school? Desperate for some power fast? Willing to have a sugar daddy? Try Warlock today! Bonus that you get to be spooky and pump out the most powerful spells, at the cost of having the magical stamina of an overweight pug. Have some spooky magical tunes that are really more about your patron than you.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: Somehow having next to no hp and only two spell slots didn't kill you! You're now ready to shape reality to your whims! (So long as you ask your patron first)

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: A social warlock is dripping with charisma, spying spells and hypnotic magic. Like a terrible child of bards and rogues, they'll control the social scene, but also like them they they better have an exit strategy if they get caught. Their music is charming, but also hypnotic.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Wizard

Standard: You wanted magic but you weren’t born with it. You didn’t cheat like SOME classes (warlock) and got your talents through diligent study and hard work. Think music to study to, especially classical.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: You’ve unlocked knowledge that nobody else has! You’ve pulled together science and magic to bend the world to your whims! Either you want to rule people, help people, or have them leave you alone for once.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: You can do MAGIC. Why aren’t people listening to you?! (You’re pretty much the fantasy equivalent of a University Graduate who’s working a minimum wage job. That’s why.) Your snark won’t help here.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Bonus: The DM: (X) (X)

Bonus, for the whole group: (X)

#dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #music #barbarian #bard #cleric #druid #fighter #monk #paladin #ranger #rogue #sorcerer #warlock #wizard #phew this was a lot of work!

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aprilskyforever · 5 years ago

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Sweden Selects 2019 - the final!

Start the countdown... it’s time to pick a winner!

24 candidates have become 12, and they’re all eager to win the golden ticket to Algeris where they’ll represent Sweden in Tmblrvision 2019. The race was tight, but our finalists are:

1. Avicii feat. Agnes and Vargas & Lagola! Avicii, as we all know, passed away in April 2018, but his legacy lives on. With the vocals from the lovely Agnes Carlsson (with hits like Release Me) and Vargas & Lagola (Salem al Fakir, Melfest 2010 runner-up, and Vincent Pontare, son of Roger Pontare) the song opening the final is Tough Love!

2. Malou Prytz! The young rising star from Småland made her debut in Melfest 2019 and is now slowly making her way up the charts. Here she’s competing with Left & Right.

3. William Segerdahl! Another young, promising talent, heading from Vänersborg, had his breakthrough in Idol 2018. Now he’s here with the uplifting Dansgolv (Dancefloor), a song about being there for a friend. (”I love listening to your problems, as long as I’m not one of them”)

4. Juliander! A 21-yearold from Stockholm but with roots on Öland, has been support act for Zara Larsson among other things, but is now competing here with the very soft Afterglow.

5. Nadja Evelina! From Bollnäs, living in Stockholm, Nadja Evelina released her debut album Vi? (We?) earlier this year and have been played a lot on radio P3 and appeared on television ever since the first single Jag vet (I know) was released. It’s a song about the fight between heart and mind, knowing what’s best to do after a break-up versus what you really want to do.

6. Mares! A bit of an indie pop sensation, the boys from Uppsala sometimes seem to be all you hear on radio and see on toplists these days. They’re here with Penseldrag (Paintbrush strokes), but if you like them I recommend checking out 95 and Sunnanvind as well. Penseldrag is a song about painting, but maybe not as literal as one would think.

7. Klara & Jag! The two Stockholm ladies Klara and Johanna have been writing music together since 2010 but didn’t release anything in their own name until 2017. Here, they compete with Måste jag dö? (Do I have to die?) The song is about making a special someone realize how the other person really feels; stopping them from hurting the people around them. (“Do I have to die in order for you to understand? Your breaking my heart when you go on like this. What is love? Should it be this hard? Baby don’t hurt me no more”)

8. Junior Brielle! A somewhat psychadelic pop sensation, the brothers Gustav and David Röhdin from outside Östersund have been on everybody’s lips the last year and a half and released their debut album TAMPA earlier this year. Love is a song about... well honestly I’d have to hire an expert or ask them myself to find that out. However, I want to mention the bridge: “You can always lie to yourself, but don’t ever lie to me”

9. Tove Styrke! From Umeå, now an international star, Tove saw her first days of fame in Idol 2010 and have since the album debut released hit after hit after hit... The song Sway is from the album with the same name. She’s also the only returning artist from Sweden Selects 2017.

10. Crying Day Care Choir! If you like folk pop, fast acoustic guitars, harmonies but also a somewhat playful sound and at times the perfect soundtrack for travel or a lazy summer day, CDCC has all you need. The group consists of the brothers Jack Elz and Bill Nystedt, as well as Jack’s wife Sara Elz, all from Malmö. Spill My Words is from their latest EP Falling Rising, but I do recommend checking out songs like Sad Season, Bigger Heart and Fine Indeed, if you like Spill My Words.

11. Isak Danielson! From Hovås in Göteborg, comes the 21-yearold shooting star Isak who made his way to fame first in X-factor 2012, and then as soundtrack in different American TV-shows as well on Maddie’s Ziegler’s Instagram, all with the song Ending. He competes in Sweden Selects however, with the song Power.

12. LÉON! Stockholm born and raised Lotta Lindgren, has only been releasing singles so far but is surely making her way up the charts both nationally and internationally. Here she’s competing with You and I.

Youtube | Spotify

Voting works just like before, you send me your ranking of the songs and the top 10 will get points using the Eurovision scale. Voting closes on July 29th 23:59 CEST.

Scores for songs that failed to qualify under the cut:

Semi 1, 24 voters:

7. Familjen - Rök och speglar, 114 p. 8. Maia Hirasawa - Jag vill göra det nu, 106 p. 9. VAX feat Teddy Sky - Crime, 99 p. 10. Amaunet - Pilot, 80 p. 11. Victor Leksell - Tappat, 78 p. 12. Little Jinder feat Lorentz - Heartbreaker, 60 p.

Semi 2, 23 voters:

7. Friska Viljor - Unless You Love Me, 95 p. 8. Anis don Demina feat. Mapei - För stora för den här stan, 93 p. 9. Sarah Klang - Call Me, 91 p. 10. Sabina Ddumba feat Mr. Eazi - Blow My Mind, 81 p. 11. Norlie & KKV - Seven eleven, 70 p. 12. Isa Molin - Scared Holding Onto You, 62 p.

#tmblrvision #tmblrvision sweden

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linernotesandseasons · 5 years ago

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My 19 Favorite Albums of 2019

2019 is coming to a close. The entire decade is coming to a close. This list has been an increasingly comforting exercise the last few years. I guess this will be the eighth annual version of the linernotesandseasons favorite albums of the year list! Crazy how time passes. So here are the collections of songs that I used to mark my personal time & space this year. The lyrics that I learned by heart & sang out in dark & dirty rock clubs. I also made a spotify playlist with two songs from each album if you’re interested in listening along as you read.

This year most of my writing focuses on when & why I fell in love with a specific album. Sometimes the history is important, building a base or connecting some threads, so when relevant, I have also included my history with when I fell in love with a specific artist. And finally, as has become more important to my music chasing brain in the last few years, why this artist or album is important to music right now. What they’re doing to leave a mark on the world, in whatever small space or way.

So without any further ado, here it is, in no particular order (unless you’re particularly knowledgable or fond of the english alphabet) my 19 (well actually 20 cuz freaking Big Thief put out two!) favorite albums of 2019. It’s been a pleasure.

BETTER OBLIVION COMMUNITY CENTER / Better Oblivion Community Center

Spring 2019 in Denver was cold & breezy, sunny & exciting. I had spun the Phoebe Bridgers/Conor Oberst match-made-in-indie-emo-sad-folk-heaven record once through, but in late March I made a game time (like I bought a day-of ticket off stubhub at 6pm!) decision to drive down from work and see their show at the Gothic on South Broadway. I’d been up since 7am the night (morning?) before, watching opening day baseball live from Japan (on March 20th?!). Ichiro’s final game and I was feeling maybe a little emotionally fragile already. But anyway… Better Oblivion Community Center’s live show (they call them meetings) has all the potential to come off as cheesy or contrived. A recorded voice welcomes you, self-help-cult style, and invites you to “celebrate sound & light” & “travel the well worn pathways,” because “we are one.” A mystical backdrop gives a hint of what you’re in for (I didn’t know what I was in for...) with letters at the top reading “It will end in tears.” The band is brilliant, loose, & fun. They play all the songs. They play “Lua,” “Bad Blood,” & “Easy/Lucky/Free” from the endlessly varied Bright Eyes catalog. They turn Phoebe’s “Funeral” into a punk blast. They cover The Replacements! They wear shades and sing a song from lawn chairs! The show feels effortlessly cool and I feel like I’m part of something special again. Music has a way of doing that.

The record is perfectly equal parts Phoebe & Conor. From the opening lines, where Phoebe takes control with “my telephone it doesn’t have a camera” sounding for all the world like a gloriously mopey “Smoke Signals Vol. 2″ to the way Oberst sings the first lines of ethereal closer “Dominoes” sounding 100% like Cassadaga-era Bright Eyes. If you know & love either, you should know the other now. Phoebe carries a torch from early 2000′s emo with a sad-at-heart, genius songwriting style that emphasizes pinpoint autobiographical lyrics, a cutting, (even humorous at times) wit, and a teenage, feminist, internet, millennial heart. Oberst for his part has kept up a steady output since Bright Eyes, and (at least lyrically) doesn’t seemed to have cheered up much. Better Oblivion Community Center’s self titled debut feels fresh & catchy. While there is definitely an aching sadness in the duo’s songwriting, light hearted moments abound, and the writing often points to getting older, all hard work & growth. There is the bouncing outro to “Sleepwalkin’” where their voices rise in unison singing “Acting insane, playing it safe, I wasn’t sold on that plan anyways. Feeling afraid of making a change.” Or in the bright, rolling verses of “My City” where they go looking for “little moments of purpose.” But the one song I kept going back to; the one I recorded to cassette tape and played on almost every drive home from work at 4am through April & May, is the bittersweet closer “Dominoes.” Ironically, this one is a Taylor Hollingsworth cover (I think that’s him adding the random, spooky voice overs) but Conor takes the lead on vocals, singing a mostly lonely, hopeless tale, until the last verse when Phoebe cuts in. She’s “carpooling to kingdom come, into the wild purgatory.” Encouraging us to “Experience a magic rainbow, all you gotta’ do is follow. & if you’re not feeling ready… There’s always tomorrow.”

“The world will not remember when we’re old & tired / We’ll be blowing on the embers of a little fire…”

BIG THIEF / U.F.O.F. & Two Hands

2019 was the year that I finally finally got really really into Big Thief. A band’s band known for their live show (I still have yet to see them live) their following seems equal parts cult-y and universal. How a band that sounds the way they do, made it almost to the top of the indie-rock world is an exciting & inviting mystery.

This year, for me, the catalyst was “Cattails.” Released at the beginning of April, this song struck me and stuck with me, making its way onto almost every mix I made last Spring, Summer, & Fall (including this one for my Mom!) A real song of the year contender (& my #1 most listened to song of 2019 on spotify!), “Cattails” is a melodic, driving, beautiful tune, that finds singer & front person Adrienne Lenker marking Time (”riding that train in late June”) & Space (”going back home to the great lakes”) with grace & depth. There is a sacredness & mysticism tied up in a lot of Lenker’s writing and she refers to her writing experience with “Cattails” saying…

“It was one of those electric, multicolored waves of connectivity just sweeping through my body. I stayed up late finishing the song and the next morning was stomping around playing it over & over again. We thought why not just record it … & when James and I were playing it felt like a little portal in the fabric had opened and we were just flying. Listening back to it makes me cry sometimes.”

In truth, U.F.O.F. (the last f stands for “friend,” a way of humanizing the foreign) is a gorgeous record. Soft & gentle, full of songs about the constant tussle between things known & unknown. A real headphones-on-an-airplane record. And then, out of nowhere, Big Thief announced that they had a second (!) record on the way in the Fall. A dirt & earth twin for U.F.O.F., a special surprise gift for their burgeoning fan base. They announced Two Hands with the vicious single “Not,” a song very unlike “Cattails.” A brooding, ravenous rock song that made me remember why I love unhinged, well-written, unafraid rock & roll music. Another song of the year contender. If you’ve followed this blog the last few months, my well thought out comments to “Not” were “ohhhhhhhhhhhhh shit” & “oh my holy shit.” to the live version! But it was actually the second track on Two Hands that solidified Big Thief’s greatness for me. “Forgotten Eyes” is sonically similar to “Cattails” and rides the same effortless rhythm, driven by Lenker’s repeating guitar riff and James Krivchenia’s consistently impressive drumming. The riff seems to fall in & out magically, and the writing bookends “Cattails” with lyrics that speak to both a great pain & a great universal truth. While she wanders through homelessness & death, Lenker reflects beautifully on the life cycle we (& our planet, & maybe everything?) are all going through.

“Forgotten dance is the one left at birth / Forgotten plants in the fossils of earth / & they’ve long passed but they are no less the dirt / Of the common soil keeping us dry & warm / The wound has no direction / Everybody needs a home & deserves protection…”

BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUT / At the Party With My Brown Friends

After finding Black Belt Eagle Scout’s debut album late last year, I soundtracked many a dusk, dawn, or midnight drive with her swirling vocals & entrancing guitar, usually in the cold & dark, through the early part of 2019. It made my 2018 favorites list, and her Larimer Lounge show in May was a highlight. I guess it makes sense then, that I didn’t truly fall for her sophomore album At the Party With My Brown Friends (released in August) until it got cold in November and I was able to take it out for some dark, snowy drives. Moody & serious at times, Black Belt Eagle Scout sounds every bit like the gray Pacific Northwest where front person Katherine Paul (KP) hails from. The lyrics are simple, repeating phrases, full of deep, important ideas. Family & friends. People & land. There are bursts of guitar coming out of rewarding slow builds, shredd-y, rhythmic, & melodic. Also, all the instruments on ATPWMBF are played by KP, and the drumming is fucking fantastic.

I have some sort of longer form writing building somewhere in the back of my mind about listening to music in cars, and both Black Belt Eagle Scout albums are perfect examples for that. I have always loved the feeling of having roads (highways or simply long straight dirt back roads) & music to listen to. In high school, we would sometimes get in the car simply to drive & listen to music (small town life ya know?) and I still relish any chance I get to take new (or old & long loved) songs & albums on road trips or just commutes around town. The time to sit with the songs, to focus on nothing but the words & melodies, instruments & voices, & the pull of the road, mystical & magical. Black Belt Eagle Scout’s songs have been a calming companion on a lot of drives over the last year, and I recommend you taking them out on a spin of your own. Drive to that coffee shop that’s 30 minutes away that you’ve been wanting to go to, drive out of town just to drive, alone with your thoughts & the road. You just might learn something about yourself.

“& I wake up / I love you / Screaming loudly / Screaming softly too / Am I here? / My heart dreams…”

BON IVER / i,i

Bon Iver is a long time favorite and if you’ve followed this blog at all, you know how much I love his albums and how much Justin Vernon’s Eaux Claires festival has helped shaped my musical timeline. Seeing 22, A Million (the record that precedes i,i) live in Wisconsin by the river for the first time, was something special. That record made my 2016 favorites list, but until this year, until i,i, my story of the music felt very insular. Special & secret for me, confined to very specific times & places. Only to make me feel certain things. It’s why I was hesitant to buy a ticket to see the Red Rocks show last September. Or why I questioned streaming the album early while I was on vacation in Holden Beach, North Carolina. I thought the songs were only meant to carry me back to the river, back to Wisconsin, back to the Summer. Back to a very specific, special place in my heart. But thanks to the wonders of spotify, and the Bon Iver crew just up and releasing the album a week early under the simple & generous guise of “wanting folks to have the album & learn the songs before the tour!!” I obliged and… YESSSS that’s how you do an album release in 2019! I had the album in my headphones as I ran and sweated on the beach in North Carolina, letting brand new songs transport me thousands of miles away.

i,i is a gloriously weird, perfected mess of a hit indie record. It’s everything I wanted the next chapter of the Bon Iver story to be. It feels personal & widescreen. Little moments stretched out and shared with family & friends. Lyrics about growth & hard work & life (& a few WTFs, it’s Bon Iver after all!) The gang’s all here again (the massive crew that worked on the album are all pictured on the record’s gloriously, weird inside gatefold!) recorded from Vernon’s home (April) base in Wisconsin, to Sonic Ranch in west Texas (also pictured in the liner notes) walking distance from our southern border. The sounds are all here again too. There are hints of For Emma’s Winter falsetto folk in the gorgeous acoustic guitar of “Marion.” There are the industrial swells & stomps, bleeps & bloops of bi, bi’s Spring in the warbling, green grass, warmth of “Holyfields.” Then there is the distortion, the choppy samples of 22, in the jigsaw glory of “iMi,” the way it starts & stops, all choruses & voices, real & programmed. Threads of new songs tied up with threads from long, long ago. There is a fullness to i,i, a generosity, a true front to back album, with hits & new favorites sprinkled everywhere. The second half blooms with the charging folk of “Salem” & “Faith” and the contentedness of closer “RABi.” These are songs that I will love for years to come. These songs make me happy. They make me think. They make me want to share them with friends. They make me want to work on relationships. Songs about life. Songs about true, unconditional friendship. As Justin said way back in 2015, when my journey with the Bon Iver story began “The story is history, nothing more. Only the music can rise anew. & it is gone as soon as it is sung. & so we sing again…” I am soo soo happy to sing again, with songs anew.

“Living in a lonesome way / Had me looking other ways / Cuz I am lost here again / But on a bright Fall morning I’m with it / I stood a little within it…”

EARTHGANG / Mirrorland

EARTHGANG’s major label debut Mirrorland comes in hot & dancing, a hip hop duo with a true tribute to Southern culture, and a whole world encapsulated in 14 tracks. My personal introduction to the EARTHGANG universe, came courtesy of a dusk till dark dance fest at Denver’s Underground Music Showcase on South Broadway back in sweaty July. Their energy was infectious, their stories hilarious, & their songs stuck in my head. Specifically the Young Thug featuring “Proud Of U,” a song that carries enthusiasm & positivity through to the end. Other standouts include colorful, bouncing opener “LaLa Challenge,” & the squealing horns of Atlanta hot spot, name dropping “Wings.” A concept album of sorts Mirrorland references “The Wiz” as a jumping off point saying,

“We thought about how, if we’re going to make a project sonically to rival The Wiz, we got to create another world for people to imagine & go to. You know when Dorothy got swept away and she met the Munchkins? That was such a beautiful thing. You could see Quincy Jones on the piano, just playing away. It’s really colorful. It’s really dangerous. It’s really trippy. It’s literally Freaknik Atlanta in the summertime—folks riding around in cars with big rims with paint on their faces.”

EARTHGANG was formed in 2008 by high school buddies Johnny Venus & Doctur Doc in Atlanta, GA. It’s impossible to ignore Outkast comparisons and for their part, EARTHGANG does their best to keep up the Southern hip hop tradition. Mixing in bits of soul, blues, & jazz, Mirrorland plays like an homage, a soundtrack to the South. A real reminder that the album is not dead. These songs sound best played together. Also, that the hip hop group, or duo, is not dead. And finally, that touring and playing live shows is most definitely not dead. I probably still wouldn’t have heard about EARTHGANG if it wasn’t for their primo UMS slot (at the same Import Mechanics stage where Leikeli47 & Kiltro played!) and infectiously positive live show. Speaking of their live show, see y’all at Cervantes on February 3!

“One time, one time for your baby moms / Two time for the hand in the candy jar / Holy Ghost showed up in my favorite thong / Three times in the car for the way we are / Another white man scared, another black man dead / Another rich man war, another red man bled / I been writing this album down way too long / When I drop my shit, pray it hit the toilet like lala, lalalalala...”

FRUIT BATS / Gold Past Life

In the Autumn of 2013, my coworker Cassandra Disney at Mile High Organics played me “When You Love Somebody” by Fruit Bats (had that song already been out for 10 years in 2013?!) on one of her early morning work mixes, and I immediately put it on one of my favorite (if embarrassingly bro-folk heavy) mixes I have ever made myself. Discovering a weird/cool indie band in the vein of all my other loves (Band of Horses, The Shins, Modest Mouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc…) but more underground (!) was hipster heaven. I subsequently forgot about Fruit Bats for awhile, but was reminded with their graceful “comeback” album Absolute Loser in 2016. Although that one missed my favorites list, it gradually became a constant road trip companion; from the mountains of Colorado, through the great American Southwest, and even on some epic Mexican back roads. All alt-country, lost 70′s AM radio classics, and wistful, witty, & wise writing about highways and scenery. A true classic.

I was therefore super excited for Gold Past Life (Fruit Bats’s seventh album?!) to drop on Merge Records this Summer, and fell in love pretty quickly on a late afternoon drive across the high road between Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico back in late June. Swirling guitar, bouncy piano. and Eric D. Johnson’s piercing, clear, impassioned vocals. Fruit Bats sound timeless & effervescent. Upbeat guitar rock with some weird twists, and Johnson’s consistently bittersweet, humorous, & big hearted lyrics. Growing up, growing older, & grinning a wry smile at a golden world. After catching back to back beautiful Fruit Bats shows in Fort Collins & here in Denver at the Bluebird this September, these folks are the real deal. Long live touring bands, long live seventh albums, long live music marking time & space! Here’s to many more Fruit Bats albums, Gold Past Life will be car stereo classic for awhile.

“Still waiting around for some mystical shift in the winds / So honey please, don’t go just yet / Cigarette fingers, a shake in the knees / A bit blue, kind of tired, but not broken… Anticipating a magical bend in the road / So hang on, take it slow / Your go bag is packed & your hangover gone / Another dawn at the edge of the known world…”

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER / Terms of Surrender

Durham, North Carolina’s Hiss Golden Messenger (folklorist, family man, & singer-songwriter MC Taylor & revolving crew) have become something of a mainstay on this music blog & in my car’s cd player over the last five years. I picked up a used (!), advance (!) copy of Lateness of Dancers in the $1 bin at a record store in Seattle, Washington. after having been passed a burned copy of his 2010 solo album Bad Debt by an old coworker. Lateness ended up on my 2014 favorites list. Two years later, Heart Like A Levee made my 2016 list, and the next year, Hallelujah Anyhow was one of my favorites of 2017! I referred to the songs on Hallelujah as Hiss “building a repertoire, creating a legacy.” This may seem like quite a bit of superfluous backstory, but believe me, it is essential to the story, a journal of the journey. Geographic art for a topographic heart if you will. But anyway, Terms of Surrender…

The title is cryptic, referencing (as Taylor puts it “what we are prepared to sacrifice in order to live the lives that we think we want”) and the songs are deep (& growing deeper) & timeless. Not so much timeless in the way Yola’s songs sound timeless (skip down a few albums on this list to read about Yola!) but timeless in the way the songs seem to seep their way into my bones and stay for years. Terms burst on the scene with the release of the first single “I Need a Teacher” back in stormy June. With bright, rolling guitar stabs courtesy of The National’s Aaron Dessner (whose upstate New York recording studio was home for the Terms recording sessions), “Teacher” is about “the search for infallible guidance in an ever-changing universe.” but it is also about everyday work. Dedicated every night of the tour to all the teachers in the room, a political statement wrapped up in the seemingly obvious sentiment of “Defend Public Schools.” See what I mean? Timeless songs written for the here & now. “Bright Direction” & “My Wing” are reminiscent of Hallelujah’s “Jenny” & “Darkness.” a 1-2 punch of driving, drifting major key numbers, written from a hillside in Virginia, high on mushrooms. They contain multitudes. With a murky middle (Brad Cook gets funky on “Old Enough to Wonder Why” & “Cat’s Eye Blue”) & the already canonical Hiss’ live fav “Happy Birthday Baby,” the back half of Terms spreads out the Hiss’ sound in new ways. New live favorite, the nostalgic “Down at the Uptown,” had me googling maps of San Francisco to find the mythical Uptown bar where Taylor first heard Patti Smith’s Horses.

In late October, Hiss played an absolutely glorious three night run at little Globe Hall over in Globeville, just Southeast of where Interstate 70 meets Interstate 25. I went to all three shows. The shows were special & career spanning; from “Jesus Shot Me in the Head,” to Dead covers (& a Jesus & Mary Chain cover!) to all the Terms songs. I spent the Saturday afternoon before show #2, walking around the disappearing & rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in & around Globeville (& drifting across the highway into Sunnyside) listening to Terms of Surrender on my headphones. Thinking about the things I’m willing to sacrifice, thinking about the life I want, what are my Terms? After all, “It’s a real live world & I wanna live in it.”

“Something drove me crazy / Love had me lazy / Backwards won’t get me to my destination / Move me in some bright direction / Looking to be captured, looking for my freedom / Oh, dreams will come to get you / So careful what you’re wishing / Your family might correct you / Your heart might take a pounding / Make sure you take a picture…”

JUNE JONES / Diana

I can’t remember where I first heard of June Jones, but I’d like to think it was from one of my many Australian music friends (thanks Camp Cope, Julia Jacklin, Middle Kids, Courtney Barnett, Gang of Youths etc…!) The music community is a wonderful thing. June’s songs can be hard to explain, but Diana is an epic album that burns with a steady, stately drama. Most of the songs ride swelling synths and measured, 80’s sounding drums and center around June’s unique, emotive voice and head turning lyrics. Jones had fronted the Australian rock band Two Steps on the Water and written songs on the guitar for many years, but it’s pretty clear from listening to the writing and sound on Diana that these songs were meant for piano, synth, and a solo album. Her own writing. Her own words.

The album begins with the brooding “Rome From Afar” and the opening line “I got drunk again last night & I fell down outside the bathroom at my little sister’s party.” It then follows a dancing bass line into an apocalyptic nightmare of a world ending. “Meryl” is a gorgeous, autobiographical (?) song, an ode to “complicated” hard working women everywhere. There are parts of Diana that nod to it being a break up album, like in the gorgeously melancholic “Boulder Falling Slow” (”I am a boulder falling slow / You’re a magnificent spiderweb”) but I have been viewing it as just a complex, everyday life album. Jones lets her magnificent voice trail slowly over seemingly uncomfortable or awkward topics that she strives to make… not so. Sorry Alex Cameron, your “eating your ass like an oyster” line in “Miami Memory” is only the second best “eating ass” line this year after Jones’ “Look at You Go!” Her voice often belies the emotion in her lyrics, she works it up & down, and lets it stretch out over words, like in lonely closer “Sixteen Horses,” but she also sounds almost matter of fact at times. There is a moment in the piano led “Thorn” where she glibly throws “Have you seen the moon tonight? No, me neither, who cares about the moon when everything is dying?” over an understated horn trill. Everything is dying after all, but I want June Jones to sing it to me like an Australian Lana Del Rey or Matt Berninger. Trust me, you’ll be hearing more about June Jones in the coming years. Watch out.

“I haven’t thought too much about family / Ain’t got no husband or a couple of kids / I’ve spent 26 years in this office / I said goodbye to my relationships a long time ago / What does the mayor of a small town heart do after she retires?”

JUSTIN PETER KINKEL-SCHUSTER / Take Heart, Take Care

My long time music friend Adam over at songsfortheday had been trying to tell me about Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster for quite a few mixes with songs I loved from his 2016 release Constant Stranger. But it somehow wasn’t until I needed Take Heart, Take Care, that Schuster’s work hit me right. It didn’t feel like a light at the end of the tunnel, but more like a light in the tunnel, something lasting, a collection of songs lifting up & out towards a light. As Schuster wrote upon it’s release…

“Here, I’ve fumbled my way, as always, and of necessity, into a collection of songs that hold a light to the joys & comforts of life not given up on, those that appear over time as we are looking elsewhere, to surprise & delight us when we need them most. Sure, it’s me, so there are glimpses of and nods to the dark, but the dark is not winning anymore. I simply mean to acknowledge its presence. To me, that’s the most fundamental job of songs, of stories, of all art — to be allies, friends, companions, when we need them most and it’s my hope that these songs can do that work in a world that seems to need it. If you are lucky enough to have something good to say, say it. Please. We’ll thank each other, now & later.”

So i guess it’s that second part that I have found solace in through my 20′s and into my 30′s. That songs (and stories & all art, but songs & albums seem to be my thing) can be allies, friends, & companions, and that sometimes (like Hanif Abdurraqib wrote in his brilliant collection of essays “They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us”)…

“If you believe, as I do, that a blessing is a brief breath to take in that doesn’t taste of whatever is holding you under: say I Speak To God In Public and mean more than just in his house, or mean more than just next to people who might also speak to God in public, or say God and mean whatever has kept you alive when so many other things have failed to.��

Take Heart, Take Care is a straightforward, well written, indie rock album. The songs ring true with light & darkness, an uplifting take on growing older and finding “Plenty Wonder” still to be found in the world. Schuster played the Hi-Dive on South Broadway in November, the last show on the Take Heart tour. A show I had bought tickets for months in advance, and I found myself in a crowd of maybe 15 people, celebrating the songs of Take Heart, Take Care. Listening to a writer with something good to say. Trying all in our own way to hold our own. I have a feeling I’ll keep these songs with me for awhile.

“Time is the mender / Whose strange mechanics yet untold / Bid us rise entwined together / So take heart, take care / Be true but beware / & honey we need not be scared…”

KARA JACKSON / A Song for Every Chamber of the Heart

In only 10 minutes & 42 seconds, Kara Jackson creates an intimate, magical world with just her voice and a guitar on her debut EP A Song for Every Chamber of the Heart. Four intricate & intentional songs, none longer than three minutes, finger picked slowly & methodically, Jackson balances a poetic, whimsical wandering with a steely focus on the craft of songwriting. These are the bones of songs, played honest & upfront, with no adornment. There is room for Jackson’s lyrics to really shine, all aching & wistful, yet practical. Like the way she balances “I have a crush, I have an ache” with “I know that love’s just a pain in the ass” in the bittersweet “Crush.” Her songs buzz with a youthful energy & teen angst. Wise beyond their years, finding their way in the world. As a songwriter and a poet, Jackson writes about race, activism, social justice, self, bodies, & humanity.

At 20 (!) years old, Chicago’s Jackson is... oh also a poet. The 2019 National Youth Poet Laureate (!) in fact, and it was her absolutely breathtaking writing about being a teenager that first caught my attention. She quotes Gwendolyn Brooks (pulitzer prize winning American poet) in her Ted Talk saying “write what’s under your nose.” She says that Brooks took the mundane and put it on a pedestal. That she understood there are “poems in train cars, poems on front lawns, & poems in microwaves & tea kettles.” An almost obligation to celebrate the ordinary. Ordinary folks celebrating similar ordinary folks. It’s the way that John Darnielle howls on The Mountain Goats song “Werewolf Gimmick” (track nine on 2015′s Beat the Champ) about “nameless bodies in unremembered rooms.” In his prerelease essay for Merge Records, music writer Joseph Fink wrote that the entire career of The Mountain Goats has been about “giving names to nameless bodies and remembering unremembered rooms.” and what a worthy cause that is. That thought has stuck with me for years and I have always loved the specificity of it. Whether it is Darnielle resurrecting historical characters real or fictional, or the way Lady Lamb (keep reading a few more albums down!) celebrates the specifics of her friends & family, in all the messy details. Written in song, remembered forever. It is also essential that all cultures have artists who look like them and think like them, as the ones doing the remembering. It’s why it’s so important that Kara Jackson is the one doing the remembering for young black girls. The same way Eve Ewing did for her, and Gwendolyn Brooks did before that. I can appreciate the magic of the remembering, but I need to let them be the ones to tell the stories. Oh, speaking of appreciating, I bugged Jackson enough on social media and got a handmade PHYSICAL copy of the EP that I’m hanging onto forever cuz it’s probably gonna be like the next original pressing of Bon Iver’s For Emma! Thanks Kara!

“Don’t take my pillowcase, that's my place to be alone / Don’t take my lamp from me, it helps me read about places I don’t know / Don’t take a lot for me to be on my own...”

KILTRO / Creatures of Habit

My end of the year albums list usually has at least one local Denver band. The Lumineers way back in 2012, Gregory Alan Isakov & Covenhoven in 2013, Nathaniel Rateliff, Covenhoven (again!), & The Yawpers in 2015, Nina de Freitas in 2017 (hey Nina & the Hold Tight, new album in 2020 please?!), and Izcalli last year. Kiltro is a part Coloradan, part Chilean folk band that have been putting on one of my favorite live shows around town this year. The brainchild of Chris Bowers-Castillo, a native Coloradan who spent time growing up in Valparaiso, Chile, Kiltro is named after the Spanish word “Quiltro” meaning a mixed breed dog. A dog that Kiltro has taken for their logo. In their own way, Kiltro is a mix breed; both in the way they mix the sounds of South America with the folk music of North America, and also the way they mix organic, acoustic instrumentation, with electronic, looping sounds and effects pedals. Their live show is a masterclass in layers, with Bowers-Castillo adding loops of guitar rhythms (sometimes simply bare hands slapping beats on the top of the guitar) to steady bass & drums, until the songs swell & build into dramatic crescendos and almost EDM-influenced drops. The extended intros & outros are my favorite parts of their songs and the live versions (from their sweaty 2pm UMS dance party, to Lulu’s Downstairs in Manitou Springs) have stirred hearts & feet alike with dancing not usually found in the Colorado “indie-hipster” scene. Keep an eye on these guys and maybe come out to Larimer Lounge in January and witness the dance party for yourself!

“Somewhere down the bank where the dogs go / Por la calle que te lleva a Curicó / & down the beach, where no others can find / Ni por agua, piso, coche, ni avión...”

LADY LAMB / Even in the Tremor

As I have been writing this year’s favorites list, I’m realizing that so many of the albums I loved & learned, came hand in hand with experiencing the artist, and specifically that new album, live. Lady Lamb released Even in the Tremor, her masterful & moving third album, way back in April, and I had a Spring-y three weeks to learn all her intricate, visceral lyrics to sing back at her Larimer Lounge stop in Denver on the Deep Love tour. Maine by way of Brooklyn’s (by way of a bunch of other places) Aly Spaltro has always written songs for Lady Lamb like her hair’s on fire. Wailing & gasping about blood & guts & death over spiraling electric guitar, there is a realness to her writing that reminds me of the east coast emo I grew up on. But for all the blood red gore & messy heartbreak that colors much of the Lady Lamb discography, there is a light hearted tenderness as well. Tremor has songs written for & about friends, lovers, parents, & god. Quirky opener “Little Flaws” is a first-dance-worthy love song, while personal favorites “Strange Maneuvers” & “Emily” are odes to platonic friendships, mental health, & growing up. In the same way I wrote about Kara Jackson celebrating the ordinary, Lady Lamb has always celebrated specifics of people, time & space. Tremor’s characters are Spaltro’s real life people (Emily, Shervin, Kurt (Kurtie Bear), Isaac, & her Mom), and the places (the diner, the batting cage, Templehof Park, Midtown, Berlin, Montreal, Madrid, a fast food joint, the stage of a church, someplace upstate, Lavanderia & Graham Ave) are specific, varied, & globe spanning. Her stories are autobiographical and rewarding and the music is stirring, singer-songwriter rock & roll with some punch behind it. She is one of my favorite modern writers for her ability to not just tell a story, but to find wonder in the small things and to celebrate the ordinary. Like she tells Shervin, minutes before “Emily” closes the album on a gorgeous, uplifting high note, “No photographic artifact, but here is something better than that.”

“There’s a picture that I found, my first car in the falling snow / Seems like yesterday I drove down into low tide / & Isaac snapped a polaroid of me pretending I was sinking, pressed against the glass pleading / I misplaced it but I’m looking... / When we are young, if only we could see beyond our fears where we are free / When we are lonely if only we could know that in our stillness we are growing... / All the portraits we collected, while we were running around in the desert / We were trying to seem fulfilled to rewrite our New York City narratives / But Emily we were utterly dejected / We took turns crying on the passenger side of America / Too clouded to be empowered by towering Redwoods... / When did we lose the ancient truths? / Is it what we’re born bending our bodies toward?...”

LIZZO / Cuz I Love You

For much of 2019, Lizzo could be heard playing everywhere. The 31 year old Minnesotan’s third full length album Cuz I Love You, came out in April, after a busy three years of huge singles, consistent touring, & building a repertoire of songs capable of headlining arenas. When Lizzo finally exploded these last few years, it has been fun watching the whole world embrace her uptempo, bold, self-love anthems, and hearing them blaring from open Subaru windows in Cap HIll, from balconies & rooftops in uptown, and on the lips of countless joggers & bikers, loving themselves in the Denver Summer sun. I know for my part, I took Lizzo with me to the beaches of North Carolina & through the Southern mountains of Colorado, dancing, singing, & gleefully giggling along. Bottom line, the songs on Cuz I Love You are FUN! You try not to crack a smile as Lizzo romps through “Never been in love before, what the fuck are fucking feelings yo?” on the bouncing, brassy, vocal led, track one title track MOMENT. Or the way she makes up the word “accessorary” on the spot (“my ass is not an accessorary”) and then fires back with “Yeah, I said it, accessorary!” Lizzo has been an outspoken supporter of our generation’s version of the self-love, body positivity movement, and has put her money (and body) where her mouth is, inspiring legions of teens & twenty somethings to do the same. “Soulmate” is a loner anthem that finds Lizzo belting “True love ain’t something you can buy yourself / True love finally happens when you’re by yourself / So if you by yourself, then go and buy yourself another round from the bottle on the higher shelf.” The soulful slowdown “Jerome” is about being the bigger person and ending a relationship that isn’t working. Lizzo manages to actually address her own issues, focus on the work she needs to do (“I’m trying to be patient & patience takes practice.”) and still absolutely belt a singalong chorus that rhymes Jerome with “take your ass home.” Also, the deluxe version of Cuz I Love You tacks on three previous Lizzo singles that hadn’t found an album home. Those singles? “Boys,” “Truth Hurts,” & “Water Me.” Three songs totaling almost 555 MILLION plays on Spotify. With apologies to Ariana Grande & Billie Eilish (Billie see ya in a few months at the Pepsi Center!) Lizzo is the biggest superstar that I want on this list. And she 100% deserves every bit of it.

“If I’m shinin’ everybody gonna’ shine...”

ORVILLE PECK / pony

There is an appealing, theatrical quality to the dramatic country songs on Orville Peck’s debut record Pony. I spent my high school years growing up in small town Western Colorado so country music has been embedded in my brain since I was 11. I’ve gone through so many phases of loving it, hating it, loving it ironically, nostalgically, hating it for it’s sound, cheesiness, backwards politics, etc... But with Pony; these are true country songs written by a gay, masked cowboy anti-hero from.. Toronto? Maybe? Who is Orville Peck?!?! It’s like all the best parts of “country” music came together. And the mask? The fringe? All the packaging & theatrics? It makes it fun. Part Bowie, part Coheed & Cambria, part Grace Jones, part Ghost, part Brandon Flowers. Hollywood meets Vegas meets Carson City.

When I listen to Orville Peck’s songs it brings together so many feelings from my youth. From country radio & boxes of old country cds, to the dramatic side of theatre, play acting on a stage, dress-up, halloween, cowboys, loneliness, & the open road. From the tumbleweed roll & mournfully powerful coyote howl of opener “Dead of Night,” to the shoegaze rumble, autumn ride of “Winds Change.” Peck’s lyrics are honest & heartfelt, drawing on sweeping, western imagery, & idolizing the classic country ideal... the cowboy. Music marks time & place and Peck makes sure to reference the cities along his highway songs. Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Carson City, Kansas, a veritable Rand McNally road map of the American West. In the same manner as both Black Belt Eagle Scout albums, Fruit Bats, & Caroline Rose from last year, it wasn’t until a highway drive that I truly fell in love with Pony. It was a brilliant November sunset & still warm, but windy & changing, and we knew we had to hustle to beat the snow back to Denver. Highway 159 from the Southern Colorado border through Costilla County, on the way towards Fort Garland & then Walsenburg. Purple & Orange out the window to my left, Winter on it’s way. Peck’s songs sang with a heartache... a loss. a rhinestone loneliness that country finds a way to revel in. When “Kansas (Remembers Me Now)” statics out like a long lost FM radio. When “Hope to Die” fake ends at 3:30 and instead key change pivots like a washed-up Broadway starlet, shooting her shot on a dusty jukebox. When “Nothing Fades Like the Light” draws its last, peaceful breath, closing Pony like the last light of that November sunset. Thanks Orville, this one’s a classic.

“Fell in love with a rider / Dirt king, black crown / Six months on a knucklehead hog / I like him best when he's not around / He gets me high, oh, big sky... Fell in love with a boxer / Stayed awake all year / Heartbreak is a warm sensation / When the only feeling that you know is fear / I don't know why, oh, big sky...”

RAPSODY / Eve

Rapsody’s third album Eve is a masterclass on rap music, and the Snow Hill, North Carolina rapper sounds relaxed & loose, while still staying focused & on topic with an album that reads as, as Rapsody herself puts it “a love letter to all black women including myself.” She is at the top of her game right now, and these songs cement Rapsody as one of the premier rappers in an exciting field of rap talent both young & old.

Each track on the album is dedicated to one of Rapsody’s personal heroes, and I am going to focus these words & my research for Eve (besides listening to it nonstop, which I’m currently doing now!) on those black women. Track one is for Nina Simone (”without Nina there’s no Lauryn Hill, & without Lauryn Hill there’s no Rapsody.”) and features critically important verses about black heritage & culture over Nina’s terrifying & sobering classic “Strange Fruit.” Rapsody is recognizing her legacy and the importance of heritage, but she is clearly claiming her spot in that bloodline. “Cleo” preaches standing up for yourself over a Phil Collins sample (between Cleo & Lucy Dacus, “In the Air Tonight” is getting some serious love this year!) and is named after Queen Latifah’s character in the 1996 movie “Set it Off.” From there Rapsody recognizes artists (Aaliyah), philanthropists (Oprah & Michelle Obama), actresses (Whoopi), athletes (Serena Williams & Ibtihaj Muhammed), writers (Maya Angelou & Reyna Biddy), models (Iman & Tyra Banks), and historical figures & activists (Hatshepsut, Myrlie Evers-Williams, Sojourner Truth, & Afeni Shakur). Bottom line, ALL of these women are essential google material (you’re reading this on your phone or laptop, google and give yourself a five minute refresher if there’s anyone you don’t already know!) While you’re at it, google the lyrics for Eve (and Jamila Woods’ equally incredible, equally name dropping LEGACY! LEGACY!) and listen along. This is an important time capsule document for Rapsody and it’s just a damn good rap album.

“I am Nina & Roberta, the one you love but ain't heard of / Got my middle finger up like Pac after attempted murder / Failed to kill me, it's still me, woke up singing Shirley Murdock / As we lay these edges down, brown women, we so perfect...”

SABA LOU / Novum Ovum

When I listen to Saba Lou’s intoxicating sophomore album Novum Ovum, I am transported to somewhere magical & different. Maybe older, maybe out of place & time. Everything about Novum feels… classic. From the dusty, record-store-bin-find look of the out of focus cover photo, to the laidback natural way Saba Lou seems to dance along on top of a rollicking house band lifted from the 70’s. There are elements of surf rock, shoegaze, late night soul, and classic rock & roll on Ovum, but it is all driven by the singular writing & vocals of Saba Lou. In the liner notes of the record, a note can be found, claiming that this album is meant to be from the future. 2286 to be exact! Is a concept album?! Is it actually from the future & delivered to us by a time traveling band of Germans?!! Does it have songs about Star Trek??!! Maybe, mayyyybeee... & YES!

Yet to turn 20 (!), Saba Lou is a German born singer songwriter who has been making & releasing music since she was literally six years old! Novum Ovum is Latin for “the new egg” and features a hot four piece full band, and wonderfully fleshed out songs that bounce and swing with palpable energy. The lyrics span an awesomely wide spectrum from endometriosis pain (the title track obv) to a Star Trek mindmeld tune sung from the perspective of Gracie the pregnant whale (closer “Humpback in Time”)!! All in all, Saba Lou is an absolutely electric songwriter and her youthfulness & fervor are contagious. It’s the reason I love making this list every year, and what makes discovering new music so exciting. Can’t wait for the next one!

“A brick wall around your placenta / Cut them all off from her mother blood / The hounds call for appassionata / A phoenetic paste for the fetal bud...”

SHARON VAN ETTEN / Remind Me Tomorrow

Over the last few years I started the practice of making a draft favorite albums list in January and adding albums throughout the year, as I fall in love with them. This way I don’t forget the ones I loved in January & February, the ones that got me through the backend of the Winter. I’m able to track my year in music as it develops, a sort of captain’s log. A living, personal journal using music to mark time & space as I sprint my way through another increasingly faster, increasingly chaotic year. Sometimes, scrolling through the list acts as a comfort. “That album only came out this year?! OK, this year isn’t moving too fast, that feels like forevvverrrr ago!” Sometimes it helps to show me how much I’ve grown, how much an album has meant, or has helped with my mental & emotional growth. This year, the very first album I added to that list, the very first album that I fell hard & holy hell in love with... was Sharon Van Etten’s Remind Me Tomorrow.

A blast of energy. A weird synthy, pulsing red & blue darkness. Simultaneously club-y & indie rock vibey. Van Etten’s fifth album is supposedly written from a place of contentment. A marriage, a child, a life & happiness discovered. Less desperation, more introspection. I hear in her voice & words, how taking care of yourself, how striving to be your best self, can bring out the most powerful, most emotional art. She also isn’t afraid to let her voice go and I think her vocal performances are what truly take Tomorrow to another level. “Memorial Day” rides a haunting vocal loop & tumbles in nearly wordless, glimmering vowels, all ethereal magnificence. The chorus of the brooding “Jupiter 4″ spirals upwards & then rollercoasters, a late night drunken banger. But at the heart of Remind Me Tomorrow sits one of my songs of the year, one of my songs of the decade, “Seventeen.” I had heard it first live, way back in October 2018 in the rain in the mountains at Red Rocks. I got tipsy & wrote about it the day it came out, January 8, 2019, after a long, cold stretch working the night shift. This album & especially this song will stay with me for a long time. Sharon has taught me to keep working on myself. To look back in fondness. To think about how, with hard work, how much joy & peace & comfort await in my coming years. But she also taught me to lean into emotions. To embrace the ache of memories and the bittersweetness of growing up. Thanks for making this album Sharon.

“Downtown hotspot, halfway up the street / I used to be free, I used to be 17 / Follow my shadow around your corner / I used to be 17, now you're just like me / Down beneath the ashes & stone / Sure of what I've lived and have known / I see you so uncomfortably alone / I wish I could show you how much you've grown...”

TIM BAKER / Forever Overhead

I have a special feeling tied to the collection of intimate, swirling songs Tim Baker released this year from Canada. Forever Overhead carries a certain small town holiness, recognizable to those who grew up in small towns , but specific to his own personal, north-north-eastern-eastern “small” town, St Johns, in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada. Growing up on the farthest coast of the Atlantic on the tippy, tippy point of Canada (seriously google it!), Baker fronted emo band Hey Rosetta! for four albums until striking out this Spring on his own with Arts & Crafts Records. There is a very Springsteen-esque bent to the way he writes about growing up somewhere (as someone) small & wanting to be somewhere very big and exciting. He captures the bittersweetness of growing up so perfectly. From the teenage romantic feelings in swaying opener “Dance” & the rousing “Mirrors,” to the friends & bars & singing found in the melancholic “Spirit” and the absolute hit “All Hands.” The latter is the core of the album, a bright, rhythmic guitar number that builds & swells with voices & instrumentation to a few huge, singalong choruses. A real song of the year contender. Baker isn’t afraid to let the songs go on journeys on Forever Overhead and they rarely finish where they begin. Horns & handclaps burst in at points, celebratory & fearless. The sexual tension of “Strange River” is lightened with a false start and a “sorry. In ‘D’” followed by a belly laugh, before restarting. The light & dark are present throughout Overhead and listening to these songs remind me of growing up. I feel like I’m being given a secret glance into Baker’s youth and the parts that mirror mine make me want to lift my voice in unison with those that understand. Sometimes small collections of well written & well played songs can do that, and to me... it’s sacred. Hopefully I get a chance to visit St Johns someday, and if I do, these songs will be playing as my soundtrack.

“A boy in bed, all the windows wide / You can hear the hot rods running from the light / From the light, into the dark / That's all I wanted in my cousin's car / To listen to the wind & to the lead guitars / & feel the reckless running of your heart / Now is that gone or does that all remain? / Can I go back and have it all again? / Well now I know it, where I'm going / I'm going back behind the river / I'm going back behind the rain / Cuz no matter where you're heading / You end up where you’ve been...”

YOLA / Walk Through Fire

It’s clear from the first minute & 30 seconds of Yola’s debut full-length Walk Through Fire, that this album is destined to be an all-time classic. She comes in slow & wistful with “wish I knew what you were wishing for...” over a soft wash of cymbals and mournful country-soul guitar. Then one minute in, her voice swells to gigantic proportions, seeming to lift the song right off the page, carried into another stratosphere, timeless & magnetic. That “Faraway Look” in your eyes.

From there, Yola (36 year old Yolanda Quartey from Bristol, England) takes her commanding voice through bluesy, fiddle-led country (”It Ain’t Easier” & the title track), and laid back soul (”Shady Grove” & “Deep Blue Dream”). Personal fav “Ride Out In The Country” became a backroads, summer anthem for me this year on multiple trips through Southern & Western Colorado. Through it all, her voice booms, whispers, & rocks gently, propelling the songs forward with warmth & light. Her lyrics are full of both dreamy memories & work-a-day stories about the challenges of life. It was fun this year to have different friends & family members get into Yola at different times, getting texts like “have you heard of YOLA??!!” Sharing songs, & collections of songs (like the ones on Walk Through Fire) is what makes making this list every year so fun, and I’m always excited to see what new, life-long favorites I will discover. See you in a couple months at the Bluebird Theater on Colfax here in Denver Yola!! Can’t wait!

“A little shady grove / A memory long ago / A tale too old to know the ending / I gave it all away / It takes my breath away...”

#yola #tim baker #Sharon Van Etten #saba lou #Rapsody #orville peck #lizzo #lady lamb #kiltro #kara jackson #june jones #hiss golden messenger #fruit bats #earthgang #bon iver #black belt eagle scout #big thief #better oblivion community center #justin peter kinkel-schuster

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onestowatch · 6 years ago

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Crowded Green Rooms, Hotel Rooms and Cars: How Julia Jacklin Made Space For ‘Crushing’ [Q&A]

On her sophomore album, Crushing, Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin performs an act of self-reclamation in ten parts. She drives away, locks herself in her room, examines her body from head-to-toe in a full length mirror, and shakes the voice of an ex-lover from her head. Jacklin wrote the material for the album over the course of a two-year-long world tour while packed into “crowded cars, crowded stages and tiny green rooms” and a corporeal desire for space rings throughout.

Jacklin’s debut album, Don’t Let The Kids Win (2016), was a meditation on growing up and the mental reorientations the process demands. It established Jacklin as another star in the line-up of contemporary indie-folk-rock songwriter and storytellers from down under (including Courtney Barnett, Marlon Williams, Stella Donnelley and Aldous Harding, among others). The album supported two years of consistent touring — and when Jacklin finally settled home, she culled from the collection of lyrics and diary entries she’d put down while on the road and knit Crushing together.

Released on Feb. 22, the 10-track record sees Jacklin tightening her focus on love wearing thin, love ultimately lost and an aftermath that embraces scorn and longing in equal parts. Jacklin’s acknowledgment of the emotional incongruities of the breakdown process rings most true. The album opens with the five-minute burner, “Body,” in which we find Jacklin jumping in a cab to leave behind a partner who’s gotten them kicked off a domestic flight by smoking in the airplane bathroom. At the other end of the album, Jacklin sings “Comfort” like a lullaby to herself, repeating that her former lover will heal with time and, either way, “You can't be the one to hold him when you were the one who left.”

This push-and-pull — the tension between the comfort of space and the comfort of love — prompts us to wonder whether it’s possible to hold both. Jacklin presents us with the question, and in “Head Alone,” answers it by shouting, “You can love somebody without using your hands.” Crushing is granted a degree of relief as Jacklin observes from afar that one can manage to be both loved and liberated.

We spoke with Jacklin the morning after she’d landed in Paris from Australia, feeling, “jet-lagged and foggy.” She’d come from having a coffee and writing in her diary, a practice she’s kept up since she was ten and that makes her feel that she’s “accomplished at least one thing every day.” We discussed dancing alone, why Crushing is not a “Me Too” album, the mythical music industry roller coaster and what it means to be truly great.

Be sure to catch Jacklin on the Crushing tour at one of the dates down below:

OTW: You wrote most of Crushing while touring your debut album, Don’t Let The Kids Win. Where and how did you find the space to write an album while on the road?

JJ: I wrote a lot of it in the car, looking out the window. Once I got used to travel and the touring lifestyle and surrounded myself with good people who understood me, knew when I needed space and who I didn't feel self-conscious in front of, I started to be able to write even when people were around. I wrote most of the record without a guitar in hand — I reckon I start writing 90 percent of my songs in the shower, actually. For every show, we’d have about forty-five minutes of soundcheck which gave me time to figure out the guitar patterns and chords while the band played along. That’s how it all began to come together.

OTW: How did the process of writing and recording for Crushing feel different from that of your debut album?

JJ: It was worlds different. The first record was a synthesis of my whole life, for which I tried to pick the best songs from all the years leading up to it. I went into it not understanding the recording process properly and feeling very intimidated by the studio. For Crushing, I felt pretty confident in the studio, and I was able to go into it with more of a voice. I didn't feel as much pressure as I thought I’d feel about the scary second record. That seems to be more of a myth than something any of us genuinely experience. It exists online and in the dark corners of your insecurity, but in your day-to-day life — you’re still the same person who loves writing the songs you’ve always written.

OTW: Did your newfound understanding of the recording studio works impact your songwriting for Crushing?

JJ: For me, the song comes first and production comes eighth. Production is important, but if you don't have the song in its core, then you’ve got nothing. There's no amount of layering or trickery that will make it sound good. It was actually the process of touring that helped me develop the songs by making me aware of what I wanted to play for another two years on the road. I realized that I didn’t want to get up there and just play quiet, soft songs every night — I needed songs that would make me feel alive and get my blood running.

OTW: The first two singles you released off the album, “Head Alone” and “Pressure To Party,” both explore the theme of ownership over one's body. How did these come to be the first songs introducing the album?

JJ: I did the same thing for my first record — released the songs in the order that they appear on the album. That's the way I want people to hear the record, sequentially from start to finish. There are definitely a lot of references to my body in the record — I listened back and realized that in the first five songs on the record I say something about my body. It’s a hard thing to talk about — I’ve been doing a lot of press lately and keep getting asked, “Is this a ‘Me Too’ album?’ and it’s like, “No, it's just the album that I've written about my experiences.” Women have been speaking about these things forever, it just so happens that the world is paying attention right now. I spent two years in shared beds, tiny green rooms, crowded rooms, crowded stages and crowded cars. The album formed once I finished that tour and finally just threw my arms out wide and emerged from that claustrophobia.

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OTW: On “Head Alone,” it does feel like you're literally breaking out of the expected song structure when you arrive at the bridge — it feels like a different song entirely. Did the bridge surprise you when you wrote it?

JJ: On this record, I was trying to find ways to express these feelings without shoving them into a typical song structure. Initially the bridge was the chorus, and I was going to repeat it. But when we were recording, I realized that I didn’t want to say it again. Sometimes in songwriting the power can be in giving people something once — then they want it again, so they listen again and it’s more impactful. I always think about that with Joanna Newson, one of my favorite songwriters. She’s someone who manages to write a twelve minute song, and she’ll say something once, but you’ll remember it and it’s so powerful. It’s the classic “less is more.”

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OTW: You’ve directed or co-directed (with longstanding creative collaborator Nick Mkk) all of your music videos for both Crushing and Don’t Let The Kids Win— when did you decide you were going to take on that role and how did you learn the ropes of directing video?

JJ: It was definitely a learning curve, but there’s a lot of stuff in the creative world that you just have to learn by doing. People often don't realize that. They think, “I need to go to school, I need to be perfect at it before I try it.” Making the music videos made me realize that, in the world of creative work, nobody knows what they're doing and everybody learns from doing it. It’s like that thing when you become an adult and you’re like, “Oh, nobody knows what’s going on.”

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OTW: In about seven of your music videos, we see you dancing alone. What’s the story behind this means of expression?

JJ: I’ve started thinking recently that music videos are kind of dumb. I appreciate that some videos are incredible, but a lot of the time, it seems so crazy for me to take a song that has its own life, narrative, and meaning, and then to try to squish a whole other narrative on top of it. That's where the dancing comes in. Every time I think, “How I can represent this song in a simple way?” I’m like, "Oh, I'm going to dance! I’m going to dance in front of a star, I’m going to dance over here, I’m going to dance over there." My label and my manager have said to me multiple times, “Do you reckon you're going to do something else, maybe other than dancing by yourself? And I’m like, “Well, maybe…” and then I deliver the next music video and they’re like, “Ah no, here we go.”

OTW: Now that you’ve been steeped in the industry for a while, what have you found about it that you appreciate and that you need to take yourself away from as a means of self-preservation?

JJ: The industry is great in that it allows me to do what I do. It's driven me into a global community of people and made me feel I really belong somewhere. There is strange thing I’ve realized about the music world — it seems like you’re either up-and-coming, or you've made it, or you're irrelevant. There’s this set trajectory and you've got to figure out where you fit into it. Leading into this second record, I’ve been doing all this press and media and it’s all, “up-and-coming” and “next biggest thing” and you’re just like, “I thought I was just doing my thing, I didn’t realize I was on some strange ascent on a roller coaster.” It’s strange how we try to stick artists into some box where we perceive them to be at their career trajectory, when most of us are just going, “Oh, I thought we were all just playing music and doing our best.”

OTW: You speak about your musical contemporaries with a sense of camaraderie. I think it’s great how you acknowledge your musical influences and recognize that it's a part of the folk tradition to be guided by the work of others. Will you tell me a bit about how you experience music as a listener?

JJ: I think it’s odd when an artist puts a song up on the Internet and people hop on to say, “You sound like this or that person” as a means of dismissing their creativity. Of course we’re all borrowing, especially in the folk tradition— that was the whole point of the genre. I think it's a beautiful thing to be so inspired by someone that you write a song based off of what you listen to. Watching the artists I tour with is my music school. I toured with Andy Shauf for a month last year, and that was the most influential music school I've ever been to. We played 17 shows and 17 festivals together, and I literally would run from my set to go watch his. I’d just stand there, just drinking it in — of course it's going to come out your own music.

OTW: Speaking of artists whom you admire, in “Motherland” you have this line, “Will I be great? Will I be good?” If we’re trying to get outside of the narrative of the emerging, the successful and the declining artist, what does greatness in an artist look like to you?

JJ: At this point, it’s the artists who have clearly stayed true to themselves that I see as great. Like Japanese Breakfast — she works really fucking hard, she tries all these different mediums and I'm sure she’s failed a lot, but she just put her head down and pounds through. She doesn’t have to pour her heart out in every interview, but at the same time, she seems totally able to control her narrative. It’s great to see artists who — even though this industry is crazy and tiring and there are so people involved in your career, so many things that can slip out of your grasp and misrepresent you — manage to rise above that environment and represent themselves truly.

#julia jacklin #interview #crushing #indie #pop #folk

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pinupac87 · 6 years ago

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Novae Webcomic Playlist Rundown (So Far)

Sooo, what started out as a silly tweet to the creators of Novae Webcomic turned into a full fledged playlist. Each update on their twitter I would have *certain song playing in the background* to amuse myself. They liked it, so I kept doing it. Then they gave me the okay to make a playlist. So I went through the comic; page by page to find appropriate songs not only for the characters but for the emotions that a certain song would evoke.

I went to town.

Currently at the time of writing this, I have not fine tuned this playlist yet. I’m listening to it to ensure the flow of music. But the songs are not in order of the comic; I wanted to have the feel of the comic. Since I am updating this as they update the comic (I don’t have Patreon right now, so I am updating it as the new pages come up on the website and their twitter.) the playlist additions will be ongoing. I am not currently taking suggestions; the playlist is just my impressions of what I see and feel a song might evoke in terms of emotion.

So, let’s get into the rundown!

***

Smooth Operator - Sade

The one that started the whole thing. I joked that Sullivan was smooth in his interactions with Raziol. And he is.

Careless Whisper - George Michael

Same as above, meant as a joke but it fits. Epic saxophone solo for the win.

Moondance - Van Morrison

This is a beautiful song, and the themes of love and night time fits with their relationship. The music progression and Van Morrison’s voice capture the mood I saw reading this comic. This song also prompted the playlist’s creation.

She Blinded Me With Science - Stanford Mixed Company

How could I not add this song? Raziol’s love of astronomy and science is integral to this story, not to mention his interactions with Sullivan. The a Capella version would be very appropriate for the time (I am aware chamber music was big, but a Capella was still popular). And you can’t deny the nerdy cheesiness.

I Could Fall In Love - Selena

This is a good song for a quiet slow burn as the two get to know each other. For Sullivan because he might be willing to open himself up to Raziol, and for Raziol because he finds someone that he can have a connection with. Both are nervous, both are probably scared to tell the other at first, but they know that something’s there.

Crush - Jennifer Paige

Sullivan is reluctant to let himself feel something deep for Raziol, so he tries to deny it. The lyrics are a good refection of that. And the beat is good to dance to.

Englishman in New York - Sting

This is a multi-layered selection. Both are outsiders in their place in the world they are in. Raziol being born from Hindustan (India) and Sullivan being an enigma wrapped in secrets (That’s why his cloak is so big.) make this song a perfect parallel for the two of them.

Hopeless Wanderer - Mumford and Sons

Very on the nose for Sullivan. His travels around the world and the fact that he doesn’t have an anchor make me wonder what will happen...

After Tonight - Justin Nozuka

Very sweet and appropriate of the two star nerds.

And I Love Him - Benjamin Gibbard

This cover of And I Love Her was re-imagined for a playlist for Pride. It’s quiet, soft, and very affectionate.

I’ve Got a Crush On You - Frank Sinatra

Same with all the songs that have themes of pining and new attractions on this playlist.

Come Fly with Me - Frank Sinatra

For the Flight Attendant AU. Because I can. Cue the 60′s style film editing for the opening with planes and map montages.

Then He Kissed Me - The Crystals

A sort of Meet-Cute song for the two.

Through the Valley - Shaun James

Sullivan. This man has been through a lot. Whatever trauma he encounted in his travels has let him to feel reluctant. I get the impression that he has seen some things in his travels.

Sigh No More - Mumford and Sons

Again, Sullivan. It seems that he knows what he wants...

Winter Winds - Mumford and Sons

...but there is something that is holding him back. Perhaps he’s not ready yet?

Stand by Me - Ben E. King

Raziol knows that he has feelings for Sullivan and wants to be close to the mysterious man.

I Found You - Alabama Shakes

Both have been trying to find things in their life and in all of the world, they found each other. Whether or not that will end up as a full fledged romance at the time of writing this remains to be seen.

In Case You Didn’t Know - Boyce Avenue

Raziol’s pining during his interactions with Sullivan the more he sees him.

Mix Tape - The Cast of Avenue Q

Ever wonder what having a crush was like? Well, here ya go.

Yellow - Coldplay

The cosmic feel of this song and the sweet vocals bring the love of astronomy and love in general gives a beautiful feel for this comic.

The First Cut is the Deepest

Both men have had heartbreak in their past. But this is more for Sullivan. See Winter Winds for explanation.

Love Like You - Eric Hutchinson

The feel of a new attraction that makes things feel bright and fun.

Shine on Me - Eric Hutchinson

Raziol’s feeling for Sullivan as things progress. He feels lighter when Sullivan is around.

Phantom’s Theme (Beauty And The Beast) - Paul Williams

Sullivan, on the other hand, has some serious shadows in his life and his past. And with his profession, he lives there as well.

I Fought in A War - Belle & Sebastian

Following up on Sullivan. This might be speculation here, but he’s been through a lot. Probably seen a lot of death. Perhaps he was a part of a conflict or was a witness to it?

The Book of Love - The Magnetic Fields

There is a gentleness to this version of the song. Love is old, scary, beautiful, and something that can’t be fully understood. Think of this as the dating and falling in love montage song. Sans poolside scene that you see in every indie film.

Read, Eat, Sleep

Raziol’s thought process and his environment around him. There is something very analytical to this song with sounds of a city and storms. An instrumental and atmospheric feel.

You’re So Cool - Hans Zimmer (True Romance Soundtrack)

Not every song has to have vocals. Sullivan’s view of Raziol. I imagine that this is what plays when he is around Raizol.

Dreaming of You - Selena

You know why. Once the wind chimes play to open the song you are transported.

Kiss the Flame - Jewel

Jupiter - Jewel

These two songs are a good as a romance and sensual evocation of what they are going through. Kiss the Flame is a desire that grips both of them. Jupiter is that casual feeling that you have with your partner by your side.

Somebody’s Watching Me - Rockwell

Not all songs are about the romance! Can’t forget the world they are in. With rumors of wild dogs attacking people, people feeling watched, and bodies showing up folks can’t help but feel paranoid. Feel free to belt out.

Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac

Sullivan is like the wind, a force of nature that comes in and is beautiful and bittersweet. The fact he is often in the darkness and is the darkness matches well with this song.

The Creation of Men - Douglas Sills and the Cast of The Scarlet Pimpernel

This was too much fun not to put here. It’s period appropriate (The play takes place exactly 100 years later, but same century) and fun as hell! P.S. Go read The Scarlet Pimpernel and listen to the Broadway cast recording. Do it.

Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

I was really debating whether or not to put this on this playlist. It’s been done to death and is on almost every playlist with romance. But dammit, it works. Raziol and Sullivan are a very slow burn. There is no grand romantic scores or fly by night romances here. They are on a path that will take time. It’ll grow, but slowly.

***

That’s the playlist so far, but I’ll update this as I go along. Thanks for reading! And a big thanks to the creators of this comic for allowing me to create this!

And be sure to go read Novae!

http://www.novaecomic.com/comic/novae-test/

#Different Drum Blog #pinupac87 talks #i made a thing #kai-ju #novae webcomic #webcomic

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shemakesmusic-uk · 4 years ago

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This segment features artists who have submitted their tracks/videos to She Makes Music. If you would like to be featured here then please send an e-mail to [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!

Zoë Zohar

Raised in Israel by a South African mother and Israeli father, Zoë Zohar shares her story and take on life through upbeat melancholic ambience. By incorporating live with electronic instruments, Zohar constantly shifts between raw nostalgic tones and futuristic elements, searching for a new authentic sound. After moving to London at the age of 19, Zohar and her team began working together on her much-anticipated EP of four songs, one of which features her recent release ‘Paper Airplanes’. Through her EP, Zohar tells a story of feeling overwhelmed in a trapped environment. In this song, she portrays a sense of loneliness and feeling on the edge of defeat, only to realise that one may find comfort in this state of mind. Zohar aims to take the viewer on a journey that reveals the conflict of befriending our inner voices and running away from them. Listen below.

Zoë Zohar · Paper Airplanes

RIVITA

Hailing from the colorful escapades of India, Rivita creates electro-acoustic landscapes with her music. After completing an extensive education in music, she is currently based in LA and is focused on writing new music and playing virtual shows. Her latest single ‘Lonely With Someone’ is a story of the consequence of addiction and the unsaid hidden scars that it leaves. The song is a segway from her previous release ‘Someone Else’s Arms’, Rivita states “With this piece of work, I wanted to express the strength an individual really holds. There have been many moments in my life, I have surprised myself with my own strength and while facing some of my biggest fears in tough situations. While growing up I watched someone get lost in the sea of addiction. As I got older, I realized just how common addiction is across the globe and how well it is masked sometimes. It has caused me pain and it felt like I had no right to feel this way because I was not the one with the disease. I wanted to find a way to release my feelings without the consequence of being told to get over it or to stop thinking about it. This is the only way I thought I’d ever be able to fully express myself, through this song”. Listen below.

Rivita · Lonely With Someone

Alicia Lov

Spanish-Canadian artist Alicia Lov took to music at an early age. Music and dance lessons pushed her passion further and led to where she is now. Alicia has a love for lots of different genres including rap/hiphop, alternative, dancehall, latin pop and so much more. Dance is a big part of her inspiration and will continue to be a prime part of her career. Her latest single 'Magnetic' delivers a smooth romantic R&B feeling that makes you want to get cuddled up with that special someone. She explains further, "'Magnetic,' has romantic R&B vibes that were inspired by love between the sheets. Smiling and tracing each other with your fingertips. Love can sometimes just be free and chaotic. Head in the clouds, floating in another dimension." Listen below.

ALICIA LOV · Magnetic

Lyla DiPaul

Lyla DiPaul is an American recording artist based out of New Orleans. DiPaul grew up in Takoma Park, MD where she fell in love with playing guitar and writing songs at the age of 10. She draws musical inspiration from a variety of songwriters including Taylor Swift, Joni Mitchell, and Phoebe Bridgers. DiPaul eloquently relays the feeling of love and heartbreak through her music, and hopes to connect to people through her work. Her latest single is ‘Still Unwell’ and here is what Lyla had to say about the release: ”I wrote ‘Still Unwell’ with my friend MC in the fall of 2019. Simply put, it is a breakup song. We always describe it as being about nostalgia for a relationship. When you miss all the good things and bad things about a person, and just cannot move on. We recorded the bulk of the song in the studio at Loyola University, New Orleans and then ended up finishing up the guitar work and the vocals in my bedroom after things became unsafe due to the pandemic.” Listen below.

Lyla DiPaul · Still Unwell

Mango In Euphoria

Starting her project in London after being employed in Florida and travelling through the United States, French-born alternative artist and songwriter Mango In Euphoria quickly found her audience when she dropped her first experimental work at the end of 2020. The singer is an emerging talent noticeable by her quirky style and her mysterious signature voice, matching her very own unique musical tracks mixing Electronic Rock, Dream Pop and Dark-wave genres. Creating melodies coming from her mind with virtual instruments and recording with a very basic microphone during the global Coronavirus pandemic, Mango In Euphoria also began to work remotely with Belgian producer Philippe Francq who helped her in developing a lot of demos with physical instruments inspired from vintage influences such as the Twin Peaks series soundtracks, The Cure, and Garbage. As Mango was mainly musically influenced by Grimes and Lana Del Rey, there's no doubt that the result would be quiet outstanding. Her new song ‘Golden Shrine’ is about celebrating who you are as a unique person, embracing this uniqueness “and also about someone who started to copy everything I was doing when everything was coming from my creativity so instead of getting more pissed off I created a song about it!” she laughs. Listen below.

MangoInEuphoria · Mango In Euphoria - Golden Shrine

Shannon

East London singer-songwriter, Shannon is an indie-pop artist that brings soulful tones through her vocals. Her music shares stories and experiences through heartfelt lyrics and production driven by acoustic guitar. Her latest single ‘But He's There’ is an upbeat track about the complications of falling for a close friend. The lyrics reveal inner thoughts of uncertainty about stepping out of one's comfort zone to fulfil an exciting idea of love. As the song builds, the story unfolds and reflects the fantasy for a closer relationship. Shannon's high notes introduce an unexpected direction to the vocal line that mirrors the feeling of being caught unaware by your thoughts and feelings. Whilst picturing the production for this song, some influential tracks from the 90's came to mind from artists such as Corinne Bailey Rae, Lauryn Hill and Natasha Bedingfield. The laid-back drums and organ keys give off a chilled vibe, almost as if the song acts as a passing thought during a relaxed Sunday morning. Listen below.

officialshannonuk · But He's There

Heff VanSaint

East London-based alternative pop artist, Heff VanSaint has released her debut track ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. The former one half of synth-pop duo Miracles has gone back to her roots with a song that fuses old-school storytelling, with a contemporary lo-fi indie sound. ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ is a tale of lost friendship, at a time of carefree hedonism. It’s a bruised, melancholic song tinged with sadness. Lyrically sublime, its evocative lines hit deep and leave the listener experiencing a sentimental yearning long after its over. Listen below.

Nille Nyc

Following up on the release of her debut EP PowerPainPillsPercussion, Danish electro pop artist Nille Nyc has just released new single ‘Someone Else’, her first of 2021, as a per cursor to her upcoming full-length album. Let’s face it, we’ve all been there: a relationship that seems to constantly be teetering on the edge of the abyss, until one day when it finally implodes. Afterwards, all that we can do is pick up the pieces and move on. ‘Someone Else’ is a story about looking back at the aftermath of a bad relationship from the safety of a better place. With a playful guitar, heavy R&B beat and edgy vocals, ‘Someone Else’ opens a new chapter in Nille Nyc’s musical journey. “Throughout our lifetime we experience relationships which challenge our core values as human beings, both professionally and personally. Every relationship needs to grow and mature; to look to the future while keeping the lessons of the past in mind. The same holds true for music. Every musician needs to keep innovating and experimenting. They need to take risks and challenge themselves by exploring new ideas and new ways of expressing themselves. If they don’t, then they run the risk of becoming static and their music will suffer for it”, Nille Nyc says. Listen below.

Nille Nyc · Someone Else

Natasha Ghosh

Natasha Ghosh originated as a professional Dutch-Indian fingerstyle ukulele player, but nowadays she also focuses on singing and releases her own music. Natasha's main styles are R&B, indie electronic, lo-fi, and hip-hop. Her new single ‘Paradise’ is a deep and emotional vocal-led lo-fi track with a relaxed sense of beauty. It's a personal song about romantic escapism between lovers. Lush synthesizer melodies, emotional vocals, and dynamic, but the chill drums make this track a perfect fit for study, Lo-fi, chill, and dreamy playlists. This is a song that Natasha wrote with her girlfriend in mind. "I believe that it's important to show the people you love what they're worth to you. In an ever-changing society where all kinds of stuff are happening around the globe, it's good to focus on the good things.” The track was a COVID-19 project, made in collaboration with the famous lo-fi artist Kid Kio from home studios. Listen below.

Natasha Ghosh Music · Natasha Ghosh (feat. Kid Kio)- Paradise

Olivia Void

Berlin based experimental artist Olivia Void uses her highly recognizable voice and songwriting style to introduce us to her unusual sonic cosmos. Her debut ‘Made for You’ was published in October 2020. After collaborating with members of the local and international electro and folk scenes in the meantime, she now prepares for the release of her debut EP PHYSICAL later this year. Unpredictable and captivating, Olivia Void’s new single ‘Glory to Glory’ is a hommage to our physical selves. Led by the Berlin singer‘s characteristic voice and electric guitar play, we get carried away high and low until we want to join in the glory. Talking about the powers of the self-reigned body, the song‘s unique structure creates a whirl that drags you in. As more and more layers are added or taken away we find ourselves in a state of vibrant emotion. Listen below.

Olivia Void · Olivia Void - Glory to Glory

#submission saturday #zoe zohar #rivita #alicia lov #lyla dipaul #mango in euphoria #heff vansaint #nille nyc #natasha ghosh #olivia void #shannon

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thereviewsarein · 4 years ago

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This past week I received an email from a PR company in Ireland. After a handful of emails and a lovely Zoom call with Colm Slattery I’ve got a new source for indie music. Colm is part of a three person team at events and promotions company Fluttertone.com based in Dublin, Ireland. I appreciated the cooperative nature of the conversation.

I’m delighted to present to you our first four Irish indie artists.

ARTIST: NÍV SONG:Moonlight NOTES: Our first artist is Irish singer songwriter Niamh Murray. The singer-songwriter from Kildare, IE goes by the stage name NÍV.

NÍV’s solo work comes after years of singing lead in bands, collecting experience, and playing gigs and festivals. She lists artists such as The Cranberries, Damien Rice, and Joni Mitchell as influences, as well as traditional Irish music and folk songs. Moonlight is beautiful and memorable.

“I think that this song really depicts a constant love. It is a story of love that doesn’t ever really go away, even if the relationship does. I think there is always a specific moment or memory that people remember when reminiscing on past relationships and the song encapsulates that. We always seem to remember specific moments and in most cases, it’s the happy ones that we remember over the not so happy ones. When writing this song, it was kind of a realisation for me that in any relationship, romantic or non romantic, we always remember the better times which to me is a really positive thing. That’s what this song is all about.”

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NÍV’S LINKS

Facebook / Instagram / Spotify

ARTIST: Craig Cooney SONG: Better Than This NOTES: Another artist who originated out of Kildare is Craig Cooney. He’s a 26 year old rapper who now calls Dublin home. He’s has been making music professionally for a relatively short time, around 2 and half years, but his uniqueness has helped him to attain a good level of success. Cooney lists Macklemore, Dermot Kennedy, and J. Cole as his influences. Better Than This is a positive, fun, energetic, cheerful, supportive track that’s perfect for summer.

Craig Says “when things are going good, people will usually say “It won’t get better than this” The reason I wrote this song is to show people that we don’t have to settle for less, we have to keep pushing for what we all deserve , which is the best. Life should be enjoyed, we embrace the ups and downs and we grow and we learn, enjoying the journey that shapes us in to the people we are today”.

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CRAIG COONEY’S LINKS

Facebook / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube

ARTIST: Fintan McKahey SONG: Goodbye NOTES: The press kit describes this tune as lo-fi pop. That’s a new one for me. His Facebook page lists the genre as Psychedelic Pop/Indie Folk/Alternative/Downtempo. Whatever we’re calling it, I like it. It’s chill and rich.

Goodbye offers up acoustic elements accompanied by downtempo beats, and ambient production. Fintan is joined by fellow Irish singer Ava Archbold who delivers a delicious, dreamy performance. The pairing is exquisite. Their voices complement each other perfectly.

“Goodbye is a love song, looking at things from the other side of the fence. It’s an observation of the struggle at the end of a relationship, when both sides are clinging on in hope of salvation.” – –fluttertone.com

The lyrics are honest and the chorus is spot on.

I WANNA CALL YOU AND I FIND IT EASY TO ADORE YOU AND WHY? DON’T SAY GOODBYE, WE COULD TRY FOR THE LAST TIME

MAYBE I WAS WRONG BUT I FOUND IT EASIER TO FALL FOR YOUR LIES DON’T SAY GOODBYE, WE COULD TRY FOR THE LAST TIME

We’ve all been there.

Fintan comes from a musical family and started playing at a young age. McKahey is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and producer who lists his influences as Ben Howard, Chet Faker, and Still Woozy.

Goodbye (Official Video)

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FINTAN McKAHEY’S LINKS

Web / Facebook / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube / Linktr.ee

ARTIST: Elina Filice SONG: Thinking of you NOTES: This Irish indie artist comes to us via Canada. Keep your eye on the video and you might recognize some familiar places. The video was shot in Toronto by Toronto-based filmmaker Phil Kim, and co-stars Ally Cantalini. The video follows Elina on an adventure from Kensington Market, to the Island Ferry, to Toronto Island, and then finally back home to the bedroom. I love this video. It’s awash with positivity, warmth, and good feelings.

She says, “The song discusses themes of movement, travel, and adventure, so I wanted to capture that by shooting different scenes across the city.” She goes on to say, “The song is verbose, rambling, and nostalgic, with thoughts and memories swirling and haunting. I wanted to capture that with the scenes cutting forward and back in time. I want viewers to wonder if the scenes with Ally are happening in real time or if they’re memories and flashbacks, and the journey is really happening alone.”

Elina says, “The video is pretty gay. It’s a little nerve-wracking to be this gay on camera, but… this is my life, this is my friends’ lives. Queer visibility is important, and as a creator, honest content like this is my way of fighting to normalize queerness and queer love. I think it’s important to recognize that feeling safe enough to be openly out, let alone shooting a music video like this, isn’t possible for a lot of queer people around the world. Queerness, especially between women, is usually blatantly oversexuallized, so I wanted the scenes between myself and Ally to be intimate and loving, and not at all sexual. There’s enough of that on the internet.”

Elina was born to Canadian parents, grew up in Singapore, and then moved to Canada to attend University. She made the move to Dublin in September 2017 to pursue music more seriously, and completed two diplomas at BIMM Dublin.

This multi-talented artist has previously released an EP and several singles, and she’s toured extensively both on her own and with her band, the Kicks. She’s also started a coaching and consulting service called Red Vine Music. It assists artists and creatives with social media, digital marketing, and content strategies. You can also catch Elina writing for music blog fruitsonic.com.

“Thinking of You has over 215k streams on Spotify, and enjoyed news coverage from dozens of outlets following its release including Earmilk, Hot Press, For The Love Of Bands, and The Last Mixed Tape. The song has spent over twelve weeks on Spotify Editorial Playlist, “Butter.”

With funky guitar licks, an infectious beat, and a stuck-in-your-head chorus, Thinking of You is a genre-defying track that melds pop and funk influences with modern hip-hop sounds, while still full of Elina’s signature thoughtful lyrics, catchy hooks, and strong storytelling.” –fluttertone.com

Thinking of You (Official Video)

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ELINA FILICE’S LINKS

Web / Facebook / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube

Four Irish Indie Artists You Should Be Listening To – NÍV, Craig Cooney, Fintan McKahey, and Elina Filice This past week I received an email from a PR company in Ireland. After a handful of emails and a lovely Zoom call with Colm Slattery I've got a new source for indie music.

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dylanreviewsthings · 6 years ago

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Immortal Reviews' Top 50 Albums Of 2018

2018. It’s been some time since a year came to define itself so apparently as this past one did. 2018 saw tumultuous politics become even more fiery, but even as our world seemingly tears apart, we all band together under the sentiment of moving forward to keep going. “It’s 2018” became less of a meme and more of a statement as time went on - and as the new year approaches, we’re all reflecting on how much really changed this year.

Music certainly saw its fair share of important movements this year. Hip-hop continued to dominate, Travis Scott finally releasing his long-awaited ASTROWORLD while Kanye West produced several powerful records this year. Pop music kept evolving, its modern message of “even if it’s not okay now, it will be” coming to captivate all of us as we find hope in it. Rock made a comeback, artists like Mike Shinoda rising out of the ashes to deliver his debut solo record, overcoming the demons of grief while Muse redefined their sound in one of their most eclectic records yet. 2018 gave us a lot of music - and here are the 50 albums that defined the year for us.

50. Passenger - Runaway

Passenger‘s reflective indie-folk mix has always provided for some great tracks, but that' reached a new level with 2018’s Runaway. Familiarly chill vibes in ‘Why Can’t I Change‘ and ‘Heart To Love‘ reveal that Passenger is doing more than just recalling his life: he’s trying to figure out how to change it, and without much luck. Runaway is like reaching an impasse in life, where all you can do is run; Passenger certainly seems to feel so, at least, with songs like title track ‘Runaway‘ seeking the strength to move forward. While the latter half of the record trends towards a more appreciative tone (in songs including ‘To Be Free‘ and ‘Eagle Bear Buffalo‘), it’s the more emotional tracks, namely the heartbroken opener ‘Hell Or High Water,’ where Passenger really shines and let’s himself be vulnerable.

49. A Hawk and A Hacksaw - Forest Bathing

Instrumental music has the unique property of transporting you to wherever your mind allows you to go. That being said, it’s hard to find the perfect balance between storytelling and quality - luckily, A Hack and A Hacksaw managed to find just the right blend of the two in Forest Bathing. Middle Eastern elements will transport you from the Egyptian deserts in ‘Alexandria‘ to the lively bustle of a town in ‘The Washing Bear.’ Closing track ‘Bayati Maqam‘ hardly feels like an end to a journey, but concludes the record in a fittingly summative way, the dark and independent instruments creating a majestic atmosphere. Forest Bathing is a brilliant Middle Eastern journey, masterfully brought together by an Arabian orchestra and A Hack and A Hacksaw.

48. Elder Brother - Stay Inside

Elder Brother‘s latest record is proof that diversity adds a whole new level to storytelling. Their new record Stay Inside is full of pain, but the band channels it in several different ways in an effort to try and understand it. From the confusion of the grand build in ‘Unnatural History‘ to the tantalizing melodies of ‘No Reason,’ Stay Inside doesn’t ever stick to one sound to cope with pain. Their quest to really channel this pain seems to meet dead ends, as each song ends powerfully but not without questions. The record ends powerfully and anthemically with the beaten down ‘I Don’t Think It Stops,’ building slowly into a massive bridge with a big guitar solo before exploding with one final burst of emotion to take things out. Elder Brother explored their pain in ways few others dare to, and Stay Inside is as therapeutic as it is painful.

47. Logic - Bobby Tarantino II

Logic burst into 2018 looking to prove himself once and for all, and he certainly did everything he could to achieve that. Bobby Tarantino II, the sequel to his cult-classic mixtape, set the hip-hop world alight when it dropped, and not without reason. Logic goes off in this record, showing off his quickfire abilities in tracks like ‘44 More‘ and in ‘Wassup‘ with Big Sean. Bobby Tarantino II is more than just an onslaught of skill: it’s a diverse record full of fun and confidence, with songs as characteristic as ‘Indica Badu‘ and as serious as the fiery ‘Contra.’ There’s no denying that with Bobby Tarantino II, Logic definitely solidified his place amongst the greats of modern hip-hop.

46. S. Carey - Hundred Acres

Every good story has a sort of ebb and flow to it, and S. Carey perfects that concept amazingly in his record Hundred Acres. The indie record feels like an inside look into the artist’s past, anecdotes in tracks like ‘True North‘ and ‘Fool’s Gold‘ adding that personal touch to the record. The natural wonder of ‘Yellowstone‘ and the peaceful atmosphere of ‘Rose Petals‘ feel like childhood memories, while the darker ‘Hideout‘ tells a more pertinent story. Hundred Acres is an autobiography of sorts, and in S. Carey’s writing we find ourselves being reminded of our own pasts, too.

45. Logic - YSIV

Logic had a busy - and tough - year, but that didn’t stop him from constantly delivering. His second spot on our Top 50 Albums list comes with YSIV, his mixtape that saw him dive deep into hip-hop’s roots to offer up a whole different experience from Bobby Tarantino II. Title track ‘YSIV‘ is a great example of everything this record has to offer: an old-school west-coast style beat underlying Logic’s unstoppable flow and lyricism. The rest of the record doesn’t slack, either, the entire Wu-Tang Clan joining him for ‘Wu Tang Forever‘ while Jaden Smith shows a bit of aggression in ‘ICONIC.’ Chiller tracks including ‘One Day‘ with Ryan Tedder and ‘Ordinary Day‘ with Hailee Steinfeld provide some nice color to the record. Closing track ‘Last Call‘ is a reflective and thankful finale, Logic thanking his fans for bringing him to where his is now while recalling his past struggles. Life isn’t easy all of the time, but even when all seems to fall apart, Logic reminds us that struggle will always give way to success.

44. Tomberlin - At Weddings

There were a lot of times this year where things felt like they wouldn’t get better. More than ever, the negativity seems to be all that dominates the Internet and media. There were plenty of times that extended into our personal lives, too; it certainly did for Tomberlin. In her new record At Weddings, Tomberlin bared her heart as she let go of all the things that hold her back. It feels like a constant battle between maintaining optimism and losing it, evident in ‘Any Other Way,’ where her reflective and sweet vocals try desperately to stay optimistic before things coming crashing down in ‘Untitled 1.’ This mental warfare only continues to show the complication behind Tomberlin’s struggle, which seems to reach it’s harshest point in ‘I’m Not Scared,’ where a fragile Tomberlin has to ensure herself that things will get better: "And to be a woman is to be in pain / And my body reminds me almost everyday that I was made for another, but I don’t want to know that / Cause it happened once and I always look back." Even when all seems lost, however, Tomberlin still dejectedly tries to find her way out of her funk, almost to an inspiring degree. The world will throw everything it has at you one day: learn from Tomberlin, and be prepared to move forward knowing that.

43. Kamasi Washington - Heaven & Earth

It’s hard to qualify Kamasi Washington‘s brilliance, but we can certainly find a deep appreciation for it. The saxophonist returned this year with the out-of-this-world Heaven & Earth, a sprawling jazz journey through the beauty of our own planet and beyond. The first half of the record feels familiarly mortal, numbers like ‘Testify‘ and ‘Tiffakonkae‘ seemingly exploring the beauty of our world, while the Latin subtleties of opening track ‘Fists Of Fury‘ help show the drama that hides within it, too. The second half is far more supernatural, tracks like the otherworldly ‘The Space Travelers Lullaby‘ the wondrous ‘The Journey‘ captivating you with their beauty. Kamasi Washington has a way of capturing beautiful soundscapes with his music, and Heaven & Earth may be the finest example of that yet.

42. Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel

The woes of the indie artist never seem to stop, but most have learned how to turn them into the subjects of their music. Courtney Barnett‘s issues aren’t anything groundbreaking, but they’re something we all know well. Her record Tell Me How You Really Feel is similarly as straightforward, but that adds to its charm. Barnett' showed with this record that it doesn’t take a life-changing event to make good music: all it takes are true-to-heart emotions that everyone knows. The entrancing lyrics of the intro song ‘Hopefulessness‘ is a perfect example of this: the repetition of “No one is born to hate“ is a simple yet prompt message. Barnett’s dejected timbre allows for the listener to key into the more intimate vibes as the messages aren’t affected by layers of sound - rather, Barnett says everything promptly and effectively. Perhaps most charming on the record is ‘Need A Little Time,’ a simple and chill indie rocker that rolls with a warm drive, nice melodies, and even a bit of conviction. You don’t need to change the way something works to make a difference: you just have to be true to yourself, which is something we could all do a little more.

41. Jon Hopkins - Singularity

Jon Hopkins manages to turn almost anything he touches into something magical, so it’s no surprise that this year’s Singularity was like a journey in its own right. With the gentleness of a dimly lit star in the night sky and the curiosity of a new-born, Singularity envelops you in this enchanting atmosphere, the slow chords of opening track and title track ‘Singularity‘ wrapping around you like a warm blanket. The atmospheric record is fairly long with some pretty lengthy tracks, but the magic of each song will distract you from that fact, so the twelve-minute build of ‘Luminous Beings‘ just makes you feel like you’re listening to another fairy tale. The emotion behind closing track ‘Recovery‘ is almost tangible as this magical journey ends beautifully, gorgeous pianos quietly ringing alongside ambience. Only instrumental music with such passion could ignite such powerful imagery as Hopkins does on this record.

40. J.I.D. - DiCaprio 2

At times it feels like hip-hop is becoming overly obsessed with fame and money, so when a damning record like this comes along, it’s always a nice refresher. J.I.D. delivered a real record with DiCaprio 2, offering up not only a lot of heart and soul, but some powerful messages, too. DiCaprio 2 feels like an onslaught of energy from start to finish, ‘Slick Talk‘ delivering unique and awesome vibes almost immediately. The flow and beats throughout DiCaprio 2 are on another level, from ‘Westbrook‘ with A$AP Ferg to closing track ‘Despacito Too.‘ ‘Off Deez‘ with J. Cole delivers the most heat on the record, the two rappers trading off effortlessly as they unleash an unstoppable flow from start to finish. Fingers crossed that hip-hop follows this trend of passion into the next year.

39. Oceanator - Lows

Few albums were as reflective as Oceanator‘s Lows this year. The solo project of Brooklyn-native Elise Okusami runs deep with emotion as she retells her painful memories in an attempt to overcome them. Opening track ‘Coming Home‘ establishes the themes of the record wonderfully, the somber lyrics echoing: “You're an ocean away, and that's the way it's supposed to be, but still I'm coming home.“ Oceanator constantly hits you with powerful tracks, from the epic, intense ‘Tell Me‘ to the monstrously building closing track ‘Inhuman.’ Lows is full of surprises, including the huge bridge of the bluesy ‘Not Around.’ Much like life, Lows is unpredictable and diverse - it’s never quite positive, but its reflective nature will definitely help some of your deeper wounds to heal.

38. Denzel Curry - TA13OO

Denzel Curry is a relatively new name on the hip-hop scene, but he’s certainly a force to be reckoned with. His debut TA13OO is like trap on heroin, probably being as close to metal as you can get without actually having a guitar in it. Perhaps the clearest show of the album’s sound is ‘BLACK METAL TERRORIST,’ a raging song full of huge distorted bass synths, angry, almost screamed bars, and an evil atmosphere. Lyrically, Curry always has some grit, even when the instrumentals may be a bit cooler (i.e. ‘BLACK BALLOONS‘ and title track ‘TABOO‘). TA13OO is unrelenting, pushing trap in a direction it never quite explored while also maintaining a pretty catchy album.

37. The Neighbourhood - The Neighbourhood

The Neighbourhood spent 2018 redefining their sound, keeping their dark and sensual nature and exploring a more electronic element. Their self-titled record The Neighbourhood is the outcome of their experimentation, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. Dominated by its attitude, The Neighbourhood comes at you like a flirty guy at a club. ‘Flowers‘ wins you over with a mischievous innocence before more sensual numbers like ‘Nervous‘ and ‘Stay With Me‘ capture that signature sexual intimacy. ‘Softcore‘ is the perfect culmination of new and old for The Neighbourhood, the moody electronic track led by its swagger and melodies. The Neighbourhood definitely took a chance with this record, and it paid off in what is one of the year’s most intimate numbers of the year.

36. Animal Flag - Void Ripper

A truly visceral record feeds off the energy of the musicians and lives and breathes as its own piece of art. That’s exactly the attention Animal Flag gave Void Ripper. Animal Flag’s latest record draws from the most animalistic energy we can muster, opening track ‘Morningstar‘ starting off patiently, as if a hunter waiting for its prey. That prey arrives in following track ‘Void Ripper‘ as the record bursts to life. Tracks like ‘Fair‘ bring more energy to the album, while ‘Lord Of Pain‘ and ‘Candace‘ offer a more evil, brooding atmosphere. There’s a carefulness in this wild record that shows the passion and musicianship of Animal Flag and how they put this record together, and like how few others can really manage to do.

35. Father John Misty - God’s Favorite Customer

Indie’s self-proclaimed anti-Christ returned in 2018, but his ego took a bit of a hit. Father John Misty‘s God’s Favorite Customer was written during a two month span in which he rarely left his hotel room. Josh Tillman‘s signature pessimism plays out in opening track ‘Hangout At The Gallows‘ and title track ‘God’s Favorite Customer,’ but what’s more important is where he lets himself be a bit more transparent. In a year that tested all of our resilience, even Father John Misty couldn’t help but let go of some emotions, in tracks including ‘The Songwriter,’ where Tillman ponders what life would be like if his life was switched with his wife’s, and the even more worrying ‘Please Don’t Die,’ where Tillman sings of his wife begging him to not commit suicide. Even the harshest, hardest souls have humanity behind them.

34. BTS - Love Yourself 轉 'Tear'

The advent of K-Pop took the world by storm in 2018, and BTS finally reached an international audience. That pressure didn’t get to them, as they delivered several records this year that show exactly why K-Pop is bent on world domination. The boy-band’s Love Yourself 轉 'Tear' showed not only the power of the genre, but the diversity of it, as well. Numbers such as ‘FAKE LOVE‘ and ‘So What‘ deliver the bombast beats and energy typically associated with K-Pop, but other songs explore different avenues. ‘Airplane pt. 2‘ combines Latin music with K-Pop’s swagger, leading for a very unique listen while tracks like ‘Paradise‘ and ‘Love Maze‘ seem to tackle a more Americanized version of pop. Even ‘Outro: Tear‘ takes a moment to change things up, ending the record on a pretty aggressive hip-hop note. K-Pop is taking over the world, and BTS are riding that sweet wave to success.

33. Lissie - Castles

It seems like everyone has something to prove nowadays, but no one’s proven themselves as much as Lissie has. Castles is dramatic in all the right ways, and captures just about everything you’d want from Lissie. From the peaceful but existential opener ‘World Away‘ to the massive, powerful closure ‘Meet Me In The Mystery,’ all of Lissie’s emotions come out in a thoughtful and provocative way. The metaphor of her body as a breaking castle in title track ‘Castles‘ is a nice thematic centerpoint of the record, defining the rest of the record’s woes as well. There’s a lot of pained emotion in Castles, but they come together to paint the portrait of a woman ready to take herself back.

32. Architects - Holy Hell

When it comes to losing a band member, not many losses hit as close to home as in Architects. Their first full effort without guitarist and songwriter Tom Searle, Holy Hell, is as oppressively heavy as the burden of losing a brother and friend. Single ‘Hereafter‘ roars with a sense of impossibility, as if the band know the gravity of the loss will overcome them. Regardless, their crushing riffs and thrilling screams provide for loads of energy, and even hope, especially in songs like opening track ‘Death Is Not Defeat‘ and ‘Damnation.’ It feels like every note is performed in dedication to their fallen bandmate, each kick and each powerchord feeling like they pack the weight of that loss. 2018 came with its share of loss, but time and time again we overcame it, even, at times, with rage, confusion, and chaos, like in Holy Hell.

31. Jaden Smith - The Sunset Tapes: A Cool Tape Story

Jaden Smith is one of the most surprisingly good artists of the year, last year’s SYRE showing that his blend of indie, rock, and hip-hop was something to be threatened with. While not coming back with a full-fledged effort this year, his mixtape The Sunset Tapes: A Cool Tape Story certainly proved that he’s not gone anywhere. His aesthetic is still very apparent, the atmosphere and signature chill of opening track ‘SOHO‘ making certain of that. More of Smith’s raw ability is shown in this album, from the rapping in ‘A Calabasas Freestyle‘ to the fantastic melodies of ‘Rollin Around.’ Perhaps not as all-inclusive as SYRE, but impressive all the same, showing that he’s still a step ahead of the rest.

30. The Weeknd - My Dear Melancholy,

Pop’s R&B king The Weeknd kept things relatively quiet this year, but that didn’t stop him from delivering one of the genre’s best EP’s of the year. My Dear Melancholy, explores more of The Weeknd’s sensual darkness, opening track ‘Call Out My Name‘ perfectly capturing the tortured love and drama of the record, the dark chords and The Weeknd’s pained delivery saying it all. The short EP is dynamic, with tracks like ‘I Was Never Here‘ featuring a beat change and focussing on dreamier atmospheres, while closing track ‘Privilege‘ builds dramatically in a similar fashion to the opening track. The Weeknd’s sound never gets old, and this EP is the perfect soundtrack for any night on the town.

29. Fall Out Boy - Lake Effect Kid

Fall Out Boy certainly had a great year, and they humble acknowledged that with their surprise Lake Effect Kid EP, a short EP dedicated to their hometown of Chicago. With a similar flair as this year’s MANIA, Lake Effect Kid was a short burst of energy that only solidified the band’s big comeback this year. There’s a threat in the big punchy bass and cried vocals of ‘Super Fade‘ that precedes the awesome drop, while the loud guitar riff of title track ‘Lake Effect Kid‘ shows a return to the band’s more ambitious roots. ‘City In A Garden‘ is where the band’s worlds collide as the alternative drive and pounding drums provide for another feel good jam from the band. You really just couldn’t go wrong with Fall Out Boy this year.

28. Nothing But Thieves - What Did You Think When You Made Me This Way?

Nothing But Thieves are perhaps one of rock’s most interesting modern acts, and they don’t stop providing; even on short EPs. This year, they offered up the short - yet massive - What Did You Think When You Made Me This Way? EP, gracing us with four new, powerful tracks. Rock and roll flair opens the record up tenfold with single ‘Forever & Ever More,’ while a funkier, groovier energy comes through in ‘You Know Me Too Well.’ ‘Gods‘ is also filled with energy, before ‘Take This Lonely Heart‘ ends the album on a somber build. Even in the little time they have, Nothing But Thieves pack this record to the brim with drama, action, and fun, delivering some pretty powerful songs in the process.

27. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour

If you know Immortal Reviews, you’ll know country isn’t our favorite genre by any means; regardless of genre, however, Kacey Musgraves definitely surprised more than just us. The album reads like a diary, Musgraves letting go of her harshest burdens through her country-like delivery. Her personality comes through in numbers like ‘Space Cowboy,’ which are so delightfully her that it may even distract you from the pain and hurt behind the lyrics. Musgraves always seems to be coping with something or another, whether it be love (like in the tortured yet sweet ‘Butterflies‘) or loss (in ‘Mother,’ where she states, “I'm just sitting here thinking 'bout the time that's slipping / And missing my mother, mother.“) This album is more than a genre-defying country-pop record. It’s the attitude of picking yourself back up even when all the world throws you is negativity that makes this record inspiring.

26. Kanye West - ye

Kanye West was a busy man this year, producing records for several artists all while making his own music. One of his most pertinent releases, however, was his own: ye. Politics and controversies aside, West’s ye was an introspective look into his mind, revealing some pretty dark things. The album opens with ‘I Thought About Killing You,’ where West literally admits to contemplating the murder of someone he cares about as well as his own suicide. Thematically more along the lines of his pre-Yeezus material, ye continues to dish out some pretty powerful tracks, like the soulful ‘Ghost Town‘ and ‘Violent Crimes,’ the latter of which sees him reflecting on how his views of women have changed since the birth of his children. West has been destroyed by the public and media alike this year for his admittedly problematic statements, but if anything, ye is a testament to what’s going on inside of us all: behind every man is a deeper story that not everyone is aware of. 2018 taught us acceptance - perhaps ye should be part of that lesson.

25. Agua Rojo - Roses

Sometimes to make a powerful statement, you don’t have to do it in a unique way - just in a way that’s intrinsically you. That’s how Agua Rojo‘s Roses delivers its own story. The EP is like a breakup record, but not in a typical way: it’s all about finding yourself in the aftermath, the album’s drama acting as a front for the emotions that are just waiting to flood out. Opening track ‘Be Alone‘ brings the record to life immediately with dramatic vocals and an expansive, reverberating instrumental, the message really kicking in with ‘Roses‘ as Agua Rojo begins taking themselves back. Roses is a testament to the individual spirit, and Agua Rojo want you to know that even when times are tough, you’ll always have the power in there to keep moving forward.

24. Hozier - Nina Cried Power

One of 2018’s most surprising comebacks was blues rocker Hozier, who has been quietly plotting new music since his last record. He returned with the short but powerful Nina Cried Power EP, and the music was nothing short of spectacular. Title track ‘Nina Cried Power‘ says it all, the urgent drive and dramatic atmosphere empowered by Hozier’s deep timbre, beautiful melodies, and a powerful choir aided by Mavis Staples. The other tracks aren’t quite as heavenly powerful, but certainly make a huge impression: ‘NFWMB‘ rolls with huge attitude, while ‘Shrike‘ gets more intimate. Hozier certainly was one of the year’s most unexpected stars, but he burst back onto the scene with such power that he electrified music itself.

23. Hayley Kiyoko - Expectations

Hayley Kiyoko‘s rise this year felt like it happened overnight, though with an album as good as Expectations, it’s not so surprising. A huge part of 2018 was learning to accept one another truly and finally, and no one pushed that harder in the music world than Kiyoko. With plenty of tantalizing and sensual hits from ‘Curious‘ and ‘What I Need‘ featuring Kehlani to more empowering, building tracks like ‘Feelings‘ and ‘Wanna Be Missed,’ Kiyoko showed that not only is it not easy facing sexuality, but it’s also rewarding in the end. Perhaps we should all be a bit more like Kiyoko in the way we approach love: it’s all about the passion and discovery, and only you can decide who you give it to.

22. Eminem - Kamikaze

If anyone learned anything this year, it was to not mess with Eminem. The hip-hop legend dropped Kamikaze out of the blue at the end of the summer, and it wasn’t what anyone expected. Eminem returns to his angry predispositions that people complained was gone after his previous record Revival, and no one was ready. Eminem slaughters the rest of his competition in tracks like ‘Greatest‘ and ‘Lucky You‘ (with a shocking verse from Joyner Lucas), while upping himself in the other tracks, including ‘Stepping Stones‘ and ‘Not Alike.' Even closing track ‘Venom,’ though meme’d into oblivion, provides for a fun and classic Em-style listen.

21. Thrice - Palms

Thrice have always had a way of writing songs that are inexplicably powerful, yet continue to evolve their sound from record to record. This year’s Palms was no exception in their vast discography, the much more alternative and mellow record seeing Thrice test some new waters. The band’s previous angry confusion is gone and replaced by a more pained longing, evident in tracks like ‘The Dark‘ and ‘My Soul.’ Thrice stay true to their angrier past with the aggressive and energetic ‘A Branch In The River,’ while their new sound comes to an emotional climax in the conclusive ballad ‘Beyond The Pines,’ a tortured anthem that has Dustin Kensrue whispering to us in the finale as if he were taking his final breathes. Thrice never play around, and in one of their most personal records yet, they did not stray away from expectations.

20. The Neighbourhood - To Imagine

While the band’s self-titled release later in the year was certainly a more fleshed out listen, it was The Neighbourhood‘s To Imagine EP at the start of the year that really brought in the captivating numbers. Featuring a handful of tracks that would later feature on the full effort, The Neighbourhood kicked off the year showing off their new evolution. It’s the EP-exclusive efforts that put this one ahead of the full record: ‘Heaven‘ creates the perfect sensual atmosphere with dark melodies and an enchanting groove, ‘Dust‘ brings more of an industrial intensity, and ‘Compass‘ bursts with ethereal bliss. Emotion and intimacy runs in the very veins of this EP.

19. A Perfect Circle - Eat The Elephant

It’s hard to accept an album that so perfectly captures society, but A Perfect Circle have done so this year in a way that you just can’t argue with. Eat The Elephant is not only powerful, but pertinent, too. Maynard James Keenan slams and observes society through his music, tackling some pretty broad messages in a surprisingly simple way. ‘Disillusioned‘ comments on our addiction to social media as Keenan sings about losing touch of reality (“Take a look around, find a way in the silence / Lie supine away with your back to the ground / Dis- and re-connect to the resonance now / You were never an island“), while ‘So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish‘ is more of an emotional goodbye to the greats we’ve lost over the last few years. It’s easy to look at Eat The Elephant as a slamming commentary, but if anything, it’s more of a snapshot and a celebration: this is where we are, and this is where we’re going. A Perfect Circle wants us to learn to love that, acknowledge our faults and improve.

18. Haley Heynderickx - I Need To Start A Garden

2018 blessed us with a whole slew of new talent, but none had as unique a personality as Haley Heynderickx. The indie new-comer delivered her debut record I Need To Start A Garden this year, and its atmosphere alone was enough to solidify itself as an instant classic. Imagine waking up in an isolated wooden house in the middle of a large field, looking out the window to see nothing but fog. You step out onto the porch, take a seat, and just stare out into the misty oblivion, thinking: that’s the sound of I Need To Start A Garden. Slow, beautiful numbers like ‘No Face‘ and ‘Untitled God Song' help keep the atmosphere alive and evolving, while tracks like closing song ‘Drinking Song‘ reveal a more weathered life behind the perfect atmosphere. Heynderickx’s main attraction has to be ‘The Bug Collector,’ however, a delightfully sweet track filled with insect-themed metaphors and imagery. Only Heynderickx could make that sound endearing.

17. Gia Margaret - There’s Always Glimmer

We all face tragedy in our lives, yet each blow feels so different from the last. Gia Margaret comes face to face with constant pain and trauma in There’s Always Glimmer, her innocent debut that shines a heartbreaking light onto a fragile heart. Opening track ‘Groceries‘ admits from the start: “It’s safe to say it’s been a hard year,“ Margaret preparing to unload a lifetime of regrets. ‘Smoke‘ cuts through you like an emotional knife, so to speak, the ghastly vocals and enveloping build providing the perfect atmosphere for you to grab your insecurities and float away with them. Margaret dives through a series of tough emotions, such as the chilling ‘In Normal Ways‘ or the existential ‘Exist.’ Closing track ‘West‘ cuts off abruptly, as if she herself cannot continue to face these haunting memories. Intimate, real, and even topical, Margaret’s debut perfectly captured the lonelier and harder moments of the year.

16. Rae Morris - Someone Out There

Finding ourselves was an important part of 2018, and Rae Morris‘s new record Someone Out There was the perfect soundtrack for just that. Morris’s sophomore effort found her refining her sound into the perfect blend of hope and pain, perhaps best seen in the album’s emotional centerpiece ‘Wait For The Rain.’ The slowly building pop anthem builds sweetly as Morris sing’s motivationally, gaining strength and passion as she seems to come into her own. The heartbreaking message of the song is also reflected in ‘Physical Form,’ but warmer, more reassuring tracks promise better times are ahead: opening track ‘Push Me To My Limit‘ offers a warm, airy atmosphere, while even ‘Dip My Toes‘ keeps the record fun by the end. Self-discovery and overcoming the past can be scary, but with the right inspiration - which is just what Someone Out There is - you’ll get there without worry.

15. Stone Temple Pilots - Stone Temple Pilots

It’s been a rough couple of years for the Stone Temple Pilots, but the band finally seem to be back on their feet. While they may have lost both of their former vocalists in the last years, the band have never sounded more alive with Jeff Gutt now fronting the band. It’s no surprise, then, that their comeback album was full of the grungy energy that defined their come up. Massive numbers including ‘Roll Me Under,’ ‘Six Eight,’ and ‘Red & Blues‘ show that STP is still going and kicking furiously, while slower numbers, including the Chester Bennington-dedicated ‘Finest Hour‘ acknowledge the pain they’ve been through over the last few years. When life kicks you down, you get back up with twice as much bite - that’s the biggest message to take away from Stone Temple Pilots.

14. TesseracT - Sonder

TesseracT have been at the forefront of progressive metal and djent since their formation, but none of their records have hit like Sonder does. Defined by experimentation and a familiar explosiveness, Sonder is packed with action and drama. Opening track ‘Luminary‘ exhibits this combination wonderfully, the gentle electronic background accented by heavy guitar riffs. Melodies carry the soaring ‘Juno‘ while the jagged riffs of ‘Beneath My Skin / Mirror Image‘ offer heavy, sharp contrasts that make the record feel even more thrilling. The seven-minute epic ‘King‘ is perhaps all you need to hear to feel like you’ve been hit by the train that is this record, the constant build never ending before the deadly breakdown kicks in to melt your face off. TesseracT not only killed the game - they ended it.

13. Son Lux - Brighter Wounds

Few bands have carved an identity for themselves like Son Lux have. The electronic group have made their sound even more eclectic with the surprisingly anthemic and powerful Brighter Wounds, a record defined by its chaos. From the huge bass hits of opening track ‘Forty Screams‘ to the haunting timbre of closing number ‘Resurrection,’ the record’s chaos paints a picture as you have no idea what lies beyond the next corner in each track. The beauty of this chaos is perhaps most promptly seen in ‘Dream State,’ an anthemic track that combines chaos with order. The song’s structure and instrumental is as wild and unpredictable as you’d expect, but its in their layering where they come together: huge bass and a driving drum beat carry soaring gang vocals that sing out in unison as the song itself seems to be giving up on itself as it continues to glitch and distort. In the end, however, the song never loses its integrity, holding itself together despite all the chaos around it and even within it. Poetic and pertinent to not only this last year, but our own daily lives, as well.

12. Twenty One Pilots - Trench

Those who dismissed Twenty One Pilots as another passing emo fad after Blurryface certainly missed out this year. Trench is one of the year’s biggest and most methodical records, diverse in both sound and message. The record follows the protagonist’s escape from the fictional city of Dema, to a haven for the “banditos” (escapees) known as Trench. The album is full of story-telling and world-building tracks, like the reggae-inspired ‘Nico and The Niners‘ and the more somber ‘Banditos.’ Meanwhile, the duo don’t lose sight of keeping things catchy and fresh, employing poppier elements in tracks like the explosive ‘Jumpsuit‘ and emotional brotherly ode ‘My Blood.’ The band continue to experiment with new sounds, trying out 80s soul in the chorus of ‘Morph,’ trap in ‘Levitate,’ and even adopt a more innocently romantic vibe in ‘Smithereens.’ The album’s more powerful moments are the somber ones, namely ‘Neon Gravestones,‘ an emotional piano ballad against suicide. Twenty One Pilots have long since passed the moniker of an emo band - they’ve become a staple of culture, and their stories and messages are ever more important today than ever.

11. Fall Out Boy - MANIA

It seemed that for awhile, Fall Out Boy were slowly losing their place in an evolving pop-punk soundscape, but 2018 proved that they were back and ready to kick. The very first notes of MANIA‘s opening track ‘Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea‘ demand your attention as huge synths, guitars, and drums underlie Patrick Stump‘s soulful and swagger-filled delivery. Alt. rock anthem ‘The Last Of The Real Ones‘ explodes to life as tracks including ‘HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON’T‘ and ‘Wilson (Expensive Mistakes)‘ plays towards Fall Out Boy’s more emotional, live-in-the-moment side. The band even take it to the gospel in ‘Church’ before the thrilling, poetic conclusion ‘Bishops Knife Trick‘ closes out what is undoubtedly Fall Out Boy’s most lively and energetic record in years.

10. KIDS SEE GHOSTS - KIDS SEE GHOSTS

Of all of Kanye West's projects release over the summer, his collaborative album KIDS WITH GHOSTS with Kid Cudi was by far the most evocative. Reflective, aesthetic, and apt, West and Cudi look at all the aspects of both their pasts and society around them to craft the powerful commentary in the record. From the aggressively anthemic intro 'Feel The Love' to the brilliant Santa Claus-referencing samples of '4th Dimension,' the production plays as pivotal a role as the lyrics themselves. Cudi and West face their failures in 'Fire' and incessant criticsm in 'Freee' before fully committing to look forward in 'Reborn,' offering a message of self-improvement as well. KIDS SEE GHOSTS is a project of the times: an effort dedicated to bettering both the world and themselves.

9. Marmozets - Knowing What You Know Now

Marmozets were the reviving force of punk-infused alternative rock when they broke onto the scene in 2015. Back with more societal anger and even bigger riffs, Knowing What You Know Now is a massive effort full of hard hitters like 'Habits' and the emotional ballad 'Me & You.' They leave no stones unturned, challenging society where they see fit: whether its political turmoil ('New Religion,' 'Like A Battery') or personal battles ('Insomnia'), Marmozets have a vengeance to settle and have proven that their wild spirit was not just a flash in the pan: it's here to stay, and it's staying with a vicious attitude.

8. AURORA - Infections Of A Different Kind (Step I)

In a world dominated by countless pop stars, AURORA has always stood out. The Norwegian singer’s folky and indie pop blend earned her a cult following, and her sound is only progressing. This year’s Infections Of A Different Kind (Step I) finally followed up her 2016 debut, delivering both natural anthems like ‘Queendom‘ and more introspective tracks like the haunting ‘Churchyard' and panicked ‘Gentle Earthquakes.’ Meanwhile, tracks like ‘It Happened Quiet‘ are the perfect representation of why AURORA is so important in music right now: no one has that same angelic nature about them like she does, and the way she makes her music come to life is almost like you’re watching a fairytale unfold.

7. grandson - a modern tragedy vol. 1

Music is trending towards a genreless future, and amongst the new generation of these alternative artists is grandson, who is undoubtedly the most unique of the bunch. Bringing together elements of electronica, rock, indie, and just about everything else under the sun, grandson's haunting melodies and glitchy drops are some of music's most unique moments. Add to that a lazy revolutionary motive, and you have his debut EP a modern tragedy, vol. 1, complete with banging singles like 'Blood // Water' and haunting rockers like 'Overdose' and '6:00.' There's not quite anyone who sounds similar to him, but all the same shows that he's paving the way for a new future in music.

6. Let’s Eat Grandma - I’m All Ears

Rarely do you hear something as diverse yet so certain as Let's Eat Grandma's latest record I'm All Ears. Like a modern blend of CHVRCHES and Pink Floyd, Let's Eat Grandma build an expansive record out of drama, pain, and the idea of growing up. The album begins with carefree, fun tracks like 'Hot Pink' and 'Falling Into Me,' before the duo grows more introspective as they meet reality. The dejected 'Snakes & Ladders' and the closing track - the eleven minute epic of self exploration 'Donnie Darko' - see them go down that path of self-acceptance as they meet life head on in its most momentous and difficult times. It's deceivingly catchy, and will wrap you in and grow more as a personal memoir that slowly but surely begins to mirror its listener the longer it plays.

5. Muse - Simulation Theory

Muse are no stranger to grandiose themes and bombastic albums, and their latest effort is no different - but they bring a different vibe to the table this time. 2018’s Simulation Theory is an exploration of the idea we’re living in a simulation, dramatic tracks like 'Algorithm‘ and ‘Propaganda‘ attempting to overrun the simulation and take themselves back. The narrative of wanting to preserve what emotion humanity has left carries over from the warfare-minded Drones, yet Muse’s exploration of electronica in tracks like ‘The Dark Side‘ harken back to their earlier songs. Meanwhile, the punchy ‘Pressure‘ with its brass accents and ‘Thought Contagion‘ remain as revolutionary anthems to keep the attention of any potential rebel. Muse start down a new path with this one, but one that really sums them up perfectly.

4. Milk & Bone - Deception Bay

The feeling of being in love is one that is hard to qualify. It's pure euphoria, and that is something that doesn't come by easily. The first half of Milk & Bone's Deception Bay is all about that feeling. With childlike curiosity, the duo celebrates and explores young love, from the feelings of an innocent crush to a growing passion, beautifully and sweetly capturing the emotions you'd feel on both sonic and lyrical planes. But, as the album hits it centers, it all turns as loneliness takes over love, heartbreak being all they know. From the melancholy search of 'Tmrw.' that chants "Let's see what tomorrow brings" to the ambient, reflective closure of ':'),' Milk & Bone explore two of life's most powerful emotions and takes you along on the ride, too.

3. CHVRCHES - Love Is Dead

Band's can easily find themselves having an identity crisis as they grow. For CHVRCHES, they experienced that with their third album, but instead of scrambling in the dark, they embraced it. With acoustic instrumentation supporting their famous synth soundscapes, CHVRCHES forge ahead on a new path in Love Is Dead. It's an album about accepting reality even when the past seems so tantalizing, from heartbreak tracks like 'My Enemy' (featuring The National's Matt Berninger) and 'Really Gone' to more energetic anthems like the instrument driven 'Graves,' it really feels like not only has CHVRCHES turned over a new stone, but they've thrown a stone as well. Even if the epic atmosphere of 'Never Say Die' or the "take yourself back" energy of 'Get Out' aren't necessarily new for the band, this record shows CHVRCHES at their best and with a new understanding of both their sound and themselves.

2. Mike Shinoda - Post Traumatic

Once Mike Shinoda delivered the highly emotional Post Traumatic EP to launch his solo career at the start of the year, it was clear that he was going to turn his journey through grief into something powerful. And so he does with Post Traumatic, his debut album that looks back and ahead in the aftermath of losing his best friend and bandmate, Chester Bennington. The first half of the record is trapped in the past, numbers like 'Over Again' and 'Nothing Makes Sense Anymore' lost and confused. The second, however, is more optimistic and begins looking forward: 'Crossing A Line' sees Shinoda find the courage to pull himself back together, while 'World's On Fire' is an ode to his loved ones. It's an emotional record, but a reassuring one all the same: pain is universal, and the journey through grief is not an easy one. But by speaking out and trying to understand one another, we can reach that destination just a bit more easily.

1. Thirty Seconds To Mars - AMERICA

We live in a tumultuous time. The chaos of every day seems to get lost in the constant dialogue of one big issue after another. Thirty Seconds To Mars perfectly captures the essence of that in their new album America. Neither wholly global nor personal, America is the soundtrack of society today. From the dream-inspiring lead single 'Walk On Water' to the epic orchestral theme of a tragic hero, closing track 'Rider,' Jared Leto and co. take a look at all the aspects of life and how society faces them. The thrill of love is celebrated in 'Dangerous Night' while it is dramatized in 'Love Is Madness' with Halsey, before the admiration of 'Great Wide Open' fills your heart with the want to unite and spread peace and tranquility. America is as much of a call-to-arms as it is a snapshot, but it naturally leads you to want to reach that point of unity by showing you the chaos head on. It's an album about humanity, and begs the question: are we moving forward, or stuck in the past?

What albums defined YOUR 2018? Stay tuned for our Top 50 Songs and Best New Artists of 2018 lists, and be sure to follow us on social media to stay covered on new music in 2019!

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poppedmusic · 7 years ago

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SXSW 2018

Words & Photos: Elena Katrina

It’s a strange feeling this post-SXSW sensation. I feel both broken and exhilarated at the same time. There’s no amount of preparation you can take for either the festival nor the post-festival emotions. This festival is a beast. There is no other way to say it and I was thrilled beyond words to be attending for the first time as press so I could report back on some of the British contingent out there showing the world what they’ve got. And they showed it and then some. One thing I heard a lot was “throw the schedule out the window and just go with the flow”. Even that was difficult. I missed things I wanted to see but ended up having experiences and seeing things I never knew existed.. so I feel inclined to agree, to some extent anyway.

I didn’t waste any time in throwing myself into the SXSW experience and not long after having thrown my case into my hotel room I was straight out the door and headed to the British Music Embassy where I found Wyldest were treating the crowd to their special blend of shoegaze pop. I like that my first night I got to watch two bands I’d never seen live before – even if I had travelled 11 hours to do it. Life was the last of the night and I wasn’t prepared for them. Loud, brash and in your face. Dark but with some humour and an attitude I feel they could only get away with because they were from Hull. They did Hull proud that’s for sure.

It’s going to be nigh on impossible for me to tell you a review for each and every band at this festival. I was there to check out a load of the British bands, some I’d seen many a time, some never and some that were altogether new to me, as well as check out the overall SXSW experience. And an experience indeed it is.

Navigation is not my strong point, even with a map, when it comes to walking … I seem to go in circles, or squares as it was in Austin. It didn’t deter me though. I figured out my way to a few key venues for the official evening shows and then just wondered to my heart’s content during the day. I tried to go to a few of the talks, they seemed really interesting, but every time I got there, I was too late to get into a room. While they did stream the audio to a TV in the corridor, I don’t so much engage that well, especially not when there are people to see elsewhere. To the boss women of Instagram though I say …. definitely selfie!

The daytime also hosted unofficial parties, events and talks. Many of where you could grab yourself a free breakfast, and or lunch, while you learned all kinds of things and got to mingle with like-minded people. In particular, I enjoyed Brunch with the Brits – an event aimed, I presume, at visiting musicians. But here I got to talking about a lot of different things with a really great variety of people from PRS Foundation to the BBC. I was also fascinated by the sales pitch of Soundcloud at AWAL House. Their model has changed and it’s, in my opinion, still got a way to go to bridge the gap. Ultimately though it’s still a very popular site and the turn out proved so.

Back to bands? Francobollo blew my tiny little socks off and made for excellent festival companions too. I wholeheartedly hope to catch up with these guys again back on British soil and will follow their journey with a keen interest. Pale Waves, I was, of course, already hot on the tail of, having watched them play over the last 18-24 months, it was great to see them play to a tiny outside stage at an unofficial party thanks to Secret Sounds (who also, secretly, let me in). Get the general crowd’s feel for them over a room of industry all pining to see the next big thing (which, they are). As I suspected much of the crowd here seemed immune to the hype but most people were left smiling and enthused by the end, one or two seemed genuinely bemused, and I liked that too.

This year is the year of the girl… when it comes to band names anyway. We had Goat Girl, Only Girl, Girl Ray AND Our Girl all hitting up stages across SXSW. Admittedly I have a bit of a problem when it comes to seeing bands more than once, and not content with having seen Our Girl the week before I came away, I also managed to see them play 3 times at SXSW – the inability to leave their set not a problem I really want to seek help for. I am mesmerised every time I see them play. Only Girl played a showcase that wasn’t as well attended as I’d have liked, though her competition down the road was Gaz Coombs, and let’s not think about the rest. The crowd were fully onboard though, and like me, knew that they’d made the right decision in witnessing something special from this young lady. Eyes open for her, she’s incredible.

The indie bands were also in town; The RPMs bringing up some of the best jangly guitar sounds Brighton has to offer. A more artsy vibe could be found from Catholic Action, who come with a huge side of a dry sense of humour. I’m not ashamed to say I stood and danced and sung out in the street to them when I couldn’t get in for the whole set. Duo Ider also set the bar high during their free show for Secret Sounds, even at midday the show was full and it took me a while but a few songs in I realised I had seen them before and felt that same wave of excitement flow over me, only this time I had a band name, and they were there, right in front of me.

Back to the girls… Women anyway. This was a strong theme, for obvious reasons and there was plenty of chance to meet up officially and unofficially with the women of music. Vevo house was a great place to go for this and I met some fantastic women making, producing, managing, booking, you name it they were doing it. I also got to see the wonderful Jade Bird play at this venue – her personality shining as clearly as her talent. What a woman! She wasn’t alone in making waves during her time at SXSW, a young Suzi Wu was up and my god does she have something to say. She struts the stage, she owns her lyrics and she’s not intimidated in any way shape or form. An alt-grime-punk Debbie Harry. Perfect and I was so excited to finally get to witness her thrill a room.

Communion Music Presents. Three of my favourite words. I was shocked to find out that I didn’t know they had a showcase until the day before and from that moment on all other gigs were off. I was going to church and worship at the musical alter. How could I not? For me, this evening was the most emotional, nothing to do with the church, but the bands that Communion pull are often exceptional emotive songwriters and performers. New to me was Amy Shark, an Australian singer-songwriter, who hit some notes so nicely I thought she had potential to break the stained glass windows. Lucy Rose almost brought me to full on sobs, especially with her storytelling and her humility at playing the show. I initially thought that Dermot Kennedy was a stagehand, strolling across the stage wearing a tracksuit (even though it was about 30 degrees outside) and then when he started to sing – holy moly. I felt like it took him a while to warm up, not vocally, but to own the stage, to perform rather than just sing – though his” just sing” isn’t your everyday person’s “just sing”. Nope. This guy tore the roof off and it was left to Newcastle’s Sam Fender to keep it right off and he did just that. I enjoyed his impromptu singing at the piano – though, the tech guys didn’t seem to agree. It raised a smile after what had been a fairly intense evening.

In between watching bands there was time to explore some of the city, ok not really, that’s a bit of a lie! There’s no exploring unless it happens to be on the way to the next; venue, exhibition, talk, interview, network meeting. What I did see of Austin was that it totally came alive while SXSW was in full throws. You’d think there would be lots of grumpy residents wishing the weeks away, not able to sleep for the thud of bass going long and deep into the night, not being able to travel to work the usual route as roads were closed left right and centre and having to wait in line to eat in their favourite restaurant. Well, I’m happy to report I didn’t witness any grump. So either everyone moved out for a while or everyone was just happy to be a part of the amazing experience that is SXSW. I imagine though it’ possibly a good mix of the two.

On my last day at SXSW I got to meet the daughter of the man who helped to set up the original Fader Fort. THE place to be, if that is, you get a sacred invite. Turns out that family and friends have, well, more family and friends all over the place. So not only did I get to hear about Fader Fort I also got to spend much of my last time at SXSW doing it in true Austin Resident stylee! I got to visit an awesome dive bar called The Yellow Jacket Social Club, a club that I’m lead to believe won’t still be around next year as gentrification moves ever further past the freeway. I got to learn about new buildings just open and those coming and how the city’s landscape is ever evolving as the city grows in so many ways. I also got to check out some bands I would otherwise have missed. The glorious electronic art folk that is The Octopus Project played to a full crowd at Mowhawk was the first treat. A local Austin based band who delighted me with their use of a theremin. One guy asked me what it was called, he could obviously sense exactly how delighted I was! The main musical feast was that of musical art collective CAPYAC, they describe themselves as a surreal dance band… and I’d go with that too! I feel like I don’t want to expand too much on this because I want the intrigue to send you off to go and find them, book them, see them, keep them in a small box by your bedside table…. Just so much fun.

Later on a Saturday evening I met up with a new friend and got put into a taxi and taken off to the middle of nowhere (ok, not quite) but it was all hush hush. A private party we’d been invited to by a band she’d met. It was an utterly surreal way to end my SXSW experience and at the same time was the perfect ending at that.

It seems like there’s so much more to talk about, like the fact you get to meet musicians who aren’t even playing, make friends that you somehow feel you’ll never quite forget even if you don’t stay in touch – but you should – because, SXSW. The cool Glasgow music event that I missed but need to go to next time around, the opportunities to meet people and talk about the passion you hold, and it’s ok to just burst into laughter, or song, at any given time. Free snickers, free hugs, free drinks, free m&ms, free swag full stop. So many tote bags. But bets of all… the. live.music. Please have us back SXSW, life is forever changed now. You ruined me and I love you for it.

Check out the Popped Music SXSW photo diary:

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Festival Review: SXSW 2018 SXSW 2018 Words & Photos: Elena Katrina It's a strange feeling this post-SXSW sensation. I feel both broken and exhilarated at the same time.

#amy shark #austin #catholic action #dermot kennedy #Festival Review #girl ray #goat girl #lucy rose #Music #new music #only girl #our girl #sam fender #sxsw #sxsw 2018 #The RPMS

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matthewwilliamcharles · 7 years ago

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West Coast Tour 2016

Fresh...but really, not so fresh of from my latest tour...it’s October and I finally finished transcribing my tour journal. I don’t take notes or keep a journal when I’m on the road. I usually start recalling my journey when I get home from tour and then finish writing and editing within a week before I post (there are many tours where I have never finished writing the journal!). But when I got back from tour life was waiting, as usual, hence the delay. So I say again....Fresh of a ten day tour of the west coast and feeling pretty stoked on how everything turned out! Folks who tour often would call it a nice little jaunt, those who don’t travel too much would say it was a fairly lengthy trip. I think it was just long enough, some weekend tours are too short to get into a groove and leave you hanging. Long tours can be amazing, but can also leave you feeling lonely, and if you are travelling with other people, depending on who they are can start to drive you crazy! Anyways....

Wednesday September 6th I started out the day in Philadelphia. I had my luggage mostly packed as I made my way to work. I had to knock out some screen printed posters before the day was out so I got there early. I finished packing my bags there, stuffing as much merchandise as possible inside my bag and my guitar case. I got a ride to the airport from Johnny Douglas in his old Buick that seemed like it really didn’t want to make it all the way there (apparently he made it back to the city without issue) . I made my way straight to my departure gate, then straight to the counter to talk to a flight attendant. I asked if there was any way I could make sure my guitar made it on board the flight. I had expected to argue and plea but to my surprise the man at the counter said I should be able to throw my guitar case above in the luggage compartment and place my bag under the seat. I was skeptical, but nobody said anything to me as I boarded the plane, I tossed my guitar case up top and shoved my over-sized and over filled bag underneath the seat. This was crucial because I needed to have my guitar and my luggage to be with my as I exited the plane. I had a show that night in Seattle, and would be cutting it close to my set time and had no time to be sitting around in baggage claim. It wasn’t my intention to cut things this close, I bought the plane ticket, then afterwords I got a show offer for that day. I agreed after assessing the arrival time and distance to the venue, figuring I would be a little late which is acceptable being a touring act. The airline moved the original flight time back, changing my arrival time to 9:05 pm. My set time was at 9:45 pm with a twenty minute drive to the venue. The plane landed early, around 8:30! But we still had to dock and unload. By the time I made it out of the airport it was a little after 9pm, and my buddy Billy was on his way to the airport to pick me up. We had a slight miscommunication, and he had to make another lap around the terminal before he picked me up, but we still got underway with good time. I was in contact with the owner of the Substation and let him know I was on my way. As we neared closer he asked for an eta, the second act finished up early, and he was going to stall, possibly play a few songs before I goth there. I told Billy that he should drop me off at the front door, and asked him to bring in my merch after he parked. When the door guy saw me with my guitar he said,”Are you Matt Charles? Perfect timing, TBASA (pronounced T-Basa, owner of the Substation) is stalling for you right now”. I hurried through the crowd and made my way straight to the stage where TBASA was relieved to see me, put down his guitar and announced my arrival. The sound guy got me set up really quickly, I borrowed a pick from TBASA and was ready to go. I realized I left my harmonica holder in my merch box and hollered at Billy over the mic to grab it for me. I played a song without it and then he threw it on the stage, at that point I was in business. I played my set, I felt it went pretty well considering the events that led up to it. Also need to mention that this show was totally packed out. Originally this show was billed as an acoustic players showcase, with about 4 different acts. Two weeks before the show happened Tiffany, who is known mostly for her hit in the 80′s “I think We’re Alone Now” was added to the bill. The show had went from a promising evening of independent artists to sold out Tiffany acoustic concert. I usually play tunes for fans of underground styles of music, so I wasn’t sure how it would go over but I got some hi-fives and some hugs after the show.

Thursday September 7th I woke up at my friends house in Seattle. Got my bearings straight, cup of coffee and a shower and then headed out via bus to pick up my rent-a-car. I was able to scoop it up early, headed back to my friends house, loaded up my stuff and hit the road. I was headed out to Pasco, WA which is south east of Seattle about 4 hours. Turns out large portions of Washington State and other parts of the west coast were dealing with forest fires. Being from the east coast this was a fairly foreign phenomenon for me to deal with. I was driving through large clouds of smoke, similar to driving through a thick morning fog. The air smelled bad in some parts too, and so I tried to keep the windows rolled up for most of my drive. Pasco is a small town, similar to where I grew up in Central, NY. I rolled into town and got my pre-show coffee and headed to the show spot. It was a house show venue that they call Rigo’s Amigo’s and the host was a really cool guy named Ricky. Johnny Maniac, JFKFC, and Get Em’ Tiger were the other bands that played. I played with Get Em’ Tiger earlier that year at Compost Heap in Denver, and they were the ones who got me this show. The show was great, just about everyone that came stayed for all the bands. Afterwords Ricardo from Get Em’ Tiger showed me where the fire tacos were and hooked me up with a place to crash.

Friday September 8th I woke up at Ricardo’s house, drank some instant coffee and hung out with him and his nephew while we watched American Pickers in Spanish. The smoke had died down a little bit, you could see the blue of the sky and the sun wasn’t a creepy blood red color. I headed south, on my way to Bend, OR. This was my first time through this particular section of the country and the ride was really nice and the view had me captivated. I’m so used to driving up and down the East Coast and through the Midwest, and as much as I enjoy those parts of the country it was nice to have something different to look at. Pretty uneventful drive other than that, I only stopped to eat tacos (as long as I made enough money at the shows, I was determined to eat tacos everyday). I also followed a friends suggestion, and found enough room in my wallet to have a beer at Dechutes Brewhouse in Bend. But that was it for extravagant tour life, and I made my way to Redmond, OR. The show was at this place called Di Pizza in a strip mall. The Bend Pyrate Punx threw the show together. I was met by some jolly punk rockers who immediately offered me beer and hits off their bottle of vodka from the back of their truck. This show was for Days N Dayz, so there was a lot of kids there. Dr. Green Dreams and Drone Wars also opened for the show. Originally I was asked to play second, but then at the last minute I got moved to the opening slot, which made no real difference to me. There was already a hundred plus people there. This show was pretty killer and I met a lot of friendly people who wished me well on my travels. I got a decent payout and all the rolling rock I wanted to drink. Rachel who booked me on the show helped me out with a place to crash and found us some late night burritos!

Saturday September 9th I woke up early that morning, once I wake up I can’t go back to sleep so I decided to start heading out to Reno. I had a little time to play with, so I pulled off the highway when I was intrigued by a sign for a “lava cave”. I followed the signs until I came up into a parking area, walked up to the entrance and found myself going through an orientation. I figured there was no turning back at that point, so I payed a small fee for entrance and a lamp and headed down the cold and damp lave cave. Basically it was an ancient cave that was hollowed out by lava flows when the volcano was active thousands of years ago. That took up a good couple hours so I headed back out, and knew at this point it would be a straight nonstop drive to Reno. My GPS went dead because I was in the middle of nowhere and there was intermediate service, but I just did it the old fashioned way and followed road signs to Reno (it’s really that easy). I found Jub Jub’s Thirst Parlor with no real problems. I was the odd man out on this show, the other bands being a teenage cover band, a indie/rock/metal band from NYC called “Tight Fright”, and a Melvins-esk local metal band called “Elephant Rifle”. The first band was local, and since they were underage they had to play then leave. I figured their parents and the family entourage would leave with them, but many stayed throughout the whole show (some would by my shots of whisky later). But this was my set from hell. Right before I went on I realized I did not have my harmonica holder, which I probably left in Bend. Unfortunately that’s something nobody will have at a rock metal show, and I was forced to change my set around and play songs without harmonica. Not the worst thing, I just threw together a brand new set, except not even half way through I broke a string. I never brake a string on my acoustic, has never happened so I did not have a replacement. The door guy ran and got his Fender Strat and I played the rest of the set with an electric. I made it through, and somehow people liked it, sighting the fact that I didn’t quit and that was inspiring. Tight Fright and Elephant Rifle were both amazing bands, and great people. I could have possibly tagged along with Tight Fright after the show and found a place to crash with them, but decided to drive out of the city and find a truck stop where I could park and sleep in the car.

Sunday September 10th Gassed the car up and got a bum shower at the truck stop, and then started heading out west to Oakland, CA. The Drive was easy, only about 3 hrs, getting me into town way ahead of schedule. I stopped at a music store to get some things I lost, like a new harmonica holder. It was pretty hot, so I was driving around looking for a public swimming hole but all the spots I found were closed or the water looked sketchy and cost admission. Should have went straight to the beach, but driving around in the east bay kinda sucks so I stuck pretty close to Oakland. Ate some amazing tacos at an outdoor Taqueria, then tried to kill time until the show. The show was at a house venue called the Question Mark. It was a tight little living room show, in which the hosts included a nice snack spread including tater tots and various cheeses. I played with Adam Balbo, Amina Shareef Ali and Nalamora. Pretty awesome lineup, one of my favorite shows on tour. The guys who run the venue also have a youtube show called “The Shed Light” where they featured a clip from my set, https://www.youtube.com/embed/6pkkxSsXmBM. After the show I headed west to stay with my buddy Ben who lives in Tracy, about 45 minutes out of the city

Monday September 11th It was Monday, my day off, staying with my friends Ben and Adriana in Tracy, CA. Usually if I have an open day, I try to find something to do, like hop on a show or find an open mic, especially when it’s a short tour. But I haven’t seen my friends in a long time so I decided to chill. I just spent the day drinking beers in their pool and cooking out, it was a good day off.

Tuesday September 12th I got up with my buddy Ben and left bright and early as he headed out for work. I was making my way to Southern Oregon. I stopped to take naps, went on a couple hikes and went for a couple swims when I saw the opportunity. The ac hadn’t been working that well in the car the last few days so I was looking for any chance to cool off! Got to Medford, OR and walked around until I found a suitable pub where I could kill some time. I made sure I was early because I wasn’t initially on this show. It was scheduled as a three band lineup on a Tuesday, the club owner said I could most likely hop on the show. I waited outside of Johnny B’s for the venue to open. Soon I had company as all the other bands showed, and we all waited for Johnny B together. I came to find out this is a sort of ritual, sometimes Johnny B is on time, but typically he rolls in whenever he rolls in. It was an interesting bill, headlined by “At Both End” a ska punk band from Sacramento, CA. Local metal band “Phase” and local DIY punk group “Something in the Wing”. I wouldn’t get a cut from the door which was discussed before hand because I was added late, but I got to play, sold some CD’s and shirts and April and Johnny kept my cup full of beer. They also let me crash at their cool pad. I think there may have been whisky when I got back, not sure but I was falling asleep at their kitchen table before I made my way to their spare room to crash.

Wednesday September 13th I woke up around 10 am, got my stuff together, wrote my hosts a letter thanking them and I was off to Portland. I couldn’t keep my taco streak going, though I thought I eyed a taco truck but when I pulled up it was a pupusa truck. Not Mexican or Tex-Mex, but Salvadoran in origin, and one of my new favorite foods! I drove straight to the venue and found some street parking right in front of Gil’s speakeasy. Took a solid nap by the river and made it back to the venue by 7pm. Gil’s Speakeasy is my kind of dive bar, pool tables, slot machines and a small space for performers in the back. My buddy Tim from Churches and Trains, who I just toured with back in June and who had just moved out to Salem, OR made it out to the show. Horse Girl opened up and was awesome. I went on next, it was a fun set, somebody bought me a double of Bullet Bourbon and I felt pretty comfortable after that. Shootdang went on next, and they were pretty awesome. We told them to play one more song, and they said if you get us something to drink we’ll play. So I bought them a double whisky, and I’ll just say the whisky in Philly is a bit cheaper than whiskey in Portland. Either way they deserved it, and they kicked it back like pro’s. The show ended early, which had been a good trend for this tour. I love a show that ends at 10pm, you have time to hang out after the show without pushing it into the early morning hours, and you’re not totally worn out the next day. At least that’s me, I’m sure other touring folk have other preferences.

Thursday September 14th Woke up at Shoot Dang’s house, which is not just their house, Ben (Horse Girl) lot’s of other cool people live there. Sat around and drank coffee, Pitch bought me trail mix and a drink for the road and Ern made food again (late night sandwiches were made too!). I hung out for a while, contemplated going to the bar with those guys but thought better of it and got on my way to Olympia. Olympia has some nice hiking trails which is how I killed time until I broke down and had a beer at Le Voyuer. It was probably the smallest show of tour but the folks who played were really great. Jay Levy is one of the nicest dudes I ever met and did his best to make sure the show was going well. Straw Hat and Trevour Yunker played great sets and Geography was a really unique act that ended the night. The show was done by 10pm so that gave me more than enough time to drive back to Seattle so I could crash at my friends house. There was some freak accident on the highway and some debris flew and hit my car, which made me super nervous but it turned out to just cause some minor scratching on the back of the car, which the rental company didn’t notice the next day when I returned it.

Friday September 15th - Sunday September 16th I spent the day milling around Seattle with my buddy Bill while he ran errands for his bar. The show this night was at Belmont Coffee in downtown Seattle. I thought it was a really cool DIY setup, small room with a small stage, people coming in off the street to get coffee had to push through a crowd and get assaulted by punk music to get served. The guys from the band Bigger Than Mountains set up the show for me, but didn’t play. This night had some of the best band names of tour, Travis Tribble and The Mountlake Terrorists, Ghost Teeth and Floral Tattoo. It felt a little strange ending my tour in Seattle, not necessarily anti-climatic but it’s weird telling people in Seattle, that you’re on tour from Philly and this is your last day of tour. Floral Tattoo was loud and catchy punk, Ghpst Teeth was hilarious and Travis Tribble ended the night playing standing up on a very questionable bar stool. When the show was over, it was pretty much over, a short post show hangout and then they closed up shop efficiently. My night surely was not over though, reconvening with old friends my night passed on into the wee hours. The next day I was able to postpone my flight for Billy had an extra ticket to the Punk and Drublic Fest in Tacoma the next day. I actually made money this tour, and spent a large portion of that on craft beer (it was a craft beer festival), but totally justified as I didn’t pay any extra money to get my flight delayed (Billy bought me a ticket with his mileage) and I didn’t have to pay for a festival ticket. Also many drinks were purchased on my friends dime, so I didn’t have anything to complain about except a slight hangover and a 6 hour non-stop flight to Philly early the next morning.

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