Mixtapemotions

  • "Hallucinations" by Pvris, Friday, January 21, 2022

    There’s always a certain level of trust an artist has to have in a producer. Pvris had worked with one producer, Blake Harnage, on their first two albums and EPs. But after recording with Paper Route‘s JT Daly, the band decided to finish their third album, Use Me, with him. The result was a hookier, poppier, vibier version of the group. This met with some backlash with some of the fans of the band’s older material; however, lead singer Lynn Gunn told Alternative Press, “We’ve always been kind of a pop act.” The first single from the Hallucinations EP “Death of Me” helped to bridge the old sound to their second single “Hallucinations,” which sees the band flirting with EDM production, yet in the haze and psychedelia, it’s still clearly rock.

    MY MIND IS RUNNING WILD.  Gunn had had a songwriting session with Marshmello and Amy Allen, but she didn’t think anything from that session fit her band. JT Daly told Gunn, “Seriously, trust me. We can really transform the song and make it something really cool.” Gunn talks about the lyrics of the song being influenced by a book she read about hallucinations. She applied this concept of the mind tricking itself when thinking about a break up. The psychological effect of the mind saying it’s over one minute, but the feeling creeping in the next. It’s a temptation to call off the break up. Gunn also dug into her love of the supernatural. She said that this song shows the “supernatural versus reality verses the physical world.” The music video was directed by Yhellow, a visual arts company in Los Angeles, and is visually stunning. The company has made videos for the Deftones, Mastadon, Neck Deep, Nessa Barrett, and Santana ft. Young Jeezy. Pvris worked with the company again for other videos during the Hallucinations/ Use Me album cycle to create trippy videos.

    NEW SENSATIONS, SWEET TEMPTATIONS. When I was in high school, our pastor brought in a “former rock star” to speak to the church about how everything in rock music is satanic, even Christian rock. This probably failed musician showed slides of stills from music videos and concert footage from the ’70s and ’80s and pointed out the satanic symbolism hidden in plain sight. There was a story about getting high and meeting with some manager who happened to be the devil who made a promise to “make him as famous as Ozzy Osbourne.” He didn’t get into why Christian rock was evil, he just said, “they use the same beats. You see, it’s the syncopated rhythm that hypnotizes you.” He went on to explain syncopation. I just left the church service angry. Having studied some music theory, I wondered, at what point in music history did music become evil? The video for today’s song uses a lot of occult symbolism. It would have scared the hell out of me from enjoy this band’s music if I saw this video in high school. From Pastor Jim’s polarizing sermons on everything from Harry Potter to Pokemon to not voting  that I grew up listening to made me think that the world was more nuanced. Or we can just start a Marie Kondo-style spiritual purge, throwing everything away that might be evil. 

    Check out my updated 2022+ playlist, substituting Pvris’s “Death of Me” for “Hallucinations.”


    Acoustic version:

    Stripped down version:

  • "Cold Air" by Acceptance + Reaction to When We Were Young Festival Announcement+ Playlist, Thursday, January 20, 2022

    Yesterday, I woke up to an announcement in my Instagram feed: a dream concert in Las Vegas later this year in October. Headlined by My Chemical Romance and Paramore, and featuring over 60 emo and punk bands over the span of one day, this one-day event is quite mind-blowing. Of course there’s no way I’ll be in Vegas on October 22nd, but this is pretty much my dream concert, other than Cornerstone magically resurrecting. In fact, the concert line-up seems a little too good to be true for many scene fans, leading to online speculation that this is the Emo Fyre festival. I thought it would be fun today to make a playlist for this festival with one song representing each band. I thought it would be fun also to see 1) how many bands I’ve talked about in my blog post, 2) how many I haven’t listened to in years, 3)how many I’m only kind of aware of, and 4)how many I’ve never heard of. And that’s the order we’ll proceed. First of all, I’m sad that Las Vegas-based band The Killers aren’t playing. Although they’ve never been classified with the emo scene, “When You Were Young,” “When We Were Young,” right? Anyway, here’s the Spotify playlist:

    I’ll probably run out of energy as I go through this list, and of course the lineup is subject to change. With the bands I’d never heard of, I simply added the first song that came up on Spotify. So, let’s get into it:

    Tier 1: Bands I’ve blogged about:

    1. “Cold Air” by Acceptance, the song of the day.

    2. “Ain’t It Fun” by Paramore, the co-headliner of the festival.

    3. “Futures” by Jimmy Eat World, also a headlining act.

    4. “Move Along” by The All-American Rejects. 


    The official poster to the below:

    5. “Death of Me” by Pvris

    6. “Island” (Float Away) by The Starting Line

    7. “Two Graves” by Anberlin

    All but Pvris I’ve written about multiple times. I chose the most relevant song I blogged about. “Ain’t It Fun” was Paramore’s biggest hit, though it was not their most Emo song.

    Tier 2: Bands I haven’t listened to lately, or haven’t blogged about.

    8. “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance is maybe their biggest song.

    9. “I’m with You” by Avril Lavigne. She’s had her ups and downs as an artist, Avril Lavigne certainly was a powerhouse of an influence on women in rock in the 21st century. Of course “Sk8er Boy” or “Complicated” were bigger hits, but I chose to go with listenability over hits with this one.

    10. “Cute Without the ‘E’”(Cute from the Team) by Taking Back Sunday. You don’t get more emo than this song.

    11. “Movin’ Right Along” by Alkaline Trio. Maybe not their biggest hit, but it’s how I know them, from Muppets: The Green Album, a rock tribute to the Muppets.
    12. “Racist, Sexist Boy” by The Linda Lindas almost made song of the day last year. It’s not ear candy, but certainly worth a watch on YouTube. Be sure to check out my AAPI Heritage playlist.

    13. “Miss Murder” by AFI
    14. “Doomed” by Bring Me the Horizon
    15. “Vindicated” by Dashboard Confessional

    17. “Blank Space” by I Prevail comes from Punk Goes Pop, Volume 6 . Many of these groups became known because of a punk-rock cover of a pop song. 
    18. “Love Drunk” by Boys Like Girls. Speaking of Taylor Swift, this group had a duet with the then teen star. 
    19. “Duality” by Bayside. I checked out this band after I heard that they were on the Cities tour with Anberlin and Jonezetta. I listened to The Walking Wounded most. 
    20. “Becoming the Bull” by Atreyu. A metal-core band that had a bit of mainstream success in the mid- ’00s
    21. “Changing” by Saosin. By the band’s third album, their original lead singer rejoined the group.
    22. “Don’t Trust Me” by 3Oh!3 is the douchebag anthem of 2008. The video is…well. And it’s especially offensive to Hellen Keller. Moving on.
    23. “Check Yes, Juliet” by We the Kings. Lazy lit-rock, yes. But what else is going to (shamefully) bring you back to 2007. Surprisingly, the band has other albums.

    24. “Saying Sorry” by Hawthorne Heights. This band isn’t huge like My Chem. Romance, but they’re certainly well-respected.

    25. “Face Down” by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. According to an interview with Shane Told, mentioned later, on Lead Singer Syndrome, this band strategically crossed over to Christian Rock later in their career. 



    Tier 3: Bands I’ve heard of, but I can’t name a single one of their songs.
     

    26. “The Taste of Ink” by The Used. Yes, I’m a bad emo kid.

    28. “King for a Day” by Pierce the Veil ft. Kellin Quinn. “Oversleeping like a dog on the floor.”
    29. “Uneasy Hearts Weigh the Most” by Dance Gavin Dance. This band expands the genre to a poppier direction.  This song comes from their 2008 self-titled album.

    30. “In the End” by Black Veil Brides. They’re kind of a polarizing band. Their dark aesthetic is perhaps stereotype-making. But are they the real deal? There’s an interesting episode with their frontman, Andy Black on Lead Singer Syndrome.
    31. “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Ice Nine Kills. On the list of band concepts that are cool but not for me, Ice Nine Kills’ horror-film-inspired punk/emo/screamo would come in the top ten. This spooky Elvis cover, is kind of cool, though. Perfect for a horror film set in an alternate timeline.





    32. “Can’t Be Saved” by Senses Fail. Album covers like this (pictured to the left) made me very hesitant to embrace Emo as a genre fully when I was a teen. 
    33. “Miserable At Best” by Mayday Parade. I’ve listened to this sad-boy album a few times, but I can’t remember it.
    34. “Into Your Arms” by The Maine from their 2008 record, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop. From a cursory listen, this is a band I could have gotten into. I’ll have to listen to them some more.

    35. “My Heroine” by Silverstein. I’m a fan of lead singer Shane Told’s Lead Singer Syndrome podcast, but I’ve never listened to his music. Weird, right?

    36. “First Day of My Life” by Bright Eyes

    37. “Moaning Lisa Smile” by Wolf Alice. This band comes highly recommended by the critics. One of my favorite theory YouTubers, David Bennett Piano, placed Wolf Alice’s Blue Weekend in his best of the year.  I guess they’re huge in the UK.

    38. “If You Can’t Hang” by Sleeping with Sirens
    39. “Until the Day I Die” by Story of the Year. I’ve definitely listened to this album, Page Avenue, but I couldn’t hum a single song from it. Fun fact, the band recorded one of their albums with Aaron Sprinkle.
    41. “Came Out Swinging” by The Wonder Years

    Tier 4: Bands I heard about for the first time today. 

    42. “Drunk Drivers/ Killer Whales” by Car Seat Headrest. This seems more like indie music than punk/emo/screamo, so it’s kind of a nice change up. Of course we can call Death Cab for Cutie and David Bazaan emo. We certainly call Dashboard Confessional emo. So, I guess these guys fit.

    43. “Angels & Demons” by jxdn. This is the most mainstream-pop sounding artist so far. Despite the trap beats, there’s definitely a scene-sound in the mix. A twenty-one-year-old Chattanooga-native, jxdn got famous thanks to Tik Tok. And guess what? This track was produced by Travis Barker like every punk/emo/rap song is these days.

    44. “Clairvoyant” by The Story So Far is the band’s first acoustic ballad. Their second and third most popular songs are also acoustic. Their 4th and 5th song, I guess sound more like their original style.

    45. “Counting Worms” by Knocked Loose up-and-coming hardcore band. From their 2016 album Laugh Tracks.
    46. “Edward 40hands” by Mom Jeans. Warning: Spotify link NSFW, but funny. What a band name! Check out the link for the SNL clip.
    47. “A Part of Me” by Neck Deep ft. Laura Whiteside. Take some voice lessons, dude. Blink 182/Angels & Airways at their worst. Oh well, it’s only punk rock.


    48. “Lonely” by Palaye Royale more gothic aesthetic 
    49. “I Disagree” by Poppy
    50. “i hope ur miserable until ur dead” by Nessa Barrett. This song is like a rawer “good 4 u.”This song comes from her album, pretty poison. 
    51. “Ape Dos Mil” by Glassjaw
    52. “21st Century Vampire” by LILHUDDY
    53. “Lovers Rock” by TV Girl from the album French Exit. 

    55. “Secrets” by State Champs
    56. “Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die” by Four Year Strong from their 2007 album Rise or Die Trying. Chunky guitars with tongue-in-cheek lyrics and gang vocals. Next.

    57. “overwhelmed” by Royal & the Serpent. Ryan Santiago goes professionally by this moniker.

    58. “Love Like Woe” by The Ready Set
    59. “Walk Like a Zombie” by Horrorpops a kind of gothic take on rock ‘n’ roll/rockabilly.
    female fronted hard rock group with 158,000+ monthly listeners. Maybe this is one to watch.
    61. “i will wait” by Prentiss

    And that’s the sampler. Happy listening!

  • 2022+ Playlist, featuring "I Don't Live Here Anymore" by The War on Drugs ft. Lucius, Wednesday, January 19, 2022

    In October of last year, The War on Drugs returned after four years with their critically-acclaimed album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore. The title track and lead single features indie pop group Lucius as backing vocals on the chorus. Like their previous works, such as A Deeper Understanding (2017) and  Lost in the Dream (2014), The War on Drugs is able to play two chords back to back for six minutes and create a song that you never want to end. Those two chords create a warm cadence that’s like a bonfire on a cold fall night. And that’s reason enough to curl up with a blanket and enjoy The War on Drugs all day long.

    I NEED A CHANCE TO BE REBORN. However, unlike their previous works, today’s song “I Don’t Live Here Anymore,” to me, sounds like an anachronistic ’80s or early ’90s hit. It’s kind of like what Mic the Snare said about “Blinding Lights“: “It’s just like that one song. Uh? Which one?” Is it “The Boys of Summer“? something by Springsteen? In some alternate universe, “Blinding Lights,” “Run Away with Me,” “Somebody That I Used to Know,” and “I Don’t Live Here Anymore” were ’80s hits, and that’s certainly going to be a playlist in the future, but that’s another time. There’s certainly a lot to dig into this song: the fact that it’s actually a song about moving on rather than dwelling in the past, the fact that this beautiful album was recorded in a cabin in snowy Upstate New York, or the fact that Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius were back up singers for Roger Waters. But instead, I’m going to reference some podcasts at the end of the post and get on with the tall order of starting my 2022 hits playlist: 2022+.

    A CREATURE VOID OF FORM. If you remember the rules from 2021+, 2022+ include songs from 2020-2022; however, unlike 2021+, 2022+ will be updated. Today, I’m going to post the original track list. I’ll add to the playlist as I talk about new songs. Right now, it’s going to be pretty similar to 2021+ as “I Don’t Live Here Anymore” is really the only new song added and the 2019 tracks will be left off. With all that said, here’s the Spotify playlist:


    1. “I Don’t Live Here Anymore” by The War on Drugs ft. Lucius. Today’s song.
    2. “Cold Air” by Acceptance. The lead single from 2020’s Wild, Free is a song about a community torn apart by prejudice. Also check out “Wasted Nights” and “Dark Age.“
    3. “Dead Flowers” (Resurrected) by Demon Hunter, an acoustic reworking of their 2013 hard rock hit.
    4. “This Is Heaven” by Nick Jonas. A smooth RnB sleeper hit that is interesting in the context of the Jonas Brothers’ religious past.

    5. “Video Game” by Sufjan Stevens
    6. “Yosemite” by Lana Del Rey. Chem Trails over the Country Club and Blue Banisters were a little tough to get into, but “Yosemite” offers hits of the artist that I have come to love over the years.

    7. “Lilac” by IU. As the former K-pop star turns 30, she gives us this springtime anthem.

    8. “Better Now” by The Juliana Theory is an uplifting ballad released early last year. Also check out 2020’s “Can’t Go Home.”
    9. “Me to You” by Tim Be Told. Former Indie CCM singer/songwriter Tim Ouyang writes about his early same-sex attraction and falling in love on this 2020 track from the album Love and Happiness.
    10. “Madness” by Anchor & Braille. Stephen Christian’s surprise 2020 release of A&B’s 4th album Tension flexes the singer’s pop sensibilities. Also check out the surprise Christmas present track he dropped, Mariah Carry’s classic, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

    11. “River of Music” by Denison Witmer from his 2020 album American Foursquare.

    12. “Art & Vida” by Ian Mahan ft. Aaron Marsh. An artist I discovered this year when checking out Aaron Marsh’s solo work. 
    13. “My Bad” Advanced ft. Shaun, Julie Bergan. A 2019 single by Korean singer Shaun that was remixed and sung in English by singer Julie Bergan. I’m partial to the drop in the original and Shaun’s vocals saying “미안해” or “I’m sorry” at the end of the track.
    14. “How Do You Sleep?” by Sam Smith. Another 2019 single that was originally supposed to be part of the album To Die For, which was ultimately scrapped because of the pandemic. It was included as a bonus track on Smith’s 2020 album Love Goes. I’m bending the rules a bit with this one, but it was technically released in 2020…

    15. “Love in Summer” by George & Cosmic Boy.  With an EP titled Love in Summer released in September of 2020, this year is the first summer we really got to enjoy this vibey track.
    16. 21. “High Line” by Tyson Motsenbocker is the opener to 2020’s Someday I’ll Make It All Up to You, the singer-songwriter’s sophomore effort. “High Line” is a storytelling folk song about the park in New York City opened in 2009.

    17. “Three Hour Drive” (A COLORS SHOW) by Alicia Keys ft. SiR. Originally written and performed with Samphra, this version of the track I discovered from Netflix’s Song Exploder sounds a little smoother on Key’s 2020 album Alicia.
    18. “Rose” by D.O. One of the sexiest voices in not only K-pop but in music has to be D.O. I wrote about this on December 31st in the song “Oasis” by EXO.
    19. “Weekend” by Taeyeon is an anthem for impending laziness. “When the weekend comes, I can do whatever I want!” Look out for her new single that came out this week.
    20. “Animal” by Kye Kye
    21. “Childhood Bedroom” by Ben Platt. Dear Evan Hanson may have been a flop, but the 28-year-old Book of Mormon star did put out a pretty good album this year.

    22. “Am I the Only One” by SF9. No not Starflyer 59. This K-pop boy band’s 2020 song is pretty catchy.

    23. “good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo. Possibly one of the most talked about artists of last year. Sour sparked hope that maybe, just maybe rock n’roll is here to stay.
    “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran. There have been a lot of haters coming out of the woodwork for this song, and it’s kind of understandable that the “Shape of You” singer would have haters. But the video is awesome, and it’s not blaring from every f***ing phone store, so it’s great. Rick Beato’s cringe, though, is kind of fun to watch.
    24. “Take My Breath” by The Weeknd. I’m sure that I’m going to write about Dawn FM, which came out yesterday. The concept of listening to the radio in the wee-hours of the morning before you die. It reminds me of playing Grand Theft Auto all night for some reason. But we’ll talk about that later.
    25. “Death of Me” by Pvris. How would you classify this band? Is it rock? Dark pop? I think I’m going to have a lot of great times getting into their music.
    26.  “Sprite” by COIN. I’m still confused about the title. It’s a nice quarantine track though.

    27. “Easy on Me” by Adele. Oh boy. This is the first Adele song that I immediately fell in love with. Of course I love her other work. Who doesn’t? But the rest of the album? Well, that’s going to take a little getting used to for me.
    28. “Silk Chiffon” by MUNA ft. Phoebe Bridgers was one of the “it” songs of last year. It’s made several critics lists. And all that coming from a band that I delved into for the first time last year. Seriously, lesbian love songs are the future of music!
    29. “Bad Love” by Key is a space-aged ’80s retro track as SHINEE went back on hiatus for Taemin to complete his mandatory military service.

    30. “Two Graves” by Anberlin is their first new song in seven years. Of course they were dropping live-steam albums like crazy last year, but “Two Graves” was our first honest-to-goodness new Anberlin track! And it’s possibly their second heaviest track after “Dissenter.” New album in 2022?
    31. “All Too Well” (10 Minute Version) by Taylor Swift. We’ll never forget the two months when Swift dated Jake Gyllenhaal and didn’t even come to her birthday party! And also, “Fuck the patriarchy!” 
    32. “My Universe” by Coldplay ft. BTS. Though I personally preferred “Higher Power,” the BTS featured single brought Coldplay back to the top of the Hot 100.

    And that’s it for today. Except for The War on Drugs, of course:

    Live on Ellen:

    Song Exploder:

  • "Addict" by Sik-K (Produced by Girlnexxtdoor), Tuesday, January 18, 2022

    In 2017, Seattle-born Korean rapper Jay Park started his own label, H1ghr, signing several up-in-coming acts in Korean Hip Hop. In the past, Korean rappers either released music independently or signed to the mostly K-pop idol labels, receiving considerably less promotion than the top-selling acts. However, in recent years, Korean Hip Hop has exploded because of reality shows like Show Me the Money and High School Rapper. In 2015, a young Kwon Min-suk, better known as Sik-K, participated in the fourth season of Show Me the Money, under the guidance of Jay Park. The next year, in 2016, Sik-K released his debut record Flip on H1ghr.

    WE DO PARENTHESIS WITH WEIRD EXCUSES. Late ’10s Korean hip hop is really well produced, and it tends to follow American hip hop trends. I’m not particularly knowledgable about Hip Hop, but I’ve found it fascinating ever since the advent of melodic rapping, thanks partially to autotune. Slate’s Hit Parade episode about Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” parts 1 and 2 gives a comprehensive look at this evolution in hip hop. But ever since I heard “Ringa Linga” by Taeyang back in 2014, the ambiguity of genre seems to matter less and less. The era of hip hop now is highly processed, auto-tuned, and often influenced by punk and emo. And yes, Korean music has its dues to pay to Drake, Kid Cudi, [Kan]Ye, Beyonce, T.I., as well as Machine Gun Kelly, Yungblud, and Post Malone, my exposure to modern hip hop is mostly from Korean artists when I was addicted to going to the gym. I heard some very catchy songs, and I heard some very annoying songs that later became catchy. But most of all, I had a very hard time classifying what genre it was. One song was K-pop. The next was gangster rap. There was reggae-tone. There were songs mostly sung through autotune. There was the hip-hop hit: rap with a singing chorus, sometimes by a famous K-pop singer. There were songs that were more R&B than rap and more rap than R&B.  

    THERE ARE TWO MORE BEAUTIFUL WOMEN THAN YOU. I wrote about “Addict” last year, focusing on the drug references in this song, and how controversial drugs and addiction is in Korea. Today, however, this song is telling me a different story. As is the case when I have enough time to prepare a well-researched post, look for anything I can about the artist on YouTube or listen to a podcast as I go about the rest of my day. Today, I was entertained by the podcast TV and Movie Mistress, as the hosts listened and reacted to Sik-K’s music. When talking about the track “Too Many” one of the hosts called Sik-K “a fuckboy” similar to Trey Songz “when he’s rapping or singing it sounds like he’s fucking at the same time.”  “Too Many” is a song in which Sik-K calls out his girl for having too many numbers in her phone, when she should just have his, a song. Coincidentally this song was popular when “2 Phones” was popular in the U.S. On the penultimate track on the same album, H.A.L.F. (Have.A.Little.Fun) “Somebody Else,” Sik-K is trying to excuse his behavior that “these models,” “these bottles,” and “these haters” “make [him] somebody else.” In today’s song, Sik-K is again terrible at talking to the ladies: “There are two more beautiful women than you” at the club, yet he can’t get her off his mind. It’s pretty awful dating tips, but a pretty fun melody.

  • "All Along the Watchtower" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Monday, January 17, 2022 + Playlist: "If Every Man Became a King"

    Written by Bob Dylan, yet often remembered as The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s biggest radio hit, “All Along the Watchtower” is one of the biggest songs in rock music. Dylan’s songwriting earned the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature. The cryptic lyrics of today’s representative song, taking inspiration from Isaiah 21:5-9, have been speculated to be about everything from a conversation between Dylan and Elvis Presley to an allegory for the Vietnam war or the apocalypse. Maybe it’s because of Forest Gump  but the guitar solo on Hendrix’s version of  “All Along the Watchtower” feels like a zeitgeist soundtrack to the chaotic ’60s–a time of war, drugs, assassinations, and Civil Rights. 


    “THERE MUST BE SOME WAY OUT OF THIS.” “All Along the Watched Tower” deserves its own post, and may get a lengthened post next year; however, today, I’m sharing a playlist in honor of the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There are 17+ stories I want to delve into with today’s playlist, but I will only quickly talk about each one. The theme of this playlist is Civil Rights. I feel that my playlist is inadequate in many ways. How can a privileged white guy come up with a list of songs about Civil Rights? I wanted to share songs that I listen to or that fit in my brand. I grew up favoring mostly white artists. I’ve written about how I believe music has been racially curated in the past, but now with streaming services we can start to mix and match more freely. So for today’s list, we’re mixing and matching. We’ll hear from artists of multiple ethnicities, and we’ll ask the question, “What if every man, woman, and child could become a King?” First let’s look at the Spotify Playlist:

     

    1. “Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz. I wanted to start the playlist off with an African American rocker. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix and ’60s and ’70s rock in general, Kravitz was huge in the ’90s, and this was his breakthrough hit. Kravitz says that this song is about Jesus Christ, “the original rockstar.” The lyrics of this song push us to be better versions of ourselves, while not giving up on a healthy level of earthly pleasure.

    2. “All Along the Watchtower” by The Jimmy Hendrix Experience. Today’s song continues the rock part of the playlist.
    3. “Looking for America” by Switchfoot ft. Lecrae. Switchfoot has been the CCM critic of consumerism and empire since their 1997 debut. Lecrae was a CCM darling until he became more and more outspoken to the racism in the Christian music community. On Switchfoot’s 2016 album Where the Light Shines Through,  the band features Lecrae rapping about the hypocrisy of a “Christian nation.” Nearly six years later, with controversies about Critical Race Theory being taught in schools and voter suppression floated in the name of godliness, “Looking for America” seems all the more relevant. 

    4. “Points of Authority / 99 Problems / One Step Closer” by JAY-Z, Linkin Park. This song makes my playlist explicit. JAY-Z’s 2003 hit talks about being pulled over by the police for going one mile-an-hour over the speed limit. Set to the tune of two Hybrid Theory Linkin Park tracks, the song adds an aggressive take on the original, and Chester Bennington’s “I’m about to break” is a cathartic end to the track.
    5. “We Owe This To Ourselves” by Anberlin. Like Bono, featured later on this list, Stephen Christian was influenced by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When I first heard the lyrics to their 2011 Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place opener, “We Owe This to Ourselves,” I wondered what Christian meant by “If every man became a King,” but the following line “We could do more than just dream” made sense. What if everyone could have a vision of equality? Instead, everyone is trying to live like a king, taking more and more for him or herself. 

    6. “Mental” by Hundred Year Storm is a speech by Dr. King set to music.

    7. “Cynical” by Propaganda ft. Aaron Marsh & Sho Baraka.  I wrote about this one last year for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. 

    8. “Where Is the Love” by Black Eyed Peas ft. Justin Timberlake. This was my first introduction to the Peas. I thought that all of their music was inspirational. Then I heard “My Humps.” This song shows what a group of diverse singers/rappers can do to change the world.

    9. “Cold Air” by Acceptance. A band that’s struggled with the meaning of its name wrote this song about “a community that is being broken apart by prejudice, indignation, and division.” The music video depicts four friends of different races burning a map of America, with the message in the lyrics: “We don’t belong here.” That message struck me last January after witnessing the Capitol riots on the sixth. 

    10. “Blue Monday” by New Order. Besides Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the third Monday of January is also Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year. I’d need to do a little more research, but I don’t think New Order was actually referencing the pseudo-scientific date, though. New Order’s classic was a great leap forward in dance music, though.

    11. “All Deliberate Speed” by Mae is the latest addition to the playlist. The phrase comes from Chief Justice Earl Warren, declaring segregation in schools to be unconstitutional. He stated that school should be desegregated with “all deliberate speed.” What the hell does that mean? Move quickly, but deliberately (slowly, carefully). The Supreme Court’s glacial support of desegregation has been criticized over the years. Mae uses this phrase as they are restless to record their debut album and tour, frustrated with their management(?). Maybe this isn’t the best metaphor for a group of white musicians in my playlist, but this “All Deliberate Speed” attitude toward change that needs to happen is frustrating these days. 

    12.  “Revolution” by Kirk Franklin.  I wanted to include Kirk Franklin because he’s so influential in gospel, that he was featured on Kanye tracks before Kanye was Ye and doing gospel. In recent years, Franklin has become more outspoken about the inherent racism in the Christian music industry. I hope that Franklin can help to make a change away from the status quo.

    13. “(Simply) The Best” by Tina Turner. The more and more I learn about Tina Turner, the more this woman inspires me.

    14. “Black or White” by Michael Jackson was controversial when it came out for the overtly sexual music video which undermined one of MJ’s most inspirational anthems of peace. The King of Pop’s legacy is further clouded by accusations of sexual molestation. However, let’s just take this song for what it was in it’s time: epic.

    15. “Pride (In the Name of Love)” by U2 was inspired by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., particularly referencing the latter’s assassination on April 4 in Memphis. U2 released the song “MLK” as the same album’s closer. 

    16. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Diana Ross. I recently listened to a podcast about the two most popular versions of this song. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell‘s original version is iconic, but I wanted to save Marvin for the next song. And Diana Ross’s version blows off the roof. She makes us all feel like nothing is impossible.

    17. “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye. Released in 1971, Marvin looks at a country after the death of King, fighting a futile war in Vietnam, and struggling with racial inequality. Just as Jesus often dismantled his critics with a simple question, “What’s Going On” reminds us to question the injustice around us.

  • "Crashing" by ILLENIUM ft. Bahari, Sunday, January 16, 2021 [Repost]

    Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is the disco of the day. These days, pop charts are filled with DJs and features; however, in the age of disco, the featured singers often went uncredited. Today, though, in the age of powerful pop singers, a feature for a DJ can be mutually beneficial. It can either boost an up-and-coming DJ or boost and up-and-coming singer. Today’s song is not one of the most popular DJs or features. The song hit number 20 on the US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in 2019. It was featured on the second To All the Boys  Netflix film. ILLENIUM and Bahari are not household names, but there is something intoxicating about this smooth, repetitive pop jam, problematic lyrics and all.

    IT’S LIKE CHAMPAGNE/ FEEL IT POURING IN MY VEINS. When I came to Korea, I found a very conservative environment with the other missionary teachers. Just like when I chose “the most conservative (accredited) Adventist university,” I had taken a leap of faith in coming to Korea. It was God’s calling for my life at that point I believed. In Korea, I was a bit of a liberal with my love of rock music, Christopher Nolan movies, and Thomas Hardy. I believed that it was important to understand the people of the world by understanding their culture. The group of missionaries whom I worked with were more about personal holiness and shielding yourself from temptations. If they were significantly older, I would call it an age divide, but they were around my age. I had noticed Adventist youth and young adults getting more radical in their devotion, attending events like GYC (Generation of Youth for Christ) and listening to a new wave of Adventist speakers who recycled the old legalistic messages of Adventism with an end-times urgency, specific for millennials. I had avoided people like this before coming to Korea, but it was the reality when I came to my small town in Gangwon-do. 

    FEELING OUT OF CONTROL WITH YOU CHEMICALS. I remember one conversation with my friend at the time, Abram. It was a conversation after a Sabbath school (like Sunday school, only on Saturday). The lesson study had been about a verse, possibly Titus 2:11-12. Andrew said, “The problem with most people today is they aren’t sober-minded. They may not drink, but they are so caught up in their daily life that they can’t listen to God.” He went on to talk about all the ways that the church, and specifically other church members were caught up in the trivial things that distract us from God, whether it was smart phone notifications, noraebangs, church social events, shopping–often necessary things distract us from our higher calling, spreading the Gospel. Conversations like this reminded me that being a Christian, being a real Christian that is, is hard work. Sabbath afternoon conversations with a wiser, older spiritual brother eventually wouldn’t cut it a year and a half later, but if I could only commit myself to a sober, Christ-like existence, if only I could be more perfect, I would be fulfilled. But perfect was never perfect enough.
    Music Video:

    Lyric Video:

     

  • "When You Were Young" by The Killers, Saturday, January 15, 2022 [reformatted post]

    Netflix’s Song Exploder tells the story about the first single from The Killer’s second album, Sam’s Town. Toward the end of touring for their debut record, Hot Fuss, The Killers started work on their second record. The band changed their musical direction slightly for Sam’s Town, incorporating influences of Americana into their New-Wave sound. Taking musical and lyrical influence from Bruce Springsteen, The Killers set out to tell the stories about the West and Las Vegas, a town they call home. From the opening guitar riff, inspired by the feeling of driving in the desert, to the spiritual conations in the lyrics, “When You Were Young” is an early track that shows the themes of the band in more recent years.


    WAITING ON SOME BEAUTIFUL BOY TO SAVE YOU FROM YOUR OLD WAYS. I mostly skipped over The Killers’ sophomore release, Sam’s Town. Critics and fans, too, were mixed on the album. The band who had named themselves after a fictional band from a 2001 New Order music video and whose lead singer channeled The Cure‘s Robert Smith, The Killers’ first album, Hot Fuss was steeped in New Wave, ’80s Brit-pop influences. However, their follow up was more influenced by Southwest Americana, Bruce Springsteen and U2 than New Wave acts. In college I revisited Hot Fuss and their B-Sides, Sawdust and I listened to their newly released third record, Day & Age, but Sam’s Town was too “Mr. Brightside” and not enough “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine.” The exceptions are “For Reasons Unknown” and this song. Lead singer Brandon Flowers explains the lyrics of this song, saying, “A savior can come in different forms” and that the song is really him as a 24-year-old writing about “the man that I wanted to become.” A man who “doesn’t look a thing like Jesus, but talks like a gentleman.”

    YOU SIT THERE IN YOUR HEARTACHE.  The expectations about your life when you are young and the reality of who you are when you grow up are usually vastly different. I know if high school me could see who I am now, I’d probably be shocked and a little horrified. I’m happy with who I am now, and I’m thankful for the baby-steps I took to improve my life. But we don’t magically grow up. It’s a series of steps, negotiations, decisions, compromises, and people who get us where we are going. On certain occasions, we look back at those steps. For me, 2014 was a pivotal year. When I came to Korea, I threw myself into being a Christian teacher. I came to Korea to shine the light of the gospel. However, the longer I worked for an institution owned by the church, I started to realize little by little that my piety was being used mostly to promote the institution. And more and more sacrifice was required “to keep the lights on.” The church connected to the private institute I worked for was dying. There was talk of the glory days in the early 2000s when students would enter the academy and get baptized and join the church. Now (2014) students only came to learn English. My team had had some success with the religious programs, attracting students, but when we got tired and didn’t promote the snot out of the programs and students didn’t come, the church members would call into question our faithfulness. The extra programs were on top of a 30-40 hours week of insane 7am-10pm hours, by the way. What was the final straw for me was when I had a disagreement with the director who kept admitting students throughout the term and expecting us to pass the students who had only attended for 2 days when it was clearly against corporate policy. I realized that it didn’t matter how much I sacrificed for the messed up church-company, it would never be enough. I became disillusioned with the religion I had devoted to myself when I was young. I had thrown myself into my job and my religion, and I never felt more used. I resolved to invest in myself from that point on. 


    The Killers:

    Read “When You Were Young” by The Killers on Genius


  • "Sugar" by Paper Route, Friday, January 14, 2022 [from 25 Love Songs a Free Gift From NoiseTrade]

    It’s only a month until Valentine’s Day, which was the most miserable holiday for a teenager trapped in the closet in a Christian school. I was quite bitter towards a day that couples showed off their affection. I grew more and more cynical towards the day with every passing year. Fourteen-year-old me would be surprised that in 20 years, I would be thinking about the holiday a month before. But somewhere on the way from teenage-angsty emo music to a Christian pre-ordained incel-hood, like the blinding light to Paul on the road to Damascus, NoiseTrade‘s 25 Love Songs rescued me from cynicism towards candy hearts. This album certainly wasn’t the entirety of my love salvation, but it did start me on the path to thinking that love is possible and not total bullshit.

    I’LL ALWAYS PROTECT YOU. Ahead of their delayed The Peace of Wild Things, Paper Route released a second track from the album. “Better Life” had helped me through a very dark time in my life, so I was eager to digest the next morsel Paper Route threw to me. Today, I’m going to revisit that playlist. Unfortunately, not all of the songs are available to stream, so I’ll try to offer an alternative in the playlist as a space holder. I’ll comment on the original song and about the song I chose instead. Here’s the playlist:


    1. “Don’t Forget” by David Mead is a calm opener. It’s by no means a standout track, but it sets the playlist up nicely. This comes from his album, Dudes. 

    2. “Won’t Let You Down Again” by Matthew Perryman Jones. The lyrics of this one are interesting: “Dancing with the fallen angels.” Also the guitar instrumental adds a melancholy, restrained emotion. This song comes from his album Land of the Living.


     3. “Sugar” by Paper Route is the song of the day, and I think it may be Paper Route’s best song as far as composition.
    4. “Over the Moon” by Rosie Thomas is the first song I have to substitute because it’s not available on Spotify. It’s got an interesting looped hook. The Spotify playlist substitutes another love song “The One I Love,” which comes from her album These Friends of Mine.


    5. “The Temptation of Adam” by Josh Ritter is a love song between two surviving World War III.

    6. “Idaho” by Down Like Silver is maybe the only song I know about Idaho. It’s a beautifully delicate song.
    7. “Baby Shake-em” by Brooke Waggoner, not to be confused with “Baby Shark,” is a hard to find song about the presents laid out by a suitor. I substituted the song with her most streamed song on Spotify, “Fresh Pair of Eyes,” popular because it was featured in the first season of Pretty Little Liars. 
     

    8. “Ever Could” by William Fitzsimmons combines the calm of an acoustic guitar with Fitzsimmons’ delicate voice about “rainy days.” This song is on his deluxe edition of Gold in the Shadow. 

    9. “Song for Lovers” by Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers is an existential crisis that keeps non-believers and agnostics and anyone with any amount of doubt up at night. Kellogg sings about his doubt in religion and fear of dying, unable to be with his wife anymore. From his album Gift Horse.

    10. “I Will Not Take My Love Away” by Matt Wertz starts with a hushed guitar–many songs on this playlist have a similar effect–until it picks up to Wertz’s crisp vocals. 

    11. “See It for Yourself” by Sugar & the Hi Lows sounds like an old-timey rock ‘n’ roll song. The production sounds a little dirty, but Amy Stroup‘s vocals keep everything sweet.
    12. “Safety” by Leagues is nowhere to be found outside of this NoiseTrade exclusive. It’s a nice song that starts with the falsettos of Thad Cockrell. The production sounds like it came from the ’60s. The song is available on the band’s debut EP, which is now out of print. As a substitute, I added “Spotlight,” though “Lost It All” would also be a nice addition.

    13. “All I Got” by Tyler James is substituted for “Stay Humble.” This promising young artist seems to have vanished after his debut album, It Took a Fire. Sure, there are plenty of artists named Tyler James, but I’ve never been able to find out what happened to this Tyler James. “Stay Humble” is the only songs easily available online. 

     14. “Last Fool Standing” by Derek Webb & Sandra McCracken from their Tennessee EP. Webb, of course, at the time was NoiseTrade’s founder and CEO, so it makes sense that the prolific former Caedmon’s Call singer-songwriter would contribute a song to the playlist.
    15. “In My Veins” by Andrew Belle features Erin McCarley on backup vocals. It’s the singer-songwriter’s most famous song and has been featured in a pretty horrific episode of Grey’s Anatomy and also in Castle and Pretty Little Liars. The slow song is a little depressing, like plans that don’t work out; however, the message is that love remains “in my veins,” part of the speaker.

    16. “Hots Full of Love” by Josh Rouse and the Long Vacations is another hard-to-find song. It’s kind of a doo-wop, rock ‘n’ roll song. Instead, I chose “Love Vibration,” one of the singer’s solo songs from his album 1972. This is the only track that’s an improvement on the original playlist. “Love Vibration” is quite a nice, breezy track.
    17. “Going Home” by Marc Broussard is the penultimate track from his 2008 record Keep Me Coming Back. The steel guitars and the lyrics make this a good song for the road. The chorus is the most memorable part of this song. When I was listening to this song again after listening to 25 Love Songs for maybe the 100th+ time, I didn’t recognize “Going Home” until the chorus.
    18. “As Long as Our Hearts Are Beating” by Jenny & Tyler. This Christian husband and wife duo were pretty big on the indie singer-songwriter stage back in the early ’10s. Jenny’s a great singer. Tyler can keep a tune. But it’s really not for me. From their 2010 album, Faint Not.
    19. “Element” by Matthew Mayfield is one of the highlights of this playlist. Something about the acoustic guitar moving into the cinematic chorus seems so urgent. Just breath-taking. From his 2011 album, Now You’re Free.
    20. “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Cary Brothers. This indie singer-songwriter has been around for a while, even having a song on the Garden State soundtrack. “Can’t Take” was featured in Smallville and Vampire Diaries. In terms of the playlist 25 Love Songs, “Can’t Take” builds moment on the urgency from “Element.”
    21. “Beautifully” by Jay Brannan. I thought “what an interesting and sad concept” when I listened to the lyrics: “‘It’s not that you’re not beautiful/ You’re just not beautiful to me’ She said, ‘How beautiful do I have to be?’” Jay Brannan is a gay singer-songwriter from Texas, and this song kind of makes some things make sense from when I started listening to this playlist back in 2012.
    22. “The Lucky One” by Jess Penner is a sweet pop song. Kind of forgettable. Not much else to say.
    23. “Lions and Dragons” by Zach Williams. This is usually a skip for me. I didn’t really care for his vocals. But that’s just me.
    24. “Wings of Desire” by Marketa Irglova. Best known for co-starring in the musical film Once (2007), the piano in Czech singer-songwriter’s song “Wings of Desire” can take me to a magical place.
    25. “Indiscriminate Acts of Kindness” by Foy Vance is another skip for me. There’s clearly some songwriting talent from this Northern Ireland-based singer-songwriter currently signed to Ed Sheeran‘s label, but the vocals aren’t for me. 

    So there’s the 25 Love Songs from NoiseTrade. It took a while to write about so many songs. Also, because I did a playlist within a playlist doesn’t disqualify any of these songs (with the exception of “Sugar” by Paper Route) from getting their own entry later on. 

  • “Breathing Underwater” by Mike Mains & the Branches, Thursday, January 13, 2022 [Trigger Warning: Suicide]

    In an interview with Brandon for Your Favorite Band Podcast in 2016, Mike Mains said that he was heading into the studio, hopefully releasing singles by “February, March, [or] April”of the next year. The project was delayed with the first singles, today’s song, “Breathing Underwater” and “Endless Summer,” being released in 2018, and the album When We Were in Love being released five years after their 2014 sophomore record, Calm Down, Everything Is Fine, in 2019. Mains told Brandon that his new record was going to be “lyrically darker.” With the 2018 Mains’ singles, the band was announced to signed to Tooth & Nail Records. Their third record deals with themes of marital struggles, depression, suicide, and redemptive love. The two-year delay is probably best explained by Mike and his wife/bandmate Shannon’s marriage counseling and Mike’s struggle with depression, which are alluded to throughout the record.

    IN THE MORNING OVER COFFEE. “Breathing Underwater” follows a narrative structure starting with the speaker confessing to his wife one morning “over coffee.” On an episode of Labeled, Mains explains that “Breathing Underwater” outlines     the process of Mike and Shannon going from their lowest point in their marriage to getting on the path to recovery. Mike maintains some level of privacy. We’re only left with lyrics like “I broke everything” and “I am your worst mistake/ You are my everything.” Whatever Mike confessed, sent his wife “far away.” “What[ever the speaker] did in the dark,” infidelity or trying to commit suicide, the speaker laments that he “was gonna to be [her] shelter,” and his inability to be her shelter plunges him into the suicidal fantasy in the second verse. Though he is making progress with his therapist, the easy way out is “kissing the traffic/ God it’d be so quick.” He then fantasizes about the spiders and worms eating him. This is not the only reference to suicide on When We Were in Love. The final track, “Swamp,” Mike fantasizes about his wife leaving for a man who is a better version of him. He says “I think I’ll drink too much/ And pull the garage door down/ And let the engine run.”


    LET ME SOAK UNTIL I’M CLEAN. Like the album’s preceding track, “Around the Corner,” Mike Mains bends the dark lyrics into the light. Echoing Psalm 51, in which David begs God for forgiveness from his adultery with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, Mains begs for his heart to be washed with bleach in the river. In the Labeled episode, Mains talks about how sad songs make him feel better. I have to agree with Mike. Everything seemed to be going wrong today. It was mostly minor things, but what set me off was trying to buy a new iPhone at a department store, only to be told that my credit card wasn’t eligible for that particular offer. I left the store in a huff, cancelling my order. I thought I had checked everything out. My card wasn’t the exact flavor to qualify, though. I decided to forego anything joyful–no nice lunch or bread to take home for my partner–and just get on with my errands. On the subway, I thought, “I have a phone that works ok, what makes me think that I deserve a better one? I’m truly blessed with all that I have. Why do I want more?” I know that a sobbing story about an iPhone deal that fell through is literally the definition of a first-world problem. No relationship was broken, no one died, and I saved almost $1000 (that I’ll probably spend another time). And all the while, I think, “Certainly someone has a real problem. So I shouldn’t feel this shitty. But I do.”

  • "I Wasn't Ready" by Turn Off the Stars, Wednesday, January 12, 2022

    Today I’m going to recommend an album rather than just one song. This is the fourth song I’ve featured by Canadian Christian Rock band Turn Off the Stars, and as they were together for only a short time and didn’t document everything on social media, I’ve run out of fun facts about the band. Sometimes I like riffing on the theme of one song, but it’s a cold day in January, so I think that a deep dive in this particularly cold, moody record is perfect for early January. I’ll also post links to the three other tracks I’ve talked about this album, so you can read up about other interesting details about the band and their record label, along with some of my cringy fiction. First, I’ll post the album. I’m sharing in Apple Music today, because the interface is cleaner for this particular album. If you would prefer to listen in Spotify, I’ll post it here.

    1. “I Wasn’t Ready” The album opens with instrumentation that sounds like nature sounds in the Great White North. Today’s song talks about a spiritual revival coming on suddenly. The guitar solo and singer Michael Walker’s voice blend together nicely during the bridge. This song was featured in Season 2 of ABC Family’s Smallville knock-off series Kyle XY.
    2. “Please” would be a pop song, but the guitars are a little too heavy. It sounds sort of like a ’90s pop-rock song, maybe Tonic, Vertical Horizon, or Third Eye Blind. You can hear the desperation in Michael Walker’s falsetto, and this song sounds like it would have been an excellent loft-scene to close out an episode of Smallville, if the album were released a few years earlier.
    3. “Falling Into You” On the Everything Is OK EP version of this song, the second track “Falling Into You” is clearly a worship song. On the LP, it’s left a little more ambiguous. 
    4. “Hours and Days” brings an extra layer of moodiness to the album. The song is about monotony and waiting for something to change. Musically, Michael Walker’s vocals might be a little too much for some. He sounds a bit mumbly or even like he’s eating something and trying to sing. I think it’s an interesting effect, but it might be too much for some listeners.
    5. “30 Days” starts with the line “You walk into a room/ it’s cold as hell” which was a little bit shocking for a Christian album. Hell is supposed to be hot, right? Actually, the Viking version of hell is a cold. Also, Dante’s Inferno is hot in the outer layers but freezing on the inside where Brutus, Cassius, and  Judas are turned upside down.  “30 Days” is kind of a boring song, but the cold atmosphere of the song works for today.
    6. “Getaway” is the first Turn Off the Stars song I blogged about. It’s a moody acoustic ballad that gives way to an atmospheric guitar solo. 
    7. “Nowhere Skies” is a solid middle track. Good for a clear, cold January day, “Nowhere Skies” makes me think about trudging around in the snow in central New York during winter break when mom said, “Go outside and play.”
    8. “Lately” sounds like it could be a forgettable late ’90s middle track.
    9. “Usual to Me” sounds so Canadian. “Meet with you for tea” is not a line in any American song. This is the other song that I envision being in an early season of Smallville. 
    10. “If Only” has some nice guitar work, but at this point in the album, we’re getting a little tired of anthems. Maybe it should have come earlier in the track list.
    11. “Brightside” is the album’s acoustic closer. It makes sure that the moody record closes with hope in a kind of neo-Brit pop style. 

    I might do more of these album reactions in the future if I love the song, but don’t have much to say about it. I wonder if there are other fans of this album?