Mixtapemotions

  • “One Time” by Earthsuit, Wednesday, November 20, 2024

     

    Earthsuit formed in 1995 when Adam LaClave and Paul Meany started attending the same church in New Orleans. The two led worship at the church, forming a band that would eventually play at the Cornerstone Festival and sign to Sparrow Records. The band expertly mixed funk, jazz, reggae, and blues with rock and hip-hop. Their debut album, Kaleidoscope Superior, released June 20, 2000, was a moderate success in Christian Rock, but beyond the somewhat lackluster commercial success, the band was what some of the biggest names in Christian Rock were listening to from Martin Smith of Delirious? to Kevin Max of dc Talk to Rebecca St. James, for whom the band wrote a song on her 2000 album, Transform.

    LORD, HIT ME ONE TIME, INFILTRATE THE MIND. Earthsuit’s sound was a bit eccentric to be commercially viable in the Christian market. Influenced by The Police and The Beastie Boys and adding various New Orleans flavors, half of the album sounded like a jazz version of Linkin  Park’s Hybrid Theory; the other half sounded like a jazzier 311. Interestingly, Hybrid Theory was released four months later in October 2000. The rise of Earthsuit coincided with the launch of TVU, a Christian Rock music video station for alternative, hard rock, and hip-hop. One of the shows that the television station debuted was a TMW or Ten Most Wanted, a sort of copycat of TRL on MTV, which kind of down the top songs of the day as voted by viewers. The biggest song that year was probably P.O.D.‘s “Southtown” or “Rock the Party” (Off the Hook), but Earthsuit’s “One Time” topped the chart for a long time that year as well. The video featured the band jamming in what looked like an abandoned gas station. Lead singer Adam LaClave is presented as the hipster frontman, walking on a horizontal escalator and wearing Bono-style sunglasses. Earthsuit toured with some of the biggest Christian Rock acts on Festival Con Dios in 2000, the former Newsboy Phil Joel’s Strangely Normal tour, and teen singer Katy Hudson. The band also headlined a tour in 2001 with Ill Harmonics and The Benjamin Gate. 

    ANYONE THIRST THERE’S PLENTY OF NEW WINE. Earthsuit was dropped from Sparrow Records, following their debut album due to a lack of commercial success and the band’s creative differences with the label. Earthsuit released a final album in 2003, The Rise of the Modern Simulation,  before breaking off and splitting into two bands: Adam LaClave formed Macrosick. Which broke up in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina hit. LaClave then formed the band Club of the Sons. Paul Meany formed the group MUTEMATH. LaClave, Meany, and other Earthsuit members continued to collaborate after the end of the band. In MUTEMATH, no longer needing to distinguish himself from LaClave, Meany dropped the rap vocals and only sings. MUTEMATH was by far a more successful band than LaClave’s efforts, but the impact of Earthsuit can be felt in Meany’s future efforts. MUTEMATH took the progressive instrumentation of Earthsuit to become a commercially successful touring rock band with a radio hit. LaClave took the more quirky aspects of Earthsuit. “One Time” is the best-known song of Earthsuit, a Christian Rock band that faded into obscurity, Meany told Andrew Beaujon in his examination of Christian Rock Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock: “Most people didn’t care when [they] broke up. “One Time” sounds quite different from the Paul Meany of MUTEMATH, but listen to Kaleidoscope Superior with its Christian lyrics lifted from the book of Revelation, and you’ll hear parts of the experiment that would work later. MUTEMATH distanced themselves from the Christian music industry, even suing their label for putting their album in the Christian section of record stores. I really wish we could’ve heard what a mature Earthsuit sounded like. It may have sounded more like sci-fi rock rather than the Christian “new wine” drinking song “One Time.” Sadly, we’ll never know.

     

  • “Knowing This” by Kye Kye (repost), Tuesday, November 19, 2024 + Young Love Remix EP Track by Track

     

    I got into Kye Kye in 2013 when I was also starting to listen to K-pop. The Christian electronic band made up of Estonian-born, Portland, Oregon-based siblings with their vaguely spiritual, ethereal pop music never quite caught on with any part of the Christian music scene. They may be too artistic for the Christian pop world and not heavy enough for the Christian rock world. The band is still around today, though not releasing Christian music. Today I wanted to delve into their remix EP, Young Love. 



    1. “Broke.” This is a remix of the band’s single from the record. I remember it kept losing on RadioU‘s Battle of the Buzz but when it was released in regular rotation, it caught on and even topped their countdown show, TMW.
    2. “Introduce Myself.” On the album Young Love, “Introduce Myself” is kind of a mundane track; a kind of meandering intro to public speaking class that breaks the rules of good speech writing. As a dubstep track, it’s a little more fun. 
    3. “Walking This.” In May 2022, I talked about the original version of this song and how it seemed to be closely related to today’s song. In fact, the two tracks appear back to back on both the standard and the remix version, but on the remix album, they are switched in order. It would seem like you would “Know This” before “Walking This.”
    4. “Knowing This.” Today’s song envisions God as a “perfect lover.” The Genius annotations back up every line of the song with scripture. 

    Original Version:

    Remixed version:

    5. “Trust and Trees” Kye Kye’s lead singer Olga Yagolnikov‘s vocals are often subtle beneath the music. From reading the lyrics, the song seems spiritually esoteric. 

    6. “My Sight” is a song I’ve never listened to much. It’s one of the more blatantly spiritual tracks from the band, talking about the resurrection. 

  • “To Fly” by Day of Fire, Monday, November 18, 2024 (repost)

     

    In Christian Rock in the ‘90s and ‘00s, nothing spelled success as a conversion testimony. Founding Day of Fire, Josh Brown brought with him the testimony of a near drug overdose before turning to Christianity. Starting his music career as the lead singer of the nu-metal band Full Devil Jacket, Brown toured with Nickelback, Creed, and others and even played at the infamous Woodstock ’99.


    EVERY MORNING THERE’S A BROKENNESS YOU SWALLOW. After a fairly successful debut album released in 2000 that spawned two radio singles, Full Devil Jacket was about to record their follow-up. While on tour with Creed, Brown overdosed on heroin, but survived. After his near-death experience, Brown quit music, becoming a Christian and rebuilding his life. In 2004, Brown’s new band Day of Fire signed to Essential Records, Sony Music’s Christian imprint, and released their self-titled album. Much of the album contrasts the darkness of Brown’s past with the hope he found in Christianity. The album was well-received on Christian Rock radio and won a Dove Award for Rock Album of the Year in 2005. The story of rebirth, watching a spiritual baby grow from spiritual sensorimotor to spiritual preoperational, particularly from someone in the world, was confirmation that evangelism worked. Day of Fire recorded three records between 2004 and 2010 and went on hiatus after Brown reconnected with Full Devil Jacket for what had started as a one-off reunion to raise money for deceased lead guitarist Michael Reaves, who died of cancer.


    YOU WERE MADE TO OVERCOME. In 2015 Josh Brown told the Jackson Sun that the reason he left the music industry in 2000 was to get sober, but he felt that he left his bandmates in Full Devil Jacket not “the right way.” After playing a benefit, Full Devil Jacket released Valley of Bones with Brown on lead vocals. Full Devil Jacket didn’t become a Christian Rock band, but Brown still claimed to be a believer. He stated: “Every record I’ve done since the beginning, it’s one line of thought.” Day of Fire was one of my most played CDs in my Junior year of high school, particularly on Tuesday nights when my sister and I took a Sociology class at the local community college. We played that record until Falling Up’s Dawn Escapes was released and took over for the rest of the year. Day of Fire’s follow-up records lacked the smoothness of their debut, and so I never listened to them more than a few times each. Weaving together Old Testament imagery and rock songs about depression and addiction the album felt like the perfect soundtrack to a Christian high school drama. “To Fly” ends the record, reiterating the band’s message: you are more than your addictions. “You were made to overcome.”


    Read the lyrics on Genius.





  • “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay, Sunday, November 17, 2024 (repost)

    My musical history started with hymns and classical music playing in the house, and sometimes classic and alternative rock in the garage. After going back to church, my mom stopped listening to secular music, well contemporary secular music, and tried to convince me that rock music was evil when I started liking the sound of it. Little by little, she started listening to modern music–first CCM, especially Michael W. Smith‘s This Is Your Time album because of the bagpipes. Then she started listening to music she grew up with, the soundtrack to her teenage rebellion. These were the smooth pop songs of Hall & Oats and Elton John and some rock bands like Boston and Journey.

    MY MISSIONARIES IN A FOREIGN FIELD. All of these songs’ artists could be heard on local light rock radio stations along with contemporary hits by Kelly Clarkson, Train, and of course Coldplay. When my mom heard “Viva la Vida,” she loved it and bought the album. Soon, on long trips, the CD rotation included greatest hits compilations by The Bee Gees, Elton John, Hall & Oats, and 2008’s Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends by Coldplay. At first, it was a refreshing change. Sure, this was the time when Coldplay was getting too big for music snobs who were questioning their musicality and whether or not they were a rock band or just a commercial pop act. I was, and still am, quick to defend Coldplay, though not as a rock band, but as what a big budget can do with some of the best producers. My mom was slow to adapt to the band’s prior or subsequent albums, but Coldplay made her less resistant when I was driving and I slipped in a Copeland record. Today’s my mom’s birthday, so I wanted to revisit the eleven tracks on the original June 12, 2008-released standard edition of Viva la Vida. 

    Viva la Vida by Frida Kahlo

























    FOR SOME REASON I CAN’T EXPLAIN, I KNOW SAINT PETER WON’T CALL MY NAME. One thing I appreciated about Coldplay’s 2008 album was the thought that went into the concept. While I was hesitant to call it a rock album due to the lack of distorted guitar-driven songs, I also didn’t think it fit with the disposable nature of a hedonistic pop record. The single “Viva la Vida,” for example was inspired by the painting of the same name by Mexican painter Frida Kahlo when she was suffering from health problems. The bold expression in her painting inspired lead singer Chris Martin. The song “Viva la Vida” mixes historical and biblical allusions to tell the story of a king who has lost his kingdom and now roams the streets he used to rule. Nothing is particularly sad about this song. Along with the optimism in the Kahlo painting, the message seems to be to make the best out of a bad situation. Like with “Viva la Vida,” I feel that there’s a classical quality reacting to and even appreciating romanticism–the forms must be kept. Nothing is overly emotional, just factual. Maybe it’s the emotional restraint of Coldplay that keeps them from being loved by music snobs who prefer the garage band indie rockers or emo/goth kids. Coldplay is, well, boring if you don’t step back and try to appreciate the simple, straight brushstrokes.

  • “APT.” by ROSÉ ft. Bruno Mars, Saturday, November 16, 2024


    This summer Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga made a huge comeback with “Die with a Smile,” which became a global number 1 hit. Last month Mars released another collaboration, this time with ROSÈ, the latest member of the girl group BLACKPINK to go solo. “APT.” marks Mars’ first K-pop collaboration, the singer was quite big in South Korea before teaming up with a member of one of the currently biggest girl groups. Just like “Die with a Smile,” “APT” has been a global  smash hit, topping charts around the world, including South Korea and peaking at number 8 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and number two on the UK singles chart.


    RANDOM GAME. BLACKPINK has been regarded as the biggest girl group in the world. The group, however, hasn’t made new music since 2022. Last year, all four members of the group re-signed their contracts with YG Entertainment and are expected to release new music next year. This year, however, has been about solo activities. This year has seen massive hits from 3 of the 4 members including LiSA’s “Rock Star” and “Moonlit Floor,” and Jennie’s “Mantra.” All of these singles did very well this year, but the combined star power of ROSÈ and Bruno Mars made the song go viral faster than the other BLACKPINK solo acts. “APT.” is an extremely catchy song. The chorus cites Tony Basil’s “Hey, Mickey!” and the chant’s source material is the 1979 “Kitty” by Racey as source material for “APT.” Besides the directly credited sources, takes the energy of ‘00s indie rock and. It feels like a poppier version of The White Stripes at times. The song was so catchy that in Korea high school seniors taking the College Scholastic Achievement Test (CSAT) or Suneung (수능) were advised not to listen to the song for fear that the lyrics may cause the test-taker to lose concentration. Fortunately, the test is over and Koreans can collectively breathe a sigh of relief. I’m sure that many high school students will be celebrating this weekend with this very song.


    I WANT TO KISS YOUR FACE FOR REAL. The Korean drinking game Apt (short for “Apartment”) is a simple and fun game that involves rhythm and wordplay. It’s typically played in a group with drinks, and players need to stay alert to avoid making mistakes. The theme of the game is “apartment numbers.” Each player pretends they live in an apartment and is assigned a specific “apartment number” (usually their position in the circle). For example: Player 1 is Apt 101, Player 2 is Apt 102, and so on. The key to the game is staying focused and keeping up with the rhythm, which gets harder as players drink more. There is a version of Apt that’s popular among middle and high school students in Korea, but it’s typically played without alcohol. Instead of drinking as a penalty, students might do something fun or lighthearted, such as a dare, a slap, a silly action, or even just restarting the game. As the end of the year is approaching, I’m sure that there will be many gatherings with the drinking or non-drinking game, Bruno Mars and ROSÉ’s latest single playing in the background. 


    This summer Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga made a huge comeback with “Die with a Smile,” which became a global number 1 hit. Last month Mars released another collaboration, this time with ROSÈ, the latest member of the girl group BLACKPINK to go solo. “APT.” marks Mars’ first K-pop collaboration, the singer was quite big in South Korea before teaming up with a member of one of the currently biggest girl groups. Just like “Die with a Smile,” “APT” has been a global  smash hit, topping charts around the world, including South Korea and peaking at number 8 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and number two on the UK singles chart.


    RANDOM GAME. BLACKPINK has been regarded as the biggest girl group in the world. The group, however, hasn’t made new music since 2022. Last year, all four members of the group re-signed their contracts with YG Entertainment and are expected to release new music next year. This year, however, has been about solo activities. This year has seen massive hits from 3 of the 4 members including LiSA’s “Rock Star” and “Moonlit Floor,” and Jennie’s “Mantra.” All of these singles did very well this year, but the combined star power of ROSÈ and Bruno Mars made the song go viral faster than the other BLACKPINK solo acts. “APT.” is an extremely catchy song. The chorus cites Tony Basil’s “Hey, Mickey!” and the chant’s source material is the 1979 “Kitty” by Racey as source material for “APT.” Besides the directly credited sources, takes the energy of ‘00s indie rock and. It feels like a poppier version of The White Stripes at times. The song was so catchy that in Korea high school seniors taking the College Scholastic Achievement Test (CSAT) or Suneung (수능) were advised not to listen to the song for fear that the lyrics may cause the test-taker to lose concentration. Fortunately, the test is over and Koreans can collectively breathe a sigh of relief. I’m sure that many high school students will be celebrating this weekend with this very song.


    I WANT TO KISS YOUR FACE FOR REAL. The Korean drinking game Apt (short for “Apartment”) is a simple and fun game that involves rhythm and wordplay. It’s typically played in a group with drinks, and players need to stay alert to avoid making mistakes. The theme of the game is “apartment numbers.” Each player pretends they live in an apartment and is assigned a specific “apartment number” (usually their position in the circle). For example: Player 1 is Apt 101, Player 2 is Apt 102, and so on. The key to the game is staying focused and keeping up with the rhythm, which gets harder as players drink more. There is a version of Apt that’s popular among middle and high school students in Korea, but it’s typically played without alcohol. Instead of drinking as a penalty, students might do something fun or lighthearted, such as a dare, a slap, a silly action, or even just restarting the game. As the end of the year is approaching, I’m sure that there will be many gatherings with the drinking or non-drinking game, Bruno Mars and ROSÉ’s latest single playing in the background. 



     Read the lyrics on Genius.


  • “Satellite” by Harry Styles+ Songs About Space Playlist, Apple Music Edition, Friday, November 15, 2024 (repost)

     

    It’s a clear chilly night. It’s been a rainy year, and the city lights rarely allow for a peak into oblivion. Today, I give you my playlist for those occasions, when the clouds open up and we can look into another world. Most of these songs are not scientific, but rather impressions and mediations on an otherworldly experience. Enjoy!

  • “The Wire” by HAIM, Thursday, November 14, 2024

    I noticed a shift in my listening habits this year. My Spotify Wrapped will undoubtedly reveal that I listened to more female-identifying artists this year than male-identifying artists. It’s been a particularly strong year in pop, but women dominate the music industry in other genres. Singers, producers, rappers, songwriters, and, yes, frontwomen to rock bands are a few examples of women in music in 2024. In the 2020s, some of the most critically acclaimed albums in many genres were made by female artists. Yet, there was a time when many listeners and critics didn’t take women very seriously in any genre. Male listeners often didn’t buy music made by women. And gender is often used to qualify music. “It’s good music for a girl band” or “ I really don’t relate to rock bands with female lead singers” were statements I heard when talking about music. I don’t know if things are different now among male listeners, but in the 2010s critics seem to be starting to take women in music much more seriously.

    YOU KNOW I’M BAD AT COMMUNICATION. In 2013, HAIM released their first album, Days Are Gone. The group is composed of the three Haim sisters: Este, Danielle, and Alana. The sisters’ careers started as musicians in a family band that featured their father Mordechai “Morti” Haim on the drums and their mother Donna on guitar. Rockinhaim wasn’t a serious act— a cover band that exposed the girls to public performances, weddings and charity events. In 2005, Este and Danielle joined a girl band called Valli Girls signed to Columbia Records. After appearing on The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants soundtrack, the HAIM sisters left the group. The three sisters together formed a band in 2007 briefly before Danielle started touring as a backing musician for other groups. Este, meanwhile, pursued a degree in ethnomusicology at UCLA. After being accepted into Scarlet Fever, Cee-Lo Green’s all-girl backup band, Danielle decided to start playing her original music rather than playing for other groups, which brought the HAIM sisters back together. 

    YOU KNOW THERE’S NO RHYME OR REASON. In 2020, HAIM released their Grammy-nominated album Women in Music, Part III. The title of the album pays tribute to the veteran female singer-songwriters from the folk era to the present. HAIM is a feminist symbol and the group is involved in feminist causes and explores feminist themes in their lyrics. The band rejects the title “girl band.” Alana said that she considers the label “an insult.” After all, why must we qualify good music? HAIM’s career coincides with the shift away from rock-based alternative music, but it’s clear that the band is influenced by rock. While you could easily classify. While you could easily label HAIM as a soft rock or pop rock group, their R&B influence is something that makes them stand out from other similar-sounding groups. HAIM has interesting musical arrangements–saxophones, three-part harmonies, twangy country guitars–but it’s the rhythms and Este’s bass playing that drive what would be ordinary songs into a frenetic energy. What would be background music for a commute or in a grocery store takes your full attention. It’s distracting in the best way possible. 


     

  • “Heavy” by Linkin Park ft. Kiiara, Wednesday, November 13, 2024 (trigger warning: suicide, depression, mental health discussion)

     Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory was a musical philosophy the band has followed throughout their career. Hip-hop, hard rock, nu-metal, Alternative, folk, and electronic— all found their way onto Linkin Park albums. A band known for their cross-genre collaborations and for scoring Top 40 Pop hits, Linkin Park has always aimed to be music-forward. In 2017, the band released their most polarizing album, One More Light. The album more than any of the band’s previous efforts integrated current-sounding pop, a genre that Linkin Park had avoided even when their rock songs became pop hits. Critics and listeners didn’t know what to think of the latest from the band that defined the new millennium in rock music. It was a collection of songs that seemed lyrically honest but musically dishonest like much of the pop music of the late ‘10s.  

    I DON’T LIKE MY MIND RIGHT NOW. Starting the album cycle for One More Light was “Heavy,” the lead single, released in February 2017. Working with the songwriting team of Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter, Linkin Park crafted their version of what they thought pop music sounded like in the late ‘10s. Joesph Hahn, the band’s DJ and programmer suggested that “Heavy” would sound good as a duet with a female singer opposite of lead singer Chester Bennington. Illinois-based singer-songwriter Kiiara Saulters talked about Linkin Park’s influence on her career with New Zealand radio host Zane Lowe after she had a big hit in 2015 called “Gold.” Through Lowe, Linkin Park connected with the singer who then recorded the song’s second verse. When the song was released, the band and Kierra performed it on several late-night shows to promote their new single. Critics mostly called the song an imitation of both Twenty One Pilots and The Chainsmokers and Halsey’s “Closer.” Lyrically, the song was similar to the themes Linkin Park wrote about before. The song is about feeling unable to handle all of the hardships the world gives us.

    I’M PRETTY SURE THE WORLD IS OUT TO GET ME. On May 19, 2017, Linkin Park released One More Light, and like the lead single “Heavy,” reviews were pretty negative. These made lead singer Chester Bennington so angry that he lashed out online. The band believed in their new sound and were trying to express their message in a new way. The band was, however, still in its prime and one of the biggest rock bands at a time when the genre seemed to be disappearing. Then on July 25, Bennington took his life. The singer had struggled with depression and substance abuse throughout his life, but he had seemingly come out of a dark time, surviving an attempt in 2016. Earlier in 2017, Bennington lost a dear friend and godfather to his children to suicide, Soundgarden and Audioslave’s Chris Cornell. Bennington sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at Cornell’s funeral and expressed his deep sorrow for the loss. The Last Days Podcast looked into the details surrounding Bennington’s death, focusing on the parallels between Cornell and the Linkin Park frontman as well as the statements Bennington made about his mental health. Bennington told Rolling Stone in 2017: “I find myself getting into these patterns of behavior or thought – especially when I’m stuck up here [in my head]; I like to say that ‘this is like a bad neighborhood, and I should not go walking alone.” Bennington hung himself in a hotel room where he was staying briefly when shooting a commercial. Perhaps the intrusive thoughts were too much. Perhaps it was the memory of Cornell. Bennington died on what would have been his fifty-third birthday. Whatever Bennington’s reasons, the 41-year-old was taken too soon. Chester had so much more to give the rock world or whatever genre he wanted to work in.
     

    Read the lyrics on Genius.

  • “The Last Great American Dynasty” by Taylor Swift, Tuesday, November 12, 2024


    On folklore, Taylor Swift’s essential fall album, the singer delves into the craft of storytelling. While many of Swift’s songs tell stories, until her eighth studio album, most of those stories were about herself. Tales about “betty,” James, and Augustine could be a metaphor for the singer but it was quite refreshing to hear about other people in towns created by the singer. With Swift returning to making anthemic pop hits, the lowkey double album cycle has come and gone.  “The Last American Dynasty” is a song on folklore in which Swift tells the story about the previous owner of her house. The song tells the story of the wealthy widow to the heir of the Standard Oil fortune, Rebecca “Betty” Harkness. It’s a kind of country song, romanticizing its subject and drawing parallels between Harkness and Swift, setting them up as outsiders unable to fit into the social classes they happened to belong to. 


    THERE GOES THE MADDEST WOMAN THIS TOWN HAS EVER SEEN. Taylor Swift has become a feminist icon–a self-made woman. The men Swift dates are below her income bracket, subverting archaic yet all too present expectations of women. In 2013, Swift bought Holiday House in Rhode Island. The realtor told Swift about the estate’s previous owner. When talking about the song with Jack Antonoff and Aaron Desner on the Disney+ special Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, Swift said that hearing about Harkness she “wanted to know everything about her.” For years, Swift wanted to craft Harkness’s story into a song, finally releasing “The Last Great American Dynasty” in 2020. Swift writes about Harkness’s eccentric, decadent practices in a way that endears the heiress, though she only focuses on the positive aspects. Swift sees Harkness as a feminist icon. The socialite certainly had some admirable qualities, disrupting the upper class as a wealthy woman enjoying the fruits of her inheritance. But notably absent from the song are the objectionably damning details of Harkness’s character, including how she treated her children and grandchild. One of the reasons she built her “saltbox house” into the 11,000-square-foot mansion with eight kitchens and 21 bathrooms it became was to have accommodations for governesses to take care of the children completely out of her sight.


    HOLIDAY HOUSE SAT QUIETLY ON THAT BEACH. The way Taylor Swift tells Rebecca Harkness sets the socialite up as a likable antihero but her legacy is more complicated than merely being a badass. Swift’s omissions and revisions, such as changing the cat that she dyed “key lime green” to a dog, show just how much Swift is trying to relate with this probably horrible person. The criticisms of Swift used to be about her dating life and her celebrity feuds. But perhaps a more valid criticism is about her carbon emissions generated by her private planes or that she has been repeatedly blocking other female artists from achieving their potential by churning out repackaging of her old records to feed a capitalist society that in turn exacerbates climate change. The true story about Harkness reminds us that legacies are mixed. Americans love a Great Gatsby story even when they are incurring The Grapes of Wrath. The myth of the self-made billionaire makes us think that we too can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. It’s in the post-Industrial revolution psyche and reinforced by Reaganomics that make the American electorate believe that hands-off conservative leadership will somehow make the businesses pay their workers well. These conservative ideas that come out and songs like today’s song are ones that I feel like I’ve overlooked when the shock of last week hit me. It almost makes me want to start another blog series. We’ll see. How could the American people fall for completely on sound economical math? How could a wealthy man serving them food at McDonald’s for one shift prove that he was just like them? Why did it take so long for Taylor Swift to finally endorse Harris? In my own bubble podcasts and newspapers, I thought Trump was fringe. I thought really the American people didn’t feel this way. And it turns out that 49% of the voting population didn’t feel that way. Swift writes that Harkness is part of the last great American Dynasty, but it turns out that probably many listeners felt similarly about Trump. Even if Trump really does “hate Taylor Swift” as he tweeted after using an AI generated meme of Swift supporting him prompting Swift to endorse Harris.


    Read the lyrics on Genius.
     

  • “Armistice” by MUTEMATH, Monday, November 11, 2024

    Armistice Day commemorates the end of World War I, marking the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany that took effect on November 11, 1918, at 11 a.m. The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, All [was] Quiet on the Western Front. The day is observed in many countries to honor those who served and died in the war. It evolved into Veterans Day in the United States, expanding to honor all veterans, not just those from World War I. Other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, still observe November 11 as a day of remembrance for fallen soldiers, often called Remembrance Day. The word armistice means an agreement made between opposing sides in a war to stop fighting temporarily, typically as a precursor to a more formal peace treaty. Unlike a full peace agreement, an armistice is not necessarily a permanent end to hostilities but rather a truce that suspends military action. It can be a crucial first step toward negotiating peace or establishing a ceasefire to allow for humanitarian efforts, discussions, or troop withdrawals.

    YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY IT I KNOW, IT’S ALL MY FAULT. Mutemath named their second album Armistice after settling the conflicts between band members. Working with producer Dennis Herring, the band made peace and focused on producing the best music. The album’s title track reflects the reconciliation needed to run a successful band. In the lyrics, the speaker talks about how he wants to move forward and work towards “progress.” Musically, Mutemath calls on their New Orleans jazz roots, incorporating horns and their electronic sound. As a bonus track for listeners who had preordered Armistice, the band released a remixed version of the song featuring the Rebirth Jazz Band. The song is a unique piece of music and an excellent soundtrack for “laying down your weapons” and finding common ground.