Mixtapemotions

  • “separateness” by glass age, Wednesday, December 4, 2024

    In 2015, Abandon Kansas was making a comeback by signing with Emery’s BadChristian Music. The new label allowed the band to express a less-filtered offering of songs. Their third record, alligator, explored themes of doubt, mental health, and addiction. After releasing the album in May, the band hit the road supporting other bands on tour, but in June, Jeremy Spring announced on Facebook that Abandon Kansas would be going on an indefinite hiatus. Spring’s since-deleted post alluded to the mental health issues he was struggling with as well as the need to be close to family. The band reunited to play a few shows; however, Spring and the band members put their efforts into other projects. In 2019, Abandon Kansas rebranded as Glass Age and released Bloom, a three-song EP, taking the band in a different direction. 


    I MIGHT BE AFRAID OF JOY. Abandon Kansas mostly toured in the Christian Rock scene from their formation until their 2015 hiatus. While they enjoyed some Christian radio success and even headlined tours, Abandon Kansas was always more of a supporting act for bigger Christian Rock bands. Glass Age seems to have distanced themselves from the genre, playing more shows in their home state of Kansas rather than embarking on national tours. After releasing Bloom in 2019, Glass Age started working on their debut LP with producer J. Hall in Nashville. According to their Instagram page, Glass Age said that their first record was finished in 2022; however, they have only released three singles as of 2024. After releasing “(a)merican [i]dle” last September, the band hasn’t posted anything on their Instagram account. Glass Age’s music sounds like a more mature Abandon Kansas with maybe a more solid band and more nuanced lyrics. Hearing the full album would be nice, but the lack of promotion for this band is worrying. 


    YOU CAN KEEP ME AT AN ARM’S LENGTH, HONEY. The second Glass Age released leading up to their yet-to-be-released full album was “separateness.” The song explores the theme of emotional distance. The song captures the tension between two poles: the desire for connection and the fear of vulnerability. The repetition of “in separateness” underscores how the speaker feels stuck in this cycle, unable to fully break through emotional barriers. Two parties must decide to make a connection. Abandon Kansas dealt with this theme on their debut album, You Build a Wall, I’ll Build a Ladder. The title represents two songs about a broken relationship. The speaker in Glass Age’s “separateness” is not as determined in “I’ll Build a Ladder.” Rather, staying in separateness is a solution until things are resolved. Furthermore, the speaker in “separateness” goes through changes in perspective, starting at being  “afraid of joy” but then “not [being] afraid of heartache” as is to be expected when separateness prevails. Jeremy Spring hasn’t talked about this song, and the band’s limited social media can only make speculate what this song could be about. But with a country divided politically and religiously, separateness has become how many of us cope. Facts and appeals to emotions often don’t work on loved ones, so we have to learn to embrace the separateness. Building a ladder is only matched with a higher wall. Maybe we should be ready to reconcile, but prepared for nothing to happen, to keep loved ones at arm’s length away.







     

  • “Cold” by Crossfade, Tuesday, December 3, 2024 + December ‘24 Playlist (Apple Music Edition)

     

    Here’s the YouTube version of my December playlist.

    Read the lyrics on Genius.

    Watch on YouTube

  • “Heather” by Conan Gray, Monday, December 2, 2024 + December ‘24 Playlist (Apple Music Edition)

     

    Check out the Apple Music edition of this month’s playlist.

    You can read the original post about this song from last year. I might have been a bit off with the interpretation as I’ve learned more about Conan Gray.


    Listen to the playlist on Apple Music.

  • "Amy, I" by Jack's Mannequin, Sunday, December 1, 2024 + December ‘24 Playlist (Spotify Edition)

     

    I tried to ease into Christmas with this playlist. Let’s see how it goes!

    Check out the playlist on Spotify.

  • “Too Sweet” by Hozier, Saturday, November 30, 2024



    This year, Hozier pulled off an improbable feat. Ten years after the Irish singer’s hit “Take Me to Church” peaked at number 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100, Hozier topped the chart with the single “Too Sweet,” making him a two-hit wonder. A few years ago, Chris Molanphy on the Hit Parade podcast examined just how rare the phenomenon is to have a second hit years after the momentum of the first hit. The bluesy track was released as an extension to Hozier’s third studio album, Unreal Unearth, inspired by Dante’s Inferno, particularly the sin of gluttony. I’m sure musicologists could explain why Hozier made a comeback ten years later. Was it the feature on a remix of Noah Kahan’s “Northern Attitude” last year? The folk rock singer’s breakthrough last year brought several charting songs, including the collaboration with Hozier, which scored a #37 Billboard Hot 100 hit. There was certainly a resurgence of back-to-basics rock this year and last with hits from Teddy Swims and Benson Boone. 


    I TAKE MY WHISKEY NEAT, MY COFFEE BLACK, AND MY BED AT THREE. I’ve talked a lot about the cultural moment that female pop stars are having. The pop charts have been filled with female-empowerment anthems—songs celebrating sex positivity, questioning patriarchy, and exploring same-sex attraction. However, last year’s resurgence of country music reminded chart analysts that the “white male” demographic is still a powerful force in music, and as the election showed last week, in politics. The hits by Post Malone, Morgan Wallen, Teddy Swims, and Hozier—besides all being presumably straight white males—brought back an older sound to music—blues, R&B, rock ‘n’ roll, and country, compared to the processed sounds of hip-hop and pop. On a closer look at the list of Hot 100 number ones, another thing stands out: it’s been a very conservative year in music. The year’s biggest song is a country song by an African American artist, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song” (Tipsy), this week on its nineteenth week atop the chart, showing that the old sound, with updated auto-tuning, rules the charts. Shaboozy’s hit adds to the country reign of Morgan Wallen and Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” on the chart. While these artists may or may not be politically conservative, the top songs feel like they resonate with conservative America more than the more progressive acts like Chappell Roan or Charli xcx who haven’t charted as high as the more traditional-sounding acts. 


    IF YOU’RE DRUNK ON LIFE, I THINK IT’S GREAT. When Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” became a hit after its release in 2014, the song was accompanied by a music video depicting a same-sex couple. The lyrics of the song used religious language to compare a lover, according to the lyrics, a female lover, to the Christian god. The lyrics could be interpreted as blasphemous to Christianity or even pagan, evoking sexual love as a kind of worship. All of these factors made the song a bit shocking for 2013-14. Fast-forward to 2024, and Hozier’s music is anything but controversial. “Too Sweet” is lyrically interesting with the singer’s use of images, but nothing could be interpreted as sacrilegious or “pushing a liberal agenda.” As a rock song, “Take Me to Church” was instrumental in starting conversations around same-sex marriage and Christianity’s hypocritical bulwark against the right to marry. Of course, Hozier wasn’t alone in the cultural conversation. Gay people had become so visible in culture, not just on TV but in every facet of society, in every metropolitan area and rural community. Of course, homophobia didn’t disappear; it may have gotten stronger, which might explain the decline in human rights in the past ten years. What Hozier’s music represented in 2014 was the ability to question his religion-imbued upbringing in the Catholic Republic of Ireland, which was relatable to the largely Protestant Evangelical America. But “Too Sweet” isn’t a song that seems to be overtly questioning society’s narrow-minded values. It’s not so straightforward, but it sounds masculine with lyrics suggesting traditionally masculine traits such as drinking “whiskey neat,” served at room temperature without anything diluting the alcohol’s flavor. He drinks black coffee—the kind that some say “puts hair on your chest.” However, most of the song is spent talking about the subject, potentially a love interest who has healthier habits like waking up to watch the sunrise and living more spontaneously. The song works on two levels. It’s a bro-bar song and it’s a thinking-man’s ballad. The speaker’s plain lifestyle is a preference and on the surface it sounds like that preference is didactic to the listeners. Yet, the speaker’s habits aren’t healthy and the subject of the song feels like some kind of muse for the speaker as if that person’s sweetness is threat to the speaker’s austere lifestyle. Hozier’s two hits are ten years apart and they seem quite different thematically. We’re in a different time musically—a more conservative one, at least when it comes to music made by men. Time will tell if we’ll get back to a time of greater nuance in music.

     

  • “Letter to Myself” by Furthermore, Friday, November 29, 2024 (repost)

     

    One of the often forgotten RadioU minor groups, Furthermore  was another group that only released two records, 1999’s  Fluorescent Jellyfish and 2003’s She and I. Furthermore was a trio consisting of vocalists Daniel Fisher and Lee Jester and DJ Jason Jester. The group arrived on the precipice of Tooth & Nail Records‘ golden age and left the roster shortly after releasing She and I. Fisher went on to play in several bands, and apparently released several other projects under Furthermore after the group’s Tooth & Nail run, including a single in 2020 and several singles earlier this year. 

    BEFORE YOU SAY GOODBYE. Furthermore is a vestige of when Tooth & Nail signed artists without thinking about the financial consequences. Christian Rap was a burgeoning market for Christian audiences, but rock, punk, and hard music eventually became much of the label’s focus. Christian Rap tended to be more evangelistic, whereas many of the rock bands tended to less focused on evangelism. Furthermore certainly wasn’t to everyone’s taste; Christian labels pushed far too many Eminem-influenced groups and far too few black Christian rappers in the early ’00s. Like many of Tooth & Nail’s odd-ball-out musical acts, Furthermore was sent on tour to open for punk bands like All Wound Up and The Dingees. Furthermore clearly has rock influences–guitar and keys lay the backdrop for Fisher’s rapping as does Lee’s singing. The tracks on Fluorescent Jellyfish aren’t too serious. Their standout track “Are You the Walrus?” which has a video illustrating the song is a humorous song about going to grocery store and the speaker being mistaken for a Beatles-esque guru. She and I, though, while also containing light-hearted lyrics, deals more with serious relationships, domestic violence, and mental health. 

    A RELATIONSHIP MAY SAVE YOU, OR ENSLAVE YOU. COUNT ON BOTH TO HAPPEN. “Letter to Myself” is a bit clunky as a rap track at the beginning, but there is something about this pre-Emo rap track that brings me back to 2003. It sounds like a modified English class assignment: to write a letter to yourself to read when you are XX age. The lyrics of the song deal with falling in love and dealing with depression, and the lyrics read as a reminder for the speaker to stay grounded. The lyrics could even be read as a suicide prevention note. But listening back to the lyrics, it’s interesting that as a Christian Rock hit how the focus of the song is about the speaker grounding himself and watching out for himself, rather than reaching out to a higher power, and I completely missed that as a 14-year-old. I think back to the letters to myself, the embarrassing composition notebooks of half-written poems and song lyrics and guitar chords. I think about how important my faith was to those letters and how different everything is now. I don’t have those notebooks anymore because they’re not something I brought with me to Korea. However, I would like to look over them this winter when I go in a few weeks. I wonder how shocked 14-year-old Tyler would think of 37-year-old Tyler.




  • “Can’t Deny My Love” by Brandon Flowers, Thursday, November 28, 2024

    The Killers was one of the biggest bands in the early ‘00s, especially in the UK, where their single “Mr. Brightside” holds the record for the longest single to chart on the UK Singles Chart at 260 non-consecutive weeks. The band is an example of a band that peaked early. While the band has been releasing consistent quality music after their whirlwind successful debut album Hot Fuss, no subsequent release came close to their first album. After releasing three records with The Killers between 2004 and 2008, lead singer Brandon Flowers released his debut solo record Flamingo in 2010. After the album promotion cycle for Flamingo, The Killers released their fourth album, Battle Born in 2012. The band released their fifth album five years later, during which Flowers released his second album, The Desired Effect. 

    WHAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR HEAD NOW? In rock ‘n’ roll history, a lead singer recording a solo project is often an omen of the band’s implosion. For the handsome Brandon Flowers, it’s hard to describe the differences between the solo and the band work without his band recording two solo albums. Often solo projects come from new collaborations or an overflow of ideas unable to be contained in the original project. Flowers’ solo work didn’t end The Killers. While some of Flowers’ singles from the two albums charted in the UK and Billboard’s Rock and Alternative charts, Flamingo also began a period when The Killers failed to have a top 10 hit in America. Of course, the ‘10s were difficult for rock artists. And despite what Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone said of The Desired Effect when he called the album “the best straight-up pop album made by a rock star in recent memory,” Brandon Flowers was not a pop star in the 21st-century definition. Flamingo and The Desired Effect explore ‘80s aesthetics similar to The Killers’ discography. The lyrics in his solo works also tend to be more personal. With The Killers, Brandon often writes about partying, religion, and America. Those themes creep into Flowers’ solo work but the emphasis is more on family relationships.

    THE EYES OF GOD ARE WATCHING SO THAT WE DON’T BREAK THE GOLDEN RULE. The first single from Brandon Flowers’ sophomore album, The Desired Effect, “Can’t Deny My Love” garnered the singer critical acclaim. The song solidifies Flowers’ ‘80s pop star sound. The scene in Billie Eilish’s Apple TV documentary film The World’s a Little Blurry featuring the teen star belting out “Can’t Deny My Love” in her messy room encapsulates the theatrical nature of the song. The lyrics of the song portray an emotional struggle, in which the narrator tries to deal with a partner’s detachment while insisting on the undeniability of their love. The song is littered with spiritual undertones and symbols of doubt and depletion, adding depth to the story of love under strain. The song’s music video is also theatrical, in the style of an ‘80s big-budget video. Drawing on Flowers’ love for the Old West and Americana themes, the video is set in a Western town and begins with the protagonist’s wife trying to convince her husband, played by Flowers, not to go out at night. The video borrows the plot of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown.” Like the short story, the protagonist of the video’s task is unclear–perhaps going on a hunch about spying on the townsfolk to find out who is a witch and ultimately finding out that much of the town–even his wife is part of it. However, also like the short story, the music video is ambiguous as to whether or not the fantastical events that the protagonist witnessed were real or merely part of a dream. “Can’t Deny My Love” is not a straightforward love song, but rather a lover in torment, fighting to hold onto a love that the speaker thinks is worth saving. The music video helps to undermine the “undeniability” that the listener instinctively knows is there due to certain phrases in the song. Perhaps an honest conversation would do them both well, but maybe, just maybe the relationship is too fragile for even that. 




     

  • “Lovesong” by The Cure, Wednesday, November 27, 2024 (repost)

     

    The Cure‘s “Lovesong” peaked at number 2 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 in October of 1989. Hit Parade‘s 2019 episode “Lost and Lonely Edition,”  detailing the British Post-Punk movement, views this unlikely pop hit as a kind of peak of the movement that continued into the early ’90s.  Of course, The Cure’s commercial success came after years of songs that didn’t chart and even the invention of a music chart for Alternative Rock bands, at the time called Billboard‘s Modern Rock Chart. 


    HOWEVER FAR AWAY, I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU. When Billboard launched the Modern Rock chart in 1988, “left of the dial” college radio stations began reporting the songs that they were playing. Some of the bands included on the predecessor to today’s Alternative Airplay chart were established on other charts–U2, Elvis Costello, and Tears for Fears had mainstream rock and pop hits prior to charting on the Modern Rock chart. However, other acts like Siouxsie and the Banshees, New Order, and R.E.M. were given a chance to chart when they had never charted before. I’ve talked at length about how to classify the genre of Alternative. Looking at the list of songs that have topped Modern Rock to Alternative Airplay from 1988 to 2023, post-punk from The Cure certainly looks like a through-line that we could follow. In the ’90s Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel, and Morrissey continue that post-punk trend. But of course, we cannot forget that grunge made a huge impact on the chart with   Nirvana, Live, and Jane’s Addiction or the impact of hip hop appropriation with groups like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Third Eye Blind.

    YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE I AM WHOLE AGAIN. The Cure’s frontman Robert Smith wrote the straight-forward gothic “Lovesong” as a wedding present to his wife, Mary Poole. Smith expressed disappointment about “Lovesong” being the band’s breakthrough hit and even about how its inclusion in their 1989 gloomy 
    Disintegration broke the cohesion of the record. The album was a return to form for the band as Smith had written poppier, less dark songs for his own mental health following the band’s dark earlier material, especially their 1982 record Pornography.   Smith wished that it were other songs on Disintegration that would have become The Cure’s signature song. “Lovesong” has been covered by many artists. The first time I heard the song was when Anberlin covered it on their 2003 debut album Blueprints for the Black Market. According to their livestream, We Are the Lost Ones, the band had seen Aaron Sprinkle perform a version of the cover similar to the arrangement that was later recorded by the band during an open mic night around the time when the band was working on their debut record. The next year, the band 311 recorded the song for the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore romantic comedy 50 First Dates. While Anberlin’s version was only a hit on Air1 and some Christian Rock radio stations, 311’s version topped Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart. And in 2011, Adele included a bossa nova cover on her sophomore record 21. I’m partial to the Anberlin version and then The Cure’s version. Both versions are romantic and longing. Somehow they are songs that make me want to stay in for the evening with a romantic bath, but Adele’s version makes me want to enjoy a night out with a cocktail, enjoying a jazz singer at the piano. However you listen to this song, there’s a lot to love.

    The Cure’s version:
    Anberlin’s version:
    311’s version:
    Adele’s version:

  • "In the Cold" by Acceptance, Tuesday, November 26, 2024 + Chilly Playlist (repost)

     

    I can’t explain this well, but some songs give me a feeling for particular weather. I associate songs with seasons, even if the lyrics have nothing to do with that season. As the weather has gotten chilly lately, I wanted to create a playlist of songs that give me a warm feeling by building a cold atmosphere first, especially for the mid-Autumn.  If this playlist makes no sense to you, you’re not alone. But maybe it does. I hope that it brings you warmth.

  • “Idaho” by Down Like Silver, Monday, November 25, 2024



    Down Like Silver is a folk duo composed of Peter Bradley Adams and Caitlin Canty. The duo released a self-titled EP in 2011 and has released singles sporadically since then. Their latest single, “First Light,” was released in 2022. While Down Like Silver has a limited released discography, the two strong singer-songwriters, Adams and Canty, both have vibrant solo careers. The duo performs much of their songs “co-singing,” or singing together simultaneously rather than taking different parts of the song. Besides beautiful two-part harmony, the group’s country-twinged instrumental parts only enhance the wistful lyrics of the group’s songs. It might be a short trip into Down Like Silver’s discography, like driving through the panhandle of “Idaho,” but it’s a scenic trip. 


    HARD TIMES KNOCKING AT OUR DOOR AGAIN. “Idaho” is one of the six songs on Down with Silver’s debut EP. The song was featured on NoiseTrade’s 25 Love Songs. Caitlin Canty leads the slow song and Peter Bradley Adams adds harmony as the song goes on. The subdued piano and guitar tones along with the title of the song create a frosty feeling, but Canty’s voice gives the song a warm tone, almost like the contrast of the cold floor on a November morning standing between you and a hot shower and a warm bed tempting you to cancel your plans. The lyrics paint an emotional distance between the speaker and the subject. The potato-producing state is a symbol of that emotional distance. While it’s part of the 48 contiguous states, the state’s sparse population and distance from more populated states make a comparison to loneliness in a relationship with an emotionally distant partner. Before the migration of conservatives leaving blue states, Idaho was known for its low population density. Perhaps with miles to the neighbor’s house, being alone in Idaho with a loved one may have made the couple feel close. But now something has happened between the speaker and the subject, and she wants to get back to a time when the relationship was good. They’ve left The Gem State, perhaps out of hope for something better. But better was in Idaho. 

    HOW LONG CAN ONE HEARTBEAT SO CONFUSED? Nostalgia is a fickle friend. When we’re young, we want the adventures of the people we hear about in stories or on TV. I wanted to travel when I was a kid after hearing missionary stories and playing Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Then when we get older, we long for the “good old days,” the family, friends, foods, seasons, holidays. But were the good days really good? We tend to forget the negative moments and idealize the good ones. I tend to not remember the fear my parents had about being able to feed three kids. I don’t remember being made fun of for hand-me-down clothes. I remember some of the bad meals, but the taste is faint. As an adult, I don’t buy food that I know I won’t like unless it’s super healthy and I feel a deficiency if I don’t eat it. Sometimes, I’ll eat something I don’t like because I paid money for it. Do we want to go back? Do we want to go back to a partner who has withdrawn? Were there signs in Idaho? Is there a way back or is the past best left in the past?


    Read the lyrics on Genius.