Month: January 2024

This song contains the most beautifully sung iteration of the word idiosyncratic of all-time. I guarantee it. Just wait.

“Believe me this time, when I say I’m, having a little trouble caring ’bout a lot of things right now, things right now, can see you just fine, from the sidelines, you break me like a habit, with your idiosyncratic mind, took it a little too far this time”

Overall, this song is a super-synthy/super-moody soundfest. I do love that steady guitar leading us through the beginning of the song. The melodies she plays with are also super interesting to me at various places throughout the song. 

-the “idiosyncratic” part above.

–“having a little trouble caring ’bout a lot of things right now”

-when the tempo slows at 2:14

It’s like we’re walking through knee high molasses suddenly. I’m here for it. We’ve all gotten bogged down with something in our life right? Where things really do feel stuck like that? Work, relationship, money, kids, parents, all that, right? All those situations have a part of the spectrum that is this song I think. 

“In my apocalyptic dream, you’re 20 feet ahead of me, I’m sitting in the drivers seat, it’s time that you admit defeat, I don’t know what came over me, you’re floating in sea of teeth, the crowds applauding endlessly, it all goes wrong at seventeen”

That “having trouble thinking ’bout a lot of things right now” that I highlighted above is such a great descriptor of what our gas tank being empty feels like. Your wiped out. Your brain has 100 tabs open. I’ve started keeping track of the things I can do that help close those tabs. Whether I’m just X’ing out and saying “fuck it” or actually dealing with whatever is in the tab being the two options of closing. 

It’s ok to say “fuck it” sometimes. Sometimes we need to take a seat on the sidelines. We can see you just fine from here, thanks!

Thanks for reading you dynamite example of a person you! Enjoy.

Certified banger from start to finish.

The synths, the percussion, the strings, the vocals…just a fantastic song. I feel like Seth from The OC would have this in his starter pack. What it lacks in lyrics, I think it makes up for bottling that nostalgic/regret feeling into song.

Are we starting to hit on themes with these songs? Long-time reader/long-time brother Michael Hollis commented that he felt like he identified one or more. I bet he’s right. I look forward to discussing. What kind of vibes are you picking up on?

Back to the song…

“I don’t wanna lose my mind again, I remember every word you said, if there was a way, I would go back, if there was a way, I would go back, I don’t wanna lose my mind again, even if I try, I can’t forget, if there was a way, I would go back, if there was a way I would go back.“

…and we drive into “you’ve changed, I’ve changed, it’s not the same.”

How many of y’all felt that?

It’s ok.

My favorite part of this song comes around 4:00 when we come out of that blissful/floaty section that serves as interlude between the first and second vocal parts of the song. When that guitar really comes in and cuts.

Really drives home the anthem.

Hope you enjoy the song. It’s ok if it makes you feel things. Hugs.

When I hear the guitar on this song, it makes me want to pick up a guitar of my own. Angie’s voice mirrors it’s sharpness perfectly. 

“Now I’m keeping time, or at least I’m learning how to, I’m taking flight or at least I’m just about to, and all the ways we could bruise are of use to us, and all the things I burnt, I learnt their cost, No, there’s cracks in me, oh the cracks in me, I’ve been blessed by the ignition, waiting for a command, young girl tired of your wishing and waiting, it’s done me harm, I’ve done me harm”

What. Beautiful. Songwriting. 

It brings to mind the concept of Kintsugi, which I’ve mentioned before. Link below.

https://wordpress.com/post/everything-etc.com/1160

If you aren’t familiar, it’s known as the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the breaks with lacquer dusted or mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. The idea is, the object is beautiful because of the breakage. The breaks are forever a part of our story. It’s an amazing way to teach us to cope with any failure or pain in our life. We are stronger for having been through it. Grown from the experience. Made the best of it.

It’s a beautiful philosophy. This song is heavy with those vibes.  

“I was sinking in to a lust like it was water, always juggling something I could not afford to, but I want someone who doesn’t mind it when I stand, I want someone who’s funny looking when they dance, I wanna dance with him, I wanna dance with him”

I can’t imagine you’re getting sick of Angie. Every song is so rich in lyrics to decipher and admire their beautifully pairing with that driving guitar.

Hope you’re having a relaxing day, whatever day you read this. If you aren’t, let’s schedule at least 30 min of you time today. Find a way. Decompress, even if a little.

Love ya. Head up. Keep going.

As we’ve discussed, any Hip Hop songs on this list are going to have an amazing beat and fantastic wordplay. In my opinion, this track is a great example showing why Em and Snoop are two of the best to ever do it. The speed and clarity are unreal to follow.

My relationship with both goes back to maybe the middle of high school? Somewhere smack between sophomore and junior years? Maybe junior and senior. It’s all a dyed blonde hair blur. Yeah, I really did. There are photos somewhere. I distinctly remember listening to Em, Snoop, and Dr. Dre at Josh Brooks’ pool parties. 

“That’s how I know that I’m in the studio with the Doggy (where?), in Californi’ ’cause my homie from Long Beach, always got that bomb weed, (that’s why), I feel a calm breeze (yeah), Every time I palm trees (get it), just like that blonde bleach, I went platinum then so did my albums (yeah), Calvin’s turnin’ me into a zombie”

-Eminem

If you’ve never watched it, and you have even a small interest in Hip Hop, you need to check out Hip Hop Evolution on Netflix.

I cannot stress how good of a documentary series this is for Hip Hop heads. It does a great job of breaking down Hip Hop by it’s roots and regions, but also really pointing out it’s cultural significance in such an illuminating way.

Listen how fast we go for this sequence:

“My adversaries came, but these little degenerates are my lineage (yeah), and when it comes to pockets, weren’t many, if any as, skinny as mine, bitch, I was penniless, now I’m plenty rich, and this shot don’t make any sense (yeah), I was in the motherfuckin’ pinch like a titty twist, now I’m sitting pretty as each penny is, while I’m penning this in the lab on you guinea pigs, I ain’t finna fool ’em, and in fact give me the semi (woo), and when I pull the big guns out that trigger, pull it until that motherfuckin’ shit runs out of bullets, somebody better cal a ambulance (woo), you live it’ll be miraculous, I got more hits than a contract killer, like the caterpillars that don’t got antennas (what?), other words, I don’t got no godman fillers (woo), Mount Westmore, you did not plan for this (nah), from Detroit all the way to Los Angeles (haha, yeah)“

-Eminem

The pace these two set is incredible. Snoop is in rare form as he dubs himself “Steve Job of the cannabis mob”.

How can you not love this man? He is a national treasure.

Have a great day! Thanks for reading! Enjoy the song!

Did anyone have a better 2023 than Noah Kahan? I really don’t think so, bro ate as the kids say. :) Dude was a space shuttle, and I am hear for it all.

“Look at me and don’t you lie, I could be your sacrifice, but don’t you hold your head up high, for bullshit I do not have time, I could be an old tattoo, to remind me when I get bad news, that I do not exist to die, but live to die while saving you”

-Noah’s verse

The collaborations he did this past year were incredible additions the Stick Season album. In this one particularly though, there’s some fantastic songwriting and a impossible to not move to driving rhythm and a dynamite chorus. 

My personal favorite is below.

“Does it bite at your edges, do you lie awake restless, why am I so obsessive?, hangin’ on to every sentence, this town’s the same as you left it, your page was blank but I read it, I still dial 822-993-167“

Kacey provides the perfect opposite character to Noah’s in this song and that amazing purr of a voice is in full use. 

I’m running out of tears to cry, they’re gone before they hit my cheeks, maybe it’s the air out here, or maybe something’s changing me, if you think you could wake me up, well you don’t know how well I sleep, you love me and I don’t know why, I only call you once a week.

-Kacey’s verse

We’ve all kind of been there with someone before, right? We’re the only one really reaching out? “Everything is alright when she calls me back” type relationships are not fun or healthy. We end up putting too much value into the relationship over ourselves. Balance in all things, young Padawan. 

The great part of this song is that push and pull between Noah and Kacey. They play their parts perfectly and you can really feel it in the song. Her ambivalence and almost exasperation that he’s still around. His misguided devotion and dramatics. 

Enjoy their beautiful duet! Hope you know you rock. Thanks for reading and listening along!

Listen, if any of y’all reading this know Ben Joyette, please direct him here, because he is the reason I have such a deep love and respect for hip-hop. Ben introduced me to BIG and Pac and more circa….97/98-ish. From there, Napster/Limewire provided introductions to DMX, Ludacris, Jay-Z, Snoop, Busta Rhymes, etc. 

The Game was in there at some point. It was probably the one he did with 50 Cent, Hate It or Love It or How We Do that introduced him to me. What endeared him to me though was Ali Bomaye (an amazing Florence and the Machine Seven Devils sample).

So here he is, sampling a soccer stadium chant, with none other than Weezy himself. 

Game’s first verse sets a gritty tone for the rest of the song that Wayne matches pace for pace.

To me though, the highlight of this entire song, is this last verse from Game. ”Here it is,” as Hrishikesh Hirway of Song Exploder (amazing podcast, please check it out) fame says, “in it’s entirety”:

“Russia got a Red Flag, US got Red Stripes, last train to Paris, round the World in these red Nikes, Che Guevara of the New Era, test me Louieville slugger, you’ll get buried in my new era, got that natty on, tighter than a magnum, walk in the club saggin’ with a 38 magnum, Red Ralph Laurens, the double R sittin’ on a hill like Lauren, her and the car foreign, got my red Dre Beats on, tryna put my peeps on, and I keep it hood like this Phantom is a Nissan, where my n-gga Jim Jones at? Roll up the weed son, so many bloods in Compton had to get a NYC song, and while I’m out here, I might as well go shopping, and put this new bad bitch I got her some red bottoms, and all these hatin’ ass n-ggas want me dead cause I’m Malcolm X before he turned Muslim, RED”

…and then that soccer chant sample again. Just an incredible collaboration from these two. 

Seriously though, let’s get Ben Joyette in these comments! It’s been too long! Have a great day everyone, or great night, or great whatever you need to be great right now. Happy listening!

Get ready for more amazing vocals from LAUREL in this electro-pop ditty-bop by Flume! 

If you’re a fan of beat-drops then boy do I have one for you here!

We start out with some fun layering of harmonies and begin to build to that drop.

“Where’ve you been, where did you go, go? how can you sleep knowing you don’t know? if I’m okay or not, if you care, I can’t tell, you put up walls knowing I can’t see, how can you die knowing I can’t breathe, am I okay or not? if you care, I can’t tell“

BUILD BUILD BUILD

DROP

Man…so so good.

“Do you know how it felt, question that I answer myself, I’m standing here in amazement, you really showed me yourself, makin’ it hard to engage, there’s nothing left to say, instances that you can’t erase, wasting away, wide awake”

I can’t help but move when I hear this kind of music and it’s part of the reason I have a standing desk now. Put this album on while you’re writing something, cleaning the kitchen, doing the laundry, whatever, and tell me you don’t have more fun. You could say that for any music, sure…but Flume is different and special, trust me. Mike and Erin! Get on this! FOR SCIENCE!

Enjoy moving your body however you do it today. Love ya! Thanks for reading!

“I’m not as young as I used to be, but I’m still here, not dead and gone like I thought I’d be, too old to cry, too young to die, but if I did it wouldn’t be a tragedy, who’d remember me, another twenty-something, lost to eternity, not full of possibility like he used to be”

Man, this is some heartbreaking songwriting from Saint Slumber. That first verse brings us down some roads of regret, feelings of worthlessness, and more. 

How many of you reading this right now can look back at some parts of your life and feel like you were on autopilot? Are you currently on autopilot? Just floating through a life making choices and doing things because that’s what you SHOULD be doing at that age, stage in your life, whatever. 

This song channels that a little for me. Just really reminds me of those feelings of helplessness…and aging! It’s hard not to pine for the younger days no matter what age you are.

“I used to feel, feel so differently, so full of joy, what happened to me, another twenty-something, lost to his own worry, too busy feeling sorry, for how things used to be, they said “time is fleeting”, I wasn’t listening, they tried to warn me, I wasn’t listening.

Give me something to believe in, everybody has been leaving, give me something to believe when, my youth is gone, when my youth is gone”

A good counter for these feelings though is:

“The windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror for a reason. What’s in front of us is much more important than what’s behind us.” The cool part is we have control over every day. Are you searching for something? LOOK FOR IT. Always wanted to try something? DO IT. I was struck by how much my happiness, and I mean daily happiness, was under my direct control. 

We can synthesize it. It’s not a place we look for, or hope to get to some day. It’s a choice we make sometimes. I don’t pretend to know anything about anything here, but that discovery for me changed how I look at what I’d call happiness. It’s worth thinking about.

Love you. Thanks for reading. Enjoy Saint Slumber!

What a cleansing song! SHAKE IT ALL OUT!

This is from Angie’s second album, Light, Dark, Light Again. In my opinion a perfect follow-up from her debut album, Salt.

“I might’ve spent six months lying on my living room floor, I might’ve been sick, then well, then sick some more, I might be prouder of me, than I ever have been, I’ve been learning ’bout letting go, how to do without my claws, scratching the surfaces, I’ve been learning ’bout wasting time, and closing some doors hoping to open more, down the line”

I think we could all benefit from learning to let go of something that’s been holding us back or weighing us down. You have something like that? Something you’ve been carrying? I’ve been there.

Put it down. I promise you’ll find relief. You might be scared at first. Want to pick it back up. Resist! Another few breaths and you’ll be free of it. 

Angie sings this song like a flower opening to the sunrise. This next lyric is such a beautiful description of re-inventing one’s self.

“I knew from miles away that I would detonate, I tried some magic tricks to skip my fate, and then gave up the ball as a defender, the trick was simply to surrender”

I don’t think we’re ever the best version of ourselves. There’s always more to experience and more to learn. Surrendering to it is “letting go” of what we think we have to be and just focusing on what makes us happy. If learned that “should” is a bad word when we use it in the context of “I’m at X stage of my life, I SHOULD be/have/etc.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay, make mistakes, make mistakes”

It’s how we learn, and like she says, it’s ok. 

Love you lots. Enjoy the song! Thank you for reading!

Hello again, LAUREL. See you again soon, maybe? (That’s called FORESHADOWING).

How can something simultaneously be rough and smooth at the same time? Somehow LAUREL’s voice is. I can’t explain it. I feel like I might have said that before but here it is again. I still haven’t solved it. Weigh in. Help me understand!

LAUREL is her old self after just one song in the list. So many gorgeous melodies. Her belting at the end is sublime.

“I’m a troubled man, I’m changed by the things I do, true but it’s funny how they all remember you, it all could be different, time to do something new, give it everything, oh wanna be a happy man too, got to understand, blamed by the friends I lose, who’s getting out of hand to think they depend on you?, it all could be different, time to do something new, give it everything, oh, wanna be a happy man too”

That guitar is second only to LAUREL’s voice. What a skeleton it provides for the melodies. There’s just so much funk in this song to me as we shift our focus more on that bassline. There’s a bluesy-ness that’s obvious and it’s deep molasses. 

“Gonna run it ’round, strange but it just won’t do, oh, when it’s coming down, taking hold on you, it all could be different, try to do something new, give it everything, oh wanna be a happy man too, buy yourself a dream, how’s it looking?, buy yourself a car, and a house to live in, get yourself a girl, something different, buy yourself a dream, and you won’t need nothing”

As far as I can tell, this song is originally by the band Jungle. LAUREL’s version is faithful to the funk present in the original. As soon as the vocals start though, it’s evident we are not in the lush, dark, moody recesses of LAUREL’s performance. This is almost a celebration. I feel like we travel for more of an arc in this version. Like there’s a completely different main character. 

Jungle’s version is painted in a more optimistic light. The more I listen to it the more I love it. It’s impossible not to move to it. I’d be surprised if you managed to resist moving at least something while listening. :)

I hope, whenever you are reading this, that you are well!  Remembering to breathe? Drinking water? Moving around? Always good to do a monthly self-diagnostic. Sometimes we need reminders for basic stuff. It’s ok!

Love you, enjoy the songs!