#117 of 366: Caffeine, Jack Kays

This song totally channels that middle-/high-school love that it speaks of. Nails it. I can totally still remember and feel those caffeine moments. We all have those indelible ones that we can still rewind in our mind.

“I remember the first time that I met you, it was high school, in the theater, I said that I loved you and I meant it, but you had a boyfriend, I thought we were deeper, picked me up in the mornings, CDs playing, you always had the best taste, I just adored it, my best friend, but I wanted more than, I wanted more than you could give me”

Think of one of those you remember fondly today. Just look back for a second and appreciate it.

Know that I appreciate you.

BGDG.

#116 of 366: Lose Control, Teddy Swims

I just said to myself, “man, I love songs with soul in them” when this song came on for my writing listen sesh. You know, the ones that sort of make you grimace as you bob your head to them in some sort of sympathetic moment. Maybe that’s just how I listen to music sometimes, but I’ve seen enough TikTok and IG song reaction videos to know it’s not just me!

Also, how much does a scalp tattoo have to hurt?!

BGDG.

#115 of 366: The Way It Was, Coast Modern

I can’t quite put my finger on why I like this song so much, but I think it’s just the general attitude of it all!

Oh, we never gonna go back to the way it was, oh, and we’re never gonna go back to the way we was, Tell me if you wanna roll with the rest of us, cause, oh, it’s never gonna go back to the way it was”

We can’t get tomorrow back. We can’t get an hour a go back. We can’t get the last minute or second back.

So whatcha planning?

BGDG.

#113 of 366: Sober For the Weekend, Kotomi

Sober for the weekend
Alone in my own bed
And my hands have stopped shaking
No words that I regret
Nothing keeps me from sleeping
I can hear myself again
I can hear myself again
I’ll never find myself at the bottom of a bottle
I never find myself at the bottom of a bottle

Kotomi flat out rocks. Only about 35k monthly listens on Spotify. Hell, this SONG has only been listened to 20,000 times. It’s criminal.

BGDG.

#112 of 366: I Swear, I Really Wanted To Make A “Rap” Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time, André 3000

This is probably the most off-beat song on the blog. A 12 minute instrumental from 1/2 of Outkast!

Your homework today is to listen to this song as a meditative experience! Appreciate how Andre reinvents himself! It’s a great example for us all to sometimes let the wind take us where it wants sometimes!

BGDG.

#111 of 366: Good Morning, Hypocrite, Electric President

It’s always a fun and interesting little thought experiment to pick out your favorite part of a song sometimes. For me with this one though, it’s not a lyric or an instrumentation.

For me, it’s the added vinyl needle sound. Just makes this song feel more homey, you feel me, homie?

I hope you take some time to read something nice, and eat something yummy today. That’s my mission!

BGDG.

#110 of 366: End of the Road, Noga Erez

Noga has such a intriguing voice. Talent in droves and for me it’s on display here:

“Lately, I got ceilings but I burn in the sun, I never miss one shot, I’m sick as a gun, I got mortal friends, I’m dead as they come like, Hey! I’m on the way!, I left my body in the mattress by the San Francisco Bay, now there’s a cop named Mordecai behind my pirated Mercedes, when we crash I hit the ER, this is a thriller, I did it for the PR, I did it for the fear, I did it knowing there’s a D’animal pack in the back of fridge, I go pack it up might triple attack, and battery-acid my stacks in the cab, menagerie cracked and my doggies run packs, I just tell ’em to back it up, back it up, back it up”

She also does a kick-ass cover of Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby”.

Please enjoy her unique sound!

BGDG.

#109 of 366: As It Was, Harry Styles

I became a fan of Harry Styles from watching him recognize and interact with his fans at his shows. Just seems like a really nice dude. This song certainly helps. Love the smart and catchy drum beat here.

“Answer the phone, Harry, you’re no good alone, why are you sitting at home on the floor?, what kind of pills are you on?, ringing the bell, and nobody’s coming to help, your daddy lives by himself, he just wants to know that you’re well”

I admire Harry Styles because he seems to be completely himself at all times. I feel like that should be the goal for all of us.

I admire you. If you’re taking the time to read this, that shows that you care about me and the stuff I say! So I am grateful for you today.

What are you grateful for?

BGDG.

#108 of 366: Violet’s Tale, Ren (London City intro, Jenny’s Tale, Screetch’s Tale bonus recs)

Trigger warning. This song is not a happy one. It’s a tale of a pregnant girl dying from domestic abuse after giving birth. Feel free to skip this post if you feel like you’re not up to it. No judgment. It even makes me cringe when I listen to it.

If you’re still with us, this song contains some of the craziest guitar work I’ve ever heard. Seriously, I’ve never heard a guitar do some of this stuff.

Given the subject matter, I’m not going to share the lyrics. Sometimes music isn’t there to make us happy, or feel good, or love. Sometimes it’s meant to tell a story that chills us. A cautionary tale. A reminder to look out for our loved ones. I think that’s honestly what the song (and related ones, London City, Jenny’s Tale and Screetch’s Tale) were written for. I’ll link em at the end.

If you’re into some sad and sometimes painful song listens, these songs are a narrative he’s created and it’s pretty amazing in it’s originality.

Hard to recommend “enjoying” this song, but, if you take them for what they are, it’s a poignant tale spun by Ren. Some of the coolest guitar work if nothing else!

BGDG.

and this is the song I discovered him on: