Year 3, Day 282

Hey. Today's song is Factories by Winter Gloves.

This is another Canadian band, one from Montreal. So Charles F started this band. He didn't actually set out to start one, he just was writing synth pop songs as something different than his guitar stuff and put it on MySpace. People gave him such good reviews and feedback of it that he decided to create a group. Thus Vincent Chalifour, Patrick Sayers, and Nico Ormiston showed up to form the band. Their first album was only released at live shows until they got signed to a label and the label re released it. In total, they have had four albums total. They've done touring with some pretty influential bands, and been highly recommended on iTunes which earned them new fans. Last year Charles started his solo career as well, under the name Dear Frederic. He has a debut album out so if you get through with the band albums, you can look that one up to. Enjoy!

Peace.

Year 3, Day 281

Hello! So today's song is Chin Up by Amy Stroup.

My brain is being overloaded with music right now because I'm writing this while my sister is cleaning out her iTunes. See, my uncle has a massive hard drive that he gave out to his friends to put music on, so there are thousands and thousands of songs, all kinds of music. I'm helping her clean it out...and by help out I mean I sing pieces of every song I've ever heard while she looks at me like I've lost my mind. So I can't really remember what this song sounds like currently, but I know I like it. Amy was born in Boston, but lives in Nashville now. I actually heard her song in Castle, yes shocking for me I know, but another one is being used in Chasing Life next week. She released a new album pretty recently called Tunnel, so you should check that out if you like one. That's it for today!

Peace.

Year 3, Day 280

Hey. So today's song is Tonight You Belong With Me from The Jerk.

So this isn't really a group per-say, it's actually a scene from a movie called The Jerk, but I still am going to show it to you. The reason being that for the five ish months I've had this saved on my YouTube playlist, I wake up with it stuck in my head all the time, and when I'm bored I start randomly singing a tune it usually is this one. This is being sung by Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters who were cast in the movie which came out in 1979. I think we all know who Steve Martin is, but I'll give a little info on Bernadette. She recently made a comeback to television in Smash, but the coolest thing about her career is that she is one of the most critically acclaimed Broadway performers. She been nominated for seven Tony's (winning two), nine Drama Desk awards (winning three). Also four cast albums she was featured on have won Grammy awards. This song is making a comeback right now because Zooey Deschanel did a cover of it with Ben Schwartz which you can also find on YouTube. So check it out, because it's really pretty and everyone should know it.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 279

Hiya. Today I give you More To Luv by Minnutes.
 

I couldn't find their picture so here is another from the shoot.

This is spot on my mood put to music right now, I didn't think it was possible. I don't have a lot of information about this because their website link actually takes me to a Japanese (I think) page for teaching kids about something. To be honest I didn't translate it, the picture was enough to know it wasn't what I was looking for. So for the information that I do have! This band is made up of three people: Riley York, Champersand, and  Doctor Broccoli. This song and album is a few years old, came out in 2009 I believe and they had a little photo shoot with a cute kid for the album cover, the product of which you can see in the YouTube link. They aren't really well known, but got a lot more people checking out their stuff after this song was featured on Castle. Sorry I don't know more, this one was kinda hard. If you know anything about them feel free to share it with me and I'll add it in.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 278

Hey. So today's song is Take A Chance by Magic Numbers.

here's another English pop rock band that formed in 2002. What's really cool about this group is that it's made up of two groups of brothers and sisters. These two families were neighbors in London, and the boys had actually tried a couple times to form a band before this one came about. They toured around London and gained a bit of a following which led to two offers from labels. Once they were signed things went pretty quickly for them from touring with other bands and playing in festivals around the UK.  Before they even officially released any albums, they played a large sold out show and sold live versions of it. Their official debut album was released in 2005. They toured heavily for the next year before releasing another album in 2006. There was more touring and more festivals, then the band took a hiatus in 2008. In 2009 they started working on their next album, which was released in 2010. In 2012, one of the girls has a solo album come out, and did a tour for that. Then in 2013 the band decided to go on an acoustic tour, which was a first for them. They released another album last year and will undoubtedly be doing more touring right now. Keep an eye out for more stuff from these guys.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 277

What's Up. So today's song is Patterns by Band Of Skulls.

This is an English rock band, who also formed in college. The guys had known each other for a long time, but they met Emma in college and things just went from there. They started out playing in night clubs, and were recording demos in a makeshift recording studio in a shed. The demos were released under a different band name (Fleeing New York) before the band picked up this one in 2008. They released their debut album in 2009. It was released on iTunes first, and was featured on that platform which got them a lot of exposure before actually having the album available elsewhere. Their songs have been used in TV shows, movies and one was even in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. They had an EP come out in 2010 before they started doing a bunch of touring to support other bands all over the world. 2012 marked the release of their second album and also the year a documentary was made about their rise through the industry. Last year they brought out another album, so you should check that one out too.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 276

Hi. So today's song is Tigers by The Submarines.

This time we've got another American indie rock band, but they're from LA. This band is kind of weird in the sense that there are official members and unofficial members. So the official members are John Dragonetti and Blake Hazard who met each other through a friend when they were living in Boston. They decided to work together, and even dated for four years before moving to LA. They broke up, wrote songs separately, then like a cheesy romantic movie, they realized their songs were about each other and how sad they were without each other. So they got back together. They wrote some new songs together, and had them remastered as a wedding present. These songs would go on to be their first album released in 2006. Before they got together they both had solo stuff so you can check that out if you're bored. Now on to the unofficial members: the touring band. Jason Stare and Scott Barber sometimes play with the others when they go on tour. This started happening after the second album when Jason came along to play drums. Scott joined them in 2011 to play bass, and now the two of them have their own side project together. It's like perfect, strange synergy. I found it interesting, so I figured you might too.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 275

Hello. So today's song is Wait Up by Tokyo Police Club.

These guys are from Ontario! I'm surprised actually, I didn't know they were Canadian. That's pretty cool...anyway on to their origin story. They had been in a band called Suburbia first, but after that band broke up, these four guys were jamming together and decided to form this band. The started in Toronto's underground music scene, but gained a lot of attention and eventually got signed. More than anything, these guys are a festival band. They've played at basically every major music festival I've heard of, including Coachella and Bonnaroo. The same year that they released their first album they went on tour with Weezer for six weeks. That was in 2008, then they released a second album in 2010. The video for this song actually won an award from MuchMusic. The coolest thing is their 10 Days. 10 Covers. 10 Years Project that they did in 2011. Basically they did a cover of a song from every year going from 2001-2010 in ten days...pretty straight forward. In 2012 they went on tour with Foster The People, and since then they've been debuting songs at live shows and releasing content on YouTube. There's no talk of another album right now, but I'm sure they'll be one.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 274

Hi guys. Today's song is Nothing More by The Alternate Routes.

So this one is an American rock band formed in 2002. They only really got on my radar when their music was used for the Olympics last year, which is an incredible achievement if you ask me...being used in the Olympics, not being on my radar. I'm not that vain. Tim Warren and Eric Donnelly are the ones who started the band while at university, and there has been a lot of membership  changes over their career, but currently the band is made up of those two as well as Mike Sembos and Kurt Leon. Their debut album came out in 2005, and then in 2006 they won an Independent Music Award. In 2007 they re-released their album with a label and also produced an acoustic album that they only sold at shows. In the next few years they came out with an EP, and LP, and split from their label. After that they came out with another album, went on tour, and had their music used in mainstream TV. Thus we get to 2014 where this song was featured at the Olympics. Right now they're working on a fourth album, named after this song. So keep a look out for that one in the near future.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 273

Hiya. So today's song is Girls by The 1975.

These guys are an English indie rock band whose members all met in high school. They actually started up their career thanks to a  local council worker. The council worker organized gigs for other teens, and did the same for these guys. They started the way most teenage boys in a band do: they played covers of other songs. Eventually they started writing their own music, and after switching a few members around had the final group. Their first EP came out in 2012 and their debut album in 2013. Before becoming the 1975, they released music under a few different names including Talkhouse, The Slowdown, Bigsleep, and Drive Like I Do. You may be wondering why they chose the name they did. It's actually due to writing from Beat Poetry, written in 1975. Beats Poetry came from a group of WW2 writers after the war who created of culture of rejecting the standards that there was at the time. They basically were like hippies from the 70's before that became a thing. As you'll hear in the video, the band uses black and white visual aesthetic which is "juxtaposed with major keys and what the band calls classic pop sensibilities." They're a little strange, but I like it. Make of it what you will.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 272

What's Up. Today's song is Rich Girls by The Virgins.

These guys are a band from New York who formed in 2006. It all started with a songwriter named Donald Cumming who recruited his friends to form a band. Since he already had songs written, they had an EP come out right away with some band recordings and some that were already fully recorded by Donald. They passed it out to DJ's and got some pretty good club play which ultimately led to them being signed. In 2008 they released an LP and then spent the next year touring heavily through festivals all over the world. After two years of inactivity, they announced a comeback in 2012. Although it wasn't the original group. Everyone was a new member besides Donald Cumming. So with a new band and a new record label they released a new album in 2013, then went on tours to promote it. A couple months later the band split up and Donald is planning on starting a solo career. Keep an eye out for any of his other work if you like this, you may find a new artist to follow.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 271

Hi guys. So today's song is Wonderful Night by Fatboy Slim.

This guy is an English jack-of-all-trades in the business and as you can guess, Fatboy Slim is not his real name. He's actually Norman Quentin Cook and gained fame in the eighties. Originally he was a bassist for The Housemartins, but following the split of the band he formed Beats International. All of the projects that Norman touched got some pretty good success, including Freak Power, Pizzaman and The Mighty Dub Katz. He only started using the moniker in 1996 when he started releasing his own stuff. As if all that wasn't enough, in 2008 he started the Brighton Port Authority where he teamed up with others in the industry to do music. Possibly the best thing that I've learned about him is how his popularity got him banned from performing in Brighton. In 2002 he was performing a free concert on the beach. The organizers were prepared for 60,000 people but instead a crowd of 250,000 showed up. They ended the event early and was banned from performing in his hometown again. The ban only lasted four years, but it's still a pretty intense story. There is no way for me to include everything notable he's done in his career because there's just too much, plus he's still active so there's undoubtedly more to come. So I'll end it here and let you enjoy the music.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 270

Hey. So today I give you No Escape by Civalias.

This one is a little strange as far as background goes. There is only on official member: Adam Stidham. He's 23 and from California. Adam started in music by playing guitar in his teens an became obsessed with it. He's signed with Authentik Artists and has an EP on iTunes. I found his stuff through Castle, as I do, and I wasn't the only one. It's through the use of his song there that he gained a lot of new fans, and made it on the Top 5 Discovery In Music list of 2014. Despite being active for a couple of years, there isn't much to go on for this guy so this is all I have for you. Check out the song and if you want to hear more you can always check out his EP on iTunes.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 269

Hello. So today's song is Make You Crazy by Brett Dennen.

This is another American musician, who started his musical training while being home schooled. He released his debut album the same year he graduated college. It's through live shows that Brett got his big break because of who saw them. An iTunes guy (Denzyl Feigelson) burned a CD after seeing his show and handed it off to a DJ. Chris Douridas debuted one of the songs on his show in 2004 and it got a huge response, which is the main way he got signed to Dualtone Records. He released his second album in 2006 and then went on tour with John Mayer in 2008. Since then Brett has released three more albums, gone on tours and been involved in a lot of different charities. If you're curious you can look them up rather than me trying to find them all and list them. I'd rather put none than miss some, but chances are you're not interested in anyway.


Peace.

Year 3, Day 268

Hi. So today's song is You're Supposed To Be My Friend by 1990s.

This is an indie rock band from Scotland. These guys have had some pretty good luck, getting signed at their sixth gig. Not to mention the label was Rough Trade Records which also had The Long Blondes and The Strokes. Before 1990s was formed, all the boys were working on other projects. Jackie McKeown and Jamie McMorrow were the founding members of The Yummy Fur. The Yummy Fur members changed a lot. At one point, both Franz Ferdinand singer Alex Kapranos and drummer Paul Thomson were members. Michael McGaughrin was also in Glasgow band V-Twin, signed to Domino Records, before 1990s were formed. The band has supported other groups through their career including Babyshambles and Franz Ferdinand. They have played at the Indian Summer festival alongside bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Fall, and Antony and the Johnsons. 1990s also went on tour with The Long Blondes, and with CSS. In 2007, Jamie McMorrow left the band and was replaced by Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub on their European tour. In TV show performances later in the year Dino Bardot, of Stinky Munchkins (also formerly of V-Twin alongside Michael McGaughrin) played bass for the 1990s. In 2008 the band confirmed Dino had joined as a new member. In 2009, they released their second album which had some backing vocals from the former singer of the Long Blondes. As far as I know this band is still together since they had a single released in 2011, but I don't know for sure. In any case, you should still check them out.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 267

Hey everyone. Today's song is Food Chain by Eric Hutchinson.

Okay, this is an American musician who's been in the industry for a little more than ten years. He started learning guitar in 1995, but says that he probably should have learned more. Like every other person who had ever wanted to learn an instrument, he wanted to learn to play actual song rather than scales. Later he added piano to his list of instruments. What I find interesting about him is that he was actually signed with a label that shut down before he could release any music. I'm sure that was a bummer, but he went ahead and released it on his own instead. Then Perez Hilton found out about it and lent his fame to get it into the charts. By 2008 the album was re-released on his new record label who picked it up after it had reached the top spot on the Billboard charts. He's performed his singles on almost every tonight show you can think of, and one song in particular became huge in Australia when it was used in a TV show finale. He's even gone on tour with Kelly Clarkson, Jason Mraz, Joe Jackson and OneRepublic. Eric released his second album in 2012, and tracks were used in mainstream television in the States. His third album came out last year, and in a step up from features on TV, one of the songs has been used as a theme song for the show Growing Up Fisher. His music has been label as both intelligent pop and sunshine pop, which mean very different things so I'll let you be the judge.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 266

Hi guys. So today's song is Come On In by Tommy Fields.

This guy is from Los Angeles, and his music is ridiculously popular. It's been used in  The Office, Grey’s Anatomy, Castle, One Tree Hill, The Biggest Loser, Desperate Housewives and a whole lot more. Personally, I heard this on Castle. Along with his solo career, he is also the singer in The Cardboard Cutouts and was briefly the singer for Velvet Revolver before they took that name. He got into music when he was ten, playing the trombone before moving on to guitar. At 13, he performed in his first band singing and playing guitar. He played rock, jazz and in symphonic bands throughout his teens, then was accepted in the music program at Ball State University with honors. He was only at BSU a short time before he moved west to attend Grove School of Music. He majored in Music Engineering and minored in Vocal and Music Theory.  After graduation, Tommy realized that creating and performing music was his passion and continued to do so in LA. He's won 3rd place in the pop song category in the International Songwriting Competition, and 1st place in the adult contemporary category, as well as 3rd place overall. If you watch any College Humour videos you've probably seen something produced by Tommy already, so look at his other stuff. You will probably like it.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 265

Hey. So today's song is Jezebel by Two Hours Traffic.

This is another Canadian indie rock band, this time from PEI. They are actually named after a line in the prologue to Romeo and Juliet. So the four guys got together as a group when they met at the University of PEI. They released a demo when they were 19, and gave a copy of it to Joel Plaskett, a guitarist from Halifax and member of the band The Emergency. He liked their stuff, and they started collaborating. In 2005, Two Hours Traffic released their first album, produced by Joel with some guitar tracks done by him added to songs. Since then the band has been nominated for and received a couple awards, as well as released two more EP's and three more CD's, all produced by Joel. In 2011, guitarist Alec O'Hanley split from the group and was replaced by the bassist Andrew MacDonald. Then in Andrew's place Nathan Gill, the singer from The North Lakes took over on bass. In 2013 the band called it quits because " it is difficult to sustain an income in this business." Despite not being together anymore, the fact that they've been nominated for 26 different things should be enough to convince you to listen to the song.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 264

Hiya. So today's song is You Better Believe by Max Morgan.

Today is pretty special, as this post is the 1,000th on my blog. That seems absolutely crazy to me. I never thought I'd get this far, so thank you to everyone who looks at it and reads it.Anyway, on to the actual song. It was a little tough to find information about this guy since his name is so common, but here's what I got: He's 26 (I think) and is originally from Liverpool, but moved to Laguna Beach when he was 17. He grew up in the sports world, playing soccer until he was 14 and touring the country with his professional soccer player of a dad, but then the music wave hit him. That moment when you really start to notice the beauty of the craft. He released his first single and debut album at the age of 21, and was already locked in to his style and brand, following those he was inspired by. Max gives a lot of credit to getting the finished product to his producer Mark Tanner whose best known for his work with AeroSmith. Max said that "he (Mark) was the one who put the final pieces of the puzzle together. It was always my thoughts, words and ideas, but Mark helped me to find my way." It's humbling to see someone in the industry openly give credit to someone behind the scenes, and his music is awesome so give him a listen.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 263

Afternoon ladies and gents! So today's song is Hell On You by Swift Olliver.

I heard about these guys through a friend because they're pretty local. Swift Olliver is an independent northern-rock band managed by musicians and volunteers. They try to use their music to help other people and make the world a better place. "The Swift Olliver family believes strongly that good music is an art form - created with passion and without compromise. For that reason, every Swift Olliver song is written with a purpose, and played just how Swift Ollie intends it!" That's a quote from their website. The site also lists all the group's recent accomplishments. That list includes creating, organizing and facilitating Swift Olliver's Concert for the Cure' which sold out and raised over $62,500 for The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation at Canada Olympic Park in October 2014. For those of you who don't know, the Olympic Park is the won here in Calgary. They also donated most of their winnings from the Cowboy's Calgary Star competition to the Click for the Cure campaign, and helped organize and facilitate a sold-out, entirely flown-in concert in Norman Wells, NWT, with all proceeds donated to local search and rescue operations in September, 2014. They were chosen to record and perform the Calgary Stampede Anthem at last year's stampede, and have opened for Sheepdogs, Chilliwack, Dean Brody, The Dudes, and Colin James to name a few. They actively support a variety of local charities and community focused projects in Calgary, including Relay for Life, The Alberta Cancer Foundation, and the Matt Cook Foundation for Rare Cancers. This year they have been doing very well for themselves as far as exposure goes and I can't help but root for them. So check these guys out and I'll see you tomorrow.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 262

Hey. Today's song is Fascinating Rhythm by Jacob Collier.

So this guy is a musician from London. Music was basically bred into him, since his whole family is made up of musicians. He currently is a student at London’s Royal Academy of Music as a Jazz Pianist. He started taking singing lessons when he was eight which started off quite the career for him. In 2004 Jacob went to Budapest to be In Hallmark's adaption of A Christmas Carol. Then he was cast in three productions of Benjamin Britten’s ‘The Turn of the Screw’ which took him to Italy and Spain. He has also been connected to the Royal Opera House in London and the London Coliseum. At 14, he joined the Royal College of Music Junior Department as a composer. At 16, Jacob joined the Royal Academy of Music Junior Jazz Department as a pianist, and the Purcell School, studying composition, jazz piano and voice, as well as for his A-levels. It's at that point when he joined YouTube and started uploading some of his own stuff and compositions, including this song. The inspiration for this is a George Gershwin tune. Jacob took the song and put his own spin on it by changing the arrangement, and then performing all the parts himself. So if you're curious, check this one out. It's a little weird, but still cool.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 261

Hi guys. So today's song is Happy Little Pill by Troye Sivan.

If any of you are fans of Youtubers, then you probably already know who this is. So Troye is actually from South Africa, but moved to Australia when he was two.  Music is where it all started for Troye. He sang at the Perth telethon for three years, singing with the winner of Idol in his first year in 2006. The second year he also was in the grand finals of StarSearch, starred in Oliver! as Oliver Twist in Regal Theatre and joined YouTube. In 2008 he released his debut EP, starred in a short film in Australia and was cast in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That big role was due in large part to the videos he posted of him at the telethon. In 2008 he was cast in the lead role of Spud, then filmed in 2010. That year he was also in the play Waiting For Godot, and opened the YouTube event We Are The World 25 For Haiti. In 2012, Troye filmed Spud 2 and started doing vlogs for YouTube. In 2013 he raised funds for Princess Margaret Hospital for Children by releasing an original songs and video with all sales going to the hospital. This was also the year he came out to his fans, and got signed to Universal Music Australia and a year later released the EP with this song on it. There countless videos on YouTube of Troye's Youtuber friends reacting to the song, and it has since topped the iTunes charts (#1), Billboard 200 (#5) and the ARIA Singles Chart (#10). This all added up to his first top ten album which was certified gold in Australia for record sales. It's been quite a career for Troye and he's just going to keep rising, so take a listen to the song and if you haven't heard of him, check him out on YouTube.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 260

Hey everyone! Today's song is No Good Woman by Elise LeGrow.

This is another Canadian artist. Besides having her solo career, she also is a known member of a band called Whale Tooth.  After she performed at a festival in Toronto in 2009, she was offered a publishing deal from Sony/ATV Music and released her first EP through them. This song was from that, and was released as the first single. It got pretty big here, being the most added song on adult contemporary radio. That was in 2012, and stayed in the top 10 of that genre's charts for 13 weeks, peaking at number 6. The EP is only available online though so you wont find it in any HMV stores. Her website isn't working currently so I can't tell you much about her...or Whale Tooth for that matter, but here's what I know about that band. The members are Alex Denike, Elise LeGrow, Michael McCreary, Norm Maschke, and Sep Noroozi. They're from Toronto and were together from 2007-2012. They officially broke the news to the fans through Facebook thank to Sep, and he shined the spotlight on some o the solo stuff the members are working on, including Elise's career. So if you like her song, check out the band and even the weird side projects some of the boys have going on. 

Peace.

Year 3, Day 259

Hello. So today's song is How Did This Happen by Amber Rubarth.

photo by Wendy Hu

Amber is American, and someone that I respect a lot, considering she released all six of her albums independently. This is a really weird fact, but before music she was an apprentice in a chainsaw sculpting shop. Once she wanted to pursue music she taught herself to play the guitar and started singing in coffee shops. Not long after she started touring around the States, Europe and Japan. She's won a few songwriting competitions and had some pretty big names get interested in her work. She also was listed #16 on Music to Die For's Top 100 Favourite Female Vocalists of the Decade. Most fans originally found her on MySpace (blast from the past there) since she got featured on indie top 100's. Even with here solo career she is part of The Paper Raincoat which she founded with fellow songwriter Alex Wong. They've released two albums and had their songs featured in all kind of things. Her solo work is more personal, but all of it is brilliant so check out some more of her stuff.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 258

Hey. So today's song is We Dance On by N-Dubz ft. Bodyrox.

Okay, because this song is featuring someone, it'll have to be split into two parts. First: N-Dubz. This group is from Camden town and is made up of three members. They all went by stage names, which should be obvious considering the stage names were Dappy, Tulisa and Fazer. The were active for eleven years before going on hiatus in 2011, and in that time period they released four albums and had eight top 40 hits. Originally they were call Little Rikers Crew, but wanted to change the name to Hakuna Matata. Well Disney copyright wouldn't let then, so they changed to No Worries...except another group had that name. So they changed to N.W....but kept getting confused with another group called NWA. So then they became NW1, and eventually N-Dubz. Their first album wasn't released until they were with their second label, and even then seven of the songs from it were released as singles first. This band really loved their singles. This song comes from their third studio album released through yet another new label, but this song was first released for the soundtrack for Street Dance, which is where I heard it.

On the flip side we have Bodyrox, the duo of Jon Pearn and Nick Bridges. They've been together since 2005, and have fans in the UK, Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. They earned most of their following from the tracks they collaborated on with Luciana (another British artist.) Their stuff has been used in both movies and video games. They wasn't a lot of information on the collab with N-Dubz...it seems more like both groups were contracted to do songs from the Street Dance movie and circumstances worked out that this song was the final product. Fun Fact: The vocals in the song are actually done by Luciana and Nick Clow, but these two group wrote and produced it. It's a pretty great song and was written perfectly to go with the movie, so you should check it out.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 257

Today I give you Night Window by Young Liars.

I'm doing a little happy dance right now because it's another Canadian band! I know I do this a lot, but I like showcasing indie stuff from here because I feel like most of you wont know it. I'm pretty sure most people who look at this are not from Canada. If you are from Canada though and have been to Sled Island, you may already be familiar with this band. So these guys are from Vancouver and have actually been a band since 2008. They were kind of underground at first, but got signed to a label in 2011 and released their first album last year.  They had released an EP before that and that's how the label got interested, so once they were signed that had been re-released through the label. So for anyone who's been following my blog for awhile out there, you may remember me showing you some stuff from Two Door Cinema Club? If you liked that then you should like this. There isn't really much for me to share about these guys yet because they're still pretty new to the industry, but you should definitely keep an eye out for them.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 256

Hi. So today's song is Chicago by Sufjan Stevens.

So this guy is a musician from Detroit and has been making music since 1999. When he first started, his music has actually been released on the indie record label he started with his step-father. The label was named Asthmatic Kitty (awesome name) and his step dad's cat Sara. She was an adopted stray who had asthma and was always wheezing and having a hard time breathing. Honestly anyone who has a cat get bonus points in my books, so hooray for the dedication. Sufjan is a super talented person in general, playing multiple instruments on most tracks. A list of all the instruments he can play include: guitar, bass guitar, banjo, piano, xylophone, vibraphone, English Horn, oboe, drums, recorder, and the theremin. And yes, that is recorder as in the flute thing that we all had to learn in elementary school. I wasn't familiar with what a theremin was, so I looked it up. Apparently I've seen the instrument before, I just never knew the name. It's an electric instrument that follows hand movement to adjust pitch. It's often used for sci-fi stuff. Listening to songs from all the different albums shows the vast array of time signatures, instruments and styles that have been put into his work. I always love seeing how artists evolve and change their sound so if you're bored and have time you should look through the whole discography.

Sufjan is most famous for his 2005 album called Illinois, which is the one this song is from. The link is an easy listening version of the song that I really like, but I also love the original so the link to that is here. This one is a song that I have heard used in a lot of media, most notably for me was in the movie Little Miss Sunshine. You may be curious about the album now. Well he had this project where he wanted to write and album inspired by each state, a feat accurately named the Fifty States Project. He started with the album Michigan, about the state where he is from. Awhile after Illinois though, he said it was just a marketing gimmick, although I thought the idea and execution could have been very cool. All in all he's released 11 albums over the span of 12 years, so he is productive (productive enough to continue his gimmick?) Anyway I like the song and I thought it was interesting to share.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 255

Hi guys. Today's song is America (Wake Up Amy) by Bowling For Soup.
 

Oh the sting of another job passing me over...oh well. I don't know what's up with me today, but I really don't care about stuff that I should.  I have optimism today...or maybe indifference....doesn't matter, I'm going to make the most of it as long as it's in my system. So this is going to be the last day for awhile that I'll blab to you about my life, because I realize that this has become less of a learn about new music blog and more of a hear a stranger bitch about life blog. I don't want that. Therefore I'm going to take a step back and try to work on my ridiculously mundane life to get out of my funk, and I'm going to really showcase groups. These will all be songs and band that have never been featured before, so prepare for a new chapter. Until then though I'm going to enjoy some Bowling For Soup because they never get old.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 254

What's up. So today's song is Shape Of My Heart by Backstreet Boys.

 I showed you something from my childhood yesterday, but I also had this one saved too so this is the best time to showcase it. I'm sorry, I grew up on these boy bands! I actually have kind of a funny story (well I think it's funny at least.) Yesterday I was at my sister's house and she was cleaning out music, so she was playing all of it and making me guess who it was. And she told me to get ready and started playing a song. When the voice came in I said "Oh this is DEFINITELY a Carter." Will laughed at how sure I was, but I wasn't 100% on which Carter because there was only one voice. Then I heard another voice and was like "oh there's more! So if it's a boy band wit a Carter, it's Backstreet. Hands down." Sammy laughed and told me I was right, while Will looked at me like I was insane. This is my favorite game to play with Sammy, but it sometimes scares Will a little bit. He did join in this time which was fun. It's the perfect story though when I had already decided today would be a Backstreet Boys day. It's like the universe agrees with me. So enjoy! and try the guessing game with your siblings. It can be pretty entertaining.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 253

Hello. So today's song is How Much Longer? by Sugar Jones.

I'm planning on doing a massive haul of new songs and new artists for you guys, but I figured I'd finish off the week before I start, just to make it even...it's really more for my benefit than yours to quell my OCD. It never used to be that bad, but as I've gotten older I have gotten a lot worse about keeping things in order. I now understand why my dad was always so angry about the little things because I share the rage. Anyway, I thought that the day after celebrating a new year I would take it back a bit. This is a song from my childhood. I can't remember exactly when I knew this, or how long it was popular, I just know that I still remember the words and have had it pop into my head before. I guess it came out in 2001, which means I was eight. It might of been a few years before I found it though. It's weird to me that there are generations old there who didn't grow up with this kind of music. I find it so calming...that word choice doesn't sound right but it's as close as I can get to how I feel. Other kids will be growing up with Katy Perry and Mackelmore...it's odd to imagine. So anyway, hear is a piece of my childhood for you to enjoy. I'll see you tomorrow.

Peace.

Year 3, Day 252

I've been waiting so long to put this up. Here's This Is The New Year by A Great Big World.

I missed the whole New Years thing. I've never actually been one to go out and celebrate it, despite now being at the age where it's kind of required of you...it's never seemed like it's any fun. My sleep schedule has been out of wack so I was trying to fix it yesterday by hanging out at my sister's house to keep me from sleeping. It was going well until she had to go to work so I came home and was practically comatose by four. So I slept all the way through the year and have woken up now...when everyone else is asleep from partying. You can tell I'm really good at being a twenty something year old lol. Well call me old fashioned, but I think a good nights rest with my schedule slightly back to normal is a better start than a massive hangover. To those who'll wake up with hangovers: take some aspirin! to those who didn't party either: I salute you! To those who are too young/old to party: I feel you, it's a solid place to be. All in all Happy New Year!!

Peace.