Year 6, Day 136

Good Morning! Today's song is Ave Maria by Franz Schubert.

Franz Schubert was an Austrian composer alive from 1797 until 1828. He had musical ability from an early age, which was progressed through family with his dad and brother teaching him violin and piano respectively. By eleven he had outgrown their teachings and enrolled in the Stadkonvikt school to learn orchestral music. In 1813 he went home to become a school teacher, but kept working on composing. By 1821 he was granted admission as a performing musician with the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. In 1828 he gave a concert of his own compositions, but then he died eight months later of either typhoid fever or syphilis. He wasn't well known when alive, but after the death he gained a lot of admirers with his overwhelmingly large repertoire. He's still popular today, as evidenced by the fact that everyone has heard some version of this song in their lifetime. So I thought today that I'd give him his due.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 135

Good Morning! Today's song is Assassin's Creed by Zyrah.

There was a little confusion when I was looking this up because I wasn't sure if I had the right group, but this is the group known as Zyrah Rose. It's four girls (Kara Lily Hayworth, Charlotte Melissa Tyler, Emily Hawgood, and Christine Allado) who appeared on Britain's Got Talent in 2016 and made it to the semi-finals. This song was used for Assassin's Creed (obviously) but besides this the group is barely visible in the music world. From their Facebook page it looks like they are still a group, still performing and were doing so in Cyprus recently, but other than that I can't find much information. So check out the song and if you find out more about them let me know.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 134

Good Morning! Today's song is Speak To Me by Amy Lee.

Amy Lee is a singer active since 1995, and most everyone knows her from being the lead singer of Evanescence. Technically the band is still active, although their stuff is most known from the early 2000's era. Amy Lee has also been featured on songs with Seether, Big Dismal, and David Hodges' solo stuff. She's also written songs for movies (which is what this one is for as well) and has been featured on some MTV shows. She's been writing music the whole time, and while not releasing most of it, has said there might be plans to later on. She did a family album in 2016, before this song came out in 2017. Her career is a smattering of maybe and almosts which is confusing to read and sort through, but at least she's been around pretty consistently since the 90's. I'm sure there will be more to come from her, so keep an eye out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 133

Good Morning! Today's song is Holy by Zolita.

Zolita is actually Zoe Montana Hoetzel who has been in the business since 2015 thanks to YouTube. She has always been interested in music, but found her success after one of her music videos went viral. Since then she's released a couple other songs and has now released two extended plays. I found this song by accident (which basically means that once I play only music on YouTube long enough it gives me some good recommendations and immediately fell in love with the sound. If you watch the video it will be blatantly obvious this is a female empowerment LGBTQIA song which I think is great. It's about time that people who are struggling with their identity have someone to look up to in the spotlight and while there has been more acceptance of gay men, it's still been a little dodgy for lesbians. So the fact that stars like Zolita can express that part of their life so heavily in their art is creating a huge step to normalizing it for others. I hope you enjoy and check out more of her stuff.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 132

Good Morning! Today's song is Heart Attack by Demi Lovato.

Demi is short for Demetria Lovato and she's been active since 2002. She got her start in acting on Barney. After that she became a Disney Channel Star in 2007 with roles on a couple TV shows and movies on the channel. Her debut album came out in 2008, with another in 2009 (all the while still being affiliated with Disney). In 2011 she stopped acting, leaving a lot of other people in the lurch considering she was the star of a show incapable of running without her at the time, and released another album. In 2012 she became an X Factor judge to appeal to the younger demographic. Since then she's done a bunch more albums, delved back into acting in tiny batches, and collaborated with many different people in the industry. Most notably right now is her openness about her mental illness and substance abuse issues which has been a struggle for her throughout her career, with her even being admitted to the hospital last year for a suspected overdose. I'm not going to get into it, but I wish her the best and hope she can get her life right.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 131

Good Morning! Today's song is Monsters by Katie Sky.

So Katie Sky has no official bio to work off off, so I'll just give you guys what I can find. She's a British singer who's been around since at least 2011 and is signed to a publishing company. From what I can tell she is constantly writing music, and does some covers of other stuff on her YouTube channel. She had one EP come out in 2011, and another out in 2018. This song is from an album out in 2014. Thanks to YouTube for showing this to me, I hope you guys like it.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 130

Good Morning! Today's song is Inner Demons by Julia Brennan.

Julia Brennan is an American singer who has been active since being signed in 2016. She released her debut EP later that year and has been quiet since, but I expect great things. I feel bad that I don't have more that I can say about her, but it is also refreshing to not have to look through decades of accolades and choose the important ones. Her career is just starting and that means she has the best thing possible: potential.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 129

Good Morning! Today's song is Pretty Girl by Maggie Lindemann.

Maggie Lindemann is an American singer active since 2015. She posted recordings of her on Keek, which is apparently a social media site that's kind of a cross between Snapchat and tik tok. I've never heard of Keek, but there's so many social media sites now that it's not really surprising. Her discovery came through her singing on Instagram when her manager found her, and she moved to LA to pursue a career. Her debut single came out in 2015 landing in a top 20 chart on iTunes. She released a couple more singles, which also became big hits. She released this song in 2016, which was her debut single with a label, and it's still one of her most well known songs. She released another single in 2017, two in 2018, and one this year while supporting Sabrina Carpenter on her tour. She actually got arrested doing the tour in Malaysia because the event organizers didn't get the right permissions to have her perform which sucks for her. I would bet she'll probably never perform there again. But she does have a long career ahead of her elsewhere so if you like the song, keep an eye out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 128

Good Morning! Today's song is Superficial Love by Ruth B.

Ruth B is Ruth Berhe, who is actually from a city not so far from mine here in Canada, so shout out to all the Canadians today! She's been active since 2014, but actually started posting videos on Vine in 2013, progressing into musical ones in 2014. Her popularity started by a line inspired by Once Upon A Time, that followers encouraged her to build on. She ended up making a full song and posting it to YouTube in 2015. People loved the song so much that covers started popping up, which got record companies interested leading to her signing later that year and releasing an EP. She started work on an album in 2016 which was released in 2017. Along with that she's performed at many celebration including the Governor General's Performing Arts Gala and the Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Since then she has been nominated two years in a row for the Juno Awards. She's got great potential and is definitely someone to look out for.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 127

Good Morning! Today's song is U Don't Know by Alison Wonderland featuring Wayne Coyne.

Alison Wonderland is Alexandra Sholler, an Australian singer whose been active since 2008. She started out as a cellist in the Sydney Youth Opera, then switched to playing bass guitar in indie bands before discovering electronic music. After that she donned her stage name (an ode to Lewis Carroll's novel) and started working as a remixer. In 2012 she remixed a Sam Sparro song for his album, and toured with a music festival which got her a lot of recognition. Her debut single came out in 2013, then she got signed in 2014 and released an EP. This song came out in 2015, and features Wayne Coyne who is the singer in the Flaming Lips. The video also gained extra attention because the actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse starred in it. He's done this with a couple other songs that I'll feature later on. Her debut album was released the same year. She got nominated for a bunch of awards, and in 2017 was awarded Artist of the Year at the Electronic Music Awards. Her second album came out last year followed by a tour, so she's still going strong. If you like what you hear you should check out more of her stuff.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 126

Good Morning! Today's song is Hazey by Glass Animals.

Glass Animals is a British band that's been active since 2010, and is made up of Dave Bayley, Drew MacFarlane, Edmund Irwin-Singer, and Joe Seaward. They released their EP in 2012 through an independent label, then after seeing a performance were signed by a producer to a bigger label. In 2013 they released two more EP's, one in Europe and one in the States. In 2014, they went to the States to play a festival, and released some songs, including this one. Then they released their debut album. They had some collaborations, then released their second album in 2016. They were supposed to go on tour in 2018, but the drummer got hit by a truck while cycling, and so they're on hold until he heals up. But until they're back, there is lots for you guys to check out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 125

Good Morning! Today's song is Dissolve by Absofacto.

Absofacto is technically considered a solo project by Jonathan Visger who has been working on it since 2008. He put out a lot of singles and even a couple EPs through Bandcamp before pulling together some of them for an album in 2011. He released another EP in 2013 which is where this song is from. Mainstream success started to come in 2015, and by 2017 he collaborated with the Knocks, and got signed. He's released a couple more singles since then, so if you like the song, go check out some more of his stuff.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 124

Good Morning! Today's song is Love Gang by Whethan featuring Charlie XCX.

Whethan is the stage name for Ethan Snoreck and has been active since 2016. This was while he was still in high school, where he would preview his songs to classmates. He started off by messing around on Garageband. By 16 he was the youngest producer to release music on an Australian label, and caught the attention of other artists including Skrillex. He was touring with The Chainsmokers when he graduated, taking a little break to go to the ceremony, with is equal parts hilarious and impressive as hell. He frequently works with Oliver Tree on making music, creating a handful of singles together. He's performed at festivals and alongside many other DJ's, and has even worked with Dua Lipa. He's still really young and has so much potential in the industry so keep an eye out for more of his work.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 123

Good Morning! Today's song is Unthink You by Wiktoria.

Wiktoria is Wiktoria Vendela Johansson who is a singer from Sweden, so props to Sweden today! She's been active in the industry since 2011. She got her start when she placed fourth in a singing competition to represent the country called Lilla Melodifestivalen with an original song. There wasn't much from her that I can tell after that until 2016, when it was announced she would be one of the participants for the competition in 2016. Once again she ended up fourth overall, but was second in the public's opinion. Fun Fact: she is actually the voice of Moana in the Swedish dub version which I think is pretty cool. In 2017 she once again competed in Melodifestivalen when she came in sixth overall, but still second with the public. Later that year she was the Swedish spokesperson for Eurovision, and toured with another group. She competed on a TV series that pits professional musicians against each other and came in fifth in 2018, and then once again was in Melodfestivalen this year, coming in sixth. Throughout all of this she was releasing a couple singles so she's got about a dozen songs. She seems to mostly be known in Sweden rather than worldwide so hopefully this is something new to you that you'll like.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 122

Good Morning! Today's song is Talk by November Lights.

November Lights is a Scottish band whose been active since at least 2014. So give it up for Scotland! It's made up of two guys named James and Nathan. So like a couple others I'm featuring, I don't have a lot of information on these guys. Mostly because they aren't exactly mainstream at this point, but that's half the fun. I like introducing you guys to new stuff. So if you like the song, check out their social media and keep watch so when they make it big and are close to you, you'll know.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 121

Good Morning! Today's song is Willow by Jasmine Thompson.

Jasmine Thompson is an English singer active since 2009. She started out on YouTube, uploading songs since she was 10. She self released some covers of songs in 2013 followed by her own album. Then she got featured in 2014 on a Robin Shultz song. Her next album came out the same year. By 2015 she signed with a record label, releasing an EP on it, then another one in 2017. Some of her songs have been featured in movies, but she's still relatively unknown, so keep an eye out for her.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 120

Good Morning! Today's song is Beautiful Dreamer by Stephen Foster.

I've been talking about songwriters in a couple posts this year so I thought why not showcase someone labeled as the most famous songwriter of the nineteenth century. Stephen Foster was born in 1826 and died in 1864. His biographies can be iffy to look through, because there is a lot of conflicting information and much of the information was destroyed by his brother to protect the family. What we do know is that he could play piano, clarinet, violin, guitar, and flute. He worked as a bookkeeper for his brother's company when he wrote his first songs. He moved to Pennsylvania and joined the Christy Minstrels. Many of his songs were used in blackface minstrel shows because he wanted to "build up taste...instead of the trashy and really offensive words which belong to some songs to the order." Side note that it's disgusting that blackface plays used to be the norm. Foster later teamed up to write song for an abolitionist leader for a play he was writing. After that he moved home, then got ill from fever before dying after a fall that cut his neck. This song was actually published after his death, but is one of his most famous and beloved works. I'm sure mist people know the song, but now you know where it comes from too.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 119

Good Morning! Today's song is Forever Ago by Woodlock.

These guys are from Australia and have been active since 2011. The members include Zechariah Walters, Ezekiel Walters, and Bowen Purcell. They started out by busking, traveling along the coast and inspiring people with their songs. In 2013 they released their first EP, which gained them media attention leading to TV appearances. They continued busking in Melbourne, and the following year made another EP. This one topped the Australian record charts as well as iTunes, and led to them being able to tour all over Australia. In 2015 they went on tour with another group as support, and released another EP. Then they toured again. Since then there hasn't been more albums but there has been singles. It's all very impressive considering the fact that they're doing this all independently. Anyway, give these guys a listen. It's pretty great.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 118

Good Morning! Today's song is Like The Movies by Taylor John Williams.

Taylor John Williams has been active since 2009 when he released an independent EP. He started college after, but dropped out to pursue music. He got on The Voice in 2014 where he made it into the semi-finals. Since then he's continued on with music, releasing an EP in 2015 and another in 2016. Then an album was released in 2017. He's not quite as famous as other people I feature, but he is as talented so if you like him, be sure to follow him on Facebook because he posts about his upcoming projects on there.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 117

Good Morning! Today's song is The Giving Tree by Plain White T's.

Plain White T's is one of the bands that I will always love. I've listened to more of their discography than other groups and have yet to find something that I can't connect with over the years. Including this song. It's slow and calming and perfect for me. So I wanted to show it to you guys too. Hope you like it and if you do, seriously go look up more of their stuff.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 116

Good Morning! Today's song is Face To Face by My Silent Bravery.

My Silent Bravery is classified as a band, but it is only one person named Matthew Shwachman who has been active since 2007. He's been releasing music consistently since then with eight albums under his belt so far. The songs have been featured in all kinds of stuff, most notably One Tree Hill and has led to nominations for lots of awards. He's played tons of shows and toured with at least a dozen people; and it doesn't look like his career is slowing down at all so look forward to more great stuff.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 115

Good Morning! Today's song is Upbeat Feel Good by Foy Vance.

Foy Vance is an Irish singer active since 2006. He had released two EP's before that, but really rose to fame with the release of his first single in 2006, which ended up being featured on Grey's Anatomy. His debut album came out in 2007, followed by performances at a Christian Youth festival and a couple of prisons. In 2010 he composed music for a short film, which won an Academy Award in 2012. He released an EP in 2012, with songs that were featured in a ton of TV shows and a movie, then supported Ed Sheeran on his tour. He released an album in 2013 with a new label, then switched labels again to release another album in 2016 that he toured for. He has another album that was released this year so look that up if you're curious.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 114

Good Morning! Today's song is Help Me Mama by ZZ Ward.

ZZ Ward is the stage name for Zsuzsanna Eva Ward who had been active since 2012. Fun Fact: she actually joined her first band with her dad when she was 12. She didn't do much in the industry until she moved to LA and joined the Boardwalk Entertainment Group. On that she started working on her EP, but also a mixtape where she redid songs by famous musicians in her own way. For the title track on her EP she actually sampled a beat from a Freddie Gibbs song, who heard it and was so impressed by what she did he asked to do a guest verse on it. After the EP, she released her debut album later the same year. In 2013 she just blew up in popularity, then did lots of performing in 2014 followed by a tour. She released a second EP in 2015 and then did some collaborating and performing in 2017 before releasing her second album. She's still relatively new in her career, but is starting strong so I can't wait to hear more.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 113

Good Morning! Today's song is It Wont Be Long from Across The Universe.

So this song is from the movie Across the Universe and is sung by Evan Rachel Wood, who has been active since 1994 and done a couple movies and TV shows, even getting nominated for a Golden Globe for one of her roles. The song originally was a Beatles song, as all Across the Universe song's are, and was written mostly by John Lennon with some help from Paul McCartney. They've credited this song as really the beginning of when the middle masses started listening to their stuff after a critic for the London Times reviewed it. He said the song had Aeolian cadences, which Lennon stated in his last interview that he still has no idea what they are. So I looked it up. Aeolian cadences are apparently when a major key resolves on the tonic chord of the relative minor key... Now as much as I love music, that still doesn't mean anything to me so if there are any piano players out there: try it out and tell me in layman's terms what that means. All I know is Lennon said it sounds like exotic birds so I will be replaying the song listening for something similar to that.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 112

Good Morning! Today's song is Tell Her You Love Her by Echosmith.

I've already written about these guys before, so instead I need some recommendations from you. My family has a game night every week, which we've been doing now for… literal years. So understandably some of the games are getting a bit stale and we need some ideas for new ones. We've got some of the big ones: Clue, Yatzee, Catan, Game of Life, Ticket to Ride, Killer Bunnies etc. Most of the ones I've looked up are just different versions of these, but we need something that's really different. So if anyone has any ideas shoot them my way, because it's proving to be a surprisingly hard thing to find new ones.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 111

Good Morning! Today's song is Crazy Youngsters by Ester Dean.

Ester Dean is a singer, songwriter, and actress active since 2009. She started out delving into music at 15 as a coping mechanism, and at 20 after already having experience under her belt decided to move to Atlanta to break into the industry. She got discovered at a Gap Band concert when a music producer heard her singing in the crowd. They set a meeting and when he saw her catalogue signed Ester to a publishing deal. Eventually she moved to LA and was writing music while signed to Interscope Records. Her first single came out in 2009, but her big break actually came from writing a hit song for Rihanna. Since then she's wrote lots of other huge songs including Firework sung by Katy Perry and Super Bass done by Nicki Minaj. She branched out to doing voice-overs in movies, which then led to her being asked to audition for Pitch Perfect. She's been in all the sequels to that and has quite a few writing credits under her belt that you should look up of you're curious. She's clearly talented and I can't wait to see what's next.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 110

Good Morning! Today's song is Know Your Name by Mary Lambert.

I'm pretty sure I've already written this bio, so instead today you guys get a lesson, one I am learning the hard way: get your wisdom teeth removed. Are they a problem right now? No probably not, but you need them taken out before there is a problem. I am one of those people who was always "well it's too expensive so I'll wait until I have to." Wrong. So very wrong. I have three wisdom teeth that need to come out, two are coming in completely sideways, and because my roots are so ridiculously wrong I am in deep shit. One is compressing my nerve, so it could cause nerve damage (hopefully not permanently), and another is so far up to my sinus that the membrane is ultra thin and likely on it's way to being wrecked by my tooth. Which could mean possible eye or brain damage in the future if not taken care of with extreme caution. So I have to go to a legit hospital setting, be put completely under with anesthesia (which is for the best honestly, my anxiety over dentists is unmatched) and have an oral surgeon do it. And I hate hospitals almost as much as I hate dentists. So please folks, deal with your wisdom teeth early, even if the dentist doesn't find issues, because I could have probably gotten this dealt with two years ago without it being as dire a situation as it is now. So yeah. Go to the dentist. Now.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 109

Good Morning! Today's song is Circles by Yours Truly.

So I already wrote about these guys for the very last entry last year. It's unsurprising that I would find another song by them that I want to feature, because I count them as one of the better finds I've gotten from doing this blog. I feel blessed that past me took the project on and was able to keep it up because the music I listen to has gotten more broad and inspiring. A lot of the songs I find now have less than 10,000 views on YouTube, and I take an odd sort of pleasure in being the one to introduce all of you to it. So instead of repeating a bio I've done before, I just want to say thank you to you guys for allowing me to show you great music.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 108

Good Morning! Today's song is How To Be A Heartbreaker by Marina.

Marina is Marina Diamandis, who is a singer from Wales. She moved to London to pursue music, applying for auditions in the same paper that advertised for what would become the Spice Girls. In 2005, she chose the stage name Marina and the Diamonds, with Diamonds referring to her fans. She also stopped going to auditions in favor of learning to compose her own music, releasing her first EP on Myspace in 2007. She had talks with 14 different labels before deciding on one which wouldn't dictate her brand. In 2009 she released two EP's with the label, and came in second on the Sound of 2010 poll through BBC. Her debut album came out in 2010, along with another EP and started getting a lot of mentions on top 100 lists, although she was still disappointed to not hit with an American audience. Her next album came out in 2012 and this is the one that ended up breaking through the over-saturated American market. Her next album was supposed to be out in 2015, but got leaked so was released early. In 2018, she dropped the stage name to go solely by Marina to make a change in her career. This year there is an album and a mini tour for it, and then we'll see what else comes up with her new era.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 107

Good Morning! Today's song is Give Me Love by Izzy Bizu.

Izzy Bizu is Isobel Beardshaw, an English singer active since 2009. She was in a girl group called SoundGirl first. When they broke up in 2012 Izzy struck out on her own. She won an open mic night in 2013 and released an independent EP followed by a supporting role on Sam Smith's tour. In 2014 she entered a lot of singing competitions and got signed to a label, releasing a couple singles. In 2015 she was support for the UK leg of two tours and made her TV debut. She released her debut album in 2016. She's released an EP and another single so far this year so she's still going strong and a great choice to show you today.

Peace.