Year 6, Day 319

Good Morning! Today's song is Raincoat by Timeflies featuring Shy Martin.

Timeflies is a pop duo active since 2010 and consists of Cal Shapiro and Rob Resnick. They met in 2007 and Resnick invited Shapiro to join the band he was in at the time before it dissolved, then they started writing and posting on YouTube. They got more exposure when Shapiro's roommate took one of their songs and started sending it around to music blogs. This led to their debut album, released in 2011, followed by an EP in 2012. The guys released another album and EP in 2013, as well as started their own label. Their next album was out in 2014 and was the first to be through their own label, with another following in 2015. They've been pretty quiet since officially, but have been posting music consistently to their YouTube so if you want more go and check that out.Shy Martin is Sara Hjellström, a Swedish singer active since 2016. She started off as a songwriter with her writing partner Shy Nodi, writing songs for the likes of Mike Perry, Bebe Rexha, and The Chainsmokers to name a few. She's also a part of a couple different gender equality initiatives within the industry which is pretty cool. She's been featured on a couple different songs, including this one, but also has a good number of songs on her own, as well as an EP that came out in 2018. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the song.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 318

Good Morning! Today's song is No Promises by Cheat Codes featuring Demi Lovato.

So I had a horrible dream last night. I woke up after sleeping for only about two hours because I dreamt that a spider nested in my hair and laid eggs, then I had a dead mama spider in my hair and about nine babies crawling around in it. Very vivid, thought it was real. I woke up and had to immediately brush out and check through my hair because I was so skeeved out. For those of you who don't know, I've been growing my hair out. I was going to cut it months ago because it was getting kind of long, but I was indifferent about doing it and had lots happening. So I said I'd do it after my wisdom teeth got pulled, after my doctor's appointment, after my grandpa gets out of the hospital, after my birthday, after my sister comes home etc, etc. So it's really long. That dream freaked me out so much that I just had a shower and chopped a good three inches off the bottom. The funny thing is that it isn't even short now! It's still past my shoulders, it still makes a decent ponytail. I seem to get bug dreams when my subconscious is trying to tell me I'm stressed about something, so clearly the pandemic is getting to me. So a word to the wise for all of you to find an outlet for stress before you get to into your head... or hair like me.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 317

Good Morning! Today's song is Don't Kill My Vibe by Sigrid.

This is the second Sigrid song of the year, the other one having the hilariousness of her video director doing the whole video because she couldn't make the shoot. This song is the one that I've had saved to show you for like a year, but that other one was too good not to put up immediately. So now you get my actual first impression of Sigrid as an artist. So she is a Norwegian singer active since 2013. She has two EPs, and an album that was released last year, so you should go check out more of her stuff.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 316

Good Morning! Today's song is I Love You Always Forever by Betty Who.

Photo by: FifthLegend

I've featured Betty Who enough that I'm reasonably sure I've already done her write up. This song is actually a cover. The original was from Donna Lewis who is a Welsh singer who has been active since 1992 and released this song in 1996. I'll attach her version here so that you can do a comparison between them if you want. Personally I think Betty Who did a great job of keeping what the song was and combining it with the newer styles. You be the judge though. Let me know what you think.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 315

Good Morning! Today's song is Girls Your Age by Transviolet.

So these guys are an alt-rock group active since 2015 and made up of Sarah McTaggart, Judah McCarthy, Michael Panek, and Jon Garcia. Sarah and Michael connected online, and Michael brought in the others that he knew in school. Eventually they all moved to LA to work together in person after collaborating online. Their name is inspired by a line from a Charles Bukowski poem called When The Violets Roar At The Sun. They got some high praise early on from artists like Katy Perry, who knew Sarah before either of them were famous. Their debut EP came out in 2015, followed by them touring with LANY the next year. They were signed and dropped, then signed again before releasing their third EP in 2018. They had some controversy when they started out with how they sent their demos out, with no information other than "play me." It's kind of ominous and threatening and would not make me want to a) play the tape or b) sign the band when I realized that's what it was. Some people might call it a creative way to beat the system, but in a world where mysterious packages mean a bomb squad there is no place for ominous anything. That's my hot take anyway, let me know what you think.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 314

Good Morning! Today's song is Everything At Once by Lenka.

Photo by: Kirk Stauffer

This is also a very weird song, but I love it. Lenka is an Australian singer active since 1994, starting out as a theater actress. She officially got into music with her first album in 2008. This song was from that, and was used in a Windows 8 advertisement, so gained some recognition from that. Her second album came out in 2011 and was pretty much all love songs, inspired by her recent engagement. Her next album came out in 2013, and she continued to release more consistently with one in 2015 and another in 2017. There hasn't been anything since then, but apparently she has two EP's in the works to be released sometime this year, so keep an eye out for those.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 313

Good Morning! Today's song is Lundi Matin from La Superstar Des Comptines Rondes Et Berceuses.

Yes, I'm aware this is a children's song, but I kind of love it because it's so random to put in here. YouTube is messing with me a bit because with their new filters to protect kids from sensitive content it doesn't want to let me add this to my playlist for the year, but whatever. It's not going to stop me from having it be apart of this. Now most people will recognize this from the Umbrella Academy, which is indeed where I heard it from, but the true reason I'm using it is that it just fits perfectly in here between the songs I want to showcase, so enjoy this filler song and maybe mark it down to show your kids since that's who it was made for.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 312

Good Morning! Today's song is Tu Vuo' Fa' L'Americano by Hetty and the Jazzato Band.

This guys are an English band active since 2014 and made up of Hetty Loxston, Charlotte Jolly, Fabrizio Bonacci, Alessandro Cimaschi, and Riccardo Castellani usually. Although right now the clarinet player is taking a break to raise her family, so currently the others are joined by Richard Muscat and Stephanie Legg. As they put on their website, they bring "a taste of la dolce vita with their modern twist on; vintage, classic Italian songs, gypsy jazz, swing and jazz standards in Italian and English. The song I've featured is one that went viral, gaining them international attention, leading to them being invited to venues around the globe to perform. I can't find any information on albums, so I think they are primarily a performance group, but regardless they are amazing and I hope you enjoy the song.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 311

Good Morning! Today's song is Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen by The Hot Sardines.

Photo by: LeAnn Mueller

These guys are an American Jazz band active since 2007. There are a ton of former and current members, but overall it is the brainchild of Elizabeth Bougerol and Evan Palazzo. They both have their own histories of success and failure in music, but harbored a love for this style, and answered an ad on Craiglist to play jazz music, and they instantly connected. They started jamming regularly, then ended up adding a tap dancer rounding out their style. They got the name before performing at an open mic night because they needed a name for the sheet. Hot needed to be in it, as a homage to the style they do like the Hot Five and Hot Seven. The rest came from Elizabeth who had seen spicy sardines at the grocery store and the rest is history. It was always meant to be a side thing as a hobby, but they kept getting gigs, and attracted more members. During the 2010's, the jazz scene in New York exploded, and they started getting even more recognition, playing is huge clubs and even headlining at the Lincoln Center for their Midsummer Night Swing event. As their popularity kept growing, getting bigger venues and audiences, they started to release albums. The first came out in 2011, and since then they've released eight in total, with the most recent out last year. So if you dig the style, go check them out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 310

Good Morning! Today's song is Candyman by Christina Aguilera.

Photo by: Não sei

I've already written about Christina numerous times I'm sure so I'm not going to bother again today. I've been holding on to this song for awhile, not really sure when was the best time to show you, but I'm feeling it today. Since it came out, I've always really liked it, but it wasn't until I was in choir that I realized the significance of it with her trying to do the same thing as the Andrew Sisters used to. They pretty much created the style and I learned about them when we did one of their songs in Westwinds. Since then others have tried to take up the mantle they left, most notably the Puppini sisters, but without this song, I never would have known that style existed. So I'm giving Christina her due for introducing it to me. Look those other groups up if you're curious.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 309

Good Morning! Today's song is Your Song by Rita Ora.

Rita Ora is an English singer active since 2008 when she entered the Eurovision Song Contest for 2009. She ended up dropping out of that though and instead her manager got her signed with an American label. She made enough for one album, but her label advised her against releasing it, so she made music for a different one. She started posting covers on YouTube in 2011 while working on her album which led to her getting to do vocals on a DJ Fresh song. Her debut album came out in 2012, followed by collaborations and performances, then a lawsuit to get out of her contract with her label in 2015 for not allowing her to release more than one album. This song came out in 2017, and was the first after getting away from her old label. Her second album came out in 2018, and as of last year she was already working hard on a third, so I'm sure we'll be getting more soon. She's also one of the artist's that reacted to people doing covers of her works and it's a great watch so check it out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 308

Good Morning! Today's song is 2002 by Anne-Marie.

This song has been played more than any other by me over the last two weeks so I decided that it could be today's song. It does also have a Britney Spears reference in it (along with a lot of other stuff) which makes it fitting after yesterday. I always want to dance to this even though I can't dance at all, but it makes me happy so hopefully it'll do the same for you.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 307

Good Morning! Today's song is I'm A Slave 4 U by Britney Spears.

Yes it's a weak segway from yesterday, but would you believe this is the closest I could get? Of the songs I have saved, this is the closest "does not fit a category" song I could do. I'm surprised though that I haven't featured this song yet because it's actually my favorite song by her. Odd, I know. But this is the one I used to excel at on the dance game we had when my sister and I were kids. For me, this song represents winning and my sister losing, so it'll also have a special place in my heart, even though it really shouldn't have been something I listened to so much as a kid. Trust me there were much more traumatic pieces than this song I was exposed to.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 306

Good Morning! Today's song is Kiss by Prince.

Photo by: Scott Penner

So I gotta say, Prince has really messed up my flow. I have so many songs saved to show you guys that I've been working on putting them out in a flow that makes sense when you listen to them all consistently. If you tried to do that with the first year songs it's like whiplash through music. So I've been working on it to not be so crazy... then there was Prince. No songs fit after his. They all feel like a very drastic shift because his sound is so damn different than anything else. Which is great, it really is, but I'm not caught up on posting anymore because I've been stuck on this! haha. It's ridiculous and not really a problem, but an interesting conundrum I've come across. So for today enjoy Prince and we'll see what I come up with tomorrow.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 305

Good Morning! Today's song is Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder.

Photo by: Nijs, Jac. de / Anefo

You guys know that I've already written about Stevie Wonder because I've done a couple of his songs, so instead can I just talk for a minute about the virus? I know by now we're all probably sick of hearing about it. I can't decide whether I should be more or less concerned. One one hand it's a big fucking deal because you don't know you're contagious until it's too late, on the other hand, it's not as contagious as some other stuff we deal with so it's not as bad. I dunno. Canada is stating to go to some pretty drastic measures to make it contained, which infection in minimal at this point so they're trying to cut it off before it gets too bad which I approve of. None of this really matters to me because I don't leave the house anyways, but I do live with my grandparents, one of whom recently got out of a nine week hospital stay and can't reasonably quarantine because he has to go to dialysis three times a week. If he stops that, it'll kill him faster than the virus would. So far I'm taking the be alert, but don't panic approach and am keeping track of info only through the Government of Canada website and the World Health Organization because misinformation is already spreading. So to you guys I say be vigilant, watch where you get your information, and we'll see you on the other side of this thing.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 304

Good Morning! Today's song is Fear & Delight by The Correspondents.

So these guys are an electro-swing duo from the UK, active since 2007 and made up of Mr. Bruce and Charlie Chuckles. There isn't a lot of information on them, but they started releasing music in 2008 with their first EP, having another out in 2011 and the most recent in 2018. They've also released two albums, one is 2014 and the other in 2017. The music video for this song also caused them to win Best VFX Award at the Berlin Music Video Awards in 2014, and I'm not surprised why. I think it was actually the video that first interested me in this song and made me want to share it, so check it out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 303

Good Morning! Today's song is Nina Cried Power by Hozier featuring Mavis Staples.

I've written about Hozier before so I wont do that again, and honestly the message of this song is more important to get across than an overview of these guy's career so I'm just going to put in the information that's on the YouTube video about it. "This song was intended as a thank you note to the spirit and legacy of protest; to the artists who imbued their work with the vigour of dissent, and a reflection on the importance of that tradition in the context of the rights, and lives, we enjoy today. My hope for this video is much the same. Ireland has undergone a socio-cultural sea change, the results of which will benefit generations to come. We are witness to a new Ireland waking to the consciousness of itself; a kinder, more inclusive nation. This video is an attempt to acknowledge just a handful of those who have fought for this new Ireland, and whose work continues to inspire me." The video features activists, all of which are listed in the video with the specifics of what they do, and the simplicity of just having them listen to this song is more powerful than any "normal" music video could have been. So listen to this one actively, and I hope you like it.

Peace. 

Year 6, Day 302

Good Morning! Today's song is Iron by Woodkid.

Photo by: Rufywainy

I wrote about him earlier this year, but I'll just reput it in here so you don't have to track it down. Woodkid is the stage name for Yoann Lemoine, a french musician, who has been active since 2006. He actually went to school for animation and illustration and received a lot of awards and acclimations for his film work. It's rumored that he got into music because a musician gave him a ukulele while working together on set. Woodkid is his first musical project, and its supposed to be about the transition from childhood to adulthood, about a kid who starts organic and becomes marble. His first EP came out in 2011, and songs have since been featured in popular TV shows, films and video games. In 2012 he announced his first album, which was release in 2013. One of the songs from it has received awards for the video which he himself directed and has been used in virtually everything, most recently the Umbrella Academy. In 2014, he received what is essentially a French Grammy, and worked as a creative director for some big names, as well as performed at Coachella. He's performed at a multitude of festival, with all kind of artists and orchestras, and he's still going strong. Enjoy.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 301

Good Morning! Today's song is Thunderstruck by 2Cellos.

Photo by: Stefan Brending

This is a good one to take us back out of our brief foray into classical music into the more modern stuff. For awhile classical music was getting lost to the younger generations, but guys like this who are bringing the classical instruments into modern is making a good bridge point to explore the older stuff which I appreciate so much. These guys are a Croatian cellist duo active since 2011 and made up of Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser. They were already successful in the UK, but were still struggling financially, so they tried some pop stuff, putting a video of them playing Smooth Criminal on YouTube which went viral. They ended up recreating this on Glee later. Since then they've blown up worldwide, and have released four albums to date, so go check those out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 300

Good Morning! Today's song is Ride Of The Valkyries by Richard Wagner.

And again another mini piece of a longer composition that many people know because it's been used everywhere, but no one knows what it's called and how to find it. Your Welcome. Ride Of The Valkyries has always been one of my top five classical favorites, along with Rhapsody In Blue, Peer Gynt, and the William Tell Overture (all of which I've featured before). So Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer and theatre director alive from 1813 to 1883. He's known for his operas which are often called musical dramas and stand out from other operatic composers because he was one of the first to write both the music and lyrics for the pieces. He's also the creator of the Gesamtkunstwerk concept of opera, which translates to total work of art, and is based on using many different types of art (poetry, visual, dramatic arts, etc) to create one piece. His works are considered the beginning of many things, including the start of modern music thanks to his work titled Tristan and Isolde. Like any famous person in history, he does have his flaws as a human if you look into him enough, but you can't deny his position in shaping music as a whole. So I hope you enjoy this song.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 299

Good Morning! Today's song is Homecoming by Jeff Russo.

Photo by: Gage Skidmore

While the Umbrella Academy (like I said yesterday) introduced people to some classical stuff, there were a lot of pieces that were original for the series and this one of them. Jeff Russo is a lot of things in the industry including a composer and he created the original music for the show, along with a lot of others. He's been active in the industry since 1993, has founded two bands called Tonic and Low Stars, the first of which he's still part of. With Tonic he's released seven albums, the most recent out in 2016, and he has worked on soundtracks for two dozen different shows, ten films, a couple video games, and even has his own album out so there is no shortage of his genius for you to check out after this. Enjoy!

Peace.

Year 6, Day 298

Good Morning! Today's song is Partita for Violin Solo No. 2 in D Minor, BMV 1004-4 Giga by David Garrett.

Photo by: Winkelbohrer

Okay, obviously that is not the song name, because this is actually a piece of a full symphony by Johann Sebastian Bach. This is one of the violin solos, one that many people have grown familiar with thanks to The Umbrella Academy featuring it. For classical stuff I normally put the link as only the specific part I'm featuring because symphonies can be huge. Like hours long. But I do highly recommend sitting down and enjoying them fully if you can because they are works of art. Then the player of this specific recording is David Garrett, a German violinist active since 1988. His career is long and full, with twenty studio albums as of 2018, not to mention the other ones he's been featured on. This is from the album out in 2002, when he was still attending school at Juilliard. One fun fact from his career I want to point out is that when he went to Juilliard, he won the school's Composition Competition in 2003 by creating a fugue in Johann Sebastian Bach's style. Notable considering this is that composers song. A fugue is a term for a composition, that gets created for two voices or more that act together and separate from each other... it's kind of hard to explain. The style has been famously used by Johann Sebastian Bach for his pieces, so if you want to know more about it or him look it up.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 297

Good Morning! Today's song is Shatter Me by Lindsey Stirling featuring Lzzy Hale.

 It's hard to do Lindsey Stirling songs because I always want to showcase every single one. This one in particular has kind of re-emerged for me this week so I thought it was time to give it its due. So Lindsey Stirling is a violinist active since 2007 when she started her YouTube channel. She auditioned for X Factor in 2010, but she didn't win because the judges said she wasn't good enough to do this. Which is bullshit and Lindsey proved it. She has six album out now, the latest from last year and came in second on Dancing With The Stars. All of her stuff is amazing and she just doesn't stop growing. Lzzy Hale is the feature in this, who is the lead singer of the band Halestorm, active since 1997. It's a band she started with her brother, and has four albums to date with the latest out in 2018. Both these girls are insanely good musicians, so please check them out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 296

Good Morning! Today's song is Easy Go by Grandtheft and Delaney Jane.

This is a remix version done by Trap Nation, but I honestly have heard it more than the original that this is the only one I think of now. So Grandtheft is a Canadian DJ named Aaron Waisglass. He's been a DJ since the 2000's and got a following as part of the Team Canada DJ duo, supporting and playing parties for some huge names. His first single as Grandtheft came out in 2011, and has had more out consistently throughout his career. He also has an EP that come out in 2015 so check that out. Delaney Jane is an EDM singer also from Canada. She started out touring with Shaun Frank, then released her first single in 2014. She did a couple more singles including this one before releasing her EP in 2017. She done some other stuff since then too, so look that up as well.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 295

Good Morning! Today's song is Dangerous (Oliver Remix) by Big Data featuring Joywave.

This is a remix version of the song, but I found this first and it stole my heart. When I was getting my wisdom teethe pulled I was in a total freak out, and ended up just listening to this song on repeat for about a week and nothing else. So Big Data is an electronic music project around since 2012 that is just Alan Wilkis, but also used to include Daniel Armbruster. There are three EP's and two studio albums, the most recent of which came out in 2019, so check that out. Joywave is an indie rock band active since 2010 and is currently made up of Daniel Armbruster, Joseph Morinelli, Paul Brenner, and Benjamin Bailey. They currently have two albums and a third set to be out sometime this year. You might have noticed a name repeats. Daniel Ambruster wrote this song and did it with Big Data, and he's credited as being part of Big Data, but I don't know if he was a member or just because he was a feature on it. I'm not sure. However it works out, this song is amazing so check it out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 294

Good Morning! Today's song is High by Sir Sly.

Sir Sly is an indie rock band active since 2012 and made up of Landon Jacobs, Jason Suwito, and Hayden Coplen. Their debut single came out in 2013, followed quickly by another that got picked up to use in an MLB game and in the Assassin's Creed: Black Flag trailer. Their debut album came out in 2014, then a single came out in 2016 that was supposed to be for their second album, but ended up not fitting the vibe. The second album came out in 2017, with songs featured in a lot of pop culture stuff. I think that's where this particular song is from too. So if you like it, check out the rest of the album.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 293

Good Morning! Today's song is High Enough by K. Flay.

K. Flay is Kristine Meredith Flaherty, whose been active since 2003. In 2003, she decided that mainstream rap stuff was misogynistic and simplistic and that she could do better. She wrote one song, and caught the writing bug, leading to her releasing a mixtape in 2005. She released an EP in 2010, then another mixtape in 2011 which was when her career really got jumpstarted. She got signed in 2012 and released and EP that year, then another the next year. Her debut album came out in 2014 followed by a tour and some collaborations. Since then she had another EP, mixtape and two more albums, so there is lots for you to check out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 292

Good Morning! Today's song is Dig Down by Muse.

Muse is an English rock band active since 1994 and made up of Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme, and Dominic Howard. They've released eight albums throughout their career, with the first one out in 1999, and the most recent from 2018. They also released some old demos and live performance in 2019 so they're still kicking in the industry. This is just a quick review because I know I've written about them before when I've featured their other songs, because these guys are a group I've shown a lot. So check them out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 291

Good Morning! Today's song is Loveless by Lo Moon.

This video scares me every goddamn time I play it. The wake up at the beginning? Horrifying when in a playlist. Anyway, these guys are an indie rock band active since 2016 and made up of Matt Lowell, Crisanta Baker, Samuel Stewart, and Sterling Law. This song is actually the first one that brought the band together, and its demo was the one that Matt Lowell showed to the others to convince them to join up. They released this song in 2016, followed by another in 2017. That year they also opened for a bunch of different people, increasing their exposure. They released their debut album in 2018, and since then it's been pretty quiet, but I definitely expect more. So keep an ear out.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 290

Good Morning! Today's song is Calling Me by Aquilo.

Aquilo is an English duo active since 2013 and made up of Ben Fletcher and  Tom Higham. Originally they were both part of rivaling rock bands in their hometown before forming this together and releasing some singles in 2013, including this song. They got some radio play and their songs featured in some pop culture stuff before releasing two EP's in 2014. In 2015 they did some collaborations with other artists before releasing two more EP's, then toured with Oh Wonder in 2016. Their debut album came out in 2017, followed quickly by another in 2018. Since this is one of their first songs, listen to it then go check out the newer stuff to see how they've evolved.

Peace.

Year 6, Day 289

Good Morning! Today's song is Day 1 by Honne.

Honne is a duo made up of Andy Clutterbuck and James Hatcher who've been active since 2014. Honne is a Japanese word which means true feelings. These guys met in college, then got signed to a label and released their debut single in 2014. They followed up with an EP the same year. In 2015 they started their own label, and released an EP on that, then spent the rest of the year performing around the UK. Their first album came out in 2016, followed up with performances at a bunch of festivals including Coachella and Lollapalooza. In 2017 they re-released a song with the rapper Amine, then released their next album in 2018. Since then they've done work with some other artists then went on a World Tour. I'm sure there is more to come from this group so keep your eye out.

Peace.