Year 8, Day 99

Hey guys. Today's song is Daniel by Bat For Lashes.

Photo by: Kim Metso

Bat For Lashes is the stage name for British musician Natasha Khan, who's been active since 2006. Her family was made up of many famous people, ranging from sports players to actresses. She started playing piano as a kid, and after high school would listening to songs she wrote while working at a card packing factory. She studied music in university, then after graduating worked on music in her free time while working as a nursery school teacher. The moniker doesn't actually mean anything, other than give you spooky halloweeny vibes. She got signed and released her debut album in 2006, that was re-released the next year internationally. It did well and she was actually nominated for two Brit awards in 2008 for British Breakthrough Act and British Female Solo Artist. Her next album came out in 2009 and features her alter-ego Pearl, which was just an experiment that she did while in New York working on the album. This song is actually from that album, and won her an Ivor Novello Award. She did some touring and collaborating in 2010 and 2011 before her third album was released in 2012. She spent some more time touring and collaborating and then debuted her music project at a festival in 2015, that group being called Sexwitch which included her and the band Toy. Her fourth album was released in 2016 with another album in 2019. A fun fact about those last two albums is that Khan has actually written full film scripts for each of them, so I'd love to see what those are. Lately she's been doing the family thing, having a child in 2020, but I'm sure we'll see more from her later on. For now enjoy!

Peace.

Year 8, Day 98

Hey guys. Today's song is I Used To Care by Louyah.

I can't find any official bio for this guy so instead I'm going to share how difficult it's been for me today to try and get this stuff done because someone in the building I live in made the fire alarm go off. And I live with my grandma in what is technically an adult only building, but is basically 90% seniors so the alarm is more obnoxious than any fire alarm I have ever encountered. I was in PJ's so I threw on pants and went down and I was still outside before most people (with my grandma in tow, don't worry). Eventually we were cleared to come back in but last time this happened it got set off about three different times so I've been on edge waiting for the next evacuation order and stressing myself out. Here's hoping it'll be the end for today, but I'll have to wait and see. Wish me luck.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 97

Hey guys. Today's song is Neon Lights by Pim Stones.

So Pim Stones is the moniker for a British singer/songwriter/produce whose been around since 2010, but is kind of mysterious. And I mean that by the fact that you can't really find much music from him. He had a single in 2010, then another in 2015 that was leading up to an EP, but instead of getting an EP from him, his online presence went completely inactive. There was nothing until this song in 2016 when it was featured on Teen Wolf. The giant gap of five years makes me think that he might have pulled his old music, maybe he wasn't happy with it anymore I don't know. Anyway if one of you wants to take on the mystery that is Pim Stones be my guest. I'd be interested to see what happened. He apparently is alive and working on new music, but we'll have to see.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 96

Hey guys. Today's song is Sorrow by The National.

These guys are a rock band active since 1999 and made up of Matt Berninger, Aaron Dressner, Bryce Dressner, Bryan Devendorf, and Scott Devendorf. The group started with Berninger, Aaron Dressner and the Devendorf brothers before Aaron's twin joined the group after the release of their first album in 2001. Their next album came out in 2003, followed by an EP in 2004. With the success they got a deal with a label (rather than running their own) and quit their day jobs before releasing another album in 2005. They released another in 2007, a documentary in 2008, and a compilation album in 2009. Their next album, which is where this song is from, was released in 2010 and did really well in sales in multiple countries. They were nominated for a BRIT award in 2011, and continued to release singles and perform. Their next album came out in 2013, leading to a Grammy nomination. They did another documentary and continued to perform at various festivals for a couple years before releasing an album in 2017. They got nominated for two Grammy awards, winning one for Best Alternative Album. In 2018 they wrote some music for a musical called Cyrano, then released an album in 2019, then contributed to Taylor Swift's album in 2020 which was produced by the Dressner brothers. In 2021 the musical was adapted to film, so they came back to do some instrumental stuff, and once 2022 rolled away they got the go to start touring again, so that's what they've been up to lately and have plans going already for their ninth album. So lots to listen to if you want.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 95

Hey guys. Today's song is Dive Deep by Andrew Belle.

Photo by: Abby Gillardi

Andrew Belle is an American musician active since 2008 after graduating from college and playing in clubs. He released his debut EP in 2008 and debut album in 2010, which had songs used in some major pop culture things. He spent some time touring with Ten Out of Tenn then released his next EP in 2012. His next album was released in 2013, followed by a 2014 EP of stripped down versions of those songs. This song came out it 2016 in preparation for the full album released in 2017 followed by him going on a fully sold out tour. He did another stripped down album of the 2017 songs in 2018 and went on a US tour in support of Mat Kearney. He released his fourth album during the pandemic with it coming out in 2021, so go check that out if you're curious.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 94

Hey guys. Today's song is Deepest Darkness by Ocean Alley.

These guys are an Australian band active since 2011 and made up of Baden Donegal, Angus Goodwin, Nic Blom, Lach Galbraith, Mitch Galbraith, and Tom O'Brien. They released their first EP in 2013 and performed around Sydney to build their following before doing an interstate tour in 2014. They ended up touring around Australia five time, driving to gigs and gaining more and more fans before releasing another EP in 2015. They spent time working on their album and touring before the album was released in 2016, which they then toured for around Europe. They did more of that through 2017 with other bands before releasing their next album in 2018 and started releasing singles in 2019 leading up to another album release in 2020. They do have another album that is due to come out this month, so keep an eye out for that if you like their sound.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 93

Hey guys. Today's song is My Smile Is Extinct by Kane Strang.

This guy is a musician from New Zealand and has been active since 2013. He grew up around music as his family is full of musicians. He started out in a band called Dinosaur Sanctuary, releasing an album with them in 2013 before travelling to Germany. While he was there he recorded some of his own stuff, doing it in an old war bunker. When he came home he released what he recorded as a solo act, becoming his debut EP also released in 2013. Since then he has gotten signed and released two albums, the first in 2016 and the other in 2017, although that was with a different label. He's a new find for me so I hope you guys are as interested to check out his other stuff as I am. Enjoy.

Peace.