This is a blog where I write words about music and you read them. Feel free to let me know how I'm doing in the comments, Facebook, email (daniel.soskey@gmail.com), or on Twitter @soskwatch (see sidebar).
Before I start today's post, I'd just like to announce this blog has reached over 1000 hits! That's honestly pretty cool, since this project started really as a way for me to just write down some of the crazy music thoughts in my head. I appreciate everyone who helped me out by promoting and even just reading these words. Thank you. Now on to The Griswolds!
Be Impressive. That's a term that's been bouncing around my head for the past few months. After discovering their number one track back in the spring, I highly anticipated The Griswolds' debut album as titled above. At the time they had only released about five tracks. Unfortunately for me, I usually need more content than that to start writing a band. This meant I had to wait to talk about one of the best new bands coming on to the music scene right now. Yes, The Griswolds have been publishing music and playing together for two years now, but it has only been the last six months since they've gained major ground.
With the release of "Beware the Dog" (their current most listened track on Spotify), their popularity exploded and it caught my attention. Once I heard this song, I was convinced that The Griswolds are something special. Pay attention to them in the coming years. Their high energy rhythms backing incredibly deep lyrics position The Griswolds to reach incredible heights very soon. I look forward to what else they can bring to the table musically. Let's take a look at what they've already brought so far:
Beware the Dog (3:21)
Damn this song is catchy. The combination of the playful riff at the beginning and the awesome chorus means that you'll have this song stuck in your head for days. It's what personally got me interested in The Griswolds in the first place and been their most played song by far. Supposedly, behind the upbeat tone hides a sad story of losing a friend to a drug addiction.
Heart of a Lion (2:47)
This is my personal favorite by The Griswolds. It's got everything you love about The Griswolds' sound in its purest form (in my opinion). It's got a great beat, great vocals, and a killer instrumental energy that leaves you wanting to throw it on repeat. If I were to try to cover one song by The Griswolds, this would be it.
Red Tuxedo (2:00)
The last song I'll show you is a much different feel. It's still lighthearted like the rest of The Griswolds' tracks , but it's a lot more mellow. It's a pretty simple song, but it has a sweet message. To me, it's a story about someone's first date ever. Capturing the essence of that in a song so well is truly impressive and the reason why this song was picked.
I'm so glad the first Musician Monday back for Second Session was The Griswolds. What do you think of them?
As in music, some of the most important moments of life are the silences in between the noise. Take a moment yourself today to experience that silence in memorial of those who lost their lives thirteen years ago. To accompany you, I have provided one of John Cage's most famous compositions, 4:33.
WHALE by Yellow Ostrich is my favorite song of all time, and I personally think it is the best song ever made. There, I said it. Blog post over.
Oh, you wanted to know why? Okay, fine.
The title "favorite song" often gets thrown around by listeners from time to time. I'm sure I've said so in my past about one particular song or another. Taking a step back and reflecting on these statements, I realized I truly did not think it was my favorite song ever. People do this kind of thing all the time, saying "Oh my God, XYZ is my favorite artist ever. Nothing can get better than this." Then talk to them in a month and they haven't listened to that artist in three weeks. That's fine. It's understandable that people get excited about new awesome things and claim them to be their favorite. That being said, I am completely, 100% serious when I say that WHALE is my number one, hands down, favorite song of all time. Crazy, right?
Back when I first heard WHALE, I was enthralled. I stumbled upon it while scouring the internet for new, awesome music. I stumbled upon Yellow Ostrich and saw the single-worded title sitting comfortably at the top of the artist's played songs on Spotify. Immediately following the starting tone, it captured me. It started out with a simple, echoing drumbeat that hooked me. A few bars later, there was my siren's call. The harmonized "Oh-Oh"s brought Alex Schaaf's unique vocals to the forefront as he began WHALE's poetic verse. The drums pick up complexity and a tambourine shakes its jangly rings to create a truly awe-inspiring beat. The lead vocals combine with the soft background voices and some well-placed silence to keep my on the edge of my seat. After the single chorus, I was on the edge of my seat. What was this beautiful beast building up to? Only a moment of silence had passed when the whole theme came back with more energy and happiness than before. Never in my life had I felt such a powerful emotion channeling through me like this first encounter with this amazing song. I could tell I had found something special.
Despite my utter enjoyment for the song, I was skeptical. I knew it was good, but by then I had realized that such a bold claim of favorite song was not something I should throw around lightly. I gave it the old Spotify gold star and kept it in my current playlist and on my mind.
A month passed and I was invited to sit in on a new friend's radio show (shout out to Isaac for the invite). He and his co-hosts allowed me to play one song and to talk about it. I chose WHALE, and when I heard it go over the air and saw the look on everyone's face in the studio, that first rush of bliss hit me once more. I couldn't believe this song hadn't been more well-known, especially given that everyone who heard it enjoyed it thoroughly. At this point, WHALE had officially become my spring jam that I wanted to show everyone. Still I was hesitant to put it on the golden pedestal that was "Favorite Song of All Time and Space". I needed more.
I listened to WHALE often during this summer, and I really took it for granted. I always assumed I could rely on its upbeat sound and awesome vocals to cheer my day up after a shitty day of work. I continued to show people, never thinking once I wouldn't be able to enjoy Yellow Ostrich's best song. I even grew to appreciate most of their work on what seemed to be a similar level to WHALE. I didn't realize what this song meant to me until I went without it.
I went overseas to Europe this summer for a week and a half, but those eleven days were all I needed to understand the impact this song had on me. The only electronics I brought to Europe were my Ipod and a camera, and I hadn't updated my Ipod in over two years. This meant I couldn't listen to WHALE or show it off to the many friends I met during my stay in Holland and France. Halfway through I realized I missed listening to WHALE. I literally missed a song more than a lot of people I had left in the states. It felt like I physically depended on it, like it was an addiction. The first thing I listened to when I arrived back in Jersey was WHALE, and its sweet tunes felt like I had just caught up with an old friend. That was the moment I realized I had found the one: my favorite song of all time. And I now am confident that it shall never be overthrown from the spot where it stands.
I'm not too naive to see the potential future where I do, in fact, find a song I like better. So many talented musicians create so many amazing new songs every day, it seems like it's only a matter of time before I hear my new favorite song of all time and this whole post makes me look like an idiot. The crazy thing is, I don't think I will. WHALE has been my number one jam for six months without break. In music terms, that is forever. I have never even had a song that close to being my number one song for that long before, and WHALE still holds that title firmly for me.
Welcome back, everyone, to Season 2 of Soskwatch Sightings! I took a break over the summer because keeping up with the blog on top of my job was leaving me with little time to do what summer is all about: reuniting with old friends and spending time with the family. Now that I am back and fully situated as a Sophomore in college (Holy shit, where has the time gone!?) I will resume the blog. To kick this year off, I wanted to do something special. So unlike normal posts where I share three or four songs with the world, for this post I've decided to share 50! Below is a playlist recapping most of my summer in music as well as a few extra bits that hint towards future posts.
A short disclaimer: I'm using Spotify as the format through which I'll present large playlists. To listen, you'll need to sign up (it's free don't worry). And for those claiming I'm hypocritical for using Spotify, keep this in mind:
I am a poor college student. I can't afford all of the music I want to hear, so until I have the cash flow required to own all of my music, paying for Spotify is the next best thing I can do.
The format for the playlists is a lot more clean than YouTube and the player is easy to implement.
So without further ado, here is my summer in a musical nutshell:
Hey everyone! It's been a while since I posted on here because of Memorial Day and work being more of a full-time job than a part-time one. As it appears that my schedule won't be relenting any time soon, my posts during the summer might be more infrequent. Do not fret! I will post as much as I have the energy to write, so posts will keep coming. Anyway, on to today's musician. Today I'd like to bring to light a slightly older band, having started in the mid 80s. They've had a long and relatively successful career for the last couple decades, and they produced new content as recent as 5 or 6 years ago. Unfortunately for them, they did not receive as much recognition as they deserve, so that's why I'm talking about them today. I am talking about Yo La Tengo.
Spanish for "I have it!", Yo La Tengo is an indie rock trio out of the best state in the US (Jersey obviously) that brings a laid back approach to the very broad indie genre. Their songs are calm and relaxed; I used them to survive my first round of finals because they kept me calm when all hope seemed lost. Every track evokes the classic feel-good emotions that allow the listener to just sit and enjoy the tunes. The members are quite versatile musically as well. Each member contributes to the vocals as well as plays at least two instruments while performing as Yo La Tengo. This allows them to effectively customize each song to have the optimal instrumentation. As stated before, Yo La Tengo never made it to the mainstream despite decades of quality music. Despite this fact, they still enjoy many fans that still support their talents. Here are my picks for this week:
Autumn Sweater (5:18)
Autumn Sweater was the very first song that I heard by Yo La Tengo. It came on while I was listening to Air radio on Pandora (I now am personally against Pandora, more on that later) and I absolutely loved how awesome I felt while listening. The organ mixes well with the awesome drumming and simple vocals to create a true masterpiece.
Leaving Home (2:47)
This instrumental piece is the pinnacle of chill music. It isn't busy and it features a soft, warm guitar lead. The general volume of the piece is quiet and it's got a wandering, dreamy tempo. To me, this is the ideal song to listen to to help you fall asleep. It's quite relaxing.
I'll Be Around (4:47)
This is my favorite Yo La Tengo song by far. It also is the sole reason I didn't blow my brains out while trying to study for both of my Physics finals this year. The full, yet calm background cradles the short verses of lyrics. While brief, these lyrics hold a lot of power in them. To me, this song is saying to the audience, I will always be there for you. Don't worry about your troubles in life, because I will be there for you. I strongly advise you to put everything down for a few minutes, clear your mind, and listen to this track in full. You won't regret it.
What do you think of Yo La Tengo? What other awesome bands don't get the recognition they deserve? Let me know you opinions in the comments, and have a relaxed week.
Hey everyone! Welcome back to Musician Monday, that special time of the week where some awesome bands' sound waves enter your ears. This week we are going international with a Norwegian group that started off in the year 2000. Filled with fast tempo and electronic style, they are upbeat and always drive the energy in the room through the roof. This high energy and their poppish sounds are the perfect background for your next weird Euro dance party. Of course, I'm talking about Datarock.
Datarock's big appeal comes from two major sources, their physical style and their sound. First the style. As seen from above, they look like your stereotypical international hit artists. They dress weird (all in tight red jumpsuits) and act even weirder. Their music videos are super artsy and they come across as too cool for the public. Under this facade is a wacky group of musicians that don't care what people think of them. To me, they are an example of the ultimate bad-asses in this way. Next is their music. Their songwriting is hilarious. All of the songs are super quirky, and a lot of them reference random things like falling in love at computer camp or Maybelline. Backing these often shouted vocals is an even better instrumental section. Featuring heavy synth, the backing is very electronic and evokes the stereotypical European funky pop that you'd expect out of these guys. All in all, Datarock is a group that looks exactly how they should sound, and then they sound even better. Here are some of their songs:
Computer Camp Love (3:08)
Combining a hilarious music video with an even more hilarious story, Computer Camp Love is exactly what I'm talking about when it comes to wacky song lyrics. Despite the weirdness, the song has an awesome beat that catch your attention and won't leave your head for the day.
True Stories (2:50)
This next track off of their second album shows off Datarock's groovy side. It feature's a moving beat and yet another weird and awesome music video. The lyrics sound like they make sense when you listen to them, but look at the actual lyrics and they really say nothing. The whole sound is through their delivery and melodies behind it. One could argue the song is just a reference to older music and its influence as well.
Laurie (4:25)
Lastly, here's my favorite Datarock song. Laurie is full of feel-good sound with its calm, steady melody and upward, driving baseline. Other than that, I don't have much to comment. It's pretty simple otherwise; just give it a listen and enjoy it.
That concludes this brief segment on Datarock. In other news, I still haven't gotten off of my lazy butt to finish up and publish the Spotify article's conclusion, but it's coming. One day when I'm not too tired from work to actually do something valuable I'll put it together and put it up. Until then, let me know what you think of Datarock and of anyone else who you think deserves a mention on here.
Hey everyone, it's your favorite 500 or so words you read every week; Musician Monday! It's finally summer time, and with that I want to talk about one of the musicians I hold in high regard. Many may not know his name because instead of taking center stage, he prefers to have a role more in the background. Behind many famous artists like Cee Lo Green, Beck, The Black Keys, and James Mercer, this man has provided a lot of the catchy beats that you have grown to know and love over this past decade. Of course, I'm talking about Brian Burton, or by his stage name, Danger Mouse.
Danger Mouse is a talented individual, playing guitar, base, keyboard, drums, organ, and synth in varying amounts in each of his collaborations. As stated before, Danger Mouse is not known as a solo artist. Every big project he has produced or been a part of has been in collaboration or a remix of other content. Gaining his first popularity by creating The Grey Album, a full album mash-up of Jay-Z's "The Black Album" and The Beatles' "The White Album", Danger Mouse was after asked to produce with the Gorillaz to create Demon Days. Mouse then formed Gnarls Barkley with now solo artist Cee Lo Green. Being the brains behind the beats of such hits like "Crazy" and "Goin On" in this duo brought them to the top of the charts. After the two split, Mouse then helped produce Beck's Modern Guilt. In a more recent duo, Mouse has been working with James Mercer in one of my favorite groups, Broken Bells (in fact in my Top 10 Artists of All Time and Space). He also created an album with Sparklehorse called Dark Was the Night and an album called Rome with many different lead artists, including Norah Jones and Jack White. Clearly Danger Mouse has done so much for recent music; let's take a look at some of his best stuff:
Going On (2:54)
From Gnarls Barkley's album Odd Couple, "Going On" is my favorite song by the duo. It's so upbeat and got such a great beat, I can't help but want to stop everything I'm doing and start dancing when I hear it. Combining Green's awesome voice and Mouse's amazing instrumentals and production, Gnarls Barkley challenges the likes of The White Stripes and The Black Keys for best duo of the new millennium.
Black (3:32)
Featured in the fourth season finale of hit show Breaking Bad, Black is a song that evokes such a relieved emotion from the audience that a great weight has been lifted. This song comes from the album Rome that Danger Mouse produced with Daniele Luppi, and it's my favorite on the album.
The Ghost Inside (3:18)
While he was in the Broken Bells duo, I first discovered Danger Mouse as his own separate entity from Gnarls Barkley, and this was the song I first heard (shoutout to Jess for showing me this awesome track). Both Mercer and Mouse kill it on this track, making in my favorite until their recent album with "After the Disco" as shown in my Top 10 article.
As can be seen, Danger Mouse has been in the background of many of this decades awesome and iconic indie songs. Where else do you think we'll see him in the future? Let me know in the comments and let me know your opinion on his work. Stay tuned for later in the week when I release the final part of my Spotify article as well!
Spotify also argues that music artists receive a fair share for their music when partnered with Spotify, making the artist more successful and profitable by making a contract with them. They claim that through Spotify’s financial system, artists can and do make a profit through putting their music onto the Spotify client. According to the Artists informational section on the Spotify website, Spotify takes their monthly revenue, and splits it accordingly to each artist based on the artist’s ratio of song streams to total Spotify song streams. Then, Spotify takes their cut of the money, about thirty percent, leaving approximately seventy percent of all revenue generated by Spotify paid to the rights holders of all of the songs on Spotify. Finally, the right’s holders of the music distribute the royalties based on their own contracts with the artists. This means that if an artist publishes independently, they get to keep the full seventy percent of the revenue. Spotify also published figures giving sample earnings of albums over a month, ranging from a “Niche Indie Album” raising a measly $3,300 to a “Global Hit Album” cashing in a hefty $425,000. Through this explanation and these figures, Spotify provides a sound looking case for artists to switch to Spotify as their main revenue generator. This data is a trap, however.
A graph taken straight from the Spotify website.
What Artists Really Make
Although Spotify spins their data to show them helping artists generate profit, the application makes the artists very little money. First, while the rights holders of the songs receive their seventy percent of the songs’ revenue, not every rights holder is the artist themselves. Many artists have contracts with music labels where the artists are bound by contracts to receive only a small portion of actual royalties compared to the revenue their music generate. While a major portion of the money taken from artists for their music is the record companies, Spotify’s policies do nothing to address this issue. Because Spotify then also takes its own cut of the songs’ revenues, musicians are now making even less money than before the dawn of the music streaming era. When broken down to revenue per play, most artists generate between $0.004611 and $0.0084 for every song play on Spotify. This may look like it can add up to great sums for global hit songs, but those songs are the one percent of the musicians of the world. According to Damon Krukowski, lead singer of Galaxie 500 and Damon & Naomi, music streaming pays artists terribly: “Galaxie 500's "Tugboat", for example, was played 7,800 times on Pandora that quarter, for which its three songwriters were paid a collective total of 21 cents, or seven cents each. Spotify pays better: For the 5,960 times "Tugboat" was played there, Galaxie 500's songwriters went collectively into triple digits: $1.05 (35 cents each).” These real statistics just go to show that artists struggle to earn revenue through streaming services. With these calculations, the profit from 47,680 streams on Spotify is equal to one record sale.
Galaxie 500
It Gets Worse
Even scarier, Galaxie 500 is independently produced. Had Galaxie 500 been signed to a label, they would have made almost virtually no profit from putting their content on Spotify, leaving Spotify and the record company with all of the actual profits. Now, a year and a half after Krukowski’s article was posted on Pitchfork, Galaxie 500’s “Tugboat” has 439,780 plays on Spotify and is their most played song by almost double of the next highest, “Strange” having roughly 240,000 plays. This means through Spotify, “Tugboat” has generated the profit of less than ten record sales. Considering these views have accumulated over about two years, there is no way Galaxie 500 can achieve a financial gain through Spotify. Some artists cannot even afford to put their music on Spotify. According to Sasha Frere-Jones, former member of Ui, a funk band from the 1990s, recounts how his music did not even survive on Spotify: “My band, Ui, released a clutch of records through Southern Records. These albums are no longer available on Spotify because, according to Southern, the costs of administrating the relationship were not covered by the microscopic amount of revenue generated.” When someone like Frere-Jones can’t even keep records on Spotify because the transaction costs of the contract with Spotify and Southern Records exceed the revenue the songs generate on the application, there is clear evidence that the business model is completely taking advantage of artists.
Frere-Jones
With that, I'll leave you lovely readers. Join me next time when I conclude this article with some final remarks, what you can do to help, and a couple of links to more articles where you can read on about music streaming if you are interested.
Hey everyone! My life as a college freshman is officially over as of last night at 9:30, so now I get to be a real person again! With that, I'm getting back into the swing of things, including one of my favorite parts of the week, Musician Monday. This week I'm going to feature a band that I discovered recently. At first I wasn't that excited about them; they seemed weird and too quirky for my tastes. The singer does not sound like your average indie vocalist, and I didn't think I would enjoy their overall sound either. Thank God I was terribly wrong. They soon grew on me and now are a staple in my current listening sessions. I'm talking about the ever fantastic Future Islands.
This Maryland-based trio takes an attack at the ever-growing indie-pop genre with a whole new angle. By pumping even more synth-based rhythms, a rocking bass line, and a unique voice that grows on you as you listen, Future Islands evokes the original synth pop-rock of the 80s in great fashion. Of these three, the voice of singer/songwriter Sam Herring definitely make the most impact on the band's sound. He sounds like the old pop singers from the 80s, and while at first it was weird to hear again, I absolutely love it now. The lyrics Herring writes are also very cool and well thought out. Song topics range from the ever present theme of love to a song remembering his passed grandfather. While Future Islands has the structure to be similar to an 80s pop band, the general tone of the band is a lot more somber, making their tracks more suitable for hanging out and relaxing than getting pumped for a party. Future Islands currently has four full albums published under various label names, with the latest being Singles, released this March. Singles is definitely my favorite album of the four, so it will definitely secure a seat in my Top Ten Albums of 2014, when I compile that list at the end of the year. Here are some of my favorite songs by them.
Seasons (Waiting On You) (3:46)
As shown on their TV-debut on Letterman, Seasons is their most popular song currently. It takes that 80s style to the max as Herring grooves and dances around. What I like the most about this video is it showcases his awesome singing and shows his talent. He sounds almost the same live as recorded, and I deeply respect that.
Doves (3:28)
The first song I heard by Future Islands also happens to be my favorite. Doves exemplifies what drew me to the band; the catchy synth harmonies, the awesome bass line, and of course Herrings awesome vocals. When he hits those high notes in the bridge, it gives me chills.
The Great Fire (3:15)
The Great Fire shows the more somber side of Future Islands. They bring in the fantastic vocals of Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak to mesh with Herrings vocals to add extra effect of their somber tone. Combined with the awesome instrumental backing, Future Islands created a very quality track to be heard and appreciated.
To me, Future Islands taught me to always give new music a second chance. Had I just glossed over them, only hearing their uniqueness as weird, I would have one less awesome band to listen to today. Keep that in mind when you find new music. If it really is new to you, it shouldn't just be a carbon copy of the music you already like. New music should bring exactly what it describes in its title: something new, something different. If you can't look past the differences, then what's the point of even trying to find new music? Let me know what you think in the comments.
Hey everyone! It's finals week, so you know what that means! That's right, I yet again don't have any time for being a person. As such, yesterday came and went without a Musician Monday. Since this week I won't have real time to generate brand new content, I'm going to take my final English essay and make it more geared towards the blog. It's coming in a few parts, and tonight is the posting of the first chunk of it.
Imagine a world where you can access any music track you want from one seamless platform. Every artist, every album, and every song is available for listening at your leisure. In this world, you gain unlimited access to every newly released song as soon as it is published. This world is becoming closer and closer to a reality in the advent of Spotify. Spotify is a music streaming application that allows users to play any song on the application without restrictions. They can choose to sit through advertisements every four to six songs while premium members pay a monthly subscription to gain access to higher quality streaming and eschew the ads. Spotify also connects everyone through social networks like Facebook, making music sharing even easier than before Spotify was a force in today’s global society. Such a service seems like a magical wonderland for music appreciators around the globe, and it is. Unfortunately, every fantastic invention comes with a steep cost. For musicians trying to gain popularity and become profitable, Spotify is a nightmare. Streaming services like Spotify take advantage of artists and squelch creativity in the music world by forcing artists to use Spotify to remain relevant or to switch to more unorthodox sales models, ultimately making the music industry even more unprofitable for artists either way.
How Spotify "Helps" Spread Your Band's Name
Spotify’s first big claim is that they help artists by spreading the artists’ music through sponsoring them and having them on their application. They say that artists gain publicity through the application’s many features, including radio stations similar to Pandora and a Discover area of the software that suggests new artists, albums, and songs based on the users’ recently listened tracks. Additionally, through the social media tie-ins featured on Spotify, users can see what their friends have listened to recently. Besides this, Spotify provides additional tools for artists to use to reach out to their audience like share buttons and custom profiles for the application. As Spotify grows, this publicity can only grow for artists that join Spotify and allow their music to be played through the software.
The Problem
This poses a problem for the music community as a whole, as the artists who do not have a contract with Spotify will lack publicity as Spotify grows, essentially forcing artists to sign onto Spotify’s agreement to stay relevant. Once users join Spotify and begin delving into the millions of songs on the software, they have little reason to leave the application for any other music. Since they have such a large collection at their fingertips, users do not need to look elsewhere for quality music. Also, since users have unlimited access to streaming their favorite music, they have no incentive to actually pay for any more music, either from online downloads from iTunes or Amazon or through physical discs. David Byrne, lead singer of Talking Heads who now has a prestigious solo career agrees: “I'd be even more curious if the folks who "discover" music on these services then go on to purchase it. Why would you click and go elsewhere and pay when the free version is sitting right in front of you?” Byrne’s sentiment reinforces the sad truth that bands who are not on Spotify do not get the attention they need to survive and that bands on Spotify don’t actually sell more records for being on Spotify. Some already established artists like Byrne and Thom Yorke have boycotted Spotify to show their disapproval, but they can afford to leave the application because they already have made plenty of money and are established. The ones who suffer because of Spotify’s increasing popularity are the artists trying to get their band off of the ground and spread their name. They can’t afford not to join the Spotify bandwagon, and they are forced into contracts that pay very little from Spotify because of this pressure.
Artists Trying to Cope
Artists who decide not to join Spotify have to switch to more unorthodox business methods that result in much less revenue generation than before the beginning of Spotify to stay relevant. Many artists like Brad Sucks (shown above recording a lovely tune), Radiohead, and Wilco have looked towards a pay-what-you-want strategy, where they provide downloads to their music essentially for free. Those who do not want to pay are not required and those who want to support their favorite artists can do so at their leisure. While most artists generate very little revenue this way, they use this method to spread their name in the music world by giving their audience a free way to experience their music. Any further revenue the music artist generates is from merchandise and concert tickets. The problem with this business method is that it makes very little money for the artist anyway. Artists are now caught choosing the lesser of two evils: contracting with Spotify to spread their name and gaining miniscule amounts of profit or using their own marketing techniques to gain followers with the risk of catching no one’s attention.
In the interest of keeping this to the usual readable length of the blog, I'm splitting this article up into (most likely) three parts. Join me next time when I move away from the marketing side of making a living off of music and talk about the actual dollars and cents (mostly cents in the case of Spotify).
It's a beautiful Monday, so what better way to kick the week off is some cool new music? This Musician Monday I'm about to showcase a slightly different type of artist than I have before. Back in the middle of high school I was big into cool instrumental music, and naturally I discovered a lot of really cool artists that way. What's so cool about instrumental music is that the artist no longer can use a lot of lyrics as a crutch for the rest of the piece. Well made instrumental songs have a lot of complexity in the instruments that are potentially lost when one eschews normal vocals and lyrics. If there are lyrics in the songs, they are sparing and are there to only enhance the instrumental parts or provide a sound only the human voice can create. In this case the voice becomes its own separate instrument, adding another line to the complexity of the track. Now that I've explained my case for instrumental music, let's introduce one of my favorite artists in this genre: Caribou!
Caribou is a Canadian instrumental artist that takes instrumental music in a much different direction than current popular genres like EDM, house, trap, etc. Focusing less on the heavy electronics and large bass drops, Caribou brings out the softer, chiller side of instrumental music. Utilizing the usual guitars, bass, drums, and synth, Caribou creates a wide variety of sounds that range of electronic ambiance to weird, trippy instrumental to straight jams with the perfect amount of electronic sound. If I were to picture Caribou as someone related to a more popular artist, I would say he would be Moby's misunderstood younger brother. While the extremes of his style are very eclectic, they make beautiful pieces when mixed masterfully together by Caribou. Just so you don't miss out on all of his great works, note that Caribou also went by Manitoba for a while and now has some works published under the name Daphni. My two favorite times to listen to Caribou are when I need to focus and need some cool background music or when I want to veg out and hear something unique. Here are some of my favorite songs by Caribou.
Sundialling (4:41)
Sundialling is one of my favorite instrumental songs for good reason. It has a great driving beat and it feels like there is actual progression in time while you listen. I always try to listen to this song before an exam or game to get myself positive and in the zone.
Tits & Ass: The Great Canadian Weekend (4:50)
Published under his original name, Tits & Ass: The Great Canadian Weekend is one of my favorite chill instrumental songs. It pivots around a few electronic based chords and good drum beats, and Caribou uses these to make a solid, low-key jam that should be in the background of any good hangout sesh or elevator.
The Barn (4:54)
My favorite song by Caribou, The Barn embraces his straight jam side the most of these three songs. It features some cool weird, background tones to compliment the guitar and bass-lines that form the basis of the song. This was the first song I found by Caribou, and it is one of the songs that got me into this chiller section of the instrumental style of music.
What do you think of Caribou and instrumental music in general? Share in the comments along with any artist you think should get recognition for their awesomeness. Stay tuned in the coming week for another New Sightings and the first of a multi-part series about Spotify, Brad Sucks, and the future of music.
Welcome back to New Sightings, the column where I like to talk about new and currently underground artists and reveal them to the rest of the world. It's been a few weeks since I've written one of these mainly because of exams, but they are back and fully on schedule again. Without further ado, I'd like to introduce another group I have a personal connection with, Steel City Sunrise.
Steel City sunrise is an indie-bluegrass styled band out of Lehigh University that combine solid covers and their own new content to deliver a great concert experience to their audience. Featured on national television already, these guys are going places. They are the latest winners of Lehigh Valley Battle of the Bands and play in many live shows around the area. Additionally, Steel City Sunrise is currently working on their first EP to be released in the coming months (May 15th is the current release date). Let's meet the band members, shall we?
Mikale D'Andrea is the group's lead singer and guitarist. Born and raised in Lincoln Park, New Jersey, D'Andrea learned to play guitar before he could walk. Renamed Plank the year he arrived at Lehigh, D'Andrea now can be seen at Birkel Street parties whipping his acoustic guitar out to serenade the ladies. He's a good friend of mine and can be seen throwing upwind throws on the Frisbee team when he's not writing, recording, or performing music.
James Copti is the bassist and backup vocalist, is a fellow brother of Phi Delta Theta and honestly, one of the reasons I decided to join the fraternity myself. We grew up one town apart, yet did not meet until I was halfway through the rush process. Double majoring in Neuroscience and Music Composition, Copti has surrounded himself with music his entire life. He currently rocks it on the upright bass and piano and is often heard singing harmony during the shows. Probably one of the busiest people I know, Copti is almost always on stage trying to make a name for himself.
Resident banjo player and New Yorker John Pehnke brings the folk on with his skillful plucking. Every good bluegrass band has to have a good banjo, and Pehnke's got it. Another fellow member of Phi Delta Theta, John is pulling for live music at future Phi Delt functions. Until then, you'll be able to find him by looking for the guy with the smoothest moves on the dance floor, and every time you hear that homey tune of the banjo on campus Pehnke is guaranteed to be there, plucking away.
Jacob "Chainsaw Arm" Newman is the band's ukulele player, vocalist, and joke-teller. Sporting a killer beard and a great attitude, Newman brings a quirky fire to the band that helps showcase their playful and laid back nature. He's got a great gravely voice that really fits the folky style Steel City Sunrise is trying to promote. If I were to compare him to one singer in the world, it would probably be E, which is sick.
Evan Eckersley is the band's latest drummer, a local Pensyltuckian freshman badass who doesn't play by the rules. I have only met Evan a few times at the band's performances and every time I've seen him play, he's killed it. Evan gets so into the music and keeps the steady rhythm flowing to drive the bands jamming on home. I hope to see more of him in the future.
Now that you've been introduced to the band's members, let's take a look at the best part, the band's music!
Put it All Together (5:05ish)
This song is more laid back than Ride Along (as you'll soon discover), but it still captures the essence of Steel City Sunrise. The awesome combination of instruments shines through in this song when the ukulele is juxtaposed (shoutout to Barbra Reeves for that word) with the banjo between the soft, chill verses, the harder chorus, and when they finally break it down in between.
Ride Along (3:26)
Holy shit, Chainsaw kills it in this song at the Battle of the Bands. This is easily my favorite song of theirs. They have so much energy put into the track, and the catchy riffs help the crowd bring an even bigger amount of energy to the track. If you go to see Steel City Sunrise for one reason, make that reason this song. It's going to be their first single, so stay tuned for that one.
Pompeii (3:46)
Covering the famous Pompeii by Bastille, Steel City Sunrise shows their ability to add new flavor to a major hit. This cover adds so much folk sound to it with the banjo and turns a pop-rockish single into a classic ho-down jam band jam, and I think it's a very unique take on it. So far, every time they have played Pompeii, the crowd has gone wild. Keep the good covers coming.
Hypotheticals (3:24)
As per their request, I am including an additional song of theirs, named Hypotheticals. It deviates from their usual folky tune with a more jazzy/alternative style. It shows a lot of depth in the band's musical talent, and I can again attribute it to the band's unique instrumental combination that continues to surprise me how awesome it sounds together.
All in all, Steel City Sunrise is a talented group of guys with the potential to make it big. They have the passion, they have the commitment, and they seem to have the connections. The big question now is will they spread beyond the local Lehigh Valley. I certainly hope so. What did you think of Steel City Sunrise? Leave a comment below with your thoughts and with any suggestions of more underground talent that you think deserves the spotlight.
Welcome back to Musician Monday, where I bring out my inner hipster to highlight awesome music for you, my lovely readers, to have a listen. This week I want to talk a band that was quite underground when I found them back a few years ago, but now they have seen a recent jump in popularity despite not having all of their music on youtube. Named after a specific strain of LSD that was popular in the 60s and 70s, they return you, the listener, to the psychedelic feelings of that age with their airy instrumentals and upbeat vibes that characterized that age that defined my parents' generation. They have a very unique sound for our current age of hip hop and alternative/indie dominating the mainstream music segment. You guessed it; I'm talking about West Indian Girl.
West Indian Girl is a group from Los Angeles focused on the extra trippy side of trip-hop that began their journey in the early 2000s with their first album, which is self-titled. On there they featured the awesome vocals of Mariqueen Maandig, current singer of How to Destroy Angels, an equally underground band with a similar music style. She added amazing vocal riffs to Robert James's soft and dreamy lyrics, and I still think that album is their best stuff yet. After West Indian Girl they produced one more album with their old company, Astralwerks, called 4th & Wall. Both of these two first albums focus heavily on the psychedelic sound that defines the band so well. Their latest album, Shangri La, has a lot more jazzy and Indian feel to it while keeping the trip-hop undertones. This creates an even more unique style that I hope West Indian Girl will continue to utilize in their coming work. West Indian Girl is the perfect chill band; anytime I'd want to sit back and relax while watching the clouds float by, I would listen to them. Lets take a look at my favorite picks of West Indian Girl:
What Are You Afraid Of? (5:09)
The first song I heard by West Indian Girl is also my favorite song by the band. It's so upbeat and has a great message, why be afraid? The guitar is beautiful and the lyrics are light and fluffy, accenting their positive feelings and message. This is one song not to miss; it has brightened even some of my worst days so far and it has fantastic remixes too.
All My Friends (3:14)
From 4th & Wall, All My Friends is the perfect showcase of West Indian Girl's psychedelic roots through both instrumentals and lyrics. It has less energy than the other West Indian Girl songs, so it conveys the other side of getting high of the chill, social aspect of hanging with friends.
Hollywood (5:00)
From their first album, Hollywood continues the dreamy landscape-painting by describing Hollywood. Mixing impressive synth with airy vocals, West Indian Girl creates the classic idealized description of Hollywood that all wannabe stars imagine. Most pictures paint a thousand words. The words and lyrics in Hollywood paint one of the most vivid pictures imaginable.
Unfortunately, I could not locate a few of the songs I wanted to show (Under the Light and the rest of Shangri La to be specific) in an easy-to-view venue, so if you have Spotify the rest of West Indian Girl's discography is located there. What do you think of West Indian Girl? Let me know in the comments as well as any suggestions on what you want to be shown next.
Welcome back to Musician Monday! I know there hasn't been a post in a while; I've been on a very busy schedule that has just freed up as I have just finished both my latest round of Four O'Clock exams and my Phikeia Education to become a full member of the best fraternity ever, Phi Delta Theta. Now that I'm more free, expect some big things. This week I'm very excited to highlight my favorite modern indie female musician: St. Vincent!
She has one of the most beautiful voices I've heard in a while. It is very pure and full, and she uses it to full effect in the wide variety of songs that she plays. Half of the time St. Vincent sounds like a mother soothing her crying child and the rest of the time she sounds sultry and seductive. Its an awe-inspiring mix. Past her voice, St. Vincent is skilled at playing guitar, bass, keyboard, and (coolest of all) the theremin. For those who don't know what a theremin is, it is a device with two antennae; one controls volume and the other pitch. They both vary by the distance the artists hands are from the antennae. It's a freaky instrument that looks quite hard to play, but the sound is quite unique.
To mention St. Vincent would be "Cruel" without mentioning my favorite work by hers, Love this Giant. This album is a collaborative album between the lovely St. Vincent and Talking Heads singer David Byrne. This is where I first discovered St. Vincent, and for that I am truly thankful. She has also been in The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens' touring band until she launched her own career. Besides Love this Giant, she has produced four other studio albums, all of which being absolutely fantastic. My song picks for St. Vincent are as follows:
Ice Age (3:13)
This is the first song I heard by St. Vincent, on her collab with David Byrne. I love how progressive the theme in the song is. It starts low and builds in strength and energy as St. Vincent's voice gets louder and the whole thing climaxes in a beautiful cacophony. It's like a siren song, luring me into the rest of her works.
Cruel (3:35)
Wow, just wow. This song has a similar progression of buildup of energy to Ice Age, which is an indicator of why I love this song so much as well. The guitar line is beautiful as well; it's got that awesome whiny feel that grows into a scream that captivates the listener.
Dilettante (4:04)
Dilettante comes off of the same album as Cruel, Strange Mercy, and is the perfect example of St. Vincent's sultry, seductive voice emerging from within her and capturing your soul. This song has simple backing to the vocals, and I feel like this shows off the amazing vocals.
St. Vincent has plenty more awesome songs that I would feature, but I want to keep these posts to three songs, unless of course you'd like to see more. In that case let me know and I'll toy around with larger numbers. What do you think about St. Vincent? Let me know in the comments and leave me a message if you think there is someone I should feature on Musician Monday.
Welcome to the second edition of Musician Monday! This week I want to highlight a band that I rediscovered in the past week or so by looking through My List. Now for those who don't know, My List is an almost complete list of artists I need to download/relisten to at some point. Protip: make one of these, and every once in a while listen to random bands from it that you don't recognize. Not only will you have a wider variety of artists to listen to, but you may make a rediscovery like I did for this Musician Monday. Anyway, on to the music: Crash Kings.
If Jack White and Cold War Kids had a baby, Crash Kings would be that baby. Singer Antonio Beliveau uses the same energetic, somewhat screamy vocals as featured in Cold War Kids while the band as a whole adds a slightly jazzier tone that is prominent in Jack White's works. Also, the piano is very Raconteurs-ish, which is awesome in its own right. This creates a unique but familiar sound that anyone who is a fan of either artist will be able to easily transition into Crash Kings. They've been around since 2009 and only have two full albums so they are still on the rise. I could easily see them rising to the popularity levels of Cold War Kids. Let's take a look at some of their songs.
Mountain Men (3:17)
This is their most popular jam. Beliveau even has a bit of Jack White in his voice in this song too. It's not groundbreaking, but it's a very well done and catchy track that also happens to be my favorite song by them.
Hot Fire (3:44)
The first single of their latest album is exactly how the title says it is; "Hot Fire". Featuring intense bass lines in the chorus and the ever-awesome vocals, Hot Fire definitely represents the new album well. If you listen carefully to this album, you can even hear some influences from more classic rock legends like Aerosmith.
It's Only Wednesday(3:04)
It's Only Wednesday features a great piano harmony that backs an even greater vocal melody. It's my second favorite song by them, and it's easily their catchiest track. It's even more remarkable that they executed this song so well because it takes their harsher more rocking side and softens it to make it much more alternative and jazzy.
What's even more awesome is that this is just the tip of the Crash Kings iceberg. Despite having only two albums, they are so densely packed with quality tracks that you should have plenty of good music to rock out to until next Musician Monday. So what'd you think? Let me know what your opinion on Crash Kings in the comments and if you have any suggestions on future Musicians for Musician Monday, send an email, leave a comment, or message me on Facebook.
Welcome to the first post of New Sightings, a weekly series where I show off an underground artist thats just starting out/is on the rise. How is this different from Musician Monday, Dan? Well my lovely reader, I can answer that question pretty easily if you'll just read the next sentence. Musician Monday highlights already established artists that have a large following anyway; they just aren't mainstream. New Sightings reveals artists that don't have a huge following yet but should be. They usually are pretty local bands to their start and they may have an EP or two, but they aren't established. Now that I've made this distinction pretty clear, lets get on to some real content.
I am so glad that I can be writing this blog post right now about the artist I'm highlighting today. I remember when one of my best childhood friends first started calling himself "Craft Monroe" freshman year of high school. We all thought he was ridiculous that Mike gave himself his own nickname, but this new identity was the beginning of something new, something big. Junior year rolls around, and Mike starts rapping under the name "Craft Monroe". he released his first mixtape with his good friend Kace Monroe called Known By Midterms. I got one of the first hard copies and immediately put it in my disc drive in the car to give it a listen. It was your classic white kid trying out rapping style with the lyrics written during math class rapped over his favorite instrumentals from other rap songs. The Monroes made one more mixtape with a similar style called Rich By Finals. Known By Midterms and Rich By Finals had a homegrown sound, but our high school loved it, me included. Even more impressive, it was nothing compared to what Mike is up to now, but it was his first recorded stuff. Everyone's gotta start somewhere.
Now Craft Monroe is flying solo and he has upped the game. While solo, he has dropped a mixtape called Lost in the Deku Tree that got 10K downloads in a week before being taken down by the music sharing website (shall not be named) for reasons I can only assume being that it was too damn awesome. Rumors are one can still find it online if one searches hard enough. Now Monroe is signed to Paradigm Records, which is a brand new partner to Universal Records. With Paradigm and Universal, he'll be releasing his first studio album called CRAFT this summer along with a mixtape called Junk Food & Cat Naps. Be excited for this guy; Craft Monroe is gonna make it big, and I'm not just saying that cause he's one of my best friends.
Here are my picks for songs you should listen to:
Roger That (3:28)
Mike says he cringes every time he hears this, but honestly it's the most important thing he's written in my eyes. This was his first song he has shown off to the world and it definitely gave him the boost to continue his passion for rapping. Like I said, everyone's gotta start somewhere.
Ferrari (4:18)
I don't have a link to this cause it's on Lost in the Deku Tree, but if you can find it, listen to it. Even though it has a more upbeat beat, don't be fooled; the lyrics are really heavy. It pretty much sums up how and why he got into rapping and how he's staying in. Probably my favorite song so far.
Horrorcore (4:08)
Craft's latest single from his upcoming album CRAFT definitely has an overall darker tone. It's got the classic rap themes and has a great beat. If this is what we are looking forward to for the rest of the album, I'll be very interested to see how he makes it.
Overall, Craft Monroe looks like your average white kid with an affinity for rap music. Deeper down, he's a lyrically blessed dude that has a good taste in music and is doing big things. What do you think? Let me know in the comments your opinion as well as anyone else you think deserves a spotlight on New Sightings.
