The ongoing rants of one man out to introduce the world to the tunes that inhabit the space inside of that region known as his mind a collection of the songs that have shaped his day, his Song of the Day.
So this is a leftover from my year end list that I couldn't really put onto the list proper due to the whole 5 songs working with the week strategy the best and the song coming out in 2018 but I don't know when exactly but regardless the tone of this was it suppose to be on the list proper but it wasn't so I guess you could say it's a spot number 6 also I got distracted with the holiday's which is why this is such a late post and I'm also not likely to be doing any posting on here until sometime around mid January or late February or whenever things calm down and I can get a back catalog of tunes to say something about.
So with that Happy New year and here's to new beginnings and not making resolutions because fuck that always look to improve your dumb ass so see ya...
Hershey Kess – Group X-Arabian Rap Sensation
I never talk about this because it's beyond subjective but I really have this weird fascination with this comedy rap group that hadn't put out an album in 18 years that I'd discovered in my shitty teenage pirating day's of flash videos and questionable downloading sites and if there was a group that has stuck through with me more than any group ever should it'd be these bunch of knuckleheads.
These guy's are the most bare bone rap act you'd ever listened to they use unapologetic-ally minimal bass and drum instrumentals that recycle the same melody every single song, their flows are kind of sloppily done but stick very tried and true to the joke they are making, and while their return of peppermint joe album actually has some legitimately impressively improved flows from one Hashmeer Shashmeer this isn't music you take seriously in the slightest and in all honesty their joke was worn thin back in 2000 but even with that in mind I just after all these years find this stuff to be just absolutely fantastically stupid the one minute segments in this album “Poisoned my poodle,” and “It iz poodle,” are some impressively catchy bits of sound but the track that took me by the most surprise this whole year was probably the topic of this article, “Hershey Kess.”
This is Shashmeer's best flow ever this song is an awkwardly confidently delivered bit of stupid that is held up by an infectiously simple and catchy bass line and some drum work that feels like this band forgot to be a joke for all of 2 minutes and actually deliver something that in all honesty is about as juvenile as some more legitimate acts have made but rather than the joke being just how bad those acts are you're instead chuckling at how well these guy's are delivering a tune about what I'd presume is analangus.
This song and group aren't for anyone beyond those with some warped sense of humor that see this as less a racist stereotype and more a kind of wonderfully absurdest take on hip hop from a group of individuals taking the joke and running as far with it as they physically can.
If you have the time and ability to listen to something dumb for more than an hour I'd actually advise you go stream this record sometime it's the best thing they ever put out in terms of finally having some musical talent.
Also while this album came out in 2018 these guy's really didn't do much promotion until this year and since I'm running this site fuck ya'll i'm a talk about one of my favorite terrible bands.
For the record I don't think the phrase OPE! hasn't really been an actual thing until the last few years people just act as if they've done it forever like Elf on a shelf or gender reveal parties there's some weird group think mentality that is forcing a fake sense of nostalgia on something that never really was a thing and it's especially a thing here in the Midwest considering we don't have much to get hype about when the thing most often coming from here are basic white folk and racist pieces of shit which I know someone out there is asking what's the difference to which i respond....uh....
SO one year ago today I announced the end of Song of the Day and in one years time things honestly didn't change in terms of the worlds impact at the leaving of my blog life went on and a lot of local acts I covered broke up, went into hiding, or just kind of been stalled out with a couple deciding to really hit the grind and as for the national music scene....it's a thing but this isn't really about all of that instead we have a case of what am I gonna do with this project.
I am starting to think that the hosting site for this has deleted some of the post I've made on here without warning due to something likely covered in the fine print that I didn't notice which is kind of shitty but when you don't post on here for around a year you kind of can't complain too much but with that in mind I'm just posting on here to say that while I'm here and I've made a post I can't one hundred percent say that Song of the Day is completely back because I still need to redefine what I am writing about and I'd kind of prefer this thing move onto a more creator controlled medium with possibly a group of people to help with the load which would mean leaving this medium and moving onto another platform but that's kind of dependent on a host of factors that need an effort to be made to actually do something.
Those things are irrelevant right now because it's Christmas eve and I got shit to do so I just wanted all of you to know there's gonna be one kind of lost in the shuffle post I was going to put on the year end list but it couldn't be included because a top 5 made more logistical sense in the week structure I use on here and the song covered came out in some mystery point in 2018 so yeah that's a thing but with that in mind happy holiday's, stay tuned for that post a little later today, and see ya'll next year when I try to go through a back catalog of cool songs you need to hear.
I literally knew from the first chord of this song that it was going to be a phenomenal piece of art that would blow my fucking mind and Jesus fucking Christ did it ever.
I'm not fucking joking I literally heard that bass line and a shiver went down my fucking spine and I said holy shit this is gonna blow my fucking mind and yes it did.
This is the best song of 2019.
I could end it there I really could but these guy's deserve to have way more said about them that what is out there because they are without a doubt one of the best groups out there and ever since they decided to regroup, sober up, and refocus their lives and career they've managed to pump out the best album of the year and one of the best songs of the 2010's.
This song like all of the songs I've mentioned on this list is fairly simple and straightforward lyrical tale of the struggles of getting over seeing something you loved get over you but still being stuck in this fantasy that you're still together and if I'd not of been dating someone this year then this album as a whole would have hit me extra hard because this song just kind of encapsulates that weird awkward feeling of isolated loneliness and escapism that I'd gone through in the process of dealing with depression, sobriety, and anxiety alone you just kind of want to curl away and live in a fantasy of what could have been but never will be.
I never can truly tell these guy's in person just how important they have been in those awkward transitional phases to me weather it's going through a break up with a former lover or drinking they've managed to make the last few years a little less painful and reaffirm my adoration for punk and music as a whole and after getting to tell them an idea of just how fantastic this song is to me I kind of had to say something.
Thank you this song made me make this series of post and write something again they are truly the best and deserve to be told such.
“I'm a Scrawny mother fucker with a cool hairstyle.”
You know it takes a certain level of UN-ironic confidence to do a line like that and not sound like a try-hard fuck face and these guy's managed to do that and be one of the few new bands I've heard about that people actually listen to and while their album kind of has a bit too many songs that sound the exact same this song is a fucking exceptional cut that brings a certain energy that I often feel is lacking in a lot of the more electronic heavy down tuned offerings I hear blaring out of most alternative stations I find myself listening to for more than 10 minutes at a time these day's and considering I like my rock to be a more guitar driven affair with a lot of punch to hear a newer act make a tune that is both of those things of course I'm going to be pretty happy.
These guy's aren't reinventing the wheel and if I were to be honest with you this is essentially a vampire weekend tune if vampire weekend didn't suck ass and the fact that it's not in every teenage coming of age movie trailer from here to infinity is nice because this song is one of the few bits of spontaneously energetic Indy rock that's managed to not make me roll my eyes.
These guy's are cool and I hope they don't have the same scenario as the 1975 where teenagers make a bigger deal of them than they need and turn their shows into a hodgepodge of annoying ass screaming fan girls reminding me that I'm too fucking old for this shit.
I saw these guy's play an almost completely packed venue in the release for their EP “The Darnedest Things,” and it blew my fucking mind to see these guy's truly get a reception that showed that they are something worth giving a fuck about and that view of them on that stage looking out in a stuffed room playing these songs that spoke to an entire room of people in such a way that I'm not sure they knew would happen made me feel like a dad looking at their child accomplish something they never thought they could do even if I kind of really didn't actively do much of anything for these guy's really it was one of the last times I can immediately think of that has truly stuck with me in terms of show's I've attended.
This song is a blast of early 90's alternative rock aesthetics with some echoing guitar work, a fantastic pacing, and George doing a vocal performance that sends a shiver down my spine because there's just this weird sense I get that this guy finally found his voice and the line, “To Be a fucking weirdo ALL THE TIME!” is just absolutely perfect just a casually expressed cooler than cool delivery that's just so effortlessly done that I'm at a loss for words really.
These guy's go their shit together way better than I do that's for fucking sure and you better see them whenever the fuck you can because I got a good feeling about them especially if they can keep on making stuff this fantastic.
I saw these handsome son's of bitches
just before I started seeing my current girlfriend.
There's no purpose for that statement I
just think it's kind of funny also I remember them playing this song
at that show and months later it did this weird thing for me where it
dropped, I listened to it, thought it was fantastic, forgot about it,
heard it again, and now I can't help but not jam to this summery
little tune.
These guy's are another pop punk kind
of emo group that make the catchiest most easily sing along session
ready tunes you'd ever heard in your entire fucking life and the fact
that they got a pretty devoted local following should come as no
surprise because they know what the fuck they're doing they're just
in need of everyone else coming to realize these bright airy tunes
are what they need in their lives.
This song is subtle it gently lulls you
in before busting out a very energetic and dreamy chorus that makes
you think of riding the bike along a coast line during the summer as
you see a very attractive girl in a sundress walking by and as she
gives you the sweetest smile you've ever seen in your entire fucking
life you're then transported to this cloud like state of euphoria
that you didn't know could exist nor do you ever want it to go away.
If you haven't felt that feeling then
listen to this song, get that feeling, see these guy's live, get your
fucking mind blown, awkwardly hit on a girl, and live your best
fucking life supporting people making great stuff ya fucking asshole.
Yeah that's pretty accurate because I just did not fucking try this year I gave myself a send off of epic proportions and then just been blaring the same things all year so with that in mind there had to be some fantastic things that came out right?
Well yeah and here's the tracks that I personally felt something listening to and remember actively listening to quite a bit in what is some form of an order that while not defined (Minus number 1) should serve as a means of giving this pre-christmas week something else to look forward to so let's fucking do this:
5. Nervous – The Fiction Department
You know when a band does one show a
year and that show happen to be for you?
Well when a band does one show a year and that show happen to be for you, you best god damn believe you
listen to the music they put out especially when it happens to
trickle out at a rate similar to your last few years of being a music
blog and that's what these guy's did when they dropped this demo on
the same day that my end of the day show was suppose to happen and
here we are a little less than a year later and yeah it's a pretty
deep hitting tune for me.
These guy's are modern American Emo
through and through a bunch of young guy's that write some fairly
simple heart on your sleeve tunes that won't be winning any awards
any day soon but they speak to a primal sense of dread that even my
old ass can't help but feel attached to especially when the line,
“Convince myself THIS IS RIGHT WHERE I BELONG!” that shit rings
true people especially when you decide to throw all your past efforts
into a wood chipper and burn it all up, and there's all the weird
personal attachments for me because these guy's really have a lot
that they can do they just seem to be at an awkward place a lot like
myself and it's weird to sit back and listen to this tune and not
feel like it hits closer to home than I think these guy's intended on
it doing.
Yeah this song is a fantastic bit of
emotionally tinged I need purpose in my life pop punk and you don't
need to be a shitty teenager to feel the appeal that's for fucking
sure so go listen to this fucking song and pester the shit out of
this band and convince them to start playing shows again.
Life has a weird way of making you have to reassess it all whenever you decide to quit things and that's where I am with this whole writing thing. I basically had a host of anxiety and depression lead me to have to end a thing I was doing because the lack of proper fulfillment was a real son of a bitch and a half that's for sure and after being such a narcissist that had to end his personal project in a the most self fulfilling way that was throwing a show completely on my own dime with enough people awkwardly patting me on the back for what I kind of wasn't sure was really all that special I was kind of left in an awkward state of being relieved that I wasn't trying to write something substantial anymore but at the same time crushed in the knowledge that I had completely lost a personal connection to listening to music or going to shows so much so to a point that I may have grown to personally detest going out and listening to live music in general.
I have nothing to really add to the discourse and nobody around me has any essence of an idea of what I am trying to express in this passion of listening so many individuals are just overly dismissive or numbed to a point of just making a meme out of it all that I don't honestly see a fucking point to even trying to do this thing anymore that's kind of why I just ended up taking my ball and fucking going home there was no reason for me to even put an effort in anymore.
The thing about life is that it goes on and even if I'm not covering things there's places and people who are doing things there's local podcast doing their thing to expose local acts who are putting out great stuff and there's plenty of online critics gaining headway in some capacity and I get this feeling the sonic landscape has changed....the only thing that doesn't change is every dickhead that want's to tell me that it's alright to like what you like because we all have different taste to which I say with the most gleeful expressiveness I can conjure up to shut the fuck up, let people who know some iota of what they're talking about do the discussions, or at the very fucking least provide an interesting point that's not you just being an internet troll otherwise I kind of don't really care to deal with those things in my life I'm getting on in years and I already deal with my fair share of dumb non-intellectually stimulating discussions on the daily.
Unlike politics entertainment has a certain aspect to it where you can disagree and argue but you're not actively putting the lives of millions at risk for thinking some band/film/video game/ect. Are good, great, shit, or trash you're just simply expressing some level of passionate discourse that helps provide some sense of purpose in giving a flying fuck all about these things and a the end of the day we all need some sense of worth and validation otherwise we're just shell's walking on by listening to fluff.
I don't have anything to achieve anymore so fuck it let's just say something ya bunch of fucking assholes strap on in and give me something to talk about otherwise it's not like I ain't use to nobody paying attention to me anyways.
Mark your calendars Monday December 16th 2019 I got some stuff to cover more specifically the best of this quiet year.
Well it happened folks the showcase to end all showcases Song of the day is officially done and last night after much delay due to mother nature not being able to accept the fact of the matter I had the farewell show happen over at Minibar KC.
It was a hell of a showcasing of 3 exceptionally good acts starting with the Fiction Department finally coming out of hiding to rip through a well balanced host of what I feel could be the signs of the next great American emo band from the rip roaring "20 Minutes," to the debut of their exceptional "Nervous," these guy's really put forth a fantastic effort.
Following them in an incredibly timely and efficient matter was The UK's who fucking tore the god damn house down with a well crafted set of mostly newer jams that have really come into their own and become a whole other beast of their own from the fantastic cuts off their newest release American Way of Death to some newer cuts my favorite being Motor City Blackout which is this fucking fantastic rocker of a track that I'm sure will be a fucking banger when they release it sometime in the next century and a half be sure to be on the lookout for that when you can because it's fucking tight.
After that whirlwind of awesome you're wondering what could possibly come next well then we have the Saints of St. Joseph, the men, the myth's, THE LEGENDS OF MODERN DAY Scruffy and "THE MOTHER FUCKING!" Janitors who to put it bluntly brought this to the best kind of finish playing through a host of some of Modeling is Hard's best cuts as well as a new tune that fucking killed it these guy's proved just why they had to headline this bitch for sure.
This night was a weird experience for me because that's it I'm fucking done with this little website of mine and the whole concept of writing a song of the day and looking at this footage it's strange because ever since announcing this I've been asked by a host of people what is next and that I can't really answer for ya I got 9 years of post to use for a resume if I wanted to and maybe if I'd of played my cards a lot better I could be doing some part time work or something but in the process of setting up this show and figuring out how to end this blog I just kind of needed to step away from that and reconsider things and what I can do with my creative energy.
If there's one thing I really can say it's that this night humbled the ever loving fuck outta me because as I'm writing this I'm still having a difficult time coming to grips with the fact that this actually happened like I can watch the videos that I recorded and hear my awful singing along to all of these tracks but it's hard to really grasp the fact that it all happened just because I didn't want this bastard to just die the way as all pet projects with nothing more than a written farewell.
At this point I've said most that I needed to say in regards to the state of Sam's Song of the Day and I just wanted to do one last post to commemorate the end show thanks to everyone who read the years of post and to anyone wanting to know what's next give me a while and I'll be up to something all of the love I have gotten is more than I could honestly ever expect to be deserving of and from the folks at x105.1 shouting out the show twice, to the various bands expressing their appreciation for the nice words, to the bands who played all of the show's I've put together, and of course to all of the people who've ever read song of the day and thought, "You know that is a pretty good fucking song," I thank you all for making this worth it.
You know world I'm an incredibly bitter person that seemingly hates anything and everything that makes people happy if you were to ask the various people I work with because if I'm to be honest with you I don't much care for things that are fake and disingenuous to me which is why I most often express that these things people like are trash like country music or the topic of this article Love Songs.
You know as well as I know Sam's Song of the Day is coming to an end and with that path of self wanking that is my series of ending articles I'm taking the time to go back over all the topics, songs, and what-not to kind of put 9 years of bullshit into perspective and really come to end this thing on an honest note and in the years I've been doing this there's an article I wrote back in 2015 about my top 5 love songs of all time (Original Post) and while at work talking mad shit to my coworkers about how people don't just want songs that make them happy or that make them feel good I thought about this article and figured since the end is after Valentines that it'd be about the best time to go back and look at that list and kind of react to it in a way.
Looking at it in retrospect after the relationship I was in at the time came to an amicable if not bitter end for me at least and as of the time of this writing I've been getting over yet another failed relationship you can only imagine that I'm most certainly not feeling the love these day's and that's just it I can't help but wonder to myself why does that particular article stick with me so much then so I did what anybody would do I read the mother fucker and in the process of going over the list and for the most part still believing it I was taken back by the post I'd linked to from 2011 where I coincidentally wrote about a person that very much affected my thoughts on romance in such a way that it's crazy to think I was able to realize then that I had desperately needed to move on and the fact that I'd had a guest spot from the guy who fucked that up from me is just a hair funny in a god damn it kill me now kind of way.
SO what is it that I got 8 fucking years ago that sticks with me so much today I'm a grown up now that persons moved on, the guy who contributed unfriended me YEARS ago, and I've all but abandoned the whole not revealing more information about myself that what be necessary because I guess it's just some overall lack of fucks that come with the territory of needing to paint the necessary picture when trying to give you the reader an idea into the mindset it takes for me to come up with these types of pieces.
What the fuck does any of this have to do with love songs? Well here's the deal I still after all these years still have people tell me that I seem to lack the ability to be happy or understand what a god damn love song is and that's fucking wrong because I've written about it multiple times and the string of telling people that the root of all quality music isn't what makes us happy and feel good but rather to understand a complex series of emotions far beyond happiness is truly what qualifies a good song in comparison to a terrible tune in the opinion of a guy that's spent 9 fucking years trying to describe to people these things is rather annoying and in the process of proving this point I'm going to look at the most basic of songs and explain to you what really is a good love song.
First off I literally wrote about it already looking back that top 5 list is still pretty accurate for the most part and reading over all the post on it I kind of concluded that it's more than happiness that need be encapsulated in the best of these tunes but rather the full spectrum of emotions you don't want emotionless overwrought tripe like Justin Timberlakes Mirrors that's a shit song that tries too damn hard to not look like a shameless cash grab of a track from a former boy band extra that lucked out and figured out how to do a discount MJ but with all the sanitized whiteness on 11.
Love isn't sitting on the side of a mountain exclaiming to the world that the super model you banged last night is the pride and joy of your life ala insert 80's hair metal band's mandatory second single ballad no those coke fueled romps of trying to let a stripper give you a special slip of the tongue in the area's you're too ashamed to tell your band mates you enjoy having done to you isn't the foundation of a good love song it's yet more fake ass garbage that leads me to write such mean stuff as such, it's not a matter of trying to be something more than you really are but rather you need to present a certain level of honesty that for me at the very least has only really been done on a handful of occasions.
Yeah I'll say there's a few more tunes since I originally visited this topic that can bring a certain warm feeling like Kimbra's, “Two Way Street,” (Song here) but in all honesty as much a lovely and warm fuzzy filled jam as it is that's a song that for me at least could be amplified by the fact that for lack of a more tactful way to put it is done by my forever number 1 celebrity crush and as great and genuine a musician she is and as ethereal her performance is on that track it's still kind of the required ballad in a way and while it's a damn great one it doesn't quite reach that level of being what I think of when I think of a love song.
Being that I live in Kansas City Missouri I'm also inclined to mention a little ol' group known as the Greeting Committee and their breakthrough track, “Hands Down,” (Song Here) which I truly believe could very well have been the next great modern love song it's a simple tune by a group of kids still trying to figure out this whole being a rock star thing and it's under produced aesthetic and genuinely amateur lyrics give you this idea that they didn't know just what they were doing instead they just felt like doing whatever they felt like and for the most part this song has resulted in some truly outstanding times especially when you yell 1,2,3 for Brandon, but even with that in mind this song has an unfortunate stigma to it because aside from this paragraph and when I saw these guy's perform for a sold out crowd I don't willingly listen to this song because for lack of a more tactful way to say it 96.5 the Buzz overplayed this song to a point of no return and turned what once was a lovely track into an eye roll and a station change.
That song is still a good song and it has a host of great memories I wouldn't give up for all the riches in the world and I truly love the fact that the Greeting Committee are a thing they deserve it for being good people who made a band and did something but that song is the past and they've moved on from it and are in a better place and I don't mind that because well that's every failed relationship in a nutshell you loved it once but you don't anymore and you have to separate yourself from that because clinging onto those memories does more damages than you need to do to yourself and the only way to still feel the good is to just move on, and as far as I'm concerned when a song makes you feel like you're getting over a break up that doesn't really qualify it to be a great love song now does it?
So OK you're aware that there's good love songs and there's bad ones and you got an idea of some songs that I think get close but why they fail what is the best love song, what do I Sam consider the best love song of all time? And most importantly WHAT IN THE FUCK MAKES IT SO GOD DAMN GOOD? Well if you didn't read any of the links I left in this article nor have you been a follower of Sam's Song of the Day for these 9 years let's finally get to the fucking point just like I said all those years back this song right here is the best love song of all time give it a listen then continue reading because in order for it all to make sense you have to hear this song, form and opinion, and then proceed to have me explain to you my opinion I hope that was clear and you just haven't skipped over all the wall's of text leading up to this part of the article.
Love is a complicated emotion that brings upon it a certain level of anxiety that constantly leaves you on the edge wondering if it's all worth it at the end of the day, when you are starting a relationship or establishing something with someone you'll constantly be in this mental bind of trying to figure it all out you'll obsess and constantly worry if your next move could end it all you'll get to a point where you obsess over them and have a difficult time imagining what life without them.
It's an anxious ugly feeling of wonder where you and another person can't possibly believe that someone so seemingly beautiful and perfect could enter your life you'll put them through a series of test and you'll act in such a way that makes you wonder what in the actual fuck is wrong with you a certain cheeky sense of wonder and playfulness that's constantly testing the waters of the person in question to ultimately answer this nagging question so perfectly stated at the very end ever so abruptly, “the question is do you?”
Genius borders on 2 and a half minutes it's a statement I made up a long ass fucking time ago and it's been my biggest takeaway from all of the songs I've ever enjoyed in life while a complex musical arrangement that takes the time to really make a listener think and truly find more and more to any given piece of art sometimes in life you gotta just fucking cut to the god damn point this is that it's not a happy song it's anxiety personified Brian Molko and company are leading up every scenario with this nagging question of whether or not they want to say I do he hit the nail on the head bringing forth the fact that things are a total fucking mystery and you're never quite the same person when you're in or done with a relationship it changes your life forever I've been in love I've asked that question do I wanna be with this person for the rest of my life to which all of them decided to answer that for me and for those not in the know they all said no and yes that shit fucking hurt.
I'm not the happiest person in the world that's very true but just because I am that way doesn't mean that I don't feel happy ever and the thing is what I want in a love song isn't just an artificial level of happiness that gives a fake feeling of joy but rather a tune that is kind of weird, ugly, a bit on the simple side but with an understated level of complexity that isn't immediately apparent on first listen I want a non traditional take on things that gives just the right amount of information to get you wanting to hear more just to see what you missed the first time and this song does that in a way most other songs of its nature doesn't.
I don't want happy and upbeat that isn't a good song what I and many other people want is to have all of our emotions satisfied in a way that brings a certain level of comfort and reliability and sometimes you don't know these things unless somebody introduces them to you I've always had an interest in telling people about songs I think are good because things like this wouldn't have ever of been found if I didn't hear something ask the question of who or what and then went on to give it a chance what my thing with this is I was tired of seeing the same meaningless garbage getting shared over and over again because people are machines that don't want to experience something new but rather they want to hear the same garbage over and over so I tried to fix that by telling people about a new song every day because maybe just maybe somebody was going to hear it and have the same experience I did because all it took for me to discover this band was hearing one of their tracks on a cassette tape to get me to eventually listen to their catalog of material and become a life long fan.
The first person I ever fell in love with I showed her this band and her expression of wonder and amazement was something I can't put into words she was the first person I ever felt truly felt the same thing I did and I've yet to ever have that level of closeness again but I know deep down inside it's out there somewhere and that person is a thing of the past kind of like the only other woman who told me outright start a blog already and buy a copy of Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd the memories are there but the people are long gone and time has taught me that it's not the end of the world that they're gone and have moved on with their existence and like I told myself 8 years ago it's time I about do the same thing I'll admit I feel like I am going a bit overboard with my ending this little old blog of mine and the whole throwing myself a show thing but you know what I have to let it end with something because I need some validation for all the efforts I ever put into doing this so I can know that moving on was the best decision.
Catharsis, the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions that's what this piece is that is the best love song all time it's not spilling your guts, it's not screaming on a mountain top, and it's not saying that the other person is your one and only it's saying that somebody is a certain level of discomfort and wonder that you can't possibly come to understand on your own and you want them to help you come to make sense of it all and possibly be with them for the rest of your life it's more than happiness it's a cathartic release you chose to share with the world and hope that they feel the same.
Sam's Song of the Day was my catharsis and it's been a fun 9 years but this relationship is over and I'm going out in style so wont you join me in letting me know that I can do this?
I remember a long time ago I was at a show at Minibar and I was talking to one of the local DJ's of the newest alternative music station here in Kansas City and I remember telling him my odd theory in regards to the most likely end result of modern music consumption habits within the next 50 years and him only ever referring to local music as “regional music,” and at the time I was sure it was something he'd been told by an A&R executive from one of the many nation wide studios he was apart of and in the process of trying to come up with something to write about the end of day's headliner that conversation still seems to be present for me and I'll expand upon that in a bit but first let's get to talking about Scruffy and the Janitors as a group.
Kind of like The UK's what we have here is a band that's an end product of the garage rock explosion of the early 00's and if I were to simplify these guy's I'd say they're a lot like Cage the Elephant in that they are this kind of dirty mix of blues and punk that's an unapologetic roughhousing track after track after track with their first Major EP Anglo being chocked full of them from the scorching opening track, "Ms. Crucio," and the popular, "Dirtleg," these guy's were a very no nonsense group of mother fuckers that made music that was very invested in it's roots and unwilling to compromise.
Now fast forward 4 years and a host of life changes then we get to Scruffy of today no longer willing to flesh out their set with Cage the Elephant covers they put those years of relentless touring to use and put out Modeling is Hard my favorite album of last year and what is it that made it that way for me?
Well let's go back to the idea of “Regional Music” for a second and kind of take that into consideration when talking about Scruffy because what they are at the end of the day are 3 guy's from St. Joseph Missouri all in their early to mid 20's trying to make it in a world that's unlike that which their parents lived in a town that I can describe as a city with a small town vibe to it's locals because if you ever see these guy's in their hometown you have a very communal experience of a lot of their closest acquaintances rocking out to a local act, singing along every word, and partying it up like it's their last night on earth because for them it's like a means to kind of escape their small town and partake in something larger than the sum of it's parts and it's that effort that kind of seeps through all of Modeling is Hard it's an album that is starting to move away from the more overt Cage the Elephant tones of a tune like, "Dirtleg," and instead you get a wide variety of sounds from the angry punkish tunes like "The Spins," and "You got hit," the slower more melancholic "Carry Me home," the psychedelic combo of, "Feelings," and "Elephant," and of course the outstanding title track this album reeks of a bunch of guy's that are doing their thing to not only make their own but give a voice to their community of hard working individuals looking to make something out of nothing and this record really brings forth those feelings especially for someone like me that's spent a good chunk of time following these guy's around, talking with them, and kind of inching my way into their community even if I still feel like an outsider looking in.
I can't really overstate just how much this collection of tracks knocks it out of the fucking park people "Flesh and Bone," and "Modeling is Hard," are some of my most listened to tracks last year and they are just some outstanding rift filled rockers that leave me screaming along and banging my head and the combo of "Feelings," into "Elephant," is something to behold whenever they close a set with it just this intense acid trip of a pairing that is like that scene in Dumbo where the elephants are all trippy and cool before things get heavy and fucked up and you find yourself screaming, “FUCK FUCK FUCK,” at the top of your lungs it's quite a god damn hell of a time only to then start all over again depending on how you're listening to this album.
On a more personal note this record is one of those few I've heard in a long time that seemed to fit in a certain place for me that also oddly enough lined up with this story I'd been writing for quite some time as I listened to it I was able to imagine these host of made up characters having intense moments of confrontation to the various tracks of this album and when I hear those songs I just want to put them in motion in some sort of visual fashion so in helping me achieve a goal I've always wanted I can also showcase respect and perspective for a piece of work I find very near and dear and a group of people who I have a lot of respect for their addition to the craft, but alas all I really could do for this project is give it my #1 and 2 year end spots respectively and while that's something that garnered me a whole lot of views I'm not a hundred percent sure if it's even a fraction of a way to explain why you should feel the same way about this collection of tunes and group as I do.
I mean you can go see them on Saturday with me that's a thing that'd be appreciated all around because trust me it'll be a thing for sure and just the way to go out.
Thanks for reading about the 3 chosen acts for my farewell to this blog they're 3 groups of hardworking individuals that I expect to go somewhere in due time and you should come and appreciate them with me because if I'd waited any longer then I wouldn't of been able to have the ability to book them because big things are going to come I can guarantee that for sure.
Oh and on one last note stay tuned for this Valentines day for the last big piece of this website and if a few non-writing related things can fall in place for me I should have something special for after the show but until then have a wonderful day and listen to all these fucking bands!
9 years it's been 9 years since I started Sam's Song of the Day on the Smashing Pumpkins Forums and to think in 8 day's it's all going to be over and done with and that's got me thinking a lot these day's because the anxiety and depression that comes with these things is fucking real people.
This has been quite a wild ride of spending years posting a shit ton of late night random thoughts, trying to come up with a host of songs for various list, telling as many people possible about what I've been doing, and of course 2 house show's that were quite a fucking time and in that time I've done my best to come up with a host of good finishing articles that are to come in the next week where I'll hopefully get a post about Scruffy and the Janitors on Monday and a big Valentines post that is going to be a trip for whoever decides to read.
That's the future though let's talk about now and then because today is SOTD's birthday and while I could post the same song I've been posting the past few years I figured I'd do something different and make note of something else coming to an end.
There's a band I reviewed on here called Goodbye Gravity and they're throwing a farewell show of their own tomorrow and with the ever looming possibility that I won't be able to see their show I figured the next best thing would be to be able to tell you guy's about it and post a song that feels appropriate in a large way to myself and them as a whole and that's their song Strings.
So before I get too into things I can't lie after rediscovering their release Sunday Matinee I can't deny that this group sounds like this old Emo band I love called Nightmare of You and other local KC act Pink Royal had some odd love child which isn't a bad thing because when the songs are just as solidly good as these guy's had a habit of making I don't mind that one bit and that EP has a host of tracks that kind of have a good alternative tone to them that's very reminiscent of that pre-indie douche period where everybody wanted to be Mumford and Sons and actually plugged their guitars in and rocked the fucking house and of all the tunes that I think best showcase this for these guy's it's probably this appropriately themed closing track.
Lyrically this song is a farewell to day's gone by and yet it's also a hopeful view forward into a world of infinite possibilities and things to come and their exclamation of how they, “Found themselves a better roll,” is just so fucking fantastic it's like they wanted to make the best set closer in existence and they not only managed to do that but also made a tune that they better end their time as a band with because that reality is even more so now than I think they ever intended.
It's a shame that life leads us all to a path that requires we end the things we love but at the very least we could leave a soundtrack to eventually go back and enjoy what once was.
Happy Birthday Sam's Song of the Day it's been great so stay tuned because the 16th is going to be special.
So The Uk's are a band I've covered quite a bit on here and actually had play at my house 2 times for my own little birthday bash so to get them on this bill was a no brainer if I'm going to be honest with you guy's although in all these years I don't exactly know if I've given them the credit they deserve to explain why they are in such an important spot in the ending day's of Sam's Song of the Day so let's take a second to just kind of look at this band.
If I were to describe this band in a very simple way I'd say they're a product of the post 2000's garage rock explosion that occurred considering they're about the first wave of young musicians that you can clearly hear the influences of bands like The Black Keys, Cage the Elephant, and most prominently The White Stripes this group uses a lot of low end recording qualities to pump out these blues fueled rockers of tunes that take you in a time machine of sorts but with enough modern sensibilities to keep things up to date and relevant for the modern listener which is good because there's a reason those influential acts were such although somethings occurred for these guy's that I've been trying to properly articulate in the build up to this final showcasing for SOTD and it's sitting here playing Tetris Effects listening to their entire currently available discography on Spotify that things become a bit more clear for me.
Waxwings, Losing teeth, and Bad Seed you listen to these tracks and the Jack White influences are strong as fuck these strong kind of throwback rockers of tracks that are just these bombastic shots of energy and rock that showcase a bunch of hungry musicians that plug their shit in for a reason they rock and that's the point but you can't help but hear them and rock out but there's a certain sense of they got a way's to go and I remember feeling that for a while until their most recent project American Way Of Death came out.
Why Don't You go it's yet another rocker of a track but there's something different in it that you can clearly hear in comparison to all of Bad Seed in that the band had some lineup changes and went on a pretty extensive series of tours to then go back into the studio and pump out a project on their own and the fact that the EP this song is on is about half the tracks shows that they've now decided to take things in a less bombastic direction and it shows because this song is a slower paced cut that has a lot of the familiar elements you'd expect from these guy's but they're presented in a slower paced cut that feels a bit more substantial in a way.
That's the EP as a whole really yes Wake Up and Poison Squad do still showcase a very Jack White approach to Rock and Roll but then you hear AWOD....and yeah these guy's are a fucking thing.
I've explained to one Noah Bartelt but this may in fact be the best god damn song they've ever made because I don't know what got into him to record an almost pop punk tune but god damn does it sound fucking fantastic this song is a surefire standout of a track that has every great element of a song it's a catchy tune with lyrics that are easy to sing along with that also present a sense of reliability when he exclaims that he's a damaged man, a fantastic chorus, a rhythm that has the frantic rock and roll energy that you've come to expect but with a faster pace and kind of punk influence that gives it a sense of personality that's very unlike their earlier material, and of course one bitching fucking guitar solo in the middle of the song this is a sign of things to come in a way from my observation because a lot of their live only tracks at the moment also seem to be going into this kind of amalgamation of tones that they seem to have here where they're clearly garage rock but with a kind of pop punk fuel that I can most certainly get behind.
These guy's got a shit ton of upward trajectory and I very much advise you pay attention especially to the stuff they got to show at this show I'm throwing because I'm pretty sure that they'll sell you just as much as they've sold me and I'm sure the Jack White comparisons will be a thing of the past if they keep going where they are.
So we're a little over 2 weeks until the end and a few day's away from the anniversary of this little thing and with that in mind I should probably have something posted about the wonderful acts playing my farewell show but like I've highlighted depressive spells are a real bitch and a half and it's difficult to really get around to writing things when you don't want to do anything but it's that level of depressive thoughts that got me thinking about what it is I like so much about some of the bands I chose to play my show and the various things they seem to cover and that's where I'm going to go and with that in mind I figure I'd cover a band who describe themselves as modern American Emo The Fiction Department.
I can't lie I've listened to their EP TV Show's a fuck load of times and for some reason I really don't know what brought that up because I only got to see them one time prior to this show and this EP while being fantastic is also an incredibly rough product that you can tell is made by some rather young individuals looking to really get their footing and you can tell that just looking at the track listing which goes from very upbeat kind of pop punkish tunes like Felt, to the downright early 2000's heart on your sleeve painful youth experience's in 20 minutes as well as the non EP single Bad Idea, to these kind of angsty angry screaming cuts, and even the slow paced closing track this goes through a very youthful set of emotions I've all but been numbed to and I guess what I like about these guy's is there's a certain cathartic release in just throwing aside everything and just kind of pretending to be a shit heel emotionally charged teenager again.
I know they're going through a host of changes in their sound and direction as a group which is why they seemed to of went on a long break but I'm sure seeing them at this show should be an interesting experience for all involved and I'm pretty pumped to see where they've taken themselves.
It's difficult to really explain what made me so drawn to this song because if I'm going to be honest as good as these guy's are I never really held this band on a level compared to their contemporaries regardless of how solidly good their music was it just never clicked with me but this song has always been something and in thinking through the various songs I've ever discussed this one has it's own special place because it's the song that eventually lead to me starting this blogger site and in order to understand that I have to post the original archived post I'd made to the song because it's kind of eerie to me the fact that I had almost the same exact feelings as the day I'd originally written this(Ignore the spelling errors):
August 4, 2010
Blow Up the Outside World-Soundgarden
You know I'm going to be honest with ya world, I just wasn't really into anything today, I'm not too sure what it was but I just had a very moody little day that left me really unable to do much of anything, so like all great adults I took a nap. Yeah REAL mature of me wasn't it, but surprisingly enough it actually worked that and a nice chicken salad, and now I'm in tip top shape to present to all of you the song of the day. HELL YEAH!!! lol
Well I remember reading that Soundgarden are releasing some new song that something like 4 people are excited for, and I dececided to give them a listen, becuase while most of the bands that Chris Cornell seems to be in are usually pretty decent, as a whole he just seems to bring down most of them and kinda make them result in only a handfull of really any listenable tracks, and for some reason or another this one is one of the few Soundgarden songs I can actually dig. I'm not really sure as to what it is cause normally I'm not too into tripped out psychedellic jams that like to start slow and quiet only to soon become a lound noisy bomb of feedback and confusing drug addled lyrics with simple yet slightly disturbing chorus'.......wait a minute I actually can dig on some of that this is just the one time they seemed to have actually been able to do that right. Eh better late then never I say but really this song is just surprisingly good and that's saying something considering I don't really like Chris Cornell but hey everyone's gotta have a moment of brilliants, don't they?
Yeah that's an interesting thing for me to read back but what makes this post stand out is the fact that I remember at the time I had a woman in my life that was a bit of an internet friend/facebook ex wife...hey I was young and awkward don't fucking judge, REGARDLESS this person was a bit of a creative muse for me and even though she'd long since deleted herself from internet existence I can still vividly remember her commenting that I need to start a blog already and in all my infinite wisdom I did and I guess you can say the rest is history.
Of all the questions I can recall hardly ever being asked it's been on my mind for some time to talk about something I think every critic at some point in time needs to cover and since I'm near the end of this thing I figured WHY THE FUCK NOT RIGHT?!?!?!
So since 2011 I've done this series of articles where I try to discuss the greatest song of all time in theory and I guess that's a topic that's more difficult for me to do since I've only done it 4 times with the last one being posted on April Fools Day 2015 and being about Prince and my unironic but comical love of Purple Rain which in retrospect is awkward because he passed on just a little over a year after I'd posted that article and the rest of the world realized I was right.
In preparing for this article like everything I'm doing on here I've been going over some of the older post and looking at what I said back then and comparing it to what my thoughts are now on top of trying to come up with an accurate way to say what is the greatest song ever and before I get into what is the greatest song ever and what made me think this I feel there has to be some precedence laid because with a statement like that as much as every dick head armchair critic is going to take every chance to inform me of how wrong I am there's still a means of taking that away from them by laying some form of groundwork to make it less of an opinion piece and to lend some more weight to my thoughts that's immediately dashed away by my vocabulary but fuck em it's better than nothing.
Alright so if you're going to say that a song in question is the greatest song ever I'd say it has to follow some criteria of being both a critical and commercially successful piece of media because while sales aren't shit in retrospect for critics it's a lot harder for your average Joe listening to music as nothing more than background music to argue these things with you when you can show them some numbers and figures to help prove a point that the track at the very least has some clout in terms of being worth considering with critics polls serving as one more nail in their uninformed coffin of invalid opinions.
Now with that in mind and looking back at the songs I've covered on top of a cursory Google search to see what comes up when you type in the greatest song ever I came to a realization that the first song I ever covered under this umbrella is in fact still without reservation the greatest song of all time and what song is that?
Billie Jean-Michael Jackson
#1 for 7 weeks, winner of 2 of the 8 Grammy Awards he won that night, an American Music award, half a billion views on Youtube, certified over 5x platinum as a single, and apart of one of the most watched and talked about television events of the millennium it's safe to say the second single from the top selling album of all time has a pretty good claim in terms of charting success to have the title of the greatest song of all time no doubt about that.
Yeah back in 2011 when I first wrote one of these I said that this was the best song of all time because it was this oddly dark and ominous tune that stepped out of Michael's territory of well crafted light radio friendly dance ready pop tunes and instead went about showcasing his ability to be more that meets the eye while also proving that you can be different and people will still buy it so in some case he opened the floodgates for a host of musically inclined people being able to maintain artistic integrity while also having commercial viability and that's a thing that's really important in the grander scheme of things because we can only have so much sugar coated garbage being shoved down our throats.
Jackson was a genius of sorts because he was a cold and calculated businessman that knew the vast majority of his decisions well in advance and released what was the most meticulously crafted things he could that would leave people talking for a long time and it worked more often than not even at his most over bloated he still did stuff that was of a level of quality that his contemporaries maybe minus Prince could really match and the thing that's always made this song stand out in comparison to everything else was the somewhat simplistic and straightforward nature of it because it's not a happy and upbeat tune it's a very somber and depressive tune that mixes just the right amount of disco production with a kind of funk groove and showcases a more held back side of Jackson he never really chose to do that often and it's this kind of strange direction that leads me to go back to it time and time again and really find myself thinking that it really is the best pop song to ever be made bar none.
It's after repeated listens still maybe one of the most fantastic songs I've ever heard and after all these years of asking myself what is the greatest song ever I think I've come to a point where if you were to ask me I'd probably have to say this song bar none.
Also it was in GTA Vice City which had the best soundtrack ever fight me fuckers!!!!!
You know I'm really mad that these guy's became such corporate sellouts because that first album was a fucking banger and their second record still holds as something I more appreciate rather than enjoy in retrospect but that's irrelevant because even so there's one track they did that lead to the eventual sellout that I conveniently still remember as something special.
Out of My League-Fitz and the Tantrums
So I had to look back at my older post to remember just what it was about this track that had any relevance for me and looking back it's because this was a bit of a difference maker for this band they went from just being a throwback act to making more modernish indie rock affairs with killer melodies and great vocal harmony courtesy of the immensely talented Noelle Scaggs and this song is a good example of those properties in effect and even after the mass commercialization it's still a solidly great track that I still remember just randomly seeing uploaded onto YouTube at some random ass hour of the night giving a listen and just being blown the fuck away that I just had to make a random shot in the dark post that until I started covering more local acts was the most viewed post on this entire website so I've always had an interesting connection to this tune because it made me think maybe just maybe I may know my shit.
Now that's not so much the case anymore but for a brief moment in time I thought so...
So we're at less than a month until the end and in that time I got a few things cooked up to post on here hopefully and one of those things is to cover all the songs that I give the most fucks about because they hold some special place for SOTD and with that in mind I think I should tell ya about what's probably one of my favorite songs ever.
Wolves(You Got Me)-DREAMERS
You know who fucking rules this god damn band and you know what got me into them? THIS FUCKING SONG!!!!
I remember at the time I covered this on that particular year end list I remember mentioning how this song reminded me of a song called Demon Dance with it's kind of throwback alternative tone and a set of lyrics that are simple but that impact me in a way that give it this explainable level of quality and hype that reminds me why I like these kinds of songs so much and over time it's really only continued to not only maintain that but have a host of positive memories attached to it.
These guy's where the first band to ever respond to one of my post about them on facebook when I first randomly made a post about how awesome this song is, I remember the first time I ever saw them live I was singing along to it front row and the lead singer gave me his pick, at that same show they signed my set list and wrote thanks for the kind words, and every subsequent time I've seen them this fucking song just hits me every single time especially the line, "You got me drugged up, you got me undone, falling in love like you do," at the end of the song it's just a fucking fantastic piece of music that doesn't often get the credit it deserves.
Yeah I love this song and you should to the guy's who perform it are swell dudes and will take all the fun selfies with ya...
SO there's this band from here in KCMO called Dreamgirl and when you look them up on Spotify their top song has over 5 million streams which is insane for a local act so I'm wondering why is that the case?
3 minutes and 54 seconds later....
OH that's why they're fucking great!
OK I'm going to be honest I've known about these guy's for a while now and to say they're the most appropriately named group around is an understatement with some lighter than air vocals and a penchant for making some really groovy indie pop tunes you have a group who makes you feel like you're having a slow dance at a prom with every groovy groove they make and if you get the chance their self titled release from last year is quite a good release and they're making more strives towards a national tour so there's even more chances for people all around to experience the dream for sure.
There's a song by a band called Middle Kids called Edge of Town and it's a pretty solidly good track that came out at a terrible time for me, it's this kind of lower end indie rock tune that's dripping in this overwhelming sense of pretentiousness that's made worse by the fact that the other songs on that EP just sounded like a half rate Paramore and I realized this band peaked with this song and I never bothered to listen to them ever again, but it's not honestly their fault when I think about it in retrospect because it was about the time this song came out that I was going through an angry lonely period of time where nothing was very good for me and I was starting to have this weird falling out with the radio because I guess these guy's, Glass Animals, and the most recent Catfish and the Bottlemen record at the time where being rammed down my throat and I got this feeling of not wanting to have to be a drone of what the radio wanted me to be all hyped for and I rejected in such a way that I didn't even really listen to much of anything new or national because I'd honestly gotten sick and fucking tired of being told that those bands as well as the vast majority of mdoern alternative rock wanted me to be into because I'd developed this feeling that it was all a bunch of fucking bullshit that dragged on and on and was only meant for teenagers to say they discovered something and that's awkward for me because I'd come to grips and have been doing this whole being a god damn adult thing and these tracks don't speak to me because they're the same old recycled as fucking garbage that I've been hearing for years it's not being broken because the radio station is wanting you in on a cool little secret it's all corporate telling you this is your band this is what you want and you all need to pretend that these are your songs and that's fucking bullshit because those aren't me or what I want to associate with you bastards haven't broken a god damn thing in years you just are hoping that everybody remains a dumb ass shell of a human not willing to actually have their own fucking taste and that really had tainted me and is why I don't really ever find myself listening to the buzz these days.
Although even with all that vitriol spilled I mention that song because even with the lack of fucks I have for that band there's a part of that tune just one part between 2:20-30 where things kind of awkwardly slow down and stop trying to be this anthem of sorts where she starts asking if some guy has something on his mind and then things just blow the fuck up in this blast of energy that's utterly captivating to me in such a way that it's literally the only thing about the song that I like and will occasionally still remember every now and then and just mark the ever loving fuck out over it's an utterly bombastically awesome way to end what's ultimately a pretentious piece of trash of a tune that at the time I tried my hardest to accept it as a good tune because of that but never could in time.
Cave-Mess
Now what does that rant have to do with this band? Well in all honesty not a god damn thing minus that one sentiment about when a song just comes at you out of nowhere with a sense of bombastic energy because that's kind of this little Kansas City Emo outfit.
Mess are a band with some of the prettiest most lighthearted vocals I've heard from anyone in this city and those wonderfully dreamy vocals are usually situated over some very not happy lyrics that make you wonder how such a down trodden group of people can also manage to be so sad, pretty, and energetic because their live shows are a very energetic affair of a crowd of people who are incredibly into this band and radiate that energy into a group of musicians who surprisingly rock the fuck out way more than you would think they would listening to their releases.
They have an under produced charm to the way they approach tunes that's a good way to showcase their kind of unfiltered efforts and emotions, and if you get the chance you should give em a view they're a real surprise for sure.
So Shadow Rabbits are an alternative rock act from here in KCMO that have a sound that's what I imagine the coolest band you'd know would sound like. They have a host of tunes that evoke a kind of 60's rock and roll vibe with grooves that are incredibly slick and vocals so alluring that they're damn near hypnotizing in most instances and of the host of quality well constructed songs they've made this one in particular seems to really be something I fancy.
A haunting piano intro leads into what's some retro tuned guitar work that perfectly compliments Ashley Dattola's chilled confident vocals that allure you in and give you this false sense of security as the melody just grows in intensity leading you down a spiral before things calm down and guitarist Jon Ulasien comes in and perfectly compliments Dattola as they lead the song out echoing, “as you wait now.”
This song fucking owns in a way that is more than the sum of it's parts for me and it's something that occurred to me one random show I remember seeing them play where they did it in front of a white sheet just letting their silhouettes be all you see and every subsequent time I've gotten to hear this song live has been fan-fucking-tastic in such a way that I think more people need to get around to listening to it.
So you want an insanely catchy set of pop punk tunes ready to rock out to and sing every lyric to with a cute girl who's name most likely begins with the letter A then OH you need to acquaint yourself with this bands early 2018 release The Overview Effect because that EP kicks some serious ass and of all the tracks on it that tickled my fancy the most I'd have to say it was this little short but sweet number.
That Ep in question had a host of heavier more focused tunes that attempted and in most cases succeeded in being something fairly larger than the sum of their parts but if you where familiar with my adoration of their 2017 cut Two Hearted then you'd probably not be surprised to know that the tune that I liked the most was this fun little pop punk tune.
"We don't always have to be our insecurities, defining enemies we divide and disagree," it's something I frankly kept singing wrong until I typed out the right lyrics after looking them up on their website BUT YOU SURE AS FUCK KNOW IT DIDN'T STOP ME FROM SINGING ALONG!
That's the biggest strength this tune as well as most of their catalog is just how easy it is to find yourself singing along to every single song and isn't that what makes pop punk so much fun?
Excuse me for a second while I fangirl out a bit on ya because this fucking group sometimes they just fucking get it.
HOLY FUCKING JESUS CHRIST ALMIGHTY IS THIS SONG FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!
Ah ever since they dropped this little new wave tune on Spotify I've just been in awe people it's a simple song about the scary parts of love and relationships with a host of questions to ask about if the struggles make the relationship and how differences are a real thing (I'm into analogue, you're into digital) Rachel Mallin has written what's a very simple tune but the thing that makes it something special is it's lighter than air dreamy instrumentals and her just exceptional vocal performance.
There's a vulnerable charm to her subtle yet captivating singing that just hooks me in a way that she's yet to really do and in all honesty I get some these weird spine shivering feels whenever I listen to this song because of these slight vocal deliveries that are equal parts strong and sultry, weak yet confident, just the type of things I find myself obsessing over how to properly contextualize to you guy's but yet I fail at doing so beyond just telling you it's maybe the best song they've put out yet and to think I just originally remembered it as a captivating but overly feedback heavy live track the first time I heard it.
I like to give these guy's hell for not putting out I Pick Winners but when the songs coming out are this I can't be mad in the slightest this is a phenomenal piece of work you need to hear now.
You know I haven't done this in a hot fucking minute mother fuckers and as I'm making dinner listening to a YouTube feed of videos this song came up and I'm going to have to be honest with you this song is a FUCKING BANGER!
A slow start and some cooler than cool mildly new wave inspired guitar work with a heavy Joy Division tone you get this cooler than cool feeling that you're about to really listen to something tight just before Amalie Bruun's vocals kick in and you get something that's a little bit Shirley Manson esque and rather inviting before she just wallops you in the face with the chorus and it's exclamations about going to the city and drying your eyes you're instantly hooked on a tune that's very reminiscent of it's time in alternative music where bands like Metric where the rage and in some way it still feels like it'd fit in today's landscape.
This was rather high up there on that years best of list but I remember just kind of forgetting all about it for quite a while afterwards until I was going back through all my songs to write up about for these end of day's post and this song came up and yeah it's still probably more so now fucking fantastic and if you haven't heard it fix that RIGHT FUCKING NOW!
