R.I.P. Prince 1958-2016

This year's been rather tough on music with David Bowie passing on at the beginning you'd think it couldn't get any worse and yet another legend has passed on this day and it's saddening to say that I'll never get to see the majesty of one Prince live but he's hopefully in a better place now and the fact that his legacy of amazing music will now be even more immortalized is a thing.

I know I've joked in the past with an exaggerate love for Purple Rain but it really is true that I do find it to be one of the greatest songs ever written and I've played it quite a bit tonight and while I can't really post up some of his amazing work I can at the very least have a moment of silence for a man who put a voice to some of the best pop music of an entire lifetime....

R.I.P. Your royal awesomeness...

KC Showcase: Brave the Spirit

So I've been pretty much not writing because I lack the motivation to really put my thoughts to words or more specifically remember them long enough to write them down but recently in between my personal life being kind of shitty I've managed to start trying to devote myself into the whole local music scene here in Kansas City because I remember the tail end of last year and my year end having a lot of local music acts on it and I recently went to a showcase where a bunch of up and coming bands got the chance to really play for a decent sized crowd of people and after telling enough of them how good they're doing I figured I'd cover a few songs, ep's, and bands from my neck of the woods in something called the KC Showcase where I talk about local acts worth your time.

Brave the Spirit-The Beautiful Fight

I'm not going to lie I only really caught this group's last song at the showcase I went to but I remember being impressed with the song enough to compliment and get a hold of them via social media and recently got informed of this little EP they've been working on called the Beautiful Fight.

This record is some straightforward high energy acoustic heavy alternative rock with vocals that feel a bit early 2000's emo at points but in a very good way and you really can hear the energy and desire these guy's have to craft tracks they want you to remember the more and more you rotate this little collection of songs and it's opening track Hey Kid does a good job of getting things moving right out of the gate with a very heavy acoustic guitar and a synth beat that you could actually sing on it's own which leads to a tune that really keeps on staying good even after repeated listens.

The next track Lucy is a bit more of a dreamy affair and a solid song in it's own right as well as it's following track Limousines which in some odd ways reminds me a bit of another Kansas City act known as Josephine Collective with it's woa-oh's dominating the chorus and lyrics that feel straight out of early 2000s crushes which are all good in my book.

I will say that if there's a track that'll get you invested it'd certainly be this albums closer Inside Out which in all honesty is a very simple song that seems to just work on the principle of being a solidly great song with a straightforward approach and a sound that feels like it's the track that they really REALLY put an effort into making the biggest and most memorable song and it's a great closer to what's a solid collection of tracks that you'll find yourself rotating more and more and really just enjoying the songs even more.

Overall this Ep's pretty damn good and I'd advise taking the time to give it a listen because they just released it on Spotify today and below will be a few links to their various social media outlets so you can tell them what you think.

Facebook

Twitter

Billboard You're an interesting topic

So for how little I'll ever post on here and how many things I do and various musical opinions I'll give when one actually converses about music with me I actually don't really find a whole lot to really say on here if not for lack of interest in writing as much as things just not being all that interesting for me to talk about.

I mean it's a fickle market out there with the various options out here it's difficult to not say what's already been said especially when the current market as we see it during the earlier part of the year isn't really anything special and just kind of feels very dull and out of place but with that in mind I for some reason have wanted to talk about something related to the Billboard charts for a while so with that in mind I feel like talking about the current top 10 songs in the country as of the March 26th chart, so let's quit bullshitting here and get to it with the number 1 song in the country....

1. Work-Rihanna fet. Drake

I'm not going to lie I finally decided to actually give this song a listen for the first time in full right as I'm writing this and in all honesty the chorus sounds like Rihanna has a dick in her mouth, Drake is giving some half assed lines about love, aaaaaaaaand it's really an oddly catchy tune that is really bad in chunks and kind of eh as a whole.

In all honesty nothing offensively bad but not really worth being the top of the mountain NEXT.

2. Love Yourself-Justin Beiber

Not going to lie this little bastards really improved as a performer that went from performing very gratingly annoying tunes that served as nothing more then appealing to the teen fan girl section of music that needed a new Johnas Brother to this odd mid tempo soft rock singer who really seems to genuinely try to make something you can contrive as actually being listenable and in a sense he's succeeded the only problem is that his  delivery of what's kind of a decent tune is marred by his completely uninteresting vocals which for lack of a better term are boring and somehow make this song feel a lot longer then it actually is.

In all honesty it's not awful but it's just kind of bland...NEXT!

3. Stressed Out-Twenty One Pilots

The most mediocre track from one of if not THE MOST mediocre popular act in Alternative music from an album that has MUCH BETTER TRACKS that give me some bit of thought that these guy's are worth giving a fuck about getting pissed away on a very boring tune that is at best typical of this groups attempts of trying to be very existential but ultimately just being a boring overly pretentious concept of a tune that isn't Car Radio.

 In all honesty this band isn't as good as their fanbase thinks they are but if this song leads people to hear Car Radio or Heavydirtysoul then that's something because those tracks are actually good....NEXT!

4. My House-Flo Rida

It's Flo Rida....no really I don't care and this song isn't really making me want to so NEXT!

5. 7 Years-Lukas Graham

Not going to lie I actually kind of think this song is nice it's pretty by the numbers but I do enjoy it and it's one of if not the best song in the top 10 at the moment so I got nothing bad to say I just expect this to have the kind of soft rock radio support in the coming months.

6. PILLOWTALK-ZAYN

Not going to lie I avoided this whole One Direction thing and this really isn't anything more then somebody trying to be the next Justin Timberlake but with more Fucks said and in all honesty this song really isn't offensive to me actually I could venture in saying there are things about it that actually work to some degree and if you took some musicians to kind of take it and give it a rock arrangement with a good bit more inflection on the chorus you could have a decent guilty pleasure but as it stands it's doable when compared to it's competition.

7. Me, Myself and I-G-Eazy X Bebe Rexha

Brag rap tune with a catchy hook that's nothing to write home about and doesn't motivate me to stay on the station for anything more then to hear said hook maybe two or three times so eh.

8. Sorry-Justin Beiber

Think back to my opinion on Love Yourself but when i hear this all i think about is that old South Park BP oil spill apology commercial.

9. Cake By the Ocean-DNCE

Not going to lie this song is actually kind of groovy and I don't seem to dislike it like everyone else and didn't have anything to criticize until i realized that it was one of the Johnas Brothers was singing it and that they were singing about eating Cake by the Ocean to which I prefer to say, "Hey it's Frank Ocean," because that guy's really fucking groovy isn't he....damn now I have to go listen to thinking bout you how many songs are left OH SWEET just one let's do this.

10. I Took a Pill in Ibiza(Seeb Remix)-Mike Posner

So if you've heard the original version of this you'd think it's noble but have no questions as to why he's no more then the guy that thought he was cooler then you but what's an odd trend somebody remixing and making a more dance oriented version of his song has made it actually work in a very odd way so I'll give him credit for not being in one hit wonderland now but as a whole this songs just decent.

Well those are my opinions on the charts if you like it let me know otherwise see ya around the next time things get interesting.

Damn 6 whole years

So I've very inconsistently been doing this for 6 years as of today and in all honesty it's kind of crazy to think about that especially since I keep the Sam's Song of the Day title but even if I'm not providing the world a song of the day every day I figure I may as well take note that it's been a long strange trip to obscurity.....

You should keep an eye on this Casi girl....

So I do my best to support local music to the best of my ability today a singer I've taken the time to cover in the past one Casi Joy recently did a little hometown gig and since it wasn't more then ten minutes from my house I figured I'd go because you know its good to support those who do their best to give you something worth supporting.

Although before I get to talking about the show I'd like to make note that I'm not a country person for the most part but I will say that there are plenty of talented individuals and good songs in the genre and if you're looking for a really solid country pop sounding affair you'd do good to check this chick out

The show was a small affair mostly consisting of covers with a few originals sprinkled in and it's the originals that I'd highlight as really being the best part of this show because if you really want a feel for someone you have to hear songs they specifically made for their own voice and in this instance songs like her soft crooner, “Kiss You In White,” and “Keep Dancin'” really do her justice and show you that she's an artist doing her best to really make you feel the songs she's singing and in an acoustic setting the songs really take on a whole dimension compared to the album cuts which are very well done if not a bit on the well produced side.

Her album is a pretty solidly straightforward affair by the way with the opening track, “Filling My Closet,” being a pretty bad ass cut in all honesty on record and especially when played live and if you are into modern country but want an artist that's not really more pop then country you really can't go bad with her.

Overall this show was good and I'm most certainly going to keep a lookout for her coming back to my neck of the woods especially whenever she get's to doing sets of nothing but originals.

R.I.P. David Bowie 1947-2016

So one of the pillars of modern music has passed on to the other side today after an 18 month battle with cancer and only a few day's after his 69th birthday and release of his newest album and it's quite crazy to think about when you sit back and realize just how much of an influential and important artist he really was for modern music as a whole across a wide range of genres from glam, alternative, industrial, pop, and everything in between this man dipped his toes into everything and managed to leave an impactful mark on music as a whole that I'm pretty sure will pretty soon be recognized beyond the mans wildest dreams in terms of just how much he really did.

Now with that in mind there's not a whole lot I can really say compared to the variety of touching tributes I've seen all around social media so I think the best thing I really can do is post my personal favorite and the track that got me into this musical chameleon in the form of this timelessly BAD ASS rocker in the form of everyone's favorite fictional rock star.

R.I.P. Bowie The Stars look very different today......

Sam's Song of the Day?

So it's the new year and I finally got around to motivating myself to write the first post of the year, and in all honesty it's that word right there that's the central focus to today's post in that I'm not entirely sure just what it is but after almost 6 years of doing this I've seemed to have a more and more difficult time motivating myself to really get into the whole informing the world of a song a day so I've been thinking that it time for now that I retire the Song of the Day format of this little blog of mine and instead put more of a focus on my own musical escapades in the form of more concert, album, and occasional track reviews and opinion pieces.

Now with that in mind expect even less frequent post from me, but hey it's been a year of slowdown and I personally would rather whoever's left reading get something of a decent quality then slopped together 150 word post of a bad ass to decent tune and of course you can always follow my own personal twitter account and like the official Facebook page to stay in the know but as soon as I can get other annoyances out of the way expect something cool but until then have a nice day.