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 |    My primary Writing.com blog. |
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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:  "The Soundtrackers Group"  "Invalid Item" "Blogging Circle of Friends " "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" "JAFBG" "Take up Your Cross" Thanks for stopping by!  |
| "The Soundtrack of Your Life" | DAY 13 "11 Blocks" by Wrabel I discovered this song in one of those weird situations where you go to a concert and end up liking the opening act better than the headliner you bought tickets to go see. He was one of the opening acts for Ben Platt's Sing to Me Instead tour and, honestly, my wife and I were a little disappointed by Platt. His rapport with the crowd was great, but the songs on the album just... aren't that great. To be fair, he was just coming off sky-high expectations thanks to his stunning performance in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway, but still, the songs just didn't hit home for us. This song from his opening act Wrabel did, though. There's something so melancholic and soulful about it; I immediately had to pull out my phone and download it so I could listen to it again on the way home. As I looked into more of his background, it turns out that there's a reason this song is so catchy; he's a really talented songwriter. One of those that, like Lady Gaga, spent a whole lot of time writing songs from other people you'd readily recognize before striking out on his own. Over the years, he's written songs for P!nk, Kesha, Kygo, Marshmello, and The Backstreet Boys. Of all the artists I've discovered this year, I think Wrabel might be the one to watch. I'm not fond of all of his music, but he's always trying something new, always pushing boundaries, and has the talent to really establish himself as a household name. |
| "The Soundtrack of Your Life" | DAY 12 "Every Breath" by Boyce Avenue This song is at the opposite end of the spectrum as yesterday's entry; this is a song that I still really like, but I find myself skipping over whenever it comes up lately because I've played it so many times since I first discovered it. Which doesn't make it any less of a great song, just one that I need to take a little bit of a break from in order to keep appreciating it. Boyce Avenue first hit my radar for a number of covers of hit songs they did on YouTube. This song is from their 2010 album which predates all of that stuff, but it's sometimes funny how people have to come back and discover older stuff later on. Their biggest and most popular covers (which are definitely worth seeking out on YouTube if you have the inclination) were a cover of Miley Cyrus' "We Can't Stop" and Ed Sheeran's "Photograph" featuring Bea Miller, the Chainsmokers' "Closer" featuring Sarah Hyland from Modern Family, and my personal favorite and the one that I discovered first, Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" featuring Kina Grannis. They're actually one of the most-watched independent bands on the internet, with apparently over 4 billion (with a b) views on their channel.  If you enjoy cover versions songs (especially acoustic covers), Boyce Avenue has one of the best channels for that. You can easily spend hours clicking through their renditions of hit songs with a variety of guests. And, if "Every Breath" and a few tracks can attest, their original songs ain't too bad either. |
| "The Soundtrack of Your Life" | DAY 11 "May I Have This Dance (Remix)" by Francis and the Lights feat. Chance the Rapper I discovered this song (or the original song, rather) on the soundtrack of the Netflix original movie Always Be My Maybe with Ali Wong and Randall Park (which I highly recommend if you're a fan of romantic comedies). I'd never heard this song, or even of Francis and the Lights at all up until that point, but they're quickly becoming one of my favorite new artists to listen to, and I think that Chance the Rapper adds some interesting additional depth to this song. I'm not usually one for remixes over originals, but every once in a while a remix finds the right balance of preserving what was great about the original and managing to add a little extra something. Overall, this is probably one of my most-played songs from last year. There are quite a few on my playlist this year that I listened to a whole lot and then kind of lost interest in or were starting to feel played out, but this one is consistently in my regular playlist, and I never get tired of it when it comes around again. It just hits all the right notes for me and really cheers me up whenever I listen to it. |
| "The Soundtrack of Your Life" | DAY 10 "And We Danced" by The Hooters First, can we take a moment to appreciate the full 80s-ness of this video? Feathered/permed hair, a drive-in, a car with a trunk that only opens with a key... this video is an amazing time capsule of things that existed thirty years ago. I thought I was pretty well versed in the rock bands of the 80s, but I have to admit that I had never even heard of this band, much less any of their songs, before I stumbled across this track late last year on a streaming radio station. Not only was I surprised to discover a great song I hadn't heard before, but I was even more shocked to find that the band, formed in 1980, is still performing. I almost used a video of one of their live performances from 2016, but frontmen Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman are looking a little old these days and the tepid call-and-response of the smallish, mostly elderly crowd was kind of sad... so I decided to show them in all their 80s glory. This song was the first single off their second album, and their first major hit, although it peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, so maybe the fact that it was outside the Top 20 nearly 30 years has something to do with why I didn't discover it until now.  Still, I'm glad I found it because this is one of the songs that I've had in constant rotation on my "Current" playlist for several months, mostly because it's a fun, upbeat song that I really enjoy blasting on the way home when I get tired of podcasts and audiobooks. |
| "The Soundtrack of Your Life" | DAY 9 "Undrunk" by FLETCHER Is it blasphemous to follow up a Christian music entry with a song that makes blatant use of the f-word and references to masturbation in the chorus, as well as frequent references to drugs and alcohol? Oh well, I'm doing it anyway. FLETCHER is an artist that I found on one of those random "new music" iTunes playlists early in 2019, and this song immediately caught my attention. There's a certain elegiac quality to her voice and this song's beat and lyrics that just kind of flows together. This was her first breakthrough single and her first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, and I can definitely understand why. The language and the content make it difficult to really hit as one of those universally-applicable breakup songs, but I think it's specific enough that the tone and the emotion of the song will really resonate with a more specific audience. To date, FLETCHER has only released a handful of singles and two EPs, and I'd definitely be interested in seeing what a full album from her sounds like. I think she has the talent to make something really special. Am I basing that off of one song? Yes. But do I believe it? Also yes. |
| "The Soundtrack of Your Life" | DAY 8 "Sinking Deep" by Hillsong Young & Free While we're on the topic of Christian music, this is the song that I'm currently listening to most often. I'm kind of in awe of the sheer number of amazing songs that Hillsong United (and their youth group offshoot, Hillsong Young & Free) have generated. They've created literally dozens of iconic songs which are performed in churches all over the world every week... and they just keep. coming. up. with. more. hit. songs. It's kind of crazy to me that, at this point, Hillsong concerts are on par with non-religious musical acts in terms of ticket sales and influence. I know that Christian music is normally aimed toward a very specific audience, but I find Hillsong worship songs to almost transcend the "faith-based community only" arena that most worship and gospel songs fall into. They have catchy beats and good lyrics, and they feel like pieces that would - if not for their content - be otherwise categorized as traditional pop/rock songs. Hillsong isn't a bad way to go if you're looking to dip your toes into the Christian music scene but don't want to go full charismatic religious conversion.  |
| "The Soundtrack of Your Life" | DAY 7 "Gotta Live" by Tedashii feat. Jordan Feliz I'll be the first to admit that the genre of "Christian hip hop" is a bit unorthodox, but every once in a while a song comes along that just kind of works. This is one of those songs for me, where it's not too hit-you-over-the-head religious, but is nonetheless inspiring and actually kinda works as a hip hop song. This particular song is off his 2019 album Never Fold, and I'm definitely planning on checking out more songs off that album, as well as his 2014 album Below Paradise which was recorded as part of his spiritual struggle and experiences dealing with the death of his one-year-old son the previous year. I've been thinking a lot about using art to process through life experiences lately. Both Tedashii's early album and in a couple different podcasts I listened to this week, there's been a theme of writing (or creating art) in order to process through some sort of life event. I'm not sure I've ever done that, and it intrigues me. Writing, which is the only art form I'm even somewhat good at, has always been an outlet for me in terms of stress relief, entertainment, etc. But I've always written commercial, entertaining things. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've attempted to actually write something that helps me process something I'm struggling with in my personal life. Over the past week or so, I'm wondering if that's something I should actually try, and - if so - how to go about it. |
| "The Soundtrack of Your Life" | DAY 6 "Setting The World On Fire" by Kenny Chesney feat. P!nk I'm not all that familiar with Kenny Chesney's music. The only other song of his I really know well is "All the Pretty Girls" (also off the same Cosmic Hallelujah album), which I liked, so I was excited to see that he teamed up with P!nk for another song on the same album. I've always liked P!nk's country-inspired tracks, and I wasn't disappointed by either one of them here. There are pretty much two kinds of country songs I like; the upbeat party songs, and the more pensive, sad songs. This is more of the latter, and it has the added benefit of being about spending time in Los Angeles, so I can appreciate all the geographic references that are mentioned in the song. One of the things that I found most remarkable during my research for this song was that Cosmic Hallelujah is somehow Kenny Chesney's seventeenth studio album, and that he's been releasing albums steadily since 1994. I fully admit that I'm not a huge country fan so there are plenty of popular performers that I'm probably not aware of, but it's weird to just now be discovering the songs of someone who has literally had hundreds of songs released over a career spanning 25+ years. It's a bit surreal, but also what I love about music (and the Soundtrackers) in general... there's always an opportunity to find something new, even if it's old. |
| "The Soundtrack of Your Life" | DAY 5 "Nobody Compares To You" by Gryffin feat. Katie Pearlman See the previous post ("This Is Last Call" ) for context, as this is the other song from the To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You trailer that I've been listening to since the Valentine's Day screening I arranged for my wife. There was a little more information to be found on Gryffin than there was on the previous band (NineOneOne), so this entry is going to be a little more about the artist and the things that I found interesting.Gryffin originally gained recognition doing popular remixes of well-known songs. He's a classically trained pianist and learned to play the guitar at a young age, then studied electrical engineering at USC. Combining his two skills/interests, he became a DJ, musician, and record producer whose style is often described as "melodic house music" which is most often accomplished by incorporating piano and guitar sounds into his remixes to create a sound that's a blend of electronic and analog. I'll definitely be checking out more music by Gryffin, because I enjoy house/dance music but not the type that's really harsh and dissonant. Now that I know "melodic house music" is a thing, I'm definitely going to want to check out more tracks by this artist and in this subgenre. |
| "The Soundtrack of Your Life" | DAY 4 "This Is Last Call" by NineOneOne For Valentine's Day this year, my wife and I wanted to go see a movie but there wasn't anything in the theaters that really screamed "date movie." However, I did know that she had been really wanting to see Netflix's To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, the long-awaited sequel to 2018's To All the Boys I've Loved Before. So I rented out the theater room we have in our apartment complex so that she could watch it on the big screen just the two of us and a bagful of snacks, while Grandma watched the kids. While I can't say that I found the movie particularly excellent, while I was setting up the viewing I did get a chance to see the movie's trailer , which had a pretty great soundtrack. I actually started listening to both of the songs on the trailer's soundtrack and have had them in pretty heavy rotation all weekend.I actually don't know a lot about the band or the history of the song, it's just one that I think has a pleasant beat and is just energetic enough to be something I can play in the background while I'm working to focus. I have a feeling this one will be in the rotation for a while. |
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