Return of the Reverb

Ever since hearing Haim’s freshman album, I’ve been noticing a trend in indie/pop music. It is sounding a lot more 80’s–and it’s great! It became more evident when modern pop princess Taylor Swift released her first solo-pop album, 1989, where some of the songs are appropriately 80’s sounding.

Anyway, since then I’ve been on a hunt for new 80’s sounding songs because I have been listening to 80s music nonstop for years now and I’ve overused my 80’s pop playlists.  I just wasn’t sure how to look for modern 80’s sounding music and what to type in Google… until this Vox video came along.

The more you know…

THE GATED REVERB!

And suddenly, everything makes sense! All of these songs I totally jam to and make me happy all have the reverb (and goddamn, we have Phil Collins to thank for it). That snappy snare drum is one of the most defining 80’s sound and I am all over it and so glad it’s back.

If you aren’t familiar with the new(-ish) Vox series, get on it because it’s great. I believe it started from deep-dives into rap trends and it is so interesting! At the end of this episode, they provided a great Spotify playlist of both old and new songs with gated reverb. But because I’m excited about this, I’m here to add some more of my personal favorites.

1. Only When You Leave by Spandau Ballet
2. Gold by Spandau Ballet
3. Don’t You Want Me by Human League
4. Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears
5. Love Somebody by St. Lucia
6. Falling, The Wire, If I Could Change Your Mind, and Don’t Save Me by Haim

 

 

Justin Bieber – Purpose

Alright. I’m jumping the bandwagon. But I can’t help it!

So after debating with some friends what’s the best song out of the album, I decided to rank my favorites. Here it is.

Disclaimer: You’ll probably notice that the list is very RnB centered. I like RnB.

No Sense (ft. Travis $cott)

Favorite song out of this whole album. I listen to this in repeat almost everyday. Reason 1, it’s the perfect song to dance to. Reason 2, the dance video to this song is AMAZING (please watch!). Their outfits are so reminiscent of 90s RnB. And Reason 3, it sounds like a Beyonce song.

Mark My Words

Great first track! I love songs that don’t rely too much of instruments. It’s a great acoustic RnB song and it really showcase The Biebs voice. FR, the guy can sing.

Sorry

So fun to dance to. This song automatically puts me in a sunny and happy mood. Another great dance video (thanks to ReQuest Crew, again).

No Pressure (ft. Big Sean)

Love the acoustic background. Didn’t like this song at first but ended up liking it after the first 5 listens.

We Are

Reminds me of a Justin Timberlake song from FutureSex/LoveSounds.

Company

The chorus is really catchy. “Can we… We keep… Keep each other company”

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These aren’t the only songs I like on the album, but they are the ones I go to first.

P.S. Kudos to JBiebs for having all these dancers perform and create his music videos. He’s gets extra cool points for helping smaller artists out! Way to go!

 

 

Bad Self Portraits

It’s been 25 years,  I should be good at something

I first heard of Lake Street Dive Last year on Ask Me Another. Heard them perform  “You Go Down Smooth” and as soon as Rachel Price started singing I was like, “OOOOHHHHH! What’s this!?” But I never followed up and looked the band up. Anyway, over the summer this year, I re-listened to that same episode and remembered to finally look the song up then fast forward the past month where I decided to listen to the album.

Boy oh boy oh boy, I’ve been listening to this non-stop. And now, I’m on a crusade to spread the work of LSD to everybody because frankly, I can’t believe they’re not as well known as they ought to be.

LSD is a quartet of graduates from the New England Conservatory where they first became friends. Honestly, they’re all so lovable. I don’t know them personally but I’ve seen interviews and live performances and they seem like pretty chill people to hang out with. Every year for the past 3 years, they’ve been releasing fun, awesome Halloween videos and this year they did a cover of Bohemian Rhapsody and it is hilarious.

But enough about me fangirling. If you’re into 60’s Rockabilly Soul then definitely give this band a try.

Gateway Songs: “Bad Self Portraits”, “Seventeen”, “Use Me Up”, “You Go Down Smooth”, “Bobby Tanqueray”, “Rental Love”

Sorry, that’s like half of their album.

Here’s videos of them performing live! Just so you can see how awesomely talented these artists are.

Spazzkid

As I said last week, I’ve been listening to a lot of electronica/electropop/mashup type of music. So this week I give more awesome music!

Spazz kid is on Spotify! YEAH! But his latest EP, Promise, is only on SoundCloud.

Fave track from the EP:

Promise – click to listen!

*I can’t find the embed link so you’re going to have to click the link and listen on his SoundCloud page

Truly 

His music has a lot of Japanese influence and it is very apparent in this track. It’s funny because on his SoundCloud he hashtags himself as #kawaii (meaning cute in Japanese) and it fits his music genre very well.

Spazzkid EP, Promise

The EP is definitely one of my favorite EPs so far. He also has other great older tracks:

This track has an awesome laid back beat to it. It’s great!

Oh and one more thing, he’s Filipino! What!?

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2013/10/angry-reader-of-week-mark-redito.html

Robotaki

Playing this week is all Robotaki!

I’ve been listening to a lot of electronic/pop/mashup/remix music and just a lot of crazy stuff and I stumble upon Robotaki!

He has only has one song on Spotify so I have to listen to his things on SoundCloud (which makes me a little sad). But anyway, he’s awesome. Check him out.

Favorite track: It’s hard to choose so I’ll just go with the first song I heard from him, his remix of Montamarte’s Inside of Me.

Bonus: Another good one is his remix of Miami Horror’s Real Slow

He made that song sound like The Hustle.

Tove Lo – Truth Serum [EP]

She’s pretty awesome!

Favorite track so far, hands down, Habits. And its even sicker remix, Stay High. I play it every time I leave the gym and the endorphins just gets me going.

Stay High (Habits Remix – Hippie Sabotage)

Habits (Stay High)

Little Joy- With Strangers and Evaporar

I’ve been falling in love with Rodrigo Amarante’s voice especially with the song With Strangers. His voice and singing style in this song reminds me a lot of Julian Casablanca in I’ll Try Anything Once (which is the demo version of You Only Live Once) with their low, very heavily filtered vocals and a tone that sounds heartbroken. Anyway, it’s a beautifully written songs. It has a very familiar sound, almost as if you’ve heard from your childhood. Maybe you have. I don’t really know.

With Strangers by Little Joy

Fun Fact: Little Joy is 1/3 The Strokes! They have The Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti.

I’ll Try Anything Once by The Strokes

*Sorry, I can’t find the original recording in neither Soundcloud or Spotify. So YouTube it is

Another Fun Fact: Haim apparently did a cover of this song.

**BONUS**

Another favorite track off of Little Joy’s self titled album, the very pleasant song Evaporar (it’s in Portuguese). Listen to this while you’re lounging in your backyard on a Sunday afternoon.

 

 

The Way We Touch by WE ARE TWIN

Sorry for the delay. This isn’t a playlist (which is what I told myself I would be posting on here) but if I don’t feature this song now, I’m afraid I won’t be able to feature it ever again.

Anyway, WE ARE TWIN (seriously though, what’s up with the ALL CAPS band names) is a pop-synth duo made out of Nicholas Balachandran and Gabi Christine. Anyway, they recently came out with their 5-song self titled EP. I’ll let the track talk for itself but I will say one thing. Gabi Christine can singgggg!

NP: Haim, Days Are Gone (Album)

Haim, from left to right, Danielle, Alana, and Este

This week’s playlist is dedicated to Haim! Well, I maybe cheating because the playlist is practically their whole entire album, Days Are Gone but hey, it’s currently my go to album on Spotify.

Haim consists of Este (eldest, bass), Danielle (middle, lead vocals and guitar), and Alana (youngest, percussion and guitar and everything else). They’re like the girl equivalent of the Hansons but awesomer in a girl-power type of way. They’re music has obvious retro roots to them, very 80s pop when it comes to back up vocals and percussions (a lot of claps and synthesizers) with deep rock and roll vocals from Danielle (this girl can also rip on the guitar). They have awesome music videos with the three sister performing synchronized dance numbers. But my favorite music video would have to go to their single Falling. I just love the whole 70s movies feel, very Wes Anderson and very funny.

Plus they have great hair!

Here are a couple notes on my favorite tracks on the album:

The Wire

The very first Haim song I heard. This one is straight-up classic rock n’ roll and probably the most well-known song in the album. If you guys feel like you’ve heard the song before, it’s probably because you have heard it before or because the intro sounds A LOT like The Eagles’ Heartache Tonight.

If I Could Change Your Mind

This track goes more on the 80s pop side with its jumpy beat, xylophones tones, and lots and lots of handclaps.

Don’t Save Me

One of the funnest tracks to sing! I love the fast, repetitive refrain. This song combines both their rock n’ roll and 80s pop roots starting the song off with rhythmic guitar chords then bringing in the synth/keyboard in the chorus! And of course, lots and lots of claps.

My Song 5

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS SONG! It’s such a badass song! That’s all.

Here’s a Spotify playlist of the album for your listening pleasure:

This post is also available on Stephosophy

SXSW 2014 Playlist

Hello everyone! New contributor here! I figured I’d do weekly playlists on here, just to give yall something a bit different.

South by Southwest is a little over halfway today and since I am completely broke and cannot afford to go to Austin I decided I would post some of the artists that I would definitely try and see at the festival.

1. The Real Estate

What I like about The Real Estate is that they’re consistently Fall-weather type of music. Their music makes me want to wear a hoodie, denim jacket on top, take a late afternoon drive around town with my car windows down.

2. ASTR

I’ve been into slow, electronic pop lately that are on the darker side. ASTR is rich with vocal filters and heavy with beats. It makes it hard to run on the treadmill while they come on the playlist.

3. BANKS

Before I move on, many of the songs featured in this post are also from the playlist on my NP post last week and this one is one of them! I’ve been really into the dreamy vocals combined with heavy R&B beats. BANKS’ vocals makes it so easy for me to get lost in her voice and beat is just grooving. Definitely her strongest song so far.

4. Jungle

Jungle has a very retro feel to them. I can almost hear them being played in a 70’s movie, maybe during some kind of training sequence or something. Anyway, this song, Busy Earnin’, has one of the best music videos ever! I so want to learn the whole choreography.

5. Broken Bells

Another band that has a very retro feel to them. You’ll especially hear it during the chorus.

6. RAC

Very upbeat songs!

7. Childish Gambino 

The university I went to was crazy about Childish Gambino when he first came out, mostly because he came to our school for homecoming as a comedy act and ended up having an impromptu concert with his macbook. It was great. After the depression rumors/news HE IS BACK!

8. Chance the Rapper

Still kind of upset that he collaborated with the Biebs (but I can’t deny it, that song was pretty catchy) but regardless I would still see him.

BONUS! Childish Gambino featuring Chance the Rapper

9. SKATERS

What is up with all these band names in all caps? Anyway, I’m channeling my inner punk-rocker with this band. They’ve been compared to circa-2000 The Strokes and as a fan of circa-2000 The Strokes, I dig. I’m just a sucker for filtered vocals, seriously.

10. Sir Sly

If you like The Neighborhood, you would most likely like this Siry Sly. I even thought they were The Neighborhood the first time I heard this song.

11. Black Milk

For those of you who says hip-hop is dead–it’s not! Black Milk (as well as other artists) is here to keep it going! Second to Kendrick Lammar, I’m probably most excited to see Black Milk.

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Here’s a Soundcloud playlist with all the artist in this week’s post:

This post is also seen on my own blog: [X]