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Song: things i need to get off my chest
Artist: Chris Claxton (aka Virtual_Dreams_98)
Album: ---------- (2018)
Genres: Progressive Rock, Indie Rock, Folk Punk, Punk Rock, Pop Punk
More: This song was released on 6th March 2018 by Chris Claxton (aka Virtual_Dreams_98), a Canadian musician who happens to be a friend of mine and one of the most talented people I've ever talked to. I can see in things i need to get off my chest a bit of Neutral Milk Hotel (specially The King Of Carrot Flowers Pt.1), Bright Eyes and a bit of My Chemical Romance's Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, but I can also see himself in there. Some characteristics that appear on Dear Computer's tracks Letter 3: Moving On and White Bridge also appear in the beginning of things i need to get off my chest. The lyrics are not something very special, but they have their meaning, which is pretty easy to figure out, since the lyrics go straight to the point. - 2 -
Song: Night and Day
Artist: Akeboshi
Album: Akeboshi (2005)
Genres: Folk
More: Akeboshi is a Japanese Folk musician who is best known for his song Wind, which is the 1st ending of Naruto. Night And Day is the second track of his first studio album Akeboshi and it is pure Folk, greatly inspired by the Traditional Folk scene and with some Classical vibes. The lyrics are not very specific, but I guess it is about the loss of someone he loves (friend, girlfriend or family), mainly because of the first stanza ("Day break, I'm sitting near your grave"). This song shows a feeling of hopelessness that I appreciate. It is one of my favourite Folk songs, actually! - 3 -
Song: Truth
Artist: None Like Joshua
Album: Allies, Pt. 1(2016)
Genres: Alternative Hip-Hop, Future Rap, Neuro Hop
More: None Like Joshua is an American hip-hop artist. He is well known for his Nerdcore Hip-Hop, but I personally prefer his non-nerdcore music, specially the Allies Pt.1 and Feelings EP's. This song, Truth, is characterized by its dark and aggressive atmosphere, being very comparable to Neurofunk. Also, the electronic beats made by R.O. in this track are fantastic! I once had the intention to make a Rock cover of this track with my band (with NLJ's permission), but that'd be SO GODDAMN DIFFICULT so we ended up not doing it. - 4 -
Song: I've Been Lost
Artist: You Can't Win, Charlie Brown
Album: Chromatic (2011)
Genres: Dance-Pop, Indie Pop
More: You Can't Win, Charlie Brown is a Portuguese Indie band who formed in 2009. I got to know them when they opened up for alt-J in NOS Alive 2017 (I wasn't there but I watched everything through RTP 1 and RTP Play). I liked that show and so I decided to search them up. I fell in love once I heard I've Been Lost, which is an excellent song, but I underline the backing vocals, the piano and the drums. Oh, and I also liked the music video!
You Can't Win, Charlie Brown have a lot of potential and are, in my opinion, one of the best Indie groups in Portugal, so give them a listen! - 5 -
Song: Where We're From
Artist: Kush Mody (feat. Platypus Complex)
Album: Creature Comforts (2015)
Genres: Alternative Hip-Hop, R&B, Soul, R&B Hip-Hop
More: Kush Mody is an American multi-instrumentalist, best known for being a long time collaborator of George Watsky, one of my musical idols. He is part of my "top 10 favourite bassists" list and has a very creative mind, as you can see in many Watsky songs that were co-written by him. Also, he produced songs like Strong As An Oak and was one of the main producers of my favourite album of all time: x Infinity.
Where We're From is the song which inspired Watsky to write Never Let It Die, one of the singles of All You Can Do, and it has a very nice R&B rhythm, being joined by Platypus Complex's vocals, which fit very well in the song. I also love the lyrics, which portray a person who sees life as meaningless and pointless but still tries to see the good things in life, starting with an important person for him (possibly his mother or his girlfriend), referring that that person is his main joy in life. While the songs goes on, the narrator says that life "is nothing but the sum of some synaptical reactions" but also says that we must try our best to find a purpose in life, even if we can't find it right now. To underline this last idea, Mody made a reference of John Lock's philosophical ideology Tabua Rasa ("Filling in the blank slates like we're born this way"). I mean... it's just a fantastic song! - 6 -
Song: Turning Pages
Artist: None Like Joshua
Album: Feelings (2017)
Genres: Alternative Hip-Hop, Lo-Fi Hip-Hop
More: As I said before, I prefer None Like Joshua's non-nerdcore side. This EP is one of the only releases where None Like Joshua talks about his personal feelings (together with, for example, What It Means To Be Human, which was, unfortunately, deleted very recently) and also one of the only where he escapes from the Future Rap scene (together with his collaboration with the French Metal band Smash Hit Combo: L33T) and I really loved the final result! I didn't like the first track, Suicide Girls, but I found the other four tracks pretty good! What I specially like about this EP is that it portrays a situation everyone has been through in some point of their lives: A breakup. Turning Pages, specifically, is about Josh accepting the break up, ready to turn the page, and I think these calm Lo-fi vibes fit very well the lyrics! - 7 -
Song: We're #1 (aka Check the Score)
Artist: The World Record
Album: Guitars Forever (2006)
Genres: Alternative Rock
More: I don't know much about the band itself, but We're #1 (aka Check the Score) is one of my favourite Rock songs at the moment. The vocalist's voice, the guitar, the drums, the bass, the trumpet, everything in this song is perfect! Whenever I feel happy, I listen to this song.
I was introduced to this band by the TV series How I Met Your Mother (one of the TV series with the best soundtrack, actually). The song was featured in the sixth episode of the second season: Aldrin Justice, more specifically in the part when Lily finally realizes what she wants to do with her life (not gonna say more than that. I don't want to give spoilers to any reader who is watching or intends to watch the series). You know what I did when the song was featured? I paused the freaking episode to search the name of the song and I listened to it about ten times in a row until I decided to stop and finish the episode. I dare to say this is my favourite song of the whole list! - 8 -
Song: Pinkish
Artist: Gerard Way
Album: Hesitant Alien (2014) - as a bonus track of the Record Store Day exclusive vinyl
Genres: Alternative Rock, Grunge, Shoegazing
More: Gerard Way is an American musician and comic book artist, better know for being the former frontman of Punk Rock band My Chemical Romance. After his band disbanded in 2013, Way started recording his first solo studio album, which was released on 29th September 2014. It is, in my opinion, better than any My Chemical Romance album! The album mixed very well 80's Pop with Grunge and Shoegazing, as you can see in the bonus track Pinkish. I never thought Grunge (which was originated by genres such as Hard Rock, Noise Rock and Hardcore Punk) and Shoegazing (which was originated by genres such as Dream Pop, Noise Pop and Experimental Pop) could be so perfectly mixed in one track until I heard Pinkish and the rest of the album! I salute Gerard Way for making such a mix and for making what is, in my opinion, the best release of 2014. - 9 -
Song: Rescue Plane
Artist: Time For T
Album: Hoping Something Anything (2017)
Genres: Folk Rock
More: Time For T is a Portuguese (I mean, kinda. They formed in Oporto, if I'm not mistaken, but only their vocalist, Tiago Saga, is Portuguese and they are now living in Brighton, UK. So yeah) Indie/Folk Rock band. I was introduced to them by a friend of mine from Aveiro, who got to know them from the radio station Antena 3, if I remember well. Rescue Plane is, in my opinion, one of their best songs so far, alongside with Free Hugs. It's a Folk Rock song with some Dream Pop vibes and with lyrics about a long-distance relationship (a distance of exactly 1201 miles/~1934 km, according to the lyrics). The narrator says that they miss each other very badly and almost can't live so far of each other, but are forced to. They constantly plan their next meeting, which is personified in the lyrics as a "rescue plane", but most of the times those plans do not work out and that makes them even more desperate and in great need of another "rescue plane" ("Rescue plane crash too / then you need a rescue plane for the rescue plane rescue"). I love the lyrics because I've been in an identical situation for an year and a half. - 10 -
Song: Scumbag
Artist: Wax
Album: Livin Foul (2015)
Genres: Folk Rock, Country Rock
More: Wax in an American rapper, better known for his song, Rosana, which was a hit in some European countries like Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. He is a long time collaborator of George Watsky, being featured in songs like Kick Monday (In The Nutsack), Give a Hater a Hug and Exquisite Corpse, but I was never really fond with his music. I once tried and listened to most of his discography. I disliked most of his songs, but there was a song with a rhythm that I found pretty enjoyable: Scumbag. On this track, Wax forgot about Hip-Hop for a little bit and gave a try to Folk Rock and Country Rock, and the result was actually pretty good! Even though the lyrics, which is about his regrets of following the "Hollywood life-style" in order to be popular in the music industry, therefore forgetting about his family and his roots back in Washington, D.C., the city where he was born, are not something very special, but the instrumental is pretty nice! It's a song worth to listen to. - 11 -
Song: Inside
Artist: Another Cynthia
Album: ---------- (2002)
Genres: Indie Rock, Dance-Punk, Post-Punk Revival
More: I've already talked about Another Cynthia in this blog. It is one of my favourite bands and they had potential revolutionize the Indie Rock scene, but they were not popular enough to do that. On that post, I mentioned this song, which is their very first one, from 2002. It is one of their only songs where they dig Dance-Punk instead of Dance-Pop, and the Post-Punk Revival vibes are way more present here than in all their other songs.
The vocalist (not sure if it is Ian Mackintosh or Abe Smith singing) has a voice that fits pretty well on the song, the bass is absolutely fantastic and even the electronic beats are legendary! If you are into Dance-Punk and/or Post-Punk Revival, you will love this song. Believe it! - 12 -
Song: FedeloveArtist: Duck Fizz
Album: ----------- (2018)
Genres: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Electronic Rock
More: I got to know this Mexican band, Duck Fizz, because there was a YouTube video saying there was a leak of a new Arctic Monkeys song. I clicked on it, and it was just Vedette, by Duck Fizz. My first though was "wow, these guys are a complete ripoff of Arctic Monkeys' latest album!" and I even compared them to Socotra, a Nirvana ripoff band (here, in case you're interested), except they were copying Arctic Monkeys instead of Nirvana. But still, I gave them a try and decided to listen to their other stuff. Once I did that, I realized they didn't have lack of personality, they made songs that came from their own minds, as you can see in Blackout Disco. I then started to follow the band, and in January they released Fedelove, which is their best song so far. Why? First off, the lyrics there are way better than in other songs. I think their lack of lyrical creativity happens because English is not their native language. If that's the problem, then it's understandable that once they write lyrics in Spanish, they are better than usual, since it is their native language (even though I find part of the lyrics - "El Federico es marica / porque le gusta el Heryk" and "El Federico es marica / porque le gusta Coldplay / porque es bien rarito" ("Federico is a fag / because he likes Heryk" and "Federico is a fag / because he likes Coldplay / because he is really weird") quite unecessary).
I also loved the electronic beats and the vocalist's voice in here, which is now not as similar to Alex Turner's as in Vedette. This band is still in the beginning, and they will get better and better and can get big someday, write that down! - 13 -
Song: All We Want
Artist: Blur
Album: 13 (1999) - a bonus track of disc two (2012) - 13 bonus material
Genres: Art Rock, Experimental Rock, Noise Rock
More: Blur is a British band who was very popular during the 90's. They are the authors of songs like The Universal, Girls & Boys, Beetlebum and Song 2 (which is one of the defining songs of that decade) and were also considered, mainly by the press, Oasis' biggest rivals. Their sixth album was not as successful as their fourth and fifth (The Great Escape and Blur, respectively) but the album and the singles Coffee and TV and Tender still reached the charts.
13 is, in my opinion, their best album so far, but I didn't know if I should put Bugman or All We Want on this list. I like them both almost equally, so I decided to go for the least popular one.
I love All We Want specially because of its experimental and noisy vibes. Even though I am not really into Noise Rock, I love how Blur digged the Noise Rock scene in 13. In order to make it more interesting and not just noise, noise, noise, noise, noise, noise, NOISE, they experimented a bit and even put Art Rock in the mix. The electronic beats fit well and Graham Coxon's guitar riffs are awesome, as always. If you are into some weird rock, give this a try. - 14 -
Song: Basic
Artist: Declan McKenna
Album: Stains EP (2016)
Genres: Indie Pop, Post-Britpop, Neo-Psychedelica
More: Declan McKenna is a British musician, better known for his self-released single Brazil, a protest song against FIFA and the FIFA World Cup 2014 held in Brazil, and for winning the Glastonbury Festival's Emerging Talent Competition in 2015.
I like Declan's voice on this track, as well as the guitar and the electronic beats. About the Post-Britpop vibes, I can't say much because all the Post-Britpop songs I've listened to are Declan's. I believe the lyrics talk about the bad things of being a teenager in Declan's point of view. He starts to realize he is quite useless in general and feels alone, with a feeling that he doesn't have true friends, that they only tolerate them. He also feels somewhat "basic", a clone of everyone else, just one more. Also, he talks about people saying that his dream of being a musician is not worth it, that it is not going to be lucrative ("I get told that I'm far too old for number one perks / but it's well worth trying"), but he still tries to. - 15 -
Song: The Opposition
Artist: Invisible Inc.
Album: Fine Print (2018)
Genres: Alternative Hip-Hop, Rock Rap
More: Invisible Inc. is an American Hip-Hop band consisted by George Watsky, Adam Vida, Daniel Riera and Max Miller-Loran. After an hiatus of 11 years (even though they participated on Watsky's Anti-Trump song Pink Lemonade), they released their second studio album, Fine Print.
Like Pink Lemonade, The Opposition is an Anti-Trump song, but also a critic to the media. Invisible Inc. say that the media take the truth from us ("When they take the truth / don't listen") and mock with Trump's quote "grab'em by the pussy" ("Grab em by the vagina / let's redefine what a rapist is / Pussy is property / Papi just tryin' to take what's his"). Also, my favourite stanza of the lyrics is "Cruel what you'll do to humans when you can see them as faceless". I think it is self-explanatory.
About the instrumental: That. chorus. It is a very, very powerful chorus, specially because of the guitar, with Watsky screaming "When you take the truth / don't listen! / When they take the food / go fishing! / When they come for you / who steps in? / The oppostion! / The opposition!". What I find very, very special about this song is the chorus, really! The rest is pretty enjoyable, but that chorus! - 16 -
Song: The Cops
Artist: Camila Recchio
Album: [information not found] - song released in 2015
Genres: Acoustic Pop
More: Camila Recchio is an American singer, better known for being George Watsky's (yes, Watsky again) backing vocalist on tour and for participating in Tiny Glowing Screens, Pt.3 and Rome.
The Cops is certainly the most radio-friendly song of the whole list. Camila's voice is amazing, the guitar chords are simple yet very enjoyable and the cello adds something to the song. It is a very easy-listening song, and I'd like to see it rise to popularity one day, but unfortunately I do not see that happening. - 17 -
Song: Lost
Artist: George Watsky
Album: Plane 651 (2018)
Genres: Alternative Hip-Hop
More: George Watsky is an American rapper, writer and poet. In August 2016, he released his fourth studio album: x Infinity, and together with it, he released a B-Side album (Plane 651) in www.kisswatskysgluteusmaximus.com, a site that he referred in his song Don't Be Nice. There, you can find 13 tracks (and he deleted two, Gray Eyes and Loving Arms) and one of them is Lost, which is one of my favourite Watsky songs.
Lost has a very calm rhythm and you almost feel like you're high while listening to it. You feel like you're getting transported to another planet, specially in the chorus.
About the lyrics, Watsky reflects about his career. On the first verse, he imagines another reality where he is super-successful. In that reality, Watsky has a lot of fans, has won many Grammys and has seen Pitchfork write an article about him, saying that he "doesn't suck". Even though he tries to stay indifferent in public, privately he feels very, very proud of himself and even prints the article and frames it on the wall, and then he throws a party with "a bunch of homies" to celebrate his success. Now on the second verse, Watsky starts to think realistically, saying that he is not that special or famous, but that's okay. Also, from the description he's giving, it looks like he's talking about life while looking at the stars ("The fact is as this planet roams the galaxy rotating on its axis"; "I'm lying on a mattress feeling tragic / trying not to let my maturation bleed the world of magic / As if abracadabra could patch my spirit's fraying fabric"), saying how immense the universe is compared to himself. Usually, when he addresses this topic of being "small", he starts getting depressive (Tiny Glowing Screens, Pt. 2), but here, he doesn't. Actually, he even says he wants some love, but, as he said, "love is not an item on my to do list".
Seriously, I know I've said this before in another post, but I'll say it again: Give Watsky a try. - 18 -
Song: Fix of Rock N'Roll
Artist: The Legendary Tigerman
Album: Misfit (2018)
Genres: Alternative Rock
More: Paulo Furtado, professionally known as The Legendary Tigerman, is a Portuguese musician and one of the symbols of the Portuguese Alternative Rock scene, together with bands like Capitão Fausto, Ornatos Violeta and Linda Martini.
Fix of Rock N'Roll is one of the singles of The Legendary Tigerman's latest album Misfit and one of his best songs. Even though it is lyrically very poor, when it comes to instrumental, it is a very powerful song (specially because of the guitar) which is something that The Legendary Tigerman usually doesn't do: he has always played Blues Rock, Soft Rock and Traditional Blues in his solo career. Fix of Rock N'Roll showed his wild side, and I like it. - 19 -
Song: Lie to the Truth
Artist: The Young Veins
Album: Take a Vacation! (2010)
Genres: Indie Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Folk Rock
More: The Young Veins were an American band consisted by former Panic! At The Disco members Ryan Ross and Jon Walker, and by Andy Soukal, Nick Murray and Nick White.
Their debut and only album was Take a Vacation!, which was inspired by bands like The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Searchers, but also by Panic! At The Disco's second album Pretty Odd.. According to many people, Panic!'s third album Vices & Virtues is what Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith wanted Panic! to sound like, while The Young Vein's Take a Vacation! is what Ryan Ross and Jon Walker wanted Panic! to sound like before they abandoned the band.
Lie to the Truth is a nice acoustic song, showing Ryan Ross' sweet voice and capability to write calm songs. It is the best track of the whole album, in my opinion, and it shows us how important Ryan was to Panic! At the Disco. - 20 -Song: Ruby MagicArtist: Portugal. The Man
Album; It's Complicated Being a Wizard (2007)
Genres: Experimental Electronic, Experimental Rock
More: Portugal. The Man is an American band, better known for their hit-song Feel It Still. I was introduced to them 2 years before Feel It Still was released, and at that time I listened to their whole discography. I fell in love with It's Complicated Being a Wizard and it is now one of my favourite Experimental releases. It is very, very, weird. No doubt. It almost looks like it was made in other planet.
Also, it is one of Portugal. The Man's first releases after they dissolved the Post-Hardcore/Emo band Anatomy of a Ghost and formed Portugal. The Man. It was a drastic change, but their earlier work became a masterpiece when it comes to the Experimental scene. I actually prefer their early work a LOT more than their latest (even though songs like Modern Jesus, Got It All and Purple, Yellow, Red & Blue are pretty enjoyable).
What do you think? Do you have any song you'd list in here? List it down there, in the comments!
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