NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

This is our third entry from Credential Recording's short-lived band, Turn Off the Stars. I don't know much about what the band members did after breaking up. Guitarist and backup vocalist Andrew Walker now leads worship at a church, but the other members don't have much of an Internet presence. Signed to Credential Records, a home to acts like Edison Glass, Seabird, Future of Forestry , Sixpence None the Richer at one time, and Swichfoot's Jon Foreman and his side project with Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins, Family Fiction, the label seemed to drop most of its supported bands in the late '00s. Some of the bands transitioned, but others, like Turn Off the Stars, folded. Now the label partnered with Jon Foreman's label Lowercase People and only market's Foreman's projects other than Switchfoot.  BUT YOU DO IT TO YOURSELF . The fourth track on the moody album, "Hours and Days" is a brooding song about tediously waiting for someone to change. The...

" Even Rats " comes from Boston's rock band The Slip and was a featured playable track on Playstation's Guitar Hero. Formed in 1989 and releasing their first album in 1997, the band was known for an "avant-rock" sound, often creating a jazz fusion sound. The band's 2006 album, Eisenhower , produced by Matthew Ellard, shifted the band's direction to indie rock. The band never got very popular. They performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and opened for indie rock band My Morning Jacket. Just as their indie rock career was taking off, the band went on hiatus until 2015. They released a new record earlier this year. I HEAR SPRING'S NICE IN CANADA. "Even Rats" is a fun grungy, guitar jamming song. After being mesmerized by the ending guitar solo when I first heard the song in college when my roommate put it on his driving mix and we listened to it every time our friends would go downtown, I started to pay attention to the lyrics. It...

In 2002, when Blindside released their major-label debut, Silence ,  there was a lot of hype around this group. Formed in Sweden as Underfree in 1994, the band released two records in the United States through Solid State Records, Tooth & Nail's hard music sister label. The band was heavily promoted by fellow rock bands, especially P.O.D., whose multi-platinum 2001 record Satellite solidified the hard rockers in pop culture. As P.O.D. had been helped by other bands in the scene, the group paid it forward with other bands, particularly Blindside. Blindside toured with P.O.D.; their lead singer, Christian Lindskog, appeared on the track "Anything Right" on Satellite;  and the band even appeared in P.O.D.'s music video for " Boom ." In the video, Blindside appears as "Sweden" in the outrageous ping pong tournament.  WHAT IF I COULD REACH INSIDE?  Silence was a rebirth in Blindside's sound. Elements of the hardcore sound on the band's firs...

Listening to the songs on Acceptance's 2020 album, Wild, Free, I really like them in playlists. Of course, " Cold Air " is the best track on the record. However, this album now ties with Acceptance's Phantoms for the most songs chosen for my blog, and Acceptance follows Anberlin (11 entries) and Copeland (7 entries) with six entries for "Song of the Day," tying with Sufjan Stevens. Getting to the end of the year, there are so many songs I still want to write about, but there are only thirty-four days left in the year. I haven't even had a chance to talk about Acceptance's 2017 Colliding by Design , which is a far superior album to Wild, Free. YOU'RE MY ONLY FAILURE. "Dark Age" encapsulates the mood that Wild, Free  gives. The album's cover art and darker-toned songs offer a much less hopeful tone than the band's previous effort,  Colliding by Design,  an upbeat, colorful album. Some fans rejected Colliding by Design  for its lat...

The third Thursday of every November, barring no situations like a pandemic delaying the start of the school year or an earthquake in a major city the day before the exam, South Korea holds its once-a-year College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) or 수능. Much of a Korean student's academic future rests on the score he or she receives on the test. Unlike American SATs or ACTs, failure to get a good score means either waiting another year to take the exam or settling with a lower-tier college. The subjects covered on the CSAT are Korean language, Mathematics, English, and Korean History. There are YouTube videos in which graduates from top universities around the world ( in this video US college graduates ) attempt to solve the questions on the CSAT. Korea is a country that places so much importance on students' scholastic abilities, but it comes at a cost--both financial and emotional.  IS THIS REALLY TRUE? Several dramas and films have looked at the economic inequality in the wor...

Brothers " Bear " and "Bo" Rineheart were born in Possum Kingdom, South Carolina, and raised in a church camp that their father, a pastor, managed. Forming NEEDTOBREATHE with friends Seth Bolt and Joe Stillwell , the band signed to Atlantic Records and released their sophomore record in 2007.  Opening for Taylor Swift on her Speak Now Tour in 2011, winning many Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards , and receiving two Grammy nominations, NEEEDTOBREATHE  has gained acclaim both in the Christian Rock and secular markets. The band's 2016 record,  H A R D             L O V E , debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 albums list and is the band's bestselling record. The folksy lyrics of NEEDTOBREATHE speak of faith, love, and family. YOU'RE THE CATALYST OF HIGH HOPES. The theme of the band's 2016 record comes from a long-seeded rivalry between brothers Bear and Bo, which escalated in 2014 into a fistfight that ended with a trip to...

Opening Nick Jonas ' latest album, Spaceman , is the etherial ballad "D on't Give Up on Us ." Though produced by Greg Kurstin , a hit maker whose accolades include Sia 's " Chandelier " and Adele's " Easy on Me " and " Hello ," Nick Jonas's 2021 album only spun two singles, " Spaceman " and " This Is Heaven ." Were listeners and critics too harsh on Spaceman?  Slow pop songs with electronic atmospheres and falsetto R&B vocals and lyrics a committed, marital relationship may have left listeners who cynical from their post-lockdown breakup annoyed. It may have bored other listeners. While it may not be a masterpiece, it's certainly worth a revisit. The moody opener of Spaceman isn't lyrically deep, but its atmosphere opens an album that really should work. I HEAR YOU CALLING WHEN I'M HERE ALL BY MYSELF. Maybe it's the original cover of the album, but I can't help but think about kids...

In March, I wrote about the track that comes directly before " Typecast " on Hidden Hospitals ' 2018 album Liars, " Pulling Teeth ." Liars is the second LP by the Chicago-based progressive rock band. Singer Dave Raymond started in a short-band called League in 2004 before joining a band called Damiera, a math-rock band which evolved into another band called Kiss Kiss. Finally in 2011, with member changes, Hidden Hospitals was ready to release their debut EP. The band's co-founder, guitarist Steve Downs departed before the band recorded Liars. With only Raymond left on guitar, the band experimented with synthesizers throughout the record. TELL ME A STORY I'VE HEARD BEFORE . "Typecast" picks up the pace from "Pulling Teeth," which is an engaging song too. The heavy guitar of "Typecast" and the somewhat irregular drumming sound like they are playing competing rhythms, yet somehow when Raymond sings his quiet lyrics within the l...

I wrote earlier this year about Number One Gun , particularly about  This Is All I Know . The band from Chico, California, would only become one member-- Jeff Schneeweis . The other members went on to form the band Surrogate and work with other bands such as Emery . There was a lot of controversy surrounding Number One Gun's last album, related to the late fulfillments of crowdfunding. Schneeweis, the only member left in Number One Gun, declared the band to be finished and started releasing music under the moniker Leal. This Is All I Know  is the end of a Christian Rock era: a band that stuck despite never being anyone's favorite band. HEAVY IS UPON US. Just as Anberlin had announced their farewell in 2014, several other bands called it quits. In 2017 the band Yellowcard , along with Anberlin drummer Nathan Young, recorded their final album and gave their farewell tour. After Anberlin ended, Stephen Christian was busy first in Nashville as a songwriter then as a Worship lead...

First appearing in 2001, Lovedrug released their eponymous EP in 2002 and their Rocknroll EP in 2004 before releasing their debut record, Pretend You're Alive , in June of 2004. Selling over 20,000 records soon after the record was released, the band was signed to Columbia Records and their song " Spiders " was intended to be marketed as a radio hit. But rock star grandeur was never really in Lovedrug's reach, as the label dropped the band in the middle of restructuring. Lovedrug was a hard-working band, touring with acts such as The Killers , Robert Plant , Sam Phillips , Switchfoot , and Copeland . They would enjoy some success with their follow up record, Everything Starts Where It Ends ,  but would continue making music until 2020, although they are probably best remembered for their first two records.   SEARCHING ON A WIRE FOR A WIRE . The Militia Group was a record label founded by former Tooth & Nail Records employee Chad Pearson . Pearson founded the...

Unlike 2008 , 2003 was a pretty busy year in Tooth & Nail. It was coming to the end of the '90s legendary acts, like Slick Shoes, Dogwood, Ghoti Hook, Bleach, Hangnail, and Side Walk Slam. It was the beginning of the journey for Mae, Anberlin, and FM Static. It was the rebranding of Thousand Foot Krutch, Spoken, and Further Seems Forever, the former bands transitioning out of rap-rock and the latter reappearing without the now-Dashboard Confessional frontman. Throughout the year, though, there were many underrated gems. Furthermore released their melodic hip hop second record, She and I. Beloved released their only record on Solid State. Lucerin Blue released four singles from their Tales of the Knife before disbanding. Watashi Wa released their first album, but it's not well remembered.  FELL LOVE, PUNCH YOU IN THE GUT. Holland's Photographs and Tidal Waves was released on February 11, 2003. If memory serves me, RadioU promoted two singles from the album, but the the...

A month before releasing her debut record under her crafted stage name, Lana del Rey , Elizabeth Grant released the title track as the second single for 2012’s Born to Die . Her first record was released on an indie label which eventually was pulled from distribution. Del Rey, at the time known as Del Ray, claimed the label lacked funding. After the album’s release, the singer took to refining her image and writing for her major-label debut. The video for the first single, “ Video Games ,” went viral after its release in June of 2011. Pitchfork ranked the song as the ninth best song of 2011. “Born to Die” was released in December and introduced listeners to themes of both the album and Lana del Rey’s career, even better than her first single. THE ROAD IS LONG, WE CARRY ON/ TRY TO HAVE FUN IN THE MEANTIME. The album Born to Die set up Lana del Rey as an old-soul hipster pop singer. The singer didn’t have much in common with the pop singers of the the early ‘10s other than a few ly...

Aaron Sprinkle is a musician's musician. And I've talked about him so much that any readers I have would be sick of reading about him. I talked about his solo career when I talked about Fair . Throughout this year, I've talked about how prolific Sprinkle has been as a producer, but I've rarely talked about his personal music. In his various podcast appearances, Sprinkle talks about how he came to realize that his musical career was about making other musicians sound incredible, as his bands and solo projects under performed in comparison to the records he produced. But when Sprinkle releases his own music, listeners get a look into the genius behind the hit records. Sprinkle's 2017 record  Real Life   is perhaps his most accessible work and has received the most critical love due to its keen sense of the contemporary music scene and its ability to link the new to the past. WITHOUT A LIGHT TO SHINE OR A ROOM TO GRACE. Ugh. It's photo day at school. I'm crin...

English rock band Muse has been making dystopian concept albums since 2009's The Resistance . Their third concept album, Drones , has a more fleshed out story than the previous records. Reacting to world governments' increased usage of drones to carry out covert military operations, the album imagines a scenario in which soldiers are conditioned to "kill with no remorse," ultimately becoming a human  drone, furthering only the government's cause. By the end of the album, the protagonist wakes up to the manipulation and defects. The album topped Billboard's Hot 200 album charts and the world tour was filmed and shown in theaters around the globe.  YOUR LIPS FEEL WARM TO TOUCH . As a three-person band, Muse has packed a lot into their sound. The band wanted Drones to be a departure from their symphonic sound they created on The Resistance and The 2nd Law , working with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange to return to a hard rock sound. Lange came to f...

In 2012, Tyler Ward released Hello. Love. Heartbreak, an EP that would shift his music back to originals rather than covers. Before YouTube, the singer-songwriter struggled to find a following, playing local gigs and recording his music at home, practicing his production on himself. He had uploaded covers of popular songs, but didn't get a following until he had heard that famous singers were going to record a new version of "We Are the World." So before the new version of 'We Are the World" was uploaded to YouTube, Ward covered the song, and for a short time, his version was the first video that appeared when viewers searched for the song! Viewers then started subscribing to Tyler's YouTube channel, discovering his cover songs, and today the singer has 2 million subscribers. I COULD HEAR MY SONG PLAYING ON THE RADIO. Thanks to YouTube and Patreon, Tyler Ward has built a successful YouTube music model. Like fellow YouTubers Kurt Hugo Schneider, Sam Tsui, and ...

In 2007 Paste Magazine named Paper Route "One to Watch." And while they never lived up to their potential, the Nashville band recorded music that they believed in. The band released several independent EPs before signing to Universal Records. Their debut LP Absence  and remix EP Additions were released on Universal Motown. But before their major-label debut, the band released a 5-song EP titled Are We All Forgotten, a named for a song which would also appear on their debut LP. After sharing several songs on the band's MySpace page,  Are We All Forgotten was released on July 8, 2008. Absence was released on April 28 the next year. THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR. Are We All Forgotten featured big studio production the band hadn't used on their earlier EPs, Paper Route and  A Thrill of Hope. The band's previous work had been more in the vein of Americana. But the complex beats and noisy synths on AWAF  showed where the band was heading. Yet, the band's ear for Americana...