NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  HIGHS is an indie rock quartet from Toronto, Canada. The band released a self-titled EP in 2014 and a full-length record in 2016 titled Dazzle Camouflage . The band released a single in 2021, but has been quiet since then. The band's only LP so far has received critical praise from the few critics that have reviewed the record. The record was produced by Depeche Mode and Foals producer Luke Smith, causing some reviewers to draw a comparison between HIGHS and the latter British indie rock group. HIGHS' Spotify page features a picture of a drum set, which seems to be apropos due to the band's interesting irregular drum beats in otherwise chill songs.  YOU'RE NEVER GONNA GET IT RIGHT. Taking its name from an artistic technique in nature and implemented by the British Admiralty during World War I, Dazzle Camouflage is an engaging album, but its not one that hits all at once. I don't remember where I first heard it, but I'd imagine that the album found its way i...

Following the traumatic experience of surviving cancer between  Jack's Mannequin 's first album ( Everything in Transit ) and second album ( The Glass Passenger ) , lead singer  Andrew McMahon  decided to write about the  people  and  things  that he appreciated the most. The singer talks about deciding on the name for the project quite early in the album's production process in the podcast  Meet the Musician .  People and Things  topped  the Alternative Albums chart, but the lead single, " My Thoughts Racing ," only peaked at #43 on the  Rock Digital Sales chart . The album was released in October 2011, but by February 2012, McMahon publicly discussed dropping the band's name. "I foresee an end to the usage of that name. I don’t know that it’s doing what it used to for me," he told  Lehigh Valley Music . To McMahon, he wanted to start fresh. Healthy, married, and becoming a father, the concept of Jack that McMahon had cre...

  Wanted on Voyage was a huge debut record for George Ezra internationally. One of the biggest reasons for Ezra's success in 2014 was that the album's lyrics resonate with Europeans as the English singer-songwriter includes many details of specific places from his first solo journey across Europe. The first song on the record, though, " Blame It on Me ," starts at home, in Ezra's case Bristol, England, after just moving there . He told In Style , " I was saddled with student loans, and I realized there were so many opportunities to play music, so unless I got busy, I could only blame myself." WE FOUND OURSELVES SOME TREASURE AND THREW IT ALL AWAY. The music video for "Blame It on Me" shows George Ezra having a very bad day. The singer is a magnet for accidents and the ill-will of others. Hit, tackled, run over, and shot at by the end of the video as well as being the victim of a pesky raincloud that follows only Ezra as he "follows the y...

Metric  isn't a household name for alternative rock music, even though they have been around forever.  They had some success with their fourth album,  Fantasies ,  and they saw  Top 20 singles in the U.S. Alternative Rock charts , but mostly the band has been confined to the Canadian charts. Lead singer Emily Haines , though, is an American-Canadian duel citizen, born to American parents in New Delhi, where her mother started a school. Haines collaborated with fellow indie rock band Broken Social Scene , singing on several albums, though Metric was her main gig. Metric's music varies from album to album both thematically and musically. Haines often writes about feminism, war, and dreams. On their sixth album   Pagans in Vegas ,  the music is synth-heavy, taking influence on British New Wavers.  I'M FOLLOWING THE SUN THAT'S SETTING IN THE WEST. Speaking about the first single from Pagans in Vegas , " The Shade ,"  Emily Haines wrote : "W...

The Benjamin Gate was a band signed to ForeFront Records between 2001 and 2003. The band formed in 1998 in Port Elizabeth and took their name from one of the original entrances to the Biblical city of ancient Jerusalem and also named the band as a tribute to their friend who had died in a traffic accident, Ben Herbert. The band had some success in the burgeoning field of alternative Christian rock. They released two records, 2001’s [“ untitled ”] and 2002’s  Contact ,  but by 2003 the band broke up after lead singer Adrienne Liesching ’s engagement to fellow Christian Rocker Jeremy Camp .  SEEING THROUGH A HOLE IN TIME. The Benjamin Gate was a female-fronted Christian Rock band that showed much potential for the future of the genre. Influenced by bands like Garbage and Linkin Park , the band arrived at an interesting time when music was getting heavier, more electronic, and blending pop and hard rock together. The band’s first record was distinctly Christian Rock, with...

Republic was the end of an era for New Order . The band’s popularity was at its peak after scoring hits in America even outside of the dance hall. But it was an album that the band didn’t want to make. According to then-bassist Peter Hook , the band’s music club in Manchester, The Haçienda, was in dire financial straits, and the band’s record label Factory Records threatened to go bankrupt. The band members’ funds were tied up in Factory Record and the finances of the club were also entwined. However, bassist Hook and lead singer Bernard Sumner were “at the point in the relationship where you hate each other’s stinking guts.”   BREAKING IS A CRIME. Republic was released in 1993 and charted the best of all New Order’s albums on the Billboard album charts . The band went on a five-year hiatus after playing the Reading Festival in August, and New Order’s millennial records were nothing like the height of their popularity in the late ‘80s to early ‘90s.  The album artwork for Re...

Last 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.  On the Little Fires podcast   Dave Raymond explained some of the craft behind his lyrics and writing process. Raymond's discussion of rock music is perhaps the best description of the visceral feelings listeners get when listing to Hidden Hospitals. He says:...

Listening to  Paper Route  makes me wonder, what if  Coldplay , after recording  X & Y   had continued making electronic music and honed in on their lyrics.  Paper Route has a solid pop-rock band, on par with any of their contemporaries (i.e.  OneRepublic , Coldplay), but their somewhat eccentric fidelity to their craft, recording their albums themselves in old Tennessee mansions to let the natural acoustics reverberate on the record, had cemented them as an indie rock band. " Balconies " was kind of Paper Route's first and last hit. The band's music had been featured in movies and television shows, but "Balconies" got them a late-night performance slot on  Seth Meyers . As one of the most obvious hits from their third album,  Real Emotion ,  the song was released to radio but didn't do too well on the charts. After touring to support the album, the band went on "an indefinite hiatus." However, as the band has had long gaps between a...

  I've talked about Eisley , the named-for- Star-Wars  sister/cousin band from Tyler, Texas. Their major-label debut garnered indie cred, but due to some issues in the music industry, the band's label de-prioritized their sophomore release, delaying it almost a year from its recording and mastering. As for promotion, the record label pulled radio support as they weren't sure which format to market the band and canceled plans for a second music video to the band's only non-radio single " Invasions "  and never released the video for today's song, " Many Funerals ." Eisely can be added to the list of Christian-adjacent bands that were failed by major labels. Some of these groups saw initial success, whether radio, video, or touring, but ultimately they were left abandoned by the major label. Although  RadioU  plays some of their latest singles, by the end the  Room Noises   cycle, Eisley's creative path didn't have them marketed to the Chri...

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 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...

  Many Christians and former Christians were crestfallen by the marriage of politics and religion, particularly displayed from the 2016 election of Donald Trump. How could religious leaders we looked up to, who taught us about the fruits of the spirit, now say that Trump was appointed by God? Back in 2012, though, a band from Hartsville, South Carolina, began to see inconsistencies between what the Bible said and what was preached. YOU BETTER MEAN WHAT YOU SAY.   Sent By Ravens released two records with Tooth & Nail Records before going on an indefinite hiatus. Unlike many Tooth & Nail acts, Sent By Ravens was a Christian Rock band that dealt with Christian themes directly. The band's debut record, Our Graceful Words , produced by Aaron Sprinkle , challenged listeners on spiritual themes on songs like " New Fire " and " Beautiful List ." Other songs on the record like " Trailers vs. Tornadoes " and " Stone Soup " displayed a post-ha...

Today we take another dive into Aaron Sprinkle 's 2017 record, Real Life . In a sense, Real Life was a farewell record. Sprinkle had scaled back his productions in the early '10s, only working with bands he really wanted to. Real Life is also his final record on Tooth & Nail Records . Since moving to Nashville in the ‘10s, Sprinkle began working on other musical projects outside of the Tooth & Nail world. Real Life blends trendy late ‘10s pop hooks and ‘80s/‘90s electronic sounds. MEET ME WHERE THE LIGHT GETS IN YOUR EYES. Today, I'm updating the hideous album artwork for my Aaron Sprinkle Essentials playlist on Spotify and creating an Apple Music edition. After all, it is Apple Music playlists I'm basing the Aaron Sprinkle list on-- Max Martin , Jack Antonoff , Greg Kurtsin , etc. I think Aaron Sprinkle deserves his own playlist, so here it is: 1. " Step Here " by Aaron Sprinkle. The penultimate track on Real Life feels like a '90s video game ...