NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

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: "It

  It's officially spooky season, so I decided to make a playlist celebrating the spookier songs I've blogged about or artists that had a spooky song. The 31 tracks that I included perhaps won't make you writhe in horror, but they have a loose connection to Halloween. Maybe there's a lyrics or a creepy video, or maybe it was just a song that I listened to a lot in October. I will post the Spotify playlist below and links to the posts and the tracks so that you can read the spooky stories behind the tracks.  1.       " Ghost " by Yellow Ostrich 2. " Closer " by Kings of Leon 3. " Unholy " by Sam Smith ft. Kim Petras 4. " I'm Pretty Sure I'm Out of Luck and Have No Friends " by Underoath 5. " Two Graves " by Anberlin 6. " Moonlit " by Falling Up 7. " Panic Switch " by Silversun Pickups 8. " Killer " by Chvrches   9. " Midnight City " by M83 10 " Edge of Seventeen "

Your writing teacher probably told you to "avoid clichés like the plague." Writers and content creators constantly have to draw attention to their work, and anything trite or overtly formulaic might give the reader, viewer, listener, etc. that you as an artist don't care enough about your subject to make it fresh. The truth is, you graduate from high school or college, you write informally and you write a lot, you tend to start developing plague-like symptoms. You start working in an office, and everyone's listening to light rock. The music in your 30s is different from the cool and edgy music of your 20s, and all you want to do is to listen to something that won't make you think too much. Something that uses way too many clichés. But then, every once in a while a new group will come along to distract you from that monotony, even if their lyrics are basically turning clichés on their head.  SAID THE RIGHT WORDS, PLAYED THE WRONG CHORDS. With nary a song over 4:30,

When Red 's producer Rob Graves posted on Twitter a picture of a note on Red's guitars tuned to "A#, A, and G," some fans thought that the band's third album would be even heavier. In February of 2011, Red released Until We Have Faces , taking its name from the 1956 C.S. Lewis novel . The band delivered a more cohesive, harder rock sound than previous efforts with songs like  " Faceless ," the album's opener " Feed the Machine ," and " Lie to Me " (Denial). Today's song is a song about disappointment in someone's honesty. I recommend this song, not because I had someone hurt my feels because of a lie, but rather I'm hearing so many lies these days, it's hard to distinguish the truth. WILL YOUR HOPE DIE ALONE?    Okay, that's a little dramatic. Let me explain. I'm in the process of shopping for a new apartment, and it's very difficult to find an honest salesman. The whole thing has me more disheartened

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

When I think of progressive rock, I think of music that hasn't been refined enough to make it to radio. The lyrics are a little too strange. The instrumentals go off on tangents. Don't get me wrong, I like long guitar solos, but prog. rock gets a bit pedantic. Then I heard Hidden Hospitals' 2016 album Liars. The band calls themselves a progressive rock band, and honestly, I haven't heard anything like it before. Like progressive rock albums, it took me a few listens to get into Liars . But track after track reveals intricate song structures met by lyrics that could be easily passed over, but when they sink in, pack a punch. According to an episode with lead singer Dave Raymond on Matt Carter's Break It Down podcast, Raymond grew up listening to Hip-Hop, but it was rock shows by bands like Emery and Anberlin that got him interested in performing music that would become Hidden Hospitals. FINDING REAL'S LIKE PULLING TEETH. Today's song tells the whimsical st