NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  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 "

I've written a bit last year about how I'm a Coldplay apologist. I believe that the London-based band is very good at what they do. Though so many artists accomplish their sound, both musically and lyrically, better, there's something uplifting about a new Coldplay album. Early last year, I talked about the band's first single from their ninth studio record,   Music of the Spheres , " Higher Power ." The album was released on October 15 last year. Before the release of the record and after releasing "Higher Power," the band released the promotional single, the 10:17 track " Coloratura ," which was praised by critics for its composition and production. Then they released the second radio single " My Universe ," featuring the South Korean boy band, BTS . The song shot straight to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 , becoming the second Coldplay single to top the Hot 100, the first being " Viva la Vida ." I JUST WANT TO PUT

When a rock band gets as big as Linkin Park got, it becomes trendy to hate the band. I must admit that during their career, I wasn't in line with every step the band took--mainly because of the band's usage of profanity from their third album throughout the rest of their career. However, I could never understand critics and listeners who casually compared the band to butt rocks like Nickelback . Yes, Linkin Park's music is formulaic at times, and the band knew how to write a song to get on the radio. The comparison between Linkin Park and any other rock band seems like comparing Nickelback to Nike because Linkin Park was a brand more than band, complete with a consistent audio and visual aesthetic. The band didn't simply create records, but told stories. I'M SWIMMING IN THE SMOKE OF THE BRIDGES I HAVE BURNED. Linkin Park's fourth record, A Thousand Suns , is a multifaceted concept record. The band intended for album to be listened to in one sitting, inviting li

Following the singles " Hallucinations " and " Death of Me " from the band's EP Hallucinations ,  Pvris   released the single " Dead Weight " from the third album  Use Me . The band has talked extensively about their new sound, moving from a conventional female-fronted rock band to, well, how would you classify Pvris? Each song on Use Me could fit into the genre of Alternative, one of the loosest genre descriptions today. Whether it's the programed drums, the pop hooks, the noisy guitars, or the throbbing bass, Pvris is now a rock-inspired dark pop band, or duo as of now. TAKING WINGS OFF A GODDESS. Of course music doesn't need to be neatly classified. I spend a lot of time thinking about what gets classified as Alternative, though, and it makes me think that my definition that I coined back in the early '00s was correct. At that time, I began to see rock bands that incorporating instruments and electronic programing that had not been in ro

In 2014, I wasn't listening for what was next in Alternative music. Rock music in the early '10s was disappointing me with all of the Imagine Dragons and Coldplay knock offs. When my friend, fellow music blogger Stephen Barry told me I should check out Bastille , I reluctantly did, but I didn't really listen to them. I just listened to them in passing. My music tastes at that time were: rock should be rock (i.e. Linkin Park and Anberlin ), not trying to disguise itself behind big, bright production. I don't think that way anymore. Bastille became a hit in America because of today's song. After reaching #2 on the UK pop charts, the song became a #5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and it topped the Alternative Songs chart. While I would love to bring you another Christmas song, today we take a break from Christmas. BUT IF YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES..."Pompeii" is a strange pop song. It literally describes the conversation between two people about to be killed in the

Red 's debut album, End of Silence , comes in the middle of a maximalist orchestral rock era on the alternative/active rock stations. The lead single, " Breathe Into Me " is a heavily produced single that involves screaming, a Middle-eastern sounding guitar solo, and a string section that sounds like it's being tuned in on an FM radio. As novel as that sounds, a DJ today might be able to recreate that sound if he picked up a hundred other active rock records from 2003-2009. The sound effects and heavy guitars could be found on any Linkin Park record, the strings on an Evanescence record, the screaming on almost any other record. But in 2006, Red's End of Silence was a fun, aggressive radio-rock record, and I had every hope that they would go on to have a career of unique heavy music. FALLING FASTER . Released the summer after I graduated from high school, I didn't really start listening to Red's debut record until the Fall, when I was driving to morning

  The BEC in BEC Records is short for Brandon Ebel Company and is an imprint label of Ebel’s other company, Tooth & Nail Records . Today, the label serves as the Contemporary Christian side of Ebel’s business, just as Solid State serves as the heavier music side; however, the distinction between the label imprint have not always been so defined. Case in point is Falling Up , whose career started as an explicitly Christian band but later became the creative outlet of vocalist and songwriter Jessy Ribordy to write his science fiction song lyrics. By the band's third record, Falling Up had become much less about Christian music, and much more about abstract sci-fi landscapes, littered with Greek mythology. And after the band's fourth album, the label and many fans had lost interest. IN THIS MOMENT SYNCHRONIZED INSIDE. But let’s go back to the single that helped the band sell over 50,000 albums the first week of their debut Crashings ’ release—“ Broken Heart .” This was Feb

Pop quiz: How many Asian American pop singers do you know? Bonus if you can name one with a Billboard Hot 100 hit. BTS does not count because they are Korean, not American. Give up? I can think of two. First a hip-hop group called Far East Movement garnered a lot of love in LA's Koreatown and eventually topped the charts with the song "Like a G6." And you could have also said Linkin Park 's Mike Shinoda. Otherwise, pre-BTS, the American music industry was quite underrepresented by Asian musicians. With that in mind, the Atlanta, Georgia-born Eric Nam returned to the country of his parents to pursue a career he felt wasn't likely in America.  In Korea, Nam has become not only a popular musician, but also a go-to interviewer whenever movie or pop stars visit Korea. His K-pop is more influenced by singer-songwriters and U.S. pop singers than the girl and boy groups of his high school years. His unique take on K-pop has made him multi-nationally famous. Honestly, Ame