NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Today, I’m going to share the songs that I have listened to the most on Apple Music. I can't actually share the playlist because of Apple Music settings, but I found it surprising what made my most played. I think a lot of the plays come from playlist placements, particularly my Coffee playlist that I listened to at work until this year. I have blogged about most of the songs on this list, but today's song is the most-played track I haven't blogged about yet.   I’VE GOT FAITH IN NOTHING. I’ve blogged about 17 of the 25 songs listed. The number is approximate because there’s several technicalities that I’ll address as I write link to each blog post. Then at the bottom, I’ll post a shareable Apple Music playlist.   1. “ Far ” by Canopy Climbers . I’ve posted this track twice, first in January 2021. Many of the songs on my list are kind of background music that don’t intrude with my thoughts.  2. “ How to Love ” by Cash Cash ft. Sofia Reyes . I haven’t written about today’s

  Like Search the City , Ivoryline was one of Tooth & Nail Records potential “next Anberlin ” projects. Ivoryline was one of the many “two-album wonders” of the late ‘00s and early ‘10s, releasing their debut There Came a Lion in 2008 and Vessels in 2010. Last year, the Labeled podcast featured an interview with Ivoryline’s lead singer Jeremy Gray , breaking down the band’s successes and untimely demise. Ivoryline was a casualty to the dying record-selling industry and never saw the success of some of their scene- and tour-mates, but their story is worth checking out. THIS SEATLE LIFE HAS CHANGED ME FROM THE INSIDE.  In 2003, Dead End Driveway formed in Tyler, Texas, and changed their name to Ivoryline in 2005. The next year they were scouted by Tooth & Nail Records after playing on the Vans Warped Tour . After signing to the label in 2007, the band released There Came a Lion in February of 2008. The album sold well, charting at number 25 on Billboard’s Christian Albums an

Kicking off the criminally catchy debut record, A Fire So Big the Heavens Can See It ,  from Search the City , " Son of a Gun " sets the tone of the pop-punk band's two-disc discography, which can be best summed up as tongue-in-cheek, cliché-ridden lyrics and tight upbeat, emotional, well-produced melodies. The band seemed to be both a product of Tooth & Nail Records ' push in the late '00s for duplicating the success of their early '00s roster and a victim of when that strategy didn't work due to the collapse of the music industry when record sales were plummeting. In 2009, the band quietly left the label. SO LET ME GET THIS STORY STRAIGHT. I attended Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois for the second time in 2008. The group I traveled with aimed to be up there for at least one of the pre-festival days, but sometimes car troubles or something else unexpected would delay the arrival. In 2008, though, we made it up for half of the day before the

“ Light the Fire ” is a stand-out track on Search the City ’s 2013 record Flight . The song begins with a cheap-sounding recording; an acoustic guitar accompanying a group of singers led by Search the City’s frontman gives way to a fast punk beat and gang vocals. The lyrics call out an antagonist, mixing metaphors to describe the listener (the song’s you ) and his actions and attitudes. The speaker of the song, though, speaks in terms of “we,” a collective who was victimized by the listener. The listener has been found out for his lies and the speaker is “done with [the listener’s] speeches . . . [and] reasons.” YOUR SECRETS CAME ALONG AND WE SAW YOU FOR WHAT YOU REALLY ARE. Last night, I got some news that a coworker I had struggled to work with for the year would not be renewing his contract. It had been a year of mind games in the office, yet had tried to present himself in a good light to higher ups. But he couldn’t keep his laziness a secret; he couldn’t keep his racism a secret.

  If you play by the rules, you can win the game. At least that's what kids are told when they're growing up. But somewhere along the way, the tales of how it's supposed to be don't seem to match what's actually happening. The prophets who have gone before you have foretold of a golden age when life was easy. Just follow the formula. Of course, there is no formula for being in a rock band, and success is never a guarantee. But in the mid-'00s it seemed that being signed to Tooth & Nail Records was a guarantee into both Christian and mainstream markets. Tooth & Nail was a sure-shot, until it wasn't. WE’LL START A FIRE SO BIG THE HEAVENS CAN SEE IT. Search the City in 2004 formed when two Michigan high school friends decided to make a band. Guitarist Alex Sheldon and drummer Adam McMillion were eventually joined by singer Josh Frost , guitarist James Czech, and bassist Eli Clark. After recording the EP Ghosts in 2008, the band signed to Tooth &

The lead single and opening song from Shape & Color 's sophomore EP, Love / Sex / War , " Drifting " sets the tone of the mid-teens power pop quintet. Fronted by the former lead sing of Search the City , Travis Bobier , the band shows their penchant for pop melodies in many of their songs, but "Drifting" is an excellent point of entry into the band's short discography. Almost foregoing a chorus with a " millennial whoop " in its place for the first verse, the song serves as a kind of unguent for a dull or bad day, giving energy as it addresses the mid-twenties crisis the lyrics suggest.  WE'VE BEEN LIVING IN A TECHNICOLOR BLUR. The lyrics of "Drifting" talk about getting off course from where you thought your life was supposed to go. Singer Travis Bobier was about 24 when this song was released. At the age of 21, Bobier had been recruited to sing in the band Search the City after their original lead singer Josh Frost had left the

Last summer, I wrote about the opening track, " My Secrets Have Secrets Too ," to Search the City 's sophomore record, Flight . A few days later, I realized that the song wasn't showing up in my AppleMusic playlist (see August 2021 ). It turns out that the version I bought in 2013 on the iTunes Store and the version that eventually made its way back to Spotify and AppleMusic in 2020 are quite different. The version I bought has the track listing on Discogs.com , while the a-cappella intro is missing on from the streaming services and the remaining 11 tracks are scrambled in a new order . THEY SEE YOU LOSING HOPE.   I'm interested to find out why "My Secrets Have Secrets Too" didn't make it to the streaming version of the album. The band had a lot of trouble getting the rights to their record after a lawsuit with their former manager, who claimed the rights to the record. What was hoped to be a comeback record and a reboot of the pop-punk band, ultim

Shapes & Colors formed in 2011 after members from a group called Aria Aesthetic combined with the vocalist Travis Bobier from Search the City  as well as musicians from other bands. The Troy, Michigan- based group disbanded in 2018 after releasing several singles, three EPs, and an LP, which is not available on streaming services. Following the band's break up, members of Shapes & Colors went on to form the band CXMPASS , though the group only has one song available, " The Focus ," released in September of last year. Today's song is the third track on the band's final, self-titled EP. I KNOW I PROMISED YOU THE MOON. In their short discography, cynical listeners could point out how the upbeat throwback to late '00s emo seems derivative of the band's influences. Their 2015 EP, produced by Aaron Sprinkle , and their last work, produced by Kenneth Mount and Zach Odom writers for Mayday Parade and All Time Low , may seem like a shadow of the more s

Capitalizing on the pop-punk sound of the time Tooth & Nail signed Search the City , and they released their first album A Fire So Big the Heavens Can See It in 2008.   The band played at Tooth & Nail Day at Cornerstone that year and produced several radio singles from the radio-friendly album. Tongue-in-cheek lyrics in songs like " Son of a Gun " and " Ambulance Chaser " lyrically could connect this Detroit-based band with the likes of a clean-lyriced Blink-182 , Angels or Airwaves , or Relient K . Five years after Fire , the band reformed with a new drummer, bassist, and vocalist, 21-year-old Travis Bobier , who was much younger than the other band members. The 2012 album Flight  was very similar to Fire, with   Bobier's vocal performance on the album of high-register, energetic emo sound like original singer Josh Frost .  YOU HAVE A PLACE TO CALL YOUR OWN THAT NO ONE CAN EVERY TAKE FROM YOU. The opening track of Flight , " My Secrets Have Secr