NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

MUNA  is an alternative pop group composed of three friends who studied together at the  University of Southern California . The trio self-produced their debut EP and uploaded it to  Bandcamp  and  SoundCloud . The band's success with their debut EP led to the group signing with  RCA  records and releasing their 2017 debut record,  About U.   In May 2021, the band announced that they had signed to  Phoebe Bridgers '  Saddest Factory  record label. The group recently released the single " Silk Chiffon " which features Bridgers singing a verse. The song is one of the group's few singles to chart on  Billboard , peaking at #35 on the US Alternative chart.  KEEPIN' IT LIGHT LIKE SILK CHIFFON.  I think I first heard MUNA in the awkward teen comedy  Alex Strangelove ,  a story about a high school senior who is struggling to understand his sexuality. All the members of MUNA identify as queer, though, as a lyricist lead singer  Katie Gavin  often avoided pronouns in t

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

In 2017, it had been five years since The Killers released new music, and even longer since they were a “household name.” Lead singer Brandon Flowers talks about starting with the song “ Rut ,” Wonderful, Wonderful ’s third track, which defined the band’s new direction. While The Killers had been on hiatus had released his second solo record, The Desired Effect . Also before recording The Killers’ fifth record, Flowers moved out of his beloved hometown of “ The Fabulous Las Vegas ” which turned out to be a bad place to raise a family in the ‘10s. Still, digging out of the musical rut wasn’t easy. Flowers found on Wonderful, Wonderful it was ok to write about his family. DON’T NEED NO ADVICE, I GOT A PLAN. The first single from Wonderful, Wonderful, though, " The Man ," doesn't fall into the typical storytelling songs we come to expect from The Killers, rather "The Man" is a bragging song. The song was featured in the Netflix original film The Perfect Date

Today we revisit Jimmy Eat World 's 2007 album, Chase This Light . Over the span of four records, from Clarity to Chase This Light, Jimmy Eat World showed what a band with a driving punk-rock rhythm can do with modern production. Clarity is a cult-favorite record. It shows the early days of Power Pop and Emo. Bleed American shows what happens if you get the energy of MxPx , an articulate voice, and  throw in a few sound effects, you get a few pop hits and and some Alt-rock bangers. GOTTA LOVE HOW IT’S SOMEHOW ALL ON ME. The band's follow up to Bleed American, 2004's darker  Futures  was somewhat of a departure from the punk rock origins of the band. The titular opening track had a different driving energy than a punk-rock beat. In fact, the songs that follow on Futures don't return to punk until track 6, the first single from the album " Pain ." The band's 2001 Bleed American had paved the way for other punk-rockers to enter the spotlight, whether it we

I'm a music snob. I'll admit it. That snobbery can make it take a long time for me to come around on some bands or artists who I dismiss as phonies. Sometimes I never come around to an artist. Sometimes that group becomes one of my favorites. Then there's Imagine Dragons , a band I have one of the most complicated relationships with. I could write a pros and cons list that would fill a blog post or twenty about this band. But instead of talking about how sickeningly synthetic most of their albums taste, how much I want to exit the conversation when someone says something like "I really like indie bands like Coldplay and Imagine Dragons," or the good points about how the band deals with faith deconstruction or champions LGBTQ+ rights, I'd like to talk about how one mediocre got stuck in my head today. Imagine Dragons' lead singer  Dan Reynolds performing live I WANNA PUT YOU IN THE SPOTLIGHT.   I watched the music video for “ Follow You ” last year shortly

Yesterday, I woke up to an announcement in my Instagram feed: a dream concert in Las Vegas later this year in October. Headlined by My Chemical Romance and Paramore , and featuring over 60 emo and punk bands over the span of one day, this one-day event is quite mind-blowing. Of course there's no way I'll be in Vegas on October 22nd, but this is pretty much my dream concert, other than Cornerstone magically resurrecting. In fact, the concert line-up seems a little too good to be true for many scene fans, leading to online speculation that this is the Emo Fyre festival. I thought it would be fun today to make a playlist for this festival with one song representing each band. I thought it would be fun also to see 1) how many bands I've talked about in my blog post, 2) how many I haven't listened to in years, 3)how many I'm only kind of aware of, and 4)how many I've never heard of. And that's the order we'll proceed. First of all, I'm sad that Las Vegas

Netflix's  Song Exploder tells the story about the first single from The Killer's second album, Sam's Town .  Toward the end of touring for their debut record, Hot Fuss , The Killers started work on their second record . The band changed their musical direction slightly for Sam's Town , incorporating influences of Americana into their New-Wave sound. Taking musical and lyrical influence from Bruce Springsteen, The Killers set out to tell the stories about the West and Las Vegas, a town they call home. From the opening guitar riff, inspired by the feeling of driving in the desert, to the spiritual conations in the lyrics, " When You Were Young" is an early track that shows the themes of the band in more recent years. WAITING ON SOME BEAUTIFUL BOY TO SAVE YOU FROM YOUR OLD WAYS.  I mostly skipped over The Killers' sophomore release,  Sam's Town . Critics and fans, too, were mixed on the album. The band who had named themselves after a fictional band fro

Following up their 2013 album  Big TV , West-London-based post-punk band White Lies released their fourth album  Friends in 2016. The album continues on the band's homage to the '80s, though the synths are not always as prominent as their first and third albums. Lyrical themes deal with friendship deterioration, alienation, and loneliness, yet the ebullience of the music often disguises the sadness in the lyrics. NO, I'M NOT GOING TO BREAK YOUR HEART. White Lies started their career on a high note in the UK, but never really crossed over to the American market. The band formed in 2007 after ending an indie rock band called Fear of Flying the three member members of White Lies played in high school. In high school, the boys enjoyed listening to groups like Talking Heads and Franz Ferdinand , but with the inception of White Lies, the band claimed musical influence from Joy Division , Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Killers. The band decided to take a gap year between high

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