NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

I first started listening to  MGMT  in the spring of 2009. Their debut album  Ocular Spectacular   had been released at the end of 2007, but tracks like " Kids " had hit the alternative radio stations by 2009. My roommate in college loved the opening track " Time to Pretend ," which is a fun song about moving to Paris and marrying models, and when things get difficult, just get a divorce. After enjoying  OS,  the next year the band released their follow up,  Congratulations , which boasted more experimental electronica. After reading the review about how the band refused to release radio singles, I never tried the band and felt that they were venturing into a musical realm that wasn't for me. However, in 2019 when I heard their single, " Me and Michael " in a book store and when I started listening to " Little Dark Age ," I realized that the MGMT that I loved in college was back.  THE MORE I STRAIGHTEN OUT, THE LESS IT WANTS TO TRY . The poli

The third record from The Classic Crime , Vagabonds , was the last record of the band on Tooth & Nail Records . The Classic Crime has had ups and downs in their success. Their first album, Albatros ,  was mis-marketed on iTunes in the genre of Christian Rock, something that the band and their A&R team had fought prior to the album's release . However, the band was ultimately associated with the genre because of their record label. Furthermore, the first record's reviews were mixed to  poor. But the band's follow up, The Silver Cord , was well-received, especially as a Christian Rock album. I'M COUNTING ON GRACE. Vagabonds didn't have the same CCM appeal that The Silver Cord had. Though the album had three singles on Christian Rock radio, the last of which was today's song " A Perfect Voice ," the album's opener, the album didn't appeal much to the band's target secular Warped Tour scene. With the apparent commercial failure and t

  The smoothest, easiest, most chill record by Anchor & Braille is titled Tension . The album was written and recorded before the pandemic but released in May 2020 in a time when the U.S. was still under the shock of job loss, fear, and illness both physical and mental. According to a podcast I listened to today , lead singer Stephen Christian thinks of a scene from a movie when writing his Anchor & Braille albums. Whereas Songs for the Late Night Drive Home literally described the dark yet enchanting movie scene in the title, Christian said that Tension was about those quiet moments in your room by yourself or with a loved one. BY MYSELF, EYES WIDE CLOSED. The opening track to Tension claims "This ain't no ordinary love song." The song alludes to the early days of a romantic relationship, when late-night conversations with that person can keep you awake all night just fantasizing of all the possibilities of where that relationship can go. When Stephen Christia

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,

For as legendary as  New Order  and the band's predeceasing band Joy Division are today, it's interesting to see how long it took for the the band to enjoy the fruits of their labor. While Joy Division's " Love Will Tear Us Apart " has been featured in so many period pieces leading us who weren't alive back then to think that Joy Division was omnipresent, it seems that Joy Division is actually way more popular today than back then. That being said, Joy Division wasn't an obscure band, with the song being a #13 hit in the UK and charting on the dance chart in the States. So why was New Order's success slow? I FEEL FINE AND I FEEL GOOD. Reforming as a New Order following the suicide of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis , New Order's early discography was far less commercial than their later work. New Order was a jam band, and in the '80s, synthesizers were all the rage. But while many New Wavers started to kowtow to the pop radio--cutting their s

Adoy is a Korean Indie group that formed in 2017 with members from other indie groups, including former From the Airport 's Zee. Adoy was founded as a musical project to produce " commercial indie ,”  an oxymoron that reminds me of the early 2000s when bands like Modest Mouse and The Strokes went mainstream. In Korea, too, the growing indie sound is flooding cafes, television, and movies. The Korean indie wave is much smaller than K-pop and K-dramas, but within Korea and in some underground scenes, Korean indie music is a cooler alternative to the bubblegum pop, the cute boys and and girls stickers slapped onto a binder.  WE RAN AWAY FROM THE TOWN.  In Korea, though, a K-pop act's visibility helps to contribute to their sales. Much like seeing the image of a giant McDonald's  M  or a Nike check mark, seeing the K-pop posters helps to attract young fans. Korean indie, however, usually doesn't have the visual component of handsome/beautiful musicians. However, an

For today's song, I've decided to make my Under the Covers: Volume 1  available on Apple Music with a substitution of Boyce Avenue 's " The One That Got Away " with a cover of Post Malone 's " Circles ." I realize that my blog is turning desultory, like the later seasons of Glee , but not to worry, I'll be back soon with fresh content when I learn to balance life and blogging. Until then, enjoy the Apple Music Edition of Under the Covers ! Be sure to check out the original version of this post by clicking on the link for "The One that Got Away" and check back for more covers!   Read “Circles” by Post Malone on Genius Post Malone version: