NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

When  Acceptance  released  "Cold Air, " last summer, I was immediately taken by the catchy, '80s New-Wave electronica meets  The Outfield -style harmonies sung by lead singer  Jason Vena . However, the rest of the album failed to pack the punch that their 2005 debut and 2017 sophomore record had. Acceptance had become known for their lyricism, Vena's near-perfect execution in his mid-to-high range vocals, and often haunting/mysterious guitar parts--all mixed and produced by  Aaron Sprinkle . However, what  Wild, Free  offered was clipped guitars, electronics, and gruffer vocal takes by Vena. There were certainly some highlights, but other than "Cold Air," there hasn't been much to come back to--except for a song that got stuck in my head today: "Wasted Nights." I THINK WE MET AROUND THE FIRST OF MAY.  Billy Power  had an  interesting interview with Jason Vena  back in 2015, in which Vena talks about how his first marriage dissolved while he wa

In the early '10s, electronic music inspired by the '80s was making a comeback. While Rock music was still king in the Christian circles, the bands that had brought Christian Rock to the mainstream stopped selling records, and record labels started phasing out Rock bands. But somewhere between the hard rockers and the teeny boppers, Alternative was shifting to incorporate everything else. And with that shift, many female Alternative musicians emerged. In this new shift, Christian music had the opportunity to develop and promote a band based on programming, organic, and synthetic sounds: Kye Kye . I'M A FIRE THAT LIGHTS WHATEVER'S IN SIGHT. The   Estonian-born Yagolnikov siblings talk about their musical influences in a 2014 interview at New Zealand's most famous Christian Rock festival, Parachute Music Festival. Growing up listening to European synth-pop their parents listened to in Estonia shaped the musical direction the band would write. The sounds they captured

On Valentine's Day 2019 Copeland dropped their latest record, Blushing . Following up 2014's Ixora and 2015's Ixora Twin record the band built anticipation from their small but powerful fanbase over their 4+ year absence. Like Copeland's albums since You Are My Sunshine , Blushing was released on Tooth & Nail Records and received the promotions of a major Tooth & Nail release including podcast appearances by lead singer Aaron Marsh on the Tooth & Nail podcast Labeled:The Stories, Rumors, & Legends of Tooth & Nail Records and ads on the BadChristian Podcast , where the host said that Copeland's music was like "ear candy." BRIGHT WHITE PUFFS ON THE BLUEST PAGES. But Blushing was an entirely different Copeland experience, at least for me. Today is probably the fourth or fifth attempt I've made to listen to and just enjoy this record. In the Labeled episode, Marsh talks about how he had a some mental health issues between Ixora an

The synth intro to A-ha ’s “Take on Me” is probably more encompassing of a decade than the intro of today’s song, but The Verve ’s “ Bittersweet Sympathy ” also has one of the most iconic intros of the ‘90s. But it’s that symphonic riff on the band’s signature song arguably created more trouble than it was worth for the band. The band formed in 1990, experimented with drugs and musical styles before their breakthrough 1997 release of Urban Hymns. I’VE NEVER PRAYED, BUT TONIGHT I’M ON MY KNEES. The YouTube channel Middle 8 (see below) tells the story about the musical plagiarism scandal behind The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony.” The highlights of the scandal include sampling a few bars from an orchestral arrangement of The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time”(see below), The Stones’ litigious manager Allen Klein suing for him to get the entirety of the royalties from “Bittersweet,” despite the fact that The Stone had no part in the composition of the orchestral cover, and finally Mick Jagge

Last summer, Taylor Swift ’s “ Wildest Dreams ” started trending on TikTok . Of course this was in the middle of Swift’s massive project to release re-recordings of her studio records due to her inability to buy the rights to her original recordings. In the spring of last year, she released a massive re-recording of Fearless , the album that propelled the then teen singer to being one of the biggest internationally-recognized music stars. Responding to the TikTok trend, Swift posted her own take on it with the re-recorded version , despite the fact that the singer had stated that she would release her version of Red , 1989 ’s predecessor and the album that transitioned the singer’s style from Country to Pop, before any of her versions of songs from 1989 would be released. Fans hoped that Taylor’s version of 1989 was on the way, but in November of last year, Swift released a 31-track version of Red . Fans certainly weren’t disappointed as Taylor’s 10-minute Version of “ All Too Well ”

The music, the legend, the meme. Today we take on A-ha ’s 1985 summer classic, “ Take on Me .”A-ha is a Norwegian band. Their dream was to get famous in the UK before sweeping the world. To do this, like other European bands and musicians, the band decided to record all of their songs in English. However, getting a massive hit like “Take on Me” took persistent marketing. The song went to #3 in Norway before the band re-recorded it and released the single internationally. But the band’s iconic music video is the reason the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 and went to #1 in 12 other countries. TODAY’S ANOTHER DAY TO FIND YOU. The guitar riff on “ Everybody Wants to Rule the World ” is perhaps a close second to the synth and drum opening of “Take on Me” for emerging the listener in the ‘80s. What I didn’t realize today when I was enjoying this song is how young the band was. I often think of bands that existed before my time as being forever old. And with today’s song’s heyday two years

Linkin Park 's fourth studio album, A Thousand Suns underperformed compared to the band's massive first three albums. The album produced two singles, " The Catalyst " and today's song, " Waiting for the End ," but ultimately listeners didn't like the album as most of the songs were not catchy. I always want to dig deeper into this album and its themes, but today, I wanted to introduce my AAPI Heritage Playlist, so I chose the most pop-oriented song on A Thousand Suns. If you want more information on the music theory behind this album, I'll link to The Discographers ,  an excellent podcast that explores the discography of Linkin Park in one of their seasons.  MY MOUTH KEPT MOVING AND MY MIND WENT DEAD.   May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States, and I wanted to make a playlist that recognized some of the amazing talent by AAPI musicians. As with my other lists, I realize that making lists like this can be pr