NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  Mumford & Sons changed the direction of alternative music.  As Stephen Christian of Anberlin once lamented, the direction of the genre had been pushing heavier and heavier music until the year when Mumford came onto the scene, Alternative shifted to folk sounds. The band fronted by Marcus Mumford swept the scene when they re-leased Sigh No More in 2009, with a sound that crossed over to Billboard ’s Hot 100. The plucking sounds of banjos and mandolins may have sounded refreshing on the radio to late ‘00 ears, but when WatchMojo.com compiled a list of bands whose songs sound the same, Mumford earned an honorable mention. The band would eventually break with the formula, but Sigh No More showcases Mumford’s signature sound. AS THE WINTER WINDS LITTER LONDON… “ Winter Winds ” was Mumford and Sons’ second single. The song was overshadowed by the band’s first single, “ Little Lion Man .” On an album that sounds fairly the same, “Winter Winds” stood out most to me. Musically, the

I talked before about how  Albatross ,  The Classic Crime 's debut album  was set to be the breakthrough mainstream album for both the band and for  Tooth & Nail Records . And of course, neither of those happened because someone at iTunes or Tooth & Nail or  EMI  or any combination released this record in the genre "Christian Rock." Of the two 2006 secular signings of Tooth & Nail,  Jonezetta  avoided Christian radio, but The Classic Crime admitted defeat and even embraced the genre.  With an album like  Albatross,  it would be hard to hear the songs and not think of Christian Rock. " The Coldest Heart " is a bit Calvinistic for the general music listener. A COUPLE OF TEARS AND I'M A BROKEN MESS.  "The Coldest Heart" belongs to a sub-genre of Christian Rock I've heard called " Shamecore , " a term coined by licensed professional counselor  K rispin Mayfield  on his podcast  The Prophetic Imagination Station .   Shamecore c

Kye Kye  released two albums in the early 2010s. My earliest memory with this indie-electronic band was their single " Broke " on    RadioU , which took a while to grow on their listenership, failing to beat the other singles of the week on their " Battle of the Buzz " program. However, when the single was finally released to regular rotation, it quickly topped their " TMW " (Ten Most Wanted) program. That summer, I saw the band perform at Cornerstone in the Come & Live tent before or after Showbread. Lead singer,  Olga Yagolnikov Phelan , seemed a little shy when talking to the audience, but the band sounded great  week on their " Battle of the Buzz " program. However, when the single was finally released to regular rotation, it quickly topped their " TMW " (Ten Most Wanted) program. That summer, I saw the band perform at Cornerstone in the Come & Live tent before or after Showbread. Lead singer,   Olga Yagolnikov Phelan , seem

Fleetwood Mac 's best known record is  Rumors ,  their 1977 album featuring the vocals of   Lindsey Buckingham  and  Stevie Nicks . However, these members had been recent additions. Formed in 1967 in the UK with drummer  Mick Fleetwood  and bassist  John "Mac" McVie , the band went through numerous iterations before arriving on the pop charts with their most well-known line up. The subject matter of the hit album is the relationship drama behind the scenes with the band. It's truly a fascinating story of change and rock 'n' roll development that saw the band change from a '60s blues rock band to a late '70s hitmaker, with a guitarist who left due to schizophrenia, another guitarist abandoning the group while on tour to join a California sex-evangelism cult, a turbulent marriage between the keyboardist  Christine McVie  and bass player, and then there's Stevie Nick. WE CAN CALL IT ANOTHER LONELY DAY.  I don't have much memory of “ Go Your Own Wa

New Order  formed in 1980 after the three remaining members of the post-punk band  Joy Division  lost their lead singer  Ian Curtis  to suicide. Success wasn't instant for New Order with the start of the new band. New Order's sound was distinct from Joy Division's with the inclusion of keyboardist   Gillian Gilbert  and a growing penchant for synthesizers and electronic dance music. The band's breakthrough success came prior to the release of their second record,  Power, Lies & Corruption   with the release of their long-play (12") single " Blue Monday ," which took dance clubs around the world by storm, and even helped to fund the band's own dance club in Manchester called The Haçienda, a dance club named after the word for a Spanish plantation.   I SEE A SHIP IN THE HARBOUR.  New Order spent time in the clubs in New York listening to the latest disco prior to recording their sophomore album  Power, Lies & Corruption.   According to lead sing

Carrie & Lowell ,  Sufjan Steven 's 2015 masterpiece, is a quintessential portrait of dealing with grief and forgiveness when I wrote about the first two tracks, " Death with Dignity ," and " Should Have Known Better ." By the third track on the record, " All of Me Wants All of You ," explores grief in a different way from the previous two tracks. As with most songs on the album, "All of Me" appears to be deeply personal to the artist. But being personal doesn't stop this track's language from being the most obscured with allusions to geography and possibly an allegory from a little-known Spanish play. ALL OF ME THINKS LESS OF YOU.  There's a debate   on Lyrics Genius about the meaning of this song, especially surrounding the identity of the only other character mentioned by name in this song, Manelich. Is he the one the song is about? Until last year’s Javelin ,  Stevens has written vaguely about homosexual attraction throug

  When your first American hit is the second biggest song of the year, how do you follow that up? When your signature song has been called bubblegum and immature, how do you change your image to show that you're an adult with adult relationships, without getting X-rated? These were two questions  Carly Rae Jepsen  answered in her follow up to  Kiss   in  E-MO-TION .  If those two questions were on the interview, Jespsen would have the job on the merits of her 2015 effort. And as I enter the fifth year of my playlists and the third year of the blog, there are certain perennial favorites that show up maybe too often for some. I chose “ Run Away with Me ” at the beginning of the year for four of those years because of the fresh renewal this song gives me as my winter vacation begins. YOU’RE STUCK IN MY HEAD, STUCK IN MY HEART, STUCK IN MY BODY.  Sure, if your introduction to  E-MO-TION  was the first single " I Really Like You " turned you off as another " Call Me Maybe