NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  Released in 2008,  Florence + the Machine ’s  Lungs   is a testament to a change in direction in what is classified as Alternative music. Alternative radio started favoring groups like  Fleet Foxes ,  Arcade Fire ,  MGMT , and of course, Mumford & Sons, and more solid rock acts that had been become staples of Alternative Rock like  Foo Fighters ,  Incubus , and  Kings of Leon  started fading in relevance.  On iTunes everyone from  Lana Del Rey  to  Rise Against  get grouped in that category. My working definition has been, Alternative music is when bands or artists that stretch the genre of Rock music  beyond  the realm of complete reliance on the electric guitar. A secondary definition is a rock act that flirts heavily with another style of music.  Linkin Park  is an excellent example of both definitions. The band's hybrid musical theory married hip hop and rock while using electronica often to overshadow the guitars. However, moving into the future, let's drop  Rock  fr

  In February I talked about my history with this album, how I first heard the song " Permanent " on RadioU then I heard " This Conversation Is Over " sung in Simlish in The Sims 2: University . I bought this album in hopes of hearing the English version of "This Conversation," and did this album deliver. Last year, "This Conversation" was a go-to song for the hard days of dealing with supervisors who hadn't a clue about teaching during a pandemic, but took it on themselves to distribute more work to justify our teaching positions. In 2021, the worst of it may be over, but the occasional skirmish where manipulation and a power trip leave me speechless for a bit, making me choose my next words carefully. At which time, I usually say, "I'm not agreeing to that. Thank you for calling. Goodbye," and hang up the inter-office phone. I have to fight back the innumerable words that could get me fired. It's best to end to conversa

In 2006, Family Force 5 debuted with their brand of 'crunk,' rap-rock punk that was comical, dancey, awkward, and overall unique. You'd be hard-pressed to find much Christian Rock on  Business Up Front/Party in the Back . Most of the songs are about dancing in the club and falling in love. While pretty innocent, it was one of the first times a Christian Rock band invited its listeners to the club. Known for their outrageous live shows and touring with the likes of Cobra Starship , 30h!3 , Cash Cash , Breathe Carolina , and The Secret Handshake , the band took a stylistic left turn when they released their sophomore record on Tooth & Nail Records in 2008. Dance or Die has much less crunk, more singing, and fewer joke songs. The band started taking themselves seriously on this record, but looking back, I wonder who it was for? THEY TRY TO TAKE OUR LIVES, BUT WE WILL SURVIVE . Family Force 5 is a rock band, but in their live shows they functioned as a boyband. In 2006-

  How is it May 2nd and this is the first time that Relient K has entered this playlist? I think Relient K is one of the most interesting bands in Christian Rock for several reasons. First, they've been around forever. Starting with their hit " My Girlfriend ," which played the morality police on a girlfriend who became consumed by Satan via the music of Marylin Manson to the youth group anthem " Sadie Hawkins Dance ," the band was a soundtrack to the I Kissed Dating Goodbye chastity and sexism of growing up Christian in the early '00s. Then there was the band's second act: toning down the tongue-in-cheek lyrics and heading to Top 40 radio, joining the likes of Switchfoot , Stacie Orrico , and other Christian acts being in , but certainly not of the scene. But just like Anberlin as we talked about yesterday, Relient K lost favor in the charts, and to a lesser extent, with the Christian scene, with the release of Forget and Not Slow Down , a record

  In early 2012 when Anberlin announced that they would be returning with an album produced by Aaron Sprinkle , longtime fans knew that they were in for a good album. While their prior major label releases had stretched the band and had proven how versatile their sound was, the band had not produced an album that matched the lyrical and musical depth of their fan favorite, Cities . 2012's Vital took Anberlin to both familiar territory and reinvented their sound. Vital is a heavier album than their previous two. But, up to this point, the band did very little with electronic music. Vital, however, opened to the electro-heavy " Self-Starter ," complete with an autotune chorus, somewhat reminiscent of Avenged Sevenfold 's " Lost ." In fact, many of the the tracks incorporated electronic elements. The band admits to consuming a lot of M83 at that time. Perhaps the best example of the band's marriage to electronics while keeping full guitars engaged is &qu

  Today's song needs very little introduction. Most of the time I pick pretty obscure music for my playlists, sometimes even having to add the lyrics or even create the artist's Genius page. However, 2015's " Hello " is a song that everyone's mom and grand-mother knows. Furthermore, Adele is pretty much one of the least controversial figures in pop music, as shown masterfully in an SNL sketch.   "Hello" is definitely meme-worthy. Six years after its release, the emotion of the song has long since felt cliche; however, some days a cliche is really the best thing to describe your feelings. IT'S NO SECRET THAT THE BOTH OF US ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME. Today, I woke up to the news that my dad had had a mini-stroke and was in the hospital. After a trip to the emergency room, he was discharged and given some instructions to come back to see a specialist and to make some lifestyle changes. This is all happening on the other side of the world, and with the

  In 2016 raw rock band was pronounced dead in their final studio album Showbread Is Showdead . The cause of death was detailed in the band’s Labeled episode . The music industry, overcommitment with crowdfunding, and the band’s controversial views throughout the years are all contributing factors to the bands demise. As one of the last unabashed Christian Rock acts, Showbread pressed the genre way beyond the bounds of 'acceptable' music for Christian kids and incorporated literary, philosophical, and industrial/metal influences that were typically shunned by the church. Showbread is responsible for starting conversations around Nihilism, anarchy, patriotism, and idolatry, and gave Christian kids a vocabulary to enter those conversations with their references to literature, philosophy, and horror movies.  NOBODY KNOWS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. I recently heard a podcast lambasting Skillet's Alien Youth  album . The hosts joke about how Skillet 's John Cooper listene