Spotify Me Part 10: Tale of Two Playlists

Spotify Me Part 10: Tale of Two Playlists

Marks Discover Weekly playlist for 11/2/2015

Writing this article was a good amount of fun. While watching the show “Demon files” on Destination America (real fun garbage if you are interested) while chatting with my brother. I’m serious though this show is terrible. It’s just some guy walking around shouting at ghosts for half an hour. It was a real nice and relaxing Sunday evening. 

I have always been interested in emotions in film, books, and especially music. The ability of songs to display, and sometimes make the listener feel an emotion is amazing to me. I listen to a good amount of music over multiple genres because sometimes, I don’t categorize them by the type of songs they are, but by the emotion they make me feel. It might be weird, but its why I listen to music. So tonight, I thought I would focus a bit more on that.

Act III: Life and Death
Triple Crown Records

Go Get Your Gun – The Dear Hunter

Saturated with bitter intent and hollow apologies, the emotions displayed within the song Go Get Your Gun are immediately present. The subject of this song is not an uncommon one: distaste for military, deaths of young men, and hollow apologies. However, this song has a bit more to it once you start to look at the rest of the album, as well as this bands work as a whole. I have not had a chance to sit down and listen to The Dear Hunter’s full discography, but a small amount of research revealed that this album is actually part 3 in a 6 part story, with recurring characters and a full plot. Looking back at the song though, this one holds well on its own. Often multi-song stories like this can create songs that don’t feel whole on their own. But this song manages to remain a strong single. It has hints of twang and rock, and a fast beat that drives it home. The lyrics don’t depend to much on narrative from other songs, allowing the song to remain independent. That being said, I’m still going to have to look into the rest of the story to see if it enhances the songs meaning.

Thunder, Lightning, Strike
The Memphis industries

Get it Together – The Go! Team

I have stated before that I think a really important part of music is the emotion behind a song. Songs have a really great ability to share an emotion of the creator with the listener, often times without words. This song without a doubt shares an innocent joy that instantly got it on this list. Wen listening to this song you cant help but smile, and your day brightens up a bit. I tend to listen to sad music when I’m sad, but if I’m honest this song would probably be better for that situation. The innocence of the song in part comes from the instruments used, such as a recorder. But wide ranges of exotic instruments are used giving a slight worldly feel to the song. The name of the song at first implied that the song might be a bit pessimistic. But when listening to the song, you realize that the song might actually be trying to help you get things together.  Not only that, but the song manages to do this without any lyrics. Certainly one of my favorites from this week.

S/T EP Single
Self Released

Run – IAMTHEKIDYOUKNOWWHATIMEAN

This is an interesting review for me, because I always told myself I wouldn’t write about songs I didn’t like. But the problem is, I’m not sure I dislike this song because its bad, in fact I think its quite the opposite. When I first heard the song, I found it deeply unsettling. When I looked at my laptop to see what the heck I was listening to, the album art actually scared me. The black and white image of the girl holding what I assume is a tortilla over her face is as unsettling as the song. Then, the song is called run, which makes sense after listening to the song. The worst part? The song is 7 minutes and 37 seconds long. Through out that time, the song cycles through distorted dissonant electronic piping, deep base tones, and chopped up sound bytes of odd whispers. It isn’t a song I would listen to every day, but it works for what it’s trying to do. It’s just so bad this song didn’t appear over Halloween.

Electric Girls
she

Headshot – she

If the key emotion of a song is going to be this weeks theme, then this song is all about aggression. Right from the get go, the singer lets us know exactly what her attitude is, and it isn’t friendly. Then hard electronic noise fills the sound scape. The song has a driving beat, and is loud and in your face. The song has a good mount of energy, which the listener can easily pick up on, and feel. It’s a song that gets you moving, either to dance or otherwise. The tone of the singers voice is somewhat apathetic, which creates an interesting effect when mixed with the hard electronic sound. The contrast adds up for an effect that really works with the song. Over all a very good energetic song.

Cheer Up!
Jive Records, Mojo Records

Drunk Again – Reel Big Fish

I have heard this song before. I used to listen to this song on repeat over an over again on my IPod. This song has a very powerful emotional base, despair. Where as Reel Big Fish tend to be a goofy lighthearted Ska band, they change style a bit for this song, which might be my favorite song they have ever performed. Its quiet at first, starting out as a smooth lament. But it builds into a powerful show stopping style number. The lead singer pulls out his best wailing for this song, and the brass goes all out as well.  Reel Big Fish did a great job on this song, stepping out of their comfort zone and putting together a truly great song. It’s a shame to me that this song never gained as much popularity as some of their covers, or the song Beer. But for me, this might always be the best song the band ever played.

 (The album artwork in this article is not owned by the authors of this blog, but by the producers of the albums themselves.)