Spotify Me Part 18: Auld Lang Playlist

Spotify Me Part 18: Auld Lang Playlist

Mark’s Discover Weekly Playlist for the week of 12/28/15

During this week we saw an old year go and a new year arrives, and we all know what that means. It means a solid month of writing the date wrong because we all keep forgetting that 2015 is over. Lizz, the mythical cowriter of this blog, and I had a wonderful New Year’s Eve celeb ration with friends where we sang traditional songs, listened to vinyl, watched good films, and more. It was a good time had by all. My New Year’s resolution was keep being awesome as it always is. I don’t know what Elizabeth’s resolution was, but maybe, if I believe hard enough…

But this week’s playlist did allow me to look back in a way, at the music I have discovered this year thanks to the starting of this blog. Some bands make reappearance, some look at genres that I have come to love, and one band helps me remember there is nothing like coming home to your favorite sounds. So as we enter this New Year, filled with new albums and artists, let’s take a minute to look back at 2015.

Glean
Idlewild Records

Under Water Woman – They Might Be Giants

It really was only a matter of time before my favorite band popped up on the playlist. I waited in Gleeful anticipation for the maters of my teenage years found their way onto the pages of my blog. They have just released s new album called Why? and I’m working on a review for it, but this song comes from another recent album called Glean. Glean heavily features songs that have been uploaded into They Might be Giants re-launch of dial a song, which I have on speed dial. The song Underwater Woman is one of my favorite songs on this album, and shines with the bands sense of humor and talent for oddly poetic lyrics. Although I wouldn’t describe the song as catchy, it does stick in my memory. The song may not before every one. They Might be Giants is, in many ways, an invitation to the weird party, and it’s up to you to accept that invitation.  This song is a great example of that invitation. The melody is odd, the rhythm is not typical, and the lyrics barely make sense at best. It’s very much up to the listener to decide what the meaning of the song actually is, and most would come up with a different answer. But in the end, the song is what They Might be Giants have been, which is different and fun.

Marvin's Marvelous
Mechanical Museum
Quack!Media

Mucka Blucka (Bonus Track) – Tally Hall

We have talked about Tally Hall before on this blog, as well as Rob Cantor’s solo career that followed the bands Hiatus. Tally Hall runs in the same vein as They Might be Giants, continuing the trend of making listeners work to find meaning in the songs, as well as exploration of typically untouched sounds and melodies. And although they are typically more down to earth than TMBG, they do venture into a very strange territory from time to time, as is seen here in this bonus track from their first album. When you first start listening to this song, you might think, “Hey is this just going to be rhythmic clucking?” and then you find out that yes, it is going to be just rhythmic clucking. It might seem like a gimmick, and my uptight world music teacher from college would say it isn’t really music. But to me it feels like the band was just having fun, sharing a bit of themselves with the listener on an extra track. It’s just good fun, and music from time to time should be just that: fun. So tell the PhD music professors of the world to get over themselves, because this is music, and I like it.

2nite EP
Independant

Prismatic Core – TWRP

We have talked about this band as well as this album before on the blog. They to a good job of the 80’s power band style, and this song is no exception. Now, usually, I wouldn’t talk about a song of this nature since it is a clear and present reference to a video game called Prismatic Core, even taking the time to ask you to construct additional pylons. However, I’ve never played that game before, and only know the quote from memes. If not for that line, the song would seem like any other slow 80’s rock song to me. And because it is able to stand alone as its own song, I really enjoy it. It doesn’t just stand alone, but it relies more heavily on instrumental elements than it does on the game reference, whereas most songs of this nature tend to be a series of jokes about the game and then not much else. This song then becomes a song that people who enjoy the game will find fun, but also a song that other people can find enjoyment in as well. I don’t really want to get to much into the marketing of music as I really know nothing about it, but it seems logical that if you write music that only a small niche audience can enjoy, you are only limiting how popular and widespread your music can become. However, what this song has achieved is creating a song with references as a side dish rather than the main course, allowing it to break out of that limited circle and into a more open atmosphere.

The Electric Swing Circus
Ragtime Records

Bella Belle – Electric Swing Circus

One genre that has made its presence known to me this year is electro swing. When the band Caravan Palace released their robot face album this year, they made a statement for the genre that allowed this style of music to gain prominence in my listening preferences. I haven’t listened to much Electric Swing Circus yet, but my hope is that they are just as good. This song is a strong argument in the positive direction. What sets this song apart from some other electro swing that I have heard is that it has original melody and lyrics, when sometimes all you get are sampled clips of older swing songs with electronic elements mixed in. Bella Belle manages to accomplish the task of bringing swing music itself into the modern age, rather than just brining one old song. And on top of all of that, it’s a good song with a catchy melody and fun beat. You can see people dancing to this kind of song at a modern party, rather than a “20’s theme” event. Similar to the song above, that manages to open swing to a wider audience than a specific niche. If we are lucky, this style of music may bring partner dancing back in a big way.