Music of the Month: December 2013

BEYONCÉ - THE VISUAL ALBUM

     Hopefully this is on everyone's list this month, and seeing as the album went platinum after only 10 days, it's place on mine should not come as a surprise. Beyoncé's self-titled "visual album" is absolutely stunning. I have watched it multiple times through, and each time it comes as a marvel. The project is a combination of empowering, badass, sexy, uplifting, and vulnerable. There are many moments of powerful humanness, from falling in love to expressing jealousy to claiming power within oneself, that I find really inspiring. Yesterday, Cathy and I were watching the video for ***Flawless and I got a little teary at the end, because I consider that song (from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's feminist voice-over onwards) to be an anthem. It makes me feel so good about myself... and I hope it does the same for other women out there. All of this, with sick beats and great vocals to match.

    I can honestly say I love every song with the exception of one... The high-pitched vocal attempts in No Angel kind of ruin it for me, though I still really enjoy watching the video... But 13/14 is a damn high score for an album! My favorite track is Ghost/Haunted, with Ghost bearing my favorite music video. Other highlights include Drunk in Love, XO, Rocket, Yoncé/Partition, Jealous, Mine, and Grown Woman. Why Grown Woman is not included on the audio CD I will never understand?! That is a pump-up track if I've ever heard one. I jam to it whenever possible.

    The only real criticisms (other than my personal qualms with Bey's voice during No Angel) I have of the album are the rap verses by Jay-Z and Drake. I can't get on board with casual references to the abusive relationship between Tina and Ike Turner (excerpt of Jay-Z's verse in Drunk in Love: "I might, beat the box up like Mike / In ’97 I bite, I’m Ike, Turner, turn up / Baby no I don’t play, now eat the cake, Annie Mae /Said, 'Eat the cake, Annie Mae!'"). In a song that is supposed to be boasting about Beyoncé and Jay-Z's fantastic relationship and sex life, why would one equate himself with Ike Turner? Maybe I'm just misinterpreting the lyrics, but that is the impression I get from it.

   And I do not know why Drake has such a fixation with the "good girl," (lyrics from Mine: Know you wanna roll with a good girl? / Do it big, do it all for a good girl / One time, this is a song for the good girl / Don’t sleep when you know you got a good girl...") but he can get out of my face with it. To me, his repeated use of the phrase comes off as a man judging women using his own definition of a "good girl," as if only a certain type of woman is "good" enough to earn his favor, and that whole idea makes the feminist in me cringe. So, I try to ignore the words being said, and just focus on the effects that are laid over Drake's voice during these verses. Because I really, really like the stereo-static kind of voice manipulation (sorry, I don't know technical terms) used. That is the real value Drake brings to this track.

Overlooking these annoyances, and the fact that these lyrics (and the "Bow Down, Bitches" line in ***Flawless, which I still have a hard time getting into) contradict with the theme of female empowerment that I felt in the record, this is a lovely album! It is the only thing I have been listening to since I got Beyoncé for Christmas. What a great sentence. Imagine if I had gotten Beyoncé, the person, for Christmas. What an enjoyable visit that would be. Sigh.... Either way, I would definitely recommend buying the record. Beyoncé made it with her own company, pursued the idea of a visual album despite the fact that people thought it was weird, managed to keep it a secret for a crazy amount of time without any leaks, and gave us 14 well-crafted songs with 17 stunning videos to accompany them. Get it, and use it as an up-tempo motivator in 2014, because I certainly will be.As my friend Caroline says, "Watch Beyoncé whenever you need to get inspired."

    Check out the 0:30 Previews on her YouTube channel! I would also highly recommend watching the amazing behind-the-scenes videos, especially Part 4: Liberation.

Somehow, I survived 19+ years without this record, including most of December. 

Here are honorable mentions for this month:

• Waiting Game by Banks, first discovered because it was featured in a Victoria's Secret commercial I kept seeing on YouTube. I just cannot get over the mesmerizing backing vocals, and the all-consuming instrumentals during the chorus. As stated a million times in the music video's comments, the song is damn sexy.
• I See Fire by Ed Sheeran. This month I saw "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" in theaters, and it was actually much better than I expected! But weirdly, for the first time in my life, I was actively distracted by the lack of People of Color in the movie... At this point, all of the elves and hobbits had been established as white characters, but they totally could have made the residents of Lake-town people of color. The creators invented an entire character for the film, couldn't they have tried at least a little bit?! I just found myself really distracted and irked by that. Anyway, before this turns into a film review, I like the original song that plays during the credits. Ed Sheeran's voice always makes me feel good things inside.
• Tessellate and Fitzpleaure (Jim James Apple C Remix) by Alt-J. Before Beyoncé's album dropped this month, I was in a bit of a musical rut. In the last week of November, and the first week and a half of December, these were basically the only two songs I would listen to. The Fitzpleasure remix was on repeat while I wrote my final Literary Journalism paper. And I find Tessellate so addictive when I am in a bad mood, which I was 75% of the time this past quarter. For some reason the lyric, "You're a shark and I'm swimming" really resonated with my anxious-ridden self, and I found it often repeating in my head throughout the day.
• Lost in the World by Kanye West, featuring Bon Iver. This was my anthem during Finals Week. When I listen to it, for some reason I imagine myself on a busy street corner in New York, standing completely still while everyone is rushing around me. And I'm just standing there, watching everyone else move and not sure where I am supposed to go. Without getting too soul-searchy: I love this song, particularly the way it incorporates elements from other tracks on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

    I did not get to wish y'all a Happy New Year on the day of, so here you go :)

♥ Happy Listening ♥

Music of the Month: August 2013

     If you read my "Back Home." post, you know that I went through a major LIGHTS phase while I was traveling around Europe. When I turned on my phone, she was the only artist I would think to listen to. When I was able to attract Wifi in our hostels, I feverishly looked up interviews and remixes and acoustic performances. Though I fell in love with a few songs off her Siberia (Acoustic) album, specifically the stripped down version of Toes, earlier in the year, this trip made me really appreciate Siberia itself.

     Never listened to Sibera (the album)? I highly recommend Flux and Flow (which I listened to A LOT on my trip, though I really do not care for the rap verse), Siberia, Cactus in the Valley, Suspension, And Counting (omfg when I looked this up on YouTube, the first choice was a video from Majestic Casual and I find that hilarious for some reason), and the lovely instrumental that is Day One. It feels a bit stupid to suggest that many songs, but it's a brilliant album. Siberia is a huge step up in complexity and rawness from The Listening. I prefer that grittiness to the clean sounds of her debut album. Basically, I'm just in love with the direction Lights is going. 

     I also think that her vocal abilities have skyrocketed over the past few years, as can be seen by this May 2013 performance in Toronto. I listened to this acoustic rendition of Flux and Flow almost as much as Lights' cover of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2.

     When I returned from my trip, I sorted through the entire month of Cathy's Tumblr that I missed, and read the most recent posts on her Blogspot (and by clicking over there I just realized I've missed her two most recent posts... how....), which lead me to rediscover Gravediggress by CocoRosie. Which I then had stuck in my head for three days. Not complaining whatsoever.

Links: Lovely New Discoveries of the Month

• A beautiful live arrangement of Sing to the Moon by Laura Mvula.
• MØ- Pilgrim, in which the video totally reminds me of old school Lana Del Rey clip splices.
• As discovered on August 31st, Narcissus is Back by Christine and the Queens. 
• While I was in Forever 21, Go to Sleep by Lupe Fiasco blasted throughout the store and it was great.
• I'm not sure if this counts as a new discovery because surely Cathy has shown me this song before, because I know she introduced me to the band earlier this year. But I really love this rooftop performance of Wolf by First Aid Kit.
• Though I'm not proud, I jam to Work by Iggy Azalea..... I'm just.... Sorry, guys.
• But to redeem myself, this month I jammed even more to The New Workout Plan by Kanye West.

  
      My favorite find of August was one given to me by none other than my best friend, Cathy. While I was in Europe, she found via Tumblr this list of "10 Queer Rappers You Should Check Out." Cathy showed me a fair few of the people on this page, and my favorite is most definitely RoxXxan. Her songs are catchy, British, and badass. I also really love the way she combines feminine and masculine elements into her work, and her personal style, particularly in the video for "Too Fucking Facety." Her sense of fashion in general is just really, really great. And that hair. And if you watch so much as one interview, you can tell she's smart as hell and understands that balance of self-image, marketing, masculinity, femininity, and being true to one's vision. She owns all of it without hesitation.

If you ever need a breath of life, listen to my favorite of RoxXxan's songs, "Power"

♥ Happy Listening ♥

Music of the Month - February 2013

     Once again, a wonderful month for music! I've discovered a lot of new and glorious songs, including some that surprised me. I mostly have YouTube videos to show you, straight out of my likes. By some weird twist of fate, the most addictive song for me this month was "Stay" by Rihanna and Mikky Ekko. Also, I'm very much smitten with the video, but VEVO has disabled embedding. Here is a link to the official music video!! Below, you will find a lyric video. Which you really don't need to watch; just listen. Usually Rihanna's music isn't really my style, but give this one a chance!

And to compliment that, DAMN THIS COVER IS GOOD. It is by Peasant's King. Once again, embedding has been disabled by request, but I highly recommend that you click through.

To roll back in time a bit, I noted on a blank document the playlists I listened to while studying for midterms this quarter. That was definitely during the very beginning of February, so I hardly remember it haha. But through that experience, forcing myself to sit in the Academic Center for hours at a time and wanting to smash my skull in, I discovered that my level of productivity is in direct correlation with how well I'm vibing with my music.

Catch Your Death from wutherings on 8tracks Radio.

Neck Deep In The River from wutherings on 8tracks Radio.

In general, I definitely got hooked wutherings' 8tracks. And I ended up getting straight As on my midterms, plus one of them is being used by my Discussion Leader as an example to show the class so they may match it during finals. I'm not saying it was her playlists....... but it may have been her playlists.

SO APPARENTLY IT'S QUITE FASHIONABLE TO DISABLE EMBEDDING THESE DAYS
But these videos and these songs are worth the extra clicking effort.

1. Tom Odell - "Can't Pretend" at Dean Street Studios, and "Hold Me" Live at a Burberry Fashion Show.
2. Wiz Khalifa (featuring The Weeknd, bust mostly The Weeknd afsjhfjhdsf) - "Remember You." The music video is really weird, but the more I watch it, the more I fall strangely in love with it. And though I really don't like the lyric "make me remember you," (as if a woman has to earn the memory of a man? Whateva.) this melody gets stuck in my head all of the time.
3. Woodkid and Lana Del Rey - "Video Games" (Duet)
4. Dumbfoundead - "Are We There Yet?"
5. Walk the Moon - "Iscariot" (obsessed with the simplicity of this music video, honestly.)
6. Little Dragon - Twice 

Also, basically all that I listen to is my boyfriend's playlist on Spotify, "Just Another." I don't think it's possible to provide a link, but if you'd like to seek it out, go for it! For now, that's all I got for ya. Did you enjoy my descent into insanity over the fact that no one allows their videos to be embedded?! I would hope so!!

♥ Happy Listening ♥

Music of the Month - January 2013!

     This has been a great month in music for me. Primarily, it is due to the fact that I discovered The Weeknd, and because of Cathy's contributions to 8tracks (the rate at which she makes playlists is both alarming and incredibly rewarding). Through late-night excursions of YouTube, I have discovered many eargasm-inducing performances that I'd love to share.

First, here we have my favorite musical ditty of the month. I discovered it only two weeks ago, through my mini-obsession with The Weeknd, and nothing has satisfied my ears since. It is an incredible medley of the band's album, The Trilogy, sung by SoMo on YouTube. Plus the video is mesmerizing, so that's always nice.

And on that note, I've been super into The Weeknd the past couple of weeks. It started with the pure sex that is "Wicked Games," which you can choose to actually watch the music video or not; I didn't until very recently, and I think the song stands better on its own so... make of that what you will. After hearing that song, I found The Weeknd on Spotify, and it has been my background music for everything since. I even put some of The Trilogy on my phone to listen to, which is pretty unheard of me, if only out of sheer laziness. 

Secondly, let us all pause to take an in-depth look at Cathy's 8tracks. Though her music taste is obscure and beautiful, and therefore all of her playlists are gold, I would like to highlight some of my favorites. I adore her Game of Thrones playlist, You Win or You Die, as well as Daggers in Men's Smiles, Curiouser (an Alice in Wonderland playlist), and especially Easy on the Ears. But my favorite of all time has got to be Garden of Eden. Here I have it embedded for your listening pleasure:

Garden of Eden from olivehornby on 8tracks Radio.

 A large portion of my month was blessedly filled with the Django Unchained soundtrack. It's hard to pick out favorites, but I can say that my roommate and I had "Freedom" and Ancora Qui stuck in our heads for three days straight. I linked a lot of other lovely songs in my mini-review of Django. Also: fun fact, my phone died recently, so I'm now using my mom's old cellphone, which I have endearingly named Django.

I also surprised myself musically this month. The beginning consisted of a tonnnnnnn of Beyonce (and hey, coincidentally, she kicked absolute ass during the Superbowl today. Didn't watch the game, but had to look up her performance this evening. DAMN WOMAN!!), and an addiction to the song and music video for "Like a Boy" by Ciara. Cathy made me back peddle into the early 2000s and the 90s for a good two weeks. However, the last week or so, I've been really addicted to Bruno Mars' new album, Unorthodox Jukebox. Which came as a huge surprise to me... I never would have thought that my ears would enjoy Bruno Mars so much. There are so many gems on that album, particularly "Gorilla," "When I Was Your Man," and "Natalie."

And lastly, we have a collection of lovely YouTube performances

Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans (Live). 99% on this post because of the moment at 1:23. "No puh-le-ea-ase..."

Finally, I've got Paramore - Let the Flames Begin (Live, and apparently now with embedding disabled upon request... awkward) - 99.99% on this post, and in my likes on YouTube, for the epic outro. Particularly the little run of notes at 5:02 (when I am rrreeeaa-de-ey-ey), but the whole outro is divine.

That's it for now - Fingers crossed that February will bring great musical discoveries as well!!

♥ Happy Listening ♥