October Playlist

Hello!

October is a strange month; you have artists coming out with a softer note to their music, it makes their fans and other listeners feel cozy and enjoy everything that is autumn as a season. On the other hand, you have others creating purely for the spooky vibe that is Halloween. In years past, I feel as though I haven’t appreciated the gentle side and I am noticing how much I never watched the raining of the leaves with excitement as I have recently. And because of this, the music I have wanted to listen to has taken a totally different tone.

My intake of both Evanescence and In This Moment has been massive! I feel like they are the perfect bands for this time of the year. They have a certain creepy flare and almost every song, whether it is a ballad or heavy are built around the notion of mystery. Unfortunately, I only have two full albums from each band on my iPod but thankfully I have a giant collection of other metal bands from all over the world that also love that type of thing for their music. And I share a number of them on my October playlist from Spotify. If you would like to check it out, just click here to be transferred to the see everything that has some grain of monstrous in it.

Before I start going into depth about my Top 25, I have a little surprse for you. Here is this month’s Artist Highlight!

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I am always so happy whenever artists and bands send me a message on my social medias or in a regular email – just as a warning, if you have sent me an email, please send me a DM through any of my socials as a head’s up! Mandala was very nice and patient with me while I tried to figure out the best way to highlight him and music on my blog. His newest single, “Modern Struggle” is out and he will release his album “The Chronicles Of A Blind Man” next month!

The introduction has this a nice melodic but also sounds like an ode to a cell phone ring in a way. The entire beat is really good and subtle but thanks to the fact that his voice is nice and clear, you can clearly hear the lyrics and the meaning behind it is brilliant. We, as a society have a struggle between good and evil, a mere modern take of what is right and good. So, there is a lot of things to take into consideration about what we do as individuals living our lives.

If you’d like to look into Mandala, you can find him on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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I hope you have enjoyed that little review of a brand new artist! Let’s change gears, and go back to our regular schedule. Here are my Top 25 for October and I really hope you enjoy it!

Rather Be by Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne
I’m Not Mad by Halsey
Californian Soil by London Grammar
Wonder by Shawn Mendes
Pretty Savage by BLACKPINK
Still Have Me by Demi Lovato
Supermassive Black Hole by Muse
Power Over Me by Dermot Kennedy
Runaway by Ziggy Alberta
Eyes On The King by Benn
Moral Of The Story by Ashe featuring Niall Horan
No Place by Backstreet Boys
Running by Malinda
Change by Taylor Swift
Tears Of Gold by Faouzia
Everything I Wanted by First To Eleven
My Own Dance by Kesha
Harley by Letters From The Fire
Frontline by Pillar
Happy by Kurt Hugo Schnielder
Underdog by Alicia Keys
Together by for King & Country featuring Tori Kelly
Closer by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
Haunted by Violet Orlandi featuring Jake Munro
Blood by In This Moment

If you follow me on Instagram, you might know I have tried to do a ‘Song Of The Day’ early in the evenings, and since I listen to a lot of different music, the genres and artists differ with every post. I was inspired to finally do them after my friend Ella started them in late September and one of the songs she shared actually made it to this list, Can you spot it?

What were you listening this October?

Music Monday | Tommee Profitt

Hello!

For my last post for this series, I will be talking about Tommee Profitt. A music producer, composer and songwriter that I’ve been keeping up with since probably the end of 2017. I still don’t really know how I found him in the first place; I do remember I was on Spotify, but the connection between the two is still a little foggy. Anyways, it happened and it’s been incredible journey so far!

What a lot of people don’t understand is that, everything is connected in some form or another. Everything happens for a reason.

To me, there really isn’t a big jump between symphonic metal and cinematic/trailer music. I think there are a lot of similiarities between the two of them, epesically when it comes to writing the concept. The lyrics are easy to read and can be filled of different emotions. They both encourage the use of choir and big orchestra elements depending on the mood of the song itself.

Now as I say “trailer” music, I don’t necessarily mean Hans Zimmer, Alan Silverstri, etc. Nowadays, composers like Tommee and vocalists you have probably never heard of yet somehow they are (mostly) all located in Nashville are creating these gorgeous songs for various promos and they are becoming the new generation of what is cinematic music. Lately, the world has started to see the genius of Tommee’s work, which is really awesome! Two years ago, Tommee teamed up with a long time contributor Fleurie to do a tribute album for the final season of “Game Of Thrones”. I previously listened to the soundtrack that was put together Travis Scott, Ellie Goulding, Hallie x Chloe, etc. However, this one was worthy to be part of the score I thought because it was so beautiful with Fleurie’s dreamy vocals and fierce compositions behind her in the music.

You may not know this, but last year he worked with Christian rapper NF on his album The Search. I think the two of them have worked together before this release, but I’m not too sure about it. I feel like I can judge what feels and sounds like something Tommee would create, but in the last two cinematic compilations, he is starting to expeiment with other genres like country and a little bit of rock, which is great but sometimes I have issues with figuring out what Tommee has produced for him or not. There are other artists he tends to work with a lot, and they are Sam Tinnesz, Ruelle and Jung Youth. If you haven’t heard of anybody featured in this post, you should definitely give everybody a listen, trust me, you’ll end up loving something among the people I’ve included in here.

Have you heard of Tommee Profitt’s work? If you have, list that person or any others below in the comments for me! Do you have a favorite track too?

August Playlist

Hello!

Well we’re here again. By now, the majority of kids are back in school and they will hope to gain some kind of routine within their day, even if it means wearing a mask while being around their fellow classmates and teachers. I have to say, I’m so happy I am not in school anymore because I remember when I was sick with strep throat and bronchitis’s, they were both brutal for me but missing school and having to do two or four days worth of Algebra homework and on top of that worry about failing finals sucked even worse! I am not the type of person to take online classes either, I have to be in front of a teacher as they are doing the problems; thus why I never made it through one semester as college!

Every year I think about each person going into middle and/or high school. They are each big steps for anyone, but they all had one heck of a schedule to them! I can’t imagine what the 2021 senior classes are thinking right now. After the news of hearing about various of fall sports events being cancelled, I imagine the desperation in every athlete is heightened because their futures are basically up in the air. Whether or not you are in sports, I still give a lot of you kudos for keeping your head up and continuing to fight your butts off during this time. I have faith in every one of you that you will make it through. Stay strong and don’t let this pandemic destroy your determination, okay?

It feels a little odd to be giving a pep talk in a monthly playlist, but this is where we are now I guess!

Let’s talk about music now though.

For August, I really wanted to allow myself to listen to anything and everything. The summer music series I started back in May is ending next Monday, so I am trying to figure out what the heck I’m going to discuss as far as music on here for the rest of the year. Thankfully, I am back to my two week blog schedule, so I will only have to worry about six posts–unless I get asked to review an album or EP in the near future then I will bring on another week to help make it special. I have been inspired to play with various music from other countries, like Arab, French, Italian, etc, so I’ve enjoyed exploring outside of my comfort zones!

I am going to list my Top 25 songs for this month, because you know I can’t half-ass it, especially a good month for music anyways! If you would love to check out the rest of the songs included in the playlist, please click here now.

Building A Mystery by Sarah McLachlan
You Will Become by Glen Hansard
Pisces by Jinjer
Oops!… I Did It Again by The Animal In Me
Lie by Sasha Sloan
Excuse Me by Fire From The Gods
Strong by Amaranthe featuring Noora Louhimo
Parasite Eve by Bring Me The Horizon
Use My Voice by Evanescence
Levitating by Dua Lipa featuring Madonna & Missy Elliott
Black Velvet Sun by My Indigo
Dark Love Empress by Leaves’ Eyes
See You In Hell by Ad Infinitum
Inferno by Abir
Who’s Laughing Now by Ava Max
O Fortuna – Epic Trailer Version by Hidden Citizens
Control by Zoe Wees
Candy by Serena Ryder
Woman by Ellie Goulding
Slow Motion by Charlotte Lawrence
Face Down by Halocene featuring Lauren Babic
Catalina by Rosalia
A Little More by Alessia Cara
No Rest For The Wicked by Lykke Li
Strangers by Halsey featuring Lauren Jauregui

Earlier this month, I made this playlist that I ultimately titled it “Maud” but not because it contains old timey music, it’s because I’ve become obsessed with the name itself. Everytime I think of the name, this hue erupts within me. A combination of gray and purple; it’s very light but edgy at the same time. I’ve been in love with it for the past five months and since the two of them make me happy, the collection of songs included are a mixture of pick-me-ups and gorgeous ballads. I previously mentioned that I have been allowing myself all kinds of music lately and something very beautiful has come out of it but in a form of a list of songs. I guess you could say it’s like my alter ego.

I swear I’m not high whenever I listen to music, actually I’ve never been high but I feel the more I try to explain, I look and probably sound more like someone who enjoys weed but nope. I’m just weird I guess! I love when music is airy and simple, I always have, but this is definitely doing something absolutely different for me. I have always wanted to create the “perfect” playlist for decades and I’ve had great attempts in the past, but this one instantly awakens me mentally, physically, spiritually. I’m forever glad that I let myself dive deeper in the hole because I’ve never been happier.

Have you been successful at creating–in your mind–the perfect playlist before? What have you been listening to this month?

Music Monday | Joost van der Beork

Hello!

Even though 2009 is the year that started my journey into the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, I would have to mention that the next year was just as important to me. In 2010, as I was failing to comprehended to understand my online class of Music Theory, I was busy dipping my feet into new waters. Once I made the decision of quitting my classes altogether, I dove down deep into the world of symphonic metal.

Now what you need to understand is that I was both heavily depressed and contemplating suicide so the fact that I still remember the origin story of how I got into the starting five bands from mid-2010 to early 2012 is a miracle in itself because everything else is a complete blur to me. I strongly believe music not only kept me alive but also distracted my negative mind. I chose to select a fairly large group of people to be apart of my story.

I didn’t find out about Joost until probably late 2011, which makes sense because by then I had decided to give Disturbed and Slipknot a try after years and years of being absolutely afraid to listen to anything that could activate my inner anxiety. In the same cycle, I had found the band Epica as they were just about to release their concert “Retrospect” concert DVD/CD. Once I started going through the band’s previous albums, I quickly realized that there was a common theme, Joost van der Beork was producing a good chunk of their albums!

After that, I decided to go through his music and found out that he use to be apart of another symphonic metal band called After Forever with Mark Jenson of Epica and Floor Jenson (no, they are not related!) of Nightwish. Once the band broke up, Joost went on to go behind the scenes and produce music instead. He has worked with Epica, ReVamp (Floor’s band), Delain, Leah, MaYaN (Mark’s solo project) and many others. He has a fairly large resume of a lot of bands you might not have heard before, so I think if you have a free minute in the time to look on Spotify or YouTube and check out some of the music he helped put together. Oh, and after going through with this post, I ended up finding out that Joost is actually a current member of a band called Ex Libris, which are very good too!

Have you heard pf any Joost’s work in the past? If you have, what was the first album you listened to and possibly enjoyed the most?

EP Review: “Deeper Things” by Paul Hernandez

Hello!

The day I published the review of PHAVORS debut EP, I also received a message on Twitter asking if I was open to review another artist’s recent release. Christian rapper Paul Hernandez told me about his brand new EP called “Deeper Things” which I thought was interesting, considering the time we’re living in now everybody is allowing themselves to feel deep feelings. I haven’t listened to anything yet, so I’m happy to finally start writing what I feel and think to each track.

We start with the title track “Deeper Things” and the first thing I thought of was this is a nice beat! Despite the fact that I don’t review a lot of rap music, I have been known to be very picky on the sound that echoes out of my speakers. I liked it for what it was, it had groove and a nice melody. Nice way to begin this journey! The second is “Mañana” which means “morning”. I really loved the light and slow introduction and it leads into a bop with a worship vibe going on. I feel like it would be a great motivational or workout song to pump you through your day. The one thing I wasn’t expecting was towards the end of it, the beat slows back down and you hear Paul singing and a noticeable guitar laced bridge. I think that was what made me enjoy it even more!

Our third song is “Little Bit” and again, we have a sweet beginning; the tempo stays the same throughout the whole thing. You can clearly hear Paul talking and in the choruses, I kept thinking I was hearing a feminine voice in the background. The one person he sounds like is Khalid, they have the same soulful tone that I love and the lyrics are really good too. It would be great for these new high school graduates, as they enter the world on their own. It’s one of those feel good songs at the end of summer! I think I might add it to my summer playlist in September too.

“Runaway” is next and this is another good end-of-the-summer tune. It’s nice and chill, and reminds me of late afternoons, which was so odd because I was doing this review at five o’clock on a Friday. There’s not many times were everything lines up right at the same time, so I knew it had to be fate! The last track “Till You Found Me” and it is a true Christian type of song but for those like me, the meaning isn’t too in your face. I enjoyed the electric guitar in the background when he was rapping, for a while it was just those two sounds coming through and then all of a sudden, there’s a damn trumpet! It totally threw me for a loop, but I thought it was an interesting addition. It was an awesome end.

I think my favorites were “Mañana” and “Little Bit,” mainly because they were both easy-going and made me think of positive things, not that the others don’t have that quality, I was just into them more for some reason. If you need a late summer addition to your music library, I definitely suggest you check out Paul’s stuff. It will bring a little sparkle to your day.

Have you heard of Paul Hernandez before this review? If this is your first time, what tracks were your favorites?