Album Review: “Unusual” by Marian Hill

Today, I will be talking about a very fun and unique duo’s second album. American artists, Jeremy Lloyd and Samantha Gongol, who make up Marian Hill have finally put out their new record, called Unusual!

The album was released on May 11th, and consists of ten songs total. I’m actually very excited but also a little nervous because I’ve only really listened to their singles, and unfortunately I never did hear Act One (2016) all the way through, but after I saw this on Spotify’s new music, I knew I wanted to hear it and review it on here!

Marian Hill is kind of known for their electronica beats, mixed in with a very chill vibe to it, and their first song off the album called “Subtle Thing” and its everything you know of MH, however, it’s a little edgier, and I really love the seductive, whisper way of Sam’s voice. Despite the fact that it has a mellow sound to it, you can still dance to it! I really like it. Second is “Differently” and this has an urban feel to it. I didn’t necessarily like the introduction, I didn’t think it meshed well together, the booping sounds with Samantha’s low voice, she was fine though. If it didn’t have that sound, I don’t think I would have had any care about it. Once the song continues, that element starts to intertwine with the rest of it, but by itself isn’t good. Next is “All Night Long” and this features Steve Davit, all three has made it into a modern jazz-y sound. That’s actually the best way to describe their music in the first place. They have a very light approach to electric music, so it honestly sounds more like a modern take to jazz and blues. I think this is the perfect track to showcase that type of subgenre, because it has that horn solo, like regular jazz music would, but it’s a totally different sound then what you’re used to hearing.

Fourth is “Don’t Miss You” and this has a darker sound, kind of sassy in a way. It has more of a pop element to it towards the end, so I really like it! Next is “Wish You Would” and to show you their quirkiness, you can hear these obsessive snapping sound and a mixture of computer sounds throughout that make a whole beat around Samantha’s words. It’s really cool.  If their song “Down” had a part two, sound wise, this would be that song! Afterwards is “Don’t Do It” and I really like Sam’s high pitched voice in the beginning of the verses, usually I don’t like it, because I think it’s too much, but I thought it was very pretty. This has another ominous, almost hip hop-y beat behind her lyrics, I can hear a small exotic taste in it too! It’s very interesting!

“Sideways” is next and finally we have a slower track. This could be the perfect song to put in a sad scene of a television show or movie. If you need something to calm you down, this is your song to listen to on those gloomy days! This will probably become a favorite of mine. We have “No Hesitation” now and and we’re back on the eccentric train with this one, but I don’t hate it. It’s not so outlandish like the other one, so it’s very mild and has a nice chill vibe. It’s good with me. Steve Davit makes another appearance with this next track, “Listening” and we have that urban feel to it, but gives me an old school pop vibe too. And lastly we have “Go Quietly” and its a straight up ballad. Yay! I love the dreamscape-y beat, it’s absolutely beautiful!

I thought this album was really great! I’m always to listen to different kinds of music, because I don’t want to hear the same stuff over and over again, and I think with Marian Hill, since they’re so out there, as they don’t necessarily fit the general pop and electric dance music standards, they are really unusual to what we’re used to hearing on the radio on a daily basis! You kind of have to train your mind to look beyond your normal tastes, and see for the smoothness of the music!

Have you listened to Marian Hill’s second album yet? If you have, what were your favorite(s) so far? Let me know below!

EP Review: “America” by XYLØ

I found XYLØ while following a playlist on Spotify. I couldn’t tell you which one because I don’t remember and I literally unfollowed a bunch of different playlists back in January so it may have been on one of those too, I don’t know! Anyways, I found this brother and sister duo on accident and I’ve never looked back!

Chase and Paige Duddy are the creators of XYLØ and they are definitely alternative, but I’d sort of consider some of their music in the electronica category too! They remind me of what Sleigh Bells would be if they chilled out a bit. I love Sleigh Bells by the way! No judgement towards them at all! Everytime I listen to their track “Afterlife” I start swaying with hardly any self-control. After seeing they had released a new EP two weeks ago, I couldn’t help myself. I knew I had to review it and hopefully you guys will get interested in them too!

So to start us off, the first track is called “Bang Bang” and like I said above, they remind me of the group Sleigh Bells. This is the main reason of how they make me think of them. This is very chilled but interesting in a way. Normally, I kind of hate songs that have hardly anything in them, I feel like if you’re going to put in a chorus, you might as well finish the rest of the song too! The beat is pretty good though, that’s probably the only part that doesn’t bug me too much. It’s not bad though! The second song is the reason why I got interested in the band. I had a nice three weeks of playing this one and The Chainsmokers “Roses” back to back! No regrets! It makes me feel good. People use drugs to get high and relax, I just need beats like this! Sorry not sorry! Next up is the title track of the EP called “America” which is so beautiful. It kind of gives me old Prince vibes with the synthdrums in the background. I like the dark theme and feeling this one gives off. It’s so good!

The fourth track is “BLK CLD” and I’m not going to lie, I thought it was “BLK CD” aka “blank CD” at first. It pays to listen to the song before writing it out! This one gives me summertime at the beach vibes which is strange because I’ve never been to a beach in the summer! It just feels like a good summer themed track! It’s a pretty song but it’s not a favorite right now. I’ll give it time and a little bit of love. It might change things! Next is a song called “Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea” and I really like the drums throughout the entire thing. There are certain times when you can use any type of sounds to highlight a track. You can hear fanfare drums, keys, and what sounds to me like police sirens that are very disorinated. Somehow everything works together and makes it very cool! Last one is called “L.A. Love Song” and at first, I didn’t like this one and I’m still wondering why because now I like it! It’s another gentle beat, but I feel like that high piched note gives it a little bit of an edge! I wouldn’t say it sounds dark, but it’s slightly eerie.

XYLØ are a new group/band, whatever you want to call them! I’m already starting to like them and you guys know that I don’t normally like getting into brand new acts because I tend to get very impatient and always wanting more. If you like Banks, GEMS, or FKA Twigs, you might like these guys too! Give their stuff a listen!

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Tune Tuesday: Joy Williams

That name might not be in your iPod, but the group she was in with fellow singer-songwriter John Paul White called The Civil Wars. Do you remember them now? The female and male duo that basically dominated the Grammy’s back in 2012 and 2013. Everybody that I was following on both Facebook and Twitter loved them. My friend Rikki sent me their first single “Poison & Wine” to me a few months after it first started playing on the radio. I wasn’t really interesting like always, it wasn’t until the song was featured on The Vampire Diaries and then I wanted to hear that song everywhere I went. I was purely addicted to it! I did try to listen to their first album to see if I could do that again, but it didn’t work.

Then in 2013, I got excited after seeing the announcement that they were releasing a new album. This one had better luck with me. I bought like four songs off and I continue to find other songs that I like off of it. I like their ballads better than the upbeat songs. Something about Joy’s voice when it’s nice and low does something to me. There’s so much emotion in her face that you can hear in it. After I heard about the disband of the group, I was very sad. I didn’t even know they were on a hiatus before the album came out. Usually I know things like that beforehand but somehow that managed to slip by. Now that it’s 2015, I’ve been a little impatient about hearing new music by Joy, even though I haven’t heard her solo records yet. I’m still debating whether or not of jumping on that bandwagon. Recently, she did release a new song called “Woman (Oh Mama)” and man, oh man! I didn’t get past the two second mark before I took it to my Starred playlist on Spotify. It’s so good and there’s something so sexy about it that I haven’t been able to put my finger on it.

Have you heard of their version of Michael Jackson’s song “Billie Jean?” They performed it at their Unplugged session with VH1 a couple of years ago, after I heard it I had to buy it. Of course, afterwards they released that cover and a couple of their songs on a EP and I felt like a goofball that I didn’t wait and see. My favorite TCW songs are “Tell Mama” and “Dust To Dust.” What are your favorite tracks? Have you heard Joy’s new song yet?

Tune Tuesday: Marian Hill

After a couple of weeks of breaking up with constant TT posts. I’m bringing it back for a few weeks until I decide if i want to start on the Male edition of this theme or want to do another World Tour edition like I did last year. Even though I think I should wait to do that in the summer like I did last time. I don’t know, we’ll see soon! 

This week it’s all about Marian Hill.

I thought it was only person, but it’s not. It’s a duo that consists of Jeremy Lloyd and Samantha Gongol. Nobody is named Marian Hill. I don’t know if anybody knows this but I actually don’t like really new singers or acts, because I like to do a binge if I really begin to like them. So whenever I get into a new artist or group, it makes me kind of sad that there’s not much on Spotify to listen to. However, in this group’s case. They’ve got quite a few singles on Spotify that helped keep me at bay until the EP came out early this month. I don’t remember how I found them, I’m thinking on a Spotify playlist but I think I could’ve found them on TV too. I’m thinking I found a song of theirs playing on Sirius XM Hits 1 one weekend and that’s when I knew I had to look up their music.

It’s kind of difficult to categorize their music, because it’s got a nice pop sound but yet a lot of electronica beats to balance it out. It’s very chill, you can relax to it. The song that got me hooked was “Got It” and I’m like really into this song! Thank god there are lyrics for it or I might go insane! When I was first hearing the song, after a few listens I started humming to the song and from there, learning the actual words was easy. I think it took me a week or two, to finally get all the words. The EP is called “Sway” and my favorites from it are “Wasted,” “Deep,” and “Whisky.” That last one is really good! You need to listen to the whole thing though. It’s only seven songs, which isn’t bad and won’t take up much of your time either. So give it a listen!