If you are in need for the perfect summer night drive song, I have been loving “Guilty Conscious” by 070 Shake. This creative piece tells a story while allowing the listener to get lost in the futuristic beat. Somehow feeling very nostalgic, and comfortable this song really speaks to the listener. Lyrically, the song takes you on a journey feeling pain, sadness and release…
In 1977, the Germs set out to destroy the detached, artificial tone of pop. The popular music of their time corresponds with sadly predictable accuracy to what lives on the radio today—like what is propelled like a cannonball from passing SUV windows or crawls from cell phones with the nasal tremors of a vengeful mosquito. Punk rock music, by contrast, was especially vibrant because it was performed by human beings in modest recording studios…and it spoke to the origins of American folk music.
Now, artists are beginning to put these feelings into their work, and Charli XCX is leading a new movement with the aptly-titled How I’m Feeling Now.
DAMN. is the fourth studio album from rapper Kendrick Lamar, which came out on April 14th, 2017, three years ago. Lamar has been heralded as one of the generation’s greatest musical minds from both critics, the underground, and the mainstream, earning him dozens of gold & platinum certifications as well as a Pulitzer Prize for this very album.
Whether you love her, hate her, or are completely indifferent to her, Taylor Swift’s 14-year career has taken many turns both stylistically and personally, and throughout it all she’s seemed to always manage to persevere and rise above.
Whether I am about to go out, singing alone in my car, or need a song to help me during a good cry, my go-to artist is Beyoncé. I genuinely never get tired of her stunning voice and am consistently finding myself turning to her time and time again.
African Head Charge create a synthesis of experimental reggae, psychedelia, dub, and electronica. Rhythm from the drums and bongos, play into one another like percussive molecules. I went to bed each night and I put on the same album and by day thirty, I realized I couldn’t stop listening to it.
As this pandemic drags on, I look back on my music stats to see what I’ve been streaming most, and it is by far Check Your Head. Despite the raw and seemingly unrefined sound of this album, it is as slick as Vaseline. Check Your Head has an atmosphere, vibe, and energy unlike anything else you can listen to.
With joyful songs of simplistic sincerity like “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “A Hard Day’s Night,” and “She Loves You,” to more contemplative tracks like “Help!,” “Yesterday,” “Ticket to Ride,” “And I Love Her,” and “If I Fell,” John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr ignited a cultural and musical phenomenon that the world hadn’t, and likely will never see the likes of again.
With the COVID-19 pandemic pulling us further apart than we’ve ever been, both literally and metaphorically, music has become more important than ever as a form of human interaction. One World: Together at Home provided an opportunity for viewers and musicians alike to have something to unite around, something to come together over regardless of the distance currently between us all.
