The 1975- The 1975 (Deluxe)

My last blog post is going to be about one of my favorite bands called The 1975. The band is a British rock group that has an indie style but also with some dance-floor sound. This album was released in 2013 and they are preparing to release a new album this year by putting out a new single called "Love Me" last week. Their 2013 album has a unique sound and the lead singer, Matt Healy, has a very distinctive voice.

The most popular song on the album is called "Chocolate." Although there has been some criticism from the song because it is hard to understand what the lyrics are, however, the beat is infectious and when listening it is easy to see why this song is popular. I have a few favorites on the album, but recently I can't stop listening to "Fallingforyou" and it is only on the deluxe version of the album. It is one of the slower songs but between the lyrics, tune and Matt's voice, the song is aesthetically pleasing. Their song "Girls" shows off their upbeat style with a Prince-influence. One last song to listen to is "Robbers." This song is one of the calmer ones and has dark/personal lyrics. The track list is below and the stared songs are the ones you should definitely listen to.

1) The 1975
2) The City*
3) M.O.N.E.Y
4) Chocolate *
5) Sex*
6) Talk!
7) An Encounter
8) Heart Out*
9) Settle Down
10) Robbers*
11) Girls*
12) 12
13) She Way Out
14) Menswear
15) Pressure
16) Is There Somebody Who Can Watch You

Happy Listening :)

Avicii - Stories

Avicii is a Swedish electronic musician, DJ, remixer and record producer. He released his debut album True around two years go and caused major success for the new artist with his songs playing over radios everywhere. That album has been followed with self-remixed productions since then and this year Avicii has released a new album, this time called Stories. In the last two years while working on the album, Avicii has been gaining popularity by playing worldwide with big names already in the industry. Now, he has this amazing album to share with the world. 

Stories is fourteen tracks long and shows his maturity by pushing further from typical "EDM" boundaries. Based on the title, the album has personal meaning by each track representing a different "story" which ultimately landed Avicii to where he is today. Starting off the album with the most successful single so far is a song called "Waiting for Love." When first listening to the song it was obvious it was going to be a hit, the beat makes you want to get up and dance, a typical Avicii hit. I definitely recommend checking out the video for this song, it will leave you with happy tears. "Broken Arrows" is similarly styled to an older song of Avivii's which is the popular hit "Wake Me Up." Zac Brown beautifully takes on the singing for this song which gives it a sort of country-influence dance beat. This album is full of surprises and with a Caribbean-themed song "Can't Catch Me" you can see the diversity of tunes this album has to offer. My favorite track on the album is "Trouble." While the song still has a subtle dance beat, there is an acoustic sound that breaks this track from the rest of the electronic sounding album. The songs starred below from the album are songs you should take a few minutes to listen to.

1) Waiting for Love*

2) Talk to Myself

3) Touch Me

4) Ten More Days

5) For a Better Day

6) Broken Arms*

7) True Believer

8) City Lights

9) Pure Grinding

10) Sunset Jesus

11) Can't Catch Me

12) Somewhere In Stockholm*

13) Trouble*

14) Gonna Love Ya

Stories is a really enjoyable album and the way Avicii plays with new sounds and sound engineering, it won't disappoint. Between the catchiness, approachable sound and fun, you'll be glad you gave it a chance.

Happy listening :)

Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness

I had trouble deciding which album to post about this week and I've decided to talk about Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness and the self-titled album Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, which was released Oct. 14, 2014. As a cancer survivor, the songs Andrew writes tend to have deep connections to life and what he has learned being a survivor. As the former frontman of Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin, he has a lot of experience with song writing, playing various instruments and the industry. A reason why I support Andrew and his music is that there are many significant quotes and lyrics produced by him throughout his career that are very meaningful. This recent album has been gaining the popularity and success he deserves after so many years of doing what he loves. This is definitely a more heartwarming alternative album compared to his previous stuff.

What made me choose this album is one song specifically called "Cecilia and the Satellite." I first heard this song when my friend's brother got to opportunity to play with Andrew in NYC a few months ago and I fell in love with his new style of music. This song was written for his daughter and the lyrics are amazing and is on my list of favorite songs ever. He talks about his life before his daughter and how he traveled the world with his old band and experiences he's had in his life and all that has happened previous to meeting her. Definitely give this song a listen!

Although "Cecilia and the Satellite" is my favorite song on the album, there are some other great songs to listen to because Andrew McMahon is amazing. For this album Andrew literally went to a cabin in the wilderness to write this album. He wanted to focus on his life and you can see that in the really personal song "See Her On The a Weekend." "Rainy Girl" is perfect and is the epitome of what Andrew writes. Between the vocals and instrumentation, this song is so well written it is amazing. The last song I want to mention is "All Our Lives" because the melody and words fit together perfectly. This song is tells a story of an encounter Andrew had with a friend who didn't end up so well. A lyric that speaks in this song is

There's only two mistakes that I have made: is running from the people who could love me best, and trying to fix a world that I can't change.

I highly recommend taking a listen to this album and some of his earlier work. Andrew McMahon is extremely talented and his music deserves to be heard and I hope after listening you think so too.

Happy Listening :)