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singedsun: cate blanchett in a pink suit and sunglasses (Default)
singedsun

singedsun

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AKA: cherith, thesunsaid
Discord: singedsun#1069

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This journal is primarily about my life, music & the occasional fandom diversion (mostly: Critical Role & Dragon Age). I do not have any particular friending policy; I welcome new friends and will usually add back. If you know me from elsewhere, feel free to send me a message. Thanks for stopping by. <3

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You may podfic, MST3K, or create secondary fanwork of any fanwork I have posted. Please include a link to my work and let me know where you've posted yours. Please do not archive elsewhere.

singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
It's been a whole month since my last new music Friday post and not for lack of me thinking about music and wanting to post. Just a lack of me having the time and brain space to do actually do the posts. I have seen two concerts since I posted last: Bush with Breaking Benjamin & Alice in Chains, and also just tonight, Weird Al Yankovic. His shows are always strange an unique, most especially on these tours where they don't play any of his most popular hits. But I think it was a great show. Since it's been awhile and my brain is a little too full for the moment, I hope you'll forgive me if I do a bit of a quick hits and single spotlight kind of thing for this first post back in awhile. Back during the AfroPunk festival in mid-2020 I posted a video of Moses Sumney, a Ghanaian musician with a really unique style. This week a view he did for a recent live performance came across my feed, a two part video where he covers Björk's "Come to Me" and then performs his own song, "Doomed". Moses' musical stylings are all over the place from jazz & r&b to pop and electronic and rock. I really love his performative style and he just does these really cool pieces. You can view his most recent album live on YouTube in one performance set called "A Performance in V Acts" . If you like that you can go back and view his previous full performance on YouTube called "BLACKALACHIA". Both are embedded below in that order. Both are beautiful pieces that are worth an hour of your time each.
If you like the more eclectic sounds of bands like Tank and the Bangas, The Postal Service, James Blake, Brittany Howard, give Moses Sumney a listen, he might be for you. I hope you all have found something new and exciting to listen to recently. Tell me what it is, I want to know!
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
Stared falling asleep half-way through writing this and then I just didn't post it because ...life. I'm feeling a little better about everything, so I'll post again this week to catch people up, but I wanted to get this out first since I started it Friday and it was just sitting in my drafts waiting for me.

New music video for Halestorm's "Wicked Ways" off their new album. About a week ago my friend and I got to see them at an outdoor concert, and as usually, they were amazing. (Also at that concert learned about a Mexican all-girl band called The Warning that is VERY GOOD. Lzzy continues to kill on vocals, this is great.

Maybe you're a little over the "Running up the Hill" covers, so let me get you a new cover that I'm currently obsessing over. It's Journey's "Separate Ways" by Jonathan Young w/Annapantsu & Matt Heafy. I have listened to this so many times in the last day or so. So many. This is one of my favorite Journey songs, hands-down and I feel like they kill this Metal-ized version of these.

There's this absolutely beautiful Tiny Desk Concert at NPR with Ludovico Einaudi, a Italian pianist who both Matthew and I have fallen in love with. His music is so lovely and I could listen to hours and hours of his playing.


There's a new remix of "nothing is safe (remx)" from clipping. (Daveed Diggs hip-hop bad.) This song was already fantast, but this version just levels it up a little. And it's sitting on a new EP of 3 other songs worth a listen if you've got the time.

There's also a new EP from VULKOVI who I mentioned a few months ago from their presence on Bandcamp. They put out a new six song EP this week that's just as good as we heard before. You can listen to that from the Lab Records page here.

There are so many new albums out right now. Lizzo, Beyonce, King Princess, Maggie Rogers, Haley Kiyoko, Em Beihold, .clipping (as mentioned above), Dawes, Murder by Death... that's not everything but it's what I can think of off the top of my head. It's a lot.

Have you listened to any of the new albums out from last week? Or anything else? Let me know!
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
There's a brand new album out from one of my favorite bands, Within Temptation, Don't Pray for Me which feels perfect in line with my feelings from last week. But that's not all I'm bringing back with me this week.

The Mars Volta - "Graveyard Love" isn't the first song they've put out since coming back, but it's really good. The Mars Volta felt like one of those rock bands that no one I knew had any idea who I was talking about when I mentioned them. (I think they opened for Nine Inch Nails once and that's how I found them.) I'm really excited about the potential for a new album.

Halocene - "Livin' on a Prayer" (feat. Lauren Babic & David Michael Frank) (or if you prefer Lauren Babic's cover of "Under Pressure" which features the same group). Both of these are really great metal covers and I went back and forth about which video to post but I think having just watched the new Thor movie influenced my decision.

Usher: Tiny Desk Concert - several of these are the older songs I was in love with when I was younger and it's wild to see these performed live and he sounds as good as he ever did even in this environment. I don't think a lot of you are R&B fans, but it was the first music I fell into on my own without someone else influencing me. This is great.


Honorable Mentions:
Belle and Sebastian: Tiny Desk Concert
King Princess - Change the Locks
Elle King (feat. Dierks Bentley) - Worth a Shot for my country fans

And from over at Bandcamp, this: Only the Poets - "Forget Your Name" is something in the intersection of Harry Styles and The 1975. They're a small, unsigned band of Englishmen with a kind of low-key pop-punk kind of style.

What have you been listening to this week?
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
I know it's been a little while. The last few weeks have been... a lot. I might go back and catch up on what's been happening in a different post, but I don't know. (I'm going through another phase of not really wanted to be perceived or social right now. Which is actually hilarious considering that one of the things I did recently was get boudoir photos done. 🤷‍♀️)

Anyway, let me share a trifecta of lovely songs that are all ex-vangelical and emotionally charged. In the wake of the last week or so, it's really I wanted to listen to. You know, something that's got those almost spiteful, I'm still here kind of vibes. So here's those.

This song, "Holy Water" by Noah Davis doesn't have an accompanying video yet, just this static image. But listen, this song has ripped out my heart and stomped on it many many many times over this week. I am not a gay man, but the way he addresses the trauma of the church on people who are different... he really gets it. I have more than once belted this in my car and then cried.

Maddie Zahm writes lyrics that feels like she's pulled directly from my head. Her song "Fat Funny Friend" was like a punch in the gut. And this one, "You Might Not Like Her" is no different. It's about turning away from religion, realizing your sexuality, coming to terms with anxiety... so many things are packed into this, and it's just really beautiful how she brings it together. Also this video that addresses the conceit of the song, that she's addressing these things to her younger self. OMG it's just really lovely.

MOTHICA has a whole new album out this week, and this song "NOCTURNAL" has been playing repeatedly for me, one because the video visuals are outstanding, but also because this one has a similar vibe but takes me out of the singer-songwriter pop of the other two songs and closer to this pop-metal sound Mothica has. Definite CW for lyrics of self-harm, and medical imagery.


Some honorable mentions:
New original song from Halocene - "Repent", Maddie wrote this for her mom and there's some info in the description for it to know more, but definite CWs for SA and domestic violence.
FLETCHER - "Her Body is Bible"
emlyn - "you make a woman wanna..." if you're feeling some kind of feminine rage right now you might get a little catharsis out of this one.
Same goes for this new Violet Orlandi cover of "I Will Survive" it's a metal cover, CW for fake blood - Violet's mix of classics with metal and horror is just really *chef's kiss*

That's it from me this week. If you've got music you've been listening to, please send it my way, especially if it fits these vibes.
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
You know that saying "We plan, God laughs" of some variety... that's been my whole week. I went into this week with so many good, exciting plans. I'm holding out that my Sunday plans hold fast, but we'll see I guess.

I don't have a lot of spoons left, but I do have music I wanted to share. "New" is subjective, these are either very recent or recent-ish and new to me. So here's the basics, if you're looking for something new to listen to this week.

Tiny Desk (Home) Concert from Feintstein's 54 Below for the Broadway show, A Strange Loop. It's a musical about a fat, black, queer man. And in 2020 Composer & Playwright, Michael R. Jackson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Strange Loop, becoming the first black musical theatre writer to win the award. There's so much queer happiness in this video and cast.



Chappell Roan - My Kink is Karma, this song has been on repeat for me lately. The video is cool, and the song's lyrics are just so much. I feel like this is Villain era pop music, so if that's a thing for you, try this. Lyrics for example: "People say I’m jealous but my kink is watching you / crashing your car / You breaking your heart / You thinking I care / People say I’m jealous but my kink is karma"


And then we've got another video/song from King Princess, which I think means we're getting close to a new album and I will not be quiet about it when it shows up. This is my music vibe right now, these kind of devil may care, badass vibes. I'm liking it a very normal amount... probably.


Last week we got the Deluxe Inside album from Bo Burnham from the outtakes of his show from last year that he recently loaded to YouTube. If you liked his show Inside and want more of where that came from, you'll want to take a listen to this one.

Last week there was also a full Spanish language album from Christina Aguilera which if you like her voice and her style, is exactly that but now in Spanish. It's titled simply, Aguilera.

One of my tiktok musical crushes, emlyn dropped her full album today, loneliest b!tch in america. And if you're also to into Villain vibes pop songs, this album has you covered.

I hope your week has been better than mine. If you've been listening to something new lately, drop it in the comments. <3
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
I've been exhausted since we came back into town on Tuesday night, and I'll post more about it later but for now I'll say that everyone is healthy and happy and went home on Monday. It was so hard to leave them, but I was ready to be in my own house and my own bed again by the time we got here.

I'm not going to post any videos this week because by golly we got a big number of brand new album drops between last week and this week so I figured I'd just go through them all because the flights gave me a lot of listening time.

First up. Harry's House by Harry Styles. It's good. It's somewhere between rock and pop, it's incredibly joyful and very horny. I very much recommend it.

If you like that but you're not a Harry fan, but like a joyful rock style, might I (re)introduce you to Hanson and their new album, Red Green Blue. Listen, if you want something a little less horny but love the style of Harry's album, this is definitely for you. I listened to these two albums back to back and they pair really well together. Like, yes, THAT Hanson. It's good.

Now, if you ARE in a mood for more horny music like Harry's House, but maybe you want a louder more pop-punk vibe, please go listen to Panther island by The Unlikely Candidates. I love this band, their lead singer has a very Patrick Stump or Brendon Urie sound and their music is a full on bop. I love them.

If you want a true pop album with a breakout artist of Moroccan-Canadian origin, check out Faouzia's new album, CITIZENS> I've been following her for a while and I love the culture and joy she introduces into her music and her voice is AMAZING.

If you haven't been living under a rock, you probably know that Florence + the Machine's new album, Dance Fever came out last week. If you haven't listened to it yet, I highly recommend. It's pure Florence vibes, if you didn't like her before, this probably won't change your mind. But I think it's really good.

One of my most unhinged favorites is a rock band called Church of the Cosmic Skull, which I have posted about before in the lead up to this new album. But There Is No Time is very good, I love it a lot. It's just as weird and good as their previous albums and worth the listen if you're into new rock that sounds like retro/70s rock, check them out.

Red Balloon by Tank of the Bangas. Listen, if you've been following my music posts for any length of time, you KNOW how much I'm in love with this band. They're SO good. It's rap, soul, spoken-word and it's so very good. I just can't tell you how much I love them, there aren't words enough.

OMG I almost forgot, this absolute surprise album drop from Emma Ruth Rundle, EG2: Dowsing Voice on Bandcamp. If you were a fan of Delerium or Lisa Gerrard in the late 90s/early aughts, check out Emma's music. If you don't those references, she's kind of this ethereal goddess voice and her music feels like it belongs on a Pure Moods album. This is the music to cast spells to.

Another on Bandcamp is the new BEKA EP Your Skin. BEKA has this sweet pop/soulful voice and definitely not enough people know about her voice. If you're a Taylor Swift fan, check out BEKA. Her lyrical style is very similar. (Some of her stuff also reminds me a little of Caroline Polachek.)

Last but not least, Two Feet's new album Shape & Form is exactly what I expect from him. Two Feet is an electronic/alt rock band and I feel like this album is just as good if not better than previous albums. The previous two albums got me through a lot of long days at my previous job while I was working from home.

There are some singles that are worth a listen too like this ABSOLUTE pop-punk banger from Loveless, Middle of the Night, and this new Matt Maeson song, Blood Runs Red which is a rock song I don't even really know how to classify properly, except that it's good.

Okay, I think that's all for this week, which is more than plenty. If you check any of these albums out or are super into something new, let me know!
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
Matt and I went out tonight and saw the new Dr. Strange movie. I a) have not enjoyed Dr. Strange as a character and didn't even watch his first movie b) missed the Spiderman movie while it was in theaters so we don't have that context at all. That said, this movie was great. I loved pretty much the whole things start to finish, even though I went in with expectations I wouldn't like it much. But here's the thing, this movie has Sam Raimi's sticky little fingers all over this thing. Why can I see every pore in America Chavez's face? Oh, right Raimi-eque close-ups. Why are we getting these odd musical stings? Ah yes, Raimi & Danny Elfman working in tandem. FOURTH WALL BREAK? Don't mind if you do Sam, thanks.

It's dumb, it's campy, it's horrifying in places. It's the best blend of superhero move and horror movies. Absolutely 10/10 no notes. (She says knowing for sure this style of MCU movie is not for everyone.)

All that aside, do you know how many albums came out today/this week??? So many!

Halestorm - Back from the Dead I listened to this today and nothing immediately stuck out to me, but as Halestorm usually does, it'll take several more listens before I start latching on to songs.

Three Days Grace - EXPLOSIONS Another I'm going to have to take more time with. But what I heard of it, I enjoyed.

The Head and the Heart - Every Shade of Blue For all your folk musicy needs.

Art of Dying - Ready for a Good Time This didn't hit as hard as I expected it to, based on past albums, but if you like that kind of IDK hair band rock/metal cross over (I feel like Hinder might be a good comparison.)

Cory Wong - Power Station This is a weird one. But if you're in the mood for some good funk music, look no further.

Poets of the Fall - Ghostlight My personal favorite of the last week and a half or so. I've listened to it all the way through several times, it's good every time. They are one of my favorite metal bands, like ever.

Sharon Van Etten - We've Been Going About This All Wrong

Others worth mentioning: Alessia Cara, Duality | Emili Sandé, Let's Say for Instance | Silverstein, Misery Made Me &&&&&&&& SIX: Live on Opening Night (I can't wait to see this next spring here in KC).

I'm going to leave you this week with a single video: The Little Shop of Horrors: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert! THE FORTY YEAR ANNIVERSARY of this movie, the introduction in this video done by Alan Menken himself. This is fucking amazing and I love it so much. Alan stops to play and sing for "Somewhere That's Green" and talks a little bit about Howard Ashman. It's wonderful.

singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
I am feeling maybe like 75% better. Better enough that I've been awake most of the day and was able to work from home without sleeping on my keyboard lol. I always use the Gravedigger zydrate icon for these posts, which feels a little more pointed after recovering from COVID. I promise, he's only offering you my new music recs. :D

There's a TON of new music out this week, especially if you're a pop fan... that's going to be most of this post. Still, there's a R A N G E. Hopefully there's something for everyone.

First, because it's so fun and strange I'm going to call out this song from Jonathan Young & Caleb Hyles. They're well known on YT for their cover work (usually metal covers of Disney and anime shows/movies) but this is an original song officially written for Magic: the Gathering's New Capenna setting. It's called "Old Money" and it's got all the markers of a really great villain song. For those whole will understand this context, it's giving very New Orleans Camarilla vibes.

This week brought us a brand new Lizzo song. This has big seventies roller disco energy, and I'm about it. Whether it's purposeful or not, I appreciate that the first song we're getting from her after all this time is called "About Damn Time", like yes, we also think so. (Also, this is not music related, but if you weren't aware, Lizzo also released a line of clothes with Fabletics this week called Yitty. It's mostly athleisure wear, but the size range is purposefully listed as 6X - XS, which is pretty cool.)


This song has been making the rounds on TikTok prior to it's release but we finally got a full release with a video. This is "cult leader" by KiNG MALA, which she wrote after this tweet: "i’ve decided to be delusionally confident, i’m sick of this sad girl shit it’s villain hours once again". If you haven't listened to her before, KiNG MALA has very much a Billie Eilish musical style but through a masc queer lens.


If you're a more a folk soft pop fan there's a whole Lizzy McAlpine album out called 'five seconds flat' that's a delight, I've listened to it a few times this week. But this song in particular, "hate to be lame" is a really sweet ballad and also features vocals from FINNEAS (O'Connell).


Full album - if you like this wonderful new world of sapphic pop rock, the new album from Xana - Tantrums, is wonderful.

New metal from both Five Finger Death Punch AfterLife & Motionless in White - Masterpiece
There's also this new album "In Stasis" from the bad Monuments that I'm just discovering via Bandcamp, but so far I like it very much.

That's definitely not all, but that's what I've collected so far. I hope your week has gone a little bit better than mine. I'd love to hear what you're listening to lately (since I've abandoned Spotify kind of altogether, I get less new recs tossed my way, so anything I can add to my list to remind Google to DIVERSIFY my recs is helpful. This is my biggest gripe about the change from Google Play to YouTube Music - it's new music recs are pretty garbage unless you happen to recently have listened to that band or their in the trending top 100. So like throw your recs in the comments for us, please!
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
I have thought about this post literally all week. Maybe because I knew I was seeing one of my favorite bands in the whole world for the first time this week, but also because it's just GOOD right? MUSIC, man. Music is fucking great. I would shove all the new albums I listened to this week into this post, but I just don't think I can, there's TOO MUCH.

Enough, here's some music.

First up, this song who's video I haven't been able to get out of my head. It's not strictly from this week, but it's still new enough, so I'm counting it. It's "Blow" by Jackson Wang and like, I can't tell you how much I want to like literally crawl inside this video and live in it. It's mind-blowingly good. It's Moulin Rouge vibes, La Boheme vibes, very New Orleans vampire aesthetic, and with a slick pop sound and just a bunch of gorgeous people. I swear, if you like pop, this is for you. The choreography, the costumes, this video I love it so much. I have thought about this video all week and have been excited to share it.

Let's take an album break. If you like... soulful funk, a little Parliament Funkadelic mixed with some Pink Floyd and a take that's still unique, The Main Squeeze is for you. Like they're already great and they often do covers on their channel and they're each great on their own. But this ALBUM!! It's called "To Be Determined" and very specifically the song "Sun Goes Down"! it reminds me of the song Maggotbrain by Parliament Funkadelic in the very best way and I kept it on repeat for almost the whole of Wednesday, it just scratched my brain right.

Next video, let's talk about this! This is Bree Runway's "Somebody Like You". And do you remember those 80's like Madonna and Janet Jackson beats? This is got this, we're in the electronic pop queen. She's an English singer/songwriter of Ghanaian descent and this video doesn't have any, but she's also a rapper. But it's pure goth pop vibes and I'm here for it.


Let's take a break for a brief mention of several new albums and EPs even knowing I won't them all:
Orville Peck - Bronco
Of Monsters and Men - Ófreskja
Isak Danielson - King of a Tragedy
BANKS - Serpentina (about time we had a new BANKS album tbh)
The Veer Union - Manifestations
Last video for this post, though there's so many others I could share. But let's talk about this one. This is "Hold Ya" by Brasstacks & Lawrence. This is funky and big on the brass and just a fun song. The video is remotely done, but I think it's a good show of the the banks personalities. Speaking about Lawrence specifically though, this is the band I saw for the first time ever in person on Thursday. I am over the moon about it, and for sure it's going to be all I talk about to anyone in my vicinity for the next several weeks. Going to this show was like... IDK it was goosebumps on my arms and down my neck and it reminded me not only of why I like concerts so much, but also just that feeling of seeing a band you love so much for the first time. It feels magical. They come out with all this energy and it's just a wonderful experience. I will definitely always try to see them in the future. They're just fun and very good.

OMG ETA: I forgot one of the best parts of this show! The opener for Lawrence was a young woman from Nashville named Lindsey Lomis. And now, if you've been here awhile, you know that outside of these big panini events, I go to a LOT of concerts. It's one of the things I like most in the world, seeing the music I love live and in person. Okay, so that said. When I say to you that I don't think I have EVER. Like EVER in my 30+ years of going to concerts, EVER seen a young artist come out on a stage, by themselves and only a guitar (and a bass guitar at that) and COMMAND attention in the first few notes. ASTOUNDING. It takes some big old balls of confidence to just bring a crowd to a pindrop silence while you play. And she did it. First words out of her mouth as she started singing and everyone was rapt. She's good. Soulful indie pop vibes, very Taylor Swift if she played bass and sang with the voice of a sultry smokey goddess. I wish the song she opened with was out now, but it's not yet. So instead, here's just a link to her last EP, "Into the Madness". Definitely the last you'll be hearing from me about Lindsey.

Anyway, there's a bunch of other stuff out. There's a new Miley Cyrus album, a new Father John Misty album, new songs from Bishop Briggs and Lizzy McAlpine. But that's probably enough from me.

I hope you enjoyed this batch of new music an can find something new to listen to! Please let me know in the comments if there's something that's been on your list this week that you've loved listening to.
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
I did not post about music on Friday, because I haven't listened to much this week aside from a few regular playlists AND the audiobook for John Scalzi's new novel, The Kaiju Preservation Society. If you like Kaiju movies, you'll like this book. If you like Wil Wheaton, you'll like the narration of the audiobook. This book feels like a summer action flick, it's just a good, fun time. (CW: there is a COVID/pandemic backdrop but it's mostly there for setting the events in a certain timeline for a specific reason, the novel itself doesn't have anything to do with it aside that that.)

That said, I highly recommend these two new song releases on Bandcamp:

Atra Aeterna - "1963"
They are a dark pop electronica kind of band from Canada>
&
VUKOVI album/EP - "LASSO"
And this album from VUKOVI. This band is new to me, but theyre in the rock/metal genre and very good.

There's also a new album out from Qveen Herby called Mad Qveen which has BIG Alice in Wonderland vibes and I love it. If you like rap/r&b stylings, check her out.
I hope everyone had a great weekend and if you're listening to something good, let me know in the comments!
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
New albums this week from Thou, Kongos & Architects. I've been spending a lot of time with this recent single from Emlyn called "right?", it's just really good. (And when I saw a lot of time, I mean, like a lot. I've started just about every day with it this week and go back to it multiple times throughout the day.)

If you love covers like I do, then you might like this cover of "Hallelujah" by Jordan Hart for the Mahogany Home Sessions. It's just a soft, sort of simple take on the song not trying to be Jeff Buckley or Leonard Cohen, just doing his own thing with it and I love his rich tone on the very last Hallelujah. Worth a listen.

I'm very please to see absolutely brand new and original music from Halocene. They're so well known for their covers, but I LOVE their original stuff. And I think it's great they brought a metal vocalist like Violet Orlandi to be on this. It's good. Aesthetics in the video are good - but I guess maybe some content warnings for drugs, religious themes, broken mirrors and blood too I think.

And third for this week, is this beautiful new song from Todrick Hall (can't wait for the next Todrick era). This is "Queen" which is also going to be huge content warning for religious imagery. Todrick's videos are always next level in terms of choreography and cinematography and this is definitely no different. I MEAN that golden ballerina costume??? Gorgeous.

Honorable mentions:
  • KONGOS - Flash Flood - Been awhile since I've seen anything but live stuff from KONGOS so this was a surprise to have pop up on my subscriptions
  • Floor Jansen - Fire - I'm so happy to see Floor making original stuff again, I hope this means we get a solo album from her soon
  • FINNEAS - Naked - And this isn't even to mention that Finneas was a HUGE part of the music in the Turning Red movie (which you should watch if you haven't). He's a writer/producer and one of the voices for the boy band in the movie
  • Jake Wesley Rogers - Lavender Forever - TBH I like it, but I'm not quite sure what I think about yet. Sometimes Jake puts out a song I have to really live with for a little while so I'm sure I'll go back to this one a few times in the next week

Have you been listening to anything new this week? Something old that you're listening to again? Share it with us in the comments!
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
Literally the best music (for me) day in a really long time. One of my favorite bands EVER (like EVER), Stabbing Westward dropped a new album for the first time in TWENTY YEARS. (Also, the 2001 album barely counts. It was bad, we don't claim it.) This new album, "Chasing Ghosts" even sounds like them. They reunited with their original producer to get that sounds back and I think they really succeeded. I listened to this for most of my work day today and was just very pleased by the whole thing. I'm just tickled that there's a new album and that it's honestly good in a way that makes me wish they'd been able to make it twenty years ago. (Okay... maybe not "Control Z", it did get a chuckle out of me, but it of questionable lyrical quality.)

We're not as full metal Friday as we were last week, I've got a variety today, something for most.

Like, this first song. Now, I'm no Ed Sheeran fan, but this cover of "Bad Habits" by Scary Pockets with Sara Niemietz on vocals is really good. I love the organ breakdown in the middle. Sara has such a just genuinely good husky singing voice and she does these funky riffs so well, I love it a lot.

I know I've said it before, but I think everyone should be giving Tank and the Bangas a chance. They're doing something so cool and I really really enjoy every single song from them. It's like spoken word poetry meets funk meets peppy pop. In this new live video for "Black Folk" you'll get the full range of what Tank does with her voice, there's a part where she says the same line three very different ways just changing the pitch of her voice and attitude and it's just very good. I know this style of music, but I think everyone should give them a shot. There's just so much joy in their music.

Honestly I wasn't going to put a second cover in the videos section, but look this video from Corvyx for his cover of Yonaka's "Seize the Power" is just great. I don't know if I've shared his videos before, but he does these like gothy covers of songs that are best known for being sang by women and his voice and his style are just *chef's kiss*. I love 'em.

Honorable mentions:
  • The new Sarah Saint James EP, "HOME IS WHERE HELL IS" came out today and if you haven't heard her song "" on TikTok before, you're missing out. Her work feels so personal, especially to me who was a plus-sized teen growing up in a very religious family. Like, if I knew anything about writing music, this is the shit I would write.
  • Also, the album from ROSALÍA came out today. I haven't listened to her much before this but I saw her appearance on SNL last weekend and listened back to her songs a couple of times. I didn't know this album, "MOTOMAMI" was coming out today until I saw it on YT Music, but I had a lot of fun listening to it.
  • Maybe a CW for this video for the new Marianas Rest video, "The Weight" which has a lot of covered faces and death makeup. The song however, if you're a fan of death metal, is very good. Also, just in general the aesthetics for this video are very A24 "elevated" horror movie and I love it.
That's it for this week. I hope you enjoy some or all of these! And if you've been listening to something new this week, let me know what it is.
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
You know those moments where you look at something and realized if YOU hadn't changed you would've missed out on so much? Ever have a musical version of that? Like, I'm just rewatching these Florence + the Machine videos for her new songs thinking, man that asshole version of me who really hated those early singles back in like 2007 when all my weirdo music friends were talking about them had no idea what she was talking about. Like, I tried multiple times to 'get it' and I just didn't. It wasn't until I heard a song entirely by accident, on my own, maybe a year or so later that I appreciated how good it was. Maybe it's because I was writing when it happened and some of the lyrics finally made sense to me. Maybe it was just the first couple of songs I bounced off of. Maybe my tastes finally changed enough. I don't know what it was.

I'm looking at the videos for these newest songs and it's not just the music or the lyrics but like the entire wonderful aesthetic of these videos that are so striking. And it's hitting me that if I'd just stuck with that initial impression, I'd be missing out on a really amazing artist. I'm really glad I was able to enjoy the music on my own and get to appreciate it now for what it is. Florence + the Machine isn't the only artist that's happened with but I guess maybe the artist I know I once had a really visceral dislike of and have done a complete 180 on. All that said, I'm really excited for whatever these music videos are building to, I'm hoping to be able to watch them all back to back when the album is out and finally see the bigger picture.


From one beautiful video to another, is this amazing live version of "Backbone" by KALEO. If you don't know them, they're an Icelandic rock band and man they're really, really good. But sometimes they do these videos of their songs recorded live from some gorgeous location in Iceland and it's just BEAUTIFUL. Like this YT comment from Hollow Coves kind of sums it up: "That awkward moment when you're a band who tries to do live performance videos in beautiful locations but then Kaleo just keeps doing this...."


Since I seem to be pulled toward aesthetics and beautiful videos this week, I guess I'll close out this trio of videos with this metal cover of "May It Be" by the band The Dark Side of the Moon. This band is comprised of some big names from epic/orchestral metal bands, Melissa Bonny from Ad Infinitum and members from Feuerschwanz & Amaranthe. Then sharing lead vocals for this song in particular is Charlotte Wessels who used to be in Delain. Last year The Dark Side of the Moon put out a metal "Jenny of Oldstones" cover too if you like this and want more.



In other music lately, this Opiate² from Tool, which is as someone in the comments said: "In case you ever wonder what Tool covering a Tool song sounds like."

There's a new album from a Missouri local rock band, Shaman's Harvest, called Rebelator that's very good if you like your metal with a little country twist.

There's this new song, "Awaken Love" from Lacey Sturm which is really lovely. Though... boy, even if I didn't know what I was looking for the religious overtones are strong in this one.

How about something completely different to finish this out? A brand new video from Orville Peck, "The Curse of the Blackened Eye". And yes, when you see him and wonder if the man in black is Norman Reedus, it is. I am not always one for country (though I did in high school go through a very strong Tim McGraw phase) I really love Orville Peck's voice. Just something about that deep bass. And if you like this, I believe there's a whole new album out.

Okay that's it for this week. I hope you all had a great week. And if you have something new you've been listening to recently, share it in the comments!
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
Friends, have you heard about HEARDLE? Never has a thing been more pertinent to my new music posts than this fun little Wordle variant in which you try to guess a song a few seconds at a time. Not sure if it'll show up, but like... this was mine for today. So that's fun.

#Heardle #8

🔊🟩⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️

Also, in things that are music related but not necessarily new. Loudwire had this post today about the Nosferatu movie, which turns 100 this year, having been matched up with Type O Negative music. And nothing has ever felt more perfectly goth. You can read the post here or just watch this cut of the movie on YT here.

This might be a week or two old now but Spun Out of Control's page has a new album from Monochrome Echo called Moonkeeper Exodus. And if you like a lyric-less atmospheric spacey vibe, this is it. Feels like you're bopping around in a little spaceship in the happiest perfect RGB galaxy. For people who still play games like Music Racer or Audiosurf, this is PERFECT for a game like that.

I'm sorry in advance for how absolutely unrelenting I will be in the upcoming months as there's a new Church of the Cosmic Skull album in the making. They dropped a new video for their song, "One More Step" and I just feel like I'm definitely going to going back and listening to the other albums repeatedly in the next few months. Their videos are very ... odd, I'll grant, but the whole band's premise is that they're fucking nuts. BUT if you like bands with that new "classic" rock vibe? Maybe just try them out??? The music is very good.

There's a brand new original song from The House + The Fox called, "Winter Flowers" and it's very very lovely. I especially like the simplicity of taking this song and the accompanying lyrics video. It's just very nice.

This new Tank and the Bangas song is just paving the way for spring and summer with "Stolen Fruit". This video specifically is just such a well done summery aethetic. It's wonderful. The new videos we've had from them in the last few weeks make me hopeful a full album is on it's way to us soon. They had another new song out recently "Black Folk with Alex Isley, Masego and you can listen tot hat "?


Here's a lovely little Eliza Rickman cover song with Jherek Bischoff called "The Art Teacher", originally a Rufus Wainwright song and which he's stated is written from the perspective of a woman. If you've never heard of Eliza before, she's very... a cottagecore organ-playing Florence Welsh. Like I'm not sure I could've loved Eliza's music when I did if I hadn't already come around to Florence's style? Anyway, if "The Art Teacher" doesn't grab you, I would implore you to listen to my favorite song from many years ago now, "Coming Up Roses". I heard her play this as the Weather segment at a VERY EARLY Welcome to Nightvale live show (from their first ever tour) and fell absolutely in love with this song. Immediately bought the whole album. Anyway. Also, this is very good, especially if you like Rufus' music already.




Cover songs honorable mentions:
Oasis - Wonderwall a metal cover by Violet Orlandi
Dove Cameron - Boyfriend a rock cover by Rain Paris
Linkin Park - New Divide acoustic cover by Melodicka Bros.

I'm very proud of myself for figuring out how to rid those dumb bandcamp embeds from showing all that blank space at the bottem. Will I remember it for next time? Probably not. But I'm pleased now and that's what matters.

I hope you're all hope doing best as you can be right now. If you've got a song making you happy this week, please share it. <3

singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
"It's been awhile"

I've been listening to a lot of the same stuff over and over and being in an office means it's mostly on my phone and not through YT or YT music like it was back before when I was still working from home 100%.

I've also been attending a Friday night writing springs and critique night over Zoom, which has been really helpful for me to finish up this big bang challenge story I'm working on & just getting back in the habit of writing all together.

Today's music comes in three videos and couple album mentions.

First, this amazing live session from Dorthy for "Rest in Peace". It's nice to hear newer stuff from her. I've been listening to this song a lot lately, but this Unplugged song is A++. If you're unfamiliar with Dorothy's music she rides that thin line between Rock and Metal and is great for Halestorm fans, but also I feel like if you've ever been a fan of the 80s hair bands, you'll probably like her vibe.

If you're listening for more Black musicians to listen to during BHM then you should definitely listen to the new Tank & The Bangas song, "Black Folk". Tank & the Bangas is a band out of New Orleans, I've posted them here before, but they kind of defy traditional genres. A little hip hop, a little spoken word, a little rhythm * rap, it's just lovely.

And if you've been around on TikTok at all in the past month, you may have run across this song, "YES MOM" by Tessa Violet. This is just a sort of Vizualize video, so no official video yet. But the song is a banger and I feel like this darker edge to Tessa's very light Nashville refined voice is really different here. It's wonderful.


Normally for albums or other singles/EPs I'd link to Spotify, but I'm not going to send them the business anymore. YT might not be the best platform, but it's better than Spotify any day of the week, so I'm going to try and keep my links there.

  • There's a new album from JP Cooper, whom I've shared here before, he's got an amazing soulful voice. The album is "She" and on YT Music here
  • There's also a new Album (part 1) called "Give Me Your Shoulders" by half•alive on YT music here
  • There's a new Zeal & Ardor album, self-titled and it rocks. I never hear about them except for the handful of friends I know that already listen to them. But I LOVE their style. You can listed to them on YT here: here
  • And if you want to know what song I've been listening to on pretty much REPEAT lately, you should listen to Peach PRC's "God is a Freak". What religious trauma? Don't know her. I mean, I'm FINE. Song is here.

I hope you've found some good music in the recent weeks that you're enjoying! I'd love to hear about what you're listening to down in the comments. And I hope you find at least one thing here worth listening to. Happy weekend everyone.
singedsun: kassandra from assassin's creed odyssey (kassandra)
This is a really, really good video essay on the history of the "be gay do crime" (and it's popularization as a meme in recent years), the anime Bananafish and the TV show POSE. It's very good, well-thought out and pretty long, so prepare to spend some time with it for about an hour. James' videos in general about the portrayals of queer media and each very, very good. I think I mentioned him before in my favorite video essay post way back when. But this is a great one to start with. Worth the watch.

singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
Everyone everywhere is talking about Free Britney (good for her) and the new Taylor Swift Red remaster. I know very little about that latter one - I listen to each Taylor album like once, and she's good but I always move on because it's not really for me in a way I'd keep coming back to over and over.

Instead, I could tell you about the Bush 20 year remastered release of their album Golden State? But I'm going to guess that's less interesting to most people. (I'm not one of those people. I hate being old enough to know that their best work is 20+ years old but also, yes please make them sound like they belong in a modern decade. 90s rock production values have such a distinctive sound and not in a good way.) They even put a lyric video for "Headful of Ghosts" up on YT here.

So! Other music:

Do you want a Christmas song? Because there's a lovely version of "Blue Christmas" from Jake Wesley Rogers here on YouTube. All of their music is just SO GOOD.

If you'd like to keep up with spooky season a little longer (I know I would), there's a great lofi beats called "Darker, Still" by Autumn Orange up. I love this one. It's moody and wonderful. (And perfect for writing to, if you're writing something a little haunted, a little dark.)

Okay, I'd include this even if it wasn't spooky season, but this cover! Violet Orlandi has a cover out for "In the Air Tonight" and I have a dumb obsession with this song, I love it so much and I have a whole playlist of all the different covers of it I could possible find for it. (If you would like me to link that too, I can, but it's definitely not for everyone.) Anyway, I think Violet nailed it here.

Of the two trio of sisters bands I know of, Joseph is probably my favorite (Haim is very good, I know) but the voices of these three and their lyrics are just like the indie singer-songwriter vibes I crave in my life. They released a whole album recently which is very good. But they also performed a song "Green Eyes" live for a studio session somewhere and it's wonderful. If you like female indie folk stuff, check them out.


Lastly, I'll leave you with two favorites from this week from Lawrence. They went and performed with Scary Pockets and then a stripped acoustic performance for the other channel Scary Pockets runs, stories. Both are very good. I know that Gracie's higher voice isn't for everyone, but I love them so much, they're just good fun in every performance. They did a cover of Olivia Rodrigo's "deja vu" here and the stripped down cover of "That Thing You DO" here.

Enjoy! And tell me what you've been listening to this week!
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
WHERE HAS ALL MY TIME GONE? I haven't even been working. This is just the last few days of vacation but I feel like I've no time at all now. I needed all this time off for sure, but since we got back from Florida there's just a bunch to get done before I start the new job. Like, I needed badly to clean out my closet and get all my 'work' clothes front and center again and push all the comfy cozy clothes back. UGH. I'm going to miss the roll out of bed into fresh comfy clothes to go to work. I will not miss the job though. News on that front for a different post.

We're here to talk about MUSIC!

Let's start with our fae king. There's a tiktok here of Hozier singing his new song with Meduza that's coming out this coming Friday. If this little clip is anything to go by, it's gonna be really great.

Oh! And this wonderful take from Nicotine Dolls on "Wouldn't It Be Nice" from the Beach Boys here. The rasp in his voice man, it just does something.

I also found this article here that created a list of songs that gave people chills to listen to based on some research done on the phenomenon. The list is on Spotify here. I love this idea and will be diving headfirst into this playlist and then maybe trying to use some of the songs to recreate my own list.

Lastly for this little section, whatever it is, is a pre-emptive heads up for anyone who enjoyed Joey Batey on The Witcher and might like his music elsewhere as The Amazing Devil. They have a new album coming out this coming week and you can find it here at Bandcamp.

Okay, onto videos. Every couple of days I seem to lose my whole playlist from YT which is very annoying because there's a lot of good stuff on it. But, I can scroll through my history, so here's what I was enjoying before I lost the whole list.

First, if you enjoy the band Oh Wonder, they're back with new music and they have this film "22 Break" on YT right now that is sort of a storyline video of the album they have out now of the same title.

I cannot NOT include this. Halocene collaborated with Lauren Babic & Violet Orlandi (my favorite YT metal women) to cover "I'm Not Okay" by My Chemical Romance. It's verryyyyy good.
And if you like that, these three also have a video for "Welcome to the Black Parade" on Halocene's channel here
Lastly for this video portion is the NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert for Yasmin Williams. I had not heard of her before, but her songs are so beautiful. She plays the fretboard and a kind of finger-style guitar playing. It's just a unique song and I found myself a little mesmerized by it.


Honorable Mentions:

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I start my new job tomorrow so I'm hella anxious and trying to let that go so I can sleep well tonight. Wish me luck!

As always, I'd love to read about what you've been listening to lately!
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
I spent a whole lot of yesterday listening to the Hadestown soundtrack again. I love it so much and it's taking up brain right now. At the same time I was also very deep into reading an 80k+ fanfic for Ted/Trent from Ted Lasso, because I wasn't originally sold on it, that season finale definitely had a moment, didn't it? After our party viewing over Zoom on Friday, my friends and I were definitely scouring tumblr for any and all mentions and I'm a little sorry I'm late to this party.

But anyway, on to music. I lost the big list I was going to listen to for this week's post, but I did manage to recover the history of what I'd already listened to, so I still have some stuff to tell you about, that you know, isn't about Hadestown and how good it still is. :D

First though, albums:

There are new albums this week [Spotify links]:
Friends That Break Your Heart from James Blake
In These Silent Days from Brandi Carlile
The EP EARTHRISE from Starset
In the Court of the Dragon from Trivium
And this EP Pluto from Jake Wesley Rogers (which if you haven't seen on TikTok, is definitely an artist to watch).

And I think this one was last week and I missed it, but Dearly Beloved from Daughtry

There's a bunch of new music from LP and this new song "Angels" is just wonderful. I love it. Some big romance era vibes happening in this video too, complete with lyrics.

One of my favorite weird indie bands, Lawrence has a somewhat new album, Hotel TV, out now and they've put up an acoustic version on their channel for "Don't Lose Sight". I feel like all their acoustic songs have a slightly gospel vibe added to the very funk sound of their music. I like it. There's also a very electric energetic feeling about these versions over their studio produced music videos.

And while I'm at it, if you want another dose of joy, check out the new video from Tank and the Bangas, "Big (ft. Big Freedia)". They are always a good time. Tank's raps are poetry with a Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez feel to them, but the band is just New Orleans vibes top to bottom and fun to watch perform. This feels way shorter than a lot of their songs, but packed full of infectious fun energy.

Some honorable mentions for cover songs this week [YT Links]:
Rachel Hardy - Good Riddance (Eurydice Solo)
Halocene x Violet Orlandi - Muse - Uprising
Violet Orlandi - Chris Isaak - Wicked Game

And for spooky season specifically:
Geoff Castellucci's low bass version of Monster Mash
singedsun: the gravedigger from repo! the genetic opera holding up a blue vial (gravedigger)
A misnomer.

Would people be interested in tiktok music links? I am unsurprisingly (probably) in mash-up/cover song tiktok's algorithm, so I come across of a lot of really good music there. If people are interested in that kind of thing, I'd be happy to drop a few links in these posts when I make them.

I don't have much in the way of "new" music this week, I've been revisiting a lot of old stuff and also just tossing things the YT algorithm thinks I'll enjoy in a playlist and then ignoring what I'm actually listening to the rest of the day, it just plays and nothing very much has stuck out to me really. During work these days, I tend to get very tunnel-focused on work and just whatever I have in the background can't be anything other than background noise. It has to be something REALLY interesting/different to make me break focus and look up the song or artist. Part of why some of it's just been old playlists I know really are just great for background sounds.

Background music for me is usually not like orchestral or lyric-less like I know a lot of people consider background music. I still need lyrics, talking, something for that little needy, hungry part of my brain to be distracted by so the rest of me can actually get shit done. It's why I like ASMR so much, I don't zone out or fall asleep to most types of ASMR. I just put it on and let it run and then it basically feels like nuanced white noise.

I digress. Just to say that I have to be actively listening to music to really appreciate it, or find something that breaks my true focus long enough for me to take an interest.

But how about something a little different (at least from my usual music posts). Here's a performance by H.E.R. (feat. Chris Stapleton) from the CMT Awards show. (It feels dumb to call it the CMT Country Music Awards -- I know they do, but CMT is literally Country Music Television...so it's the Country Music Television Country Music Awards?)> Anyway. Chris Stapleton's deep soulful voice is a wonderful counterpoint to H.E.R.'s bluesy riffs. It's real good.
(another CS listen if you want one is this live performance of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2U" here.)

I have not traditionally been an Andrew W.K. person, but this new "Everybody Sins" video/song is pretty great? I like it. This is like the one new thing on this post probably, but I liked it enough to share. I know that he is popular in like the alt rock space or whatever you call it? He's been around for so long, I was honestly surprised to see new stuff from him, and especially a song I liked. Anyway. TL;DR here, I'm not a fan, but I like this.


This is 'new-ish' as a song but the video itself is new this week. It's a song from RA (one of my favorite metal bands from like 20 years ago that just started making music again), "Enough". It features Dustin Bates from the band Starset (which is a metal band who doesn't get the attention they probably deserve).


And for something completely different. Here's a little short story playlist I made last September and continue to enjoy. It's just six songs and maybe if you need a little something to listen to for a bit, maybe you'll like it too. What's even worse is I don't know what the story is I created it for?? The title means nothing to me. But I also created a pinterest board for it too, so I had a plan I guess? Maybe it'll come back to me. The playlist is good though.