Six playlists in now and, yeah, I can definitely see how they are jarring from time to time tone wise but that is the multi headed hydra of creating a listing of songs out of the music that catches your ear day by day. I will say as a result for this week, it leads to a hard shift from Florence Welch to the hard bark of Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe but that’s part of the fun right? Look, I start it all off with an actual Nobel Prize winner so that is a good start, right?
Track #1: Kendrick Lamar – King Kunta – To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)
This man’s lyrical ability is so incredible that it land him a Nobel Prize for his follow-up to this record, DAMN, but it was that album that led me to check out this one and King Kunta stood out to me right away. With a killer beat and groove, this song is clearly about the main character of the novel and television adaptation Roots and the main character of Kunte Kinte. Kendrick compares both of their paths as well as the attempts to hobble them both, like the cutting off of Kunte’s foot. Just a fascinating song at its core but damn is it catchy!
“The yam is the power that be
You can smell it when I’m walkin’ down the street
(Oh yes, we can, oh yes, we can)
I can dig rappin’, but a rapper with a ghostwriter?
What the fuck happened? (Oh no!)
I swore I wouldn’t tell, but most of y’all sharing bars
Like you got the bottom bunk in a two-man cell (A two-man cell)
Something’s in the water (Something’s in the water)
And if I gotta brown-nose for some gold
Then I’d rather be a bum than a motherfuckin’ baller (Oh yeah!)”
Track #2: Boston Manor – Foxglove – Datura (2022)
Boston Manor was a gift given to me by the Gods of Spotify as a recommendation, which is a great argument for always making sure that you click like on all the songs you dig on the app. This Blackpool, Lancashire, England rock band hooked me with their album Glue and this new track was the leading song off their latest record, which is the first of a two-album concept. Sometimes I just need a good and edgy song to rock out to and this filled the need big time.
“These fucking problems keep following me
Maybe I’m the problem, maybe it’s me
Find me at the bottom because that’s where I’ll be
No one’s invincible, I’m stuck in the middle”
Track #3: Fear Factory – No One – Digimortal (2001)
With a barrage of mindblowing double kick drums, fast palm mutes and an operatically trained lead singer, Fear Factory was one of my favorite bands of all time. An almost daily listen for me, Burton C. Bell, Dino Cazeres, Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera created three albums in a row of instant classics for me and this track leads with that double kick assault that gets my blood pumping and adrenaline flowing. They are also must-see in concert, one of the best I’ve been to, but this iteration of the band especially.
“Sadness in my heart like a storm that ripped apart
All the fragments of what was happiness
It takes over, and numbs me
Shows the fear inside me
Takes over and numbs me
Shows the fear inside me”
Track #4: Billie Eilish – Billie Bossa Nova – Happier Than Ever (2021)
Along with Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Father John Misty, Post Malone and a few others, Billie and her brother Phinneas are up in the top echelon of the greatest current songwriters. It’s an undeniable fact, no matter what any ignorant hater has to say. Billie is also one of the greatest singers on the planet and has released two full albums to prove that and has the incredible ability to chameleon herself into many different genres, just as this track showcases. Using the Brazillian style, Billie outlines the story of having romantic hotel trysts under the guise of fake aliases which is such a fitting topic for her that only expands as her fame does. We all have to remember how young she is and that this world largely only seeks to take her down, sadly.
“I’m not sentimental
But there’s somethin’ ’bout the way you look tonight, mm
Makes me wanna take a picture
Make a movie with you that we’d have to hide”
Track #5: Creed – What’s This Life For? – My Own Prison (1997)
On Zombie Jesus Day (Good Friday), we listen to Creed and croon along with Scott Stapp on a single that was part of a landmark debut album in my opinion. Yes, I well know the decline that the band would go through as ego and fame landed on Stapp’s shoulders but this song has such a great drive to it and that bridge is still incredible and like the sun breaking through a raincloud. Yeah, I got metaphorical with Creed here.
“But they aren’t here anymore
Don’t have to settle no goddamn score
Because we all live under the reign
Of just as you know of one king, one king, one king”
Track #6: Supergrass – Mary – Supergrass (1999)
My love for this song definitely can be attributed to my maturity as a music lover as I didn’t appreciate Supergrass in my late teens but forty-year-old Steve is all about them. A really simple song at its core, Mary is an easy bop to rock out to and that tried and true sing-along chorus style cements it as a sneaky little go-to party song. Chill vibes in rock and roll must always be sought after I think.
“I get the feeling you’re not ordinary
I got a head like falling masonary
I’ll cut your strings, ah yes, a puppet machine
I watch you drop and fall apart at the seams
I meant to get you, let there be no doubt
You wanna try and get your teeth knocked out
I’m gonna push you further into my dream
The back of every head holds something obscene”
Track #7: BLOXX – Curtains – Curtains (2017)
An indie pop rock four-piece out of Uxbridge, Middlesex, England, I fell hard for these guys immediately with their record Lie Out Loud, an album that doesn’t have a single weak song on it. During my newfound obsession with lead singer and guitarist Ophelia Booth and company, I started digging into their back catalogue of singles and found this gold little morsel, another notch on the early career of a band destined for superstardom.
“I’m in love with her pale face
And I’m chewin’ on metallic taste
But I don’t like the way she talks to me
‘Cause I’m in love with her pale face
And I’m chewin’ on metallic taste
But I don’t like the way she talks to me”
Track #8: In This Moment – The In-Between – Mother (2020)
Maria Brink is an absolute metal goddess and I’m really disappointed in myself that I didn’t get into them before the pandemic days but the releases of the Mother record, a very fitting title, solidified that I needed this L.A. metal band’s music in my life regularly. This song is a brilliant showcase of their sound and certainly Brink’s commanding power.
“My mother said that I was holy
My father said that I would burn
My mother said I was an angel
My father said that I would turn
So I believed these words and I turned on myself
‘Cause maybe he’s right, maybe I’m worthless
Or maybe he’s wrong and my mother was right
I got a killer in me to give me purpose”
Track #9: Nirvana – The Man Who Sold The World – MTV Unplugged In New York (1994)
I fuly regard that this isn’t the original version of this song and this isn’t taking anything away from that incredible David Bowie creation but Kurt and company added something incredible to this and that is their grit. One of the leading songs off of one of the greatest live albums of all time, this song always stirs me up inside just with the beauty in how it’s delivered. It’s fascinating that the song’s main character is a man who felt like he had sold his soul and personality, which is exactly what Kurt was feeling at the time. Crazy and so sad.
“We passed upon the stairs
We spoke of was and when
Although I wasn’t there
He said I was his friend
Which came as a surprise
I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone
A long, long time ago”
Track #10: Arlo Parks – Eugene – Collapsed In Sunbeams (2021)
Another Spotify recommendation, this was the first song that put this Hammersmith, West London singer on my radar and I’ve loved everything I’ve listened to. The song feels very personal to Arlo, as do most of her songs, and was born from a late night bus trip poetry writing according to the stuff I read when digging into her work. I love finding new artists and it seems the England is always my biggest go to.
“Hey, I know I’ve been a little bit off and that’s my mistake
I kind of fell half in love and you’re to blame
I guess I just forgot that we’ve been mates since day
Yeah, I don’t know what to say
Hey, I know I’ve been a little bit off and that’s my mistake
I kind of fell half in love and you’re to blame
I guess I just forgot that we’ve been mates since day
Yeah, I don’t know what to say”
Track #11: Florence + The Machine – What Kind Of Man – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015)
One of the most powerful voices in music ever, Florence Welch is a force of nature and an awe inspiring talent. I am so enamored with her that I still hold it against Sam Smith that she never got her chance to shine as a Bond theme song artist. This song, the lead single of four off of her third album, starts with that incredible lead in that hooks youtube the ear and doesn’t let up. Love Florence and the sound of the machine for sure.
“Hey, I know I’ve been a little bit off and that’s my mistake
I kind of fell half in love and you’re to blame
I guess I just forgot that we’ve been mates since day
Yeah, I don’t know what to say
Hey, I know I’ve been a little bit off and that’s my mistake
I kind of fell half in love and you’re to blame
I guess I just forgot that we’ve been mates since day
Yeah, I don’t know what to say”
Track #12: Lamb Of God – New Colossal Hate – Lamb Of God (2020)
This cray assault of metal from Richmond, Virginia will always hold a special place in my heart as they are the band I’ve seen the most live and it is always an incredible experience. I would’ve thought that my first of their songs would have been off an album like Ashes Of The Wake or The Sacrement but there’s something ferocious about this track that spoke to me when it came on and I couldn’t deny it. According to guitarist Willie Adler, the song was the first from their Maine writing session and was Frankensteined together from other demos. It is such a ripper of a song, maybe my favorite on the record.
“The mother of exiles stands there weeping
As her children tear themselves apart
Knives are out, her thoughts are bleeding
Blood runs down her welcoming arms
Her feral brood has turned neglectful
The chains she broke are rusting closed
Imprisoned lightning burns forgetful
Spoiled blind to the light that she holds”
Track #13: The All-American Rejects – Move Along – Move Along (2005)
Every now and then I let my pop punk flag fly high and there is no other outcast anthem from the mid-2000s than this inspirational sing-along piece from Tyson Ritter and his Stillwater, Oklahoma band. I can not lie, the big catalyst for me adoring this song was it’s use in the Amanda Bynes comedy She’s The Man, a movie I used to put on time and time again when I was a video clerk but it is probably the only song of the All-American Rejects that still makes its way into my playlists. Will I go back and pull any more off of this very popular album? If I’m feeling emo enough on that day? Sure will.
“When all you gotta keep is strong
Move along, move along like I know ya do
And even when your hope is gone
Move along, move along just to make it through
Move along”
Track #14: Poppy featuring Diplo – Time Is Up – Am I A Girl? (2018)
Poppy is definitely an artist who taps into my weird side of music but she is also a genre bending songmaker as, this song is an electro si-fi pop bop but my discovery of her music was I Disagree, a true post hardcore metal song. A former YouTuber out of Boston, Massachusets, I saw Poppy perform on a NXT pay per view and I was totally intrigued into checking out the album leading me to this track, a song from an AI point of view that has decided that the human race is too destructive to let continue to exist. I thought the approach was so wild and Diplo is a great producer of that style.
“In the factory, in the sterile place where they made me
I woke up alone
Dizzy from the programming, have I been wiped again?
Oh my God, I don’t even know
It’s a mystery, everyone around me’s so busy
Is this my home?
Am I your prisoner or your deliverer?
Oh my God, you don’t even know”
Steve Stebbing 