Project 86 - Pull Me Closer, Violent Dancer

Band:  Project 86 (P86)
Genre:  Post Hardcore

So let's be real, this is a terrible photo for me to have chosen.  I mean really, it's bad.  But hey, that's what the internet is for, to remind you that you had a 2005 faze.

One of the things that drew me to Rap music initially was the bass.  As a bass player I really enjoy when a song pulls off the bass well.

Literally the entire Project 86 catalog is fantastic bass work over a rougher tone that fits in with my love of Metal.

Every time I start this song that intro growl the bass does get's me right in the feels, I love it more than I probably should.

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Childish Gambino - The Worst Guys

Artist:  Childish Gambino feat. Chance The Rapper
Genre:  Rap, Hip Hop
Language:  Strong

Generally I have to be in a really specific mood before I listen to Childish Gambino cause his music is kinda all over the place.  I don't mean that in a bad way at all, but it's really hard to get into if you aren't anticipating it.

Like, when I heard him for the first time it was his song Sweatpants.  It's a really "regular" sounding rap song so that's what I assumed most of his music would sound like.  A lot of his stuff is some really conversational sounding music that is really chill to listen to.  It's like he's telling a story and there just happens to be a beat in the background.

Not this song though, this is a fairly standard sounding song cause I figure if you want to hear one of the other kinds you can find it.  Here's on I like.

His album Camp is fantastic by the way, you should check it out.

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Lyle Lovett - Church

Artist:  Lyle Lovett
Genre:  Texas Country

I've always enjoyed posting songs that vaguely or not so vaguely relate to church or something like that.

My dad gave some of this dude's music to my brother several years ago.  Probably about 8 or 9 years ago actually.  I never really got into him back then because I was all about that rock music, but Jeff was much more of a Prog guy and was willing to listen to new things.  I really wish I had been more open to new music of different types back then cause I could have been exposed to so much more cool stuff that just takes me longer to get into now.

Not trying to say Lyle Lovett is Prog anything by the way, that was just a statement about what Jeff liked.  Lyle has a great flow to his music though that, stupid as it sounds to write, sounds just like the sneer on his face.  It hard to explain what I mean, but I feel like it's really understandably in some of his other songs.

I don't traditionally post live versions of the song since I can't get those exact ones in Spotify to add to the ever growing playlist, but this version is so good I couldn't pass it up.  The whole gospel addition made the song that much better since no church goes on longer than a gospel church.

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Haste The Day - When Everything Falls

Band:  Haste The Day
Genre:  Hardcore, Metalcore

Throwback to when I got my first iPod, holy crap.

Honestly I can't believe I didn't include these guys on the throwback week I did a while ago.  Ok, maybe it was like 13 days and not a week which would explain why I missed a couple bands here and there.  (started here if you're interested in checking it out.)

Haste The Day were a christian Hardcore/Metalcore band back in the day that put out a lot of really good music.  Good being a matter of perspective I guess, but really, this was a freaking awesome album in my opinion.  It has a high screaming of vocals that I've always loved and they manage to tie those into clean singing and gang vocals that just scream early 2000s.  Personally I could do without as heavy an amount of clean vocals because eventually you just kinda wait for the part in each song where they kick in.

Solid group with a positive message though, which is a little harder to find nowadays than it used to be.

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Warren Zevon - Werewolves Of London

Artist:  Warren Zevon
Genre:  Blues Rock

Most likely everybody's heard this song at least once in their life.  I grew up hearing it from time to time and always being bummed out when that Kid Rock song came on.  It sounded like a cross between this and Sweet Home Alabama, but it always fooled me for half a second.  Nowadays I wouldn't be fooled at all, but back then I was very unobservant.

I don't think I've heard many of Warren Zevon's other songs, but listening to this song you can tell he's not a bad artist at all.  Blues Rock is always a fun genre because it encompasses so much stuff.  Like this song has a groovy piano line to it, but a lot of his other songs have a strong guitar presence to them.  He basically can do whatever he wants with his music cause of that.

Well he can't now cause he died in 2003, but he could back then at least.

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DMX - Bain Is Back

Artist:  DMX (Dark Man X) feat Swizz Beatz
Genre:  Rap
Language:  Strong

So here we have one of the things I'm most excited about this year, a new DMX album.  There have been a lot of songs released under his name that were all things like unused vocal bits slapped over some beats.  You know the problem with that though?  None of them were really good.  They were ok here and there, but all in all they didn't have the same dark sound his old material had.

Good news though is that this is a much better turn.  Swizz Beatz managed to bring back that dark edge that DMX was missing and it's fantastic.  It's got grit, DMX calls out basically everybody, and the beat is crazy strong.

I really hope that DMX has a release this year even half as strong as this track, I'm gonna be so happy.

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Lamb Of God - Blood Of The Scribe

Band:  Lamb Of God (LoG)
Genre:  Groove Metal, Metalcore

Any time I really need some solid Metal type of stuff I always turn to Lamb Of God.  Randy Blythe's vocal work is some of my favorite in the industry so honestly it's really hard for me to not be happy with their music.  As long as they keep up freaking groovy riffs like there are in this song coupled with Blythe's wonderful voice I'll be happy with them forever.

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Ramones - I Believe In Miracles

Band:  Ramones
Genre:  Punk Rock

I feel like Ramones are always who people think of when they think of old school Punk bands.  Them, Sex Pistols, and The Clash.  I dunno, they all hold their spots for me.  The Clash I feel was really together in what they did, Sex Pistols hold that crazy vib mostly cause of their vocalist for me, and Ramones sit in the kinda basic slot in my opinion.  They aren't band, but they definitely sit in a much more comfortable seat.

Like, these guys found what they liked and stayed there to get good at it.  Good times.

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The Weeknd - False Alarm

Artist:  The Weeknd
Genre:  PBR&B

A really love this dude's voice.  And I'm really sorry that I've been late with posts this last week, I'm working on it.

There's 2 videos here because one warned about graphic content and violence, so there's an audio only one underneath the music video.  Enjoy!

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Sleeping Giant - Gang Signs

Band:  Sleeping Giant
Genre:  Hardcore

Yo, I was freaking supposed to write this after I got home from work since I didn't manage to get to it over break, but then I went to a friends house and didn't get home till like 5:30 AM.  I'm really tired.

And ya know, there's church this morning, so no sleep.  Is gonna be a good day though cause I have faith it will.

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Die Antwoord - Fatty Boom Boom

Band:  Die Antwoord
Genre:  Rap Rave
Language:  Strong

I maintain that Die Antwoord is probably one of the most artistically free groups out there.  They honestly don't seem to care if you like what they do or not because that's what they like to do.

They're videos are honestly really off putting, but it's like you can't stop watching once you start, ya know?  I feel like I fall into a hole as soon as one of their videos start.  If it's not a music video then it's one of their surprisingly high energy live shows.

The videos are all directed by Ninja (the dude) and he's got a really interesting style.  He works with really start color contrast all the time whether it's the black and white costumes or the vibrant colors.  I dunno, there's something about what they do that I really enjoy.

I'm not a huge fan of aspects of this video, but the actual parts with music are rather fantastic.  I dunno, it's a good time.

¥o-landi and Ninja are a weird duo.

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Imagine Dragons - Demons

Band:  Imagine Dragons
Genre:  Indie Rock

Way back in the day (like 4 years ago or whatever) when Imagine Dragons made their huge smash into the music scene I had a friend who loved them a lot.

Any time I was in her car I heard Radioactive, It's Time, On Top Of The World, and Demons.  Realistically it was mostly It's Time and Radioactive, but that's unimportant to the point I'm making.  The point is that it was honestly a really good album that I mostly enjoyed at the time.

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War Of Ages - Chaos Theory

Band:  War Of Ages
Genre:  Metalcore

I have a lot of fun stories about these guys.  They're from my hometown so there's a couple times I had a chance to meet them.  That alone is a funny story, but instead we're gonna talk about this video, eh?

These guys announced a concert that was to film a video, so obviously Jeff and I were super pumped to attend.  I'm pretty sure I managed to stay out of shot for most of the whole thing, but Jeff is visible around 2:12 as a mess of hair falling backwards.

The best part of this video is my friend Isaiah though.  He's the dude standing next to the singer the entire video and he was so pumped to have made it into the video as much as he did.  Heck, I think he's in the thumbnail too, so he has a right to be ecstatic.

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Chance The Rapper - No Problem

Artist:  Chance The Rapper feat. 2 Chainz & Lil Wayne
Genre:  Rap Hip Hop
Language:  Strong

Firstly, I think it's hilarious that Wayne enters this video by skateboarding in.  Skateboarding is kinda a thing he does, so I just find it amusing, ya know?

Secondly, DJ Khaled needs to get the hell out of everybody's videos, it's kinda starting to bug me.  Still though, bless up, major key, and all his trademark catchphrases.

Ok, to the real post though.

I don't know that I've listened to Chance before this song, but this is such a happy cheery song I don't think I'll pass on him much longer.  I mostly heard this song because freaking 2 Chainz is on it and I have an issue with enjoying 2 Chainz features a little too much.

Happy song though, so check it.

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MyChildren MyBride - Boris The Blade

Band:  MyChildren MyBride
Genre:  Metalcore

Hey hey, how about some throwback?  I haven't listened to these guys in probably about 5 years, but since I forgot to include them in the "hella throwback week" or whatever I decided to call it here they are.

Maybe I'll throw out another week like that from the old school tunes I liked, but it'll be a bit before that.  Maybe in March.

These guys have a song about playing Halo, back in the Halo 1 and 2 era.  They're freaking nerds.

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Lil Wayne - Drop The World

Artist:  Lil Wayne feat. Eminem
Genre:  Rap, Hip Hop
Language:  Strong

Lil Wayne did this thing about 7 years ago where he thought he could play the guitar.  He can't really, but the album concept was rather fantastic.

See, the songs themselves were pretty shaky.  The whole album kinda came across as a shout for attention about the fact that he was doing something different.  There were a couple really solid songs, but all in all it could have been a little better.

I really like this song though, mostly cause it has Em on it.

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The Clash - Police On My Back

Band:  The Clash
Genre:  Punk Rock

This is one of the first songs I ever really tried to learn on electric guitar.  Back in the day when I hadn't really heard almost any music The Clash was probably the heaviest stuff I had on hand.  I didn't really know that I wanted to listen to Metal at the time, but I knew I wanted something more than whatever I happened to have on hand, yeah?

It's a really simple song to play though and it's a band that I rather enjoy, so I hope you at least like this song.

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Tom Petty - Won't Back Down

Artist:  Tom Petty
Genre:  Classic Rock

Everybody loves a good classic tune from time to time.  My perception of that is probably different from yours, but that's ok cause I'm going with a less personally nostalgic option here.

Mostly I'm thinking of this song because of the fight I watched that introduced me to The Rubberbandits.  This was one of the fighter's walk out songs and it reminded me of the existence of Mr Petty.  I enjoy this song as well as a few others, but honestly he's just not my cup of tea, ya know?  I guess you can't really be American without enjoying Free Falling and some of his other tunes.

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21 Savage - No Heart

Artist:  21 Savage feat. Metro Boomin'
Genre:  Trap
Language:  Strong

I've tried to listen to this dude for a little while and I just couldn't get into his music.  This song for example isn't too bad, but for the most part I just can't.  I don't know, I guess I draw the line at super ghetto stuff or really Trapy stuff.

But for real, this dude has a freaking knife tattooed between his eyes, there is nothing about him that screams good choices.

Solid beat though and it flows nice, so I like it enough to post it, eh?

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Jidenna - Chief Don't Run

Artist:  Jidenna
Genre:  Rap, Hip Hop
Language:  Strong

I'm really excited for when this dude drops a real album and not just a mountain of singles.  His album keeps getting delayed and it's bumming me out, ya know?

His songs are just so good, I'm really pumped to see what kind of music he releases in the future, this dude is gonna go far.

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I Prevail - Lifelines

Band:  I Prevail
Genre:  Metalcore, Post Hardcore
Language:  Strong

Of the many musical weaknesses I have, decent Metalcore and Hardcore are definitely up there.  I never actually look for it, but then I either find it by accident or somebody as me listen to it.

We have this one delivery guy who none of us are sure how to feel about.  He's nice enough, but he's like, always too talkative.  We mostly want him to just bring our produce and get out, but he does like to talk a lot.  The other day he came in and totally ignored me talking for a moment and when he took out his earbud and acknowledged I was talking he told me about this band.

You know what though?  It wasn't like it was too bad, I was introduced to a decent band and got to get distracted from work for a few minutes.  Good times.

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The Rubberbandits - I Wanna Fight Your Father

Band:  The Rubberbandits
Genre:  Hip Hop, Satire
Language:  Strong

I feel like only Ireland would birth something as stupid as this band.

I was hanging out with some friends a few weeks ago watching a UFC thing and, since there was fighting, somebody brought up this song.  I'm really not sure what the string of events was that lead to talking about this song, but here we are.

It's not too bad, the video is weird, and the dude's in the act are weird artist.  Cool, enjoy, haha

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Nine Inch Nails - The Great Destroyer

Band:  Nine Inch Nails (NIN)
Genre:  Industrial
Language: Brief

Here's a song from one of my favorite Nine Inch Nails albums.  I really love the variations that Reznor has made in his music over his career and this album wasn't any different.

One of the cool things about this song particularly is that it had a lot of electronic stuff going on.  Obviously he's always one stuff like this, but this one has an outro that's pure OG Dubstep.  Maybe it's not exactly like the current era of Dubstep but it's still rather cool.

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Eminem - Yellow Brick Road

Artist:  Eminem
Genre:  Rap, Hip Hop
Language:  Strong

We're gonna pull from one of my favorite Eminem albums today because I feel like you might not have heard it before.

I remember I got this one because Like Toy Soldiers, Ass Like That, Mockingbird, and 1 Shot 2 Shot on it.  I didn't know any of the other tracks at the time so in my mind it was a bit of a risk, but it played out well.

It's a good song though that plays along the line of Eminem trying to bring attention to some of the bad things he'd done and how it wasn't ok.  He kinda parallels it to trying to be better than your parents but not quite making it.

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D.R.A.M. - Cash Machine

Artist:  Big Baby D.R.A.M (Does Real Ass Music)
Genre:  Rap, Hip Hop
Language:  Strong

I swear, every song I hear from this guy just makes me happy.  I don't know if it's his big stupid smile or what, but everything about DRAM just makes me smile, ya know?

Look at this video with his freaking money gun, like what?  We don't deserve this dude, he's so happy.

And yo, the picture up there makes his hands look gigantic.

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