NF - How Could You Leave Us

Artist:  NF
Genre:  Rap, Hip Hop

Here's the song that made me really want to do this week.

A while ago I had a few people really try to get me to listen to NF for a while, and after people finally got me into I decided to listen to a couple albums.  Here's the thing about listening to albums from artists you're unfamiliar with though, you don't always know what's coming.

Eminem?  Violence, drugs, alcohol.  It's a pretty typical lineup, I know what to expect from that guy, but I've also had a few more years to get used to the guy.

When I shuffled through Therapy Sessions I honestly hadn't expected such a heavy song as this since I didn't really know what direction he was gonna go.  Then I get this song dropped on my head out of nowhere.  It's a song about his mom and, as basically all music has taught us, nothing makes a more emotion driven song then a song about family.  NF has some pretty intense things to say about his mom and her problems.

Honestly I don't think I would have to courage to actually go into a studio and say these things.  Like, this is some stuff he clearly has issues with, as shown by his breakdown at the end of the song.  It makes the whole song really hit home.

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Future - Low Life

Artist:  Future feat. The Weeknd
Genre:  Trap, Rap
Language:  Strong

Probably the only song to hold the spot of favorite for a solid 3 months, Low Life is a great song.  This is one of the two songs that inspired me to do this week at all actually

The song isn't exactly sad so much as just dark.  The bass helps bring the whole thing down really hard right from the get go.  When it lifts for The Weeknd's verse it's almost like it highlights what he's saying more.  The whole song is generally drugged out and sad, hence it's holding place near the end of the list.

I feel like I might have said this about other stuff, but I think this song was the best thing to come out of the Rap scene in 2016 possible.

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Nine Inch Nails - Hurt

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

I suppose basically everybody has heard this song covered by Johnny Cash.  It's the classic case of a cover that surpassed the original in it's popularity that used to happen to people like Bob Dylan a lot.

I know basically everybody ever seems to say that the cover is better, but let's pull back into the base of the atrociously named "sad week" and talk about this one, especially in the context of the album.

Starting with the album which was titled The Downward Spiral;  Clearly it's an album written by somebody who was really unhappy at the time.  It's pretty well documented that Reznor had pretty severe drug and alcohol problems during the writing and recording of his darker albums and this is no exception.  Wanting an album that oozed pain and feeling he actively avoided seeking help for his problems.  It was also recorded in the house where Charles Manson had murdered Sharon Tate, so not exactly a studio filled with positive energy.

Now the song.  It isn't as polished as the Johnny Cash version is.  It's not a pretty or well balanced, it's more of a cry of depression that also isn't seeking help.  A sad voice that isn't sure what it wants and is lamenting that all it will do is hurt and disappoint you.

The messy sound of it is something that I think really lends to the sadness of the piece.  You can argue that the emotion Mr Cash poured into it made the song stronger emotionally, but since this is the source piece you have to think of it differently.  It's the song that inspired a broken country musician to cover it because he identified with the pain and sadness conveyed within.

All in all I'm incredibly happy with this song's contributing to the week, it's really solid.

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The Tiger Lillies - Living Hell

Band:  The Tiger Lilles
Genre:  Dark Cabaret

Another Jeff recommendation?  Nope, this one was from my dad.

Imma be honest here, this is a hella weird band.  I guess their thing is they take old stories and make albums out of them.  I don't think I'll listen to these guys too much, but I'm not even remotely mad that they were inserted into my life.

It's a solid addition to the sad music week, especially with the music video featuring a nasty boat trip, yeah?

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Árstíðir - You Again

Band:  Árstíðir (Arstidir)
Genre:  Indie Folk

As a guy prides himself on listening to a great variety of music, I'm really generally bad at finding new things.  That's what I have Jeff for though, he listenes to a huge variety of music that is mostly different than mine.  I don't tend to listen to Folk music so basically I'd never have listened to them without him dropping this hella sad sounding song on me.  Now before you say "this song isn't really that sad", I'm gonna point out that I thought these guys were Folk Metal so I listened to like, a full album's worth of music to try to find when the Metal kicked in.  Yes, I felt a little dumb.

It's a fantastic song though.

Ignore the fact that the video claims that it isn't available, it totally is.

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Woods of Ypres - I Was Buried In Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Band:  Woods of Ypres
Genre:  Doom Metal

So I decided to pick a mountain of really sad music this week.  I mostly wanted a reason to share 2 hella sad songs close together;  After I asked Jeff for some song ideas though it really just took off in a major way.  I only came up with the last 3 songs of this run, and as such I will be a little unfamiliar with some of them.

The first 2 and the 4th were suggested by Jeff.  He's got a pretty wide pull on the Metal spectrum and I was not disappointed in this song.

Doom Metal is always a little down anyway because that's just how it is, but in this case it seems to be accented pretty heavily by the amount of clean singing.  The whole song is done clean vocals and it drives home the sad feelings since you can easily understand the story they're trying to tell ya.  I know the song's like, 9 minutes long, but give it a listen, it's worth it.

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