Category: Collection

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Playlist

Playlist of the Month: January 2019

This year, my new year’s resolution was to immediately fail at blogging more often.
Silhouette – Aquilo 1
Antes de Morirme (feat. Rosalía) – C. Tangana
start//end – EDEN
lovely – Billie Eilish & Khalid
Coldplay (feat. Vic Mensa) – Mr Hudson
Ibiza (feat. Romeo Santos) – Ozuna
you should see me in a crown – Billie Eilish
La Modelo (feat. Cardi B) – Ozuna
Ficción (feat. Bebe) – Costa, Mygal X & Bebe
Única – Ozuna
Pteryla – Novo Amor & Ed Tullett
You Found Me – The Fray
Unsteady – X Ambassadors
Save Me – Majik
Please – Saro
Bellyache (Marian Hill Remix) – Billie Eilish
Nevermind – Dennis Lloyd
Be There – Fyfe
Hide & Seek (Imogen Heap Cover) – Amber Run
Amen (LCV Choir) – Amber Run 2
forever free – San Holo & Duskus
Starlight (feat. Mr Gabriel) – Jai Wolf
Conversations with my Wife – Jon Bellion
lift me from the ground (feat. Sofie Winterson) – San Holo
Be Somebody – Kings of Leon
A Sky Full of Stars (Live in Buenos Aires) – Coldplay
Give Yourself a Try – The 1975
BAGDAD (Cap.7: Liturgia) – ROSALÍA
TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME – The 1975
DI MI NOMBRE (Cap.8: Éxtasis) – ROSALÍA
Congratulations – Blue October 3
Body – SYML
Better – Khalid
Cologne – Haux
Such Great Heights – The Postal Service
Such Great Heights – Iron & Wine
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths
First Time (feat. Dylan Matthew) – Seven Lions, SLANDER & Dabin
Tongue – MNEK 4
Lookalike – Conan Gray 5
Bleach Report – Ian Isiah 6
Way Up – Jaden
Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) – Post Malone & Swae Lee
Scared of the Dark (feat. XXXTENTACION) – Lil Wayne & Ty Dolla $ign
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight – The Postal Service
Ocean (feat. Khalid) – Martin Garrix
Beach House – The Chainsmokers
Let Go – Beau Young Prince
Sleeping In – The Postal Service
Hide (feat. Seezyn) – Juice WRLD
Home – Vince Staples
Freak – XYLØ
Dark Things – Vic Mensa
Crash – Chris Malinchak
It’s Only (feat. Zyra) [ODESZA VIP Remix] – ODESZA
Teardrop – José González 7
Correct – MNEK
Clean Eyes – SYML
Klonopin – Vic Mensa 8
Waste of Time – Lostboycrow
Eyes – RÜFÜS DU SOL
Over My Head (Cable Car) – The Fray
How to Save a Life – The Fray
Vienna – The Fray 9
Shadow and a Dancer – The Fray
Hold My Hand – The Fray
Pyres of Varanasi – Thirty Seconds to Mars
Hurricane – Thirty Seconds to Mars
Night of the Hunter – Thirty Seconds to Mars
Lost In the World (feat. Bon Iver) – Kanye West
Hands Held High – LINKIN PARK

  1. I used one of those “year in review” things to analyze my Apple Music data, and after I filtered out the playlist that I leave going when I’m asleep, this was, unsurprisingly, one of my top songs. ↩︎
  2. This and Hide & Seek sorta started me on a nostalgia trip later in the month; you’ll see it in a bit. ↩︎
  3. I really like this song, it’s a cool collaboration, but having half paid attention to the lyrics, I’ve gotta say, I think the guy’s being a dick. “Hey, congrats on the engagement/wedding, also I’ve been in love with you forever” ↩︎
  4. This song is great and I love it ↩︎
  5. I described this to somebody as “a gay guy who got tired of freaking out about Lana Del Rey and decided to just be her.” ↩︎
  6. The intro is great, listen to it ↩︎
  7. May or may not have binge-watched an entire season of House while I was sick. That’s definitely a good show to watch while you’re sick, you just sit there diagnosing yourself with everything. ↩︎
  8. I’m gonna be honest, I mostly just think this song is really funny, because you can hear him thinking “oh, this is gonna upset some suburbanites” with some of the stuff he says. ↩︎
  9. This song is also hilarious, I love that there’s just a whole song about “ooh, sorry, there’s really no way to reach me, I got a new phone or whatever” ↩︎
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Playlist

Playlist of the Month: December 2018

Coldplay Live in Buenos Aires album cover

Happy new year, everybody, and I hope it treats you well. My new year’s resolution is to actually do all the stuff I signed myself up to do in the past few weeks, which is… rather a lot of stuff.
Silhouette – Aquilo
Antes de Morirme (feat. Rosalía) – C. Tangana
start//end – EDEN
lovely – Billie Eilish & Khalid
Coldplay (feat. Vic Mensa) – Mr Hudson 1
Ibiza (feat. Romeo Santos) – Ozuna
you should see me in a crown – Billie Eilish
La Modelo (feat. Cardi B) – Ozuna
Ficción (feat. Bebe) – Costa, Mygal X & Bebe
Rooftop (feat. Jake Miller) – The Stolen
Única – Ozuna
Pteryla – Novo Amor & Ed Tullett
You Found Me – The Fray
Arashiyama – Fyfe & Iskra Strings
Emigrate – Novo Amor
Unsteady – X Ambassadors
Save Me – Majik
Who Are You (Anatole Rework) – Aquilo & Anatole
Serotonin Rushes – Fujiya & Miyagi
Please – Saro
Stuck – Imagine Dragons
Generation Why – Conan Gray 2
El Síntoma de (ún) Músico [feat. La Tortuga China] – Trending Tropics
Bellyache (Marian Hill Remix) – Billie Eilish
Nevermind – Dennis Lloyd
Natural – Imagine Dragons
Real Life – Imagine Dragons
Be There – Fyfe
Hide & Seek (Imogen Heap Cover) – Amber Run 3
Amen (LCV Choir) – Amber Run
forever free – San Holo & Duskus
Carousel – Amber Run
Wait for You – Jake Miller
Otro Día en la Tierra (feat. Frank Báez) – Trending Tropics 4
Bad Liar – Imagine Dragons
Starlight (feat. Mr Gabriel) – Jai Wolf
Conversations with my Wife – Jon Bellion
lift me from the ground (feat. Sofie Winterson) – San Holo
Candy Cane Lane – Sia
Be Somebody – Kings of Leon
A Sky Full of Stars (Live in Buenos Aires) – Coldplay
Not for Me – Perfume Genius 5
The Scientist (Live in Buenos Aires) – Coldplay
Give Yourself a Try – The 1975
Only – Imagine Dragons
DE AQUÍ NO SALES (Cap.4: Disputa) – ROSALÍA 6
Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall (Live in Buenos Aires) – Coldplay
BAGDAD (Cap.7: Liturgia) – ROSALÍA
TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME – The 1975
DI MI NOMBRE (Cap.8: Éxtasis) – ROSALÍA
Congratulations – Blue October 7
Body – SYML 8
Daylight (Phil Tan Mix) – Blue October
Better – Khalid 9
Cologne – Haux
Let It Snow – Filous 10
O Come, O Come Emmanuel – Sleeping At Last

  1. Now taking bets on which will fall out of these playlists first: this song, or the latest bit of Coldplay. ↩︎
  2. Originally I had a version of this that was released as a single, but it got pulled from Apple Music, so I replaced it with the version off the EP. Not sure what happened there. ↩︎
  3. I didn’t actually realize this was on Apple Music until I was putting this playlist together, the version I have is a rip of the YouTube video. ↩︎
  4. The downside to the Shortcut I have for putting these posts together is that, for whatever reason, it just can’t handle diacritics, so anything that involves áéíóú or ü or whatever just… doesn’t show up, and I have to look up the links by hand. Ugh, my life is so difficult. ↩︎
  5. This is the single most emo thing I’ve listened to all year, and it’s kind of amazing ↩︎
  6. This whole album is really interesting, I definitely recommend listening to it all. ↩︎
  7. Second occurrence of indirect Imogen Heap in this playlist ↩︎
  8. I’m like 95% sure this song is about being trans ↩︎
  9. This song really reminds me of a friend of mine, which is weird because when I sent it to him and said as much he replied “I have never heard this before” ↩︎
  10. Just a hint of Christmas music, here at the end of the month. ↩︎
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Playlist

Playlist of the Month: November 2018

Thanksgiving is over, time for me to start listening to weirdly depressing covers of Christmas music!
Silhouette – Aquilo
Antes de Morirme (feat. Rosalía) – C. Tangana
start//end – EDEN
What a Heavenly Way to Die – Troye Sivan
Loyal – ODESZA
lovely – Billie Eilish & Khalid
Coldplay (feat. Vic Mensa) – Mr Hudson 1
Since the Day I Was Born – Lostboycrow
Ibiza (feat. Romeo Santos) – Ozuna
Not Alone – LINKIN PARK
Sad Season – Gavin Haley
you should see me in a crown – Billie Eilish 2
Optimistic – Lontalius
Push for Yellow (Shelter) – Valley
La Modelo (feat. Cardi B) – Ozuna
Something Just Like This – The Chainsmokers & Coldplay
America – XYLØ
Ficción (feat. Bebe) – Costa, Mygal X & Bebe 3
Viva La Vida (Live in Buenos Aires) – Coldplay
Aura (feat. Arthur Hanlon) – Ozuna
Setting Fires – The Chainsmokers & XYLØ
Una Flor – Ozuna
Bebé (feat. Anuel AA) – Ozuna
Rooftop (feat. Jake Miller) – The Stolen 4
Wash over Me – Jazz Morley
Fix You (Live in Buenos Aires) – Coldplay
Única – Ozuna 5
Stay Closer – ZHU
Pteryla – Novo Amor & Ed Tullett
Alps – Novo Amor & Ed Tullett
You Found Me – The Fray
Arashiyama – Fyfe & Iskra Strings
Seneca – Novo Amor
The Road Less Wandered (SYML Rework) – Aquilo & SYML
Emigrate – Novo Amor 6
Unsteady – X Ambassadors
Save Me – Majik
Who Are You (Anatole Rework) – Aquilo & Anatole
Indian Summer – Jai Wolf
Alabao (feat. Canalón de Timbiquí) – Trending Tropics
Serotonin Rushes – Fujiya & Miyagi
Repeat Until Death – Novo Amor
Please – Saro
Stuck – Imagine Dragons
Reasons to Fight (feat. Ziggy Marley) – Trending Tropics
Generation Why – Conan Gray 7
El Síntoma de (ún) Músico [feat. La Tortuga China] – Trending Tropics
Bellyache (Marian Hill Remix) – Billie Eilish
Nevermind – Dennis Lloyd

  1. Had to get out my phone during a game of Scattergories to prove that there’s actually a song called “Coldplay” ↩︎
  2. Favorite review of this song I’ve heard, (paraphrased) from a tech podcaster: “during the day, put the volume on your HomePod really high, and then play this song. During the day, though, don’t do it at night, your neighbors will get mad.” ↩︎
  3. I’ve actually got a joke I came up with about the way this song sounds, but thinking about it I don’t think I want to post it online, because I don’t want the internet knowing what my sense of humor is like. ↩︎
  4. I haven’t actually listened to Jake Miller’s new single yet, it’s in my queue, but I’m still wondering if anyone’s told him that entire color theme screams “bisexual” ↩︎
  5. does this one get stuck in your head as much if you don’t know Spanish? someone who didn’t take Spanish in high school, report in ↩︎
  6. Probably my favorite song off the new album. That said, the whole thing is great; if you want to feel nostalgic, I recommend it. ↩︎
  7. So far my impression of this guy is “a gay who decided ‘instead of being a Lana del Rey fangirl, I’m just gonna be her’” ↩︎
Categories
Playlist

Playlist of the Month: October 2018

Happily, the new Shortcuts update came out yesterday that makes my “get all these links” Shortcut work again. Have you downloaded iOS 12.1 yet?
Desert Rose – Jay Brannan 1
Silhouette – Aquilo
Oceans Away – A R I Z O N A
Antes de Morirme (feat. Rosalía) – C. Tangana
start//end – EDEN
Real – Majik
Stronger – Kanye West 2
Lucky Strike – Troye Sivan
No Eres Tú – Jesse Baez & C. Tangana
What a Heavenly Way to Die – Troye Sivan
NFWMB – Hozier
Loyal – ODESZA
lovely – Billie Eilish & Khalid
Coldplay (feat. Vic Mensa) – Mr Hudson
Opps – Vince Staples, Yugen Blakrok
Since the Day I Was Born – Lostboycrow
COPYCAT – Billie Eilish
Boy – ODESZA
Line of Sight (feat. WYNNE & Mansionair) – ODESZA
Can’t Forget You – Mr Hudson
Lyla – Big Red Machine
Higher Ground (feat. Naomi Wild) – ODESZA
The Catalyst – LINKIN PARK
Clarify (feat. Fractures) [Tinlicker Remix] – Lane 8
Bluebird – Lane 8 & Anderholm
Ibiza (feat. Romeo Santos) – Ozuna 3
Hide and Seek – Kodaline
See – Tycho
Not Alone – LINKIN PARK 4
Don’t Come Around – Kodaline
Born Again – Kodaline
Happier – Marshmello & Bastille 5
Angel – Kodaline
Across the Room (feat. Leon Bridges) [Tycho Remix] – ODESZA
Cheap Thrills (feat. Sean Paul) – Sia 6
Hell Froze Over – Kodaline
Sad Season – Gavin Haley
you should see me in a crown – Billie Eilish 7
Optimistic – Lontalius 8
Gold – Fyfe & Iskra Strings
Besos Mojados (feat. R.K.M. & Ken Y) – Ozuna
Push for Yellow (Shelter) – Valley
La Modelo (feat. Cardi B) – Ozuna

  1. I think this one isn’t gonna make it into next month’s list, it’s had a good run though. ↩︎
  2. Probably I should get rid oof the last fo the Kanye in my playlists, he’s gone a bit off ↩︎
  3. Because of this song I wound up adding Ozuna’s two most recent albums. Sadly, nothing’s gotten to this level yet, but still, I’m hopeful. ↩︎
  4. I believe all the proceeds from this one are still going to charity, so like… listen for a good cause! ↩︎
  5. This is, like, the opposite of “Optimistic”, further down the list, and it’s kinda nice. ↩︎
  6. I genuinely have no idea if this is the original or not, I’d heard like four different covers of this song before I ever heard Sia sing it. ↩︎
  7. I love both the music and the lyrics, this song is great. ↩︎
  8. Musically I like this, but I’ve been trying to avoid listening to the lyrics because, from what I’ve actually paid attention to, I think the song is basically “white boy Isn’t Sad about being in the friendzone” ↩︎
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Playlist

Playlist of the Month: September 2018

Man, I didn’t appreciate “back to school” time enough when I had it.
Desert Rose – Jay Brannan
Thin – Aquilo
Silhouette – Aquilo
All I Want – Kodaline
Follow Your Fire – Kodaline
Six Feet Over Ground – Aquilo
Babylon – Oneohtrix Point Never
You Want It Darker – Leonard Cohen
Oceans Away – A R I Z O N A
Antes de Morirme (feat. Rosalía) – C. Tangana
icarus – EDEN
lost//found – EDEN
start//end – EDEN1
Real – Majik
Stronger – Kanye West
Lucky Strike – Troye Sivan2
Crystal Souls – Headphone Activist
No Eres Tú – Jesse Baez & C. Tangana
Away from You – Sound Remedy3
You Moved Away – Death Cab for Cutie
Clouds, Not Clocks – Slow Meadow
What a Heavenly Way to Die – Troye Sivan
Stupid Mistakes – lovelytheband
Postcard (feat. Gordi) – Troye Sivan
wrong – EDEN
Nina Cried Power (feat. Mavis Staples) – Hozier
NFWMB – Hozier4
When We Drive – Death Cab for Cutie
wings – EDEN
Technologic – Daft Punk5
Loyal – ODESZA
Thought Contagion – Muse
lovely – Billie Eilish & Khalid6
Coldplay (feat. Vic Mensa) – Mr Hudson7
Opps – Vince Staples, Yugen Blakrok
Since The Day I Was Born – Lostboycrow
Zero (From the Original Motion Picture “Ralph Breaks The Internet”) – Imagine Dragons
La Ciudad – ODESZA
COPYCAT – Billie Eilish
Forest Green – Big Red Machine
Boy – ODESZA
Line of Sight (feat. WYNNE & Mansionair) – ODESZA
Can’t Forget You – Mr Hudson
Lyla – Big Red Machine
Fix You – Canyon City8

  1. Seriously, I love this one ↩
  2. He’s really going for that Lana Del Rey, “I plan to be young and beautiful and then die the moment either of those runs out” aesthetic ↩
  3. I really like this one, but it really doesn’t agree with the speakers on my phone, which is a bummer when I’m driving; we’re all spoiled by having an aux cord, these days, but I don’t have one. ↩
  4. “Give your heart and soul to charity/’Cause the rest of you, the best of you/belongs to me” is such a creepy, weird line, and I love it ↩
  5. Someone asked me “are all Daft Punk songs like this?” while I was listening to this one. ↩
  6. I’d kinda forgotten about Billie Eilish, to be honest, and then someone reminded me of her and I spent the next two hours just listening to whatever Apple Music had. ↩
  7. Sent this one to a friend. “I like the song, but I don’t like that it’s not by Coldplay.” ↩
  8. This wasn’t the only cover of a Coldplay song I almost included; the version of Yellow in Crazy Rich Asians almost made it in. ↩
Categories
Playlist

Playlist of the Month: August 2018

The problem with listening to music that’s mildly non-mainstream is that anything with a simple name is more difficult to find on iTunes.
How It Is – Majik
The Weight – Amber Run
Technicolour Beat – Oh Wonder
Desert Rose – Jay Brannan1
XO – EDEN
Thin – Aquilo
drugs – EDEN
Silhouette – Aquilo
All I Want – Kodaline
Age Of – Oneohtrix Point Never
Follow Your Fire – Kodaline
Closer – Majik
Silent Movies – Aquilo
Six Feet Over Ground – Aquilo
Babylon – Oneohtrix Point Never2
You Want It Darker – Leonard Cohen
Oceans Away – A R I Z O N A
Summertime (feat. San Holo) – Yellow Claw
The Journey – Sol Rising3
Follow – SKALE – E – TRON
X – Majik
stutter – EDEN
Confidence – Majik
Antes de Morirme (feat. Rosalía) – C. Tangana
wonder – EDEN4
icarus – EDEN
lost//found – EDEN
The Way I Am – Charlie Puth
Song For You (Mansionair Remix) – Rhye
forever//over – EDEN
start//end – EDEN5
gold – EDEN
IMPRINT – FELIX SANDMAN
Guerrera – DELLAFUENTE & C. Tangana
Bien Duro – C. Tangana6
Black Sun – Death Cab For Cutie
Real – Majik

  1. I’d argue that the only reason Jay Brannan isn’t considered a Gay Icon to some degree or another is that he specifically doesn’t want to be known as “that gay singer” which is… even more Iconic(TM), to be honest ↩
  2. can we just take a moment to appreciate the band’s name? it’s so delightfully weird ↩
  3. This one is very calming. ↩
  4. Given how much of this album I’ve got in this playlist, I’m gonna go ahead and make the album art the photo for this post. Why does the post need a photo, you ask? Because it’ll look better. ↩
  5. Top new song this month; I just really love the effect on the piano. ↩
  6. I’m sorta refusing to think about the lyrics of this one, because from the little bit I’ve understood from casual listening, this is such trashy pop music that I’m probably happier not knowing. ↩
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Playlist

Playlist of the Month: July 2018

This one feels a bit more eclectic than I usually am; I think it’s because I pulled some old stuff back in, too.
Punching in a Dream (Stripped) – The Naked and Famous
How It Is – Majik
The Weight – Amber Run
Beretta Lake (Listen2Liri Remix) [feat. SAINt JHN] – Teflon Sega
Home – Blue October
Hail To the Victor – Thirty Seconds to Mars
Another Mouth to Feed – Rebecca McDade
Technicolour Beat – Oh Wonder
Pompeii (Acoustic) – Bastille
Desert Rose – Jay Brannan
XO – EDEN
Thin – Aquilo
drugs – EDEN
Heaven/Hell – CHVRCHES
Silhouette – Aquilo1
All I Want – Kodaline
Love Like This – Kodaline
Crystals – Of Monsters And Men2
Wolves Without Teeth – Of Monsters And Men
Black Water – Of Monsters And Men
Thousand Eyes – Of Monsters And Men
I Of The Storm – Of Monsters And Men
We Sink [explicit] – Of Monsters And Men
Backyard – Of Monsters And Men
We Don’t Talk Anymore (feat. Selena Gomez) [Attom Remix] – Charlie Puth
Age Of – Oneohtrix Point Never3
Follow Your Fire – Kodaline
Closer – Majik
Lost My Mind – Lily Allen
Higher – Lily Allen
Silent Movies – Aquilo
God’s Plan – CHVRCHES
I Could Fight On a Wall – Aquilo
Body – SYML4
Six Feet Over Ground – Aquilo5
Animal – Majik
Brother – Kodaline
No Choir – Florence + The Machine
Arrows – Haux
Black Snow – Oneohtrix Point Never
Lou Lou – Albin Lee Meldau
Babylon – Oneohtrix Point Never
Time – Kidswaste
You Want It Darker – Leonard Cohen6
Wonderland – CHVRCHES
Oceans Away – A R I Z O N A
We’ll Take It – Oneohtrix Point Never
Summertime (feat. San Holo) – Yellow Claw
The Journey – Sol Rising
Follow – SKALE – E – TRON
Come On Then – Lily Allen
X – Majik
Wild (feat. Khai) – Kidswaste
Now & Here – Aquilo
Who Are You – Aquilo
Thunder – Imagine Dragons
The Fault In Our Stars (MMXIV) – Troye Sivan
stutter – EDEN
Confidence – Majik7

  1. Text message I sent to somebody earlier this month: “I think I want to marry Aquilo’s voice” ↩
  2. Is this exactly three years since this album came out? I think it’s right about there, I guess I now associate it with summer in the new neighborhood we live in. ↩
  3. This is just so delightfully weird, I love it. ↩
  4. I’m not sure if the lyrics entirely support it, but from the portion of them that I actually paid attention to, this totally sounds like it’s from the perspective of a trans person. ↩
  5. I love stuff like this, it sounds sad but it’s actually happy! ↩
  6. Go listen to this, it’s amazing and spooky ↩
  7. This might be a dead link, actually; they were just posting it as a temporary sample kind of thing. ↩
Categories
Playlist

Playlist of the Month: June 2018

It’s been a busy month; if I haven’t mentioned Toggl before, let me mention it now, as a convenient way to make charts demonstrating that you’re overworking yourself.
Silence (feat. Khalid) – Marshmello
Punching in a Dream (Stripped) – The Naked and Famous
Free – Kidswaste
Homegrown – Haux
How It Is – Majik
The Weight – Amber Run
Beretta Lake (Listen2Liri Remix) [feat. SAINt JHN] – Teflon Sega
Bloodsport – Raleigh Ritchie
Fast Car – Tracy Chapman
Home – Blue October
22 (OVER S∞∞N) – Bon Iver
One Track Mind (feat. A$AP Rocky) – Thirty Seconds to Mars
L’aérogramme de Los Angeles – Woodkid & Louis Garrel1
Headlights (feat. Ilsey) – Robin Schulz
Hail To the Victor – Thirty Seconds to Mars2
Another Mouth to Feed – Rebecca McDade
Amen (LCV Choir) – Amber Run
Heaven is a Place – Amber Run
Technicolour Beat – Oh Wonder
Faux – Ed Tullett & Novo Amor
Running Up That Hill – Track & Field3
Better – SYML
Big Jet Plane – Angus & Julia Stone
Pompeii (Acoustic) – Bastille
Touch – Haux
Atlas: Four – Sleeping At Last
Alone – Haux
Desert Rose – Jay Brannan
XO – EDEN4
Zombie – Jay Brannan
Callow – Novo Amor
Really Gone – CHVRCHES
My Enemy (feat. Matt Berninger) – CHVRCHES
Sorry – Aquilo
Miracle – CHVRCHES
Never Say Die – CHVRCHES
Thin – Aquilo
drugs – EDEN5
Heaven/Hell – CHVRCHES
Get Out – CHVRCHES
Ricochet – Haux
Hurt for Me – SYML
Lucid Dream – Owl City
More Colors (feat. Chelsea Cutler) – Kidswaste
Silhouette – Aquilo6
The 5th of July – Owl City
Where’s My Love – SYML

  1. I was hoping “L’aérogramme” translated at something neat, but no, it means exactly what it looks like, “aerogram” ↩
  2. I keep saying “hail to the victim” when I’m singing along to this one, which kinda makes me hope Weird Al does that version someday ↩
  3. I’m probably due to rewatch some Warehouse 13 sometime soon, aren’t I? ↩
  4. Honestly, this song is just kinda hilarious to me. Listen to the lyrics, it’s brutal. ↩
  5. “‘cause I’m a f*ckin’ mess inside” and my Millenial Humor makes me mutter “that’s some hashtag relatable content” ↩
  6. I’m gonna go ahead and call this one my favorite from this month, I just really like it. ↩
Categories
Playlist

Playlist of the Month: May 2018

Slightly delayed, as I wanted to let my capstone posts finish up before I posted this.
Silence (feat. Khalid) – Marshmello
Punching in a Dream (Stripped) – The Naked and Famous
Free – Kidswaste
I Like Me Better – Lauv
Homegrown – Haux
Love Lies – Khalid & Normani
Save Me – Majik
How It Is – Majik
Kings and Queens and Vagabonds – Ellem
The Weight – Amber Run
Beretta Lake (Listen2Liri Remix) [feat. SAINt JHN] – Teflon Sega
Bloodsport – Raleigh Ritchie
Fast Car – Tracy Chapman
Home – Blue October
22 (OVER S∞∞N) – Bon Iver
Live Like a Dream – Thirty Seconds to Mars
One Track Mind (feat. A$AP Rocky) – Thirty Seconds to Mars
Rider – Thirty Seconds to Mars
Stay – Pentatonix
L’aérogramme de Los Angeles – Woodkid & Louis Garrel
Dawn Will Rise – Thirty Seconds to Mars
New Rules x Are You That Somebody? – Pentatonix
Despacito x Shape Of You – Pentatonix
Headlights (feat. Ilsey) – Robin Schulz1
Perfect – Pentatonix
Say Love – James TW
Hail To the Victor – Thirty Seconds to Mars2
Another Mouth to Feed – Rebecca McDade3
Love Is Madness (feat. Halsey) – Thirty Seconds to Mars
Amen (LCV Choir) – Amber Run
Issues – Pentatonix
Havana – Pentatonix
Great Wide Open – Thirty Seconds to Mars
Heaven is a Place – Amber Run4
Someone To You – BANNERS
All We Do – Oh Wonder
Technicolour Beat – Oh Wonder5
Faux – Ed Tullett & Novo Amor
Running Up That Hill – Track & Field

  1. The album art on this one is hilariously bad ↩
  2. Catchiest one off the new album, if I do say so myself ↩
  3. The guitar line in this is beautiful, I love it so much. ↩
  4. I was gonna say ‘probably my favorite off this EP’ and then I thought about it and realized that all three of the songs I’ve got on this list are my favorite of the EP. I’m indecisive, okay? ↩
  5. There’s a good amount of throwback music in this playlist, I’m aware. ↩
Categories
App Music

Variations on the Theme of Life

Grey Patterson

Download on the iOS App Store
I have always been fascinated by the emergent properties of mathematics: simple rules create complex structures. When you get down to it, this is how all of our modern technology works. Variations is based on that concept and was composed for performance through an application written for the iOS® operating system.
At the core of the application are cellular automata based on Conway’s Game of Life (1970), which is a grid where each square is either ‘on’ or ‘off’ and follows a strict set of rules. A square that is off (‘dead’) can become alive (be ‘born’) if it has the right number of living neighbors. A square that is alive can die if it has too few (loneliness) or too many (starvation) living neighbors. The rules are simple, yet they can create astonishingly complex patterns; there is an entire field of mathematics devoted to studying these patterns, Automata Theory.
Variations allows these patterns to play out both visually and aurally. Tap the screen to allow the grid to move through another cycle of living and dying, or just listen to the music created by a single frozen moment. No two people will ever hear the same set of sounds: the starting point for the patterns, as well as their evolution, are uniquely generated every time the Variations application is run.

(The recording above is from the premiere, in which the audience was asked to open the application simultaneously.)

Categories
Music

Five After Six

Sophia Reinhardt

 Five after Six for Two-Channel Fixed Media (2017) was realized in the Composers’ Studio at Linfield College using Logic Pro X and recorded audio. In her poem, my sister shakes off sleep and drags herself to the coffeemaker to brew a mug, while she groggily waits for her sweetheart to stop by and say good morning. I set this musically with soft pads/synthesizers in the background behind the recording of the poem, while pre-recorded “early morning sounds,” like a brewing pot of coffee or chirping birds, play quietly throughout the piece.
Five After Six
Anastasia Reinhardt

Still dark. The coffeemaker
in front of me sleeps unawares
as I fill its craw with tap water.
The foggy glow of the streetlights
creeps into the kitchen through
the window behind the sink, thinking
that I won’t notice if it tiptoes soft
enough. I plunge my hand into the
solemn, self-important sack of coffee
grounds and measure out my life
for today. My other hand is holding
your voice close to my ear, while my eyes
flicker from the grounds to the window,
watching for your headlights. As a little
bird lights on the tree just outside
the window, I hear the heaviness of the
sliding door behind me, and your soft
voice hangs itself in the room like the fog,
smothering my slowly bubbling troubles
as your arms surround me.

Categories
Music

Halcyon

Grey Patterson
Listen on Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music, or most other streaming platforms.
I started working on the piece while abroad in Austria, following a summer spent in Louisiana. In between the two trips, I was home for just over a week, during which my family went camping in Eastern Oregon. It’s a long-standing tradition in my family – we went when I was very young, and I caught my first fish off the docks by Pelton Dam. A couple years after my parents got divorced, my dad started taking my sister and me up to a property his then-girlfriend had on the other side of the river. A year after they broke up, my mom picked up the tradition, and it soon expanded to include cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
The frequency with which my parents moved – they traded off, more or less, but I worked it out recently and I have, on average, moved twice a year over my entire life – has meant that I don’t really associate anywhere I’ve lived with the concept of ‘home.’ In general, I think of people – my parents, my sister, and so on – instead of a place. But, occasionally, the concept of home has to be linked to a place; it’s what the term means, after all.
This piece is devoted to the place I think of when I’m homesick; to weekend afternoons playing video games with my dad; to the halcyon days of my childhood.

Categories
Music

somnus

Grey Patterson
Watch on YouTube

Ehren Cahill, piano
As the title implies, somnus is based on sleep. The opening section first took shape two years ago, as part of a Musicianship III assignment exploring the ambiguity between the parallel major and minor keys. The second section is more nervous, following the dreamer into restless sleep, before finally returning to opening material as the dreams settle once more.

Categories
Music

flight,

Sophia Reinhardt
Watch on YouTube
flight, for video (2015, 2018) is a nostalgic piece, which reflects on personal difficulties while working through those challenges toward change. This is realized musically through the conflict between the F major and E minor chords that open the work; this idea ‘interrupts’ the musical progress when it returns throughout the piece. The version presented today is the result of a collaboration with animator Kailyn Nelson, choreographer Ivanna Tucker, and dancers Bella Reese and Jared Lingle.

Categories
Music

One Giant Leap

Sophia Reinhardt
Watch on YouTube
The soundtrack for the movie, One Giant Leap (2017) was made in collaboration with George Fox University students for the Fox Film Festival in Spring 2017. In it, a girl learns about the first moon landing while watching television with her parents. The events inspire her to build a rocket with her friend so they can follow in the astronaut’s steps.
To support the story, I scored the movie simply, using childlike melodies, simple harmonic language, and instruments that might be found in an elementary school music room. This is an alternate version of the film, which includes my montage sequence.
The movie was written and directed by Emily Hamilton, and produced by Tayla Yogi.