What Are You Listening To Now?

[Zurvanight he/him]

Final Fantasy XIV'S version of The Extreme the final boss theme from VIII. 

[Truthless of Shinovar he/him]

4 hours ago, Dannex said:

Sorry for quoting you from a month ago, but those are literally my dad’s top five favorite bands...

  Reveal hidden contents

Truth are you my dad 

 

Hey sport, you should really give these guys a listen!

[+Slowswift]

I knew not what I had wrought when I clicked on that piano cover of Your Reality...

Edited December 26, 2020 by Slowswift

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

What happens when you watch Silmarillion fan trailers?  You fall in love with the music.  Audiomachine: Dusk of War  (Link in the title of the song.)  It has everything I want from an instrumental:  Drums, incomprehensible voices, and epic crescendo!

[Jaywalk he/him]

Whilst recovering from my wisdom teeth removal, I discovered the folk duo The Sweeplings, and immediately fell in love with their music. I recommend Across The Sea by them.

[Mulk he/him]

On 12/25/2020 at 8:33 PM, Spren of Kindness said:

What happens when you watch Silmarillion fan trailers?  You fall in love with the music.  Audiomachine: Dusk of War  (Link in the title of the song.)  It has everything I want from an instrumental:  Drums, incomprehensible voices, and epic crescendo!

Well, here's another one for you then: Audiomachine - Uprising

You probably will recognize the art used for the background...

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

2 hours ago, Mulk said:

Well, here's another one for you then: Audiomachine - Uprising

You probably will recognize the art used for the background...

Ayyyyy, good ol' Nolofinwe!  Fancy meeting you here...  incredible music, thanks for the link!

Edited December 31, 2020 by Spren of Kindness

[Silverblade5 he/him]

Nightwish is amazing. Everyone should listen to  this song. They should then proceed to listen to all their other songs as well

 

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

A good friend just wrote a song with his wife and put it up on soundcloud. It's amazingly pretty and incredibly sweet.

When We're Gone by D H.

@Truthless of Shinovar you should check it out, it has a very definite Avett Brothers vibe.

[Use the Falchion]

So, now that 2020's over, I want to share a small look back and my "Best of" for music I listened to in 2020. The song didn't have to come out in 2020, I only had to discover it then (with one exception). 

 

Best Sanderson Inspired Song: "Shattered Plains" by The Kepler Mission

Most Listened to Song: "Heartless" by The Weeknd. (Runner-up is "The Evening Hate" (Alternate Version) by Red.)

Best Song(s): "Bokura no Hikari (Our Light)" by Lyn (from the Persona 5 Royal soundtrack), "The Bigger Picture" by Lil Baby, "Parasite Eve" by Bring Me the Horizon, and "Jinsei no Hari" by Gesu no Kiwami Otome. (Runner-ups include "One Day the Only Butterflies Let Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Death" by Bring Me the Horizon, "the Savior" by Nothing's Carved In Stone, "Lemonade" by Internet Money)

Best Discovered Band: Band-Maid* (Runner-up is Meet Me @ the Altar)

Best Album(s): Post Human: Survival Horror by Bring Me the Horizon and CONQUEROR by Band-Maid (which is what I'm listening to now)

Song I Want to Sing Most in Choir: "Every Hour" by Kanye West

Song(s) That Best Describe 2020: "World's On Fire" by Mike Shinoda (the exception to the rule, as I bought the full Post-Traumatic album when it came out) and "Teardrops" by Bring Me the Horizon

Best Leitmotif: "A Friend" by Ludwig Goransson

 

 

*I think I discovered Bring Me the Horizon late 2019, so I'm not counting it here. If I discovered them in 2020, then they tie with Band-Maid.

[Jaywalk he/him]

Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s Into The Rain album.

[Orlion Blight he/him]

First new album of the year: The Last Day of August by Tyra Penn and Her Army of Snakes.

 

[+Slowswift]

Somehow my sister had heard an Avicii song I hadn't. This has been rectified.

And it's friggin' amazing.

 

[Condensation she/her]

One Day by Koolulam.

[Eluvianii he/him]

 

[Lecky Twig she/her]

I'm listening to Mozart's requiem. (I'm in a mood)

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine he/him]

16 hours ago, Slowswift said:

Somehow my sister had heard an Avicii song I hadn't. This has been rectified.

And it's friggin' amazing.

That's a great song, thanks for sharing!

Here's a fun one, R Crumb and his Cheap Suit Seranaders, I'll See You in My Dreams.

It's good a great tuba beat, whistling that sounds like a theramin made by a saw being played with a fiddle bow, and it has one of the most talented cartoonists of all times on mandolin, R. Crumb.

 

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

So, if you know Red vs Blue, you probably know what the warthog music is.... need I say more?

Good grief, this is going to be the soundtrack in my dreams for the next month.  Mexican music for a jeep.

[+Slowswift]

I am an absolute sucker for songs with a 3/4 time signature, don't know why. Maybe it's 'cause the waltz was the one dance I learned that I actually genuinely enjoyed.

Anyways, Owl City.

 

[Use the Falchion]

 

 

 

Band-Maid's new album Unseen World dropped today (Jan 20th Japan time), so I decided to download it and check it out. And let me say, it's a blast. It's really felt like the band(-maid) just came out and punched their listeners in the face with their ferocity. Like, there's definitely anger in this album - I mean with song titles such as "Warning!" "No God" and "I Still Seek Revenge." what do you expect? - and I'm here for it. Granted this isn't the first time I've felt this way or have had albums start off with a punch to the face, but it's one of the most effective times for me.* I haven't felt this punched since Linkin Park's LIVING THINGS' intro. (Which, while wasn't as hard as The Hunting Party's "Keys to the Kingdom," it hit harder to me.)

Another name for this album is "Killer Kanami," as Kanami, the guitarist goes HARD on this album. She has wicked guitar solos in nearly every song, along with the drummer Akane, keeps the energy crazy high for the duration of the album. The best solos so far have been in "No God," "H-G-K," and "Giovanni." The bassist Misa deserves an insane amount of credit too, providing the backbone in many of the songs; she even shows off in a couple of them too! "No God" has a short and sweet one. Heck, this whole album shows how much of a group Band-Maid is. Everyone gets a chance to shine and everyone works together to make the songs come together. Miku Kobato's song as the main vocalist, "Sayonakidori" brings a different flavor to this album that's very welcome, while still keeping the tone and energy level the same. (Her vocal sound and style remind me of Co Shu Nie's "Asphyxia." This is the second time something about Band-Maid has done that...no idea what that means for either, but I like all three songs, so yay...?)

Granted, there are songs that I don't really like, but that's true for every album. I've found that I don't like it too much when Band-Maid goes more grunge or old-fashioned, and they always have a song or two that does that each album. Part of the reason I'm hesitant to listen to some of the older songs is because I'm afraid that they'll be more grudge than what I ilke. Here it's "Manners." "Black Hole" will take me a while to warm up on, but I'm enjoying it so far.

This album also has a more...synthetic feel, despite it being hard rock. It's the audio at times and some of the transitions within the songs. This isn't a bad thing at all. I like it! But it does make the album feel more muddy at times. Then again, that goes with the album's whole aesthetic IMO.

Ultimately, I'd give this album something between an 8.5/10 and 9/10. It's an amazing album that I'm having a blast listening to, but it's also exhausting. There isn't really time to catch my breath while listening, and I end up as tired as the band probably feels after playing this, and that's not usually how I like my albums. That being said, for those interested in the band or like their stuff already, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Tomorrow morning they're coming out with the music video for the first song on the album, "Warning!" 


*There's also the fact that my only real basis for comparison is CONQUEROR, which starts with the melodic-yet-still-resonant "Page."

[The Ward's Guard he/him]

I have now started to listen to the masterpiece known as "Albuquerque" by the genius Weird Al on repeat. All of you who are concerned for me are rightfully so.

 

Edited January 23, 2021 by The Ward's Guard

[Shard of Reading he/him]

On 1/23/2021 at 5:08 PM, The Ward's Guard said:

I have now started to listen to the masterpiece known as "Albuquerque" by the genius Weird Al on repeat. All of you who are concerned for me are rightfully so.

 

Is it bad that I know all the lyrics? To almost every weird al song?

[Condensation she/her]

Just now, Shard of Reading said:

Is it bad that I know all the lyrics? To almost every weird al song?

No, no. Definitely not.

[Iarwainiel I she/her]

On 1/23/2021 at 6:08 PM, The Ward's Guard said:

I have now started to listen to the masterpiece known as "Albuquerque" by the genius Weird Al on repeat. All of you who are concerned for me are rightfully so

This song is from an entertainer who was to the 1940s what Weird Al is to us. My grampa (rest his soul) gave us a 78 record of it when I was a child - kind of ironic, seeing as he was rather a wild fellow. Humor in music - it's a tradition!

 

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

I've been listening to several of the songs from the RvB soundtracks, because I deal with emotion by listening to the music over and over to slightly numb the emotion.  And I really like sad/bittersweet piano music.