Song Of The Day - Tumblr Posts
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #12
It's another gritty one today: Limousine by Bring Me The Horizon featuring Aurora is a guaranteed headbanger and today's pick. I was very late to the heavy scene, but I am now collecting metal groups like Pokemon cards. Limousine is my favourite track on their 2024 album Post Human: Nex Gen, and one of my favourite releases of BMTH. This song is filthy from the opening note and is sexy with its breakdowns between a chorus you can't help but belt along with. Aurora’s vocals elevate an already dynamic track and if her dark yet ethereal section doesn't give you shivers at least once I wouldn't know what to do with you. Providing a grungy sound that I can't help but keep crawling back to, with every listen I enjoy it more and get further pissed about missing them live earlier in the year.
“Drag me down some more
Get me low like a basement
I hope that you wrote all your songs for me
Kiss the ground I walk
I'm a fool for you”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #13/14
I want to think this isn't cheating but oh well… OH MY GOD WE’RE HAVING TWINS.
Today's pick is by alternative rock group Mud Flow and is a merge of the first two songs from their 2004 album A Life on Standby. The intro The Sense of Me flows beautifully into Chemicals on the album, so we've been blessed with an almost nine-minute version of the two in their Best Songs album from 2020. If you're an alternative rock girlie like me who weeps at American Football and Black Country New Road you will probably like Mud Flow as well. The Sense of Me opens feeling like raindrops rippling on a flooded pavement, and with the layers added before the transition into Chemicals, it begins to feel like a rainstorm. Chemicals then blooms into a moody track that's soft yet strong with muted vocals and complex guitar that feels yearning. Their music feels like driving through your hometown ten years later: nostalgic but laced with melancholy.
“Neon lights are buzzing ‘round my head, I feel the sense of me
The sublime afterglow of inner peace”
P.S. While researching for this one I could not figure out for the life of me why Mud Flow has so many listens on Spotify when I couldn't find anything about them online except that they are Belgian and popular in Europe. Turns out The Sense of Me was featured in the game Life is Strange, which explains the 15 mill listens on that track, more you know? 🤷
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #15
Today’s pick is Spaghetti by American Artist K.Flay featuring Kid Sistr. From their 2023 album MONO, which is heavily influenced by their Labyrinthitis diagnosis and sudden partial hearing loss, resulting in vulnerable, biting, emotion-laced tracks (Kerrang, 2023). Spaghetti captures raw angst and self-commiseration, using wordplay to lighten the track into an empathetic generational anthem similar to Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo. Indie rocker triad Kid Sistr's contributions melodically ties the track together with strings that ground the song throughout, then flourishes in a solo during a break in the chorus to sell the cathartic tone. It ends with a harmonised angelic vocal, then a harsh artificial tone routing back to K.Flays hearing loss, building on the song’s edginess. It’s an indie/alternative rock track that is pessimistic yet playful, a fun fuck you to growing up, being an adult, and the pressure felt by sometimes simply existing.
“Life gives me spaghetti, I turn it into knots
Life gives me lemons, I eat em on the spot
Fuck
Life gives me confetti and I smoke it like it’s pot”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #16
Today’s song is Taste by Canadian alternative/indie trio Braids, from their 2015 art rock album Deep in the Iris. Taste is a gorgeous track that's a kaleidoscope of sound. The track feels vulnerable with the lyrics reflecting on a relationship lost, vocals overflowing with love for the romantic subject during the lifting chorus. The tone is sombre but due to the drum beat and piano, it feels optimistic, as if the vocalist is offering an explanation and hoping for forgiveness. The song gets darker during the second verse, longing for any attention from their partner even if it's punishment. It then ends with a beautiful and haunting vocal arrangement and reflection: “We hurt the ones we love most of all.” I really do love this track, especially due to its ability to balance devastating lyrics while feeling light and bright musically.
“We experience the love that we think we deserve
And I guess I thought
I didn't need much from this world
So I left you
But you're exactly what I like
I will give you my whole life”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #17
OKAY OKAY OKAY I MAY BE OPEN TO SENDING NUDES FOR CASH TO SURVIVE THIS SUMMER FESTIVAL SEASON. That Boiler Room Brisbane announcement has me quaking in my little booties. So in honour of that today's pick is Jungle by Fred Again referencing my favourite Boiler Room video which is Fred Again’s July 2022 London set. I have other sets I love, like Sara Landry's August 2023 recording and recently Charlie XCX’s internet-breaking set with the Dare and George Daniel, however, I keep rewatching that Fred Again video due to its infectious energy.
Jungle by Fred Again was released as a single in 2022 and was included in their 2022 EP USB. The track samples vocals from Elley Duhe’s 2017 release Immortal and includes Four Tet in its production credits (who is fucking iconic in their own right). Fred Again has rapidly become a cultural phenomenon, and I was super lucky to see him live at a festival set for Laneway Brisbane 2023. Jungle is one of their more DnB EDM songs, and the production for this one is uncomplicatedly punchy using Duhe’s vocals and beats to create a hair-raising track. Best played in the car obnoxiously loud, it's a headbanger.
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #18
Today's track is Heir by Public Memory from their 2016 electronic album Wuthering Drum. With a striped back beat, breathy rasps, and fractured lyrics presented by faint and fuzzy vocals, Robert Toher creates a moody and dark soundscape. What makes the song a unique experience however is its use of bells and chimes throughout the track, giving it a mysterious melancholy. This dusky track is captivating and three minutes just doesn't seem to be enough.
“Oh there's a violent sea
Where the light is far, refractive
All this has made remains
An alleged near disaster
Long toothed man that runs
From a masters change in patience”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #19
The song of the day is the instant adrenaline hit that is Tally-Ho by the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets from their 2021 album SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound. The Australian psych-rock and indie-rock six-piece group hails from Adelaide, and is one of my favourite bands. They are similar in energy to that of spinning and unleashing a kid on an unsuspecting pinata: full of sugar and ready to fuck shit up. They are often compared to contemporary psych rock pioneers King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. It's a good comparison, but in my opinion, Crumpets are far more unbridled as they soothe my unmedicated brain hitting that itch that also tends to crave hyper pop or even Mario Kart tunes. I have seen them live twice, in 2022 and April this year, and I was lucky to get centre barrier both times. I can guarantee that the chaotic joy curated in their recordings is matched and succeeded during their live shows. Tally-Ho is an instant energy booster and feels like peering in on a dynamic jam session. The song starts swinging with punchy guitar and drums, gibberish lyrics, and in no way gentle vocals. The song then truly begins to take off with a shout-along peak that preps you for a breakdown that has your neck hurting. Crumpets are not for the faint of heart, they are unapologetically chaotic and intense after all, but I've found that those who vibe with their sound tend to absolutely love them.
“More alcohol, caviar, carry on with our fluid conversation
On matadors, sycamore, furthermore
l establish ground for what is zero, patio, chemical basis
One more line of avalanche-winterland-handicap
Bleeding from the nostril
Desolation riser”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #20
Today's pick is one of my favourite Coldplay tracks Low. Featured in their 2005 album X&Y this song still gives me goosebumps dozens of listens later. The alt-rock track is resplendent reflecting on heavy emotions while encouraging another to seek happiness. Describing raising a loved one from sorrow, the track is rousing with Chris’s stunning vocals and cinematic composition. Coldplay’s tracks are always filled with such wonder due to their emphasis on storytelling and provoking emotion through sound. I'm such a miserable romantic and I can wax poetic forever if you let me so it's easy too see how this song holds a place in my heart.
“The sky could fall, could fall on me
The parting of the seas
But you mean more, mean more to me
Than any colour I can see”
P.S. While researching for this one I found out actual wine glasses were used as an element in the track, how neat!
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #21
Today the song is the critically acclaimed track Maybe Tomorrow by Stereophonics from their 2003 album You Gotta Go There to Come Back. I was inspired to pick this one today because I've been rewatching the fantastic Long Way Round/Down/Up travel documentaries by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman with my Dad. The three series have an excellent soundtrack that features great UK alt-rock moments and unique global/cultural pieces. This alt-rock track has an earthy or rusty sound due to its Soul/R&B influence and Kelly Jones’s crooning vocals manifesting a better and happier day on the horizon. The song feels grounded with rustic percussion, textured backing vocals and samples, as well as gently humming strings. The track then evolves into something sexier when more elements are layered on towards the peak of the track starting with a toe-curling guitar solo. All of these components soar then blur out at the end of the track, finishing with you feeling lighter and more resilient, ready for tomorrow.
“So maybe tomorrow
I'll find my way home
I look around at a beautiful life
I've been the upper side of down
Been the inside of out
But we breathe
We breathe”
Song of the Day
Day #22
Today’s pick is Simmer by Hayley Williams from her 2020 album Petals For Armour. Hayley Williams is known for her work as the leading lady for the generation-defining band Paramore, but her solo projects are also worth the hype, as she is an amazing vocalist and songwriter in her own right. The alternative track Simmer was her first solo release and is an excellent showcase of her talents. Churning percussion and moody strings pull the track along, however Williams’ vocals are the true star of this track. For example, the best moment of the song is during the second verse where it breaks into something softer between a charged chorus. Williams enunciates the lyrics “and if my child needed protection, from a fucker like that man, I'd sooner gut him” at 2:08 with such soft but brutal anger it's electrifying. The emphasis on the lyric fucker is such a spine-tingling moment in particular, as it's said with such conviction but surrounded by butter-soft vocals. The track's lyrics are personal, about female rage and gender norms, how we are encouraged to repress extreme emotions and project something softer, literally using “petals for armour”. The layering of breathwork and lyrics like “give in” or “control” adds to this point, where Williams is struggling to channel calm while being placed into the vice grip that is being a woman in the spotlight or music industry. It's an emotionally charged and vulnerable track that has you enraptured by the first line: “Rage is a quiet thing”.
“How to draw the line between wrath and mercy?
Gotta simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer down”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #23
Ocean Grove and Sneaky Sound System, whats not to love? Today's pick is Ocean Grove’s cover of Sneaky Sound System’s UFO for Tripple J’s Like a Version April 2021. UFO was released in 2006 and was featured on their self-titled album, the track then climbed charts hitting platinum here in Australia. Ocean Grove is an Australian Nu Metal band that flit towards grunge and punk, and with their use of eclectic samples in their production they make some fun heavy tracks. Their best album in my opinion is 2020’s Flip Phone Fantasy and its definitely worth a look. Ocean Grove’s cover of UFO is different from their usual sound due to its simpler production but it's still very much them in the sense that you can't help but tap your foot or bop your head along to the track. It's a great cover to kick your shitty mood to the stratosphere.
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #24
Today's track is Abnormalize by Japanese indie rock band Ling Tosite Sigure from their 2013 album I’mperfect. Released as a single in 2012, the track was featured in the opening credits for the mature cyber-punk inspired Japanese animated psychological/crime thriller Psycho-Pass. The original Psycho-Pass is one of my favourite animes of all time, and the band has also provided other works for Psycho-Pass’s other shows and films such as 2014’s Enigmatic Feeling. I have adored this song since it first blew my mind as a teenager. It opened me up to how expressive and experimental production, writing, and music composition can truly be. It really was the beginning of the end for me, especially in terms of my foray into darker alt-rock fantasies. The alt-rock/post-hardcore/math-rock track (I don't even know anymore guys) is one of my favourite Japanese alt-rock songs, I also love Japanese math-rock/alt-rock groups Toe and Lite. If you really wanna go down the anime opener spiral however: if you didn't already know the FAMOUS Tokyo Ghoul OP Unravel was performed by Toru Kitajima or TK who is the lead vocalist and Guitarist of Ling Tosite Sigure. This further proves the point that this band's library is worth checking out and Japanese alt-rock, especially math-rock, is worth your time and effort. I'm not gonna even attempt to describe this track, just please give it a go and if it doesn't blow your mind I'll eat my fucking shoe.
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #25
Today's pick is Quiet! by Australian indie band Flowertruck from their 2022 album Mostly Sunny. The four-piece band hails from Sydney with an emphasis on witty lyrics and a whimsical yet carefree production similar to 80s groups like Talking Heads. Quiet! is a tongue-in-cheek alt-rock track about not being able to fall asleep that's so delightful you can't help but smile while bopping along. Their discography is also similarly summery, using wordplay and bright nostalgic sound to explore the drama and melancholy of feeling adrift in your mid-20s (See tracks Liklihood and Sing Along to Your Life from the same album for relateable lyrics about the crushing weight of existence set to vocals and production taken straight out of a romantic comedy or coming of age film). I think the best way to illustrate Flowertrucks vibe is by this quote, from a 2022 NME article, about their song Pretending: “…Rushforth (lead vocalist) explains he’d written the music for (it) years earlier, but struggled to find the words to accompany it until an experience last year in which he turned up to a children’s birthday party hungover.” Yeah… that’s the band's energy in a nutshell: refreshingly self-deprecating yet confident, with a friendly and uplifting tone.
“I can't slip into rest
Overwrought by the mess
Of my thoughts unconscious
Pinch me!
Why does it have to be do quiet?”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #26
ALL BECAUSE I LIKED A BOYYYYYYYYYYYY
Today's song is Because I Liked a Boy by Sabrina Carpenter from her 2022 album Emails I Can't Send. I have a massive crush on Carpenter and I am a little shy to say that I appreciated her Instagram before listening to her discography properly. I was blown away by how skilled of a lyricist she was and I do love the witty and sexy energy in her other tracks like Please Please Please or Nonsense, but Because I Loved a Boy had me singing the chorus on the first listen. Oh my gosh, this song is a sucker punch and makes me want to hug my younger self. It also makes me want to hug every woman in my life the same way the Girl So Confusing Remix with Lorde did to the internet a little while ago. I think it's a universal experience for every young woman - you will be hurt by someone you love, and you will hurt someone because of love. I think we become so invested in finding villains or victims when witnessing complicated romances that we forget that everyone involved is hurting regardless of who threw the first stone. That's my two cents anyway as someone who has been in Carpenter's seat like in the song's narrative and regretfully the one who caused harm while under the haze of jealousy or for the shallow reasoning of ‘being in the right’. The song brings me back to the toxicity and devastating heartbreak of my first love, but it also fills me with the uplifting comradery of sisterhood: while I was crying because I liked a boy, Carpenter and many other girls were as well, then we became stronger, and the women we are today despite it.
“I’m the hot topic on your tongue
I'm a rebound gettin’ ‘round stealin’ from the young
Tell me who I am, guess I don't have a choice
All because I liked a boy”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #27
Today's choice is Chase the Sun by the Italian group Planet Funk. Released in 2000 and then included in their 2001 debut album Non Zero Sumness, the track has a lush production with stunning vocals provided by finish artist Auli Kokko. This track is a breath of fresh air and as the lyrics of the song suggest, the track is a bright and summery dance number that transports you to better times.
“I’m flying away
Running like the wind
As I chase the sun”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #28
I've had no patience for mopey songs recently and I want to bring some light in, so it's two fun dance tracks in a row. Today's song is Dancing in the Shadows by UK artists TSHA and Clementine Douglas. Released in 2022 and featured on TSHA’s album Capricorn Sun, it's a jubilant track that's electronic bliss. Accompanied by a kicky percussive beat, rippling instrumentals and lush synth, Douglas’s vocals are stunning. Fractured samples during the tracks peak adds to an already delicious electronic track, making it an engaging dance number that's an instant mood lifter.
“Dancing in the shadows
Tell me you remember
I'm moving in the dark again
For your love I will endeavour”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #29
Today's song is Exit Girl by New Zealand artist Sophie Brown, known professionally as Ratbag. Released in 2023 and on her debut EP Why Aren’t You Laughing? the track is eclectic matching her chaotic energy. This song has quickly become one of my favourite tracks since first hearing it (thank you Discover Weekly). I love its manic and anxious energy during its chorus and its angsty vibe during its lows. Ratbag is also a visual artist experimenting in multiple formats from fashion to digital art to gritty sketches. Her surrealist characters and designs are featured in her music videos and promotional artwork, with the cover of her EP being her work as well. Her band of emotion-emulating monsters are a key part of the ‘world of Ratbag’, where music and visuals are combined to create a theatrical experience of her ideas made tangible. I'm super excited to see what Ratbag makes next, and I hope we are continuously invited to experience her enigmatic creations.
“Where is the exit girl?
Where is the exit girl?
Put down your drink and help me get
Home”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #30
Today's song is You’ve Got The Love by UK band Florence and the Machine from their 2009 debut indie-rock album Lungs. The track is an adaption of Candi Staton’s 1986 dance number You Got The Love, but Florence and the Machines track is its own beast. The song was first performed for festival sets early on in their career, and Welch has described how “even in rehearsals, playing it was just the most euphoric feeling. Then playing it live... was like tearing ourselves open and just exploding on the crowd.” As Welch describes, it is an emotionally charged number with its dainty harp, melodious guitar, and of course soaring vocals. It pulls you in with its strings, ensnares you when it expands after the first verse, then unleashes like a top spinning with Welch’s spiritual chants into a glorious run at 1:58. It is cathartic, it is brimming with love, it is a lightning strike of joy… it’s everything I love about music.
Lungs was the first CD I ever bought when I was a teen, and I cried and screamed whenever I made eye contact with Florence Welch when seeing the experience live for the first time in my 20s. I truly believe my life winds and unfurls with Welch’s music since her songs are so tied to many of my life's moments: from playing Cosmic Love while getting ready for a school dance, playing What Kind Of Man while dealing with hormones and heartbreak, playing Hunger as I was becoming my own person, to playing Free while moving out of my parent's house. I know I am coming across as ridiculous, but Florence and the Machine have defined who I am as a person the same way performers like Queen, Radio Head, My Chemical Romance, or even Taylor Swift may have for you.
“Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air
'Cause I know I can count on you
Sometimes I feel like saying ‘Lord I just don't care’
But you've got the love I need to see me through”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #31
Today's song is ‘The Doll People’ by Australian Indie/Alternative artist Sofia Isella from her very recently released 2024 EP ‘I Can Be Your Mother’. Unsettling yet captivating, her sound has a similar quality to and takes inspiration from artists such as Billie Eilish, Nine Inch Nails, Caroline Polachek, Lorde, Imogen Heap, and Fiona Apple. The track is very dark exploring gender, sex, and identity with unflinching and purposefully crude lyrics. The track feels more like an avant-garde fable with its blend of conventional yet grand piano and strings with unconventional vocal work, such as her goosebump-raising runs, breaths, and clicking. At only 19 Sofia Isella commands your attention akin to a more established artist, so it's no wonder she was invited to perform as an opener for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour and is fastly emerging into the mainstream.
“To be admired takes precedence over admiring
To be desired takes precedence over desiring
Drink the dolls
Legs spread like butter
We are wife, whore, mistress, maid, mother”
SONG OF THE DAY
Day #32
Today’s song is Hip Hop track ‘Woman’ by ‘Little Simz’ featuring vocals by Cleo Soul from the 2021 album ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’. ‘Little Simz’ or Simbiatu Ajikawo is a sensational British Hip Hop artist that is well known for her assured flow with smooth soul, R&B, and jazz-inspired tracks flavoured with orchestral elements in her production. ‘Woman’ is dripping with gentle luxury with its relaxed sound, stunning vocals in the chorus from Cleo Soul, and confident delivery of lyrics celebrating global women by Simz. ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ is a fantastically rich album with dynamic compositions and buttery examinations and reflections. My favourite track from the album is ‘I Love You, I Hate You’ due to this balance between confident restraint and cathartic release.
“I see you glow, you’re the finest gold
When you walk in the room, they feel your soul
Our style it shines, so ahead of time
And you know that you’re fire, you’re so damn fine, girl.”
