Music of the Week: Arctic Monkeys at Madison Square Garden, Daft Punk Exclusives, A Hip NYFW Mixtape + More

Hey guys. I've been doing quite a lot music-wise (besides Music of the Week, I know) and I'm here today to share what I've found with you in an extensive, albeit super late, post. 

First things first: Last Saturday, I finally got to see the Arctic Monkeys in concert! Alex Turner's voice is amazing- it has a gorgeous timbre and depth- and the lighting and effects were right on. They performed a cover of "All My Loving" in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first American show. In all or most of the pictures, Alex is up front, Nick is to the left, Jamie is to the right, and Matt is in the back on the drums. All of these pictures were taken by my friend with her iPhone 4S. 

Just before they left... );

Arabella

Cornerstone

Brianstorm

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So that was awesome. Another group I've been really into lately is Daft Punk. I posted about them a little while ago when I started getting into them. I'd made a few weak attempts last year starting in May, but I had Arctic Monkeys on repeat and...yeah. Most people know Daft Punk from their summer 2013 hit "Get Lucky" with singer Pharrell Williams and Chic frontman Nile Rodgers off their latest album Random Access Memories. However, they've been around for just over twenty years and have had several hits like "One More Time", which is one of those tunes everyone automatically knows, and "Harder Better Faster Stronger", which was successful independently and sampled in Kanye West's "Stronger". While promoting their latest album, Daft Punk curated two exclusive Spotify playlists- one for Thomas and one for Guy-Man- back in September. Each is filled with personal favorites and sources of inspiration. I find them really interesting because they aren't what you'd expect would inspire an EDM artist. To hear Daft Punk themselves on the music that inspired RAM, listen to this NPR podcast. 

           



Let's switch gears to fashion for a sec; more specifically, New York Fashion Week. 

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Well, it's over. I would've talked about it, but I was so busy jamming out with Arctic Monkeys opening week that I guess it slipped my mind. However, Stylecaster did an amazing job covering it. (Click here for all their NYFW 2014 articles.) Of course, they made up their own creative NYFW-themed content to go along with all the streetstyle and trend reports. One of them happened to be this creative Soundcloud mixtape. 

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It's called "Sounds From the Front Row: Volume 9" and was produced by DJ and mixtape composer Mick. Learn more about the music and the other volumes here. 

And finally, I'd like to end with a little musical inspiration from my everyday life. If the Colbert Report counts as part of my regular life...

Lake Street Dive performing "You Go Down Smooth" on the Colbert Report on 2/5/14
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The other day Lake Street Dive performed on the Colbert Report, which is seriously one of my favorite shows ever. Anyway, they were all trained in jazz at Conservatory of Music in Boston, which is where they initially met. Their musical background is evident their work. It's got that classic chill-but-energetic jazz vibe but with a modern twist. The lead singer's voice is super smooth, rich, and playful. Overall, it's really refreshing to see a bunch of twenty-somethings revive a genre of music that most musicians in their generation are moving away from.

Find their full interview and performance here.

So, which artist(s) are you gathering inspiration from? Anything new you found this week? Comment below and email me at leatherandrouge@gmail.com.

Music of the Week: Songkick + My Current Faves

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Wait, it's not Tuesday? Sigh. I'm late. Well, it was bound to happen, so let's pretend it didn't.

As I mentioned last week, I'm going to an Arctic Monkeys concert soon and I cannot express how absolutely excited I am. I've heard (and seen on Youtube) so many good things about their concerts and can't believe I'm going to be seeing Alex/The Most Bada-- Guy in England (along with Nick, Jamie, and Matt, of course) live.

Tyler Oakley + GIFs FTW!
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Getting to the point now. This wouldn't have been possible without Songkick, the London-based concert tracking service I used to find my beloved show. 

I mean, technically, they found it for me. I made a free account, they used my Spotify library to determine which artists to notify me about, I got an email one fine day with "Arctic Monkeys" in the subject line, and the rest consisted of me freaking out along with amazing tickets.  

I strongly recommend Songkick to those of you who don't listen to mainstream artists because it's such an easy way to find concerts. It even makes life easier for mainstream lovers; instead of having to stay updated by friends or the radio, you can simply check your email. There are so many artists to see live and so many vendors to buy from, and Songkick makes it manageable for you to keep track of it all. For a more detailed description of the service and how it works, read the fourth point of this article I guest wrote on Allwomenstalk a little while ago. 

Get the Songkick app:

• App Store
• Google Play
• Spotify

To wrap things up, here's a little playlist of what I've been listening to on repeat lately. 

Don't worry, I'll be talking something other than Arctic Monkeys soon enough. My favorites out of these are "Reckless Serenade" and "All My Own Stunts". I also love "Wanna Be Yours". It's so romantic but lusty at the same time. I haven't been listening to it as much because I've been through that phase with it already and the first two on the playlist are much newer to me. So yeah, I do favorite favorites. Favorite-ception. All that.

And then there's the track in dead last, which is totally random and unlike the others. I first heard of it from Troye Sivan while discovering him and his delightful Youtube channel. It's a super chill R&B tune that'll make you feel oh so cool. 

So, try out Songkick and let me know how that works out for ya! Let's also discuss my current faves and topics you wanna see next Tuesday in a comment here or in an email to leatherandrouge@gmail.com.

Music of the Week: the Arctic Monkeys

It's NYE! Maybe I'll post something sparkly later.

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Okay. I've mentioned the Arctic Monkeys multiple times before in previous posts, so I'm sure the suspense is killing you. *utter sarcasm*

I first discovered the Arctic Monkeys back in February on Facebook through a page named "Musicians are so much sexier than normal people. FACT." (I have no objections.) The page, contrary to what you'd think based on the name alone, was/perhaps still is one of the only ones that actually posts things based on their own theme instead of justgirlythings' (don't click the link). After seeing a few Arctic Monkey posts, curiosity got the best of me and I looked them up. The first songs I got hooked on were "Teddy Picker", "Brianstorm", and "R U Mine?". The first two are on their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, while "R U Mine?" is on their fifth and latest album, AM. 

I'm not sure exactly what to highlight in this post, there's so much to say. Why not everything? To start with, here's what I like about their music overall:

• Lyrics I tried imagining writing a song multiple times before and it's always blown my mind. It takes so much time and inspiration to come up with good song lyrics; there's a reason mainstream music is (usually) flat-out basic. Alex Turner (the lead singer)'s songwriting abilities are the reason I admire him so much. I'm not completely surprised, though. He's stated that if it weren't for the Arctic Monkeys, he would've gone on to be an English major at Manchester University. He's also said that growing up he had a knack for poetry and that when he listens to his music he pays more attention to the words than the background music. Uh, I call BS, cause as I'll elaborate on below, it's too good to ignore. 
• Melodies, harmonies, and everything in between How does he do it? Somehow, Alex always seems to come up with amazingly catchy music every time. There are so many layers in each song, each of which I'm constantly trying to hear to no avail. They interact so well with each other and I can't get enough.
• Guitar-heavy I love a song with a strong guitar part, bass and electric especially. It appeals to me most when the chords go beautifully with the vocals but sound just as good alone. The Arctic Monkeys do all of the above.
• Tongue-in-cheek tone No matter what they sing about or how they sing it, they always have a certain tongue-in-cheek (I'd say "swagger", but 1) You'd probably think I meant "swag", and 2) It has a negative connotation; yes, even the real meaning.) attitude about them that, to me, has always defined them. It's most prominent in AM but, like I said, it has always been there. 

Now let's go over all of their albums. Yup. All five. 

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006) 

You can tell by the tone of the Arctic Monkeys' debut album that the young band members were still in their adolescence. In fact, the overall theme of the album was about young people and their shenanigans. Alex sings about young people and their habits regarding partying, clubbing, nightlife, and prostitutes (apparently based on the ones that hung out near their recording studio at the time). I really like that this album isn't influenced by the cliché theme. Instead, they retain the tongue-in-cheek tone I cited before. It not only defines this album, but also defines Arctic Monkeys' sound as a band. You can hear it mostly in the messy and free guitar melodies.

My favorites:

• "When the Sun Goes Down"
• "Mardy Bum"
• "Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured"

Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)

FWN is very similar to its predecessor. Most of the tracks are upbeat, like the majority of the debut album. There are a lot of differences, though. This album reflects the band's travels as they began touring seriously as opposed to the nature of young people at home. Also, it's a more aggressive upbeat than their previous music. This is evident in "Teddy Picker" and "Brianstorm" with the extremely fast guitar and drum parts. Although there were definitely some super loud and energetic songs in the previous album, the guitar and drums weren't involved as much as the vocals. I think this comes from their new-found confidence from becoming so widely recognized. (What teenager wouldn't be psyched by fame?) But there's more to the album. They go mellow with "Only Ones Who Know" and "505" and include some in-between tunes like "Flourescent Adolescent" and "Do Me a Favour". Overall, this album is a little more experimental and upbeat than its predecessor. 

My favorites:

• "Brianstorm"
• "Teddy Picker"
• "505"
• "Fluorescent Adolescent"

Humbug (2008-10)

I recently started listening to this album because I'm going to an Arctic Monkeys concert relatively soon and want to get to know all of their music as well as I can so I'm prepared. Humbug is full of free-spirited alternative rock songs. It has a playful edge that isn't in FWN, without losing the signature tongue-in-cheek 'tude.

My favorites:

• "Crying Lightning"
• "My Propeller"
• "Dangerous Animals"
• "Cornerstone"

Suck It And See (2011-12)

I must admit, I barely know this album. I really liked "Black Treacle" a while back, but I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the album. After giving it a listen, though, I can say a few things. It's generally more relaxed and structured than their previous three albums. The guitar and drums are less independent of the vocals, which are mostly gentler in this album. There are only two songs that are super upbeat: "Brick by Brick" and "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair". There are quite a few that are energetic; they're just not as electric as their previous albums. To finish up, I really like the slower songs in this album because the guitar has a more vintagey sound as opposed to the rough sound it had before and therefore harmonizes beautifully with Alex's voice. 

My favorites:

• "She's Thunderstorms"
• "Suck It and See"
• "Black Treacle"

AM (2012-13)

AM is by far my favorite Arctic Monkeys album yet. It's so different than all their other ones. Alex said that they were heavily influenced by hip hop and R&B while writing AM. While I can't see a direct correlation musically, I can definitely tell that there's been a major change. AM is less alternative and, as weird as it sounds, poppy. Not in a Katy Perry way, though. It's strange to describe it that way because the Arctic Monkeys are anything but that. I think it's that the focus is shifted to the main melody and the background music simply supports it. However, the unique lyrics and amazing guitar part make this album stand out. The melodies make me want to sing out loud, even when I'm not alone. That says something. So basically, I've had the overwhelming majority of this album on repeat for the past two months at least. 

My favorites:

Um, everything but "I Want It All" (Only because of the vocals- If I can't hear Alex I'm out! The guitar part is too cool...) and "Snap Out Of It" (Catchy, but too repetitive. It just doesn't sound anything like them). I'll rank my absolute favorites:

• "R U Mine?"
• "Do I Wanna Know?"
• "Wanna Be Yours"
• "One For the Road"

You don't understand how hard it was to rank these. It's like differentiating between the times of the top Olympic 100-meter dash sprinters. The only reason I was able to post about them today is because I've been pondering this for something like two months. 

*Sigh* Finally finished. I've been working on this since this afternoon! I really hope you learned a lot about the Arctic Monkeys from this post. Comment or email me at leatherandrouge@gmail.com with any questions or feedback and have a good New Year's!

Music of the Week: Old Maroon Five

Maroon 5. Although their sound has changed since their debut in 2002, they've been pumping out sassy, guitar-y pop songs for all 11 years. Since recently I've been listening to strictly Arctic Monkeys (more on them later), I hit refresh with the quintet a few days ago. It's been at least a couple of years since I listened to them of my own free will, so I eased myself into it with a bunch of classics:

Most of the playlist is upbeat and good for jamming out; the last two are mellower. It includes songs from all of their albums except for the latest one, Overexposed. I personally am not so into it because it's missing that quintessentially Maroon 5 "carefree" vibe. I think it comes from the combination of the sassy guitar and vocals that support each other so well. Together, they make the song's beat strong and structured. At the same time, each song is laid-back and super fun and easy to sing along to. Each song is delivered with a certain spunk that's unique to M5. On the other hand, their Overexposed tunes are way more structured and lack that "effortless" factor their predecessors were hailed for. The lyrics were also so much better back in the day (compare "Makes Me Wonder" and "Love Somebody"). Then, they told a story. Now, they seem forced and overly repetitive.

Clearly, I feel that Maroon 5's latest hits are, well, overexposed, and that their first hits are still the best. Do you agree or disagree? Have any music-related stuff to tell me about? Share your thoughts in the comments or in an email to leatherandrouge@gmail.com.

New Post Series: Music of the Week

As I'm sure you've noticed, I've been busy lately. One of the things that's been keeping me from my dear blog is homework. As a high schooler, it's unavoidable. However, I always find a way to work something in so I don't completely lose my mind. The easiest, if not the smartest, option for me is music. I haven't written a significant of music posts thus far, so it may not seem like it, but let me tell you right now that I am super into music. I love finding new tunes and artists whenever I can. I stay updated about concerts with Songkick and have something like 50 playlists (I haven't counted, but let's just say that you have to scroll up and down to see all of them), and have multiple music apps on my iPad. From the information above, it may seem that I'm a full-time junkie and do this like a job. Not so. I realized all of the above just today, while feeling clueless about how to approach my thesis paper. I realized that I haven't been listening to any of my Spotify playlists besides the Arctic Monkeys and that I need to rediscover whatever's lying around in my rotting playlists from the summer before middle school. I realized that I need to start actually listening to and finding music again, not just putting some song on replay and burning it into my brain for the next week and a half while doing stupid homework. To keep me on track with my tunes and to share them with you, I'm starting a new post series, Music of the Week, which will make itself right at home with our existing Poll Posts. Every Tuesday, I'll be featuring a song, artist, playlist, something music-related, or any combination of the four along with a few words. 

Here's "You're So Dark" by the Arctic Monkeys to kick off the new series. (I've been listening to it on repeat for the past week and a half while doing stupid homework.) 

Did you like "You're So Dark"? What do you think of the idea of a new series? Comment and email me at leatherandrouge@gmail.com. 

Poll Post: Here's What I Rock Out To

Now that both the fall and school are in full swing, life can feel a little dreary. There are only so many cute animal videos and celeb gossip articles out there to help cheer you up or relieve you of your boredom on those long weekday nights filled with cold weather and tons of homework. Plus, I suck at finding them in the first place. 

Heads up: There are probably curse words in some of these songs. Nothing hardcore; I'm not into that. But they're still there.

I haven't done that many music posts before, so you may or may not know my taste in music. I wouldn't say that I exclusively listen to a certain genre, but I do prefer alternative rock above all. It probably makes up about 90-95% of all the songs I listen to. My favorite song is "R U Mine?" by the Arctic Monkeys. Or "Do I Wanna Know?". You know what? The Arctic Monkeys are my favorite in general. So basically when I want to listen to something upbeat, I just go with alt rock. Point is, I'm not much of a hardcore-rock-out-session type of person. Here's what I listen to when I need a simple pick-me-up.

However, there are some classics you can't beat when you're in the mood to jam. Some artists in this type of rocking out include Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, and Switchfoot. Their music is aggressive compared to alt rock, so I don't listen to it often. But I also included artists like Thirty Seconds To Mars, who are intense but not as aggressive. There are plenty more types of rock; punky Green Day and P!ATD tunes and classics from the Foo Fighters, for example. 

So what do you think? Let me know what songs you liked and what you rock out to in the comments or in an email to leatherandrouge@gmail.com. 

Poll Post: What's New With House Music

I've never been a house music person. I listen to tunes by Deadmau5 and a few others when I feel like it, but not often. Instead, I comfort myself with (who I consider) classic alt rock artists like the Arctic Monkeys and Spoon. Plus, a few Pandora sessions here and there keep me from getting bored by providing me with new favorites and playlist fillers. Recently, though, I haven't been using Pandora, and songs are starting to annoy me when they get stuck in my head. So I thought I'd hit refresh and turn to a genre I haven't listened to in a while: house music. 

Although house music isn't my personal favorite, I think it's great to get yourself pumped up while exercising, dancing at a party, or just in the mood for house.

House is a mixture of electronic, pop, and dance music. Sometimes it can even cross into dubstep territory. The balance of each of these depends on the artist and their style. House music is pretty popular, so you can usually catch a few tunes on Top 40 radio stations like Z100 and 92.3 Now. And house music is basically all that's played at clubs (hence the name "house").

Most popular house songs have dancey and/or poppy melodies with an electronic twist. This can get boring because the main focus of the song is the melody, with the electronics as an enhancer in the background. However, there are definitely some creative artists out there. One of them is Avicii. You may know his super popular song "Levels", a sorta-remix of "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida. It was huge this past summer. Avicii caught my eye because 1) A kid in my first period class really likes him and told us about his new album, and 2) Since I wanted to do a post on music, I looked into his new album, True, and thought his style was pretty cool. (True was released on 9/13/13. So technically it isn't that new.)

Avicii always features some sort of melody in his songs; you never feel like you're waiting for the song to start after a full minute. "Dear Boy"'s vocal melody does start late, but the catchy tune preceding it was skillfully edited to make a smooth transition into the melody. Although vocals are usually a significant aspect of Avicii's music, it's waay more electronic. It took some analysis on my part to discover this. I used to think that "Levels" was just a plain old remix of "Good Feeling", but if you actually listen to the song, you'll find that the vocals are just used as support for the electronics. It's also pretty obvious in "Dear Boy", an 8-minute song whose majority is electronic despite the flowing melody it seems to be centered around. 

A big part of Avicii's style I think is really cool is how he can take two very different types of music and fuse them to come out with a happy medium. Let's use "Dear Boy" as an example again. The tune leading up to the melody is very exact and driving. It almost seems too harsh to be leading up to the flowing melody that comes next. To rule out that imbalance, Avicii added electronic background music to make the vocals more driving. He also adds an electronic melody to harmonize with the vocals, which sounds surreal but totally cool. 

He emphasized this "fushion" in some of his songs on True by remixing country tunes into his songs. Country! To hear it, listen to "Wake Me Up", which is his most popular song right now (according to Spotify). Personally, I'm not into country music or "Wake Me Up", but regardless, I really admire that Avicii's going in that direction because it's so different. Most DJs would be scared to do mix country songs, but he gladly took the plunge.

So, have you just been enlightened? How do you feel about house music, Avicii, and what he's trying out? Share your thoughts in the comments below and email me at leatherandrouge@gmail.com.

Poll Post: Alternative!

This week, you guys voted for a music post. Since I already did a music post with just a playlist, I wanna switch it up. Today, we're gonna be talking about alternative music. All of it. Sounds pretty silly of me to try and cover the entire genre, right? Don't worry; it's actually not too complicated, and I'll be using songs from my immense collection on Spotify to illustrate each sub-genre.

Alternative music seems out there, but it's really just anything that doesn't fit perfectly into a single genre. Therefore, it's made up of tons of sub-genres. Before we go into that, let's talk about a sub-genre unique to alternative music: indie.

Indie music is generally divided into indie rock and pop. Although they are separate, they sound almost the same, with the exception of a few key elements. Indie rock uses guitar and vocals, mainly, and can sound mellower than indie pop. The background music isn't showcased as much as in indie pop; rather, it's used to support and bring out the vocals. An indie pop song consists of a flowing melody, definite beat, and bold background music, the background music's prominence varying. At times, one or all of these elements can be eccentric, especially the background music and/or instrumentals. And for indie rock and pop, the defining element, in my opinion, is the vocals. Take a listen (indie rock, left and alternative rock, right):

See how the vocals are so light and airy in 'Trojans'? In 'R U Mine?', the alt rock song, the guitar and drums are much more prominent and the vocals are melodic but have a rough-and-tough edge.

The same applies to indie pop.

I know what you're thinking. These two are totally different! But they still share the key elements we discussed above: a driving melody, a strong beat and bold background music. The occasional eccentricity of indie pop is especially clear in the beginning of 'Helena Beat'. Don't they both just make you wanna dance? 

Then again, there are quiet indie songs. 'New Slang' by the Shins is a great example. To the right is a playlist of similar songs.

Here are indie pop and rock playlists.

And now, alternative rock. This is personally my favorite as of right now. Alt rock has flowing melodies marred by a rough tone filled with lots of guitar and drums. Nowadays, as it matures as a genre, synthesizers are sometimes used for the instrumentals, but the classic old guitar and drum duo is still the most common. Here are two songs by the Arctic Monkeys that I'm loving right now. I can't choose my favorite!

Alt rock can also be punk or...sassy? (You'll see what I mean.) Green Day is a great example of the former. Many or most of their hits are full-out punk (Jesus of Suburbia), but Holiday is one that straddles the line. I had it on replay in middle school, and it's still one of my all time faves! East Jesus Nowhere is also similar to Holiday.

Now let's talk sassy. At first, The White Stripes sound like your average alt rock band: bold guitar and beat/drums, loud vocals, and a driven melody. Below is a playlist of a bunch of the White Stripes' best. I also included 'Sixteen Saltines', a single by Jack White, the group's lead singer.

Come to think of it, My Chemical Romance is super sassy. Their sound is actually really similar to the White Stripes, except the guitar and vocals have a messy, laid-back feel.

There's also alternative like the Killers, who have poppy melodies and rock-sounding guitar. Since I don't know them too well, here are their top five hits on Spotify.

One sub-genre of alternative rock I'm also not very familiar with is its "harder" side, which is like the Killers-- melodic, but with rough guitar and drums, and more aggressive. Artists with this style include Evanescence and Three Days Grace, who I had a short stint with maybe six months ago. Here's my favorite song by them.

Now, we come to one of the most mysterious sub-genres of alternative music: modern alternative. I probably listen to it the least (although that may not apply to certain songs in the playlist below); it's the closest I'll willingly get to avant-garde music. However, some modern alt songs are really cool. Here's a playlist to help you understand this sub-genre.

Whew! That was a lot. Although I definitely didn't cover all of alternative music, I hope this post gave you a good feel for it. So did anyone find a new favorite song? Have one you're dying to share with me? Comment below and email me at leatherandrouge@gmail.com with a Youtube link!