Hello all! I’m back again with my next installment of my monthly playlists. If you missed any of my previous ones you can search for them in the search box or click on the Music category to find all my posts regarding music.
This playlist is a 50/50 mix of random songs I’ve found recently, and songs from three fairly new albums that have been recently released and that I’ve been listening to a lot recently. Yes, for those that pay attention to details out there, I included 16 songs this time. Oops! Anyways…as with all my other playlists, I hope you find something you enjoy, and feel free to leave any feedback below in the comments!
The playlist starts with Until The End (1), a song by Belgian DJ Henri PFR whom I’ve written about previously. This song is probably my current ‘favorite song’ that I’ve listened to a lot recently, and it’s your fairly typical house song. In addition, I Feel So Bad (4), Inside the Lines (7) and By Your Side (8) are all house songs from three more DJs that have all been featured in previous playlists. Move Your Body (Alan Walker Remix) (9) is a remix of a popular Sia song that I’m sure many of you recognize, which rounds out all the house/electronic songs for this playlist.
Next up, we have a couple songs from Two Vines, the new album from Empire of the Sun that was released last week. I’ve been listening to this album nonstop, and I think almost everyone can find a song or two they like off this album. A lot of people should be familiar with this duo from their 2008 song Walking on a Dream, but if you like that song at all you can find solace in their new album. While First Crush (5) has been my favorite song off the album so far, the others that I included in this playlist (Two Vines (2), Friends (11), and Way to Go (13)) are all decent. That list, however, is non-exhaustive, as almost every song on the album is worth a listen. I guess I should write at this point that their third album follows much in their chill, synthpop/new wave mood they’ve dug out for themselves, although there’s definitely more upbeat songs as well.
The next album I explore (albeit briefly) in this playlist Michael Bublé’s ninth studio album, Nobody But Me. Much like the previous album I covered, there were a lot of songs I could have chosen to include, but I settled to include only four of them here. Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m obsessed with Michael Bublé, thanks to my wonderful best friend Andrew and his (amazing!) father. The first song, I Wanna Be Around (3), gives me the most old-school Bublé vibe of the four. If I had to pick the most Sinatra-esque song of them all, this would be it. My Baby Just Cares for Me (10) is a cover of an old jazz standard, as well as the standard The Very Thought of You (12). Both the former as well as On an Evening in Roma (Sott’er Celo de Roma) (14), a re-recording of a Dean Martin classic,are both more low-key dinner music type songs, while the previous two are more upbeat swing tunes.
The next two songs are off the of somewhat-recent Bon Iver album 22, A Million. I can’t admit that I’ve ever been super hardcore into Bon Iver (just from a lack of knowledge, not because I don’t like their music) but this album has changed all of that.
For those that are unfamiliar with Bon Iver (they did the original Skinny Love, not Birdy!), they’re an Wisconsin-based indie-folk band that is extremely experimental and unique. Definitely the most “risky” band on the playlist, I feel like nonetheless they’re worth a listen to by everyone. Both the songs I included (666 ʇ (6), and 22 (OVER S∞∞N) (15)) are two of the easier listens, but if they interest you at all I highly recommend giving the whole album a look. While this album is a huge hipster-magnet and will be overplayed and over-mentioned by many trying to look cool, it’s without question that lead artist Justin Vernon is a musical genius both within and outside this album.
Finally, I ended the playlist with a Christmas song, although a rather obscure one. Cold December Night (16) is off of Michael Bublé’s Christmas album, which is arguably my favorite collection of Christmas songs. It’s the only Christmas music you typically find me listening to year-round. In addition, it’s the only original song off the entire album, which explains its obscurity, but for some reason I’ve been really into it recently. And in the spirit of Christmas being next month (and for my dear sister Erin), I only felt it was right to include a Christmas song on this playlist!