Wildfire in my Soul

Hey Sudhir,

I found this the other day and loved it! One thing though; the video is pretty cool, and hence totally distracts from the song. So, please watch it first just for the video and then listen again to just the song. Loved the concept of this video as much as the song. 

Seafret is a fairly new band and released their second EP- Oceans early this year. Hope they have more music out in the coming year. Enjoy the song and the week ahead. :) 

Wildfire : Seafret

Hey hey!

I discovered Beth Hart when one of her songs featured on a finale of Californication. It was a song called 'My California' and it lingered. I listened more and was lucky to discover this wonderful voice belonging to a woman with an incredible range. Plus, you know how much I love pianos in rock songs. 

Enjoy!

Soul Shine : Beth Hart

The Christmas Edition

It's the best time of the year- everything about December. Two years ago, I spent a year in Sri Lanka with my cousins and that Christmas was one of my most memorable.

Living with these two other musical people meant that we filled up the month with things like symphony orchestra concerts, church choir musicals and many many hours singing along to Christmas music at home. Between us, our favourites cover quite a variety of genres from classical, opera, indie and alternative.

For some extra love this season, they're sharing four selections for you all this week. Merry Christmas! :)

From Andre - 

Since it is Christmas, I'm choosing two Christmassy songs. They are not quite traditional because I am tired of hearing the same tunes over and over again. 

O Come, O Come Emmanuel : Citizen Shade

This song is my favourite Christmas song now. I love the minimalism of the piano playing, the way he varied the tune to make it a counter point to the lyrics. I also love the earthy quality of his voice and the amazing range he displays. 

Mvmt 1 Rejoice Rejoice : The Oh Hellos

I love this song by The Oh Hellos because it is so unconventional. I like how they have arranged it with a focus on harmony, and acoustics. It invokes a slightly colder and darker feeling than the original songs but that just places more emphasis on the lyrics and the vocals.

From Cheryl- 

Carol of the Bells : The Bird and the Bee
I love covers of songs, especially when it has a twist to it, and this version has twists everywhere! Slightly creepy and yet still magical, this quirky cover is one of my favourite versions of this old familiar Christmas carol. 

O Magnum Mysterium : Nordic Chamber Choir

This piece of music has long been one of my favourites but I only found out this year that its Latin text is about the birth of Jesus! Though I don't care much for the translation, I love the music because of its light peaceful comforting feeling. I've listened to this at times when I've needed comfort or when I've needed to be led back to God. My favourite part of the music is at 4:38 which is the point where there are 8 different parts spanning 3 1/2 octaves from D2 to G5. 

All Will Be Well!

This week I have the honour of introducing my friend Elise to you-a woman with impeccable taste in career, music, dress sense and friends. We worked together in london for term and soon discovered our common awesome taste in music whike we would edit videos. The exchanges began, mostly sustaining us during thesis writing time. This week Elise brings that awesome music choice to you, Mephobics. Enjoy!

-Sudhir

 Often I can tell that I’m going to be friends with someone based on their music taste. I think I was already friends with Sudhir before I realized that his music taste was awesome, but I think that was still definitely a good sign for our friendship. We both like a lot of songs that to me often sound carefree but are also thoughtful; that might sound like kind of a dichotomy but I think that’s how both of us tend to approach life, which is why we get along!

- Elise Young

Simple Things : The Silent Comedy

I like this one (a) just because it sounds really fun and (b) because it reminds me that it’s OK to not really know what you’re doing or thinking at all, and you can still enjoy life even when all the pieces haven’t fallen into place.

All Will Be Well : The Gabe Dixon Band

This one reminds me that even if all the pieces haven’t fallen into place… they will!

Give

Sudhir's Pick

So I know December for you means Christmas and all that comes with it. For me, it marks the coming of the end of the year and calls for a time for reflection. I know I have shared a few reflection type songs throughout the year but this might be my favourite. Randomly discovered Foals this past weekend on game night when we were watching a movie channel late at night. Out of the host of songs of this UK based band. This might be my favourite. Take a listen-

Tanisha's Pick

I've been listening to a lot of Christmas music. But, it seems that from the ones I have been listening to this year, they aren't really share-worthy. Hopefully, there will be some better ones soon.
This is one that my cousin found last year. Really like this guys voice and the arrangement of the song. It's so mellow, perfect for cold winter evenings with Christmas tree lights and hot chocolate. 

Chicago or Half the World Away

Sudhir's Pick

So before we descend into Christmas music marathons I thought I would share one recently discovered fantastic jazz song. You know that jazz isn't my most preferred genre but I do like it a lot when I hear it. B.B. King and Clapton rang very highly in my list of individual artists. This song has so many great artists at their best. Hope you enjoy it. Perfect for chill out or dancing when no one is around.



Tanisha's Pick

What are you saying, Sudhir?! It's December tomorrow, so cannot wait any longer for Christmas music. (Actually, I started listening to Christmas music ages ago)
A few weeks ago, I discovered the artist Aurora. Such clear crisp vocals- it's like winter breeze. Was listening to more of her today and found that she sings a cover of Oasis' Half the World Away for the John Lewis Christmas advert for this year. Then I watched their christmas adverts for the past couple years. They are all so beautiful and lovely - this one was my favourite.

So, here's Aurora and some John Lewis Christmas warmth.

Soulful Suffering

Lost in the Light - Bahamas

Hey there, 
Heard this song the other day on 8tracks. Such sad lyrics, but sooo deep and soulful. Goes to show that a simple-structured song can really make you focus on the feelings behind the lyrics. Listened to some of this other music too, but this is definitely my favourite.
Hope you have a good week! 

P.S. It's December soon! :)

Suffering You, Suffering Me - Slow Club

Hey Hey!
So remember a while ago I sent you this song called Christmas T.V. by a band called Slow Club? No? GO listen to it now. Can we continue now? Good. I swear I thought they were a one hit wonder but I was totes wrong. This song has become the soundtrack to me week. It is super upbeat with phenomenal vocals. Seriously, a great song and so different from Christmas TV (which is probably in my top 10 favourites of all time). Let me know your thoughts.

Peace!

Time and Lemons

Sudhir's Pick

Hey yo!

This is my win for the month. Not only do I get to share a cover of one of my favourite songs but it is performed by one of the top 15 performing voices right now. Also, have you heard of Chilli Gonzalvez before? Listen to more of his stuff. He popped up on my Spotify last year and I literally couldn't stop listening to his stuff. Very soothing. Anyways, Enjoy!




Tanisha's Pick

Hi, I spent the whole afternoon trying to find a song. Listened to so many good choices, but I guess they just weren't quite right for this week. I also thought that because you are still recovering from fever, you may not have posted yet and would buy me some extra time, but was pleasantly surprised that you've already written out your post. 

Here's a song I heard recently. It's such a happy warm tune by an Australian trio. I read that they only started singing together a few years ago to raise money for a mission trip to Africa. When they started busking in Sydney, they got noticed and then they were offered an opportunity to record their music.

Hope you like the song and hope you recover soon too!

Rainy Day Tunes

Hellos!
Such a cold and gloomy day! My colleague and I at work couldn't even type because our fingers were getting numb, so we had to thaw them around the coffee cup. 
Played this song in the afternoon and it definitely spread some warmth by making us move to the beat. After the fifth time, she was like, "you're playing the same song again!?" :P
Never heard of this group, so should check out other stuff by them. I think this would make a good track for a beach playlist; it has a bit of a calypso vibe. 
Enjoy it and have a good week. 

Hey hey!

So, much like you (and I am sure everyone else in Bangalore today) I was stuck in the rain for a bit. While I was getting shelter under a tree, I thought back to last week when I heard a song in Joe's place. Since it is his birthday, I don't mind talking about him a bit. Typical Joe didn't know what the song was called but he knew the name of the band - Deer Tick. I spent the day listening to several of their songs but couldn't find the song that Joe was playing. However, what I found was a new band which I genuinely like. They are very folksy and rough hazy vocals like a Bob Dylan or Bob Geldof. Perfect for rainy nights like this. This is my favourite discovery from today. Enjoy!

Musical Interlude: November Edition

Meg Burrows is a singer/songwriter from Suffolk, England who writes songs from her parent's kitchen. I've knows Meg for over 16 years and over the years I've seen her become an extremely talented writer, poet and musician. Memories go back to playing piano duets during lunchtimes in a music room at school when we were 12 years old. Since those days, she's become a local singing sensation writing her own lyrics and composing her own music performing at events from cafes, to weddings, to music festivals. 

When I asked her to contribute to the blog, she sent me a list of more than 15 songs saying they were all exceptional music and impossible to choose from them. After much effort, she managed to choose 3 and said it was impossible to narrow it down any further as music is so abundantly amazing!

Thanks for contributing such beautiful music. You can contribute some more in the future. Hope we meet sometime soon to sit and talk about music all day.

-Tanisha 

Please check out her page on Soundcloud, Facebook and YouTube for some of her music.

Breathe/Winter : Matt Corby

It's very fitting for this time of the year. His vocals are hauntingly beautiful. Love listening to him on road trips. His song 'Brother' is cracking.

Ghost of You : Seth Lakeman

I saw this man again the other night and found his music on the album, Kitty Jay (brilliant song!). He's so so good live; so much energy, skill and passion. Ghost of You is just beautiful.

Letters : Marty O'Reilly and the Old School Orchestra

Live music doesn't get much better!

All We Have Is Time

Hey hey,
It might just be because it sounds a lot like Death Cab for a Cutie but Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness might be my favourite find of this year. Very easy listening, relatable lyrics and a beautiful voice. I like this song better than the more popular - Cecilia and the Satelite which I think we have talked about recently. Either way, I can see him becoming a prominent feature on 8 tracks playlists. Enjoy!
-Sudhir




Hey!
No sure if I ever sent you music by UsTheDuo. They were just YouTube singers, but last year they became famous when their song was part of the Book of Life soundtrack. Heard their latest track, 'Slow Down Time' today and just do not like the new style of their music. It was so upsetting to see them become so pop-y! I managed to find a live acoustic version of the same track, and it is lovely! Why don't they just release a stripped-down acoustic version?! Sigh.
-Tanisha

Call the Police

Hey hey!

I love our Oscar traditions - waking up early, continuous texting whichever hemisphere we are in and of course, the frantic tallying at the end to see who predicted more winners. I know awards season isn't for a while but since we started watching potential Oscar movies already (The Walk) might as well share a song from a recent Oscar flick. Oddly enough, I only recently heard it. I think Legend is better on this than 'Glory' which he won the award for. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it. Looking forward to February 2016.

-S

 

I know I sent this to you a couple weeks ago, but this needs to be heard by more people. Everyone knows that Clemens Rehbein (a.k.a Milky Chance) is a talented singer, but who are all these other talented musician friends of his!? Way too much talent for one music video. I listened to some of the music by the other singer in the video. Most of his music is in German, but really good stuff. I definitely think he sounds very much like George Ezra. Also, Roxanne is such a good song choice to cover. Have a good week. 

-Tanisha






picture courtesy - annenmaykantereit 

Some Indie for October

Hey yo!
By now I feel like you know my music tastes well enough that I do not need to explain why I like this song. But in the interest of record- keeping and because a few people actually read this every week, I thought I would elaborate. 'Feels Like the End' literally has everything I like in a song - brilliant lyrics (which make me question my sanity), deep powerful voice and that beautiful beautiful piano taking a lead. Bring on the long reflective times on the balcony!
-Sudhir




Hey, 
I'm not sure that you listen to enough folk music, so here's one that is as folk-y as you can get. A banjo taking the lead harmony, lyrics that take you back reminiscing childhood days and home, and a gradual crescendo of tempo towards the end of the song are all components that make it a great track. They toured with Mumford and Sons and Ben Howard, so you can definitely see the line of influence. Have a good week.
-Tanisha

It's Still Monday in Hawaii

From Sudhir 

Hey!
So I really, really think you will like this song. Remember when we were talking about Django Unchained having great music? This song totally belongs on that soundtrack. I know you enjoy songs with strong anthem- type choruses. This song has that and more. Thankfully, I was watching an episode of Colbert the other day. He was on there. Happy Monday!



From Tanisha

I played this for you the other day because I thought I had already sent it to you, but I guess not. It was a random find on 8tracks and I listened to it on loop for the whole day (like I do with great finds). Despite listening to it so many times, I'm still not sure what the lyrics are.

"Ooo, something that's real now. Ooo, it's better than here now..."

This is the debut track from an LA based band. Much anticipation for more music from them. 

Earth and Sky

This is Lisa Dupuy. She is one of Sudhir's friends, classmates and overall awesome human being. During a very intense one year in London, they bonded over good writing, issues relating to journalists and politics (lots of politics). However, one of Sudhir's biggest regrets is that they did not talk about music tastes more. This letter is Lisa's way of solving that problem. Thanks for writing in, Lis.

Dear Sudhir,

I am currently experiencing a somewhat sleep-deprived delirium the likes of which I have not seen since our panic-stricken thesis-writing days ... You’re well aware, of course, that telling people to only recommend two songs is impossible. But I see that’s part of the fun. You see, I listen to music in the form of albums. When I like a song, I usually don’t just appreciate its music or lyrics, but also like if it sits comfortably amongst its fellow tunes, or if it does a one-eighty and kicks the rest of the musical entities in their rhythmic, three-minute butts. 

The other thing I do is associate songs or artists with one another, sometimes in ways that seem random. I suppose everyone does that: music can transport you to places or moments you’ve been at. For example:  Me feeling in a pickle about this blog post brought me back to my nervous 17-year-old self on the day  I was going in for my university admissions interview. My dad had driven me to the appointment and as I sat in the car with a semi-case of hyperventilation he played me a song called ‘Bodies’. It’s a Sex Pistols tune. It’s about a girl who is getting an abortion. It’s about as horrible as you’d expect. “It’s to get the jitters out”, my dad said. And it did, so that my song for nervous occasions is still this embodiment of refinery. I figured that this would make an original pick for Mephobia. But then I realized, If I pick this abortion song, I have to pick my other abortion song – which I know sounds weird. 

The other song is called ‘Oasis’ and it’s a song by one of my heroines, Amanda Palmer. She wrote a painfully personal but funny and poppy song. But the thing is: I’m not sure that ‘Oasis’ is my favourite Amanda Palmer song. And as much as I would love to feature her stuff here (she’s a label-breaking, tweeting, Neil Gaiman-marrying, punk cabaret machine), I’m afraid that once I get started with her, my association skills will be bouncing off the walls, ratcheting into dusty black holes of ever-expanding CD stacks. And you did just inform me in our whatsapp conversation that one or two introductory lines should suffice. 

I guess the best thing to do here, is forget about the namedropping above. After much deliberation I decided to let serendipity do the choosing, mostly because I’ve always wanted to use the word, ‘serendipity’. The selection turned out to be cool brothers crooning out soulful heartfelt songs. There’s some politics in both, as well. 


The Rolling Stones : Salt of the Earth

Just last weekend my beloved brother played a horribly overproduced R ‘n’ B cover version. Big mistake. There’s no for a reimagination of this tune. It features my favourite ‘change’ in music of all time: the opening lead is being sung by Keith Richards in the first verse. at about 30 seconds in, Mick Jagger takes over. It gives me goosebumps everytime. Throw in some societal statements and I’m raising my hands in praise.

 



Paolo Nutini : Iron Sky

The entire Caustic Love get a regular repeat at my house, but in my opinion ‘Iron Sky’ takes the cake. I like a raspy voice and in this track Nutini is bringing his voice, for sure. Also – despair, dystopia: perfect musical building blocks, even politics works here. It’s something stirring in this song. And the Charlie Chaplin Dictator speech in there is a great trick, too.

Men and Brothers

Tanisha's Pick

Who remembers the days of Grooveshark? The days before 8tracks and Soundcloud. This group was once a feature on the Grooveshark home page with their track Fear and Fallacy and I was immediately hooked. I sang the lyrics all through my college thesis "I know my time is coming..."

The song I am sharing is one of my favourites of theirs because of the lyrics and because I love the music transition at 1:48s from a slow paced to a faster foot-tapping beat. I'm reading through the lyrics wondering what excerpt to share, but the whole song is awesome, so pay attention to all the lyrics.





Sudhir's Pick

Needtobreathe is Christian rock band out of the same genre as legends such as Casting Crowns and Switchfoot. I picked this song of theirs for a two reasons - 1) It's new and awesome and 2) It has Gavin Degraw right beside them singing. The title seems appropriate for Bo and Bear Rinehart, brothers who are also lead singer and lead guitarist for the band.This song exemplifies the phenomenal range of the singer and the contemporary edge this song has. Sheer brilliance!

Contemplative Mondays

Sudhir's Pick

One of my favourite things to do is to sit on the balcony in the evening when it's completely quiet but for the sound of the rustling leaves. This song now accompanies me - it induces reflection, and promises resolve. The last minute is magical as the oath of protection echoes accompanied by a wonderful harmony of the piano and violin.

Try it sometime.

Tanisha's Pick

This track featured on my playlist a few days ago. Gungor, a husband-wife duo has been known to produce unconventional contemporary Christian music- intricately crafted arrangements and meaningful themes. 

This track is no different. A folk-inspired track with close harmonies talking about the futility of man's strife for greatness. 

Musical Interlude: September Edition

This months musical interlude has been contributed by Saahas Patil. Saahas has been singing professionally for a band called Allegro Fudge for the last 4 years. They released one album, 'Maximum City' in 2012, and have a bunch of songs written for the next. He is also writing and playing his own music, and hopes to have an album out next year. Saahas also work as a social worker with an NGO called U&I. Check out his Facebook page- www.facebook.com/saahas 

A Face to Call Home : John Mayer

This song is from John Mayer's fifth album 'Born and Raised'. He wrote this album right after his very public fall from grace with the playboy interview. What that resulted in, is such a great album. I love it when an album reflects the artists life, and this is such an accurate description of his at the time - wounded, chastised, hopeful and very introspective. As with any John Mayer song, he manages to go a lot deeper than most with his lyrics and he does exactly that with this song about love and companionship. The riff and backing vocals during the bridge is just something else. 

The Spirit Carries On : Dream Theatre

The album that this song is from, " Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory" really is a complete masterpiece. It is about past life regression, where a man re-visits his past life and finds out he was murdered. It is a concept album, and all the songs follow a story and gracefully intertwine with each other, to result in this final song, which to me has stood out as one of the band's best. The lyrics are deep, every note in the song is brimming with so much emotion. Perfect ending to an epic album.

When Mondays come around too fast...

Sudhir's Pick

I have been thinking about sport a lot of late. Many hours of my child hood were spent in front of a television watching tennis, cricket, basketball and almost every weekend, Formula1. While the end credits of each sporting event had an exhilarating song to match the sport none has perfectly captured the essence of a sport as much as Alistair Griffin's Just Drive which was used in the Formula 1 2010-11 season. With exceptional lyrics stemming from his songwriting career, the song perfectly captures the adrenaline that only Formula 1 can bring. I would highly recommend ALL his other songs. He is high up on my favourite singer/songwriters.




Tanisha's Pick

Weekends can get busy and then Mondays come around too fast. I was on the train Monday evening and I really wanted to listen to something quiet. Something unlike the usual happy-jumpy song that I want on a Monday. This song by The Cinnamatic Orchestra and Patrick Watson came to mind. It would have been perfect if I had my iPod. 

This morning I started listening to other music by Patrick Watson- oh wow! Such lovely lovely music. Must download them soon. So many choices now of what to post here, but I will stick to my first choice. But in case you want a taste of his other music- listen to this one.

Welcome Home

Sudhir's Pick

How could you not like this song? No seriously. With more than half the song is just beautiful humming set to a lovely melody, this song screams perfection. The rest of the song brings a cacophony of wonderful sounds including clapping. It makes my indie heart beat faster. A must listen!

Tanisha's Pick

The Mowgli's are infectiously happy. All their songs are overly happy, that listening to too many at a time will give you a definite overdose of happy music. Here's one of their older ones for this week. It's going to be ringing in your head for many days! Haha.

Unapologetically Nerdy

Joel, Tanisha and Sudhir

Today, we have the privilege of hearing from Mr. Joel Louzado, a man who Tanisha and Sudhir have spent the majority of our adult lives knowing as classmates, colleagues and artists. From identifying plot holes in movies to proposing alternate conspiracy theory to the already existing ones, Joel is able to (and with incredibly entertaining arm movements, we might add) make you appreciate life in diverse ways. We asked Joel to write for us and he brought out a post which did all of this. For more of Joel's awesomeness, you can follow him on twitter and read his blog

Love,

Tanisha and Sudhir

----------------------------

Hello,

Before we begin, if you don’t like super nerdy songs then there’s nothing I can do for you I’m afraid. I wish you safe travels.

Hey, you’re still here… Awesome!

So I personally wish that this band ‘Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers’ were more widely known. Hank Green, the lead vocalist, is one half of the internet-famous Vlogbrothers channel where he and his brother John Green talk about life (John Green is the one who wrote that book ‘The Fault in our Stars’ btw, in case you’ve heard of it). Between the two of them they’ve built an impressive empire on the Internets: a couple of science shows (SciShow, etc), an education channel (Crash Course), a couple of vlog channels, a record studio (DFTBA Records), an online video convention (VidCon) and subbable.com to name a few ventures… and then just for fun there’s also the band.

What’s awesome about Hank (besides the superhuman productivity) is that he just seems like a regular guy who’s just unapologetically nerdy while doing cool things to hopefully make the world suck less.

Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers : This Isn't Hogwarts

“Unapologetically nerdy”, as exemplified by this first song which is a rock ballad about a kid who wishes he was in Hogwarts instead of public school. And it’s not just full of fanboy-isms, it’s also commentary on the school system with lines like:

...this isn't Hogwarts, this is a concrete box 
and the pictures on the wall are never gonna talk, 
and the teachers don't care, 
that the kids don't try the most magical thing we have is fluorescent lights...



There’s another really fun one addressed to JK Rowling which is full of fanboy-love: “Oh JK Rowling”


Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers : I F***ing Love Science

As I mentioned earlier, Hank clearly has a great love for science education and between SciShow and Crash Course puts out a lot of really informative yet entertaining science content.

I think the guiding ethos behind all of it is pretty firmly condensed into this next song. Super energetic stuff btw, bound to perk up your Monday morning. :)

And I f**kin' love Carl Sagan 
'Cause I think it's fly to look up at the sky 
And never ever ever stop wondering why. 
There's nothing here to argue against 
It's a process not an ideology, 
And I f**king love science.

There are a few others I really like where he puts scientific concepts to music like this one about the Fermi Paradox and another about Quarks.

By the way, It’s funny but over on the Vlogbrothers Youtube channel they quite often sign off on their videos by saying “DFTBA”, which stands for “Don’t Forget To Be Awesome”.

It makes sense then that Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers might be just the band to help soothe that crippling Mephobia you’ve been dealing with lately. Have a good week. :)

Lucky or Cursed?

Tanisha's Pick

My friend Bethany and I started talking about music on a 7 hour train ride, scrolling through each others iPods and discussing favourites. She suggested I listen to Agnes Obel. I almost forgot about it until I found the memo on my phone a couple weeks ago. 

What beautiful music - somewhere in the middle of Daughter and Lana Del Ray, yet completely unique in her own style. Perfectly soothing, flawless arrangements and just as good live as in their studio recordings- so much praise for them. 

Sudhir's Pick

Please be careful to read this artist's name as RYAN Adams and not the Canadian who had a pretty good summer of 69. Their music sounds nothing alike - both good but both very very different.

I accidentally came across this song last week and it stayed with me. It is hauntingly beautiful and forces introspection when Adams asks you

I don’t remember, were we wild and young
All that’s faded into memory
I feel like somebody I don’t know
Are we really who we used to be
Am I really who I was

Definitely worth a listen… or several… in a row. You will be the lucky one.

We are 25!

WOAH! We are 25 episodes old! How did that happen?! It seems like just yesterday we hatched this plan to share music with the world in our own unique way. To help us celebrate we thought it would be cool to have our BIGGEST fan be a guest blogger for us. 

Delaney and Sudhir at Trafalgar Square for New Year's Eve

Sudhir had the pleasure of meeting Delaney Osborn during his year studying in London. Ranked "high up there" in his list of favourite people they took London by storm for the eleven months they knew each other including late night pub-crawls, plays at the Globe, running 5ks and 5am photowalks. During their time together they realized a shared love for several genres of music. This week we get a sampling of some of that awesome music!




Broke Royals : Strung Up in Lights

This band is actually a couple of friends of mine from college, but I didn’t listen to their music that much until this year. Once I found their first album on Spotify, though, I fell in love. This is my favorite song off that album, mostly because of the wonderful lyrics. My favorite line has to be the first one in the second verse: 

“I’ve seen every city, I’ve seen every city twice. 

But no city ever looked as good as this one does tonight.”

Mikky Ekko : Smile

It was pretty hard for me to narrow down my second choice for this post, but ultimately went with this song because it’s probably my favorite one I found this year. I love Mikky Ekko for his lyrics and alternative rock sound, but “Smile” really sold him for me because of its contrast between the music and the words. At first glace it sounds like a fun dancing song, but once you sit down and really take in what he is saying you realize just how sad it is. 

“Smile, the worst is yet to come. We’ll be lucky if we ever see the sun.”

"My taste in music is your face"

Sudhir's Pick

The simple lyrics, easy melody and soulful voice make this an instant classic. I found this song a few weeks ago and have been dying to share it. The lyrics serve as a pick-me-up. "All will be well even after all the promises you've broken to yourself."

Tanisha's Pick

This band doesn't get nearly enough fame as they deserve. Their music includes a fusion of a variety of genres from alternative, to rap and electronic. I love how they use the piano in the fusion.

I read up an explanation of the band's name on last.fm "Tyler came up with the band’s name while studying All My Sons by Arthur Miller, a play about a man who must decide what is best for his family after causing the death of ‘twenty one pilots’ during World War II because he knowingly sent them faulty parts for the good of his business. Tyler explains that this story of moral dilemma was the inspiration for the name of the band."