Embracing Life's Impermanence, One Reflection at a Time
Monday Morning Playlist – 5/20/24
Well, it’s a new week and a new start, and I’m trying to keep this going. I fell off a bit, but the more I’m consistent, the better I get at my writing. Anyone who has read these before knows the deal. The first 10 songs of the day with no skipping. Don’t be embarrassed. We all like something obscure once in a while. I know I do. Now that being said, let’s fuckin’ go and see you readers on Friday with my next playlist!
I’m sure this song became more noticeable on the TV show Yellowstone. Season 2 Episode 5. I was never a country music guy. The main reason is that the songs or the style did not grab me. I grew up in a small town where there were plenty of cowboys, but I ended up growing up in the part of town where around me were bikers and homeboys as my peers in school and friend circle but never joined their click. Like I said, country music never grabbed me, but I can appreciate a good song with a lot of soul when I hear it regardless of genre. Tyler Childers is one talented man. Of course, I heard this when I watched Yellowstone but never knew who it was until a friend of mine showed me his music. What I have been seeing in country music lately is that a lot of underrated songwriters of the country music genre are starting to come up more often, and I think that what country music needs. Artists like Jelly Roll, Zach Bryan, and Colter Wall, just to name a few. I suppose all the cookie-cutter country isn’t cutting it anymore lately, and that’s a great shift in music, in my opinion, and Tyler Childers is one of those underrated song writers that’s getting noticed. This is one of my favorite songs from this man. Nose On the Grindstone has all the soul of an authentic singer-songwriter song.For a while, I was really into Folk-Metal bands. Eluveitie was one I became a huge fan of because I love that Celtic sound, and it blended so well with the metal sound. This record was different from their others. They called it their acoustic record. The songs were mostly written in the forgotten language of Gaulish and sung by backing vocalist for the band Ana Murphy, who eventually went left the band to do her solo work. This record is a journey that you can get lost in. It’s different from the bands other records because it takes more of a relaxing sound approach vs. ripping guitars, pounding drums, and growling vocals. It’s a journey well worth exploring.Ah, memory lane here. I was 13 when this record was released in 1999. I bought it at a Warehouse Music store in Monterey, California, for $9, after working a weekend with my dad hanging sheetrock where I earned 50 bucks for 2 days. When you’re 13 in 1999 and you earn 50 bucks, you think your ballin. More realistically, a lot of stuff was more reasonably priced back then. Once I saw the video for Wait and Bleed, I had to have the CD. Eyeless was one of those tracks that became one of my all-time favorites from the bands catalog. Part of the story with this song is while they were recording the album with producer Terry Date, there was a homeless guy outside the studio just randomly shouting “You can’t see California without Marlon Brando’s eyes!”repeatedly. Hence, the line in the chorus of the song.I’ve discovered Lacuna Coil in 2003 on the show Uranium on the Much Music channel back when MTV was not cutting it for music anymore. Where it became more about reality shows about pregnant teenagers and spoiled 16-year-olds showing off what many others do not have in this world or let alone experience for themselves. The video for Heaven’s A Lie played on that show, and that’s what got me into the band. I always like that goth-metal sound. The 2 vocalists of Andrea and Cristina balance each other out with flow the style of the music. This record, in particular, in my opinion, was a milestone in their career. This record was more a heavy driven sound. It was a departure from previous releases where the sound was much lighter but still heavy on the melodic side, but what stood out most to me was that this record is a concept record, and any artist will tell that writing something like that has been their biggest challenge in the career unless you’re already a gifted storyteller. The band went into a really dark place with this record, and it came out to be a masterpiece from top to bottom. The story with this album was that there was an abandoned sanitarium that was believed to be haunted in Northern Italy. The band felt that they could still feel the spirits of those patients when they explored the corridors of the asylum. It was believed that the band still heard echos from the ghosts of patients who were tortured, suffering from disease, subjected to dangerous experiments, and brutal, non-effective treatments. Downfall is one of those many stories that they had uncovered. The 2 vocalists balance each other out with Andres ferocious growls and Cristina’s hauntingly soothing range.Social Distortion is an all-time favorite of mine, and Cold Feelings is one of those opening tracks that just get you going! Whether you are getting amped for the gym, getting up in the morning and getting ready for work, or need a boost of energy, this track does just that. For me it does at least. Ape was one of those tracks by Jinjer. I didn’t really understand. In my opinion, this is where the band started to lose me. This is where the music started getting a bit lighter, and this track was all around sloppy. A lot of people make the mistake because you don’t like a song from a band you like, you now hate that band. I respectfully disagree. I’m still a fan of Jinjer, but this track just lost me. It isn’t no Cloud Factory. I’ll tell you that much.When Slipknot had finished their tour cycle after Iowa, it came to a point where they just hated each other. That may have been the tour from hell for them, but what Slipknot accomplished in that 2-year tour cycle was nothing less than incredible. I’ve always said you have to go through hell to see some heaven. When the 9 took their long-deserved break, some kept working. That’s when Corey Taylor and Jim Root decided to bring back Coreys’ original band Stone Sour. Released in 2002, this song came to me at a crazy time in my life. Inhale is a song that showcases the power of hope and the importance of finding something to hold onto, even in the most challenging times, and that was a challenging time in my life that I may write about in the future. Throughout that time, I felt like a broken man at 16, hence the line in the song. What really kept my head together was my obsession with my music. Keep me out of hard drugs and gangs. While my family was going through a tough transition at the time sleeping on couches and floors from place to place, I always had my music collection of mixes I had made previously to get lost in.Brass Against is a cover songs band that uses and orchestra of brass instrument players that have done song from Rage Against the Machine, Tool, System of a Down and many others with different vocalists depending on the song. I guess you could call it Jazz-Metal if that makes any sense. Know Your Enemy was covered from a Rage Against the Machine song.I don’t have much to say about others that is a good track on a great record, so go listen to it.The OzzMan cometh! One of the most living and influential pioneers of heavy metal, Ozzy has seen and done it all. Now You See It was an underrated classic. Even to this day, Ozz can still make bangers of records. Although his health is compromised to where he can no longer hit the road but that won’t stop him from releasing records until the Grim Reaper pays him that final visit.
Reaper's Reflections 