amazing

Top 30 Favorite Songs of All Time: #25 “Headphones On” by Skiggy Rapz

(Pronounced skih•jee raps) Skij…-who? He’s Dutch!

“There are only two things I can’t stand in this world… People that don’t tolerate other people’s cultures… And the Dutch.”–Nigel Powers in Austin Powers: Gold Member

Just poking fun. This song made the list because no one knows Skiggy Rapz, who am I kidding. I barely even know any other song besides this, and I feel like I should get to checking out the rest of his beats since I love this song so much.

The song has a really summer vibe, and when I finally compile enough skateboarding footage, this will be used in my video part. (Who knows, it may be posted here sometime. Maybe.)

I don’t even think this is one of his more popular songs. But whatever, it’s one of my favorites.

Top 30 Songs of All Time: #26 “Heartstrings” by Mitchell Grey

A young band, a great band. You guys that have been following my posts in particular should know from my Earworms that I like to listen to many, many, many different things.

This band was introduced to me by the same YouTube singer that introduced me to the John Mayer song I posted about yesterday. She did a cover with Mitchell Grey, and I loved the guy’s voice so much.

The song is about letting go of past relationships, something I believe people have trouble with.

The music video to this song is really special to me. The urban scenes were shot in my old stomping grounds of Elmhurst; Queens NYC, New York. The red awning? Top Line Supermarket. The park? Broadway park.  I’d know the look of those apartment bricks if my eyes were closed. *AFTERTHOUGHT: I FREAKING HATE THE BOYFRIEND’S HAIR. THE HELL IS THAT RAT SHIT?*

Top 30 Favorite Songs of All Time: #28 “What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park

Linkin Park. My favorite band of all time. A song that reminds me of one the coolest movies of all time.

This track is off of Minutes to Midnight, one of the lesser liked of the 5 LP albums (that of course, excluding tour albums and the collaboration EP with Jay-Z and the remix album). It was used as the theme song for the first Transformers movie, which was, in itself, incredible. Megan Fox.

The song really has nothing to do with Transformers, however. The song sends a message about how as humans, we need to restart. We need to show we are capable of doing better, because we’ve destroyed our beautiful planet, and hate and war and poverty are still prominent worldwide. The first step to a better world is to forgive and start fresh.

The song begins with a piano solo (which pleases me, as it is my instrument of choice), and it it goes heavy with drums for the rest of the song. There’s no rapping by Mike, but Chester’s fantastic voice more than makes up for it.

Enjoy the sounds of one of LP’s best songs.

Top 30 Favorite Songs of All Time: #29 “Gold on the Ceiling” by The Black Keys

A real rock song. Off El Camino, “Gold on the Ceiling” has been used in numerous advertisements including in the teasers for one of my favorite shows, Swamp People. I heard it being played at MSG and on ESPN NBA Sunday Showcase, too. The song is really good, guys and gals. Really good.

Let me remind you that this list is not compiled in any order, it is just numbered appropriately as so you can go through the list with ease in the future.

Here’s the song.

Top 30 Favorite Songs of All Time: #30 “This Too Shall Pass” by OK Go

You guys and gals ready? It’s high time for me to kick off my Top 30 Favorite Songs of All Time (in no particular order, posts are just numbered from 30 to 1). I decided to start this column on the 2nd of March due to the fact that March is a 31 day month.

OK Go is a band known for going all out with their music videos (expect at least 2 or 3 of their songs here on this majestic list), and “This Too Shall Pass” has over 39 million views on YouTube, not including all those lyric videos that have at least 500 thousand views each.

The song is really catchy and is one of those that you can’t help but bob your head to the beat. If you listen closely, you’ll hear a trumpet in the song, and in fact, I’ve began to see a trend that songs that have a trumpet in them tend to please my ears a lot more. I’ll expand on this later. You’ll see for yourself, as well.

The music video for “This Too Shall Pass” is insane; it involves a Rube Goldberg machine and lots and lots of colors. In the wise words of one of my favorite artists, Kanye West, “That shit cray.” You’ll say something along those lines, too, once you’ve laid your peepers on this insane production.

The music video for “This Too Shall Pass” :

Earworm: “Eyes Like Sky” by Frank Ocean

Ah, an unreleased song. Songs that artists maybe intended to place on a prior EP or LP and are/were maybe holding it off till the next album… I love them. I also love being one of the first of the inevitable hundreds of thousands or millions to listen to it.

I follow a blog all about Frank Ocean on tumblr, and late this weekend, I happened to have been scrolling through my dash and stumbled onto this unreleased gem. I downloaded the song, and went to sleep. Little had I known that I’d even heard it before Billboard had heard it! When I woke up, Billboard hadn’t posted anything about the leaked song, and about an hour after I’d awoken, Billboard posted about it.

Anyway, the song. I love it. It reminds me of a lot of his older work (The Lonny Breaux Collection, a conglomerate of songs with a rather unique sound), I wouldn’t be surprised if this were one of the songs that shouldn’t have been a part of the collection but never made it. Maybe it was even a snub from Channel Orange; you never know, because unless you’re the artist or the producer, you truly never know.

Actually, it makes more sense for the song to be a snub from Channel Orange that was actually a part of his Channel Orange Sessions. Most people tend to believe that, actually.

Apologies in advance if you take a listen and the song won’t play; UMG has gone on a copyright tear and actually has taken down several of the videos that had the song. Oh well. This is a good, unaltered version for you all:

Earworm: “Never Gonna Give You Up” by The Black Keys

So the past weekend was all about the Grammy’s, and The Black Keys was one of the many winners of the night.

They’ve been one of my more favored bands for a while now, purely based on how raw their sound is. They’re truly a rock band.

Today, during my Portfolio class, I listened to this gem and it’s been stuck in my head since.

The jazz, the rock, the amazing vocals… Just ecstasy.

No, this is not a Rick Roll.

Earworm: “Many of Horror” by Biffy Clyro

Ah, Biffy Clyro. The band with the mystery name.

Now, you all know by now that I love the Northern Irish band Two Door Cinema Club. Biffy Clyro is a trio of Scots, and I love their music, too.

This here song, Many of Horror, is one of their most popular, and there’s no questioning as to why.

*On a side note, I’m really hoping you guys see that Kaley Cuoco commercial. A, it’s hilarious. B, she is fine as all hell.*

Earworm: “Lost” by Frank Ocean

Sorry. Nearly two weeks without a post from me. Being sick, being bombarded with Spanish tests (thanks a mountain, Ms. E), and in general just not having enough time, my posting has dipped. It’s midterm week starting tomorrow, and I’m not stressing so much as I am just happy the school year is flying by.

I guess, with all the schoolwork, you could say I’m lost in the heat of it all.

Frank Ocean will start my Earworms off right, as it ended the past season of Earworm fairly well.

This song, Lost, is the 11th song off of his debut album, Channel Orange.

Surely Frank will be nominated for Grammy’s this year, and hopefully he wins some (even though, in my mind, awards for doing what you love doesn’t matter, as long as you’re happy).

Anyway, enjoy the song.

End: 2012.

Guys, we did it.

We survived 2012, and we get to live the rest of our lives.

I think I’ll take the time to actually run through a list of things I accomplished this year. Trust me, it’ll be a short list.

  • Watched the Doctor Who revamp in completion and am up to date with the show at Series 7 part 2
  • Watched both series of the miniseries BBC Masterpiece: Sherlock and am actually not confused but awaiting the next series
  • Opened my ears to more musical genres
  • Hit 6 ft in height
  • Made the decision to strive for art as a career
  • Live without the past.

I can’t stress enough that 2012 may have been the most unexciting year in my life, but it really is the year that I felt most human. Most vulnerable and curious and obviously the year I felt most mature.

I’m glad to have been able to share my musical tastes with you, our audience. I hope to continue to update you of my Earworms and just things I find interesting.

Happy New Year, everyone!