%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |    My primary Writing.com blog. |
|
Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:  "The Soundtrackers Group"  "Blogging Circle of Friends " "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" "JAFBG" "Take up Your Cross" Thanks for stopping by!  |
 | Day 28 | "The Black and White" by The Band CAMINO It's only fitting that I end this year's "The Soundtrack of Your Life" challenge with the artist that I unquestionably listened to the most throughout 2022. Even though "Over Yourself" had the most plays of any individual track on my Spotify year-end playlist, The Band CAMINO actually had multiple songs on that year-end playlist, with "I Think I Like You," "Know It All," and "Damage" (off their self-titled LP released in September 2021) all in the Top 10. That last one I even wrote a short story ("Damage" ) about last year. I was planning on doing the whole album for "Musicology Anthology" , but life got in the way and that ended up being the only short story I wrote based on the album. Still, I'm pretty happy with it. The last time I featured The Band CAMINO on a Soundtrackers challenge was back in 2021 when I did "My Thoughts On You" for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" . I'm actually going to do something a little unorthodox and instead of using a song from their most recent album, I'm going to call back to the song that I was thinking about featuring during the 2021 "The Soundtrack of Your Life" but ended up passing up in favor of "My Thoughts On You" instead. After thoroughly listening to the new album last year, I found myself going through their back catalog quite a bit and this was a really frequent song in the rotation.I was really bummed when I found out that The Band CAMINO actually played a show about 5 miles from my house last year, but I didn't find out about it until the last minute when it was too late to get tickets. I'm definitely keeping tabs on the band a lot more closely now; they just have so many great songs and I've heard they put on a fantastic live show, so I'm excited to check them out the next time they come to town. ... and with that, another "The Soundtrack of Your Life" draws to a close! Hard to believe we're already at the end of a month of music blogging! I really enjoyed last year's playlist and I'm already thinking about what I'm going to include from all the things I've been listening to this year!  |
| Day 27 | "Alone" by Heart (cover by The Hindley Street Country Club feat. Sarah Lloyde) I included this song specifically because I think Sarah Lloyde does a great job with a really difficult song to sing, but the main reason I'm including this artist generally is because The Hindley Street Country Club might be my favorite YouTube find of the past year. They're an Australian cover band and they have an incredible number of videos on their YouTube channel. They upload a new video roughly once a week, and if you're a fan of pop and classic rock hits, you'll find yourself going through their videos for hours. This one is great because "Alone" by Heart is one of my favorite songs ever, but I also highly recommend their covers of a number of other songs, including but not limited to:  "Your Love" by The Outfield "New Sensation" by INXS "Under Pressure" by Queen & David Bowie "To Be With You" by Mr. Big "Waiting for a Star to Fall" by Boy Meets Girl "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by StarshipIt's a really good mix of popular 80s/90s songs and they frequently split the vocal duties among a couple of regulars with very different voices, as well as bringing a number of outside singers in to provide guest vocals depending on the needs of the song. Seriously, they have over 750,000 subscribers and 200+ videos on their channel. If you like music from this era, you won't be disappointed. |
| Day 26 | "I2I" by Tevin Campbell feat. Rosie Gaines (cover by El Rich feat. Kike Jimenez, Prudence, Paco Lorenzana, and Pachi) A GOOFY MOVIE (1995) has, unquestionably, some of the greatest original songs of any soundtrack. Tevin Campbell's "I2I" and "Stand Out" are absolute bangers that are still great nearly thirty years later. I found this cover version while playing around on YouTube one night and absolutely fell in love with it. All of the artists are from Mexico and one day during the pandemic (July 2020) they decided to do a cover of the song with each of them recording their parts separately and socially distant. Honestly the cover is pretty great, not just for a pandemic recording, but full stop. This song just makes me happy when I listen to it, not just because it's a great song from one of my favorite movies as a kid, but also for giving some talented musicians an outlet during the pandemic, and introducing me to a number of great artists from Mexico. Each of them is pretty outstanding on their own as well. Prudence has an amazing voice, and Paco Lorenzana (the guy with the long hair and red guitar) is a really talented guitarist. |
| Day 25 | "Clean" by Taylor Swift (cover by Travis Atreo) "You Are In Love" by Taylor Swift (cover by Travis Atreo) Continuing on from the previous entry ("Anti-Hero" ) about Taylor Swift, this was a song that I (re)discovered this year. 1989 is one of my favorite albums of all time; I honestly don't think there's a bad song on the LP. But for some reason I never really focused on this one until this year. (I also found myself listening to "You Are In Love" from the 1989 Deluxe Edition quite a bit as well.) For some reason, these song really resonated with me this year, and I found myself listening to them a lot. So much, in fact, that I also started seeking out cover versions on YouTube, and since I already did a Taylor Swift track for this year's "The Soundtrack of Your Life" , I thought I'd include the Travis Atreo versions, which are probably my favorite covers that I've been able to find so far. His vocal style really matches the lyrics well and while I think the originals by Taylor are hard to beat, I've included Travis' versions for the sake of a little diversity on my playlist this year. |
| Day 24 | "Anti-Hero" by Taylor Swift It wouldn't be a "The Soundtrack of Your Life" without an entry from Taylor Swift's latest album! Like almost all of her albums, I start out thinking it's not as good as her earlier ones and then, as I listen to the songs more, I find that I like them more and more. I think the whole Midnights album - and the extended Midnights (3am Edition) - is really good. I was tempted to go with "Maroon" or "Question...?" or "Lavender Haze" for this entry, but "Anti-Hero" is the song I keep coming back to over and over again. It's another great example of her facility with song lyrics, and I love it when she tackles issues like her own flaws and insecurities. I know a lot of people bag on Taylor Swift for being too commercial or whatever, but I do think she's one of the most talented songwriters of her generation, and is always coming up with something new and exciting and interesting. As a writer, I can only hope to be able to come up with work that's both as catchy and as introspective as Taylor's work often is. |
| Day 23 | "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC Another classic rock classic that I found thanks to the rabbit hole I went down after rediscovering "Photograph" by Def Leppard. AC/DC was one of my favorite bands growing up, with such a distinctive sound. The vocals are truly unique, and their guitar riffs are incredible. I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite AC/DC song, but this one is definitely up there. It's frequently present on my "high energy" type playlists, everything from workouts to working late when I need to build and maintain some momentum.I also love the fact that this song has been featured in everything from the live-action board game adaptation of BATTLESHIP, to the family-friendly CARS franchise spinoff, PLANES. It's truly an iconic song for all audiences and all ages.  |
| Day 22 | "Photograph" by Def Leppard I blame Robert Waltz  for this song making its way onto my playlist again in 2022. Back on December 4th of last year, he posted "Note: I've added a new entry to my book, [Link To ..." with a GIF of stormtroopers dancing, and this song just happened to cycle onto my playlist at the same time, and the two fit so perfectly together that I must have listened to it on repeat a dozen times. That caused the song to come up in my YouTube music mix for the next few weeks, and before I knew it, it was one of my most listened-to songs of last year with in the span of only four weeks. The last time I was obsessed with this song was when it was featured on the Los Santos Rock Radio station soundtrack from 2013's Grand Theft Auto V video game. Every time that song came on in the game, I'd just cruise around listening to the song... or better yet, if I carjacked a car playing the song while I was on the run from the cops, that was just *chef's kiss* I suppose I should be thanking Waltz... I had been on an electronic pop/synth kick before this, and he rightfully pointed me back toward hard/classic rock jams from the 1980s and 1990s. Oh how I've missed some of these bands... |
| Day 21 | "Arms Around Me" by Starley The first time I heard a song from Starley was probably five or six years ago when she released her first single, "Call on Me (Ryan Riback Remix)," which is also her best performing song to date. Most of the songs she's released since have been incorporated into her first album, One to One, which I didn't realize had been released until I was doing research for this blog entry. I'm definitely going to have to go back and listen to the whole thing because I really like her sound. |
| Day 20 | "Shape Shifting" by Taylor Acorn I've been listening to Taylor Acorn's covers of other songs for years. She does a great cover of John Mayer's "Your Body Is A Wonderland" with David Ryan, and her cover of the Matchbox 20 song "Unwell" is solid too. Most of the covers she does are acoustic or slowed-down renditions of popular songs, including Panic! At The Disco's "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" and Blink-182's "First Date." She's definitely an artist worth checking out if you like covers of popular songs. She also occasionally releases her own music, and this one of the singles she released last year. I really like the lyrics; and the sound is kind of a throwback to the alternative rock that I listened while I was growing up. She's actually released a number of singles toward the end of last year and in the early weeks of this year; I kind of wonder if she's getting ready to compile them all into an EP or something. |
| Day 19 | "All The Feels" by Scavenger Hunt If yesterday's "Saturday" was an homage to 1980s synth/electronic music, this one (yet another Spotify find) reminds me of the dance music I used to listen to growing up in the 1990s. It has a little bit of a Sneaker Pimps "6 Underground" vibe. I could imagine this song playing during the "undercover in a nightclub" scene in some action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis (in the best of ways). Like All The Damn Vampires from yesterday, this is a band I definitely want to check out more music from. I don't know much about them, but I'm going to dig around and see what else I can find. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
