4 the Love of Music #8

4 songs - 4 artists/bands - 4 times a year

Today, a year ago, I started "4 the Love of Music" on DiFashionista!
To celebrate this one year anniversary I'm giving you twice as much songs.
It's been a year of picking some of my favorite bands and singers from my most played playlists.

"You say that you love me but I ask you how much?
So you spread your arms wide till behind you. Your thumbs touch"

Amy Kuney is the Stacey Bendet of the music biz! She's whimsical and it's really fun to listen to. If you like her you should thank Indie-music-fan Sophia Bush for telling us about her. They're friends and they've worked together along with Austin Nichols on the compilation album - Gasoline Rainbows - benefiting the Gulf Coast from the 2010 BP Oil Spill. The title track was written and sung by Miss Amy Kuney and it even ended up on So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Amy has also done a couple of covers like Joni Mitchell's "River" and The Script's "The Man Who Can't Be Moved", but what you need to hear is her album "Bird's Eye View". Thank You for Last Night & Rocket Surgery are my favorites because of their peculiar twists.
Let's bring her quirky character and fan-friendliness in this convo 'cause she's hilarious. When I told her on twitter in 2011 that Rocket Surgery was my favorite song from the album she replied: "my mom used to get brain surgery and rocket science mixed up all the time, so you can thank her for the title :)". Rocket Surgery is basically a song about a guy who's really smart and in love with her but makes love seem really difficult. So, she's telling him that he should hurry up or else he'll lose her. Also, at the end when the bridge starts you can hear someone singing opera in the back. What did I say...she makes whimsical music!

Amy Kuney -
Rocket Surgery
Album: Bird's Eye View

"Yeah, We're Locked Up in Ideas, We Like to Label Everything"

If this beat doesn't want you getting all nerdy on the dance floor (that is my room), you are not me. From the makers of the genius song "Pumped Up Kicks", I bring you another song that is one for the century. Foster the People is just one of those bands that gets you in a good mood any time of the day.
This is a rebellious song and you may only pay attention to the beat that totally takes over this song but the lyrics just do it for me. They're basically singing about rebelling against three things: not being yourself, not having to prove yourself and giving in to society's "mainstream" hype. "And I'm in the crossfire dodging bullets from all your expectancies" is the not having to prove yourself part. "But what I've got can't be bought" is the not giving in to society's "mainstream" hype. "If it don't conform to what you were born into then you run the other way" is the being yourself part. No wonder this song is one of the two songs that actually make me want to dance. They created a beat that makes you want to be yourself.

Foster the People -
Call It What You Want

Album: Torches

"I Wish You Would Tell Me How You Really Feel"

If you were looking for a remake of West Side story, you're in the right place. Tyler Posey & Chloe Grace Moretz recreate one of the most famous love stories and it's directed by Drew Barrymore. Victoria Justice, Shailene Woodley, Donald Glover, Alia Shawkat and Miranda Crosgrove also star in it. Yes, it's a music video turned short film and the music will just really grab you. It's an MTV production and the music is by a band "Best Coast". In this short/extended video you'll hear "Our Deal" and "Boyfriend".

Best Coast -

Our Deal + Boyfriend
Album: Crazy for You

"I Think of You Much More than I Should"

I have a lot of bands that I listen to a lot but The Lone Bellow, like The Lumineers Vampire Weekend, Of Monsters and Men and Mumford and Sons, have a special place in my heart. All of their music, slow or upbeat, is amazing, well written and well made. They're a little bit country and a little bit folk but you won't be able to resist the combination of celebratory music and the real stuff. I can't begin to name the songs that I listen too very often like Tree to Grow, You Never Need Nobody, Two Sides of Lonely, You Can Be All Kinds of Emotional, Looking for You, Teach Me To Know, You Don't Love Me Like You Used to, Bleeding Out, Button and so on. This is music to me, one band and songs for every mood I'm in, yet I can't pick my favorite song! Also remarkable is the amount of bridges in their songs. They switch upbeat to slow a lot in their music and that effect is truly admirable. 

The Lone Bellow -

Looking for You

Album: The Lone Bellow

"I'm Born to Go Where They Tell Me It's Impossible"

One of my favorite bands JOHNNYSWIM is finally releasing their first album - Diamonds - and it's already available for pre-ordering. Since June 2013 when I bought and heard their EP, I've been asking them for an album and it's finally here - well April 29th! Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez harmonize perfectly and their onstage energy is really great. Amanda is the daughter of Donna Summer so I'm not surprised by her talent, but music like this just doesn't happen anymore, so I'm grateful! Can't name my favorite song especially since they're so good live, some I like live and some from the studio version. Listen to the EP and pick your fav out of Heart Beats, Don't Let It Get You Down, Make, Don't Keep Heaven Busy, Annie and Adelina.

Johhnyswim -
Heart Beats
Album: Heart Beats - EP

"Wisdom's a Gift but You Trade it for Youth"

Now it's time for a song coming from the Grammy winning album "Modern Vampires of the City" - Step. This was Vampire Weekend's second Grammy nomination but with or without the win the album would still be great! This song is slower than what we're used to from V.W. but it's awesome! My favorite part is the part where he sings "every time I see you in the world you always step to my girl". Apparently, that's Ezra Koenig's fav part too because he sampled it from Souls of Mischief's "Step To My Girl". Based on that phrase he wrote the entire song. Now, replace the word Girl with Music and you'll really get what he's talking about... It's about an obsession with your favorite music and bands.

Vampire Weekend -
Step
Album: Modern Vampires of the City

"She Says She's Taken but I Don't Believe That She's Made for Anybody But Me"

Actress Leighton Meester showed us a new side last summer when she took us to her recording studio in HTC Summer Sessions. This new side is not her voice because we already knew she could sing when she worked with Robin Thicke (Somebody to Love), Cobra Starship (Good Girls Go Bad) and of course music from her role in Country Strong. This new side is more about the change of genre of her new music. It's really personal and more a softer side of her previous work. She toured with Check in the Dark and covered a couple of songs. The Stand In is originally from Check in the Dark's eponymous debut album but they added the version with Leighton Meester to their second album "The Game". The original version was already good - Mike Frieman's voice is amazing - but it really needed a soft female voice to make it more romantic.
Well you know how that story goes...

Check in the Dark ft Leighton Meester -
The Stand In
Album: The Game

"Soon All the Joy that Pours from Everything Makes Fountains of Your Eyes"

Movies and Music go hand in hand for me, not just because of the soundtrack. This particular band, comes out of a scene from the movie 'Stuck in Love (2012)'. It's the scene where Rusty's (Nat Wolff) drug addicted and alcoholic girlfriend Kate (Liana Liberato) gives him a Christmas present, which is the album Fevers and Mirrors by Bright Eyes. I only checked out this album from Bright Eyes so far, but there are a lot more. I just fell in love with the way they made this album. It's not cheesy or romantic or about anything specifically, but it just seems like someone wrote about all the emotions and events of an everyday life, you know the things we can't control. This particular song is about finding something positive in the things that go horribly wrong. Conor Oberst really has a talent for writing. None of the songs are extremely long but the words are just amazing. It almost feels like he didn't write a song but rather a story. And it's like that with all of his music - he's very underappreciated as a singer as well as a writer especially because he's in so many bands. I mean I'm shocked that songs like The Movement of a Hand, Something Vague, When the Curious Girl Realizes She Is Under Glass and The Centre of the World aren't "out there".

Bright Eyes -
The Movement of a Hand
Album: Fevers and Mirrors

One year has passed, many more to come!
Look out for a new article soon,
Much Love,
DiFashionista


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