Earworms: August 2018

A month gone, a month gained. What's the difference?

I want to welcome ya'll to August's Earworms for the year 2018. A month of beginnings and questionable decision-making, has led to quite a line-up of new music. From country music, Tiny Desk concerts, to Father John Misty's clever lyricisms it has been another month of musical enjoyment.

Mac Miller

This was a tough one.

Fresh off the release of a new album, Mac Miller was found dead in his home due to a drug overdose. This was quite difficult for me to process, because in a way Mac Miller and people my age grew up together. We watched him grow up from making energetic party-focused songs, to make rich and beautiful music densely ladened with meaning. His popular mixtapes K.I.D.S and Best Day Ever were some of the most fun and entertaining music for us damn kids to listen to. I still remember blasting his Best Day Ever mixtape on those long summer days of pre-teenhood, where you still had a little bit of innocence but were unaware of it's sudden, but inevitable departure.

With the release of The Divine Feminine and Swimming, we saw a fundamental shift in Malcolm's overall sound. He shifted into a more buttery, slow, and smooth style of music. Substituting fast-paced beats, with the more classic sound of traditional instruments such as drums, pianos, bass and even featured strings in his NPR Tiny Desk Concert for his song 2009. Not only was did his music hold a closer connection to his personal life, but he was creating truly beautiful music.

Rest in peace Mac.

Playlist: 40's to 50's Era Music

This past month has put me through a ringer of different feelings. With the start of my final year of school, meeting new people, changing as a person, and starting my own business, I've been having some dramatic up's and down's. This is why the playlist aptly named 40's and 50's music is on my Earworms for this month.

The sweet sound of Frank Sinatra's voice is an easy fix to an uneasy heart. The perfectly raspy delivery of Louis Armstrong can change your mood in an instant. This is what this playlist means to me. What does it mean to you?

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: The Nashville Sound

There's no question about it, country music is fucking good.

There is a lot of creative garbage out there to sift through, especially in country music. How many times have we heard the buzzwords beer, tractor, girls, cowboys and fried chicken? But if you look long enough, you'll find true artists who's only intention is to pour their entire being into the music that they create. This is the definition of the musical group Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.

You'll find no hollow lyrics here. Nothing about this music is easy or forced. This is because this group hosts two of the best artists in the Country genre, that would be Jason Isbell and his wife Amanda Shires. The two musicians are powerhouses on their own, but when they team up as the 400 Unit, they are simply magical. The band's third album The Nashville Sound features home-run singles such as Last Of My Kind, If We Were Vampires, Molotov while featuring an overall cohesion that shows off the complete ability of the band. This album was more focused on the overall sound of the band, instead of focusing on Isbell's lyricism and voice.

Isn't it funny how easy it is to tell when something is shoddily made? This is a phenomenon prevalent in country music, which gives it it's notoriously bad reputation. The overused yapping of girls, beer, trucks & tractors have spread throughout the genre like the plague. But with artists such as Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, we still have hope.