Music

You Had Me at Merlot

by

If you’re like me, someone who is always on the hunt for new music, you end up listening to a lot of mediocre artists. But once in a while, you’ll encounter an artist that blows your socks off, and makes the hunt all worth it. You sit up and question yourself, how many bands out there are this fucking good and just waiting to be discovered? For me, this happened last week with the band Mike Mains & The Branches.

I was listening to Matt Carter’s podcast, Labeled: “The Stories, Rumors, & Legends of Tooth & Nail Records” when during one of the ad rolls, there was a song by Mike Mains being promoted – Breathing Underwater. I instantly fell in love with the hook of the song, looked it up on Youtube and listened to the song in full, many times.


Mike Mains & The Branches – Breathing Underwater

Coincidentally, the next episode was a feature with the lead singer/writer of the band, so I listened to him talk about songs that inspired him, and how he went about his songwriting process. Towards the end, they shared a bit of the song called Swamp and holy shit, I was blown away. From the poignant opening line sung over the somber piano chords, the build up, to the way Mike (the vocalist) belted out “Everyday feels like waking up in a swamp”. I knew this band was special.


Mike Mains & The Branches – Swamp

After the episode ended, I immediately listened to their latest album and grew enamored with each track. I kid you not when I say every song on When We Were In Love is fantastic. I continued checking out their discography (which stretches all the way back to 2010) and was not disappointed.

While, in my opinion, the band isn’t artistically ground breaking like Dance Gavin Dance (also – completely different genre), they remind me a lot of California Wives, Walk The Moon, and a hint of later Taking Back Sunday. If you’re looking for some chill, indie pop rock, you can’t go wrong with these guys.


Mike Mains & The Branches – Live Forever

Here are some of my favorite songs from the band.

Mike Mains & The Branches – Pouring Rain

Mike Mains & The Branches – Stereo

Mike Mains & The Branches – Stop The Car

Mike Mains & The Branches – Around The Corner

Mike Mains & The Branches – Everything’s Gonna Be Alright

Mike Mains & The Branches – Drifter

Call me in the morning, tell me how last night went

by

I first discovered Post Malone when he was mentioned on a H3H3 video a while ago. At that time I had no idea who he was and he looked like a chill guy so I thought I’d check him out on YouTube. Based on his appearance, his music was definitely not what I was expecting. He had the look of an aggressive gangsta rapper or a metalcore band’s frontman (he wanted to play guitar for Crown The Empire in the past). Turns out, he had some of the chillest soundcloud raps on the internet.

I wasn’t blown away initially, but his music slowly grew on me and I found myself singing along to his catchy choruses and imitating the background noises in his songs (skrrt pop yuh ey). Like a lot of music I discovered randomly, it was something I never knew I would like. I think 2003 George would have rejected this music outright. While he writes songs about money and bitches and sings with autotune, he does it well enough to stand out from the crowd. The fact that he has such a soothing voice complemented by a laid back vibe and clever lyrics (how can I make sense when I’ve got millions on my mind?) puts this guy up there as one of my all-time favorite singers.

I’m genuinely surprised he’s not huge globally (or maybe he is and I’m just unaware). His explicit lyrics might possibly stop him from being a mainstream wonder in this side of the world. He recently released his sophomore album which also took awhile to grow on me (I love it now) that has some of his best work IMO. Here’s a bunch of my favorite Post Malone tracks:


Post Malone ft. Quavo – Congratulations


Post Malone – White Iverson


Post Malone – Go Flex


Post Malone – Leave


Post Malone ft. 2 Chainz – Money Made Me Do It


Post Malone – Patient

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7Smy6Jn8j0
Post Malone ft. Khelani – Feel


Post Malone ft. 21 Savage – Rockstar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBx3eRKjKUA
Post Malone – Better Now


Post Malone – Stay


Post Malone – Candy Paint

Music and Memories

by

Today, I was wondering about how why music can evoke such vivid and powerful memories, so I did a quick search and found this article that I found very interesting. TL;DR: our brains are better at recalling memories when we have something to guide it with i.e. music. It is why we learn through songs as children (remember A-B-C-D?).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHG2oizTlpY

One of my most vivid music-related memories – even though it happened so many years ago – was my first dance with a girl. It was way back when I was in GIS, at a school dance. Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On was playing while I was standing by the side of the hall, like a chump, working up the balls to ask my crush for a dance. I managed to do it halfway through the song, after the first chorus, so I only got to dance with her for the remaining half. I was elated that night. Probably the happiest I had ever been up to that point in my life. And now, whenever I hear that song, memories of that night come rushing back, and I can’t help but smile to myself like an idiot.

Another song would be Aaron Kwok’s Dui Ni Ai Bu Wan. I remembered loving the song as a kid. I sang along to the chorus (because I didn’t know any of the other words) every time I heard it on the radio or TV. But that’s not all. There was one time, we had some relatives over, and for some reason I had agreed to put on a show for them. I remember before the performance, I spent a few minutes in the bathroom styling my hair with a comb and some gel. I don’t know why I did it – I wasn’t even dressed nicely. I probably had on some home clothes or pajamas but it didn’t matter. My mom put the song on and I danced my heart out. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t good, but I received applause for trying.

Where’s your mama gone? Where’s your papa gone? Middle of the Road’s Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep evokes memories of a time when my late uncle was still around. He used to take me and my elder sister out all the time and we’d always be listening to songs on the radio. That song was one of the few songs we could sing along to. One of our favorite pastimes would be sitting through those drive-thru car washes. There was just something magical about high pressured water being blasted at you while you were protected behind glass. And then all the washers spinning around wiping the car dry. I also fondly remember watching those little orange balls spinning around at pump stations whenever he had to fill up his car with gas.

Isn’t it interesting how music and memories is an alliteration as well?