#deeply dreamy romantic angsty music

[mike-haters-dni]

The Michaeleven Playlist ♫

[ultimatch]

PICK YOUR CUPID!

don’t know who you’d like to set up your dates? no problem!

Q1. best date choice from this list?

A) losing yourself in your lover’s presence as you dance your final dance together in a hidden alleyway, to a song very inappropriate to be your last

B) stargazing together by the seashore, supine on the sand, laughing together and pointing out the different constellations in the sky

C) exploring the attractions city has to offer: cinema & theater, cultural places, amusement parks

D) a night at the theater followed by dinner, but plans to go home get thwarted by the spontaneous decision to go do something fun and impulsive

E) sipping on hot chocolate at a bookstore, cozying up with your date

F) by the waterside with your lover, listening to 2000s alternative music as the two of you speak without a care in the world

H) walk through a park, then a nice dinner

I) curled up in a blanket, a forest picnic, it’s winter, the scenery is dusted white, and your cheeks pink, perhaps not only from the cold?

J) doesn’t matter, long as both your date and you have fun

Q2. what kind of person do you enjoy being around?

A) dumb, loud people with a bit of a dirty mind

B) elegant, intelligent people, with a mysterious streak

C) straightforward and no-nonsense people

D) relaxed, funny people who are hopeless romantics at heart

E) sweet, bubbly people

F) down to earth, kind, and patient people

H) brilliant, creative people, with a vast imagination

I) funny, playful people, with a clever tongue

J) independent, soft people, who are always kind when you speak to them

Q3. pick a random item group from the list!

A) a bottle of perfume with a bow around the neck, colourful bracelets, and a hot pink bottle of mascara

B) a beautiful gothic novel, a fountain pen with a matching ink pot, and a cup of black coffee

C) a sparkling amethyst pendant, a slice of homemade cake, and a notebook

D) a laptop with a window open to yet another unsent love letter, a guitar, and a pair of glasses

E) a mountainous amount of cookies on a plate, heart shaped sunglasses, and mismatched socks

F) a sketchbook, with a half done drawing inside, and a few themed pieces of kandi

H) an adorable stuffed cat, and an iPad with a stylus, mid drawing

I) a small cardboard cutout of hajime hinata from hit game super danganronpa 2, second game in the danganronpa franchise by kazutaka kodaka and spike chunsoft, and a stick bug

J) a functional ball-point pen, and a journal with hearts drawn inside

Q4. favourite romance trope?

A) tragic love

B) forbidden romance

C) soulmates

D) right person, wrong time

E) domestic fluff, dark past

F) mutual pining

H) friends to lovers

I) obsession, utter obsessive love

J) comfort

Q5. song?

A) liquid smooth, mitski

B) are you satisfied?, marina

C) heart forecast, eve

D) ikaw, feat. nicco manalo

E) cherry bomb, the runaways

F) cupid, jack stauber

H) everything, diamond eyes

I) bitchboy, the oozes

J) porcelain face, 4 door theatre

ONE MOMENT PLEASE…

MOSTLY A: the cutest matchmaker! rookie! you like sad, deeply angsty romances, but you also may enjoy some degeneracy from time to time

MOSTLY B: the most elegant matchmaker! ell! you enjoy some poetic, beautiful, occasionally tragic romances, sometimes involving school themes

MOSTLY C: the straightforward matchmaker! kris! you enjoy things that were meant to be, short and sweet. no need for unnecessary details, you simply need the one, and the one needs you as well

MOSTLY D: the sweetest (metaphorically) matchmaker! dash! you enjoy dreamlike romances that come as a reward for facing hardships together

MOSTLY E: the sweetest (literally) matchmaker! riley! you enjoy sweet treats and domestic comfort

MOSTLY F: the dreamy matchmaker! kou! you enjoy a good high school sweetheart love, a love full of youthfulness and support

MOSTLY H: the most wholesome matchmaker! aliza! you enjoy traditional, yet timeless and endearing romances, that are still charming no matter how many times they’re reused

MOSTLY I: the obsessed matchmaker! kaz! you enjoy yandere, and obsessive love, in which lovers have eyes only for each other, often to a scary degree

MOSTLY J: the functional, but romantic matchmaker! star! you enjoy realistic romances, with sweet, but not impossible relationships

[musicmixtapes]

December 5, 2018 Mix

Hello! Hope you're having a great week so far, hopefully this will make it even better. I love this mix and would love for everyone to enjoy it equally as much.  Spotify Playlist 1. I Was Young When I Left Home by Antony & Bryce Dessner - So on the last mix I believe I included a wonderful song by Antony and had mentioned how infatuated I was with the unique tone of his voice. Now, we get to enjoy it once more in coordination with a member from The National on guitar, which is always awesome. This song is a cover of one originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan from his Love and Theft album, which I highly recommend listening to if you like this version of it! Like most songs penned by the Nobel Prize winning lyricist, this piece tells a thoughtful narrative story about a traveling man trying to find his way back to something that isn't quite there anymore. The sense of traveling back tone of the song is carried out in the music as well because the guitar moves around with finger picking a lot, but always returns to the original dominant chord which resonates quite beautifully with the equivalent lyrical meaning. There's nothing quite like laying on your back at night and letting this lull you to sleep 2. Manhattan by Kings of Leon - So, the title of the song seems pretty self explanatory, but in fact, I think it's a great contrast to the actual meaning of the piece we get to hear by one of my all time favorites. Caleb of KOL said about this piece, "Yeah, Manhattan, I think it means the hilly island, or something like that. As soon as my friend … I was playing it and I said, ‘Man, I think I’m going to call this song “Manhattan,” and I hadn’t even written the lyrics yet, and he said, 'Yeah, man. That’s a Native American word.’ And I was like, ‘Really?’ And I already had the first line, “I like to dance all night and some of the day.” And it worked out." So there you have it; most songs glorify and bask in what we know as the city we have today, but very few know the true history behind it and the cruel way the land was stripped from its original owners. I think it is a really outside the box way to create an alt rock song, I mean we don't see artists going around describing horrors of American history all the time. This goes to show that some of the worst topics about the worst cruelties can be taken and learned from and told in a way that speaks to people on a personal level. 3. we fell in love in october by girl in red - Wait... you're probably thinking I'm making some huge mistake by including a song with the word 'october' in the title when we are already well into December, right? I would disagree if you thought this, and here's why. I do not like songs that talk about falling in love at the exact moment that it is happening, like "hey, i'm looking at you right this second and i can tell i'm falling in love." First of all, this is super unrealistic because no one always first person narrates songs in their head while their falling in love. Second of all, people usually don't notice that they are falling in love until after they have done so. This song is great because it shows the realization of exactly when the falling has happened and coincidentally it is also when the leaves of autumn usually begin to fall, so it has happened very perfectly timed (or at least for the sake of this song it has). This bedroom pop artist always makes me feel like I am in the scenario she is describing, on a roof top or watching stars or smoking cigarettes with a girlfriend... so lovely. 4. Looking Out for You by Joy Again - This is so typical "nerdy indie man singing about a girl who probably doesn't know he exists, but then hears the song and falls in love with him because oh he's so cute and shy and look he sung about me" type of song... and I entirely fell for it in every type of way. This just reminds me of a less angry and angsty and stripped down Front Bottoms style of song with a little STRFKR and MGMT electronic dreamy type of vibes added into it as well. But in another sense, I think this song is pretty genderless in the way that a person can get the feeling that they have a huge, huge, huge crush on someone who literally does not think about them at all (if you are my friend in the city you definitely have heard me reference this happening to me with people a lot of times). Also details the way that two friends could have one sided love tension that the other is oblivious of, which is very Harry Met Sally-esque (if you are my friend at all you definitely hear me reference this movie as my favorite). 5. Lottery by Jade Bird - All credits for discovery of this song go solely to my mother, if this was someone else I might forget to put a disclaimer but my mom literally reads every one of my blogs which is so amazing and heartfelt, so shoutout! This song centers all around the idea of numbers, logistical thinking and winning a lottery in terms of a relationship, which is pretty ridiculous because that just sounds like solving a word problem in math class. But, I was so genuinely surprised by my pure joy listening to this song because of it's ever so accurate portrayal of the way some people treat the aspect of "feeling so lucky" to have met someone and that it had to have been a stroke of luck, or that certain things just added up. I am a nonbeliever in this respect, not because I'm a cynic or not romantic, but just because I don't believe things happen because of luck, I think they happen because of partially just chance and partially work that is put into a relationship. I believe Bird's beliefs fall more in line with mine because she's disagreeing with the man who told her love was "a lottery.... a game". 6. Touch by Ghostly Kisses - As a child of the early 2000s, I was very influenced by certain music like the styles of artists such as Evanescence, so when I heard this song I was thinking oh my god, it finally happened, Evanescence and Enya finally came together and had a baby. I am very pleased with the outcome of this song because it is so emo and questioning, but at the same time keeps the same tempo and strength throughout the whole track, which is surprisingly a very hard thing to do in music. Usually, I find that when songs have dramatic swells, it all becomes like something I have heard hundreds of times in music, so I am more impressed when the levels are balanced throughout without being altered too much or impregnated with unnecessary sounds. Also, I tend to write about touching and spirits and ghosts a lot in my own writing so this was very much catered to my personal style of music and writing but I think the universality of the unknown and ephemeral presence is very nice to see in music. 7. 1980s Horror Film by Wallows - Oh my god, this is great for numerous reasons. I literally was not expecting the lowkey acoustic song at all looking at the title and was pleasantly surprised by what followed. At first we totally go in thinking it's going to be a typical song about a guy and girl falling in love or going on a cheesy date together to see a movie or whatever, which is perfectly fine if you want to listen to that, I have no qualms with such songs. And for awhile, it totally fits that line of thinking... then it totally doesn't. The twist ending, which is SO fitting with the 80s horror film vibe, is that the girl "is not that into guys" which I loved so much, I just replayed that section like five times before adding it to the mix. We always hear people getting upset about not being liked back, but never getting a reason why; this is the opposite because the guy just can't get mad at the girl for not reciprocating, which is so fantastic and a-typical of music we listen to all the time. More twist endings in songs, more storytelling in songs, more friendships in songs please! 8. Say, Can You Hear by Men I Trust - The throbbing bass in the beginning of this song sends out the immediate vibe that the message sent to our minds is going to be succinct and probably pretty serious, and this remains true. This song's lyrics hit really hard because it details a person asking someone they are close to about their grief and sadness and the way they go about making other people miserable with it. The 'self absorbed, cryptic ways' she sings about concerning the subject of the song is so relatable on both ends because I think that at one point or another we have been both on the giving and receiving end of this notion. At some time, we have caused someone pain by being self obsessed and emotional about small things and on the other hand, we have probably also experienced someone not giving us a second thought because they were so wrapped up in their own issues. We can always trust Men I Trust to be the most real about issues and tell us how we are feeling. 9. Riverside by Agnes Obel - This song works in just about any background of any film or TV show in some contemplative/dramatic/sad/tragic scene, thus also working on any of my morning, afternoon or nighttime walks in the city or at home in Jersey. Honestly, I truly could not decide if I like the dynamic piano or the simple melodic and harmonic pairings of the vocals in this piece because together, it is so strong and deeply striking. This song, not only in lyrics, but the musical aspect, is so transformative because it starts very simplistic with just a few notes being struck back and forth, and the same chords throughout the song are extended and arpeggiated in such a modernized classical piano type of way. The singer/songwriter genre is something that is not recognized as much nowadays, but I think that Agnes Obel is someone who never fails to remind us of this ever present thriving solo artist type of person. 10. Pills by Joji - I was just listening to the beginning of this song again and realized that the beginning chords of it with just the guitar are so similar to the song 'I Was Young When I Left Home' which is literally the first song featured on this week's mix. It's so funny the way your brain has certain neural pathways that are created when listening to certain songs and they definitely overlap with certain pieces and create this wonderful shared quality with one another. Joji, as I have mentioned before, is a great artist who takes the hip hop experimental genre to a fresh perspective and without being vulgar and cliched with his music, is able to have sincerity and honesty in every line. In this specifically he talks about not feeling mentally well and needing to get away from this problem, while missing someone a lot at the same time (possibly the cause of his depression that is outlined in this piece). I just love him as an artist in general because he proves that you don't have to adhere to the rules of 'genred music' and you can just be a musician in whatever way you see fit. 11. Fear of Intimacy by zack villere - Finding a song that correctly represents and identifies what falling in love with someone whilst struggling with really terrible anxiety is very hard to do. Sure, some songs talk about getting generally nervous around a crush or feeling uneasy, but true anxiety based songs are very hard to come by probably because it's difficult to explain in a candid way. The sound of the click clopping throughout this song reminds me of a really fast heartbeat happening because of a panicked state, which I think was surely the intention of the artist. The artist actually has talked in various platforms about what this song means and what it means to him, which is a rare thing in the musician world. In one of his tweets, villere said, "takes me a while to warm up/be comfortable around new people & that shit is so frustrating dude especially here meeting new ppl all the time/but i guess ill get better w time or people are just gnna have to get used to me being quiet at first." I really like this sentiment of coming to a realisation that if someone cares about you truly, they will have to accept the anxiety and shyness of a person. 12. Movement by Hozier - I will never forget the moment that my best friend Shivani and I were at the Hozier concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York earlier this fall, watching the majestic and godly Andrew Hozier Byrne perform. As if the night could have gotten any better than it was already, he told us he was going to play a song that had not yet been released to see if we enjoyed it... this is that song. Ever since hearing it (I took a video of course too) I have been waiting for such song to be released to the public so I could literally talk about how I already heard it live two months beforehand, and here I am now doing exactly that. Also, we need not forget the huge shift of sound and rise of instrumentals in the last quarter of this song, where organs, a choir and several more background noises are added in so magnificently. The title is so evocative of exactly what you will hear for four minutes, a song that moves you, changes your hearing and most of all, makes you feel like you can sing as well as Hozier for a few minutes of your life. 13. Alligator Girl by Langhorne Slim - Deeply regretting not being more appreciative of having the ability to have seen LS perform live with Lumineers a couple of years ago at an outdoor venue in the height of the summer. I don't remember much about them from that performance, but I do remember thinking that they had a folk sound that was unmatched by few artists in the present day company that they have. Interestingly enough, I have gotten really into them this year because I love the narrative storyline they give with their songs, again in a very folk Bob Dylan style... just going back to the first song again, I think my brain is having a big renaissance of Dylan and his musical influence, just because of how expansive and powerful he is as a musical influence and probably will be forever. For this song, I really love the soulful jazzy, New Orleans style of piano played because it so matches the meaning of the song which rambles about meeting a woman in that area of the country. 14. Snake Song by Jess Williamson - I originally found out about Williamson from a book of poetry as lyrics that I've mentioned here before; to sum it up, there are a bunch of songs that are especially poetic in the book, written as poetry instead as songs. This gave me so much material to listen to, and she was one of the singer/songwriters featured in the book, thankfully. There are no descriptions of this song that helped or guided me in the determination of what it was about, so bear with me here. I see it as a maturation of a woman in the sense where she understands the intentions of someone's actions and motivations towards her. Instantly, the image of the snake evokes biblical metaphors of Eve in the garden being coerced and tricked by a snake, offering her something that was not his to give and the woman being painted out as a villain mistakenly. I'm not sure if this is at all what she intended while penning this strange but lovely song, but I think musical meanings are always subjective to the listener. 15. All I Want by Joni Mitchell - I have a long standing love affair with Mitchell's music, due in part to my father and in other part to my grandpa (who is a huge Joni fan and also reader of this blog, Hi Pops!). The thing about this song specifically that I enjoy is that there is not one shred of negativity towards the subject from the speaker of the song. This is a very difficult hard facet of a track to find in modern music, so sometimes I must turn to the older indie classics to hear a really pure intentioned song. And the second best part of this song is that Mitchell fully knows the cliched tone of the song and instead of denying it, leans into it in the lyrics, categorizing each 'cliche' that she wants to do with the subject of the song, which I think is just such smart songwriting. Also I love to analyze titles in correlation with the song because the "all i want" phrase is often used to list the ONE thing that someone wants from another person. But this piece is ironic in the way that she is listing a ton of things she wants to do with that person, not just one thing. Good job Joni. 16. Quarter Past the Hour by Jack and Eliza - Quick brag before we continue with an anaylsis of this song: Jack Staffen, the Jack of Jack and Eliza, went to NYU literally four years ago and is now absolutely thriving so shoutout to an artist hailing from my very artistic, very success driven university. OK, continuing. This piece is so evocative of a relationship where the two people have known each other for a long time, but things are starting to get lonely and the people are drifting apart subconsciously. I think sometimes without knowing I choose songs that could narrate my past experiences because I literally heard the lyrics of this and was like, Wow this exact thing happened to me and _____ and I can't believe some else wrote about it so perfectly. The idea of getting called 'past the hour' signifies that the person is late to show up, is trying but not hard enough, they just don't have the time to be in the relationship anymore... sad but true. 17. Eyes Like The Rest by Matthew E White - A swell of dramatic strings and then a smooth baritone with a cool bass line in the back --- it seems like I could be describing a song from one of the Beatles' later albums when they start to tap into their grass roots style (late 60s!) but alas, I am not. Let's talk about this super bluesy alternative track by the completely underrate artist that is Matthew White. The uncomfortable chords given when the words pause are quite similar to the intended meaning of the words. I think this is mostly about trying to have an honest conversation with someone about a difficult topic and it feeling very eerie and complex to get through, especially when the speaker has a little bit of a temper - his repeating of the line "I ain't gonna lose my shit" makes me think he has lost his shit in the past- and he needs a little bit of help to get through said conversation. The phrase that someone has eyes just like the rest of pluralized "you" signifies that there is common ground amongst people and perhaps some good could come out of a conversation between the two. I like the slight hopeful tone in the speaker's voice, despite deep hesitation that we can explicitly hear. 18. Into the Ether by Leif Vollebekk - Sometimes, songs have very convoluted meanings that could be analyzed for decades and perhaps never have a clear meaning on; other times, songs slap you in the face with a blunt story and that is great too. In this case, this song does not fall into either one of these categories. In an email sent to The FADER, Vollebekk said, "Into the Ether was the first song we tried to record but it didn’t come out right. It was only when I went swimming one day that this very simple drum groove came into my mind and I knew what had been missing. […] This song is the kind of song you might sing to yourself in a dream or perhaps in someone else’s. I was thinking a lot about Freddie Mercury when we did this one." The funniest thing is, I thought for sure I could have been the most insightful on this song over all the other ones on this playlist, but sometimes, isn't it better to not think about the meaning? I mean, for this one at least, just sit back and put some headphones in and let it wash over you completely. 19. We Walked Downtown by Flatsound - I'm 99% sure that the writer of this song must travel with me on my walks in the Village on any given day because this is very close to how I feel on a cold end of autumn day when I am all alone, thinking of perhaps having had walked the same route with a person I don't talk to anymore. Flatsound isn't really a popular artist, even in the indie or low-fi world, mostly because their music does generally consist of the same type of sound running through a lot of the songs. But, I actually enjoy when an artist is comfortable with writing music that flows together beautifully, especially when the lyricism is so wax poetic, like this artist has done with much of their discography. The title of the album that contains this song is, 'I Stayed Up Until Sunrise But Got To Fall Asleep To The Sounds Of Birds Singing', which I think just shows the experimentation and creativity that words can contribute to a musician or a group, and in turn tell a cohesive story. 20. Used to Be by Beach House - We all know that ending a mix with a song by BH is always the right way to go. Something about the peaceful, melodic quality of their pieces while saying the truest statements ever is very comforting for a person who overthinks pretty much everything all the time. This piece actually made me think about the music of Fleet Foxes a lot because of the chords used along with the echoic harmonies splayed throughout the track and the backing tracks as well (and the awesome tambourine thrown in for depth). This song is definitely a bit different than some other work by BH because it's more folky and less space cadet vibes which is what I usually get from them; this could also be because it's one of their earlier tracks where they were still finding their sound and influences fully. More than anything, though, this puts me in the location of the end of some coming of age film (perhaps my own) where summer is winding down and the protagonist has to realize that they must become single and independent.