Tam Za Tumanami - Arkona

It's been a while since I've featured my favourite Russian folk metal mongers in my blog, and frankly, it's long overdue.  After my Arkona t-shirt came in the mail a few weeks ago, I've fallen back in love with the tales of Kievan Rus and Masha's death growls.  Once a folk metal monger, always a folk metal monger.  Today there will be no death growls in their "Tam Za Tumanami" or "There Is A Fog," but it's still the folk metal that I'll never stop listening to.

There may be a fog in "Tam Za Tumanami," but your head will be clear listening to this masterpiece.  Call it more atmospheric than the Arkona you're familiar with, but it's what sets it apart from other songs that makes it special.  Really, anything that takes advantage of the bagpipes is okay in my book.  If only I could speak Russian and sing along...that'll be the day.  But until then, it's just me, my t-shirt that is entirely in Russian and the folk metal music that is awesome, no matter how varied it is.  Sometimes slowed down and atmospheric is how you have to do it.

Take U Home - Meek Mill feat. Wale & Big Sean

We're almost to the end of May with a blog post (almost) every day!  Success!  I am as elated as ever, a feeling I also get when listening to Meek Mill's Dreamchasers 2 mixtape.  As it turns out "Lean With It" was only the tip of the iceberg.  The Philly rapper has plenty of tricks up his sleeves, as well as a boatload of talent that I would love to see in concert.  In the meantime, his mixtape will do.  The standout track, no doubt, would be "Take U Home."

Now "Take U Home" borrows a lyrics or two from the Black Eyed Peas' "Don't Punk With My Heart," but Fergie is put to shame with the lines I wonder if I take you home, will you still be in love, baby, 'cause I need you tonight.  Simply put, this song is about going to the club and trying to bring home a girl with a boyfriend.  Scandal!  But with the help of Wale and the great Big Sean, Meek Mill convinces me and everyone else listening that we're all going home with him.  I'll call the cab now.

Q (The Best One Of Our Lives) - Evans Blue

As an amateur writer, I sometimes find myself thinking "wow, I wish I would have written that."  It's usually with novels that I try to get through (halfway done The Gargoyle now, with no signs of stopping), but now and again it's with a song.  The first time I heard Evans Blue's "Q" (before Matisyn left the band, FYI) I wish I would have written this song.  That's how good it is.  Even five years after 2007's The Pursuit Begins When This Portrayal of Life Ends, "Q" still stands as the epitome of of the alternative genre.

Here you have a few things.  "Q" offers lush guitars, vocal prowess you can only dream coming from a man's mouth, and lyrics that'll have you drooling.  I still drool.  The titular if this was a night, it was the best one of our lives could now be what you name a Facebook photo album, but they still get that one.  Every word sung in "Q" is breathtaking.  Even though Matisyn no longer fronts the band, I'm still anxious to get my hands on their latest release.  He gave us two incredible albums, and among them, one song that I will never stop listening to.

Norah Jones' Top 10

Norah Jones!  You know who she is, don't you?  My first encounter with the lovely songstress was when I heard of the five Grammys her debut Come Away With Me won ages ago.  Since then, with Feels Like Home, Not Too Late, The Fall and the new Little Broken Hearts (which I haven't gotten a chance to listen to yet), Ms. Jones has gotten better while still retaining the jazz flavor that got her those five golden gramophones.  I'd be stupid not to look through her discography (regrettably without her newest album) and find her ten shiniest gems.

Smash The Control Machine - Otep

I'm exhausted!  Completely exhausted!  Not only was I up until three last night, I also was on my feet all afternoon serving lunch and cleaning up at my sister's school, and then we went swimming after!  What is this?  Then again, the allergy pill I took this morning probably didn't help, but I digress.  I've got copious amounts of iced tea and some alt-metal courtesy of one of my personal heroes and quite possibly the most rocking woman in the industry today: Otep.  Her name also refers to the band she leads through singles such as the wake-you-up-shake-you-up "Smash The Control Machine."

"Smash The Control Machine" is Debbie Harry's rebellious younger sister meets System of a Down's lyrics meets Slipknot's instrumentals...and it's a masterpiece of alternative metal.  Otep explores capitalism and commercialization here (then they outsourced my job and gave a raise to my boss, and bailed out the banks but billed me for the loss), and the need to do the titular smashing of the machine that controls us all.  Otep Shamaya is brilliant; I've had a girl crush on this woman since she appeared in Seventeen magazine in the early 2000's.  I proudly wear a black t-shirt with Otep across the chest and smash the control machine written at the bottom.  What are you doing?

I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones Cover) - Superhumanoids

I've been hearing a lot of good covers lately.  A lot.  And that makes it hard to pick one to throw into the lineup, though later on in the summer I intend to start listing off electropop covers as often as I can.  But I digress.  Enter Superhumanoids.  I'm a fan of the quartet's "Malta" and nearly every remix of it.  Now they're back, and with a pop cover of the Ramones classic "I Wanna Be Sedated."  Who knew punk could be dreamy?  I knew all along, of course.

Superhumanoids' "I Wanna Be Sedated" begins with breaths of the string section as those lovely pop vocals begin twenty twenty twenty-four hours ago, I wanna be sedated...  This is how you do a cover without sounding like you're doing a cover.  Though I usually condone keeping some flavor of the original, Superhumanoids rewrites history and causes the thought of the Ramones to momentarily slip from your mind.  Their cover is also super-eerie to have playing as the sky darkens with thunderclouds on a Saturday morning.  So why not listen before the clouds part?

Leave The Lights On (The Crystal Method Remix) - Meiko

You can give me all that garbage about originals vs. remixes and everything in between, but I won't listen.  While I'm a fan of delicate little Meiko and her flavor of pop, I like the punch that comes with the remix of her "Leave The Lights On" by The Crystal Method.  I like there to be a punch in a lot of my music, I'll tell you that.  The Crystal Method lifts Meiko out of normal pop and gives her an electropop flair with throbbing bass, pangs of synth and beats that want to get your hips moving.  Now can you be mad about liking the remix more? (It's short and sweet today...it's pool party season!)