I spent nearly all of August with my family in Norway, while also desperately waiting for my friends to finish school like some little nine year old, who can't wait to get out and play. Since I'm not the type of person, who's blessed with the ability to sleep as long as I want to without feeling miserable for sleeping my life away, I was left with at least eight hours of freedom everyday. This time window was then filled with the longest breakfast sessions in history and lots of time to scroll through YouTube, Spotify, the Rolling Stone website, and other sites that introduced me to some of my favourite music related content last month. As if a whole blog post about my monthly playlist wasn't enough, here's another one filled with favourite music videos and live performances from someone who's got too much time on her hands:
Favourite album of the month - Queens of the Stone Age 'Villains'
I know I've already confessed my love to this album in my monthly playlist post, but it just felt right to give them a special place in this blog post as well.
After four years with no new album or music at all, we've finally been blessed with another album of one of my favourite rock bands of all times. After listening through the album, I've got to admit that I had to tell myself to keep an open mind because there were definitely a couple of songs the fangirl inside of me didn't fully manage to convince me to love, like for example the first song on the album (what is it about first songs on albums that never make it into my list of favourites?). A couple of seconds into the intro of "Feet Don't Fail Me", I immediately thought something along the lines of "Oh God no are they trying to be super experimental now and f*ck it all up for themselves", but after I had made it through the first 50 seconds or so, I grew used to the way they were building up their layers, and the elements they used, before the vocals kicked in. The album actually contains some of my favourites such as "The Way You Used to Do" and "Head Like A Haunted House" and is all in all an album I probably wouldn't put on as a people pleaser, but definitely as a rock fans pleaser. It's more than I could've ever wished for in a new album and I'm definitely going to listen to it through what's left of September as well as October, too.
Favourite music video - Dan Auerbach's 'Stand By My Girl'
Although I am still internally crying over the fact that the Black Keys are 'taking a break' (we all know what that means in relationships), the hardcore Black Keys fan that I am, of course I had to check out what Dan Auerbach would be up to post Black Keys-breakup. Apparently, taking a break from making music as part of one of my favourite bands of all time didn't mean taking a break from writing and recording at all. Auerbach has been collaborating with other musicians and is even going to perform a couple of shows with singer-songwriter John Prine according to an article on the Rolling Stone website. Even though his new music isn't quite as Black Keys as I would've wanted it to be, it still has the same elements of rock in it with a special personal touch from Auerbach. His music video for 'Stand By My Girl' is so wonderfully creepy and uncomfortable, I simply couldn't keep it from you. What's entertaining about it, is that the song doesn't seem to match the music video's murderous theme at all, which is exactly what made me fall in love with it even more. Watch, listen and understand yourself:
Favourite live performance - Logic performing '1-800-273-8255' at the VMAs
I'm such a sucker for powerful videos with a meaningful message behind it, and when it's performed by one of the few rappers I listen to and he's accompanied by a massive group of supporters that strengthen the meaning's importance, then I might actually shed a tear or two. Just kidding. My tears could've provided enough wather for a whole African village for several decades. It was bad. It was ugly. But the performance definitely wasn't. I can imagine some people might be fed up with musicians trying to save the world, but ignoring the fact that mental health is still surrounded by negative stigma isn't just ignorant, but dangerous. His song 1-800-273-8255, named after the suicide prevention hotline in the US (0800 068 41 41 being one of the ones in the UK, click to view more helplines and support groups), features Alessia Cara and Khalid. It starts out with the story of a boy who's struggling mentally because he can't express his sexuality without facing problems like judgement and disapproval, but ends with a message of hope when he's seeking help and the supporter helps him to find the strength to stay alive. It's not a song about homosexuality, it's a song anyone who struggles or has struggled with mental health issues can relate to, because it portrays the sufferer's hopelessness and feeling of facing his problem alone. The video is an encouragement to work towards seeking help and dealing with those problems. It's not glamorising the idea of depression or other mental illnesses, it's in a way rather romanticising the approach to get help, take control and live the life you want to live. Now go get some tissues before clicking play, you might need it:
I hope you enjoyed this short list of some of the music videos and albums that have moved me both emotionally and physically last month. Next month you'll get a new recap of some of the music junk that my laptop had to deal with in September. Until next time, tell me what you've been crying and head banging to, and what did you think of my suggestions? Did you love it? Did you hate it? Are you just going to confuse me by commenting some emoji instead of writing actual words because that's the language of the future? Anyways, let's see if I'll have some tears left to shed and brain cells to head bang away for the next Music Junk in October. Tata.