Music Monday: July/August Mix

Everyone loves playlists, right? With that, I decided to do a bi-monthly playlist (since 3-5 songs won't exactly make a good playlist) to feature each Music Monday from the last two months, including the day's feature. So, click play and enjoy! The track listing is located under the player.



Track listing
1. Your Hand In Mine - Explosions in the Sky
2. How Deep Is Your Love - The Bird & The Bee
3. There Are Many of Us - Aska Matsumiya
4. All Summer - Kid Cudi, Best Coast, and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend
5. Go Outside - Cults
6. The Fragrance of Dark Coffee - Godot
8. Fireplace - Haardvuur
9. Talking To The Moon - Bruno Mars

The second time you listen to the mix, the track will be randomized.

Music Monday: Count On Me

Hailing from the wonderful group of islands I call home is Bruno Mars, who is today's featured artist. It's a cute song, letting us all know that we all have someone to count on and what better way to describe a song than using a part of the lyrics itself??

If you're tossin' and you're turnin' and you just can't fall asleep,
I'll sing a song beside you
And if you ever forget how much you mean to me,
Everyday I will remind you, oh
Find out what we're made of
What we are called to help our friends in need

You can Count On Me like one, two, three
I'll be there
And I know when I need it I can count on you like four, three, two
And you'll be there
Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah

Music Monday: Rest & Relaxation

With school starting up across the country, we'll be seeing a lot of updates pertaining to stress levels, and more so out about projects and exams. It's only been one day, and I'm already feeling a bit overwhelmed. One way to make stress less of a problem is good sleep. But, with so much on your mind, sleeping comfortably may be a bit hard.

If you're like me, the sound of rain, a fireplace crackling, and some smooth jazz will always loosen up my body and mind, leading to a relaxing night of sleep. And so, I've put them all together in one place. With it being summer, rainy days are not as apparent in other season and it can be a bit too hot for a crackling fire.

http://www.rainymood.com/

Other than rainymood, here are links to endless loops of the two videos:
Jazz Track: http://www.endlessyoutube.com/watch?v=HMnrl0tmd3k
Fireplace: http://www.endlessyoutube.com/watch?v=DIx3aMRDUL4

Another option would be to just press play:
Sleep by tflozano

Lastly, to make it a hell of a lot easier, I created an mp3 of these three tracks using garage band. I've uploaded it onto my iPod so I could easily listen to it in bed, rather than having my laptop on and running it until my laptop until it dies. You can download it HERE.

Music Monday: Go Outside

Looking for new music is always fun, almost like a treasure hunt with 'mp3' marking the spot. Today's find is Go Outside by the New York duo Cults. Their sound can be described as modern with a touch of an older era. They're quite simple, which I love and I'm sure you'll love too. The duo is quite new to the scene to my knowledge, so they only have a few songs out. Check them out when you have the chance!

Music Monday: All Summer

With summer coming to an end and school coming to a start in a mere two weeks, all I can look forward to is fall/winter. But that's not what this post is about, it's about summer! Earlier this summer, three great artists, Kid Cudi, Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend, and Bethany Cosentino from Best Coast, came together and put down a track exclusively for Converse's project "Three Artists, One Song". All Summer brings along a great, nostalgic, feel good, let loose feeling of freedom that comes along with Summer.

Listen to the track, download it for free, or watch the accompanying music video all at the website HERE. You can also watch how great these three artists flow together in the video below.

Music Monday: There Are Many of Us

As some kind of continuation to Friday's Featured Film, I felt that the accompanying song to the film was a great choice for Music Monday. The song, There Are Many of Us (click to listen), is one of those songs that you listen to when you need a bit of alone time, or if you need a little help sleeping. Not to say that it'll bore you, but to say it's very serene and relaxing. So grab a book, find a comfortable spot atop your bed, and play this song on repeat.

Music Monday: How Deep Is Your Love

As of late, I've been in love with covers of some old time favorites and even different takes on today's songs. One duo that is extremely exceptional in this category is The Bird and the Bee. Their cover of Bee Gee's How Deep Is Your Love is my current favorite.

They have also done covers of Daryl Hall and John Oates' Maneater and even Rihanna's Don't Stop The Music! They're both just as great. This live version of the song performed at The Independent SF in February 2009 just makes me love them more.

Music Monday: Explosions in the Sky

And now for the first installment of Music Mondays -

Explosions in the Sky could be best described as the modern day symphony. With most songs never less than 5 minutes, you can easily get lost in the smooth instrumentals. I would have never known that the group uses just two electric guitars, a bass guitar, and a drum set rather than being a mini symphony of sorts. Chris Hrasky, one of their band members states that one of their goals is to "immediately [grab] your attention and [to get] to your emotions." I believe it does just that.

Currently, one of my favorite songs from the band is 'Your Hand In Mine' which has been on repeat for the past couple of days. The above video is just a snippet of it, as the song is around 8 minutes long. It's a very tender piece, and I picture myself walking down the aisle to it with each melody introducing the next flower girl, ring bearer, bridesmaids/maids of honor, bestmans, the groom, and finally the bride. Take a listen, and I'm sure you will see this group featured on another Music Monday to come.