{"id":3304,"date":"2015-06-05T03:45:19","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T07:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/?p=3304"},"modified":"2015-09-29T05:21:59","modified_gmt":"2015-09-29T09:21:59","slug":"2014-music-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2015\/06\/2014-music-highlights\/","title":{"rendered":"2014 Music Highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following up on my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2015\/06\/2014-movie-highlights\/\">movie highlights<\/a>, I now present my music highlights for 2014. I (obviously) don&#8217;t keep logs\u00a0of all the music I listen to &amp; when. Fortunately Amazon Digital and my MP3 player do track what was purchased or imported when. Similar to my\u00a0other highlights, these are by no means\u00a0necessarily new to the world in 2014 but instead in most cases simply\u00a0new to me. The first set of these are pretty well known and mostly pop-ish songs, but the\u00a0collection down bottom much less so.<\/p>\n<h2>DJ\u00a0Play<\/h2>\n<p>First, a bunch of actually new-ish songs that got\u00a0their share of radio play last year, and in some cases much more than that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AWOLNATION<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Sail<\/em><br \/>\nIt&#8217;s a bit too reminiscent of <em>Breaking Bads&#8217;<\/em> use of TV On The Radio&#8217;s <em>DLZ<\/em>, but one of the seasons of Longmire ends with this used pretty well, as the hero\u00a0drives literally and figuratively on Denver.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AWOLNATION - Sail (Official Music Video)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tgIqecROs5M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Glitch Mob<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Fortune Days<\/em><br \/>\nPreviously noted for <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=H-k_Eg7zXuc\">We Can Make The World Stop<\/a><\/em>, The Glitch Mob returns with another\u00a0good one, this time just\u00a0outside the dub step milieu.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Glitch Mob - Fortune Days\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hbAUwi4D3Ew?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Kid Ink feat. Chris Brown<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Show Me<\/em><br \/>\nI&#8217;m conflicted by\u00a0this hip hop hit. As usual, I have trouble with hip hop&#8217;s generally boring attitudes toward women, as particularly exemplified by the terrible opener for the official video. I also especially don&#8217;t want to support domestic abuser and general asshole\u00a0Chris Brown. But\u00a0the melody\u00a0is really good.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kid Ink - Show Me (Explicit) ft. Chris Brown\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xKkb13IU_DE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Bastille<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Pompeii<\/em><br \/>\nThis verged on being well over played on the radio, and though potentially reading too much into it, I really like the vague hints of story elements in this.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bastille - Pompeii (Official Music Video)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F90Cw4l-8NY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sam Smith<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Stay With Me<\/em><br \/>\nRight on the line of overplayed, but I am a huge sucker for sappy, overwrought heartbreaks and a bit of piano.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sam Smith - Stay With Me (Official Music Video)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pB-5XG-DbAA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Vance Joy<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Riptide<\/em><br \/>\nAn absolutely great way to seed a flowing, upbeat Pandora playlist is to throw this one in.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Vance Joy - &#039;Riptide&#039; Official Video\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uJ_1HMAGb4k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Mr. Probz<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Waves [Robin Schulz Radio Edit]<\/em><br \/>\nRobin Schulz is ridiculously everywhere on my Pandora streams with his edits, but this beachy, upbeat tune from Mr Probz is really nice.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6MH9qWemtPo<\/p>\n<p><strong>Calvin Harris<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Summer<\/em><br \/>\nA pop-ish tune with just enough warble, everything is better in the summer.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Calvin Harris - Summer (Official Video)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ebXbLfLACGM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Avicii<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Hey Brother<\/em><br \/>\nTim Berg blows away a more rock-ish tune than usual, and the video even successfully adds a bit of depth.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Avicii - Hey Brother\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6Cp6mKbRTQY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Pirate Radio<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">Now some songs that are not so or not at all present on the radio, at least around the northeast US.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Upbeat<\/h3>\n<p>To begin, a few more upbeat tunes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aloe Blacc<\/strong>&#8212;<em>The Man<\/em> and <em>I Need A Dollar<\/em><br \/>\nBlacc is the singer on 2013&#8217;s Avicii hit <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=IcrbM1l_BoI\">Wake Me Up<\/a><\/em>, of which he also has a good <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M_o6axAseak\">acoustic rendition<\/a>. These two songs are him in an uptempo\u00a0soul, R&amp;B mode.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Aloe Blacc - The Man (Explicit)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HGy9i8vvCxk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar (Official Video)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iR6oYX1D-0w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Bakermat<\/strong>&#8212;<em>One Day (Vandaag)<\/em><br \/>\nA fast but light, sky-ful\u00a0Dutch dance song with a nice touch of\u00a0saxophone.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bakermat - One Day (Vandaag) (Videoclip)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6BV37Dcxj9s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Rather Be<\/em><br \/>\nSimple, fun electronic\u00a0pop\u00a0with sharp, clean\u00a0vocals and instrumental\u00a0ornamentation somewhat unique in\u00a0that genre.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Clean Bandit - Rather Be ft. Jess Glynne [Official Video]\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m-M1AtrxztU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tom Hangs feat. Shermanology<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Blessed [Tim Bergling\/Tom Hangs\/Avicii\/whoever he is Edit]<\/em><br \/>\nAs far as I can tell, this is a Tim Bergling song performed by Shermanology, produced under his Tom Hangs\u00a0stagename and then remixed under his Avicii stagename. \u00a0A sequence of credits as awesome as it is confusing. But this is a great, uplifting tune.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tom Hangs feat. Shermanology - Blessed (Avicii Edit) (Original Mix)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jpgZfMjmFrU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Parra For Cuva feat. Anna Naklab<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Wicked Games<\/em><br \/>\nAbsolutely incredible, upbeat take on Chris Isaak&#8217;s classic <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5D3Nl1GZzuw\">Wicked Games<\/a><\/em>. Although there&#8217;s several ultra-slow covers\u00a0I really like, this is the definitive version\u00a0for me.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Parra for Cuva ft. Anna Naklab - Wicked Games (Original Mix)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/24dG4m8ym_g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Quieter<\/h3>\n<p>At the opposite end of the spectrum, some quieter thoughts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Selah Sue<\/strong>&#8212;<em>This World<\/em><br \/>\nA great somewhat down-tempo soul song.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Selah Sue - This World (Official Video)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mJtM7SRo6l8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jim James<\/strong>&#8212;<em>State Of The Art (A.E.I.O.U.)<\/em><br \/>\nBasically the only good outcome from the very disappointing <em>The Blacklist<\/em>. One headline renders this as &#8220;digital ennui,&#8221; which I think is fair. I&#8217;m not sure what genre I&#8217;d lump it into, but it&#8217;s really good.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jim James - State Of The Art (A.E.I.O.U.)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mUYf2yu78Ts?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Birdy<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Skinny Love<\/em><br \/>\nThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ssdgFoHLwnk\">Bon Iver original<\/a> is also really good, but I particularly love this even slower, quieter rendition of this folk-ish song. Probably the saddest\u00a0song of the year.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Birdy - Skinny Love (Official Music Video)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aNzCDt2eidg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sharon Van Etten<\/strong>&#8212;<em>Serpents [Demo]<\/em><br \/>\nThis ostensible demo version and the song overall\u00a0is\u00a0shockingly\u00a0under-established to have had such major exposure&#8212;\u00a0no official upload?! But it&#8217;s a really great broken folk\/alternative song.\u00a0Pretty\u00a0popular despite basically no radio play when it was released a few years back&#8212;and really, I have little idea what station here outside XPN would play it&#8212;as it was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=56dlQvfVFgI\">used devastatingly<\/a> at the close of the fourth episode of the fourth season of <em>The Walking Dead<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sharon Van Etten - Serpents (Demo)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kv20Hlfl1Po?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following up on my movie highlights, I now present my music highlights for 2014. I (obviously) don&#8217;t keep logs\u00a0of all the music I listen to &amp; when. Fortunately Amazon Digital and my MP3 player do track what was purchased or imported when. Similar to my\u00a0other highlights, these are by no means\u00a0necessarily new to the world &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2015\/06\/2014-music-highlights\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[193],"class_list":["post-3304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-highlights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3304"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3316,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3304\/revisions\/3316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}