Music I'm Listening To (December 2021)
Latest in the quarterly music update, and the last for this year. Here's the list of all posts in recommendations category, to find the earlier ones (I don't have an easy way to filter out the music ones only).
Official HIGE DANdism - Editorial
The latest Official HIGE DANdism and their latest album Editorial continues to deliver more of their high-energy sound, along with some newer acoustic stuff. Shoutout especially to Cry Baby for a surprising set of chord changes, plus Universe for some spicy instrumentals.
I don't even know what else to say here. I have no idea what their lyrics mean (and don't feel any need to look it up, either). If I had to describe their style succinctly, it would be J-pop/rock with funk influences; but I think that leaves out a lot of the picture. It's definitely modern, flashy, polished, and novel.
The Shadowboxers - Won't Ever Say Goodbye
In contrast (though no less polished), Won't Ever Say Goodbye by The Shadowboxers takes us back several decades with an R&B feel and tight vocal harmonies - but it's actually from their 2020 album The Slow March of Time Flies By. No flash here, only silky-smooth. Fun fact - they apparently once tweeted at Justin Timberlake to check out their cover, which led to Timberlake mentoring, signing, and inviting them to tour with him. So there's another reason to try using Twitter, I guess.
Rozzi - Joshua Tree
Rozzi's Joshua Tree is carried by her clear and expressive voice and emotional lyrics - it certainly isn't the orchestration, which is as bare as the deserts surrounding the Joshua Tree area. She's an incredibly talented singer-songwriter and I'd love to see her perform live at some point. This song also really makes me want to send letters across town, but I'll just have to settle for across three time zones for now.
LeeHi - For You (Holiday Remix)
Recently I was putting together some Christmas music for a playlist, and was pleasantly surprised to find this new Christmas remix of an old LeeHi song (though I missed the duet with Crush from the original version). Last year I recorded a short Christmas album with my roommate; one reason I didn't want to record another this year (besides time/travel constraints) was that there are only so many decent Christmas songs. If you keep doing Christmas albums, then sooner or later you end up really reaching with songs like Pentatonix's I Saw Three Ships; no matter how good of a cover it is, there's only so much you can do with the source material, and these are lesser-known songs for a reason. LeeHi (as well as HONNE's Warm on a Christmas Night) have reminded me there's another option: any song is a Christmas song as long as you make it one.
As always, I'd love to hear your music recommendations.