2017 in Review - Music

I bought about about the same amount of music as last year including the albums Native Invader by Tori Amos and Wonderful, Wonderful by The Killers. 

2017 songs on heavy rotation (* indicates top 7)

*Machine - MisterWives
*Hot Thoughts - Spoon
*I Dare You - the xx (+ On Hold)
*Sorry - Nothing but Thieves
*Guilty Party - The National (+Day I Die)
Everything Now - Arcade Fire
Sugar for the Pill - Slowdive
In Undertow - Alvvays
Only a Child - Gracie and Rachel
Particle - Hundred Waters
*Los Ageless - St. Vincent
SGL - Now, Now
*Bang - Tori Amos (+Wildwood +Climb)
Someone to You - BANNERS
Hurt Like Hell - The Heydaze
Now and Then - Sjowgren
Broken - lovelytheband
Edge of Town - Middle Kids
It's a Trip! - Joywave
Something Just Like This - Coldplay
Shape of You - Ed Sheeran
Feel it Still - Portugal, The Man
Tummy Ache - Diet Cig
Run for Cover - The Killers
Roots - Alice Merton
The Gold - Manchester Orchestra
In Cold Blood - Alt-J
Don't Take the Money - Bleachers
Up All Night - Beck
Two High - Moon Taxi
There's A Honey - Pale Waves

Favorite finds from previous years 

Cleopatra - The Lumineers (2016)
Favorite Liar - The Wrecks (2016)

The Night We Met - Lord Huron (2015)
The Two of Us - Sophie Park (2013)
Can't be Broken - Twin Forks (2013)
Illumination - Secret Garden (1997)

Live Music in 2017

+ Agnes Obel (March 7) in DC

+ Coldplay (August 7) in D.C.

+ Tori Amos (Nov 3) in D.C.

+ Tori Amos (Nov 4) in Philadelphia, PA

+ Tori Amos (Nov. 11) in Durham, NC


I'd love to hear about your favorite music of the year - share with me!! 

2016 in Review: Music

I bought --130 new songs this year (only about half as many as last year) including the albums My Woman - Angel Olsen and Currents - Tame Impala,

2016 songs on heavy rotation (* indicates top 7)

*Lucky - AURORA (+ Winter Bird + Murder Song)

Free - Broods (+ Couldn't Believe + Full Blown Love)
*Higher - The Naked and the Famous (+ Laid Low + The Water Beneath You)
2AM - Bear Hands
Big Ideas - The Boxer Rebellion
How - Daughter
Dust - Haelos
Open Your Eyes - School of Seven Bells
Something to Believe In - Young the Giant
Sunday Love - Bat for Lashes
Somebody Else - The 1975 (+ The Sound)
You Don't Get Me High Anymore - Phantogram
*New Song - Warpaint
*Not Gonna Kill You - Angel Olsen (+ Shut Up Kiss Me + Intern)
Brand New Moves - Hey Violet
What Am I Becoming? - POP ETC
Still Breathing - Green Day
Love Me Better - Love Thy Brother
*I Won't Let You Go - Switchfoot
*Your Best American Girl - Mitski
Washed Up Together - Knox Hamilton
I Am Chemistry - Yeasayer (+ Silly Me)
Bad Decisions - Two Door Cinema Club
Sweet Disaster - DREAMERS
*Ladies Don't Play Guitar - Tennis
What We Live For - American Authors
Lose It - Oh Wonder
Live While I Breathe - The Moth & The Flame (+ Red Flag)
Fall Together - The Temper Trap
Past Lives - Local Natives
Love Is A Disease - Honeyblood


Favorite finds from previous years 

Roses - The Chainsmokers (2015)
This Year - Cooper (2015)

Destruction - Joywave (2015)
Queen - MisterWives (2015)
When You Were Mine - Night Terrors of 1927 (Feat. Tegan and Sara) (2015)
High Dive - Andrew McMahon (2014)
You Are Enough - Sleeping at Last (2014)
Here With Me - Susie Suh (2014)
You Ruin Me - The Veronicas (2014) 

Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys (2013)
Diamonds - The Boxer Rebellion (2013)
Cigarette Daydreams - Cage the Elephant (2013)
Out of My League - Fitz & The Tantrums (2013)
As It Seems - Lily Kershaw (2013)
It's Real - Real Estate (2011)
Help I'm Alive - Metric (2009)
My Mistakes Were Made for You - The Last Shadow Puppets (2008)
The Middle - Jimmy Eat World (2001) 

Live Music in 2016

+ Metric with Joywave (March 5) in Indianapolis, Indiana

+ Daughter (April 6) in D.C.

+ Florence and the Machine with Of Monsters and Men (June 4) in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

+ Purity Ring (June 8) in D.C.

+ Angel Olsen (Sept 15) in D.C.

+ Switchfoot (Oct 26) in D.C. 



I'd love to hear about your favorite music of the year - share with me!! 

2015 In Review: Music

I bought 220 new songs this year (way more than last year) including 4 albums, Every Open Eye/Chvrches, Beneath the Skin/Of Monsters and Men, Song Spells #1/Sea Wolf, Art Angels/Grimes

2015 songs on heavy rotation (* indicates top 5)

*Flesh Without Blood - Grimes 

*Leave a Trace - Chvrches 

*Happy - Marina and the Diamonds
*True Confessions - Blondfire
*Breaker - Deerhunter

The Shade - Metric

Lightning Strike - A Silent Film

Grey Days - Chelsea Wolfe

1998 - Chet Faker feat. Banks

Trip Switch - Nothing but Thieves

I of the Storm - Of Monsters and Men

Body Talk - Foxes

Hiding - Florence and the Machine

High - Zella Day

Step Brother City - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

Strange Hellos - TORRES

Greek Tragedy - The Wombats

Little Wanderer - Death Cab for Cutie

Begin Again - Purity Ring

The Labyrinth Song - Asaf Avidan

White Lies - Milo Greene

A Beginning Song - The Decemberists 

My Least Favorite Life - Lera Lynn

Empty Gold - Halsey

Blame it on Me - George Ezra
Anything - TOPS
Too Late to Say Goodbye - Cage the Elephant
Water Slides - Mew
Molecules - Atlas Genius
I Feel It - Avid Dancer

Favorite finds from previous years (* indicates top 5)

*Algiers - The Afghan Whigs (2014)

Cecilia and the Satellite - Andrew McMahon (2014)

*Black Soap - Ex Cops (2014)
Go - Grimes (2014)

*Lover - In the Valley Below (2014)

Black Mambo - Glass Animals (2014)

* Lover, Where Do You Live? - Highasakite (2014)

Zigzagging Toward the Light - Conor Oberst (2014)

Lust and Lies - The Ramona Flowers (2013)

*Teen Idle - Marina and the Diamonds (2012)
Sun - Two Door Cinema Club (2012)
Hold On - Alabama Shakes (2012)

My Secret Friend - IAMX (2010)
Christmas Won't Be the Same Without You - Plain White Ts (2009)

I Don't Believe You - The Magnetic Fields (2004)
August - Rilo Kiley (2001)

Live Music in 2015

+ Alt J with Wolf Alice (Feb 7) in Offenbach, Germany

+ Rachael Yamagata (Feb 20) in Frankfurt, Germany

+ Sea Wolf (May 21) in Frankfurt, Germany

+ Of Monsters and Men with Highasakite (July 1) in Frankfurt, Germany

+ Death Cab for Cutie with Twin Shadow (Sept 19) in Columbus, Ohio

+ Landmark Festival in DC (Sept 27) with Chvrches, George Ezra, TV on the Radio, Lord Huron, Houndmouth, In the Valley Below

+ Deerhunter (December 17) in Columbus, Ohio


I'd love to hear about your favorite music of the year - share with me!!

Playlist October featuring The Summer After You & Me by Jennifer Doktorski

I love music and I love books, which means I really love book playlists. So all through October I'm going to be posting book playlists. I've invited a bunch of authors to contribute, so hopefully we'll all discover some great new music and good reads.

Jennifer Doktorski is here today to share some of the resonant lyrics from her playlist for her new novel THE SUMMER AFTER YOU & ME.

Here's the book summary:

When Superstorm Sandy sweeps up the New Jersey coast, local shore girl Lucy Giordano is brought together for a few intense hours with her longtime crush/part-time summer neighbor, Connor Malloy. Lucy believes their connection is real, but in the hurricane’s devastating aftermath, nothing is the same and Lucy is left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart and home.

 And Jennifer's playlist!



“Crazy For You” Stars on 45

Every single word that you say
Every little thing that you do
Hits like a hurricane
When I'm secretly crazy for you


“Absolutely Still” Val Emmich

We were running from the same noise
We were stuck in the same pursuit
Now the door's locked
And I find that this dizzy madness is bleeding through
Promise me you'll never leave this room


“Every Breaking Wave” U2

Are we ready to be swept off our feet
And stop chasing
Every breaking wave


“Riptide” Vance Joy

Lady, running down to the riptide
Taken away to the dark side
I wanna be your left hand man


“Come to Me” Goo Goo Dolls

Fortune teller said I'd be free
And that's the day you came to me
Came to me

Find out more about Jennifer and her novels at her website: www.jendoktorski.com

Playlist October featuring IF YOU'RE LUCKY by Yvonne Prinz

I love music and I love books, which means I really love book playlists. So all through October I'm going to be posting book playlists. I've invited a bunch of authors to contribute, so hopefully we'll all discover some great new music and good reads.

Today, I have Yvonne Prinz talking about her playlist picks for her new novel, IF YOU'RE LUCKY.

First, the book summary:

When seventeen-year-old Georgia’s brother drowns while surfing halfway around the world in Australia, she refuses to believe Lucky’s death was just bad luck. Lucky was smart. He wouldn’t have surfed in waters more dangerous than he could handle. Then a stranger named Fin arrives in False Bay, claiming to have been Lucky’s best friend. Soon Fin is working for Lucky’s father, charming Lucky’s mother, dating his girlfriend. Georgia begins to wonder: did Fin murder Lucky in order to take over his whole life?

Determined to clear the fog from her mind in order to uncover the truth about Lucky’s death, Georgia secretly stops taking the medication that keeps away the voices in her head. Georgia is certain she’s getting closer and closer to the truth about Fin, but as she does, her mental state becomes more and more precarious, and no one seems to trust what she’s saying. 

As the chilling narrative unfolds, the reader must decide whether Georgia’s descent into madness is causing her to see things that don’t exist–or to see a deadly truth that no one else can.

And now, Yvonne's song picks!

1. Somewhere Down The Road- Feist

A sad, pretty song for Georgia and how I imagine she yearns for her dead brother, Lucky.


2. Poison Oak- Bright Eyes. 

I love these lyrics. I think that Oberst wrote this song to go with my story. That isn’t true, of course, but the song reminds me of my character, Georgia, and her brother, Lucky. Georgia has always been in awe of Lucky’s ease in his life. He brought the world home to False Bay with him when he returned from his adventures and he made it seem small and friendly. After he’s gone, Georgia doesn’t know how to look at the world anymore.

“I fell asleep with you still talking to me and you said you weren’t afraid to die”

3. Dearly Departed- Shakey Graves 

If You’re Lucky is part ghost story and this song seemed appropriate. I adore Shakey Graves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkDycke-u6M



4. Wild is the Wind- Cat Powers

This is a beautiful cover of a David Bowie hit. I played it a lot while I wrote about Georgia losing touch with what’s real.



5. Sailor Song- The Felice Brothers

The Felice Brothers are self-proclaimed slouching Hudson River Pirates. I think this song speaks to Georgia’s slide downward. Her delusions start to define her life as she slips away from reality. I love the sea shanty feel of this tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFFI_VZT6to


6. Shangri-la-Mark Knopfler

Lots of surf culture in this story. Lucky thrived in that life. He worked here and there and then followed the waves around the world. I’ve always loved the way this song speaks to that Gypsy life that Lucky embraced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsO-O8SG7yc


7. Oh, Lonesome Me- M. Ward featuring Lucinda Williams 

The coastline where I set the book in Northern California is one I’m very familiar with and this track is just how I feel when I drive that lonesome highway along the edge of the western world, overlooking the Pacific. There are lots of versions of this Neil Young song but nothing quite touches the soulfulness of this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MRysO58leA


8. The Riptide-Beirut

Georgia fears the water though it’s all around her while she’s awake and in her dreams. Beirut is a big favorite of mine. I love their rich multi-instrumental arrangements. I like this video too. It’s reminiscent of the scene where Georgia’s family scatters Lucky’s ashes into the ocean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX7fd8uQle


9. Minor Swing- Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli

Sonia (Lucky’s girlfriend) and Georgia take a drive down to a small bar in Bodega (near where Tom Waits now lives, incidentally) to see a Gypsy Swing band. They’re surprised when Fin gets onstage to sit in with the band. He’s obviously an accomplished guitar player and neither of them knew anything about this. I loved building a character with a flourish like this, another dollop of intrigue, another layer to explore.


10. In My Sleep- Austin Hartley and Kendall Jane Meade

This one’s a weeper. I see Georgia is hanging on to her dead brother too tight and she sees him in her dreams, always in the water, always reaching for her.

11. Jayne’s Blue Wish- Tom Waits- A nice poetic note to end on. A touch of hope for Georgia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-hYKy62DZM

 Thanks, Yvonne - all these songs are new to me. How fun!

Find out more about IF YOU'RE LUCKY at Yvonne's website and look for it in stores starting October 20th! 

Playlist October! Among the Shadows Story: Panic Room by ... me!

I love music and I love books, which means I really love book playlists. So all through October I'm going to be posting book playlists. I've invited a bunch of authors to contribute, so hopefully we'll all discover some great new music and good reads.

First up, I wanted to share a few songs that go with my short story in the Among the Shadows anthology (out now - buy here). My story is called Panic Room and it's about a girl who has to adjust to life on a doomsday prepper commune before and after an EMP attack.

And here are 5 songs that you can rock out to while reading it:

Lights Out by Santigold

Lights out, shoot up the station
TV's dead, where's there to run?
Watch everybody come undone

Nightlight by Silversun Pickups

If we survive this (WE WANT IT)
We only want it with the lights out
If we say that (WE WANT IT)
We only want it with the lights out

Trip Switch by Nothing but Thieves

They put out the lights, they put out the lights
What we do when the power's out
What do we do when the lights go
Down, down, down, down, down

Bug by Alex G

and when you go there
you stay there
bug in the crosshair
you stay there

Shock to Your System by Tegan and Sara

You got a shock to your system

Pull yourself out of it

I know that shock to your system

Knocked your heart right out of sync

2014 in Review: Music

I bought 136 new songs this year (a bit less than last year) including two albums, Unrepentant Geraldines/Tori Amos and The Brink/The Jezebels. 

2014 songs on heavy rotation (indicates top 5)

Every Other Freckle - Alt-J

Palace - The Antlers

Beggin for Thread - Banks

*Rollercoaster - Bleachers

Ashes & Embers - The Casket Girls

My Favourite Faded Fantasy - Damien Rice
Meowy Kitty - David Fey

*Beneath the Brine - The Family Crest

Tonight - Glass Towers

Yours to Shake - Greylag

Hymnals - Grizfolk

Afterlife - Ingrid Michaelson

*The Brink - The Jezebels

Past Life - Lost in the Trees

Night Like This - LP

No Rest for the Wicked - Lykke Li

The Writing's on the Wall - OK Go

Nothing But Trouble - Phantogram

Let it Go - Saint Savior

Blank Space - Taylor Swift

Forest of Glass - Tori Amos

*Weatherman - Tori Amos

Love Stained - TV on the Radio

Love is to Die - Warpaint
*Heavenly Creatures - Wolf Alice


Favorite finds from previous years (indicates top 5)

Loud Like Love - Placebo (2013)

Blush - Wolf Alice (2013)

*Something Good - Alt-J (2012)

Landfill - Daughter (2012)

How to Be a Heartbreaker - Marina and the Diamonds (2012)

Angels - The xx (2012)

Wonderland - Natalia Kills (2011)

Close Watch - Agnes Obel (2010)

Dancing Under Influence - Bedroom Eyes (2010)

*Pick Up The Phone - Dragonette (2009)

Hotblack - Oceanship (2009)

Sweet and Low - Augustana (2008)

Lost Coastlines - Okkervil River (2008)
*Oboes Bleat and Triangles Tink - Say Hi (2008)
Back and Forth - Maps (2007)

*Slow Show - The National (2007)

*Set Fire to the Third Bar - Snow Patrol (2006)

Life Less Ordinary - Carbon Leaf (2004)

Consequence - The Notwist (2002)

Don't Go Away - Toad the Wet Sprocket (1989)

Thanks to my main sources for new music this year: iTunes, NPR, Spotify, Justin Chanda, David Fey, & Christina Franke.

Live Music in 2014

+ Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Frankfurt, Germany - January (My BIL bought us tickets to see the former lead singer of Pavement with his new band. Fun!)

+ The Jezebels - Frankfurt, Germany - March (Highlight: A Little Piece!! They are awesome live and I loved the whole concert)

+ Tori Amos - Frankfurt, Germany - May (Highlight: This was my first time hearing Weatherman. Mellow show, but had a blast with my SIL)

+ Tori Amos - Berlin, Germany - May (Highlight: Sugar and Northern Lad and Purple People all in the same set? Yes, Please!)

+ Tori Amos - Vienna, Austria - June (Highlight: Nice to get Josephine again. Also! Got to chat with Tori before the show and had a seat in the second row)

+ Tori Amos - Linz, Austria - June (Highlight: Tori's cover of Rise Like A Phoenix by Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst who won for Austria. What a great surprise! Also, chatted with Tori again and got a front row upgrade.)

+ Tori Amos - Stuttgart, Germany - June (Highlight: I've been requesting Beulah Land since 2007 and she finally played it for me! This show's setlist was pretty dark and my favorite of the 5. Also gave Tori a copy of Chasing Before/Chick and got a front row upgrade!)

+ We had tickets to see Ingrid Michaelson and Warpaint, and both acts had to cancel for family reasons. Shame!

Tori Amos with my books!!

Looking forward to 2015 -- we already have tickets to Alt-J with Wolf Alice (Feb 7th) and Rachael Yamagata (Feb 20th). Super excited!

Any recommendations for me?

2013 in Review: Music

I bought 180 songs in 2013 (same amount as last year!!), including four complete albums (last year I only bought one). The albums were all from bands I also saw in concert:

Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob More poppy than their earlier albums, this is one I can listen to start to finish. The beats are great for cleaning house ;)

The National - Trouble Will Find Me  The National is showing up in all my favorite things lately. They were on The Mindy Project. They had a song on the Catching Fire soundtrack. And they sang The Rains of Castamere on Game of Thrones. They are amazing and I love this entire album.

MS MR - Secondhand Rapture At first I was only into a couple of the songs, but upon repeated listens, I really fell in love with the catchy lyrics, melodic hooks, and sultry pop atmosphere.

Bastille - Bad Blood My pick for best album of 2013. Of course that might have something to do with the fact that I am certain Dan and I have the same muse. So many of the themes he explores are present in my forthcoming novel CHASING BEFORE. So much so that I am gobsmacked. See especially Bad Blood, Flaws, and Things We Lost in the Fire.

2013 songs on heavy rotation (indicates top 5)

*Things We Lost in the Fire – Bastille

*Hurricane – MS MR

Fireproof – The National

Love They Say – Tegan and Sara
*Midnight Drive – Still Corners

*Overdose – Little Daylight

*Lies - Chvrches
Beauty Queen – Foxes

Youth – Daughter

The One That Got Away – The Civil Wars

Get Lucky – Daft Punk

Safe and Sound – Capitol Cities

Troublemaker – Camera Obscura

Lilies – Bat for Lashes

If So – Atlas Genius

Sweater Weather – The Neighborhood

Drift – RZA (from Pacific Rim soundtrack)
Mirror - Ellie Goulding (from Catching Fire soundtrack)
Dream - The Boxer Rebellion
Waiting for Something to Happen - Veronica Falls

Favorite finds from previous years (indicates top 5)

*Deadlines and Commitments – The Killers (2012)

*Harbor Lights – A Silent Film (2012)
Youth Without Youth – Metric (2012)

Myth – Beach House (2012)

Let Her Go – Passenger (2012)

No Rest - Dry the River (2012)
Afternoon - Youth Lagoon (2011)
*A Little Piece - The Jezabels (2010)

*On The Surface – Civil Twilight (2010)

Girls Like You – The Naked and the Famous (2010)

Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap (2009)

No Direction – Longwave (2008)

Lights Out – Santigold (2008)

*Satellite – Guster (2006)

Le vent nous portera – Noir Desir (2001)

Live Music in 2013

+ Mumford & Sons - Dusseldorf, Germany - April (Highlight: none. I absolutely hated the venue, Mitsubishi Halle, and will never attend a concert there again. The terrible venue affected my overall enjoyment of the concert)
+ Tegan and Sara - Frankfurt, Germany - June (highlight: Call it Off)
+ The National - Luxembourg - November (highlight: Bloodbuzz, Ohio)
+ MS MR - Frankfurt, Germany - November (highlight: how excited they were to be on stage. Loved it!)
+ Bastille - Luxembourg - November (highlight: umm... during Flaws, Dan came into the audience, touched me on the shoulder and said hello. Note that I was the only person sitting (in a bar stool) in the whole place due to my recent surgery. It was pretty surreal.)
+ I had tickets to see The Light Princess in London, but couldn't go due to my hospitalization. Major Bummer. Glad that Tori Amos is embarking on a tour in 2014 and I already have tickets to five shows.



Have any recommendations for me based on my taste? Would love to hear them!!

Time After Time Playlist Song + The Better Than Ezra Experience

Back in May, Tamara Ireland Stone and I drove from an event in St Louis to the Romantic Times Convention in Kansas City.  After only a couple hours of sleep and fueled by coffee and anticipation, we kept ourselves awake by sharing some of our favorite songs. Obviously it was an amazing road trip that I'll never forget.

Tamara has a real love affair with music. Her debut novel Time Between Us (read my review) was inspired by Tamara's desire to have the power to time travel back to epic shows by bands like Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins.  In one of the first chapters of the sequel Time After Time, Bennett and his sister travel to a small club in Munich to see Coldplay before they were big. I mean, how cool is that?!

So, when I found out that Tamara was doing a playlist blog hop for Time After Time, I begged her to be part of it. And when I saw that there was a Better Than Ezra song on Anna's playlist, I knew I had to have it.



To me, Good is a song about being apart which makes it an apt choice for Anna and Bennett who are in the ultimate long distance relationship across time. When you're together it's good. And when you're not, you're left with this yearning feeling, not knowing if you'll ever see each other again.

Better Than Ezra is the soundtrack to my college years. I didn't start listening in earnest until I saw the video for In The Blood, and this face:

And then I had the chance to go to a concert in Lawrence, KS at the end of October 1996. The concert was the highest of highs, not only did I feel the music deeply in my bones, I also got a backstage pass for being such an enthusiastic fan.

On the way home from that concert, a deer hit my car while we were listening to the song Rewind.  Rewind has the following lyric that I love, and it struck me as so ironic at the time.

In any case, over the course of the next two years, I traveled to any BTE show in KS, MO, OK or TX, culminating with my last show at The Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas in November of 1998 to bring me up to a total of 11 shows. Almost every journey was fraught with some sort of calamity - a speeding ticket, a flat tire, running out of gas - but those concerts will always hold a special place in my heart.

As will Tamara's novels, and Bennett and Anna.

More about Time After Time (add to Goodreads):

Calling Anna and Bennett’s romance long distance is an understatement: she’s from 1995 Chicago and he’s a time traveler from 2012 San Francisco. The two of them never should have met, but they did. They fell in love, even though they knew they shouldn't. And they found a way to stay together, against all odds.

It’s not a perfect arrangement, though, with Bennett unable to stay in the past for more than brief visits, skipping out on big chunks of his present in order to be with Anna in hers. They each are confident that they’ll find a way to make things work...until Bennett witnesses a single event he never should have seen (and certainly never expected to). Will the decisions he makes from that point on cement a future he doesn't want? 

Told from Bennett’s point of view, Time After Time will satisfy readers looking for a fresh, exciting, and beautifully-written love story, both those who are eager to find out what’s next for Time Between Us's Anna and Bennett and those discovering their story for the first time.

AND because today is a Playlist Double Dip, you can get a Bennett Song & enter a giveaway for signed copies of the books over at Once Upon a Prologue! 

2012 in Review: Music

I haven't done a year in music wrap up on the blog before, but I bought 180 new songs in 2012 and find myself really getting back into discovering new music in a way I haven't since I was in my early 20s.

Many times this year I'd come across a single I just loved to pieces, but the rest of the band's songs didn't immediately speak to me.  Sometimes I come back to them, give them more chances.  For example, I'm slowly learning to love all the tracks on The National's High Violet, on Mumford & Suns Sigh No More and on Arcade Fire's The Suburbs.

But those are all older, so let's talk about stuff released in 2012.  Here are some of the new songs that were on heavy rotation this year (in no particular order):

Anna Sun - Walk the Moon This is so infectious - always puts me in a good mood.
Dear Fellow Traveler - Sea Wolf I'm a big Sea Wolf fan, and this was my fast favorite from his new album
All the Rowboats - Regina Spektor I'm in awe of Regina's lyrics. Saying art is imprisoned is an interesting thought.
Stubborn Love - The Lumineers So much emotion
Madness - Muse I heard this on the radio in LA without knowing who it was and loved it.
Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It - Stars Perfect feel good anthem.
Abraham's Daughter - Arcade Fire (from The Hunger Games Soundtrack) OMG, I got chills when this started the credits. Perfect fit to the movie.
She Owns the Streets - The Raveonettes I got into the Raveonettes in a big way this year, and this is my favorite from the latest album.
Love Love Love - Of Monsters and Men  This is one of the saddest love songs ever.
Born to Die - Lana Del Rey Kind of a guilty pleasure, but Lana's songs are super addictive.
We Are Young - Fun. I know this was a big radio hit - and I never got tired of it!
History's Door - Husky Has kind of a Fleet Foxes vibe which is good for chillin'
Closer - Tegan and Sara  Much more commercial than most of their stuff, but very upbeat and fun.
Cutty Love - Milo Greene Love the atmosphere of this one.

And then there are some older songs that I just found this year:

Here in Me - Saint Saviour (2011) My current obsession.
Tamer Animals - Other Lives (2011) This entire album is amazing.
Starlight - Rachael Yamagata (2011) Love the groove.
Shake Me Down - Cage the Elephant (2011) I could see this being the theme song to a apocalyptic zombie movie.
Lights - Ellie Goulding (2011) Sunlight and sprinkles captured in song form.
Timshel - Mumford & Sons (2010)  Now vying for my top M&S song spot.
I Say Fever - Ramona Falls (2009) I listened to this on repeat all summer long. Gothic and dramatic.
Hannah - The Freelance Whales (2009) Quirky
Lazy Eye - The Silversun Pickups (2006) The beginning is soooo good.
What Else is There? - Royksopp (2005) Also a current obsession.

I also made it my mission to seek out more live music this year. Here's what I experienced:

Florence and the Machine - Houston, TX - April (Highlight: Shake it Out)
Tom Petty with Regina Spektor - Wichita, KS - April (Highlight: Free Fallin and The Party)
Scala and Kolacny Brothers - Frankfurt, Germany - May (Highlight: Creep)
Book of Mormon on Broadway - NYC, NY - August (Highlight: Baptize Me)
Tori Amos - Berlin, Germany - October (Highlight: Gold Dust)
Owl City - Frankfurt, Germany - October (Highlight: Fireflies)
Florence and the Machine - Frankfurt, Germany - December (Highlight: Drumming Song)
Stars - Frankfurt, Germany - December (Highlight: Take Me to the Riot)
The Raveonettes - Frankfurt, Germany - December (Highlight: Gone Forever & The Christmas Song)


Special shout-outs to my top music recommendation sources:

Twitterati such as @jpchanda (#songonsunday), @brokeandbookish @mstiefvater and @catagator
The Glitter Pox
Free Single of the Week on iTunes
NoiseTrade
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Now that you know my tastes, do you have any recommendations for me? I will love you forever!!

Daniel Approved Christmas Tunes

Every December for the past couple of years, I've made it my mission to find Christmas music that Daniel likes so that we can listen to it together.  It's taken me hours and hours of playing him samples from hundreds of versions of songs to come up with the following 20 song playlist.  And since he was the first person to put on the Christmas CD this year, I consider it a rousing success.

1. God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman - Aimee Mann
A very stripped down vocal with some nice music effects. At just over two minutes, it's short and sweet.

2. Carol of the Bells - The Bird and the Bee
I adore this song and can listen to it in most incarnations, but this is the only version that is Daniel approved, probably because it sounds so modern. And it's short.

3. The Christmas Song - The Raveonettes
I love this rock/folk version of this song so much, I could listen to it all year round.

4. Star of Wonder - Tori Amos
This reworking of the Christmas classic is a nice mix of the familiar and Tori's flight of fancy.

5. O Come All Ye Faithful - Weezer
The whole Weezer Christmas album is a winner in Daniel's eyes, but this is the one that I chose for the playlist because I have good versions of most of the other songs from other singers.

6. Rudy - The Be Good Tanyas
Daniel likes this song about "Rudy the Red-Nosed Wino" who dies on Christmas Day more than I do, but I tolerate it for him.

7. Fairytale of New York - The Pogues
The classic Christmas song for holiday music haters.

8. Good King Wenceslas - Loreena McKennitt
Gorgeous.

9. O Little Town of Bethlehem - Elvis Presley
Still haven't found a version we like better than the King's.

10. Away in A Manger - Sufjan Stevens
Most of Sufjan's Christmas catalogue is a good bet for people who don't like traditional Christmas music.

11. When the Bells Start Ringing - My Morning Jacket
This is a good Americana slice of Christmas.

12. O Come O Come Emmanuel - The Civil Wars
The best version I've found of this song, though I also really like the Tori Amos version.

13. Gabriel's Message - Sting
Daniel enjoys pretty much the entire If On A Winter's Night CD from Sting and I do too. This is my favorite though.

14. Ding Dong! Merrily On High - Chanticleer
Perhaps a surprise for this list considering it's quite traditional. But it's well done, and very short.

15. Blue Christmas - Johnny Cash
Perfectly acceptable!

16. What Child Is This? - Josh Groban
I was surprised that Daniel likes this, but he does. Groban's clear voice is a stunner on this simple version of the song.

17. Rockin Around the Christmas Tree - She & Him
I must have listened to 100 versions of this song before Daniel finally accepted this one. Whew! I had to have it on my list.

18. O Holy Night - Emmy Rossum
This is my favorite Christmas song and the only version so far that doesn't make Daniel's ears bleed (well, besides the Weezer version, but you can only have so much Weezer on a playlist).

19. The First Noel - Leigh Nash
 This is my second favorite Christmas song and the only version so far that doesn't make Daniel's ears bleed (well, besides the Weezer version, but you can only have so much Weezer on a playlist).

20. River - Glee Cast Version
My guilty pleasure on this list, and Daniel hasn't complained. Yet.

Do you have any suggestions I might add to this list?

Rule of Three Blog Tour (Review, Giveaway + Playlist): Rebel Heart by Moira Young

Have you read BLOOD RED ROAD yet?  (My review) If not, what are you waiting for?  I'll admit, I had some trouble getting into the rhythm of Saba's (uneducated) voice in the first book, but once I got used to the writing, I found it wholly immersive.

In fact, when I started REBEL HEART, Young's writing pulled me in so immediately, it was like I never left the Dustlands.  In this installment, Saba has a bit of PTSD after what happened at the end of BLOOD RED ROAD.  She's on her way to meet with Jack, but new malevolent forces (the revived Tonton with De Malo as a leader) conspire to keep them apart.  There were a lot of scenes that threw me for a loop, and I was riveted by events and emotions.  That's why REBEL HEART gets the Zombie Chicken Merit Badge for Writing.

REBEL HEART PLAYLIST

For the Rule of Three blog tour, I got to create a playlist!  Because I chose songs to fit specific scenes, this playlist is slightly spoilery (no major spoilers, I promise).

Song: Desert – Other Lives 

Scene: Beginning of book. Saba, her siblings and Tommo in the desert.

Sample lyrics:

Desert reclaims the land,
and we return full in colour.

Oh I see, I see the fires ahead,
but in my mind it's turning cold.

Notes: This song has great atmosphere, and of course the lyrics are very fitting for the Dustlands setting.

Song: Terrified – Among Savages

Scene: Saba worried that her quest to find Jack is putting everyone she loves in danger.

Sample lyrics:

Cause I'm terrified and I'm ruined by this mess
Cause I needed you more than I needed what was best

Notes: In BLOOD RED ROAD, Saba had the "red hot" so we didn't see a lot of her fear.  Things are a bit different in book two.

Song: Dead Hearts – Stars 

Scene: Ghosts of the dead haunting Saba.

Sample lyrics:

Did you touch them?
Did you hold them?
Did they follow you to town?
They make me feel I'm falling down

Was there one you saw too clearly?
Did they seem too real to you?

They were kids that I once knew
Now they're all dead hearts to you.

Notes: Saba is feeling guilty about what happened to Epona, and she finds it hard to let go.

Song: Horse and I – Bat for Lashes 

Scene: Saba meets Auriel

Sample lyrics:

"Take her there, through the desert shores."
They sang to me, "This is yours to wear. You're the chosen one, there's no turning back now."

Notes: I love the mystical atmosphere of this song. Fits the scene so well.

Song: Rabbit Heart – Florence + The Machine

Scene: Saba realizing the new threat and preparing herself to take it on.

Sample lyrics:
I must become a lion hearted girl
Ready for a fight

Notes: This struck me because Saba is attempting to gain her courage from a deeper place now, whereas before, she relied purely on instinct and basic will to survive.


Song: Generator (First Floor) - Freelance Whales

Scene: In the mysterious hideout with the 3D movie house.

Sample lyrics:
We keep on churning and the lights inside the house turned on
And in our native language we are chanting ancient songs

Notes: I love this song and I was so thrilled that this scene existed so I could use it. This is where Saba first gets an inkling of how beautiful the world used to be in the "olden days".


Song: Apres Moi – Regina Spektor

Scene: De Malo explaining the rationale behind the Tonton's new world order.

Sample lyrics:
Be afraid of the lame, they'll inherit your legs
Be afraid of the old, they'll inherit your souls
Be afraid of the cold, they'll inherit your blood
Après moi le deluge, after me comes the flood

Notes: Somehow perfect.

Song: Bliss – Tori Amos

Scene: (Highlight to see spoiler) Saba and De Malo in the tent

Sample lyrics:
Steady as it comes
Right down
To you
I've said it all
So maybe we're a bliss
Of another kind

Notes: OMG - right? I was seriously like WTF?!

Song: Ocean of Noise – Arcade Fire

Scene: At the Tonton stronghold. Saba's face-off with De Malo.

Sample lyrics:
No way of knowing
What any man will do
An ocean of violence
Between me and you

You've got your reasons
And me, I've got mine
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies
To buy myself some time

Notes: I love the complexity of De Malo as an adversary for Saba.


Song: Something of an End – My Brightest Diamond

Scene: Final battle

Sample lyrics:
Because the earth starts shakin'
And yeah it's crazy
Heaven and hell come crashing down
And then the earth starts shakin'
And yeah it's so crazy
Heaven and hell come crashing
They come crashing

It's so beautiful and terrible
So beautiful and terrible

It was something of an end
Of a lovely and a wild thing
So beautiful in the morning
You're beautiful
So beautiful
You're beautiful in the morning

Notes: Again, this song speaks to the complexity of the conflict.

Song: Belispeak – Purity Ring

Scene: Saba thinking about everything that's happened.

Sample lyrics:
Grandma, my hands have wandered
my little legs are getting weak
bid lend me your wispy frame
guard my precious powers in its cage

Grandma, I've been unruly
in my dreams and with my speech
Drill little holes into my eyelids
that I might see you when I sleep

Notes: Sort of sums up what Saba must be feeling.


Song: Skelton Jar - Youth Group

Scene: Last scene of the book.

Sample lyrics:
I feel like hell, you feel like dancing,
You know this bar curtains a world,
Those empty bottles, like sentinels,
stand guard in the morning sun.

Notes: If you've read the book, you know how perfectly this song fits here.

Song: Highwayman – Willie Nelson + the Highwaymen

Scene: Nothing specific, just my tribute to certain characters who are no longer with us by the end of the book. Oh, also a nod to the scene earlier in the book with the old man, the camel and the cart.

Sample lyrics:
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again.


Listen to the whole 13 song playlist: (Note that some of these are live versions, and so if you can, you should really seek out the studio versions)

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

GIVEAWAY!

Could you survive the Dust Lands?

One winner receives:

· A Dust Lands prize pack including a custom t-shirt, custom water bottle and copies of Blood Red Road and Rebel Heart!

To enter, fill out this form by November 18 2012 at 11:59 pm CST.  Giveaway open to US residents only.

The Rule of Three Blog Tour: Each Monday for three weeks, three sites will go live with unique content including guest posts from Moira, reviews/giveaways, and blogger-created fan features. Make sure to check out Moira’s other stops at The Book Smugglers and Books Complete Me.

Visit the Dust Lands website

See index of all dystopian reviews on Presenting Lenore

FTC disclosure: Review copy provided by Big Honcho Media