Spotlight :: Mat Kearney

Hello everyone! I've been kinda at a loss for post ideas, so I thought I'd talk about one of my favorite artists, Mat Kearney.

(image via last.fm)

 

Name: Mathew William "Mat" Kearney

Age: 34

From: Eugene, Oregon (aww yeah, Pacific Northwest!)

Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Alternative, Indie, Rock

Years Active: 2003 to present

For Fans of: Peter Bradley Adams, Ben Rector, Matt Nathanson, Parachute

Official Site

Why I love this artist:

(image via last.fm)

What makes this singer-songwriter unique is his musical style, which is best described as "Acoustic/Hip Hop fusion", especially with his song Hey Mama. In addition to singing, he also plays guitar, harmonica, piano, CP70, mandolin, synthesizer, and vibraphone. Talk about multi-talented.

I also love Mat because of his smooth voice. Wow, I could listen to it all day. These are some of my favorite tracks from him:

• Runaway  (which was also featured on the soundtrack of the movie Soul Surfer)
• Ships in the Night
• Annie
• All I Have 

Also, check out this AMAZING acoustic version of All I Have below!

Fun Fact: Annie was the first song I heard from him, off Pandora Radio.

What's your favorite song from Mat or your favorite singer-songwriter?

Till next time xx,

Sierra

Spotlight :: Bastille

You guys. You guys. This band is so fantastic, I can't believe what I was missing.

For those who don't know, Bastille is a four-man band from London, England that expanded from a solo project founded by Dan Smith. They formed in 2010.

And three years later, they release their debut album Bad Blood on September 3rd of this year, so maybe I'm not so late to the party after all!

The British band's style is best described as neo-synth pop with a heavy 80s influence. The artists they remind me of are Florence + The Machine, Neon Trees, Foster the People, & Walk the Moon. 

I will admit, their stuff before Haunt EP didn't impress me. My expectations were too high after I listened to "Pompeii" and "Haunt - Demo". It was too electronic for my liking. However, their EP definitely shows promise and potential and makes me extra excited for their new album. All four songs are excellent in their own ways.

Part of me wanted to save this post till the album comes out, but the review of Bad Blood will come, so I might as well gush about my first impression of them beforehand!

Must-Listen List:

Pompeii

Bad Blood

Haunt - Demo 

I'm always looking for new music to review and to share with all of you, so leave your music suggestions in the comments or send me a video via my contact page!

Hope everyone's having a lovely day, and Happy August! (Wow that came really quickly).

Till next time xx,

Sierra

Spotlight // REVIEW: LORDE & 'Royals' (WATCH)

(source)

I was recently introduced to the artist LORDE, which is the stage name for sixteen-year-old Ella Yelich-O'Connor from New Zealand (yes, she's only sixteen years old!)

Let me tell you, I'm impressed and obsessed with this lady's music.

She released her EP The Love Club in December 2012 and her music has been steadily gaining popularity since, especially in the United States. The album's overall vibe is rhythmic, simplistic, soulful, and subtly vibrant.

For such a young talent, she definitely gives off a more adult vibe due to her soulful vocal tone. It complements the solo electronic-beat-heavy music style she favors.

With a voice that's best described as a combination of Adele, Florence Welch and Kimbra (another amazing Kiwi artist worth checking out), she still has much of her own spark. She exudes an aura beyond her years. A similar artist is Birdy, A.K.A Jasmine van den Bogaerde, seventeen-year-old sweet-voiced English singer. However, the two have opposite music styles.

The lyric material is creative and fairly "party-central", but in a more thought-provoking way, but more on that in a bit. 

Though I really enjoy her recently released single Tennis Court and the other songs on her EP, I'm gonna talk about my favorite song Royals.

This song was introduced to me, which was how I found out about this artist in the first place. Take a listen below:

First, the music video.
LORDE is very much a minimalist artist, in music choice (mainly beats rather than usual musical instruments) and in filmography. The simplicity really fits with the song's theme about not having a lot of money, but not caring. As you can see, the original version (with over 2 million views) barely has her in it, focusing on the plain aspects of the boys' lives. It shows more ordinary and mundaneness of every day life rather than the glamourous party scene in which she and her friends will never truly belong. Most artists tend to be the focal point of their own video, but LORDE takes a different approach with Royals. Most likely the US version features her more (which isn't that much still) in order to match a name to the face of a soon-to-be mega-hit. Now, the song itself. Not only is it catchy (especially the chorus, my favorite part), it's almost thought-provoking. For example:

But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,
We don't care, we're driving cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody's like cristal, maybach, diamonds on your time piece.
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash.
We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair.

She's commenting on how every song glorifies this partying lifestyle and how money is all that matters (awesome subtle use of hyperbole, girl). In the rest of the chorus, she admits she'd like to be apart of that life, but settles for living in the dream.

Cover art for The Love Club EP, very "Where the Wild Things Are"

And we'll never be royals (royals)
It don't run in our blood,
that kind of luxe just ain't for us.
We crave a different kind of buzz.
Let me be your ruler (ruler), you can call me Queen Bee
And baby I'll rule I'll rule I'll rule I'll rule.
Let me live that fantasy.

It's certainly a different take on the usual crazy, exciting pseudo-life most of us wish we lived to some degree. In it's own way, it's a commentary on our greedy, consumerist culture.

My friends and I we've cracked the code.
We count our dollars on the train to the party.
And everyone who knows us knows that we're fine with this,
we didn't come from money.

LORDE isn't rejecting the desire to be apart of that completely, but addresses the reality of the situation: money isn't everything and we won't all be rich. And that's okay.

Final verdict: Awesome song, wicked beat, beautiful voice, pretty cool message.

Check out LORDE's full EP The Love Club on Spotify or iTunes (or wherever you listen to music)!

(source)

As always, I love hearing what you have to say. Do you dig LORDE? Love Royals or not? Tell me why in the comments below.

Till next time xx,

Sierra

When a filibuster is more than a filibuster

All right you guys, I'm about to get political over here. Brace yourselves.

(source)

Meet real-life Wonder Woman Senator Wendy Davis. She holds a seat in the Texas legislature. On June 25th, 2013 starting at 11:18 a.m. she began her filibuster against Bill SB5, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. This bill, if passed, would shut down all but 5 medical clinics in the entire state of Texas. These clinics do not only provide abortion services, but affordable health care for women, men, and children.
For those who don't know what a filibuster entails, it means she has to stand on the senate floor and talk for 13  straight hours and talk in order for the bill to not reach the governor's desk for him to sign. She is not allowed to stop, either. No breaks, no sitting down or resting, no eating, no drinking, no using the restroom, nothing but talking for the entire time. If she can talk continually till midnight, they cannot pass the bill.
Well, guess what? This superhero of a woman did it. Senator Davis, a single mother and a Harvard law alumn, asked people from all around the nation and the world to send in their abortion testimonies for her to share and to keep the filibuster going. If she was to stop once, she would be out and they could pass the bill.
Armed with a pair of bright pink Nike sneakers, she talked the entire time. Many of her male colleagues would not even pay attention to her. She was constantly nitpicked at the rules, especially when one of the senators helped her adjust her back brace, saying this was in violation of the rules.
BUT HERE'S THE KICKER: a fellow female senator pointed out that she did not sit or lean on anything as this was being done, and the rules were written in male pronouns, therefore they did not technically apply to her anyway! Talk about engrained misogyny.

Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D) (right), also is a woman of note in this whole debacle. She tried her best to make Davis' filibuster count, adding countless support to the cause and in order to extend the filibuster. Most of her male colleagues elected to ignore her as well, in which she responded with the following:

At what point must a female senator raise her hand, or her voice, to be heard over the male colleagues in the room?

You go Senator Van de Putte. You go.

Davis' talk was broadcasted live the entire time, journalists keeping people updated every step of the way.
Then, as she neared the end of the final hour, she was silenced. They claimed she was in violation of the guidelines, mentioning sonograms which were considered "irrelevant" to the topic (which actually isn't irrelevant at all).
She continued to stand, and as soon as they tried to silence her, the people in the gallery screamed.
They could not be silenced. They continued the filibuster themselves.

This is what the gallery sounded like in the last 10 minutes of the filibuster:


When the people refused to move, Representative Mary Gonzales tweeted a picture of a bunch of state troopers coming in to arrest the civil disobedience. Unfortunately, the GOP representatives that supports the bill then decided that the ruckus "interfered with their vote" and they voted AFTER MIDNIGHT, which is in direct violation of their regulation.

Basically, they broke a law to make a law.

During the filibuster:"Oh, sorry Ms. Davis. You have to follow these strict guidelines for your filibuster. Rules are rules."
When they decide to vote after midnight: "Wait, what are rules again?"

The GOP actually changed the date on the books to reflect that the vote was made before midnight, instead of after. Someone caught it before they changed it. Oh boy, aren't you in trouble.

BUT, IN AN AMAZING TURN OF EVENTS:

Our girl Wendy did it! She represents thousands of Texan women and her passion and bravery paid off!

However, this is not the end. What to take away from this incident is this: the government will not hesitate to forward their own agenda by any means necessary, even if that means breaking laws already in place.

They have ignited something they cannot stop.

Change is coming, folks. Especially with several other bills in place, such as the vote on Prop 8 in California, the DOMA equal marriage act, and SCOTUS also passing today a law allowing restrictions on voting based on race, gender, and sexual orientation. In other words, they just flung us back into some of the darkest parts of our past. 

I leave you with this. Get pumped, revolution is on it's way.

Fight the patriarchy.

Till next time xx,

Sierra