Weekly Musings (July 22, 2019)

July 22, 2019 • Weekly Musings

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Hey, friends!

Welcome to Weekly Musings, a place for me (Chris, Get Sad Y'all founder) to dump my thoughts and recommendations for the week. The structure of these may change, but for now, you can count on...

News on the Get Sad Y'all brand
Thoughts on music & non-music items
A product recommendation
An album recommendation
A playlist of 15 songs to check out

Let's hop to it.

State of Get Sad Y'all

Announcing a new band to our roster at noon today.
Planning on announcing the date of the first monthly Get Sad Y'all this Friday. As I mentioned before, we're changing the format up a bit, but I think it's for the best in the long run. Monthly will also be a loose term for these next couple months because of the 2nd birthday event and the Harm Halloween cover show, but we'll get it lined up that way starting in December.
Meeting in Nashville went well, itching to get started on this project. Definitely one of these "life is crazy" moments for me and I'm stoked to share the details whenever the time is right.
The Second After's new mixes have been filtering in and they're incredible. Can't wait for y'all to hear this record.
Locked in recording dates for The Bronze Age this fall at The LumberYard in NJ, which is run by Ace Enders (The Early November) and Nik Bruzzese (Man Overboard). Look out for that record early next year.
Summer Wars will be rolling through Imurj with Overgrow this Sunday (7/28). Hoping that giving the boys a good homecoming is enough to draw y'all out, but if not, know that Overgrow is one of my favorite live acts I've seen this year and Jake's a great dude. Support from Frontside, Swimdown, and Clavicle. Tix available here.

Upcoming Events

Just Announced

Oct 28: Fit For An Autopsy @ Local 506

Random Music Thoughts

Peppa Pig released an album and it's on Spotify. Stoked for the kids, feeling sorry for their parents.
The Rocket Summer dropped another single, "Blankets," this past Friday. Great to hear some new TRS tunes... the band is criminally underrated as is Bryce Avary as a musical talent. Check the new record "Sweet Shivers" when it drops on 8/2 and catch them at the Cat's Cradle Back Room on 9/21.
Shaq moshing with Tomorrowland attendees brings me much joy.
With Confidence announced a tour with support from Seaway, Doll Skin, and Between You & Me, including a stop at Motorco in Durham on 11/17. Hyped that Durham is getting more scene shows, mostly so I don't have to drive to Greensboro. See y'all there.
This could go in either thoughts category, but fuck the people that raided five beer carts at Global Dance Festival in Denver on Saturday after weather cancelled the remainder of the fest. The carts were being run by a local, non-profit dog rescue (DMK Re-Homing) for their own benefit and they lost $4500+ worth of product. Hit this link if you'd like to donate to help them recoup their losses.
Can't believe it's already been two years since we lost Chester Bennington. As I'm sure is true for many, Linkin Park was my first foray into heavier music and I would not have discovered some of my favorite bands without them. Will definitely be spinning Hybrid Theory and Meteora this week in his honor. Remember that if you need help, please seek it out. It's okay to not be okay.

Random Non-Music Thoughts

A new season of Queer Eye on Netflix. I don't need to say anything more, just go watch for all the feels.
Was super behind on Stranger Things (may or may not have forgotten about Season 2, whoops). Got caught up last week and started Season 3. Two episodes in and I think the writing is as good as it has always been. Stoked for the rest of the season whenever I get to it - no spoilers, folks.
Finally had real Nashville hot chicken at Hattie B's with our old pal Will from Cartel last week. Quite possibly went a little bold on the heat level I chose (see: heartburn, don't get old), but otherwise, a really solid meal. Would highly recommend swinging through there if you're in/around Nashville.
In the same vein, my habanero plant is going nuts up here in the mountains. If anyone wants a couple, hit me up. I'm sure I'll have more than a few to go around.

Product Recommendation: YNAB (You Need A Budget)

I'm awful at budgeting. Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad at it.

I decided to dive in this past week and try to right the ship and stumbled upon an app called YNAB (You Need A Budget) that has already been a lifesaver.

The app forces you to use the "envelope" method of budgeting, which means you don't even think about what money is coming to you in the future and just focus on what you have in hand at any point in time. Additionally, this means giving each of your free dollars "jobs" - you assign each dollar to a category - so you don't spend where you shouldn't.

It's a little strange at first - there's definitely a learning curve - but I've found it to provide a drastic improvement in my finances in a short time.

The app has a free trial for 34 days ($84/yr after) and I highly recommend giving it a shot.

Album/EP Recommendation: "What We Know Is a Drop, What We Don't Know Is an Ocean" - Harm

Fans of our brand will recognize this band, even if only by name.

NC post-hardcore outfit Harm - consisting of Billie Cloer (vocals), Andrew Cloer (guitar), Ernest Smith (guitar), Andrew Simmons (keys), Winston Amos (drums) - dropped their debut full-length late last month, adding five additional tracks to those released on their 2018 effort "What We Know Is a Drop."

Before we get into the music, gotta say that I love the play on that Newton quote for the EP/LP. Nice work.

The first thing that always stands out for me with Harm is Billie's vocals. I'm a sucker for female vocals - see last week's recommendation - and she can sing with the best of them. Her voice has only strengthened since I first heard the band in 2017 and she adds a nice change of pace to the screams/gang vocals of Andrew, Ernest, and co with her unique vocal style. Check out "She Knows Who She Is, She Just Forgot for a Little While" to hear her really shine.

I always hear this band compared to older Underoath - and rightfully so - but there's so much more to the music when you get past Amos' drumming in the vein of Aaron Gillespie (would love to see a drum-off there btw, someone make that happen) and the driving guitars. Listen close between the breakdowns and you'll hear guitar riffs that could easily be heard in a heavier emo or pop-punk song as well as keyboard tones that could be the backbone of some unknown indie band on the Hopscotch lineup.

There are a lot of layers to the songs on this record, ones that don't become apparent until the fourth, fifth, sixth listen; this is a band of incredible songwriters, despite them joking they just do a poor job of imitating Counterparts.

Check out the record below, throw them a like/follow on social media, and let us know what you think in the comments!

Listen/Buy: Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon

Socials: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Weekly Playlist

These are songs - new and old - that I've either (a) been heavily spinning, (b) got stuck in my head randomly, or (c) hold a special meaning over the past week.

1. She Knows Who She Is, She Just Forgot for a Little While - Harm

2. Deep South - Cartel

3. Under the Moment - Sleep On It

4. Savage (Acoustic) - Lights

5. Break Me Down - Sleeping with Sirens

6. Right Through You - Alanis Morissette

7. So Many Reasons - &DearFriends

8. Outside - MorMor

9. Mood - Zack Martino / Dyson

10. So Cold - Mahalo / DLMT / Lily Denning

11. Sweet Little Lies - bülow

12. begin again - Purity Ring

13. Ritual - Tiësto / Jonas Blue / Rita Ora

14. Temper - Big Smile

15. Free Fallin' (Live at the Nokia Theatre) - John Mayer

This playlist can be found on Spotify.

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Would love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts as well as anything I've missed that I should check out! Drop a comment below. Previous week's musings can be found here.

Thanks for reading and have a great week, everyone!

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