What Christmas Means To Me by E

       You know that moment during the holidays when you're a perpetually nice person and you really wish that you could be as mean to people in real life as the things you think in your head but you just can't do that because they've done absolutely no harm to you so you're just sitting there accepting life and smiling nicely and your great grandmother hands you a gift and she's smiling and saying "I hope you like it. I think you will" and you open it and there's this puffy blue sweater thing inside and you're like "oh, wow, that's so nice" and then you see that it's a size large but you're still rolling with it so you're like "and it's so soft" and then you just smile and try not to make eye contact with the family members across the room who know you too well and are definitely losing their shit because then you'll lose your controlled facial expression because all you're thinking in your head is "THE FUCK IS THIS HALF SNUGGIE THING I LOOK LIKE FUCKING WINNIE THE POOH MATED WITH SULLEY".
       So, here's to all the controlled faces of comfort and joy that you will be making over the next few days. I'll definitely work on trying to get up a playlist of Christmas songs for you guys who are about to go insane with the 'big day' being so near.
"What Christmas Means To Me" Cee Lo Green
- E

12/22 by E

       For those of you who are still with me and don't have other obligations/holiday plans (though I totally understand because I'm trying to jot this down before leaving for the day) this is what my personal playlist looks like this week and all of the tracks are fantastic so you should check them out and support the bands by heading to iTunes for more of their music.
"Light of Day" The Silent Comedy
"The Courtship of Summer Preasley" The Griswolds
"Turn It Around" Silent Rider Remix (click the link to hear it on SoundCloud)
"Crystallized" Young the Giant
"Halo" Melodime
"The Wanderer" The Saving Pointe
"See You In My Dreams" We The Kings
"Cry (To Keep From Laughing)" JF Robitaille
"Holding On" Bobbie Morrone Trio
"Dust and Bones" Night Terrors of 1927
"Heartbeat" Matthew Mayfield
"On Your Side" SafetySuit
"Salvage" MTNS (this band released one of the most gorgeous debut EP's of the year so check it out)
- E

On Your Side by E

       I was sitting here all distracted by last night and couldn't think of any music to write about, then I realized that it's SafetySuit Saturday and my work is already half done for me which is fantastic. 'Kay, so, SafetySuit Saturday..
       SafetySuit released the first single from their forthcoming third album on December 3rd and, if you still don't have it, you've got to get on that, because it's gorgeous. It picks up slowly in the beginning with a soft and gorgeous melody before swelling into something full of awesome techno beats that drops off just in time for Brown to sing wonderfully honest lyrics that always end with a sweet promise. Lines like "there's gonna be times when...you feel scared and the streets feel cold and the world is empty...there's gonna be times you feel you're losing, like you could be somebody, you just need the chance to prove it", "when the tide pulls you under I'll be the one who rescues you, and when they come and try to take over, I'm gonna knock off every demon that lands on your shoulder, I'll be there for you, everywhere you go", and the refrain which simply states "I am on your side, beginning to the end, you know" are all amazing.
       The song's about six and a half minutes long, which seemed long to me at first (seeing as how it's a first single and should be grabbing your attention), but the song still manages to grab your attention every time it's about to drop off by maintaining a sort of movement-esque quality, turning the bridge into something separate from the rest of the piece but pulling it all together by circling back around to the original idea by the end. This band is completely adept at allowing their music to speak just as loudly as their lyrics (which is why they're amazing) and they have outdone themselves with this track, so get it on iTunes (actually buy it to support the band) and start playing it on repeat. 
"On Your Side" SafetySuit
- E

Cry (To Keep From Laughing) by E

       Now that the end of the year is coming up, the site's going to jump on the 'best of 2013' bandwagon and chime in with my picks for the bands to watch and albums to get and so on but, for now, just check out Robitaille's "Cry (To Keep From Laughing)" for something which might surface again once I start working on those 'best of' lists (because, with a retro twist on modern music styles, Robitaille's Rival Hearts was kind of great [actually, Canada, as a whole, had a pretty awesome year for indie/alternative rock music]).
"Cry (To Keep From Laughing)" JF Robitaille
https://www.facebook.com/jfrobitaille
https://twitter.com/jfrobitaille
http://jfrobitaillemusic.com/
- E