New Year's Music 2014:
- End of the World - Deap Vally
[I'm down with angry chick rock. This is some of the best I've heard recently. I loved it from the first time I heard it, and I think I fixed on it, because there's nothing else out there like it right now.] - Cannonball - The Breeders
[Moving swiftly on to a more classic version of women rocking it, The Breeders. I forget why this popped up, where it popped up, who played it... Doesn't matter. This has been heavy in the playlist since last February.] - You've Got Time - Regina Spektor
[Straight shout to "Orange is the New Black." I love this song for its use in the opening credits, and for the sound of it. I like that it builds to something loud and then fades into a softer female vocal, then bam, right back into a fast beat. I also love her voice. I think it's so interesting. So here since March...] - I Sat By the Ocean - Queens of the Stone Age
[I'm a dead sucker for the 90s comebacks. Queens released a new album this year and I gladly, happily attended their show here in Dublin. Best rock concert I've seen since Pearl Jam (and that's including Soundgarden... Sorry Chris, but this was brilliant)! Off of their new album, which I think has a great mix of new and retro, this is my favorite song... And live... whoooo...] - Can't Hold Us - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis[I tried... I tried... I can't keep this song out of my head. I love the rhythm and speed. It's just fun... Plus, I went for a run listening to this and holy frick I was running fast! I also recommend this for cleaning the house... It makes me smile, and I can't hear it without wanting to dance. It's so infectious, hence the popularity, but come on! The ceiling can't hold us!]
- Galvanize - The Chemical Brothers
[Also finding its way onto the list from a workout perspective, I love this. It's a different kind of rhythm than the previous, but it's synthed up and has a solid beat. I can't sit still with this one either. It gets me pumped up! Judge me if you'd like, it's not the worst on this list.] - Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
[Imagine Imagine Dragons imagining dragons listening to Imagine Dragons... Kill me now. I can't stop listening to Imagine Dragons. I think I first saw this song attached to a fanvid of STiD and I was sold. As it's been said, try to listen to this and not picture yourself in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, walking like a badass. Welcome to the new age...] - Infallible - Pearl Jam
[Lightening Bolt; Pearl Jam's new album. I love it. I love so many things about it. Mind Your Manners is so perfectly 90s Pearl Jam. Sirens is just a bit softer. Then there's Infallible... It reminds me of a few other bands (bit of Goo Goo Dolls, Incubus, Switchfoot, Lifehouse) but then you've Eddie singing. I like the odd background sound. It's not the hard rock Pearl Jam is famous for, but I really dig it.] - Keep Yourself Warm - Frightened Rabbit
[I'm bringing this one back. Who doesn't love the organ in the background of falsetto cussing? I think I'm on a 'retro' kick... I think the music doesn't quite have the brutal edge that the lyrics deserve, but I like the flats, minor harmony that sounds like Biffy Clyro. It takes more than f*cking someone to keep yourself warm...] - Closer to You - The Coronas
[I went to the pre-Christmas Dublin Olympia concert this year. It worked out better than the last attempt where the power failed and they had to cancel... I dig the Coronas, and they're brilliant in small venue concerts. They know how to design power lighting for their shows, and I'm a big fan of the Olympia in general. But this is their last bout of shows before seclusion to finish their next album... Which I'm excited about.] - The End Is Nigh - Bell X1
[This has been on the list since the release. I like the crescendo that builds to drums with piano as the power instrument. Again, upbeat major key for a melancholic song. It's the first BellX1 that's really caught me since Velcro, but I can't stop listening.] - Love Like This - Kodaline
[There are a few really up and coming Dublin bands, and Kodaline just released another album... They are strong, with lovely lyrics, and walking a fine line between pop, alt, trad. They don't go full trad like Mumford, but they rock the harmonica. It's a great sound.] - Beautiful - Ben Rector
[This is really a guy and his guitar. He can sing. It's not particularly unique, it could easily be from the Script (except it's happy...) And it's just a pop song that has a nice soft sound. Sue me, I like it.] - A Thousand Years - Boyce Avenue
[This is acoustic session stuff. This sounds like a giant confession. It's a love song... I've filed it under the list of songs I'd love for someone to sing to me (and mean it). It's fluff... I know. But we know I love this sh*t.] - I See Fire - Ed Sheeran
[Two reasons: 1 - The Hobbit DoS. 2 - Ed Sheeran. I think he's just lovely. I like a lot of what he's done, but this song has that same haunting tone that you hear in LotR. It's something that I'd like to learn how to sing and play. It's all minor key and harmony and it gives me goosebumps.] - Coming Home - Diddy, Dirty Money, Skylar Grey
[I've heard a few versions of this... But I like it. This is like MIA and old Hip-hop. But it just sticks with me. I like it. There's nothing else to it.] - Get Lucky - Daft Punk
[You cannot have thought you'd get out of 2013 without this song... It's the disco awesome summer song. I heard it and liked it, then it was played so much that I wanted to rip the radio out when I heard it. But I still love it. It is a summer song. I can only picture that silly cabbie dancing with a tourist... Give it a nod and it's due. It earned a spot here.] - Long Hard Times to Come - Gangstagrass
[100% here for Justified. If you don't watch that show... You should. I also love that this is a weird country/rap mix... It's kinda fun... You'll have it stuck in your head.] - I Am the Doctor - Dubstep Remix "the (Un)Official Tumblr Soundtrack"
[You better believe I put this in here. You've got the Doctor Who theme, technoed and blended into some Dubstep. I'm not a massive Dubstep fan, but there's something about this one. It's kinda intense. Plus... it's been a year for Who. It's been a helluva year. "F*ckity Hi!"]
2014 started for me with exhaustion after 30+ hours of travel (yes, I've had bad luck with travel recently). I have raging jet-lag that is still persisting... Then the Irish Government (I'm really just going to hold everyone in the government responsible for this... no exceptions) has now decided that all non-EEA doctors require work permits (to the tune of 500E/6months or 1000E for a year). GNIB cards will cost 150E and will not be issued for any duration longer than one year... I'm sorry, HSE, I thought 1) you were desperately SHORT on doctors... oh wait, you are! and 2) you just promised to go to 24 hr max shift (something not yet possible in a lot of hospitals due to the doctor shortage) with penalties to follow, and an aim to be EWTD compliant by 2015... Have you forgotten that your NCHDs all went on STRIKE! This is your answer?! Make it more difficult for those of us here to stay? ... This close, HSE... I'm this close. I've said kind and moderated words here before... I'm no longer capable of that. So here we go, me, starting 2014 off angrily... I'm gonna blame Amit.
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