Stuck In My Skull 517 -- "Somewhere Up Here (Drop the Poptart)" with DOWNLOAD

Song: "Somewhere Up Here (Drop the Poptart)" || Artist: Deadmau5 feat. Colleen D'Agostino || http://youtu.be/5kqdkNp-uW0 ||

Comments: Hello and happy Friday, everyone! Today I'm bringing you one of the most confusing tracks that I've yet tried to research. The internet spent quite a long time going back and forth about whether this song would be on the upcoming Deadmau5 album or not, and it finally appears that the answer is "sort of." It looks as though this song is being cut into a shorter instrumental track and the vocals have fallen away entirely, but it's hard to tell until the album itself comes out. But leaving that question to the side, let's talk about this track itself. Quite frankly, it's amazing. Granted, there are two spots in this YouTube upload where there are brief audio glitches, but I've chosen to use this one anyway because it contains a working download link to a complete and un-glitched song. And this song is totally worth it. It's absolutely amazing. Ms. D'Agostino's vocals blow me away, and Deadmau5 has built an amazing track accompanying them. Honestly, it reminds me a bit of "The Veldt," in that they're both long tracks with great vocals and a somewhat relaxing tempo that's really driven by the melody. Overall, they're both gentle, for lack of a better term. That's not to say that this song doesn't have some aggressive beats -- check out at around 1:50. Like many of my favourite Deadmau5 songs, this one is characterized by an intricate instrumental and possesses incredibly crisp percussion. Seriously, his kick drums (are they even kick drums?) are so clean, with a bit of a sharp overtone that really drives a beat. Honestly, I can't say enough about this track, and I can't wait to see in what form (if any) it appears on the upcoming album. Give this a listen and a download! The link is on the YouTube page.

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Stuck In My Skull 516 -- "Only a Fantasy"

Song: "Only a Fantasy" || Artist: Adriane Lake || https://soundcloud.com/adrianelake/05-only-a-fantasy ||


Comments: Good morning everyone, and happy Monday! And let me tell you, it is actually a happy Monday: As of about a month ago, Adriane Lake seems to have uploaded the entirety of her album to her Soundcloud for your listening pleasure! Long-time readers may think find this name familiar, and indeed it is! I first brought up Adriane Lake waaaaay back in 'Hipster Week' in Entry 339. After Hipster Week, I actually interviewed the delightful Ms. Lake, but sadly the interview died with my hard drive not long after. Having spoken to her for a bit, though, I can say that her album really does sound like her -- it's incredibly of her personality (at least as far as I've experienced it).

Thoughts on the artist aside, let's talk about the song. I had all sorts of trouble deciding which of her songs to write about. I finally settled on this song because it's the most likely to be stuck in my head. "Only a Fantasy" is a laid-back track that with quirky and up-beat percussion and deep, rich bass that really puts a smile on my face. As is par for the course with Adriane Lake, the vocals are heartfelt and moving, layered with emotion. The song is excellently constructed and delightfully complex, and definitely worth a listen. The lyrics can be found here, and the rest of her album is on her Soundlcloud, neatly bundled into a playlist here. Enjoy!

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Stuck In My Skull 515 -- "Fly By Night Only"

Song: "Fly By Night Only" || Artist: The Glitch Mob feat. Yaarrrohs || http://youtu.be/sWir8bPu7kI ||

Comments: Good morning everyone. Yesterday I was listening to Love, Death, Immortality, and for some reason this song really struck me. I found myself really enjoying the vocals on this song and appreciating the track in a way that I hadn't before when it kept getting eclipsed in my mind by other tracks on the album. I Google'd the vocalist -- Yaarrohs -- this morning, and didn't find much. A Facebook page describing her (I'm assuming 'her' is the correct pronoun) genre as "Dream Pop. Bedroom Slow dance Heat-wave." and a link to her website, which turns out to be a tumblr page. Google also turned up an Instagram profile and a Soundcloud profile with no uploads. So who is Yaarroohs? I literally have no idea, but she sounds great on this track. Her vocals make this track, hands down, and they're amazing. Give this song a listen if you haven't before, and if any of you know anything about Yaarrohs, be sure to leave a comment and tell us!

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Stuck In My Skull 514 -- "Addiction"

Song: "Addiction" || Artist: Medina || http://youtu.be/3tiexHjBt3w ||

Comments: Good morning everyone! Today's song is a track I know very, very little about. I originally found it sitting around my old Google Music (now Google Play) library, and I have absolutely no idea how it got there. I can only guess it must have been a free track that I picked up somewhere and forgot about. So, I went to look up this artist on Wikipedia, and found the article about her to be somewhat informative but fairly sparse. That being said, I'm going to assume that Medina is both the vocalist and the producer of this track, which would make sense given the fact that she's apparently signed to Ultra. But enough about the artist, let's talk about the song. This is a fairly mellow dance track, and it's excellent. The vocals have just the right amount of intensity and emotion, and fit perfectly with the beat and melody. I definitely enjoyed this song, and could see myself both dancing and relaxing to it. You should definitely give this song a listen. Enjoy!

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Stuck In My Skull 513 -- "Primo Victoria"

Song: "Primo Victoria" || Artist: Sabaton || http://youtu.be/IrJAwCBbnuc ||

Comments: Good morning everyone! Today's song is Sabaton's "Primo Victoria," accompanied by a surprisingly good fan-made video. I first heard this song years and years ago from my workout- and gaming-buddy, and got it stuck in my head yesterday as I was cranking my was through the single-player campaign of a World War II-based first person shooter. IT stayed with me into this morning and really made my run more interesting. If you can work out to metal, I highly recommend adding this song to your playlist. It's a pulse-pounding track full of guts and glory, and it'll make you run all the way to the finish. Enjoy!

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Stuck In My Skull 512 -- "Body Work"

Song: "Body Work" || Artist: Morgan Page feat. Tegan and Sara || http://youtu.be/QHe1PvKALaY ||

Comments: Hello and happy Friday everyone! To get the weekend started off right, I've got a lovely track from Canadian prog house/electro house DJ Morgan Page. I've been hearing a remix of this song on the radio lately, and while I haven't been able to find the exact remix I've been hearing, the original track is just as excellent as the remix. Speaking of original tracks, what is it about pairing Tegan and Sara's vocals with an electronic music track that makes it work every time? (See example -- "Feel It In My Bones" Tiesto remix.) This track is fairly calm but has a solid beat, making it good for both chill and dance. Whether you're going out to rave this weekend or relax at home, take this song with you. Enjoy!

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Stuck In My Skull 511 -- "Slow Down"

Song: "Slow Down" || Artist: Showtek || http://youtu.be/X5Adj6XJFTQ *** ||

Comments: Good morning everyone! I'm pleased to announce that things have finally settled down in my life and regular posting will now resume. I'll get the complete entries from last week finished up soon. For today, let's talk about Showtek. For some reason I've never really gotten around to listening to Showtek until yesterday, when I decided to give their Ultra 2014 set a listen. It's lovely, by the way, and you can check it out here. Their set actually opens with this song, which was something of an eye-opener for me. "Slow Down" is one of those tracks I've heard all over the place but never known the name of, and for some reason never bothered to look up either. That was a mistake, because this song is great. It really brings out Showtek's hardstyle roots while being eminently danceable, and it's just all around amazing. Give it a listen!

***The video isn't strictly NSFW, but there's enough skin in this video that you may not want to watch at work.

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Stuck In My Skull 510 -- "Broken Wings" [Symphonic Metal Week IV]

Symphonic Metal Week IV || Song: "Broken Wings" || Artist: Evergrey || http://youtu.be/QmIv8jfVEwQ || 

Comments: Who knew moving could be so difficult! Today is the last day of Symphonic Metal Week IV, and I'm ashamed to admit I don't have time to write a complete entry at the moment. Check back later for more!

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Stuck In My Skull 509 -- "Afterlife" and "Calliope" [Symphonic Metal Week IV]

Symphonic Metal Week IV || Songs: "Afterlife" and "Calliope" || Artists: Nemesea and Ravenscry || http://youtu.be/icdJDFFCc1Q and http://youtu.be/miVKT4LjwnQ ||

Comments: Hey everyone, sorry for the missed post yesterday. I was up until 4:00 AM working on a project last night/this morning, and I'm beyond beat. I'm going to go ahead and post the songs for today and come back later when I'm lucid and write a real entry, so check back later!

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Stuck In My Skull 508 -- "Equilibrium" [Symphonic Metal Week IV]

Symphonic Metal Week IV || Song: "Equilibrium" || Artist: Tristania || http://youtu.be/tBuineSYqoY ||

Comments: Hello everyone! Today's song is probably the most symphonic that the rest of the bands I have lined up for this week will get. Coming in somewhere between symphonic power and straight-up gothic metal (the wikipedia page for the band lists them as 'symphonic gothic metal), Tristania is an interesting sound. Like many bands in the genre, Tristania employs a male and a female vocalist both, but (at least in this song) has no grunting vocals. Instead, vocalists Mariangela Demurtas and Kjetil Nordhus play off each other to interweave sections of the song into one harmonious track. I have to say, I wasn't expecting the drone-inspired feel to this song, but I'm really enjoying it. The dark, keening undertones in the instrumentation really accent the mixed vocals and make this song sound both dark and amazing. Seriously, this is acoustic excellence at work. Give it a listen and make sure to come back tomorrow for more great music!

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Stuck In My Skull 507 -- "A Rose for Epona" [Symphonic Metal Week IV]

Symphonic Metal Week IV || Song: "A Rose for Epona" || Eluveitie || http://youtu.be/_1lXdLus2WI || 

Comments: Hello everyone and welcome to Symphonic Metal Week IV! It's been awhile since I've had enough material to pound out five entries in a row, let alone a theme week, and boy have I missed it. Without further ado, let's jump right in! Today's entry comes to us from Eluveitie, a Swiss folk metal band with a penchant for singing in Gaulish, although this song is in English. And oh, those lyrics. Not only are the lyrics pretty awesome in their own right, lead vocalist Anna Murphy delivers them with one hell of a kick. It's difficult to describe exactly what quality she possesses that makes the vocals she delivers so powerful, but if I had to draw some sort of comparison, I'd say Anna Murphy sounds like a mixture of Tarja Turunen (first vocalist of Nightwish, known for insane operatic vocals) and Dolores O'Riordan (lead singer of The Cranberries, just go listen to "Zombie" if you don't remember what she sounds like). Even such a comparison really doesn't do her justice, but it'll just have to do. Behind her vocals are are some impressive low vocals delivered by bagpiper/whistler Chigral Glanzmann, which combine to create a 'beauty and the beast' contrast effect of impressive magnitude. I mean really, really impressive. I haven't seen a contrast that well done since I first heard Epica's combination of  Simone Simons and Mark Jansen. And yes, I just said that Eluveitie's grunt vocalist also plays bagpipes, whistles, and some instruments I've never even heard of. Eluveitie's lineup of folk instruments is mind-blowing and perfectly utilized. In one song, this band has completely sold me on folk metal. Well done, Eluveitie, well done. Check back tomorrow for the next entry!

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Stuck In My Skull 506 -- "Tennis Court"

Song: "Tennis Court" || Artist: Lorde || http://youtu.be/D8Ymd-OCucs ||

Comments: Hello everyone! Sorry the last two weeks have been so barren -- I'm going through a pretty chaotic time and kind of between stages in life, so things have been a bit loopy. To make up for it, I'm planning five entries for next week in the form of a theme week!

For today, though, let's talk about this song. I woke up with this song stuck in my head, and it hasn't left all day. I really enjoy the lyrics to this song, which make for a pretty solid social commentary. In addition, the bass in this song is amazing. Loud and omnipresent, the bass is a perfect platform for the fairly intricate percussion that keeps the song moving, and I can't get enough of it. Frankly, the entire album is excellent, each track having its own style. In the case of "Tennis Court," all I hear is masterfully-produced minimal electronica. Well done, Lorde, well done.

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