Among the many tyrants that exist in the swancore scene, Royal Coda is perhaps one of the best that has come to fruition. Their self-titled album, Royal Coda, was released on April 27th, 2018. After months of teasing out content, I was so pleased to hear Kurt Travis’ vocals on a new project after he departed from A Lot Like Birds after No Place. What sets this record apart can be described by the interconnected scene of talented musicians that push into new musical territory with every composition. First, you have Joseph Arrington, who despite the various projects he drums in (Sianvar, We Came as Romans, The Amity Affliction, Alone., Chiodos, La Taiga) is able to create memorable drumming that has equal force but less chaos than his previous projects. It is a perfect entry point for the average listener who is not used to his technical drumming that can be seen in Sianvar’s Stay Lost or the most recent Royal Coda album Compassion. Arrington holds the fort together at the end of the day, while adding little inflections that keep things interesting. Then you have Sergio Medina, perhaps the most criminally underrated guitarist of so many projects, whether it be Stolas, Royal Coda, Sianvar, and now apparently Eidola. He even wrote guitar riffs for three Dance Gavin Dance songs ("Prisoner," "Born to Fail," "Nothing Shameful") on the album Afterburner. Will Swan often gets a lot of credit in the scene and is more well known, but Sergio has been pushing many different projects lately, including his newfound one with Donovan Melero of Hail the Sun, titled Nova Charisma. On Royal Coda, Sergio wrote both bass and guitar parts, and it is a treat to hear what he is able to create with the band. He is also credited with guitar programming to make all of the wonderful noodling sound cohesive. And finally, Kurt Travis, a figure who has improved his vocals and musicianship over the years and gained incredible prominence lately. After departing from A Lot Like Birds and finding a new project, Royal Coda has become Kurt’s defining project. His vocals are a mesh between that of Tilian Pearson and Johnny Craig, the happy medium that I love to listen to daily. On this album, he shines through and experiments with dissonance, tension, but also lush harmonies. While not as chaotic as in A Lot Like Birds, his vocals on this record set the stage for future projects like Compassion, his feature on "Shelf Life" with Dance Gavin Dance, and his incredible solo album, There is a Place I Want to Take You. Royal Coda’s self-titled album was a solid entry into an increasing collection of swancore albums, that at the time of release, I felt was rather empty and needed more substance. But looking back at it, two years later, I can say without question that it was the perfect setup for the explosive album, Compassion, and I am able to love each project on its own.

As most tours and shows have been cancelled or postponed, the most we can do is support our musicians from afar. For me, old music, new music, and the promise of soon to be released music has helped me get through this quarantine. I'm not sure when we'll be able to go back out and see our favorite artists perform, but in the meantime, I've been reminiscing on some of the favorite shows I was able to see. COIN COIN is an indie pop band from Nashville, and I have had the pleasure of seeing them a few times. They recently released their newest album, Dreamland, in February. They have grown a lot individually from their debut album until now, and you can hear that in their music. Dreamland speaks about time, love, change, and finding comfort in the unknown. The energy that this band brings on stage you can tell resonates with the audience. I have found comfort in COIN’s music while experiencing a variety of emotions, and I’m excited to see them continue to grow. Listen to COIN here Young the Giant I have been listening to the indie/alternative rock music of Young the Giant for a long time and is another band I have seen more than once. Lead vocals, Sameer Gadhia, is an incredible performer that can fully entrance the audience with his voice. In 2018 they released their latest album, Mirror Master, and I had the opportunity of being the first to hear it live, as Grand Rapids was the first stop of the tour. Mirror Master is filled with powerful arrangements about time, love, fate, and simplicity, containing beautiful lyrical messages a lot of times shrouded in way that leaves you guessing at its true meaning. Listen to Young the Giant here The Wrecks I saw The Wrecks at the Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids, headlining with only two EP’s, We Are The Wrecks and Panic Vertigo, 8 songs in total. The Wrecks are a four-person indie/punk rock band, and they know how to rock a stage. Nick Anderson, with some powerful lead vocals, writes catchy and angsty lyrics that the audience can't help but join in with. With their current songs ranging from stories of growing up, letting go, and facing fears, I'm very excited to see what they've been working on. We'll soon get to see as this Friday, May 1st, they are finally dropping their debut album called Infinitely Ordinary. Listen to The Wrecks here Jukebox the Ghost and the Mowgli’s (with TWIN XL) At a small Detroit venue called El Club I got to see Jukebox the Ghost and The Mowgli’s headline, with a great opener, TWIN XL. Jukebox the Ghost is a favorite of mine, utilizing the piano as a main instrument to rock and create their energetic and colorful musical tales. Their latest album was released in 2018, called Off to the Races, still going strong since their debut 10 years before. With incredible energy, they bring together a combination of modern pop, classic rock, and retro vocals, a big influence being Queen. The Mowgli’s, American alt rock, also performed their show with vitality. It's been a few years since we've seen a new album from them, but they recently released a couple singles to share with us what they've been up to. Listen to Jukebox the Ghost here Listen to the Mowgli's here Listen to TWIN XL here Right now Spotify has began a project called COVID-19 Music Relief for artists, as their revenue has been cut by being unable to have any shows or tours. Consider donating to some of your favorite artists, or just support them in any way you can. We’re all struggling, but we’re in this together. I’m excited for the time when we can all get back out and see shows, celebrate music, and each other. Stay home and stay safe!

I freakin' love Still Woozy, y'all. He released a new single Friday, April 17th at midnight and it was everything I had hoped for. His smooth vocals paired with multiple layers of different instruments upholds the dreamy, chilled vibe he always seems to acquire. Accompanied by his partners unique art, the album cover and the single go hand in hand. Check out the song here and the lyric video here!

An old school hip hop playlist featuring some newer artists who are still dabbling in the genre! Check it out here.

Check out an interview with Lucius Fox here! Go give Quaternary Panorama some love! Below is a comprehensive list of albums the dudes have been spinning during quarantine! Jeremy Futurebirds: Teamwork Waxawatchee: Saint Cloud Ulcerate: Stare Into Death and Be Still Caspian: On Circles Paul French 79: Joshua The Strokes: The New Abnormal Peach Pit: You and Your Friends You can find a playlist of all their stuff here.

We all know and love Dance Gavin Dance. Their album release tomorrow is going to further demonstrate their relevance in the post hardcore or “swancore” (conveniently named after DGD guitarist Will Swan) scene. Dare I say they are beginning to go more mainstream? The charts shall show us in the next couple of weeks. I am stoked to hear all of the musical ramblings that they always seem to provide, creating major juxtaposition in cleans, screams, and intricate instrumental prowess. Their sound has constantly changed throughout their incredible 14 year tenure as a band, with so many lineup changes throughout the years. This of course includes the three powerful front men Jonny Craig, Kurt Travis, and Tilian Pearson, who have all implanted their sound permanently on the band. As one would expect, this has created many imitators, but this is not to be taken in a negative light whatsoever. In fact, just last week, Virginia based outfit Pulses. released their second album entitled “Speak It Into Existence.” The follow up to the incredibly chaotic and fun album “bouquet,” this entry packs a genre-less approach even stronger than some of their other counterparts like Body Thief, Narco Debut, or Adventurer. Pulses. creates an incredibly wild sound, meshing more conventional swancore elements (a lot of noodling in the guitar department), with some trap influences (heard on “Louisiana Purchase”) and some earlier hip hop call and response vibes (“Exist Warp Brakes”). There is also a small dosage of Secret Band vibes (“Olivia Wild”), and my personal favorite (Don’t Say Anything, Just RT), which feels like Sufferer, Dance Gavin Dance, and A Lot Like Birds had a Pulses. baby. If you are looking for a wild sonic ride from start to finish, ending with “Graduation Day”, where everything chills out, then you need to check Pulses. out. And if nothing else, it can tie you over before Dance Gavin Dance pops out their biennial release tomorrow. #Blessthismess Listen to Pulses. here Listen to Dance Gavin Dance here

"25hoursleep," a new single released by Chicago based bedroom pop outfit, Worry Club, is the most ambitious song in their discography to date. This track takes cynical yet introspective lyrical content and blends it with bouncy guitar and punchy drums. Progressively building up to an interesting take on day to day life, the record has the capacity to make any listener dance as well as burst into tears. Maybe even both at the same time. "To me, this song is about falling to a daily cycle of laziness and caffeine" front man Chase Walsh says from his bedroom studio in Chicago. "It's me talking about being so lazy and depressed, I'd rather die than go about my daily life but I'm trying to say it in a certain way, so I don't freak anybody out." Recorded with only one microphone and a laptop, this song features vast instrumentation in a tried and true DIY fashion. With a new lyric video for their latest track out and plans to continue a steady release of music over the course of the rest of the year, I’m excited to see what the band decides to do next! Listen to their music here. Stay updated on their latest projects following them on social media: YouTube Instagram Twitter

If your sleep schedule is thrown off, here is a playlist that is sure to get you back on track.

As I was parading through Facebook, I happened to notice that a local band, Stormo, recently released a fantastic self-titled single release comprising of six wonderfully mixed and mastered tunes. This Grand Rapids based band features Ben Ferrell, Jonah Craker, Steph Barton, and Ben Dewitt. I recall a house show last year at Mute City where they held down an impressive set with bands like Equipment and solo act Greg Ashley. The sound can be derivative of acts like Pete Yorn, Winona Forever, and Plantasia. It really just makes you want to vibe out in these quarantine times. Check them out and spread some love. Another local act that released a wonderful EP features WIDR’s very own Andrew Buczek on vocals, the band being Coastal Car. The EP, Four/Fore/for, explores some different production techniques from the norm, creating a vibrant picture of the past, the future, and the present. Buczek has previously demonstrated Elliot Smith as a primary influence in his songwriting, and I think it serves him quite well. Coastal Car is among a great stream of Kalamazoo bands that make the scene the incredible melting pot that it is, even in the quarantine. Check out this Spotify playlist featuring both acts here! Follow Stormo on Bandcamp here. Follow Coastal Car on Bandcamp here.

Got some pent up spite? TV Dinner's new single "F.U.A." is here to help. The record blends together gritty guitars, smooth horns, and vibrant piano in a new and eclectic way. The song will have you on your feet dancing or throwing fists around in a rage of teenage angst and by the end of the three-minute jam, you'll be ready to listen again. The lyrical content of the song is raw and to the point, layered with the erratic but beautifully smooth instrumentation. Either way, this song pulls on the heartstrings in a relatable and fresh manner while touching on several emotions we've all felt before. TV Dinner released their remaster collection "The Hit's" Tuesday, April 14th, so be sure to check it out. You can find their collection here.

Ever wanted to listen to a band you've never heard before, but didn't want to go through the stress of figuring out the good songs? I've got you covered. Check out The Diogenes Club on this week's edition of 'Diamonds in the Rough from Diamonds in the Rough!'

While being back home with my family due to the matters at hand, I had an idea to write this blog. My sister recently acquired a record player and decided that she wanted to look into all my dad’s old records when she came back home. My dad got really excited taking them out of hiding, dusting them off and organizing them by genre and artist. They hadn’t been played in so long because his turn table had stopped working. Looking through all of his music got me thinking how he lived through such a different time, and I wanted to hear about how music shaped his life growing up. I decided to interview him, and this is how it went. First off, here’s a little background on my dad: He was born December 28, 1951. He’s lived in Kalamazoo all his life, graduated from Hackett High School, and enlisted in the army at 18. He was part of the 3rd Armored Division stationed at Ayers Kaserne in Kirch-Göns, Germany. 18 months later, in 1972, he came back and took classes at KVCC and worked. Only a year later he was running a carpentry business with his brother that became his career. After this interview I learned a lot more things about my dad that I had never heard him talk about, and it was really fun. Was there a time growing up that you remember being really into music more than any other time? “Not really. I started collecting music since I was a young kid, probably 10 or 11 years old I’d buy albums like the Beach Boys and get them on 45’s [45 RPM records]. Growing up in a big family, there was other people who played music, but me and my sister would buy them and listen to the Beatles and stuff like that in the basement.” --My dad has 10 siblings, and he was one of the youngest. He had been listening to music for a long time, his sister Mary, being closer in age, would spend more time together in the music scene. Music was a constant in his life, and I think this relates to a lot of people. Music for me has always been there, and I know it’s something I can rely on. In the army, was there any specific artist or album you remember from that time? What did you use to listen? “Hmm. It was probably heavy metal then, because it was in the 70’s. I remember listening to Black Sabbath and then I started listening to more blues. Actually, a lot of the albums I have are from the early 70s, a lot of blues. I probably had 80 albums I left in Germany, and the guy was supposed to ship them back to me, but he never did. What a lot of guys had at the time were called reel to reels. You’d tape other people’s music, and you could have 20 albums on there. When I got out of the army not many people had them anymore though.” --After the interview we went through old photos trying to find some of his time there and the address book from the guys he was stationed with, thinking maybe we could find it and get those 80 records back! No such luck. When do you think you started buying records and when do you think was the last time you bought one? We went off topic a bit for this question, but I wanted to include everything because I thought it was worth sharing. My dad began buying albums at 10 or 11, which we had already touched on, and he didn’t have much influence in music from his other siblings. “I’m probably still the only one [sibling] who buys music and listens to music. A lot of them have probably never turned on a radio. And I listen to music all day long, it doesn’t matter what I listen to. The friends I would run around with would introduce me to stuff too, one of the guys I lived with probably had 700 or 800 albums. He would sit down all day long and just listen to music. So, that kind of opens your eyes, which is why I have a selection of a lot of different stuff, not just one genre. --I asked the end of my question one more time because I was interested to know around what time he stopped buying records. “I’m trying to remember when I quit buying for a little while, you know you’re kind of just doing what you’re doing. I think it was probably the time me and your mom met, and I was building a house and had a lot of things to do. I mean there was always music, but I wasn’t going out and buying a lot. There was a place in town, Boogie Records, that was a cool hang out spot. Back then, I was probably still buying records from there in high school, and then when I got out of the service, I was buying a lot and living with two or three other guys. And now that I think about it, I had my whole stereo system stolen, two of them actually, one when I was living down by St. Augustine church. I had six guys staying there, in a huge house, and I was working at Borgess then and still going to school. So, then I didn’t have a system to play, and I was going to school and working, and I didn’t have a lot of extra money to go out and buy a whole new stereo system. Then when I finally did buy one, we were also broken into and it was stolen at my next place in Kalamazoo. And when you reach that point, you’re kind of like, well I’m not going to keep buying more stuff all the time. I always had music around though, I played the radio or played my albums on my friends’ systems.” Do you think that your music taste changed growing up or did it mostly stay the same variety the whole time? “A lot of it is who you run around with. Who opened your eyes to different things. See we always had dances at our school, almost every Friday, and this is when I was 16 or 17, they’d have what they called the Shamrock. And we’re at Hackett so it makes sense. We’d listen to everything, but mostly what we were listening to was rock ‘n’ roll. And not the rock ‘n’ roll of today, no, there was 50’s rock and then stuff like The Animals, The Dave Clark Five, all the British Invasion bands. Ed Sullivan had this variety TV show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and you’d get to see a bunch of different things. “When the Beatles came, in ’64 and ’65, and every week you’d have a different British band. I listened to a lot of that on 45’s in the basement of my house. And records back then were like 2 dollars, which was a lot of money, and so you never ran out and bought junk.” Did you get to see any of the artists live you have records of? Did you go to many concerts? “They never did a lot of small concerts. They did a lot of live stuff on the TV. There was a big concert, Goose Lake Festival, up by Jackson area, and it was in 1970. There were probably 40 bands. --After the interview we went to go look at the lineup of Goose Lake Festival, he had a big poster of it, and he told me that him and his buddies camped there a couple days and that it was pretty crazy. It was a couple months before he went into the service. “But the head-shops we went to would have bootleg music from bands that had a small company put out like a hundred albums. Small little groups that ended up being pretty important. I didn’t really go to a lot of concerts because after I hit that festival I went into the service to Germany. We didn’t have a lot of time there, and when we came back everything was changing. “The Beatles changed a lot of music. All the music that I started with was when rock ‘n’ roll first started. The mid-fifties. I wasn’t listening to it, but that’s when Elvis and everything came out and then there was another change when the British Invasion happened. There’s people still who listen to all that music, it hasn’t gone away.” “Back then, there was a lot more places, you could go to bars and they would have live music and you wouldn’t even be paying, not even for cover charges. There was this place we would go called the Rathskeller. It was a more folky, country-rock place. There would be maybe 30 tables, laid back, and you’d see bands that have put out a couple albums. Bob Seger played in a couple bars in Kalamazoo when he was first starting out. He was just a college kid looking to make money. There was also one bar, two levels, and we’d call it the Back Door and the Front Door. The Back Door was the rock bands, and it was packed all the time. For sure Wednesday through Saturday. Upstairs would be country or country rock. “When we were younger too, bowling alleys always had bands play. League bowling at that time was a big thing. For 8 or 10 years we played league bowling. You’d all get done working, go there and play, eat and drink beer. Then when you were done the women’s league would come in so we’d stick around and play on the alleys not being used and play money games. But there would always be live music, mostly rock or country-rock.” Why is music important to you? Do you think it was a significant part of growing up? “I don’t know if it was a significant part, but it was always a part of me. I never not listened to music. Sometimes it’s just background, but you know the first thing I do when I walk into the shop is turn on the radio. Or Spotify now. And after pulling all those records out I remember the people I haven’t heard in a long time. I think music, it’s a relaxing thing. To me its like, its kind of like work. If work is fun, then work gets you out of the everyday drudgery of sitting around worrying about the things that go on like in today's life. Music does the same thing. It gets you into a different feeling of things. You know when a song comes on and you really like it you crank it up or you reminiscence about what you were doing when you listened to that song for the first time 5 years ago. So when I listen to older music I think back on everything I used to do growing up, where and who I’d be hanging out with, what stupid stuff I had been doing. Makes me remember a lot of things.”

If you’re a fan of straight-ahead pop music, you’ve probably heard of K-pop (Korean pop). For many people, K-pop reminds them of overzealous fans, people obsessed with Korean culture, and people posting fancams on Twitter in replies to unrelated tweets. It takes the “celebrity culture” aspect of American pop to a new level; to a culture where variety shows and V-logs are blatantly done to cultivate the fans’ relationship to the idols (the actual term for a K- pop artist). And if you listen to the music, there’s no question that the songs were manufactured specifically to satisfy the public taste. The artists almost never have anything to do with the songwriting. So if it’s all “fake”, how can you take it seriously? Let’s look at it from a different standpoint. Say you’ve got millions of dollars, and your sole goal is to make as much money as you can from financing music. In K-pop, this money goes towards training aspiring idols (called “trainees”) in dancing, singing, and performing. Usually, this training will last for years. The leader of the most popular active girl group (Twice’s Jihyo) was trained by her company for 10 years. Many trainees and idols come from Japan, China, or other countries, and many times the trainees don’t know how to speak Korean, all to train for an Introduction to K-pop company where they might never get to debut at all. The idols that debut are ALWAYS world-class singers and dancers, and that’s the way the industry is wired. A similar investment is put into the songwriting. This is mostly nothing new compared to American pop, but in America the authenticity of an artist is at least partially based on the assumption that they were the ones creating the actual songs. In fact, artists will actively hide or downplay the role of ghostwriters on their songs. In Korea, this illusion of authenticity does not exist and it makes the option of using “outside songwriters” so much more appealing. The end result of this is that companies will pour a large amount of money into making sure their performers are nothing but world-class, and they will pour a large amount of money into making sure only the best songwriters and producers will work on their music, which translates into extremely polished and well-done pop tracks. I’ve made a short playlist as an introduction to the different concepts and sounds that you can find in K-pop. In this playlist you’ll find “cute” concepts, “badass/girl crush” concepts, “charismatic” concepts, and a few that are harder to pin down. Jump in and give it a shot! Check it out here.

This is a time capsule playlist that you should open when you truly feel summer has started! Jam it with the windows down and the sun on your face! Check it out here.

Generally speaking, I really don’t like slow songs. I turn to music to lift my mood and slow songs unfortunately tend to have the opposite effect. I personally enjoy when music sounds very upbeat and happy but has deep and dark lyrical undertones. As a result, when I find a ballad I like, it is very special. Here are five ballads that I think don’t suck. 1. Monsoon by Hippocampus If I’m honest, this song is really sad but that’s not surprising because Nathan from the band wrote it about his sister’s death. The song talks about how the grief is actually not like a monsoon and isn’t overwhelming like one might expect. One of the prevailing lyrics, “It should’ve been me” reveals the reality of what one feels from the death of a loved one. Musically, the song also conveys a lot of emotion which I think any good ballad should do. The song begins without percussion and throughout the first minutes, builds to the first beat drop where the song picks up a bit. The vocals are a bit stronger at this point as well and continue as such until the song slows down again and fades away to nothing. The reason that I think this ballad doesn’t suck is because it doesn’t shy away from sadness and strong emotions. It embraces the sadness and finds the beauty in emotions. YouTube Spotify 2. Heaven’s Gate by Fall Out Boy This fantastic song opens with some soulful belting from Patrick Stump which felt humorous as it reminded me of the "Drunk History of Fall Out Boy” told by Brendon Urie. This song feels a bit nostalgic to me as it is very reminiscent of the ballads that I used to play in jazz band. The chords are very bluesy which again conveys that emotion that ballads are so great at. The religious tones in this song also do a lot for me as someone who grew up with religion. The church bells leading into the chorus help create that tone along with the lyrics which focus on making it into heaven to find love. Having the lighter piano in the beginning and end and the strong builds in the middle with guitars and percussion allow for Patrick’s voice to shine. This song is unbelievably beautiful and sad which again is what I look for in ballads. YouTube Spotify 3. Ego Loss on Grand River Avenue by Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers The best adjective that I have to describe this song is authentic. Joe Hertler writes music about life in such a way that it truly connects to the listeners and evokes a lot of emotions. Hertler is also a Michigan native so of course we ought to support him for that. As for this song, the structure is quite unique by stringing together many verses with a bridge towards the end and lacking any chorus. The song describes what it means to be a person and that we can be good no matter who we are since we are all different. It begins with just Joe singing and playing acoustic guitar but builds to include an orchestra, brass section, and percussion at the peak when there is the most emotion. This song is truly beautiful and definitely worth giving a listen along with the rest of Joe Hertler’s music. YouTube Spotify 4. Dancing on the Grave by Passion Pit I am not the best at analyzing the meaning of lyrics or poetry which is about to become blaringly obvious as I attempt to explain what I think this song is about. “Dancing on the Grave” I think is about trying to find beauty and happiness in life though it can be horrible and dark. In some ways, this song feels like a cry for help where it asks for help in finding light in life. However, though the subject transitions between “I” and “we” throughout the song, in the end, the singer says, “I can’t stay here” which I suppose is meant to say that the darkness was too overwhelming and the singer can’t stay on earth. This song is incredibly sad lyrically but has some interesting instrumentals to go along with the sad lyrics. There are sparse drum and xylophone beats and steady orchestral sounds throughout the song until the end when they fade away into what sounds like a staticky radio and ocean waves. I feel like all of us can use a good cry right now because of quarantine and this is a great song to do so to. YouTube Spotify 5. Always by Rex Orange County After some very sad songs, I am glad to say that this last song is actually not very sad at all. This one doesn’t even feel all that slow believe it or not! However, “Always” is incredibly bluesy and features many jazz instruments and forlorn vocals to accompany lyrics about personal growth or a lack thereof. Much like the other songs on Rex Orange County’s album Pony, this song is really about achieving growth through the help of others. In this song, Rex claims that he will stay the same until somebody helps him change for the better which is something we all can relate to in some capacity. I’m sure my background playing in jazz band is part of what drew me to this song and Rex Orange County in general but regardless I can’t recommend this song and his music enough. YouTube Spotify I hope that everyone is surviving this quarantine okay. Just know that any feelings you have right now are valid and that there is no need to use this situation as an opportunity to achieve anything great. If surviving is all that is possible right now, just do that and know that it’s okay. And if you do want to wallow in a little bit of sadness right now, I think these songs are a good way to do it.