Post-grunge: The Pretty Reckless

If you've ever seen the movie 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' you probably remember the cute little girl with the blond hair. Well that cute little girl, Taylor Momsen, is all grown up now and has become the lead singer of post-grunge band The Pretty Reckless.

The first song I ever heard of the band was Make Me Wanna Die which played during the end credits of the 2010 movie 'Kick-Ass' (which by the way is a very entertaining comedic/action movie). Even though I really liked the song it didn't hook me in immediately. I felt that other songs from the band's debut album, like Miss Nothing and Just Tonight, while still nice felt a bit too generic as well. Several years later, in 2014, however the band released their second album from which the title song Going To Hell clearly is an example of their newer, harder sound. I do however also like the slightly more poppy Messed Up World which has a really nice breakdown at 2.15 minutes in. Last October The Pretty Reckless released their latest album called Who You Selling For with the fast-paced Oh My God and the more classic hard rock sounding Take Me Down. Because of the broader sound now, almost six years after first hearing the band, I can finally say I'm a fan.

Other favourites: My Medicine, Kill Me and Heaven Knows

Check out more videos on the The Pretty Reckless VEVO YouTube channel

Christmas Sounds

Few genres evoke such mixed reactions as Christmas songs. Whether this is caused by the actual quality of the songs or the fact that people have heard Mariah Carey and Wham! one too many times I'll leave for you to answer. In any case I wanted to use this week's blog to present several different Christmas alternatives sorted by genre. Enjoy, and have a very merry Christmas!

A capella

eSNa                                 Silent Night & O Holy Night medley

Home Free                        Grandma Got Runover By A Reindeer

Pentatonix                         God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen & Coldest Winter

Electronic/House

Clean Bandit                      Christmas Special

Major Lazer                       ChristmasTrees

Aquadrop & Big Fish        Creepy Christmas

KiWi                                  The Christmas Party

Instrumental

Ryuichi Sakamoto            Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

The Piano Guys                Angels We HaveHeard on High

Tina Guo                           Deck the Halls

J-Pop/K-Pop

Namie Amuro                   White Light

SEKAI NO OWARI          Silent Night

JeA                                    Winter, It's You

lol                                       xmaskiss

Rock

Twisted Sister                   Silver Bells

Elle Zamudio                    What Child is This

Soul

Sharon Jones                    Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects & White Christmas

Weekly Sounds Christmas Playlist

Rock/Jazz/J-Pop: Ringo Sheena

Because of my recent visit to Japan I thought it would be a nice opportunity to talk about a Japanese artist again. This time I've chosen Ringo Sheena. As you can see from the title of this post I had some trouble defining the genre in which Ringo makes her music. Unlike the previously mentioned Koda Kumi, Ringo does not really sing typical J-Pop songs. More often than not her songs are a mix of rock, punk and jazz with a pinch of electronica.

The multitalented singer started out in 1998 with songs still very focused on rock (e.g. Queen of Kabuki-cho). In the early 2000s however she started to make more funky/jazz sounding songs like Chastity at Midnight. When I first discovered Ringo somewhere in 2009 I really had to get used to her, let's say 'unique', voice. Over time however I became more used to it and even started to appreciate the distinctive sound. What kept me hooked all these years however was mostly the amazing arrangements she makes. From the jazzy ones like Season and her collaborations with jazz band SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS (e.g. MY FOOLISH HEART～crazy on earth～) to the larger orchestrated pieces like The Leading Hitter and Carnation. And from the electronica influenced Detecting Love (awesome music video by the way) to the more rocking CollateralDamage. Every song she makes has an uniqueness to it which gets me excited every time she releases a new one.

Other favourites: Close Shave Assassin, APPLE, It Was You and A Long andShort Festival

Check out more of her songs on her Official YouTube Channel.