🎧 Songs of the Week #20: Hold me tight. I want to fight this feeling.
🎧 Songs of the Week #20: Hold me tight. I want to fight this feeling.
📅 January 28 - February 3, 2023: Featuring Leonell Cassio feat. Carrie, KINGDM, HOLOW, Jauz & Zeds Dead feat. Nicole Millar, and Ravenscoon
Welcome to week #20 of the Steel Orca Songs of the Week.
And just like that, my annual boys’ snowboard trip is over, I’m back from Revelstoke, and we’re back to a regular Friday issue. Time certainly flies when you’re having fun. Shout out to all the smelly, gross guys with whom I went on the trip. We might be old and fall asleep early now, and the snow might not have been great, but it seems to be getting more fun every year. Unfortunately, now that I’m almost 40, it basically takes me a whole week to recover from this physically and mentally.
Here’s a quick breakdown of our trip for those who didn’t have the pleasure to join us (how sad for all of you):
Wednesday
6 am: Depart to Kicking Horse Ski Resort.
9 am - 3 pm: Snowboard at K-Ho (colloquial term for the resort). Make sure to eat lunch at Eagle’s Eye restaurant.
3 - 5 pm: Drive to Revelstoke. We have been staying at the Valley Retreat (a big house that sleeps 15+). It’s awesome.
5 - 8 pm: Hot tub, dinner, drinks, general debauchery.
8 pm onward: Bedtime.
Thursday - Saturday:
6 am: Wake up (I don’t want to, but I can’t sleep in, and neither can a lot of the other dads on the trip).
9 am - 3 pm: Snowboard/ski at Revelstoke Mountain Resort.
3 - 8 pm: Hot tub, dinner, drinks, more debauchery.
8 pm: Bedtime. Sometimes we go to bed later, but not usually.
Sunday
6 am: Wake up and clean up.
8 am: Drive home.
Between all of the drinking (sometimes I drink beer while on the ski hill - I know, how terrible, and also against the rules) and the fact I snowboard more in four days than I do all year, it takes its physical and mental toll. When I came back on Sunday, the hangxiety and burnout were real. It’s Thursday afternoon - five full days after I came home, and only now would I say I feel fully recovered.
On that note, regarding the drinking in particular, I went back to work Monday morning and was feeling a little tired and depressed (especially coming off the high of riding Revelstoke) and was scrolling through Twitter. In doing so, I found the following tweet exchange where Andrew Huberman posted his video “What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health” as a response to the next question from Logan Bartlett:
To which I replied, as an offhand remark:
That random comment has been viewed over 34,000 times, with 121 likes. That is by far the most engagement I’ve had on a single tweet to this point.
Then two days later, I’m following Tom Green, who I love, and he made the following point, which I have already written about and wholeheartedly agree with (it’s the reason I write this newsletter now):
I replied to him and actually got a reply back. At the time of writing, my tweet (quoted) has over 17,000 views and 4 likes:
Anyway, that’s a rambling way of saying that I have to get on my Twitter game in terms of marketing this newsletter more. Nothing else I’m doing has anywhere close to that amount of reach. My colleague Clara Beth has been dominating the Instagram side of this media empire so it looks like I have to pull up my socks a bit. I have been looking into some of the AI tools for helping to automate the process (as I said before, Hootsuite and tools like that are way too expensive), but I haven’t got there yet. My to-do list with this newsletter/blog is getting longer by the day.
Playlist Breakdown
Here are the songs for the week of February 3, 2023 ♒.
▶️ Youtube Music: Songs of the Week #20
One of the things I learned this week is that I can listen to music all I want throughout the day, but if I’m not right emotionally or psychically (alluding to my “recovery,” as detailed above), I can’t enjoy the music. I had to listen to a lot more music just in terms of actual time spent than I usually do this week because I just wasn’t into it (due to recovery from what I would describe as alcohol-induced depression). It was only around Wednesday morning that I felt normal enough to be confident in these picks.
“Dude, stop complaining.”
I know, I know. I’m sitting here whining about how I got sad I had to return to the real world after a super fun 4+ day snowboard trip to the Rockies ended. Cry me a river.
Ok, moving on. Despite my mental health struggles this week, this playlist is hot fire.
I also added the metric I was talking about two weeks ago (or something close) - Plays Per Day. I’m not sure I know what that metric means other than how underground a song could be considered (thus determining how hip I am), but it’s a fun metric. I’ll keep it for now and see what I’ll make of it in the future. Hopefully, our future robot overlords will find it helpful.
Leonell Cassio - Chapter Two (featuring Carrie)
Release Date: July 8, 2022
Spotify Plays: 92,187
Plays Per Day: 441
Label: DistroKid
Genre: Electronica
Origin: Stockholm, Sweden 🇸🇪 / Valdese, NC 🇺🇸
Instagram: @leonellcassio / @carriestoudenmire_
Twitter: @LeonellCassio
I looked up Leonell Cassio; he doesn’t have much of a biography listed. He has a lot of music and art out on Instagram and Facebook, but other than being from Sweden and having fun green hair, there is not much information about him. However, he seems to be an accomplished digital artist, with the theme of his latest work being “stuck in a dream.” He also has done something remarkable and published much of his work under a Creative Commons License (meaning you’re allowed to use it for your projects so long as you credit him appropriately). What a great guy.
This song is also one of two collaborations with Carrie (née Carrie Stoudenmire), the other being his latest release, It’s Okay to Cry. Carrie does a great job on the vocals, which are ethereal and understated. Unfortunately, like Leonell, I couldn’t find much information about her - but from the look of her Instagram profile, she is a young, aspiring singer with a lot of talent. I expect to see her more often in the next few years, assuming she sticks with it. That’s the tricky part, I guess.
I didn’t find any dates for either artist at the time of writing.
KINGDM - Together
Release Date: September 17, 2021
Spotify Plays: 228,042
Plays Per Day: 453
Label: mau5trap
Genre: Dance / Electro
Origin: Italy 🇮🇹
Instagram: @itskingdm
Twitter: @itskingdm
I’m going to start this one with a bit of an embarrassing tidbit of information - even though I’m a Spotify devotee and I have been writing this newsletter for around five months now, I didn’t know about the Spotify Artist page (and all the associated details) until like two weeks ago.
“Dude, that’s impossible. How could you not know about it? You use Spotify. All these playlists are on Spotify.”
The only thing I can say is I didn’t scroll down far enough on the Artist page to see how much detail a full page can have. I don’t know what to say.
Anyway, all that to say now that I know about that in the cases (like KINGDM’s) where the artist has actually filled something out in their “About” section, it’s going to make my life as a blogger/newsletter writer that much easier. Especially on nights like tonight, where I don’t get to it until late and still need to catch up on the research.
From his artist profile:
“KINGDM’s unique blend of nocturnal electronic pop seamlessly incorporates edgy electronic sounds with addictive baselines and modern pop/urban melodies.
Championed by Zane Lowe and Annie Mac… his debut single, “Can’t Get Over You” reached No.1 on HypeMachine.”
I also found this great quick interview Grant Gilmore of EDMIdentity did with Kingdm when this song was released. It’s getting late, though, and I’m getting tired, so read that one yourself.
I looked but couldn’t find anywhere listing tour dates for him. He does have http://itskingdm.com/ listed on his Facebook About page, but that link doesn’t work. Someone call me to the rescue.
HOLOW - Lullaby
Release Date: September 24, 2021
Spotify Plays: 569,511
Plays Per Day: 1,148
Label: Ultra Records
Genre: Dance / Electro Pop
Origin: Paris, France 🇫🇷
Instagram: @holow_____
Twitter: @HOLOW___
So first, that Twitter account I linked above was suspended, but from what I can tell and the limited research I did, that was his account. Someone tell me in the comments below what he did to get suspended because I don’t know.
Second, you’ll learn more from this promotional video on his Facebook from the time he put out this single than anything I could write here. It’s a well-produced little video and is only 5 minutes if you want a snapshot of a DJ’s life in Paris.
Finally, I couldn’t find his last name anywhere, but it looks like his real first name is Arthur. He has done that thing that I love when artists do as well, which is to pick a name that’s impossible to search on Google. I get that that’s not his primary concern (he’s an artist), but as a bit of a tech nerd, an unsearchable name matters. Anyway, that’s a bit of a digression, but still.
I assume you can find Parisians might have more luck, but I couldn’t find anything for live dates for him.
Jauz, Zeds Dead, Nicole Millar - S.O.S
Release Date: January 13, 2023
Spotify Plays: 1,100,271
Plays Per Day: 55,013
Label: Deadbeats x Bite This
Genre: Dance / Electro Pop
Origin: Los Angeles, CA 🇺🇸 / Toronto 🇨🇦 / Charleston, SC 🇺🇸
Instagram: @jauzofficial / @zedsdead / @nicolemillar
Twitter: @Jauzofficial / @zedsdead / @nicolemillar
Ok, here’s where my fun new metric of the “Plays Per Day” comes “into play” (ha ha ha).
This song has only been out for about three weeks, which drives this point home even more. When you do the math between this song and the next most popular one on this list (the previous song Lullaby), this song is 4,792% more popular. Does anyone know math? Is that right? If it’s not, please drop a comment below.
I assume it’s correct (misinformation?) because it would be a Pareto distribution which is accentuated more by the fact that this song is three electronic music powerhouses, each with their respective fanbases coming together to form a one-time supergroup to drop this one single (as far as I know - it’s getting late and I’m running out of energy to research further - doing this for free you know).
One of the best parts of electronic music in the internet age is how easily different artists collaborate. These are big acts - the only thing I can think that would be of similar weight to me in my youth would be if Rage Against the Machine did a song with Nine Inch Nails in their prime (yes, we got this song, but that was only Zack + NIN, and let’s be honest, that song isn’t that great). These sorts of collaborations happen often nowadays - I almost feel like I take them for granted.
Anyway, I’ll skip detailing their artist profiles because these are some of the biggest electronic acts on the planet, and if I quote too much, I’ll get dinged by lord Google for my transgression. Better to be careful. If you’re in the browser, you should just be able to click on the artist’s names in the Spotify links, and it should take you right there.
Except for Nicole Millar, Jauz and Zeds Dead are always on the road. The likely barrier is cost and distance.
Song of the Week 🙌
Ravenscoon - Inertia
Release Date: May 10, 2022
Spotify Plays: 89,250
Plays Per Day: 333
Label: WAKAAN
Genre: Dubstep
Origin: San Francisco, CA 🇺🇸
Instagram: @ravenscoon
Twitter: @ravenscoon
Ok, so I had this song at the top of this list (as the intro song), then I had it in the middle, but this is the Song of the Week. Congrats to Ravenscoon on such a notable achievement- this newsletter has almost triple-digit subscribers, so I can barely fathom what this will do to his ticket sales.
This was the song that kicked me in the proverbial junk hard enough to get me out of my funk earlier in the week. The only thing I can relate this to is Tool, which I don’t think is a great comparison, but it’s not the worst one, either. I guess it’s because it’s weird and psychedelic with melodic vocals but still with massive bass drops and spacey synth sounds. The last two minutes especially give me a Tool vibe. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were a fan. Let’s see what his Spotify artist profile says:
“Paul Conversano, aka Ravenscoon, is an electronic music producer & DJ from San Francisco, California, who combines influences of death metal, hip-hop, and punk rock with experimental bass music.”
Ok, so I assume this guy has listened to Tool before.
“Man, this guy really loves Tool.”
Yeah, ok. Enough. At the time of writing, Ravenscoon is playing the 15th annual Gem & Jam festival in Tucson, Arizona, tonight (his set is at 10 pm at the Onyx stage). I’ve never been to Gem & Jam, but I’ve watched enough All Gas No Brakes videos to know it would be a quirky good time that I wouldn’t bring my family anywhere near. So if you’re in Tucson this weekend, have fun.
That’s it for this week from all of us here at the Steel Orca.✔️👋
Follow the Steel Orca on Twitter and Instagram, and leave your thoughts by commenting below. 🗣️
Listen to the Steel Orca Spotify playlist Admin Login to hear every song we’ve included on the list to this point 🎧:
Some of my family just got back after a week at Revelstoke snowboarding. They loved it there.