LYED Favorite Treats of 2013: Songs

It wasn't until recently (aka today) that I found out about Spotify's "Year in Review." I was curious to find out what mine entailed when a good friend told me about hers. If you're an avid Spotify user like yours truly, you can visit spotify.com/2013 and once your logged-in Spotify will generate a "year in review for you." This is after they share multiple facts about their year, which varies on the country you live in. 

I will admit it was no surprise when HAIM appeared as the "Top Artist" on my personal Spotify stream. Despite what everyone says, these girls dominate when it comes to delivering material that's genuine & appealing. "Forever" was originally released last year as apart of HAIM's debut EP, and you can find it also on this year's stellar full-length  Days Are Gone. The Top 10 tracks are definitely apart of a playlist I curated just for my morning commute, it does the trick if you are in need of a musical pick-me-up. You will find a handful of them on my list of Top Songs of 2013 featured below. 

I definitely scratched my head over this, a lot.¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Even if I made a Top 300 list, I think I would still find myself in a predicament. Anyways, moving on...

"Winter" by Daughter is without a doubt my song of the year, and is a breathtaking introduction to their debut release If You Leave.

 What better way to introduce my top songs by featuring it at number 1, so If you haven't already - grab a pair of headphones and let the music take over for the next two solid hours. Feel free to let me know what you thought about the list by leaving a comment below - it's always nice to hear from you guys. :)

So, was Hummingbird actually my top album of 2013 as Spotify mentioned? 

Stay tuned for the *Albums Edition* of Sweet Treats of 2013. You might be surprised with what's in store. 
If these 30 songs didn't do the trick, have no fear! You can check out a compilation I made starting from January 1st by clicking here!

GL00MSDAY

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past couple of days, you're probably more than aware that the weather (in most places) is a little on the gloomy/chilly/not sunny side. For me personally, I love it. I experienced quite a bit of the "gloom doom" while living in Philadelphia last fall, and sporadically in (Fort Worth) Texas except the humidity level was beyond tolerable. I will admit this weather makes it hard to be productive, and clearly not a "beach day" - so, as I'm writing this underneath layers and layers of blankets - here's what I've been listening to. It's music from bands that I love and pairs perfectly with a cloudy and/or chilly day. Hope y'all enjoy & feel free to share with your friends, family, cats, etc. It's that good. 

LYED Cheat Sheet

So I had to put LYED on pause for a bit & left the Lonestar State last Tuesday for a sweet lil va-cay in California. How sweet was it you ask? Well, I was lucky enough to snap this picture of Hendry's Beach in Santa Barbara on a day when it likes to show off its amazing features. I miss it already! While I was "home" I was fortunate enough to catch Ellie Goulding & St. Lucia at the Hollywood Palladium. This was the final stop for the Halcyon Days Tour, and for being a bit under the weather I thought Ellie pulled it off quite well! I must admit, I was EXTREMELY disappointed with the crowd during St. Lucia's set. St. Lucia is an incredible up-and-coming band from New York, and if you haven't heard of them then check out this gem of a song featured below. 

This isn't the first I've mentioned about St. Lucia on here, and definitely won't be the last. Since 2012 they've released a self-titled EP plus two EP releases for "We Got It Wrong" & "September"  which are all impressive in my opinion. To sum up the experience, hearing their old & unreleased material LIVE exceeded my expectations. Their performance was full of energy and I was very surprised to witness the lack of movement from those in the crowd around me. Then again, leading up to St. Lucia's performance I overheard countless comments and questions regarding this "Saint Lucy or Saint Lucca" band. Anyways, if you ever have the chance to catch St. Lucia live, I highly recommend it! Now back to Ellie Goulding: she put up a good fight overall. Since the first time I saw her live (Coachella 2011), she has grown immensely in stage performance and overall delivery as a musician. I must admit, I was a bit sad about the fact that she only performed one track with her guitar (Guns & Horses) & wished "Your Biggest Mistake" made it onto the set list. Yes, that happens to be my favorite song from her in case you were wondering. ;) The entire performance was a treat from beginning to end, but she won me over with "I Know You Care" from her sophomore release Halcyon which is about her father. I could go on and on about her set which featured everything from her standout cover of Elton John's "Your Song" to "Without Your Love" a song that every individual needs to hear (after a falling out or break-up.) 

A few days ago it was announced that Ellie will be touring with Bruno Mars this summer & if you're curious about when and where they'll be playing - click here!

Now for the good part of the post - the music! Since it's been quite some time since you've been given a post full of new tunes, I decided to create a "cheat sheet" aka a playlist via Spotify with 32 tracks that range from new releases to new finds for LYED. Hope this helps with satisfying your craving for new tunes! Enjoy :) 

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TUNES FOR YOUR THURSDAY

To sum things up.. a lot has changed in the past couple of weeks! After 2 and a half months of living in Philadelphia, I made the decision to end my internship at Urban Outfitters Home Office a bit early & move to Fort Worth (Texas)! If you're a bit familiar with Fort Worth, I am now working at this lovely little location situated in the Cultural District! 

Feels like I've been playing the catchup game a little too much lately, so I decided to not only add a few songs but also a small Spotify playlist below for your listening pleasure :) 

ENJOY! 

Foals - "MY NUMBER"

This is for all of you who are just as much of a Foals fan as I am. A few weeks ago Foals stopped by "Later... With Jools Holland" to perform "My Number", a track off their forthcoming album titled Holy Fire. Earlier today Foals dropped the studio version of this track, and am still debating whether I liked the live or studio version better! Just in case you missed the news about "Inhaler" - the first track to be exposed from the upcoming album, check out the official video here! For those of you in the UK, Holy Fire will be released on February 11th & the US release date is February 12th! In my opinion, this is without a doubt one of the top albums to look forward to in 2013, as well as the upcoming albums for ON AN ON & Local Natives!  

The xx - "RECONSIDER" (Jamie XX Remix)
This is taken from Jamie's recent Boiler Room set, and when he dropped this - it definitely stood out to me. "Reconsider" was a bonus track off The XX's most recent album titled Coexist. I'm sure that last sentence didn't appear as something new to most of you, but if it did - don't worry! I was hoping that Jamie would include a couple snippets from Coexist, but I was a bit floored by the fact that he opened with a remix of "Reconsider".    If you missed the live set on Boiler Room TV you can find & listen to the audio HERE! To sum it up, it's 42 minutes & 54 seconds of smooth vibes and relaxing beats that will make your night end on a good note.

Kavinsky - "ProtoVision"

The name Kavinsky (aka Vincent Belorgrey) shouldn't come off as "mysterious". If you've seen the movie "Drive" starring Ryan Gosling, then you might be familiar with this tune that's also by Kavinsky.

"NIGHTCALL"
Hopefully by now things start to ring a bell ;). BACK TO PROTOVISION.. so it only makes sense to feature a dangerous yet classic car chase throughout the night in this video, because..well...what else do you imagine when you listen to Kavinsky? If you're one who loves a good night-time drive like I do, then you should without a doubt look into more of Kavinsky's material. You're welcome! ;)

Beach Fossils - "CARELESS"
This is off the upcoming album Clash The Truth, due out February 19th! I actually found out about this electro-pop group from working at Urban last year, and have been getting into them ever since! It seemed like this band had been weaving in and out of the spotlight lately, but it's probably because the members in Beach Fossils are also involved in side projects such as DIIV (who just wrapped up a small tour supporting one of my favorite bands JAPANDROIDS) & Heavenly Beat! So with all of this in mind, I am a bit curious & excited to hear the new album! 

YACHT - "SECOND SUMMER"
The dance/indie duo recently celebrated their 10 year anniversary of being a band, believe system, and business! This track was released as well as an intriguing and colorful  (to say the least) video to go with it directed by ADHD. It features the well-known YACHT "smiangle" coming to life and moving to the beat. Last week YACHT played a celebratory concert at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, and you can check out the pictures for yourself to see just how a party is thrown via L.A. RECORD. 

Hope you enjoyed this post! Feel free to check out the mini playlist I made of some stuff that I've been listening to lately, both new & old! I suggest you check out the latest material from Big Boi's album that feature one of my favorite duos - PHANTOGRAM!