The Setup

February: The Bonus Month

Samuel Goodwin — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A year is already over and my plan to build up a self-controlled music library is complete, but my subscription to Qobuz doesn't expirre until the 15th of this month, so I figured I might grab a few more albums I was missing. I've now cancelled my subscription and will only be using my own files to listen to music instead of streaming. Hooray!</p>

Sleep Token: Sundowning</h1> </center>
I've bought every other Sleep Token album, so I thought I should grab their first one as well. If you liked the other Sleep Token albums, you'll of course like this one too. You can tell it's a sort of earlier version of their music, but still the same quality cult music you'd hope for.</p>
Hop Along, Bark Your Head Off, Dog</h1> </center>
I also bought a Hop Along album earlier in this project, but this is their most recent one. I really enjoyed their album before this and was happy when I learned back in 2018 that they made this new one. It's more refined than the previous ones, but still very much Hop Along.</p>
Black Pumas: Black Pumas</h1> </center>
Nominated for a Grammy in 2020 for Best New Artist, Black Pumas is a two-man soul band. They're maybe most known for their song, Colors</a>. I really enjoy listening to these two, one excellent guitarist, and one excellent voice.</p>

January: Rough Times

Samuel Goodwin — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This month is pretty rough. Weather's still bitter cold, the rest of the news isn't great either. Listening to music and working on an upcoming project are some of the import things keeping me going. You'll see a post on the project soon, but for now, more music worth listening to:</p>

Lucinda Williams: World's Gone Wrong</h1> </center>
While not the most cheerful title, this album comes from the famous Lucinda Williams who suffered a stroke in 2020 and was still able to make this album. I'm glad she recovered and I'm glad she could make this album.</p>
The songs are largely about the state of things in my home country right now and I mostly agree with what she says. Like I said it's not very cheerful, but sometimes it's nice to know that you're not the only one that thinks there are problems.</p>
Fiona Apple: Fetch The Bolt Cutters</h1> </center>
I grew up being aware of and sometimes listening to Fiona Apple. Natually I was interested when I heard in 2020 she made a new album. I almost forgot to buy this one since there was so much other good music to grab this year, but I'm glad I didn't forget.</p>
This album also is largely about the state of my home country (which in 2020 was also pretty rocky). Like with Lucinda, sometimes it can be helpful to hear music from people who agree things are not right. Fiona's album is quite a different style than Lucinda's, but they do share similar sentiments.</p>

December: It's even colder

Samuel Goodwin — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Winter's in and it's even colder. My poor hands! This time I wanted to try a new audio file format. DSD</a> files are bigger and allegedly better, especially for live recordings. Mostly you'll find classical and jazz type music in this format and when paired with hardware that can handle it, it should make you feel like you were right there when they recorded it. I picked out two albums to try and I figure even if the quality's not any better than the FLAC files I usually get, then at least I'll know.</p>

Gueogui Chanchikov: New Repertoire for Bassoon, Vol. 1: Strange Relationship</h1> </center>
When I listen to classical music, my favorite songs are generally the ones written to give lower-sounding instruments like bassoons and upright basses a more major part. Gueogui is a professional bassoonist, so I think he maybe agrees with me. Very nice music with bassoon as the lead instrument.</p>
Chet Baker: Chet Baker And His Quintet With Bobby Jaspar</h1> </center>
Pretty sure this was recorded before 2015, so I'm breaking my own informal rule of focusing on stuff made in the last 5-10 years, but this was an album I previously have lots of experience with studying to learn to play bass, so I made an exception. I was only streaming the songs before for practice, and now I can own a copy in this allegedly-better format.</p>
It's jazz music featureing pretty famous songs like Alone Together. I think a good album to listen to even if you're not super familiar with jazz, but are curious.</p>

November: It's so very cold here

Samuel Goodwin — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

It's super cold here in the Netherlands. It tried to snow, it hit 0C (freezing) one night, and I've had to resort to wool-lined mittens to survive. I got some new IEMs (in-ear headphones), but they have metal housing, so they're super cold against my ears if I wear them outside. It hurts!</p>

Hot Mulligan: The Sound a Body Makes When it's Still</h1> </center>
I've written about Hot Mulligan before so I already knew I'd like this. This album calms down more than the last one</a>, but still very much sounds like the same band. If you only got one album from them, I'd recommend Why Would I Watch, but if you like them and want more, then I'd say get this one too!</p>
La Femme Pendu: The Wheel of the Year</h1> </center>
I found La Femme Pendu because I remembered and old sci-fi show I used to watch, Warehouse 13, where actrice Allison Scagliotti plays the cool, nerdy, tech expert on the team. I looked her up on IMDb to find out if she was in anything else I might like and found that she's also had music career.</p>
La Femme Pendu is her most recent band. It's bluesey music and it's all in French. At first I was confused, but by the time I finished listening to the album the first time, I was sold.</p>
Hitsujibungaku: 12 hugs (like butterflies)</h1> </center>
Hitsujibungaku, or in English literally "sheep literature" is a Japanese band started by the lead singer when she was 15. The other current band members came later to make the current group and it's great!</p>
I first found them because they did the opening song for a recent anime I enjoyed called Silent Witch</a>. Conveniently the song from the opening is on this album and I didn't have to buy it as a single (which sometimes happens). A different vibe from the other two on this list, so I hope you'll try them also.</p>

October: Music To Prepare For Winter

Samuel Goodwin — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

October in the Netherlands is our brief time to enjoy Fall before Winter sets in. In that little bit of time, I try to enjoy the fall leaves and such, but also prepare for the oncoming cold. The music I picked this time should help.</p>

Royal Blood: Back To The Water Below</h1> </center>
I picked an album from Royal Blood before, but this one is more recent and also very good. I think this album is even better as the band is steadily improving. It's good, high energy music and you should give it a listen, I don't know what else to say.</p>
Cheap 52: Vermont</h1> </center>
Cheap 52's musics with lots of guitar and grown-up venting. I say grown-up because this doesn't sound like the angtsy stuff I listened to in high school. This is more the vented frustration of an adult who's seen things.</p>
Lizzy McAlpine: five seconds flat</h1> </center>
If energetic music doesn't work, then possibly a warm singing voice will do the trick. It's a very different vibe than the other selections this month, so in case you're not into those, give this a try.</p>

A Player For All This Music

Samuel Goodwin — Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

What it is</h1>
One important part of the setup I've been working on this year is the Digital Audio Player (DAP for short). A DAP is the modern successor to the iPod 1</a></sup>. They come in various shapes and sizes depending on what features you want, but fundamentally they have storage (often via microSD cards) and they'll play music. Mine in particular is the Hiby R6 Gen 3, but there's several some models from Hiby and plenty of nice options from other companies. I've been using one now since the start of this blog (now about 8 months?) and I can't see wanting to get rid of it any time soon.</p>
</p>

Why have one</h1>
I guess the default these days is simply to play music from your phone, however:</p>

iPhones aren't super convenient to use with a self-owned music collection as you'll eat up the storage easily 2</a></sup> and you'll need a dongle to use headphones.</li>
Androids can have microSD slots, but the operating system's audio system re-samples all audio going out, so youre hi-res and/or lossless files will be resampled (maybe you won't notice, but if you do it'll bother you for all time).- Depending on the Android model, you'll also need a dongle to use corded headphones.</li>
Your phone comes with notifications and distractions you don't always want from its nearly-constant connection to the internet.</li> </ul>
A dedicated DAP solves all those problems and give you lots of options for expandable storage, bit-perfect audio output, and use of whatever headphones you like.</p>
Inputs</h1>
Getting music onto a DAP is pretty simple. Many have some amount of internal storage you can access via USB and all (at least that I've seen) have microSD card slots (some even have two!) so you can load a terrabyte or two of music from your computer and enjoy.</p>
Mine is a version of a DAP that runs a modified build of Android. This custom Android bypasses that resampling nonsense and allows for your music to go out to your headphones without resampling or modification. Because it's running Android, it also allows you to use Apple Music or Qobuz or whatever other streaming service you'd like over wifi.</p>
For me this is handy during my year-long plan to own my music in case I want to hear stuff I haven't bought yet. My end-goal is to delete Qobuz, the streaming app I'm using for now.</p>
Outputs</h1>
Most importantly, every DAP I've seen has a 3.5mm jack for your headphones. This is the standard headphone jack you're proabbly used to unless you've used those super-thick 6.3mm plugs commonly found on studio equipment or guitar amps.</p>
Many also come with a 4.4mm plug, which is also called a "balanced" connection. It's technically supposed to allow for less noise than the regular plug but you'll maybe never notice. The nature of this "balanced" circuitry also has the effect of allowing more power output. If you like to listen with over-ear headphones that need extra juice, this can help. I picked a DAP with a 4.4mm option mostly cause I like to try random headphones and some have 4.4mm connections.</p>
Even fairly small and cheap DAPs have bluetooth if you're into wireless headphones.</p>
</p>
^{1</sup>
You can also just use an old iPod. There are DIY kits to give them more storage, bigger/newer batteries, and even bluetooth if you want it.</p>
</div>
^{2</sup>
My collection, for example, is about 76GB so far and there's only 45GB or so free space on my phone.</p>
</div>}}

September: My Birthday Month!

Samuel Goodwin — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This month is a bit late because there was my birthday and also I thought September had more days.</p>

The Black Keys: No Rain, No Flowers</h1> </center>
The Black Keys is one of the many artists I found out about after they had already stopped making music. Back when I lived in Denver as I was finishing college, I could have seen them live for probably about 10$ and I foolishly said no to my friend. Fortunately for me they decided to make more music and I've been able to at least enjoy new album releases like this one.</p>
The Black Keys really studied the blues and one of their older albums has a voicemail recording from the wife of Junior Kimbrough, a blues legend, thanking them for honoring his music. This new album is less traditional blues than the earlier stuff. There's other instruments than just guitar bass and drums.</p>
Cardi B: AM I THE DRAMA?</h1> </center>
Cardi B hasn't made an album in a little while (2018), but she made sure to come back with some amusing lyrics and strong beats. Sometimes an amusing mix of venting and shit-talking is exactly what I need to get pumped up. I wouldn't recommend blasting this for your kids, but I assume you, the reader, are an adult, so it should be fine. (Even Cardi B herself agrees her stuff is maybe not good for kids.)</p>
Conveniently also this album includes some songs like WAP so I don't need to buy those seperately.</p>
ZUTOMAYO: Hogarakana Hifutote Fufuku</h1> </center>
ZUTOMAYO is a Japanese band that has done some music for notable anime like the ending credits for DanDaDan. The lead singer has said in interviews she's actually a big fan of the anime they did songs for and she was super excited to get to make msuic for them.</p>
I got this album in particular because their bassist is awesome and there's several examples of it. お勉強しといてよ for example starts off hot with some difficult bass riffing before later getting a solo line. Songs these days don't get many bass solos and this is a great example of why that's a shame.</p>
I play bass myself. Not sure if you could tell.</p>

August: Some Variety

Samuel Goodwin — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This month's selections are a bit different, but I think they're all worth a listen.</p>

Autoheart: Heartlands</h1> </center>
I bought this album because my girlfriend wanted it, but I listened to it some and turns out I like it too. A nice distinctive voice singing often-sad lyrics while a band plays happier sounding music is a combination I'm a big fan of.</p>
Molly Tuttle: So Long Little Miss Sunshine</h1> </center>
I first heard about Molly Tuttle from a youtube video</a> where she plays rediculous guitar with a closeup camera to show her picking. When I found that she dropped an album this month, it was an easy purchase. Her hardcore bluegrass skills are showcased on the album, of course, on tracks like "Everything Burns", but it's not a whole album of "look how well I can play!" if you were worried about that.</p>
NXCRE • The Villains: FEAN IS WAR</h1> </center>
If you've watched any short-form video, you've maybe heard songs from this album. They're common on edgy, dramatic, videos that look like they were made by angsty teens. The whole album is exactly that. It's what my friends and I would be playing on repeat if we were teens now instead of the early 2000's. It easily sits next to the Linkin Park and Evanescence we listened to so much, but sounds more like it was made after 2020. At first you might roll your eyes with how edgy the lyrics sound, but if you you give it some more time you might find you enjoy it as much as I do.</p>

July: Music For The Heat Wave

Samuel Goodwin — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

July I'm off to Berlin by motorcycle. Going to see more of Germany than I have before as I'll be avoiding the main highway there. For an unknown number of days with possibly bad connections and questionable wifi, Here's the albums that were on my mind to grab before I go.</p>

Hot Mulligan: Why Would I Watch</h1> </center>
I think this is another band I heard about from The Tone Control</a>. Listening to them reminds of how I felt listening to the pop punk bands back in high school. They don't hold up so much listening to them now, but this does. You'll recognize the songs by their Fall Out Boy-esque titles.</p>
If you want a less intense version of this, check out the Hot Mulligan Lofi album where they worked with Less Gravity to make lofi versions of songs from this album and their previous ones. They're amusing to listen to at least once as well.</p>
Schmaltz: Spanish Love Songs</h1> </center>
Spanish Love Songs is not in Spanish and is mostly about lost love and sadness, so don't get your hopes up there. I can't listen to this stuff just any time, it is fairly sad.</p>
I found this band when I asked a discord group I'm a part of what frustration sounds like. They recommended this album and I immediately agreed when I started listening.</p>
They even sing about problems I hadn't considered: "I want to find a haircut that fits me that hasn't been co-opted by Nazi's".</p>
Rico Nasty: LETHAL</h1> </center>
A rap artist published by the same label that brought you Fall Out Boy, Rico Nasty isn't worried about making standard rap. I found her when she did a Tiny Desk</a> (later I discovered it was actually her second one, her first</a> one three years ago.</p>
Most of the album is high eneergy music to get you going. My only complaint is that many of the songs are a bit short. When I heard the Tiny Desk versions, I assumed she shortened the songs for the show, but that's just actually how short they are. I think this might be a trend in alot of newer music.</p>

June: All Born Screaming

Samuel Goodwin — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

June was a chiller month and I almost forgot to make this post, but I do have two albums for you I think are worth buying:</p>

St. Vincent: All Born Screaming</h1> </center>
Anne Clark aka St. Vincent is one of the few women to get a signature model guitar made for sale to the public. It's an awesome one too, Music Man didn't just make an existing guitar with special colors or specs, they made a whole guitar for her</a>.</p>
This album in particular is very good I think and also interesting because she recorded the whole thing in Spanish and put it out as its own album. The track Flea gets me especially pumped.</p>
Sleep Token: This Place Will Become Your Tomb</h1> </center>
Still catching up on Sleep Token albums. This is the one I first heard that made me fall in love with the band, so it was important to have also.</p>
If you tried any of the other albums by them I mentioned and liked it, you'll like this one too I bet.</p>
Hop Along: Painted Shut</h1> </center>
Named Hop Along in high school cause she walked slowly, Christine Quinlan started as a solo project and later gained a drummer and bass player to play with her. I'm really glad she did. Her music is a very different vibe from the other artists in this post and probably my whole library.</p>
I first heard the band the year I came to the Netherlands. I think it was the podcast Hi My Name Is Mark (now defunkt) that interviewed them and talked about the process of recording the album. I was so impressed with their thought process and their sound that I listened to the album on repeat for the next few weeks. Unfortunately, I couldn't find where/if I bought the album, so here I am buying it again. This time my backups will be better.</p>

Getting Off Streaming

Samuel Goodwin — Tue, 13 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I think it is time we all give very serious thought to getting off streaming services for music. I've been meaning to un-stream my music for a while and I finally started this year. Here are the reasons that pushed me to making a decision.</p>

1: Content Control</h2>
Have you ever asked Apple Music or Spotify to play a song that has naughty words in it and is labeled as such, but instead you hear the censored version? This has been happening to me for years. With my own music library, I can decide exactly which version of a song is being played. This could be the uncensored version or maybe the un-remastered version which has that extra bit of dynamic range they got rid of in later versions. The streaming services aren't worried about this and either often won't give you the choice or their own code will come up with the wrong track when you ask.</p>

2: Artist Support</h2>
The most popular, Spotify, famously pays their artist</a> next to nothing even when a song is played thousands of times. They do everything in their power to pay the average artist as close to nothing as possible. Some do a bit better, like Qobuz</a>, but even this I think is not awesome. I think buying even a single album, going to a concert, or buying some merch would all put more money into the hands of the artists we like. I don't want most merch and many of the concerts are either in countries I don't live or are super costly, so my chosen method most of the time will be buying albums (digitally, I don't need a bookcase full of CD's here).</p>

3: Intentionality</a></h2>
Streaming services give you access to just about any song you've ever heard of anywhere you have internet any time you want for no additional cost. Music just plays and it's easy to not actually pay attention to what's happening. It's easy to not even know who the artist is you're listening to. Finding and buying albums changes all of that. I'm listening to less music this way, but I'm very much aware of all of it. I'm not sure how much how this matters, but to me this seems better.</p>

May: The Month I Waited For

Samuel Goodwin — Sun, 11 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Two bands I like had new albums this month, so my choices were mostly made for me. I've been waiting a few months for these and they do not disappoint.</p>

Sleep Token: Even In Arcadia</h1> </center>
I already bought some Sleep Token</a> and intend to get everything else they've made, but then they decided to make even more music. I even avoided listening to the early-released tracks as much as possible so that I could listen to the entire album at once for the first time. It was worth the wait.</p>
If real cults had music this good, they might lure me in. I can't be in a bad mood listening to this stuff. As a guitarist, I have very little desire to play this kind of music, but maybe if I could play it this well I would change my mind. Every time I listen to this album, I question that some more.</p>
The Wonder Years: Burst & Decay</h1> </center>
I also already bought some of their</a> music and also some from the singer's other project Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties</a>, but he's not done making music either. This album is full of re-arrangements of songs from their earlier albums. As a musician, I find it super interesting hearing what they decided to do with songs I liked when they had time and money to redo them. You may or may not like the new versions just as songs, I'm not entirely sure myself either. I do think it's worth having a listen at least and I'm happy to have paid for it.</p>

April: A New Release!

Samuel Goodwin — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

April's choices were pretty easy. A new album from a band I know and love, some Japanese music I was sorely lacking, and an artist to get me pumped up.</p>

Coheed and Cambria: The Father of Make Believe</h1> </center>
I discovered Coheed and Cambria in college when a guy from my dorm showed them to me. We'd sing along to songs like Blood Red Summer while playing Halo in his room. Good times.</p>
Since then, they've continued to make album after album of good music. Later in 2015 songs like Island made me cry a little when I realized what they were saying. 2022, The Liars Club comes out and instead of tears I was just so excited I couldn't sit down.</p>
So of course when their latest album came out a month ago in March, it immediately went on my list of albums to buy. Epic music that occasionally triggers quite the emotional reaction. It's good stuff and I hope you listen to it.</p>
Creepy Nuts: LEGION</h1> </center>
I found Creepy Nuts because they made the opening song for an anime in 2023 I liked called Mashle</a>. The anime is super goofy and their song matches the vibe perfectly.</p>
This album is a perfect example also of why I'm moving off streaming. On Qobuz at least, their track Otonoke (made famous by being the opening song to the super popular anime Dan Da Dan</a>) is not streamable. You can listen to every other track on this album except this one for some reason. Since I bought it though, I'm free to dance in my living room to this whenever I need to.</p>
Glorilla: Ehhthang Ehhthang</h1> </center>
If I'm going to get off streaming, I needed some Glorilla in my library. Blasting this album during house work or sometimes just waking up helps give me the energy I need to keep moving.</p>
The story-telling in the track Opp Shit took me back to my childhood listening to Nate Dogg and Warren G as she raps about how she's sneaking around with someone from an enemy gang and worrying about him.</p>
Her music is very body-positive, her tracks are littered with lines like: "Ho, don't be ashamed, show that cellulite".</p>

March: Albums I Heard on a Podcast

Samuel Goodwin — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The theme for this month's albums is that I heard about all of these artists on a podcast I listen to: The Tone Control</a>. It's one of the few podcasts I still listen to and mostly about guitars or stuff guitar players might care about.</p>

Sleep Token: Take Me Back To Eden</h1> </center>
I can't get off streaming without some Sleep Token. I first heard then when I was on a trip in Italy and listened to them the entire time I was there almost exclusively. The band sounds huge and their stage image is also. Nobody knows who they are because they perform in costume. They also refer to going concerts and listening to their music as "worship" and refer to their fanbase as a cult. It's pretty amusing stuff!</p>
I recommend listening to this one with some good headphones or speakers for sure, not just your laptop or phone speakers. Careful though with the volume, some parts might surprise you.</p>
The track "Are You Really OK?" is one of the few songs that have made me cry. Maybe don't listen to it if you're sensitive to attempted suicide memories.</p>
Bilmuri: American Motorsports</h1> </center>
Fun story, I heard about this band from the podcast and the next day I spoke to my brother on the phone. He was excited to tell me about this new band he</em> found via Tiktok which happened to be exactly this artist and album.</p>
If you asked me what genre Bilmuri's music is, I would say "Good question!". Have fun trying to figure out if you should be hooking your thumbs in your front belt loops and kicking up your boots or looking for a mosh pit while you listen to this one. Also there's saxophone solos?</p>
The Wonder Years: The Hum Goes On Forever</h1> </center>
This artist was I think the first I found out about from The Tone Control. The emotion in this man's voice as he sings about losing friends, worrying about having a kid, and so on really got to me the first time I heard it and still affects me when I genuinely listen to it.</p>
Like Sleep Token, I couldn't imagine living without streaming services and not having at least one album from The Wonder Years. Realistically I'll end up with a few before this year-long plan is over.</p>

What is The Setup?

Samuel Goodwin — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This is The Setup. A blog I host to talk about my setup to get hyped on music. I hope you'll follow along and maybe find something to add to yours so you get hyped as well.</p>
My plan to get hyped involves a four-prong approach for now.</p>

Find new music Plenty of good stuff has been made in the last 5-10 years, but I need to figure out how to find it.</li>
Control my own music library. I'm getting off streaming services so some company can't decide for me wether I can play an album or not and I won't ever get the censored version of a track on accident.</li>
Buy music again. Kind of in combination with number 2, no streaming service pays artists enough. Also I think if the album costs something, it will have a bit more value to me.</li>
Have a nice setup to listen on that's fun to use. Bad headphones or laptop speakers make it hard for me to hear what's going on in a song.</li> </ol>

February: The First Albums I Bought

Samuel Goodwin — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Each month for the next year I plan to buy 2 or 3 albums in an effort to build my setup (see what I did there) where I can enjoy music without depending on and being affected by streaming services. Whether you also want to do that or already have or are perfectly happy with Spotify/Tidal/whatever, here are some albums I thought were worth buying you might want to check out.</p>
Alligator Bites Never Heal by Doechii</h1> </center>
Doechii is an example of the kind of rapper I like. I've heard many people dismiss recent rap saying that it's all mumbling and droning or extremely sexual and graphic lyrics. I'm not a fan of most of the mumble rap I've heard either, but I do like the in-your-face confident lyrics of people like Glorilla and Megan Thee Stallion. If you don't though don't ignore Doechii. The whole album shows she genuinely loves music and has clearly been working at it for some time. Her lyrics tell the story of trying to make a career out of music which I find relatable even though I've been working as a software developer instead.</p>
I love how her lyrics range from fairly serious to not serious at all, some even in the same song. Her delivery is very expressive, you can hear her frustration, determination, excitement, her adoration. The stories she tells reminds me of conversations I had with friends in my early 20's.</p>
My Method Actor by Nilüfer Yanya</h1> </center>
Named after a Turkish pop star her parents liked, Nilüfer is a great singer who made a great album that reminds me of long bike rides. When you're out pedaling for more than 50km, you have to be careful not to burn yourself out going too hard, but you do still need to keep pushing. This album to me has a simlar pace and I enjoy listening to it when I'm in that sort of mood.</p>
I use the title track, My Method Actor to test speakers and headphones. The bass part here is beautiful, but sounds like a mediocre, honking synth and not a real bass if the headphones or speakers are bad. As a bass player, this is especially important to me and so I tend to favor music like this with nice bass parts. In addition to the lovely bass, there's also plenty of nice vocal harmonies and other instruments to enjoy.</p>
In Lieu Of Flowers by Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties</h1> </center>
Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties isn't new to me, they were on my list of artists I for sure needed in my effort to build my own music library and get off streaming. Their most recent album seemed like a good place to start. Different vibes from the first two albums on this list, In Lieu Of Flowers is music I can't listen to when I'm feeling down unless I feel like crying. Paying Bills At The End Of The World often comes up in my mind randomly when I'm walking somewhere or on the train and happen to not be listening to music at the time. It feels like modern American folk music to me including the concern about how things are going in America.</p>

The Setup

February: The Bonus Month

Black Pumas: Black Pumas</h1> </center> Nominated for a Grammy in 2020 for Best New Artist, Black Pumas is a two-man soul band. They're maybe most known for their song, Colors</a>. I really enjoy listening to these two, one excellent guitarist, and one excellent voice.</p>

January: Rough Times

December: It's even colder

November: It's so very cold here

Hitsujibungaku: 12 hugs (like butterflies)</h1> </center> Hitsujibungaku, or in English literally "sheep literature" is a Japanese band started by the lead singer when she was 15. The other current band members came later to make the current group and it's great!</p>

October: Music To Prepare For Winter

Lizzy McAlpine: five seconds flat</h1> </center> If energetic music doesn't work, then possibly a warm singing voice will do the trick. It's a very different vibe than the other selections this month, so in case you're not into those, give this a try.</p>

A Player For All This Music

September: My Birthday Month!

August: Some Variety

Autoheart: Heartlands</h1> </center> I bought this album because my girlfriend wanted it, but I listened to it some and turns out I like it too. A nice distinctive voice singing often-sad lyrics while a band plays happier sounding music is a combination I'm a big fan of.</p>

July: Music For The Heat Wave

June: All Born Screaming

Getting Off Streaming

May: The Month I Waited For

April: A New Release!

March: Albums I Heard on a Podcast

What is The Setup?

February: The First Albums I Bought

Black Pumas: Black Pumas</h1> </center>
Nominated for a Grammy in 2020 for Best New Artist, Black Pumas is a two-man soul band. They're maybe most known for their song, Colors</a>. I really enjoy listening to these two, one excellent guitarist, and one excellent voice.</p>

Lizzy McAlpine: five seconds flat</h1> </center>
If energetic music doesn't work, then possibly a warm singing voice will do the trick. It's a very different vibe than the other selections this month, so in case you're not into those, give this a try.</p>