My Apple Music Replay😈

Hey everyone! As you all know, the Spotify Wrapped came out a few days ago and the weaker Apple Music Replay trailed behind. I thought it could be fun to share my Apple Music Replay and talk a bit about it, and thought maybe you guys could say your opinions on mine and post yours in the comments! First I'll post my overall Replay, and then talk about specific aspects.

To begin, I hadn't spent as much time spent listening to music as I had last year, or especially the year before that. However, I think that's because of my songwriting tendencies. I spoke about this with my dad, and I think a lot of my free time (or especially my non-free time that should've been devoted to studying or things like that) was spent usually noodling or songwriting, since I really took my songwriting more seriously. Not only this, but I started playing guitar, and it's a lot more accessible to pick up a guitar and start messing around compared to going downstairs to drum depending on the time and other things. I think overall, my time engaging in music related activities has stayed the same, if not increased.

I wish I could say I'm surprised with this result, but I'm really not. Especially at the beginning of this year, MoBo was constantly on repeat in my headphones. I'm just a little surprised at the time spent listening, because I feel like 3,000 isn't that much compared to how much I felt like I listened to them, but that just relates more to what I said earlier with my overall minutes. Modern Baseball is the epitome of the Real emo consists of.. copypasta. Not many "folk-punk-esque" bands will be considered Midwest Emo (I do love the Front Bottoms though), but MoBo has reached Midwest-Emo Kinghood. I think if you asked anybody what mw emo band they'd want to bring back, 7/10 would say MoBo (you also have Title Fight, Marietta, and the taboo Jank...). MoBo has very relatable lyrics, and on top of Bren and Jake's almost conversational voices, listening to their music feels like a nice talk with a close friend who I haven't seen in a while, except I see him almost every day, especially during Winter Break. Sports is a top 5 sleeping album. Go listen to Modern Baseball and maybe a little Slaughter Beach, Dog.

Again, I'm not surprised, though a little amused. My Apple Music Replay has made me look a little bit like a one trick pony, and (Spoiler Alert) it continues to look like that for this year. I don't think it was because I listened to zero non-midwest emo music, because I actually really got into some artists like Johnny Hammond, Ron Everett and Amnesty (just to name a few) who were on heavy rotation in my music. I just think my degree of midwest emo listening heavily outweighed them. Back to the actual song, The Title Track introduced me to Origami Angel, and I couldn't think of a better first song to hear by them. This song (including its transition with Escape Rope) was always so fun to sing along to in the car with my bandmates, and eventually we'd just start doing the whole album. Seeing this song live was awesome, although kind of annoying due to the constant crowd surfers. However, that's the price you pay for wanting barricade. Either way, I didn't mind the crowd surfers, as long as they knew crowd etiquette (which most of them didn't.) In the end, this song was still great, as well as the entire concert.

This album is THE midwest emo album. If anybody makes a joke about twinkly guitars and white guys whining about their ex, this is THE album. Like so many other listners, it only took 1 song to get me hooked, and I had already downloaded the whole album. There's something about midwest emo lyrics that hooks me, and I think it's the authenticity about it. There's not much symbolism - it's all very in your face lyrics, and the vulnerability of it all makes it very easy to relate to. However, Marietta has a good mix of in-your-face lines with symbolic bars that make you think what all their meanings can be. I like poems like that - a nice mix of straightforward lines and slightly concealed lines. Things that are too abstract start losing me. Past their lyricism, Marietta just has incredible progressions and melodies and I love the whine-singing and gang vocals they used. Personally, as much as I like lyricism, I'll always respect instrumentals more, or even songs with words that just sound pleasing more than make sense. I think that probably reflects on my song, too, with certain consonance being used because I think the phonetics are nice. As an album overall, Summer Death is able to make me feel nostalgic for a time I never had, and I think the ability to do that through an album with quotes from Superbad is incredible. Long story short, Marietta needs to be revived immediately.

The goats. The actual goats. Finding Macseal was a life-changing experience, no hyperbole. Macseal was the blend between my bedroom pop phase of 2020, my indie rock of 2021, and my emo yearning of late 2023. I think I was top 500 listeners for Macseal in 2023, so I guess I really upped my game. It'll probably sound the same as I've been doing before, but Macseal, like all these previous bands, has some really nice chord progressions and lead guitar lines. I also love songs with a rhythm guitar and then two or more leads playing some tapping part as the song drives on, which Macseal is infamous for. I also love Bart and Ryan's vocals, and not to sound too nerdy and overly analytical, but their vocal melodies often times match the guitar parts they write and play. Seeing them live was awesome, and my friends and I even got to talk with the bassist and take a photo when they opened for Gami. Down to earth lyrics, fun metric modulation, and a good vibe overall. I'm very proud to be a Top 100 Macseal listener.

Michael Cera Palin!! The Funny Name!! For real though, another band I just stumbled upon, probably from a memepage on instagram or some tiktok live. Either way, I'm eternally grateful. I didn't realize how small Michael Cera Palin was until I researched them on instagram and their other forms of media. Not to be the pretentious music guy with a blog (...) but it did boost my ego for finding my underground band. It was only temporary though, because I realized I needed to share the gospel (mobo reference) and showed it to all my friends. However, as I fell more and more into the emo wormhole, I realized that though not many people (relatively speaking) know about midwest emo, those who know midwest emo really KNOW midwest emo. Finding one band means finding 3 more, and so on. Back to MCP, they're a 3 piece, which strikes some inspiration for my band. They also have very cryptic lyrics - even a song called crypto - so although it can be kind of confusing, it's fun to take the time to think about the words every once in a while (I know I said I don't like confusing lyrics but I'm allowed to change my mind for indubitably goated bands.) Seeing MCP was magical live, and talking to the bassist and guitarist/vocalist was awesome - I like smaller bands because they're almost always more genuine and down to earth. I also love small venues, again for the intimacy, so seeing them live was awesome. MCP forever.

Yikes. If you know, I'm sorry. If you don't know, there's tons of youtubers who made content about the Jank controversy. Great MUSIC. The MUSIC is great.

BACK TO GOOD PEOPLE! Mom Jeans. is one of my favorite bands, partly because of all the memories connected to their songs. Friends who left the country, bandmates who graduated, and more. We all bonded over Edward 40Hands, one of their biggest songs off their debut album, Best Buds. My friend Logan with an acoustic, everyone learned the song one way or another, and it became our song. A couple of my friends and I drove to Tampa and crashed at one of our other friends' dorms to watch. The entire trip was awesome, so the good memories I have with their music + plus Eric Butler whining makes Mom Jeans. the best. Also, we got featured on the instagram post with Sam. Yeah. I'm the parrot. Yeah.

My year (minus December.) If I were to see this at January, I'd be surprised with all the emo at first, but to be honest, I'd probably remember the vortex that is emo, especially with friends and bandmates that will enable it (love you, Wet Socks.) To summarize, this year was pretty tough on me for a number of reasons, but emo was a surprisingly nice recovery. Thanks for reading my rant. Post yours below, or any comments (love or hate) below.

Another quick note off-topic, but my band and I have big things coming. Make sure to follow us on instagram for updates (new music coming out soon????)

My music instagram: @elijahleanomusic

My band's instagram: @nothing_wrong_with_wet_socks