1. SOCIAL CUES – Cage the Elephant (2)
2. GO – The Black Keys (1)
3. THE HYPE – twenty one pilots (5)
4. UNDER THE COLD LIGHT OF THE MOON – Crystal Cities (3)
5. GOOD THINGS FALL APART – ILLENIUM with Jon Bellion (7)
6. 3 NIGHTS – Dominic Fike (4)
7. CRINGE – Matt Maeson (6)
8. RAGGED TOWN – Second Player Score (9)
9. HEAT OF THE SUMMER – Young the Giant (10)
10. SOMEONE YOU LOVED – Lewis Capaldi (11)
11. DOIN’ TIME – Lana Del Rey (8)
12. GOODBYES – Post Malone featuring Young Thug (12)
13. THE MIDDLE – Agency Panic (16)
14. SECRETS – The Million Reasons (17)
15. DISSOLVE – Absofacto (18)
16. UNDER THESE SCARS – Falling Into Red featuring Dev (19)
17. WANNACRY – Darksoft (20)
18. FIGHTER – Joseph (25)
19. UNDERGROUND – MISSIO (26)
20. CIRCLES – Post Malone (N)
21. FOUR WINDS – Unquiet Nights (13)
22. DESERVING OF LOVE – Lyia Meta (24)
23. DRIFTING AWAY – Stereohaze (27)
24. COMING UP FOR AIR – Mars Motel (14) 19th week on list
25. RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH THE DEVIL – Revolvers (15) 18th week on list
26. THIS LIFE – Vampire Weekend (21)
27. WHEN AM I GONNA LOSE YOU – Local Natives (23)
28. 16 – Highly Suspect (29)
29. OBSESSION – Joywave (30)
30. WHITE LIES & PALM TREES – The Lovepools (N)
Tag: Darksoft
Top 30 Songs for October 6-12, 2019
1. GO – The Black Keys (3)
2. SOCIAL CUES – Cage the Elephant (4)
3. UNDER THE COLD LIGHT OF THE MOON – Crystal Cities (1)
4. 3 NIGHTS – Dominic Fike (2)
5. THE HYPE – twenty one pilots (5)
6. CRINGE – Matt Maeson (6)
7. GOOD THINGS FALL APART – ILLENIUM with Jon Bellion (13)
8. DOIN’ TIME – Lana Del Rey (9)
9. RAGGED TOWN – Second Player Score (11)
10. HEAT OF THE SUMMER – Young the Giant (12)
11. SOMEONE YOU LOVED – Lewis Capaldi (23)
12. GOODBYES – Post Malone featuring Young Thug (14)
13. FOUR WINDS – Unquiet Nights (10)
14. COMING UP FOR AIR – Mars Motel (7)
15. RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH THE DEVIL – Revolvers (8)
16. THE MIDDLE – Agency Panic (17)
17. SECRETS – The Million Reasons (18)
18. DISSOLVE – Absofacto (19)
19. UNDER THESE SCARS – Falling Into Red featuring Dev (20)
20. WANNACRY – Darksoft (21)
21. THIS LIFE – Vampire Weekend (15)
22. FALLING WITH STYLE – Heist At Five (16)
23. WHEN AM I GONNA LOSE YOU – Local Natives (22)
24. DESERVING OF LOVE – Lyia Meta (25)
25. FIGHTER – Joseph (26)
26. UNDERGROUND – MISSIO (27)
27. DRIFTING AWAY – Stereohaze (28)
28. WHY DID YOU RUN? – Judah & the Lion (24)
29. 16 – Highly Suspect (N)
30. OBSESSION – Joywave (N)
Top 30 Songs for September 29-October 5, 2019
1. UNDER THE COLD LIGHT OF THE MOON – Crystal Cities (1)
2. 3 NIGHTS – Dominic Fike (4)
3. GO – The Black Keys (5)
4. SOCIAL CUES – Cage the Elephant (6)
5. THE HYPE – twenty one pilots (8)
6. CRINGE – Matt Maeson (7)
7. COMING UP FOR AIR – Mars Motel (2)
8. RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH THE DEVIL – Revolvers (3)
9. DOIN’ TIME – Lana Del Rey (10)
10. FOUR WINDS – Unquiet Nights (11)
11. RAGGED TOWN – Secret Player Score (12)
12. HEAT OF THE SUMMER – Young the Giant (14)
13. GOOD THINGS FALL APART – ILLENIUM with Jon Bellion (15)
14. GOODBYES – Post Malone featuring Young Thug (16)
15. THIS LIFE – Vampire Weekend (13)
16. FALLING WITH STYLE – Heist At Five (9)
17. THE MIDDLE – Agency Panic (18)
18. SECRETS – The Million Reasons (19)
19. DISSOLVE – Absofacto (21)
20. UNDER THESE SCARS – Falling Into Red featuring Dev (23)
21. WANNACRY – Darksoft (22)
22. WHEN AM I GONNA LOSE YOU – Local Natives (17)
23. SOMEONE YOU LOVED – Lewis Capaldi (27)
24. WHY DID YOU RUN? – Judah & the Lion (20)
25. DESERVING OF LOVE – Lyia Meta (26)
26. FIGHTER – Joseph (28)
27. UNDERGROUND – MISSIO (29)
28. DRIFTING AWAY – Stereohaze (30)
29. ALLIGATOR – Of Monsters and Men (25) 19th week on list
30. BAD GUY – Billie Eilish (24) 19th week on list
Top 30 Songs for September 22-28, 2019
1. UNDER THE COLD LIGHT OF THE MOON – Crystal Cities (5)
2. COMING UP FOR AIR – Mars Motel (1)
3. RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH THE DEVIL – Revolvers (2)
4. 3 NIGHTS – Dominic Fike (6)
5. GO – The Black Keys (7)
6. SOCIAL CUES – Cage the Elephant (9)
7. CRINGE – Matt Maeson (8)
8. THE HYPE – twenty one pilots (11)
9. FALLING WITH STYLE – Heist At Five (3)
10. DOIN’ TIME – Lana Del Rey (4)
11. FOUR WINDS – Unquiet Nights (12)
12. RAGGED TOWN – Second Player Score (13)
13. THIS LIFE – Vampire Weekend (14)
14. HEAT OF THE SUMMER – Young the Giant (15)
15. GOOD THINGS FALL APART – ILLENIUM with Jon Bellion (16)
16. GOODBYES – Post Malone featuring Young Thug (17)
17. WHEN AM I GONNA LOSE YOU – Local Natives (10)
18. THE MIDDLE – Agency Panic (20)
19. SECRETS – The Million Reasons (21)
20. WHY DID YOU RUN? – Judah & the Lion (22)
21. DISSOLVE – Absofacto (23)
22. WANNACRY – Darksoft (25)
23. UNDER THESE SCARS – Falling Into Red featuring Dev (26)
24. BAD GUY – Billie Eilish (18)
25. ALLIGATOR – Of Monsters and Men (19)
26. DESERVING OF LOVE – Lyia Meta (29)
27. SOMEONE YOU LOVED – Lewis Capaldi (N)
28. FIGHTER – Joseph (N)
29. UNDERGROUND – MISSIO (N)
30. DRIFTING AWAY – Stereohaze (N)
Top 30 Songs for September 15-21, 2019
1. COMING UP FOR AIR – Mars Motel (2)
2. RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH THE DEVIL – Revolvers (3)
3. FALLING WITH STYLE – Heist At Five (1)
4. DOIN’ TIME – Lana Del Rey (4)
5. UNDER THE COLD LIGHT OF THE MOON – Crystal Cities (6)
6. 3 NIGHTS – Dominic Fike (7)
7. GO – The Black Keys (8)
8. CRINGE – Matt Maeson (9)
9. SOCIAL CUES – Cage the Elephant (10)
10. WHEN AM I GONNA LOSE YOU – Local Natives (5)
11. THE HYPE – twenty one pilots (11)
12. FOUR WINDS – Unquiet Nights (12)
13. RAGGED TOWN – Second Player Score (13)
14. THIS LIFE – Vampire Weekend (14)
15. HEAT OF THE SUMMER – Young the Giant (17)
16. GOOD THINGS FALL APART – ILLENIUM with Jon Bellion (18)
17. GOODBYES – Post Malone featuring Young Thug (19)
18. BAD GUY – Billie Eilish (15)
19. ALLIGATOR – Of Monsters and Men (16)
20. THE MIDDLE – Agency Panic (21)
21. SECRETS – The Million Reasons (22)
22. WHY DID YOU RUN? – Judah & the Lion (23)
23. DISSOLVE – Absofacto (25)
24. COMPLAINER – Cold War Kids (26)
25. WANNACRY – Darksoft (27)
26. UNDER THESE SCARS – Falling Into Red featuring Dev (28)
27. BROTHERS – Harroland (20)
28. LOVER – Taylor Swift (29)
29. DESERVING OF LOVE – Lyia Meta (30)
30. I SEE YOU – MISSIO (24)
Top 30 Songs for September 1-7, 2019
1. DOIN’ TIME – Lana Del Rey (1)
2. FALLING WITH STYLE – Heist At Five (2)
3. COMING UP FOR AIR – Mars Motel (3)
4. RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH THE DEVIL – Revolvers (4)
5. WHEN AM I GONNA LOSE YOU – Local Natives (5)
6. UNDER THE COLD LIGHT OF THE MOON – Crystal Cities (7)
7. 3 NIGHTS – Dominic Fike (9)
8. GO – The Black Keys (10)
9. CRINGE – Matt Maeson (11)
10. SOCIAL CUES – Cage the Elephant (12)
11. BAD GUY – Billie Eilish (6)
12. ALLIGATOR – Of Monsters and Men (8)
13. THE HYPE – twenty one pilots (14)
14. FOUR WINDS – Unquiet Nights (15)
15. RAGGED TOWN – Second Player Score (16)
16. THIS LIFE – Vampire Weekend (17)
17. I SEE YOU – MISSIO (13)
18. HEAT OF THE SUMMER – Young the Giant (21)
19. BROTHERS – Harroland (20)
20. GOOD THINGS FALL APART – ILLENIUM with Jon Bellion (24)
21. GOODBYES – Post Malone featuring Young Thug (25)
22. HERE WE GO – Ben Priory and Charlie Pereira (18)
23. THE MIDDLE – Agency Panic (26)
24. SECRETS – The Million Reasons (27)
25. WHY DID YOU RUN? – Judah & the Lion (30)
26. MISSED CONNECTION – The Head and the Heart (22)
27. ROOM TO BREATHE – Made of Eyes (23)
28. DISSOLVE – Absofacto (N)
29. COMPLAINER – Cold War Kids (N)
30. WANNACRY – Darksoft (N)
New Song of the Week: DARKSOFT – “WannaCry”
This past February, I featured the creative and talented young Seattle music artist Darksoft when I reviewed his brilliant debut album Brain. Released in November 2018, Brain is a concept album named for the very first computer virus to attack the internet back in 1986, with each track named after infamous viruses that followed. In keeping with his penchant for writing and recording songs that address timely and relevant social and cultural issues related to technology, he’s just dropped a great new single “WannaCry“. The song was written and produced by Darksoft, and mixed and mastered by Mathieu Riede of L453RL4Dy Studios
The song features Darksoft’s signature fuzz-coated jangly guitars, accompanied by swirling synths and crisp percussion that create a dreamy, almost psychedelic soundscape. But my favorite aspect of the overall sound is his silky, almost breathy vocals that are incredibly pleasing, even when he sings of a rather disquieting subject.
The lyrics speak to the deep cultural and political divide in America, fed by our tendency to stay stuck in our own echo chambers. Reading and hearing only what we choose to read and hear makes it harder to learn the real truth, and reinforces our beliefs and opinions. Furthermore, the social networks we thought were friendly spaces now seem to be corrupted by those who use them to spread misinformation.
Maybe they just wanna give us all a say
But I can’t help but feel like a pawn in some conspiracy
What am I used to fight?
Am I lined with the right history?
Who are you working for?
Are you buried in your day to day?
I know, it shows
So we live alone in our twin code
Seeing polar sides to every lie
wanna wanna cry
you wanna wanna cry
But you don’t know how… or why
Since I published this review, Darksoft released a fantastic video for the song:
Connect with Darksoft on Facebook / Twitter/ Instagram
Stream his music on Spotify / Soundcloud / Google Play
Purchase on Bandcamp / iTunes / cdbaby
DARKSOFT – Album Review: “Brain”
Darksoft is the music project of Bill Darksoft, a smart and creative young artist from Seattle, Washington who’s produced one of the most interesting and brilliant concept albums I’ve heard in some time. Brain, which dropped in November 2018, is named after the very first computer virus to attack the internet back in 1986, with each track named after infamous viruses that followed.
He operates his own label and website Look Up Records (for which he also writes some pretty awesome reviews), and in addition to his music project, has played with many Seattle acts over the years. About his inspiration behind the creation of Brain, he explains: “Distanced through haunted screens, we rely on spooky contact that we don’t fully understand. At times, dark forces lurk on the other end, with a motive to con. Always a silhouetted hooded presence, the hacker has become our modern portrayal of Death; captor to the mind and its web of memories. As we stare deeper and deeper into the glowing comfort of this synthetic deception, trust has become the challenge of our modern paradigm, and the cyberscape the new Great Unknown. At its core, Brain is a story not only of the brain, but of the heart, as both confront trust and deception, the real and the synthetic, the mind and the motherboard, and the dark web connecting it all where the matter of our endless identities can be created as quickly as it can be erased, infected, encrypted…or simply revealed for what it truly is, beneath the hood.”
Brain opens with “Mydoom” a pleasant track with gauzy riffs of jangly guitars, subtle bass and gentle percussion. The lyrics speak to the seemingly harmless but insidious virus that keeps a watchful eye on one’s internet dealings: “I’ll just pop up in your window to see how it’s going. From time to time I will drain your battery life… Track you close, I’ll watch your move. Mydoom A has put a bug on you to stay. It’s ok to be vulnerable if you’ve got nothing to lose.” Darksoft has a velvety smooth vocal style that’s incredibly pleasing, giving the track a rather dreamy vibe. On “Elk Cloner“, he first warns about a virus that works to take over our thoughts: “They will enter your world. They can infiltrate microchips. They will stick like glue. They will modify you.” But then it’s as if the virus itself tells us not to worry and just remain calm: “No cause. No cause for alarm. No harm. We just occupy thought. No cause for alarm. No cause, just be calm.” The track has a lovely, mesmerizing melody and his vocals are really soothing, belying the rather menacing message.
Darksoft quickens the pace on the bouncy “Conficker“, though it still has a somewhat moody undertone with a mix of fuzzy and jangly guitars, shimmery synths and a determined drumbeat. The lyrics allude to the algorithms that control what we’re fed on social media, shaping our world view in the process: “We choose what you feel. No view into reality. Your life is ours… permanently.”
With gnarly guitars and spooky synths propelled by a strutting bass line, “Lamex” speaks to how easy it is to escape into an artificial online world: “If you want a lame existence. They will send you a virus or two. Lamerism is the name of the tool I use”, yet yearning to break free and think clearly and independently: “I need to get out…To free my mind…To quit this code and leave the app I knew behind. If you look away you’ll open your eyes.”
One of my favorite tracks is “Heartbleed“, with its enthralling melody, irresistible drumbeat and gentle psychedelic groove, thanks to deliciously eerie synths. The jangly guitars are marvelous, the bass line’s sublime, and I absolutely love Darksoft’s warm, captivating vocals. I honestly think I would be perfectly happy listening to him sing the yellow pages! My take on the song’s meaning is it seems to compare the feelings of someone who’s emotionally dead inside to that of a computer – a machine who only does what it’s programmed and directed to do: “Matter is a thing. You focus it’ll bring you life and pleasure. Just wait and see. Let your lead heart bleed. Silicon and hardware respond. Nothing really matters when you’re a machine… You live to be used by others.”
Another favorite is “Cryptolocker“, a darkly gorgeous song with dreamy and sometimes eerie synths that create a lush atmospheric soundscape. The gently-strummed chiming guitars are exquisite, as are Darksoft’s ethereal vocals that are seductive, yet menacing, as he coldly warns another not to fuck with him: “You don’t know who you’re dealing with. You don’t understand who you’re messing with. Lock me away and I will pull the plug from under you.”
I distinctly remember the virus for which “ILOVEYOU” is named. Darksoft uses it as an allegory for the emptiness and futility that can result from using online dating websites: “Every fuckin day is the same. Can’t look up from the screen. Crushes breakin over the phone. Guess that I’ll be alone. Til I see your message titled ‘love confession’. Feeling’ tempted by a lie; it’s a misdirection. You were nothing more than spam. My little love connection. Engineered to phish my soul. Been spoofed again by a false confession.” The song has an infectious drumbeat and some fine, intricate guitar work.
“Code Red” is a beautiful, languid song featuring Darksoft’s resonant, pulsating guitars and sublime vocals, backed by his own harmonic choruses. The lyrics seem to speak of clearing one’s mind of self-destructive thoughts and behaviors: “Everyone has a code. Some write them, others they follow a worm. Everyday, take a chance. Decrypt all the bullshit and break from the trance.” The final track “NightShade” is a mellow, anthemic rock song with jangly guitars and humming bass, accompanied by snappy drumbeats. NightShade seems to be a metaphor for drugs taken to numb the pains of life: “Where you’re from, how you came as I take it all away with NightShade. / If I can survive maybe then so can you. Aren’t we all playing role games? Infect the database with NightShade.”
Brain is a great album, and I love pretty much everything about it – Darksoft’s clever lyrics inspired by each of the computer viruses, his beautiful melodies, outstanding guitar work, first-rate production values, and stunning vocals. He’s an amazing talent, and I eagerly look forward to hearing what he comes up with for his next music project.
Connect with Darksoft on Facebook / Twitter/ Instagram
Stream his music on Spotify / Soundcloud / Google Play
Purchase on Bandcamp / iTunes / cdbaby
ECLECTIC MUSIC LOVER 