I planned Quintet to be a bi-monthly thing but life got in the way and prevented me from discovering good music. Although the summer has officially started for the Philippines--we are constantly reminded by the sweltering heat outside--mine has not yet begun because of a final exam scheduled tomorrow, April 17. However, thanks to the goodness that is Twitter I was able to reconnect with old loves (Tristan Prettyman, Joshua Radin, Sara Bareilles) and discover new musicians to fall in love with (Teagan and Sara, Haim).
Tristan Prettyman
What I have with Tristan Prettyman's music is a summer fling. I listened to Hello...x five summers ago while I was busy attending badminton summer classes in the PNP just after I finished my 2nd year of college. I discovered Twentythree the summer before that. This summer, I stumbled upon her Twitter account and found out that she has a recently released album called Cedar+Gold. The album has 12 good songs, and no bad ones. I particularly liked "Say Anything", "I Was Gonna Marry You" and "When You Come Down". "The Rebound" is fun to listen to, knowing that, if there's any truth to it, she was able to bounce back from the break-up with a hot guy by the banana stand at Trader Joe's. As final note, the album closes (aptly I must say) with "Never Say Never".
I hope this time around Cedar+Gold will last longer than a summer fling.
Sara Bareilles
This girl is all over the place. "Love Song" finally got it's much-deserved publicity by being covered on by Glee's Lea Michele, Dianna Agron and Naya Rivera. She appeared as a balloon operator in the recent episode of Community (this sounds really important in my head, I swear). And I recently found out she released an EP (an Extended Play, longer than a single but shorter than a full album) in 2012 called Once Upon Another Time featuring five (5) songs. The songs are less upbeat and less...sugar-y compared to other songs from her earlier albums. I'm no music expert but I think the songs showcase her vocal range and talent very, very well. I specifically liked "Lie To Me" and "Sweet as Whole".
Joshua Radin
He'll go down in history as the only musician whose music I shared to my younger brother which he ended up liking. No, correction, my brother loved Joshua Radin. He ended up downloading all songs by Radin that he could find. I particularly loved "Star Mile", "Girlfriend in a Coma" and "Don't Look Away". But most importantly, I love Joshua Radin for "I'd Rather Be With You". I shared this song recently to a crush (yes, in case you know me personally and I shared this to you recently, you now know that I have this teeny tiny crush on you. Awkward.) and I hope I got my message across--if not then, now. Who could go wrong with a song that says, All the things I feel I need to say I can't explain in any other way. I need to be bold. I need to jump in the cold water to grow old with a girl like you? No one. Give Mr. Radin a chance.Your time will not be wasted.
Teagan and Sara
I learned of Teagan and Sara before I joined Twitter while reading Lea Michele's tweets (out of curiosity of course). She tweeted about being in a Heartthrob concert which prompted me to check out what's the fuss all about. And I must say the fuss was well-deserved. The album starts off on a good note with "Closer" (which also made it to Glee) and "Goodbye, Goodbye". I loved "Shock To Your System" for the simple reason that it has lyrics like: What you are is lonely...You must rely on love once in a while to give you reason. Other songs in the album are "I Was A Fool", "I'm Not Your Hero", "How Come You Don't Want Me", "Love They Say", "Drove Me Wild" and "I Couldn't Be Your Friend". I'm sure there's at least one song in the album for everyone. Go give it a listen.
Haim
I discovered Haim's wonderful music when I saw Teagan and Sara and Sara Bareilles tweet about wanting to join Haim because of their good, good music. And they were not wrong. Haim's EPs are perfect. I like, what I assume are the crowd favorites, "Forever" and "Falling". I loved "Don't Save Me" for it's oh-so-right lyrics (Don't save me if your love isn't strong) and "Send Me Down" for it's beat. You may not fall in love with "Better Off" and "Go Slow" the instant you listen to them but, believe me, these songs will grow on you. I wish Haim will come up with a full album soon.
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You may want to read other Quintet blogs:
Quintet 6: Top 10 Performances from Glee's Season 4
Quintet 5: Original vs. Covers
Quintet 4: Radio
Quintet 3: GLEE-king out
Quintet 2: Holy Week Playlist
Quintet 1: Music to my ears
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