It's a brand new year. A chance to make a brand new start for yourself. Here's a soundtrack for your journey. Enjoy! ~ JH 1) Taylor Swift ~ "New Year's Day"
2) Jayden Bartels ~ "New You"
3) Pentatonix ~ "New Year's Day"
4) Tiffany K ~ "New Year, New You"
5) Bon Jovi ~ "New Year's Day"
6) Jenny Lewis ~ "The New You"
7) Snoop Dogg ft. Marty James ~ "New Year's Eve"
8) A1 ~ "Same Old Brand New You"
9) Jeff Buckley ~ "New Year's Prayer"
10) Miranda Cosgrove ~ "Brand New You"
11) Layla ~ "New Year"
12) Shawn Colvin ~ "Whole New You"
13) The Shires ~ "New Year"
14) Teddy Raster ~ "Brand New You, Brand New Me"
15) Todd Snider ~ "Happy New Year"
16) 13: The Musical ft. Ariana Grande ~ "Brand New You"
Clearly, these songs are very transparent. You can see right through them. And they can see right through you. Yeah...that's not creepy at all. Enjoy? ~ JH
1) The Horrors ~ “I Can See Through You”
2) Nicki Minaj ~ “Right Thru Me”
3) Splashh ~ “See Through”
4) Daniel Baron ft. Lizé ~ “See Thru”
5) Conan Gray ~ “See Right Through”
6) Pepperhead ~ “See Through You”
7) Active Child ~ “See Thru Eyes”
8) Jess McAllister ~ “See Through” (I love how real and unfiltered this video is! The song is great, too.)
9) Pentatonix ~ “See Through”
10) Monica Moser ~ “See Through”
11) The Stagger Rats ~ “See-Through Spiders”
12) Koreen Perry ~ “See Through You”
13) The Oscillation ~ “See Through You”
14) Beth Orton ft. Nico Muhly ~ “See Through Blue”
15) Andrew Benjamin ~ “See-Through Man”
16) Amber Symons ~ “See Through Me”
17) Peter Bjorn And John ~ “(I Just Wanna) See Through”
It's that time of year again...when I drag out a classic Christmas song we all know and love and find a number of different versions of it and gather them all in one place. (Hint: Right here.) And the key word is "different." Herein you'll find the song rendered by human voices alone, you'll hear full orchestra, mass choir, hip-hop, dubstep, metal core, boys' choir, and alternative versions, just to name a few. I dare ya to listen! Oh, and enjoy! ~ JH
1) Pentatonix (Gorgeously intricate rendition by the current kings [and queen] of a cappella.)
2) Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Actual title: “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”) (Classic orchestral/heavy metal medley of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and this particular carol.)
3) Family Force 5 (I don’t even know how to describe this one. Weird? Terrible? Inventive? Slightly off? Perhaps it’s all of the above.)
4) BarlowGirl (One of my favorite “girl groups” sings one of my favorite carols in a medley with “Sing We Now Of Christmas.” Breathtakingly beautiful!)
5) DeStorm Power (There just *had to* be a hip-hop version of this song out there somewhere, right? Yup. And this is it.)
6) Capital Kings (And a dubstep version, apparently.)
7) August Burns Red (Then there’s the metalcore rendition that you’ve all been waiting for. No? Well, maybe you should listen anyway. It’s rather awesome!)
8) Celtic Woman (It almost seems like the song was written for them to sing. Great stuff!)
9) Sesame Street Cast ft. Jennifer Hudson (A Dreamgirl and Muppets. What else is there to say?)
10) David Hicken (Never heard of this guy before, but he tickles the ivories quite adeptly.)
11) Straight No Chaser (Because we needed a more traditional a cappella version of the song, I suppose.)
12) Mormon Tabernacle Choir (And a mass choir with handbells version, of course.)
13) Libera (Something about a choir of boys dressed like wingless angels just screams Christmas! And weird. It most definitely also screams weird.)
14) The Piano Guys (Like the TSO song above, this is a medley of “Carol” and “God Rest Ye.” I dunno why he calls himself “The Piano Guys,” but he sure can play a mean cello!)
15) Jessica Simpson (This is what happens when a singer of generally vapid pop songs bothers to actually record “real” music. She should do so more often.)
16) Fallulah (Slower, darker, and vaguely menacing. Definitely different. In other words, I like it.)
17) Kenny G (Medley of “Carol” and “We Three Kings.” Leave it to a saxophonist to provide a breath of fresh air to an oft-recorded tune. Pun fully intended. And fully awful.)
18) Josh Wilson (I’ve seen this guy work his magic in concert. This may sound like the work of a full band, but I’ll bet you he played nearly every note and instrument you hear all by himself.)
19) The Calling (To all these other renditions, I add this post-grunge/alternative rock offering. You’re welcome?)
20) Richard Carpenter (The only thing this one’s missing is Richard’s sister Karen’s velvety vocals. One thing it could do without is all the cheesiness. But I guess it was the '70s...so there ya go!)
It's Election Day, and I refuse to spend it posting something even vaguely political on the blog just for the sake of doing so. In fact, this set of Songs About Ninjas and Yo-Yo's – two of the most random pairings of subjects that I could come up with – is about as far removed from politics as you can possibly get. You are SO welcome! Enjoy! ~ JH
1) Die Antwoord ~ “Enter The Ninja”
2) Echo & The Bunnymen ~ “The Yo Yo Man”
3) Noonie Bao ~ “Ninja”
4) The Kinks ~ “Yo-Yo”
5) Vanilla Ice ~ “Ninja Rap”
6) Carl Perkins ~ “Right String, Wrong Yo-Yo”
7) Europe ~ “Ninja”
8) Nicola Roberts ~ “Yo-Yo”
9) Shu + The Ninjas ~ “Ninja Man”
10) The Osmonds ~ “Yo-Yo”
11) Battle Beast ~ “Black Ninja”
12) Silver Convention ~ “Play Me Like A Yo-Yo”
13) Classified ft. Olly Murs ~ “Inner Ninja”
14) Amazing Rhythm Aces ~ “Yippie Yi Yo Yo”
15) The Stepkids ~ “Brain Ninja”
16) B-Liminal ~ “Yo, Yo”
17) SMP Films ~ “The Ninja Song”
18) Anna Rudolph ~ “Yo-Yo On A String”
19) Barenaked Ladies ~ “The Ninjas”
20) The Congos ~ “Yo Yo”
21) DragonForce ~ “Strike Of The Ninja”
22) The M-Tet ~ “The Yo-Yo”
23) Pentatonix ~ “We Are Ninjas”
24) Katie Harder ~ “Yo-Yo”
25) LOSTPROPHETS ~ “Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja”
26) Tom Chapin ~ “Yo-Yo’s Ma”
27) Trace Bundy ~ “Dueling Ninjas” (Well, that was fairly amazing!)
28) Swoop Unit ~ “Yo Yo Section”
29) Ninjaman ~ “Ninja Mi Ninja”
30) Shirley Jackson & Her Good Rockin’ Daddys ~ “Yo-Yo Baby”
