One artist I’ve had my eye on is Tayla Parx. I knew her first through her work for other artists like Ariana Grande (Thank U, Next) and Khalid (Love Lies, featuring Normani). Her debut studio album was one of my favorites of the year it was released, and since then I’ve been eagerly waiting for the follow-up to We Need to Talk. Well, that second studio album is here. Coping Mechanisms was released on November 20, 2020. I was pretty late getting to the album, but I’m glad I made time to give it a full listen.
We Need To Talk had a very mainstream pop feel and sound to it. While Coping Mechanisms has a somewhat different tone without losing the essence of its pop roots, and there were other sounds mixed in—think R&B. As a consequence, Coping Mechanisms feels like Tayla Parx honed familiar sounds into a style distinctly her own.
Coping Mechanisms opens with a song called Sad. It had a mellow vibe that acts as a perfect way to ease into what’s to come after. It goes right into Dance Alone, which is one of my top favorite tracks from the album and gives a smooth funky vibe with the guitar and synth sounds in the backtrack. While System—another favorite of mine—had a harder tone and electronic vibes. It was as equally good as the rest of the album. Some of my other top favorites included Fixerupper, Bricks, and Residue.
Coping Mechanisms was a fantastic, fun, and memorable foray into Tayla Parx’s work. It was a solid album, with excellent lyrics and catchy beats found on every track on its twelve song list. I was left with an overall positive impression.
Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE
Breana: One afternoon, I was surfing through my spotify recommendations, and I eventually landed on a page of new releases from artists I already follow. One of the songs I listened to and instantly added to my playlist was GLAM! by Allie X. I adore this song for its punchy, retro-pop brightness, and I wanted to mention it on the blog.
Adri: Hello, this week I'm listening to two vastly different artist I love. The first is Flowers by Kelly Rowland from her new EP, K. And the second, more on the metal side, is Pisces (Live Sesson) by Jinjer
Andrea: This week, I'm spotlighting music, performed, written, and/or produced by the late Prince Markie Dee (Mark Morales). Prince Markie Dee was a member of the Fat Boys and later released music with his band, Prince Markie Dee and The Soul Convention.
Can You Feel It by Fat Boys
Mark Morales, Darren Robinson & Damon Wimbley
Typical Reasons (Swing My Way) by Prince Markie Dee and The Soul Convention
Songwriters: Mark Morales, Mark Rooney, Raymond James Calhoun & Damon Johnson
Author: Jun Mochizuki Source/Format: Gift; Paperback More Details: Manga; Fantasy; Alternative History Publisher/Publication Date: Yen Press; December 24, 2019 GoodreadsAmazon Barnes & Noble Synopsis from Goodreads...
On the trail of the Beast of Gévaudan, Vanitas and Noé are led to the heart of the incident and the noble house of d'Apchier. There, they discover that a brave, heartrending wish to save a daughter from a vampire's fate became the haunting first cry of the Beast itself...
Note: there may be mild spoilers for volumes 1-5
It has been a couple of months since I last picked up a volume of The Case Study of Vanitas. Last time I checked, volume 5 ended with the main cast stuck in an odd time warp like situation while searching for the truth behind the Beast of Gévaudan's sudden reappearance. There was so much going in this volume, and I almost don’t know where to begin.
It was good.
I still feel excited whenever I step back into this story. Mochizuki’s artwork is, as always, gorgeous and expressive. There’s a perfect balance between visual storytelling and information imparted by dialogue.
From the beginning of the series, there have been a number of mysteries woven into the plot alongside major conflicts, and finally some of those long sought answers are appearing. Volume 6 was no less interesting of course. It was still just as action packed and atmospheric as the previous entries in the series. Plus this one moved the story further into this arc.
The Gévaudan storyline is shaping up to be one of my favorites, second only to the vampire masquerade a few volumes back. One note I forgot to mention when I reviewed volume 5 was that I thought the plot was building toward more backstory. I was right. From the way the world is set up, there has been more than enough evidence shown that there was a major conflict between vampires and other people sometime in the past. Volume 6 dipped its toes into that. There was backstory abound here for some of the key characters in the series—like Jeanne, Ruthven, and Chloe—as well as adding more world building. I’m glad so much of it was delivered with minimal interruption, because it afforded a clearer picture of what happened in the past and what it had to do with the current events. Yet despite the answers provided in volume 6, there are still many outstanding mysteries.
Overall, volume 6 was excellent, and I’m looking forward to the next one.
Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE
Breana: Recently, I was listening to Laura Mvula's music again. I came across a more recent release that I missed from February 2020 called Brighter Dawn. I haven't watched the movie, Clemency, so it's no wonder I missed this one. I like Brighter Dawn. It has a nice sound as well as Laura Mvula's amazing vocals. Somehow this song feels way too short.
Adri: This week I am listening to The Sea by Morcheeba. Honestly, it feels like I've heard this song before, like a long time ago. But, I don't recall.
Andrea: Hi all, this music Monday is more of a what am I
listening to and thinking. Last Music Monday, Lauren Stoolfire over at Always
Me shared the song Kings & Queens. The tune sounded all too
familiar to songs by Bon Jovi. Of course, I wanted to know the connection between the song Kings & Queens by Ava Max; and Bon Jovi’s songs You Give Love A
Bad Name and Livin’ On A Prayer. What did I discover??? Well, all of the
songs are co-written by Desmond Child. Child has also written songs for
Aerosmith, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Kiss, Ricky Martin, and many other
well-known Artists.
I love the fact that even though the beat sounds
familiar each song is written from a different perspective. And remember
this is only my opinion. Kings & Queens seems to present the
perspective of an independent woman who’s certain that her partner can’t live
without her. Whereas You Give Love A Bad Name by Bon Jovi seems to blame one of
the partners for all of the problems in the relationship—Like how does a
relationship like that work out. Finally, my favorite song by Bon Jovi, Livin’
On A Prayer seems to present a couple who can make it through anything as
long as they have each other and work together.
I have a couple of reasons for having a special
affinity for Livin’ On A Prayer. First, I have gone to several events in
which the crowd warmer had the audience sing this song—I guess you can say it
brings back good memories. Also, I’m hooked on Livin’ On A Prayer’s
message.
I have posted the YouTube videos for Kings &
Queens, You Give Love A Bad Name, and Livin’ On A Prayer
below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Have an amazing week & stay safe! -Andrea
What are you listening to this week? Are there any new songs you discovered recently?
The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE
Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Readerthat asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.
On the trail of the Beast of Gévaudan, Vanitas and Noé are led to the heart of the incident and the noble house of d'Apchier. There, they discover that a brave, heartrending wish to save a daughter from a vampire's fate became the haunting first cry of the Beast itself...
Beginning: "It's morning...?"
56: "I became a curse-bearer of my own accord...."
Comments: I finally got around to reading the sixth volume of The Case Study of Vanitas. I enjoyed this entry in the series, and I'm looking forward to volume 7. What are you reading this week?
