Our stories are incomplete. Life isn't a movie, it doesn't have a set end already that you just are waiting to get to. Its a novel, half written.
To others, you might be a book half unread but they're reading a work in progress. There may be constructive criticism, and there may be those who jump the gun and just don't get it. That's okay -they don't have to get it. Your life is your story, not theirs. It won't apply to everyone, and you don't have to try to apply your life to others. By doing that, you lose part of yourself. You'll get sucked into the vacuum that is society, and soon, you lose all sense of what you were living for. And that just sucks. Cling to the things that keep you going, and give you a smile. Whether its something big like a passion, or dedication, or something small like your pet, or a TV show. Life can get in the way, but you do need your outlets. Just make sure they're healthy ones, like something creative, active, just entertaining -surely you get what I mean. And if you're leaning toward a harmful one -talk to someone. It gets far too easy to get wrapped up in your own head, and sometimes you do need to let someone else in to get more input. Sometimes it can be refreshing. Remember too, what you do is up to you in the end. There's good and bad influences, and there's a lot to consider. We were too tired when we wrote this, but take everything that's said with a grain of salt and look out for yourself. We forget to look out for ourselves sometimes, but do try. Surround yourself with people who remind you of that, and who also try to look out for you. Believe it or not, those people do exist, you just have to keep your eyes peeled and have some paitence. Meanwhile, look out for you. "If you take it from me, live your life for yourself." -All I Want, A Day To Remember
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These are the unedited, ramblings of Ariel, Immortal Music's creator. Something's gotta give and this is her getting it all out in the open. Opinions are welcomed about solutions, but at the end of the day, something is going to change with Immortal Music.
There's been a lot going in my head lately. Some good, some...not so good. I am stuck somewhere between being over worked and not doing enough. I'm not sure how you can be having a mini breakdown over the stress of having no time for yourself or your passions, while having thoughts that are saying, "Oh you can do more.." and "You're not doing enough, do more." Somehow though, its possible. We're only a little over a week into March, and already I have decided to revoke my 'schedule' for the month. I said just one week ago that I was going to get four to six blogs up a week, three reviews and two interviews a month. It was a challenge, but I did it. However, I also do work at a retail store, and that takes up a lot of my time. It may even begin taking up more of my time here shortly, and this is a very hard choice that may not actually even matter. I am nearly twenty-two years old, cannot drive and still live at home with my parents. I live the life of most teenagers, and yet somehow -I find myself struggling in some ways to have a job, a dedication, and a side thing that I love. I'm not sure if this is normal or if I just don't have a grip, but this is me trying to get a grip. I managed to say the words "Giving up Immortal Music" out loud earlier, and I cannot say I didn't choke on those words. I did, but the person I said that to, got me thinking. He got me talking about why Immortal Music means so much to me, and why I put so much pressure on myself. So I started telling him its because this has gotten so much bigger than I ever thought it would be, and now people notice it. There are some bands who vaguely know my name, and none of this would have happened except I made a little page called Music = Life as a way to find other people who had a love of music and have an outlet. His response is sticking with me, even though its hours later and I am now writing this in my pajamas. He immediately answered with, "And you're ready to just give that up?" He went on to say that it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Honestly, I forget that sometimes. I give my all to everything I do, and that's honestly where I get stressed out sometimes. I've said it a million times before, and I will say it a million times more - my weakness is that I care too much. I care about Immortal Music too much, I care about Remedy X too much, and I care about my job too much as well. I'm at a point in my life where I am facing the realities of it all. The "Am I going to make it" question keeps popping to mind and it scares me sometimes. To quote All Time Low, "I'm so sick of watching as the minutes pass as I go no where. And this is my reaction to everything I fear." Maybe this is 'panic mode' but my first thought was if I advance in my job, I might stand a chance of gaining some independence. And I keep being told "Oh, you'll find a balance and make it all work." That's probably true, but for now, I'm not sure how that's going to work, so I have to play around with some things and figure that out. I am going to look into moving up in my job, even if its just asking for more details and seeing if its seriously something I am capable of. If I'm not, well, then all this was for nothing. Which is okay, at least I can say I tried, right? But my friend pointed something out to me, when I explained to him why I first started this in the first place. If its becoming a job, not a fun outlet anymore -is there a point? I had that thought not long ago, as I was finding myself stressed out a bit because I hadn't gotten a chance to post something. I feel like people count on me to post content -but do they really? Does anyone really notice if I don't post something every day? Or every week? Or if they do notice -do they even care? Or is this pressure all in my head? My argument was, "But people pay attention and in order to stay relevant and keep getting new opportunities like interviews, I have to keep posting frequently." I felt a schedule was the best way to do that, and it would be -if I could allow all my time to go to Immortal Music. Once upon a time, I could, because I had all the free time in the world. Now? That's not the case. Yes, I am making time, but if I am scheduling my content -is it going to be as geniune as it would be if I just randomly started writing and got in the zone? He had a point, and I was reminded of the few times people have encouraged me to show my fan side of things. I don't do that very often because I try to be "professional", but when I come out of my little imaginary world where Immortal Music is this big deal that's on its way to being a magazine or an App at least, I see the truth. I am not a professional -I am a fan of the music, who happens to really like writing about music. And people like reading it -which is wonderful! I think I've put a lot of pressure on myself to get better, to grow, to be a professional. Professionalism comes with time, and frankly, is it needed? What's wrong with talking openly and honestly without trying to make myself sound better? People seem to enjoy it. So, I am going to try something. Fuck the schedule I told people about, and fuck this professionalism thing. Someone feel free to hold me to this too -I am going to post when I feel I can, and what I want. I will still take requests for things, and suggestions are always welcome but I do need to bring the fun back into it. I feel a burn out fast approaching and I don't want that. The fact that I was able to spit out the words "give up Immortal Music" earlier without bursting into tears kind of scares me. This might be just another music website to some, but to me, its important. With that, comes the importance of the content of good quality and my own sanity. He reminded me that you can do a ton of things without going crazy, and you don't have to be "all or nothing." I need to remind myself of that, because if I keep trying to go with all or nothing, something seriously is going to break. I don't want that thing to be me! Because if that happens, things will never be the same and everything will suffer because of it. Something's gotta give. Hopefully people understand. Also, this means there may be more 'just for fun' things posted on the page because I geniunely do enjoy just posting for the hell of it. Photos, lyrics, whatever. I enjoy it and many of you do too. I'm not sure why I ever stopped really, but I did. There's still going to be content here on the website too, but who knows how often it'll be. At this point in time, a schedule is too ambitious. That's my problem -I get far too ahead of myself. Now that I have rambled on, I am going to go now. Let's see how things play out, and I hope you guys understand. Recently, we have been taking to Twitter for promotion a lot because the responses on there tend to be fairly good ones. This morning, when we went to post a news article we had just written, a trending topic caught our attention. It was '#LesserKnownArtists' and of course, we had to jump on that. After two statuses though of lesser known bands, we decided that it made more sense to just make a full list! 160 characters is just not enough when you know a ton of lesser known bands. This list is in no real order, just in the order they came to mind or were found. If you are curious about any of the bands on this list, feel free to look them up or contact us for more information.
The bands on this list came from all sorts of places and were discovered via YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, suggestions, local shows, and more! They span all sorts of genres as well, and many were named as some of the most underrated bands of 2014 for the 2014 Immortal Music Awards. Hopefully none were accidentally repeated, but if they were, we apologize and hope you just over look the minor mistake. Warning: This is a very, very long list. You may discover a lot of great talent that you never knew existed just by reading this list and getting curious. Remedy X, Sunshine And Bullets, Nine Mile Drive, Before The Fire, Love In War, Fathom, Shot Glass Serenade, I Woke Up Early For My Funeral, Surface The Sun, Everything I Am, Black Jacket, SoulSwitch, Sons Of Reverly, The Defiant, An Honest Year, High & Mighty, Dreamer/ Deceiver, Depswa, Avion Roe, One Less Reason, Mine All Mine, Malaya, Mighty Mongo, Mindset Evolution, The Material, The Make, Lower Lands, Losing Cadance, Islander, Ingram Hill, Kyng, Its Alive, Jackson Harris, Patty Walters (As It Is' singer. He has done his own thing via YouTube for quite some time now), Four Letter Lie, Follow Your Hero, Elisium, Emma Blackery, Emphatic, EkoTren, Earshot, Drive A, Deepfield, Deep Insight, Dear Whoever, Cinema Bizarre, Cherry Wallis, Change Of Pace, Cavo, Blacktop Mourning, Black Sunshine, Arson City, Amely, Amongst The Ruin, Within Reason, The Veer Union, Us From Outside, Under The Flood, Three Years Hollow, That's Outrageous!, System Overload, Stellar Kart, Spill Canvas, Scars Of Life, Scarlet Heroes, Picture Me Broken, Phone Calls From Home, Papercut Massacre, New Medicine, Maycomb, Kids In Glass Houses, Jocelyn, Heart-A-Tack, iRival, Foot Pound Force, Dreamer/ Deciever, Amongst Theives, Just Like Theives, In Archives, Of Course Not, Mohan, Call In Artillery, Aveth, Gorrila Pulp, Legato The MC, Shout London, Blowsight, The Resolution, From The Depths, Forty Four Hours, A Tragedy At Hand, Sans Meridian, Stop Drop Robot, Liberty Deep Down, Thirteen, Awaken The Empire, Eye Of The Destroyer, Far Away Stables, Methane, A Reason To Breathe, Down To Friend, Kissing Candace, After Your Betrayal, Cold Snap, Crossroad Rebels, From Ashes to New, From The Abyss, Shot Dead Sunday, Days Of Jupiter, Mike Valdes, Seventh Sin, Ghost Season, Forever & Out, Leaving Haven, Palaye Royale, Stud, The Everscathed, Key Clef Crew, The Gravity Guild, Spitanger, Raising The Veil, Food Fight, Stealing Eden, Chasing Horizons, Felicity, Aramantus, Ryan Aderrey, Defallen Prophecy, Danger! Earthquake!, Vultra, Throw The Fight, Monk, Cross Eyed Chicks, The Ghost Umbrellas, Medusa My Love, What The Wolfs, The Bliss Trip, InSolace, Darker It Gets, Kelly Lynn Barber, iDevice, Emante, Choirs, Nasty Toaster, Jimmilips, Cast Out Of Eden, Radio Drive, Scimitar, HatefulBones, From The Depths, Rebel Collective, Fault, In Solace, Armed To The Teeth, Vegas Death Rays, Etched In Stone, Travel Amygdala, Landmarks, The Remembered, Fallen Resonance, In Thousand Lakes, Mirrored Intentions, Draw Your Guns, World War Me, Live My Last, Blitz Kids, Revocation, Skeletonwitch, Starset, Megosh, Funeral For A Friend, Lazarus Syndrome, July For Kings, Crucifed By Us, Messenger Down, City Of Homes, Manchester Orchestra, Scarlet, The Paramedic, Death Audio, Dark New Day, Any Given Day, Twiztid, iMayday!, Hoodie Allen, Prozak, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, Murs, Jellyroll, Steam Powered Giraffe, Hammock, Caelestis, Simon Says Die, Chasing The Riots, Aramantus, Danger! Earthquake!, Minutes Til Midnight, Immortal Guardian, The Prophets Of Addiction, Snake City Playboys, Neverworld, All Seeing Eyes, Aska, Primitive Man, Tarby, The Killing Toke,In Her Dying Memory, Silent Planet, Oomph!, Rebuild And Rebound, Punishment to the Guilty, Bunt, Godfrey Turner, Overdrive, Gnome Invasion, The Wilde, Lecherous Nocturne, We Are The Emergency, 55 Escape, Dead Poetic, Follow my lead , Beyond the line and Elements, Watcher's Eye, Found On Firefox, Temposhark, Imogen Heap, K's Choice, Waking the cadaver, Gnome Invasion, City Of Homes, Everose, Silverside,Aeon, Ionia, Firestarter, Stealing Eden, The End At The Beginning, To Trust A Liar, Us Ghosts,The Sweet Escape, Forever In Combat, Not Tonight Joesphine....AND MORE. Know of a band that is lesser known but great that didn't make it to this list? Let us know! All bands deserve the love, so spread it! They'll appreciate it a lot, and who knows? You may in the process be introducing someone to their new favorite band. In our modern world, sexuality is a very hot topic, right? People make such a big deal out of it, and everyone has to have everything figured out about themselves. Why? As we said in a blog the other day -that's only part of you, not all of you. Who we are is made up of a million different factors. Interests, intelligence, sexuality, personality traits like mannerisms, out looks, mental illnesses, ect. Everything is just a factor, and life can alter these traits too. Sometime's that can be controlled, other times it can't.
We're losing track of where we were going with this -let's get back on track. The other day, on a Facebook page called Have A Gay Day, a new term came to our attention. 'Aromantic.' We automatically assumed it was like the term 'asexual', which means you don't really have a sex drive, and don't really feel a need for it in your life. A quick Google search proved that we were right! Its just like that only you may have the sex drive, but you have little to no drive for romantic relationships. This was a bit of a revelation for Immortal Music, because our creator feels like she may possibly identify with this. She's never really been into dating, though she used to try. As the years passed, she stopped even wanting a 'boyfriend.' She has had really good friends, who happen to be of the male variety, and has had things she has called 'friends with benefits.' In all honest, those have been relationships with no title, and that is what she has felt comfortable with. Family members of her, just chalked it up to surroundings and not wishing to get hurt. For years, she has talked about having this 'wall' up, and has only heard a few others speak of this wall. She finally decided to try to break down this wall in January, and near the end of the month heard a song that perfectly described that. "Skeletons" by Papa Roach. "Brick by brick, I built this wall. I shut you out to break the fall. I will shed my sins -we all have our skeletons." Those lyrics spoke volumes to her and have stuck with her since the very first time she heard the song. Even when the term 'aromantic' came to mind, it stuck and has gotten her thinking. While sexuality is slightly over rated, its fascinating all at once. There's so many things people can be, and it goes way beyond the main sexualities people think of. All people tend to think of is straight, bisexual, or gay. Others are now coming to the surface, like pansexual, but there's a bunch of others too. With that, also are a bunch of different genders, though the two are not fully connected. There's the obvious male and female, but gender isn't really what's between your legs -its what you feel you are. Which is why some people are trans, gender queer, gender fluid, ect. Which is why I say this; if you want to figure out what you are -cool. If not, that's cool too! You are what you are and if you wish to fully identify and label it all, by all means, go for it. If not, that's cool too. If pressed to give a label for herself, the creator of Immortal Music, she would say she's a bicurious aromantic. But that's just what she says today! Tomorrow, who knows. These things don't always change, but they sometimes do as well. We are what we are -and while it matters, it doesn't matter that we define every part of who we are to the world. If you want to, by all means go for it, but if not -don't feel pressured to. You're still you, title or not. It can be an adventure to try to learn everything about yourself, but maybe you don't want to. After all -you can't drown your demons, they know how to swim. Its all up to you, remember that. So go on that journey of self discovery if you wish to, and if you don't wish to, then sit tight just knowing you are you and that's the important part. This whole thing seemed a bit random, we admit, but we felt like talking about it. Warning: This is a rant about society's screwed up views on clothing and gender roles regarding them. Things along those lines, so if you're offended by such things, don't even read this. Okay, the disclaimer is out of the way. Read on if you would like.
Clothing is a big part of life, and some people take their clothing very seriously. Others, do not. Some, much like myself tend to go with what is comfortable but suits them. Others go for vanity over comfort -all is fine! Do what makes you happy, and feel comfortable, not what others think. Speaking of, people judge others just based off of how they are dressed far too easily. Why? The way you choose to dress has nothing to do with your other preferences. Its simply your clothing preference. Something big people seem to judge based off nothing but what you are wearing on your person is sexuality. Frankly, that is a stupid way to judge sexuality. Its simply something to cover your person! If a guy dresses 'feminine' in any ways, like tight shirts and shorts, bright colors, ect, they automatically assume he's gay. If a girl wears an outfit that is usually for 'guys', they assume she's a lesbian. That makes no sense! Maybe they just happened to feel more comfortable that way, or just happened to throw on that outfit that day without ever giving it much thought. Clothes should be unisex -period. If your body will fit into an article of clothing, and you like it -wear it. Assumptions are always going to be made, that's a given, but you can stop yourself from being quick to judge. If everyone would stop and silently correct themselves before passing any form of judgment, the world would change. Then there's the matter of people assuming your sexuality based off anything really. There's only two sure ways to flat out tell someone's sexuality (which is none of your business in the first place, unless it directly involves you), and those ways are 1) If they tell you. 2) You see them being very affectionate toward someone of the same or opposite sex. By that we mean, if you see a guy and a girl kissing, or two guys, or two girls, you can safely narrow down a few things. However, you don't know them or their life, so you still can't be positive. Also, has anyone else ever gotten the feeling that the world these days makes far too big of a deal out of sexuality? Its part of you, not all of you. Same goes with style, and flaws, and interests -everything. They're just factors in who you are -but are not all of you. Yesterday, we posted about our favorite songs and explained that they were in no order, and spoke to me on some personal level. Today, some of the favorite lyrics will be highlighted. There is no top favorite lyric for this one though, just a ton of favorites. So, that makes it fairly clear that there is no order to this list whatsoever.
Its time to stop talking, let's get into the lyrics list.
There's definitely more that were forgotten for this list, but these are several of the favorites. All for different reasons, but all wonderful. Let me know what your favorite lyric is here, or over on Facebook and Twitter and what you think of this list! Catch you later. If you look hard enough, there is a list of many favorites from the creator of Immortal Music on this website. However, the list is always subject to change, and there's been some new ones that haven't been actually added to the list. Not to mention, a person's favorite songs can tell you a lot about them, so I thought it would be fun to list my favorite songs. If you're interested, read on -if you're not, well, you probably didn't even click on this. Without further ado, let's begin.
None of these are really explained, because it is just best to assume that they speak to me on some personal level. I also feel compelled to mention that this list is in no particular order. This is just the order that they came to mind. Also, there's definitely more that did not make this current list. 1. Scars by Papa Roach 2. Skeletons by Papa Roach 3. Stay Awake by All Time Low 4. All I Want by A Day To Remember 5. All Signs Point To Lauderdale by A Day To Remember 6. Sometimes You're The Hammer, Sometimes You're The Nail by A Day To Remember 7. Life Starts Now by Three Days Grace 8. Legacy by Memphis May Fire 9. Break by Three Days Grace 10. Hold on by the Jonas Brothers 11. Alive by Adelita's Way 12. Best I can by Art Of Dying 13. Breathe Again by Art Of Dying 14. Let It Go by Idina Menzel 15. Until The End -by Adam Gontier 16. Unity by Shinedown 17. Broken As Me by Papa Roach 18. I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace 19. Weightless by All Time Low 20. Somewhere In Neverland by All Time Low Scars by Papa Roach has been the number one favorite for several years now because its true, my weakness is that I care too much, and our scars remind us that the past is real, not something we just made up. A lot of people forget the fact that not all scars are pyschical, and just about everything shapes our lives. Most of my favorites are inspiring or enpowering in some way. However, a couple on that list are neither inspiring or empowering. "I Hate Everything About You" by Three Days Grace is the most realistic love song there is and it makes me think of my best friend, because after the second time we saw Three Days Grace live we started quoting it to each other nearly every time we see each other. At that show, we were screaming the lyrics basically in each others ears, and it just stuck. Then there's "Skeletons" by Papa Roach. That's a newer song, but from the moment I heard the opening line of the chorus, my jaw about hit the floor. I have said for a very long time that I had this 'wall' up, and was shutting people out in a romantic sense. We've always chalked it up to not wanting to get hurt, and being too cynical for love, but there may be other reasons as well. At some point, we'll explain, but this song perfectly defined me. "Brick by brick, I built this wall. I shut you out to break the fall. I will shed my sins, we all have our skeletons. One by one, we cast our stones. Flesh and blood, and broken bones. I will shed my sins, we all have our skeletons." At the moment when I heard this, I was trying to break down the metaphoric wall, that only I had really ever spoken of before. This song was one of those songs that perfectly said what you were feeling, at just the right time. If I had to choose the top five all together though, they would be as follows; 1. Scars -Papa Roach 2. Weightless -All Time Low 3. All I Want -A Day To Remember 4. Skeletons -Papa Roach 5. Unity -Shinedown Just like the other list, the order for these is almost always subject to change. I cannot even say if that is the proper order for them, but that's how they got written out for today. What are your favorite songs? Let me know in the comments, or over on Facebook and Twitter and be sure to come back tomorrow to hear some of my favorite lyrics. |
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January 2022
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