Wisdom's a gift, but you'd trade it for youth | 11/26 playlist

I'm going to start a new thing by titling all of my blog posts with a lyric from a song. This week: "Step" by Vampire Weekend off of Modern Vampires Of The City. Brilliant record, by the way.

This week my playlist during my DJ shift was a lot longer than it's been, so I was super excited about that. View it below and listen to it on Spotify here.

• "Down by the River" - Milky Chance
• "Left Hand Free" - alt-J
• "The Exit" - Lydia
• "Tightrope" - Walk the Moon
• "Blackbird Smile" - Nightmare and the Cat
• "At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)" - fun.
• "Wide Plains" - Diners
• "High" - Young Rising Sons
• "You’re My Best Friend" - Queen
• "Riptide" - Vance Joy
• "Identify" - The Maine
• "Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)" - Foster The People
• "Sleepwalking" - The Chain Gang of 1974
• "Birthday Girl" - The Roots feat. Patrick Stump
• "Cecilia and the Satellite" - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
• "Holiday" - Vampire Weekend

I'm still somehow stuffed from Thanksgiving and very exhausted from my 11 hour Black Friday shift at work. Never. Again. The only positive was that this paycheck is going towards my very first DSLR camera, which I will be using heavily next semester and hopefully shooting the Pot of Gold Festival here in March. I'm super stoked to be going on Friday (very excited to see Bleachers and Chromeo out of everyone on the lineup) and Sunday (Fall Out Boy, New Politics, Milky Chance, Echosmith, and loads more).  Hopefully I can make it to Saturday (just to catch Hoodie Allen's set, though), but we'll see. 

Fall Out Boy and New Politics will both be playing new music from their new albums (Fall Out Boy's American Beauty/American Psycho comes out in January & New Politics' Vikings comes out in February, both released on DCD2 Records), which I am beyond thrilled about.

Future Sunsets have a brand new single coming out tomorrow, titled "Believe," and just like you, I'm super excited to finally hear all of the new music these dudes have been writing and recording. If you live in the Los Angeles area, catch their last show of 2014 opening for Alex G at The Mint. Tickets are available here!

My last DJ shift of the semester is next week, Wednesday at 1 PM. I'm going to try and make it a special one, so don't miss out. I'll keep everyone posted on my new day and time when I'm given that next semester.

This coming week on COTMA, I will be reviewing two albums coming out: Hollywood Ending's PUNK A$$ KIDS EP and the debut McBusted album. Keep a look out for those over here.

For the first time in over 10 years I went ice skating on Tuesday night, and I pretended I was Harry Styles's date in the new One Direction video, so I leave you with that (FOUR is an outstanding album by the way, I'm not just saying that as a 1D fan, either).

Last blog post regarding my DJ shifts is coming next week, so until next time!

My week in concerts + 11/19 playlist

Wow, what a crazy week it's been.  And it's only Thursday.

Between three of four concerts successfully completed, I'm already pooped, but it's been such a fun time. Sunday I saw Magic Man (finally!) and Smallpools, their opener was Panama Wedding, who I had heard of thanks to Darren Criss (cue terrible laugh track). Magic Man were incredible, as I expected, and I had the opportunity to meet Alex Caplow afterwards, who was just as sweet as you could ever imagine. MM had even covered Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle", and I adore when bands cover songs & still sound like their usual sound. I only knew three Smallpools songs during their set, but I had fun and was still able to bob my head to the eight songs I didn't know.

A photo posted by Deanna Romani (@deannaroma) on Nov 11, 2014 at 8:38pm PST

Monday afternoon, David & Jose of Future Sunsets, who happen to be really solid friends of mine, came into The Blaze studio for an interview to promote their current tour and their debut single. Seeing two talented people talk about what they're most passionate about is really refreshing and reminds me that I'm in the right field. Their show was super intimate and chill (it was a house show after all), then we hung out at a Buffalo Wild Wings after, daring each other to eat a terrifyingly hot hot sauce and talking about music. Does that count as an after party or?

A photo posted by Deanna Romani (@deannaroma) on Nov 11, 2014 at 9:51pm PST

Wednesday I had my DJ shift, one of my last of this semester, but what I played and talked about could be one of my favorite playlists of this semester. Listen to a sample of my playlist this week here.

• "Killer Whales" - Smallpools
• "Beware the Dog" - The Griswolds
• "At Home" - Dear Jerome
• "Take a Walk" - Passion Pit
• "Hollywood BLVD" - Neon Tiger
• "Look At Me Now (cover)" - Karmin
• "Interlude" - Northern Hustle
• "Wild Heart" - Bleachers
• "About A Girl" - Nirvana
• "Holding On To You" - twenty one pilots
• "Talk to Talk" - This Century
• "The Middle" - Jimmy Eat World
• "Waves" - Magic Man

Wednesday evening rolled around, and I had tickets to see The Ready Set and Metro Station at Joe's Grotto. I arrived 45 minutes after doors opened, thinking that the show wouldn't start until 7, but The Downtown Fiction had already hit the stage and I only caught three of their songs. But, I was there for "I Just Wanna Run", a personal jam of mine. After they got off stage, Cameron hung out by merch so I went and talked to him for a bit, and he was super sweet, so we chatted for a bit before I went to find a spot in the crowd for the next opener. Next was Against The Current, and I knew a few songs but had only found out about them from David & Jose (King The Kid was support on ATC's tour this summer, that was also KTK's last U.S. tour as KTK), but Chrissy's energy was so high and she was bouncing all around the stage. After ATC ended, Chrissy tweeted that she was going to meet people later, but I was about four or five people back, so I didn't want to lose my spot. They started setting up for Metro Station, and yeah, I used to jam out to "Shake It" back in the day, but I wouldn't call myself a Metro Station fan (I was mainly there to see The Ready Set). Metro Station came out, and I had never been genuinely terrified of a band before. 75% of the crowd was made up of Metro Station fans, but it was really just pop rock music, so no mosh pits or anything crazy (although, I wouldn't have been shocked if one started somehow). Jordan from The Ready Set came out during one of Metro's last songs and that's when I started getting into it and Chrissy came out to perform "Shake It" before their set ended.

After Metro Station, the 75% of the crowd that only came for them left, and I ended up being second row for The Ready Set. I used to jam out to "Love Like Woe" and listened to every band signed to Decaydance Records back in middle school, so I was really stoked to finally see Jordan perform live. He had inflatable kittens onstage (which were actually adorable) and his stage set up was kind of poking fun at the fact that everyone thinks he's Asian (he's not), so that was really funny. He opened the set with "Higher" and stood on platforms and constantly jumped up and down off of his drummer's platform. His drummer even busted his kick drum head, so Jordan had to improvise and attempted stand up (it failed) so he introduced his band and crew instead (that did not fail). He danced and sang his heart out and honestly, I didn't think I was going to enjoy it as much as I did.

A photo posted by Deanna Romani (@deannaroma) on Nov 11, 2014 at 9:32pm PST

After his last song ended, the crowd dispersed and everyone headed over to the merch tables. The bands were all hanging out, and I noticed Chrissy standing by herself towards the back, so I went and tapped her on the shoulder to talk to her. Her face lit up when I said I was friends with David & Jose and she asked how they were and what they were up to; it was one of the cutest things ever. We took a picture together and she hugged me, thanked me for coming, and I got in line to meet Jordan. When I got up to him, he hugged me and signed my CD, asking what I thought of the show. I had asked him to film a hello video for my friend, which he was more than happy to, and then we took a photo together. He thanked me for coming and I said my last goodbyes before leaving to get my usual post-concert In-N-Out fries.

Now Saturday is The 1975, and I got a wristband to meet them at a record store before their show at Comerica Theatre, one of my favorite venues in Phoenix. That show is going to be insane, but I get to see a lot of my friends I haven't seen in a while, so that's what I'm looking forward to the most.

Don't forget to tune in for my second to last show of the semester next week, right before Thanksgiving break, Wednesday from 1-2 PM only on The Blaze 1330 AM!

So much music, so little time + 11/12 playlist

It's almost the end of the semester, which means I only have 3 DJ shifts left, until January anyway. I registered for my classes for next semester, and my DJ shift is probably going to change, but I'm going to stick to Wednesdays. If you missed my set today, it's below and on 8tracks as always.

• "No Shows" - Gerard Way
• "I Wanna Get Better" - Bleachers
• "Fillmore" - Instructions
• "Dreaming" - Smallpools
• "Hello Hipster" - decoded.
• "1983" - Neon Trees
• "Swimming Pool Blues" - Miniature Tigers
• "Cigarette Daydreams" - Cage The Elephant
• "Here Comes The Sun" - The Beatles
• "Take Me To Church" - Hozier
• "Run" - The Maine
• "Pumpin Blood" - NONONO
• "Giving Up The Gun" - Vampire Weekend

I'm really excited for next semester, registering for classes was like Christmas morning (and I had to wake up at 5:45 this morning to register, so it was exactly like Christmas morning).

Now in my favorite music news...

I'll start off with the Future Sunsets guys, because they're finally making their way west next week and stopping by Phoenix to say hi! I haven't seen them since February, but I do keep in contact thanks to email, Facebook, Twitter, and working for them helps. Their "Steal My Girl" cover dropped yesterday, and I'm a sucker for a good ukelele in song. They'll be dropping by The Blaze studio next week on Monday, so tune in during the 3 PM hour (Arizona time) for an exclusive interview before their house show in Surprise. Tickets for the show are available in the description link of the video below:



Marina and The Diamonds finally announced the release date of her third studio album, FROOT, out April of next year. I've been waiting for new Marina music for two years, and although I'll miss Electra Heart, the concept of this album is so visually appealing. Between now and April, she's dropping the "Froot of the Month", her way of releasing half of the album leading up to release. The first "froot" is the title track of the album, which was released on her birthday last month. If you preorder a physical copy from her web store or on iTunes, you'll get the "Froot of the Month" downloaded to your email or iTunes account automatically.



British supergroup McBusted (McFly + Busted) released their first single together as a band, after being together for a little over a year. The two toured together this past summer and played all of their hits on one stage, but they had never recorded songs together as McBusted. With their first album as McBusted coming out in December, they released the first single off of it, titled "Air Guitar", and the guitar riffs have been stuck in my head for a week straight. With a single as solid as this, I hope the album makes it high on the charts.



New Politics, who I saw open for Fall Out Boy and Paramore over the summer on Monumentour, released their much-anticipated music video for the single "Everywhere I Go (Kings and Queens)" off of their third studio album, Vikings, slated for release for sometime in February. They'll be performing at the Pot of Gold Music Festival on the Sunday date on the main stage, which I was super excited about when I saw their name on the lineup. The music video is just as weird as they are, and I love it. If I could head bang to one song for the rest of my life, it would probably be this one.



Last but not least, Bleachers performed their latest single, "Rollercoaster", on Conan last week, which was overshadowed by Fall Out Boy performing "Immortals" on Kimmel, but the performance below is the cutest performance I've ever seen. "Rollercoaster" is one of the songs that popped to me on Strange Desire and adding the little mini-mes into the performance is the cutest thing I've ever seen. They're also playing the Pot of Gold Festival on the Friday date on the main stage. Jack kept saying that they weren't going to forget to play Arizona and the fact that they're playing the biggest festival to ever hit Arizona makes me really happy.



I think that's it for this blog post. Check out my artist to watch article on LOLO, one of the fresh faces signed to DCD2 Records earlier this year, on COTMA here.

Stay street, see you next week!

Big Hero 6, Future Sunsets & 11/5 playlist

I've waited for what it seems like centuries to write a blog post, and here we are. 

Last week I had the opportunity to see Panic! At The Disco perform their last show of the calendar year and I was lucky enough to review the show for COTMA, the official music blog of The Blaze. Give it a read and find out about all of the shenanigans that occurred here.

On Halloween, the Future Sunsets guys dropped a cover of 5 Seconds Of Summer's "Amnesia". I'm not too big on 5SOS, but this cover is proof that you can make music anywhere, including a motel room. If you liked the cover, there's download links in the description bar of the video!

I'm starting to think a news class coming in during my shifts is a regular thing. My average amount of songs played throughout my shift went from 15-16 to 12-13. Here's today's 13 songs, complete with a handy dandy 8tracks playlist in case you missed it or want to listen to it again. 

• "Cecelia and the Satellite" - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
• "Ode To Sleep" - twenty one pilots
• "Take What You Can Carry" - The Maine
• "Boyfriend" - Best Coast
• "Alvarado" - Nightmare and the Cat
• "Shampain" - Marina and The Diamonds
• "Talk to Talk" - This Century
• "Cheap Thrills" - Junior Prom
• "Girlfriend in a Coma" - The Smiths
• "Undercover Martyn" - Two Door Cinema Club
• "Elise" - YesNoMaybe
• "Cut It Out" - Kitten
• "Zero Zero" - Gerard Way

You don't know how happy it makes me that Gerard Way is on the station now. Holy smokes. His new record, Hesitant Alien, is killer and if you haven't listened to it, you should. It's one of the best that has come out this year, in my opinion.  

Another record that recently came out that's pretty killer is White Noise by Pvris. They're currently on tour with Tonight Alive, which I think is a sort of odd mix, but yay for female fronted bands.

I'm closing off this blog post with Fall Out Boy's performance from Jimmy Kimmel this week. Big Hero 6 comes out Friday, and this song is the lead song off of the soundtrack, so why not? I love the lyric change in the first verse and Patrick's vocals sound the best they've sounded in a live TV performance, in my opinion. Check it out:

Panic! in Phoenix and some "Punk Ass Kids" + 10/22 playlist

Long time no see.

Today was my first DJ shift in two weeks (last week I found out an hour before going in that I got cancelled, but I had homework to do, so it was all good) and it went pretty swimmingly.

There's been a news radio class who's been coming in halfway through my shifts to do reports, and that's all cool, but sometimes it kills my vibes. Listen to the playlist on 8tracks here if you missed out! Here's what I was able to play today:

• "Wild Heart" - Bleachers
• "The Wire" - HAIM
• "Rude Boy" - Diners
• "Sweet Disposition" - The Temper Trap
• "Luv, Hold Me Down" - DROWNERS
• "I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" - Black Kids
• "Run" - The Maine
• "Shut Up and Dance" - Walk the Moon
• "Back in Black" - AC/DC
• "California English" - Vampire Weekend
• "Ghosts" - Northern Hustle
• "Do I Wanna Know?" - Arctic Monkeys
• "Hollywood" - Marina and the Diamonds

I had no idea that we had Marina on the station, so I was so happy when the news update class was in there and I was scrolling through songs and I saw her. Speaking of Marina, I'm so stoked to hear the entirety of Froot, because the title track is so good. 2015 is going to be such a good year for music.

A week from today I will not be broadcasted because I'm attending the Yahoo! On The Road concert. Panic! At The Disco is the headliner in Phoenix, and they're only playing Phoenix, which makes up for skipping us on The Gospel Tour over the summer. I can't wait to see one of my favorite bands with some of my best friends and make new ones while waiting in line. That review will be up next Friday on COTMA Sounds, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Check out my article about DROWNERS live at Pub Rock two weeks ago here.

My boys in Hollywood Ending announced yesterday that they're finally putting out new music in the form of another EP, their second this year. The Anywhere EP was so good and after hearing a bit of what they have in store for the Punk Ass Kids EP (I heard "Punk Ass Kids" live on the Live Forever Tour and watched live videos of "Zero Gravity" from their east coast Turn Up Tour), I'm so excited for the edgier/rockier Hollywood Ending to finally come out. I'll be reviewing that for COTMA as well, but we'll have to wait until the EP comes out on November 30.

On that note, I'm bringing this blog post to a close. Life's been pretty crazy between school and work and everything in between, but I'm making it work. I've been living off of iced passion tea from Starbucks and grilled chicken from the dining hall. College life.

I'll leave you with a video I found that I saw at a student government conference back in high school. It features Tyler Joseph from twenty one pilots doing what he does best: spoken word. I rediscovered the video this week and it's been stuck in my brain ever since.

Stay street, my friends. I'll see y'all in 2 weeks.

Rainy days and good vibes: 10/8 playlist

Hello friends. Today it rained, and if you know me at all, I hate the rain. That didn't affect my playlist though, what really did was the news radio class who came in and cut my set a tad bit short. Here's what was played today during the 1:00 hour on The Blaze:

• "Simple" - Nightmare and the Cat
• "Cousins" - Vampire Weekend
• "Reality" - Never Let This Go
• "Holding On To You" - twenty one pilots
• "Long Division" - Death Cab For Cutie
• "Trouble" - Banana Gun
• "Rollercoaster" - Bleachers
• "Walk This Way" - Aerosmith
• "Even Better Yet" - The Format
• "Intro" - Northern Hustle
• "Beware The Dog" - The Griswolds
• "Boyfriend" - Best Coast

Missed it? Listen on 8tracks here. Tune in next week after fall break to hear more of my favorites and a way longer set! As always, listen live Wednesdays from 1-2 PM on blazeradioonline.com.

Future Sunsets + 9/24 & 10/1 playlists

Long time, no see, huh? I've been sick the past week or so, but I'm back.  My voice has yet to come home in full but for now, it'll do.

If you haven't heard, I'm officially my pals Future Sunsets' publicist, so that's pretty rad. Stream their debut single "Without Your Love" here on Spotify if you haven't already (also, spend the 99 cents and go grab it on iTunes here!). They also just put out a cover of Clean Bandit's "Rather Be", which you can watch the video for here and check out the download links in the description box of the video. They'll be in the studio (hopefully/probably) next month, so details for that will be coming out very soon.

Here was my playlist from 9/24, which my mom didn't like, but that doesn't mean that I didn't. Listen to this mix on 8tracks here.

• "Fools Gold" - Fitz and the Tantrums
• "Luna" - Bombay Bicycle Club
• "Mode of Creation" - Dear Jerome
• "Fluorescent Adolescent" - Arctic Monkeys
• "Stardust" - Neon Tiger
• "Tighten Up" - The Black Keys
• "Homestead" - Northern Hustle
• "Left Hand Free" - alt-J
• "Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen
• "Shake It Out" - Florence + The Machine
• "Hangout With You" - Diners
• "Luv, Hold Me Down" - DROWNERS
• "Sweater Weather" - The Neighbourhood
• "Animal" - Neon Trees
• "Anna Sun" - Walk the Moon

Here's today, 10/1, which is available to stream on 8tracks here.

• "Shut Up and Dance" - Walk the Moon
• "Days Are Gone" - HAIM
• "Good Friends" - Diners
• "The Grand Optimist" - City & Colour
• "January" - Stone Cold Fox
• "Take Me Anywhere" - Tegan & Sara
• "Take What You Can Carry" - The Maine
• "Waves" - Magic Man
• "Yellow Submarine" - The  Beatles
• "Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)" - Foster The People
• "Swimming Pool Blues" - Miniature Tigers
• "Lights" - Ellie Goulding
• "Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
• "Wait, Wait, Wait" - The Format
• "What You Know" - Two Door Cinema Club

Friday is College Radio Day, so if you're on campus, stop by the table on Taylor Mall or visit my pals in Tempe outside the MU and hang out with some of The Blaze fam.  Listen to me every Wednesday from 1 to 2 PM on The Blaze's website, KASC 1330 AM or the TuneIn app you can download onto your smartphone (where you can also stream the always great Arizona Alternative, 93.3!).