The Ashtray Heart - Spotify

There is an entire playlist on my Spotify that's dedicated to the mood/tone of The Ashtray Heart.

I'm really into indie music because there's no specific genre ou can label them. To me, indie music is geared toward the openminded, not that there's anything wrong with sticking with one genre of music, but you're missing out on a lot of talent. Indie music lovers are usually the hipsters, the ones who figure out that the band/musician/artist is actually amazing before they go mainstream. I'll give you an example.

I used to love Maroon5. Their album Songs About Jane was and still is a classic. They created their own unique style, distinguished by Adam Levine's voice. But the last few years have been geared toward bad synth and pop. It's catchy, but not substantial to me. And then Levine started stretching his talents by acting and starring in a reality game show. -_-

The Ashtray Heart is a mix of independent music, instrumental genius and lyrical rock. To help me write, I traditionally listen to songs that make me feel or remember certain feelings. It's a lot of stuff I already am familiar with, but my music mind palace is incredibly extensive so I have a lot to pick from. But of course, I love exploring more music, although that takes a lot of time and patience, which I have a short supply of due to school and work.

The overall mood/tone/feeling I wanted to get from Ashtray is a big answer because it is a plethora of emotions all wrapped into one story. It can be classified as creepy, dramatic, heartfelt, sad, depressing, heart-wrenching, etc. If I had to put it in one word, it'd be: hopeless. There are moments where it is hopeful and happy but those are immediately stripped from the reader/viewer as they continue with the story. Sorry.

Here's a list of the artists I've used so far to listen to that have corresponded with the tone I wanted to achieve in Ashtray:

Jimmy Eat World

Blue October

Cranes & Crows

Radical Face

The Weepies

Down Like Silver

Dustin O'Halloran

Daft Punk

James Newton Howard

Rocky Votolato

Woodid

Green Day

Joel P. West

Dry the River

Seryn

U.S.Royalty

Muse

The xx

Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Otis Redding

The Avett Brothers

Linkin Park

Debussy

Placebo

My Chemical Romance

Velveteen

Other Lives

Lindsey Stirling

Lights

Nancy Wilson

Jane Jane POllock

Owl City

Mozart

Ivan & Alyosha

Regina Spektor

To Humans

Blind Pilot

Bryan John Appleby

The Milk Caton Kids

Wool on Wolves

Calhoun

Nat & Alex Wolff

Bjork

Big list. I know. So, the next post will be the highlights of this playlist in case you don't have Spotify and I'll give some background as to why I chose these songs.