here they are:
“Bluebirds Over the Mountain” by Robert Plant and Chrissie Hynde: When two rock legends collide, what is the result?! Well, as it turns out, it appears to be a fusion of psychedelic rock and bluegrass music. While that might sound like a strange combination, the Led Zeppelin frontman and Pretenders frontwoman manage to make it work here! “Bluebirds Over the Mountain” comes off like a slightly trippier version of the songs Plant did with country musician Alison Krauss back in 2007. Like much of Plant’s later material, there’s something mysterious and enchanting about “Bluebirds Over the Mountain”, particularly its folksy chorus of “Bluebirds over the mountain, seagulls over the sea. Bluebirds over the mountain, bring my baby to me”.
“Lottery” by Jade Bird: I feel kind of old reviewing this song, since Jade is, in fact, 10 years younger than I am! Speaking of which, age is actually a defining factor in the lyrics of her breakthrough song, “Lottery”, a rather playful and cheeky folk-rock number written in A major. The song even opens with the lyrics, “I was 19 and you were 23”, and the second verse contains lines like, “I’ll tell you about a guy I’ve been with. You ask how old he is and I laugh ‘26’. Nah, but he’s 30. How messed up is that?” When it comes down to it, though, age is just a number, and that seems to be the central point of “Lottery”. The theme of numbers also ties into the chorus when Jade says that the subject of her song used to tell her that “love is a lottery” and that he’s “got his numbers” and is “betting” on her. Finding a good song is a matter of luck. I think I’ve won the lottery with this one!
“Severed” by The Decemberists: The most heavily anticipated song of the week on the adult alt charts (and probably the regular alt charts, soon enough), “Severed” is not what you’d expect from Colin Meloy and his folk-rock entourage, primarily because the song is NOT folk-rock. The Decemberists have done slight detours from the genre before, like “O, Valencia!” and “The Perfect Crime # 2”, but at least both of those songs were guitar focused, so those both went over well with their core audience. “Severed” is not. It uses a rather dark synthesizer sound to dominate its atmosphere combined with an angular, jagged guitar in the background, slightly reminiscent of songs by groups like Joy Division. The Decemberists are known for having cynical and sometimes disturbing lyrical content in spite of their normally pleasant instrumental sound. “Severed” puts these factors at the forefront by being a brooding song both lyrically and musically!
Showing posts with label Chrissie Hynde. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chrissie Hynde. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
There will be no blog this time...
....APRIL FOOLS!! Yeah, I had to throw one in there a day late! Anyway, here is today's blog:
"Dark Sunglasses" by Chrissie Hynde: Just from the title of this song, I guessed that this song would be one of the "tougher" sounding songs of the Pretenders frontwoman's catalog. Boy, was I right! Not necessarily hard rock here, but certainly rock!! Opening with a cowbell driven percussion section, "Dark Sunglasses" is full of both attitude and mystique. This is my first taste of Chrissie minus The Pretenders, yet it still sounds like The Pretenders! It doesn't quite sound like a solo effort with its full band instrumentation keeping it together. However, it's still great to know that even into her 60's, Chrissie can still rock it, and sound as young as ever!!
"Fall In Love" by Phantogram: One woman, one man, yet tons of sound!! This is a good way to describe the New York duo known as Phantogram, whose debut song, "Fall In Love", takes electronica to new, more orchestrated heights! In fact, "Fall In Love" doesn't even open with electronic instruments, but instead with a string section. The synthesizer in the song comes in at about 30 seconds into the song. Sarah Barthels' soothing vocals contrast with the scathing lyrics of the song (i.e. "I was the reason you feel sick inside", "The lines on my face that ate away my smile", etc.) In spite of all this, "Fall In Love" still lives up to its title, and makes you want to do exactly as it says, with its sultry, seductive sound!
"Lanterns" by Birds of Tokyo: For any anime/Japanese culture fans who may be reading this, I hate to burst your bubble, but no, Birds of Tokyo aren't actually from Tokyo. They are an Australian band who named themselves after a newspaper headline that talked about the increasing endangering of birds in Tokyo. Their song "Lanterns" is a rather dreamy, wistful sounding one, set to sparkly synthesizers, tranquil vocals, and poetic sounding lyrics like, "On we march to the midnight sun, we will light our way with our lanterns on". Midnight is definitely a good time to be listening to "Lanterns", but preferably when envisioned as a still, starlit midnight, as opposed to one bustling with nightlife.
"Mr. Tembo" by Damon Albarn: Damon is one hard working British musician! He started out in the Brit-pop group, Blur (whose biggest hit, the "woo-hoo" dominated "Song 2", didn't sound a THING like most of their songs), and then went onto unlikely success as a band of wild, hip-hop/techno loving cartoon primates in The Gorillaz. A lot of his material can be described as "quirky, but edgy". His latest song, "Mr. Tembo", is certainly quirky (just look at the title of the song!) Edgy?! Not really. In fact, I'd even venture to say that it sounds like a Latin tinged version of a Raffi song! It's certainly repetitive and (insanely) catchy enough to be compared to Raffi! The subject of the song is in the chorus, about "Mr. Tembo, and what he's going to do". So who IS "Mr. Tembo"?! I haven't the slightest idea! Sure is a fun song, though!
"Take Me to Church" by Hozier: The funny thing about most successful Irish musicians is that you can't really tell they're Irish at first when you hear them sing!! Just ask Bono, or Van Morrison, both of whom have that soulful sound that fellow Irishman Hozier has now adopted with his debut song, "Take Me to Church". The "church" in the title of the song is not your grandma's church, though, make no mistake! "Take Me to Church" is not meant to sound like uplifting gospel music, but rather like a slow, aching dirge, exposing the dark side of religion and spirituality. The chorus opens with the title of the song, followed by lyrics like, "I'll worship like a dog in the shrine of your life", and "I'll tell you my sins while you sharpen your knife". Chilling words, but sometimes it can be just as enlightening to explore the dark side of life as it is to explore the light side!
"Dark Sunglasses" by Chrissie Hynde: Just from the title of this song, I guessed that this song would be one of the "tougher" sounding songs of the Pretenders frontwoman's catalog. Boy, was I right! Not necessarily hard rock here, but certainly rock!! Opening with a cowbell driven percussion section, "Dark Sunglasses" is full of both attitude and mystique. This is my first taste of Chrissie minus The Pretenders, yet it still sounds like The Pretenders! It doesn't quite sound like a solo effort with its full band instrumentation keeping it together. However, it's still great to know that even into her 60's, Chrissie can still rock it, and sound as young as ever!!
"Fall In Love" by Phantogram: One woman, one man, yet tons of sound!! This is a good way to describe the New York duo known as Phantogram, whose debut song, "Fall In Love", takes electronica to new, more orchestrated heights! In fact, "Fall In Love" doesn't even open with electronic instruments, but instead with a string section. The synthesizer in the song comes in at about 30 seconds into the song. Sarah Barthels' soothing vocals contrast with the scathing lyrics of the song (i.e. "I was the reason you feel sick inside", "The lines on my face that ate away my smile", etc.) In spite of all this, "Fall In Love" still lives up to its title, and makes you want to do exactly as it says, with its sultry, seductive sound!
"Lanterns" by Birds of Tokyo: For any anime/Japanese culture fans who may be reading this, I hate to burst your bubble, but no, Birds of Tokyo aren't actually from Tokyo. They are an Australian band who named themselves after a newspaper headline that talked about the increasing endangering of birds in Tokyo. Their song "Lanterns" is a rather dreamy, wistful sounding one, set to sparkly synthesizers, tranquil vocals, and poetic sounding lyrics like, "On we march to the midnight sun, we will light our way with our lanterns on". Midnight is definitely a good time to be listening to "Lanterns", but preferably when envisioned as a still, starlit midnight, as opposed to one bustling with nightlife.
"Mr. Tembo" by Damon Albarn: Damon is one hard working British musician! He started out in the Brit-pop group, Blur (whose biggest hit, the "woo-hoo" dominated "Song 2", didn't sound a THING like most of their songs), and then went onto unlikely success as a band of wild, hip-hop/techno loving cartoon primates in The Gorillaz. A lot of his material can be described as "quirky, but edgy". His latest song, "Mr. Tembo", is certainly quirky (just look at the title of the song!) Edgy?! Not really. In fact, I'd even venture to say that it sounds like a Latin tinged version of a Raffi song! It's certainly repetitive and (insanely) catchy enough to be compared to Raffi! The subject of the song is in the chorus, about "Mr. Tembo, and what he's going to do". So who IS "Mr. Tembo"?! I haven't the slightest idea! Sure is a fun song, though!
"Take Me to Church" by Hozier: The funny thing about most successful Irish musicians is that you can't really tell they're Irish at first when you hear them sing!! Just ask Bono, or Van Morrison, both of whom have that soulful sound that fellow Irishman Hozier has now adopted with his debut song, "Take Me to Church". The "church" in the title of the song is not your grandma's church, though, make no mistake! "Take Me to Church" is not meant to sound like uplifting gospel music, but rather like a slow, aching dirge, exposing the dark side of religion and spirituality. The chorus opens with the title of the song, followed by lyrics like, "I'll worship like a dog in the shrine of your life", and "I'll tell you my sins while you sharpen your knife". Chilling words, but sometimes it can be just as enlightening to explore the dark side of life as it is to explore the light side!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
new songs for June 23rd, 2010
four of 'em - Enjoy!
"Compliments" by Band of Horses: Though "Laredo" is still a hot item on the Adult Alt. charts, "Compliments", the second single off of BOH's "Infinite Arms" is rapidly getting attention on adult alt. stations as well. Longtime fans of BOH will probably take more of a liking to this song than "Laredo" since it goes more for a '60s pop/rock sound (a la The Beatles' "Getting Better" and Three Dog Night's "One", at least rhythmically) than "Laredo"'s John Fogerty/Neil Young-ish vibe. Lyrically, I can't tell whether it is supposed to be sincere or tongue-in-cheek, especially during the somewhat ambiguously worded lyrics in the chorus ("If there's a God up there/Someone looking over everyone, at least you've got someone to fall back on"). Apparently, many of BOH's most loyal fans seem to have taken both the lyrics and the song itself to be a vain attempt for the band to garner more radio airplay than they've previously had, though personally, I think "Laredo" already took care of that. I still wouldn't call BOH "sellouts", though. They still have good music, it's just going in a slightly different direction at the moment.
"Crossfire" by Brandon Flowers: Of all the "indie" bands out there, Brandon Flowers' band, The Killers (who aren't always viewed as "indie" due to their popularity among listeners of more "mainstream" modern rock stations), is probably the one that is most influenced by that crop of bands who tend to overlap the boundaries of musical time by being played on both classic rock and alternative rock stations (i.e. The Police, U2, The Pretenders, etc.) Flowers seems to have only gotten MORE intent on displaying these influences with each new record he makes. It's not as though this is a bad thing, necessarily (as I much prefer the U2-ish "Read My Mind" to the more Depeche Mode-ish sounds of "Somebody Told Me"), but in "Crossfire", it seems like he's trying a bit TOO hard to emulate the U2 sound. He also seems to employ the use of pseudo-philosophical lyrics whenever possible (like the chorus's "lay your body down"), in what seems like a desperate, almost fanboy-ish effort to please Bono and maybe Bruce Springsteen as well. In spite of how harsh this review might sound, though, I must admit that I LIKE this song! Flowers might not rank so high on originality in "Crossfire", but he gets an A for effort, catchiness, and accessibility.
"If You Let Me" by JP, Chrissie, and The Fairground Boys: During The Pretenders' reign of popularity, Chrissie Hynde was almost like a female Neil Young in her ways of alternating between heartfelt, bittersweet songs like "Kid", "Talk of the Town", and "2000 Miles" and tough, unapologetic rockers like "Tattooed Love Boys", "Mystery Achievement", and "Middle of the Road". These days, Chrissie seems to want to go more in between the two moods. In her latest effort, "If You Let Me", she pulls off a distinctly classic rock vibe a la The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty, just as she pulled off a decent Chuck Berry/Bo Diddley in her 2008 songs, "Boots of Chinese Plastic" and "Break Up the Concrete" with The Pretenders. While "If You Let Me" lacks the in-your-face vibe of her nearly punk-ish early days in The Pretenders, it is certainly no "Kid", "Talk of the Town", or "2000 Miles" either! It is clearly a rock and roll song, from beginning to end, complete with a catchy, memorable guitar riff. Welcome aboard the S.S. Classic Rock Renaissance of 2010, Chrissie!
"Stranger Here" by Cowboy Junkies: In spite of their name, Cowboy Junkies are not called "Cowboy Junkies" because of their love for country music. It was basically just a random name they came up with, supposedly (see also The Grateful Dead, R.E.M., and Indigo Girls, each of whom got their names by flipping through a dictionary). However, Cowboy Junkies are basically a country-rock band masquerading as an alt/indie band. Even on their debut album, they covered a Hank Williams tune, as well as a Patsy Cline song. Their latest song, "Stranger Here", is also pretty country-rock influenced, but with the past 5 or so years of adult alt. radio being dominated by indie groups, it seems as though the sound of this song is probably more commonplace than it would've been during their debut in 1988. Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley, in particular (and perhaps the whole band) would probably appreciate a song like this, since she knows from the blatantly country-rock sound of "Carpetbaggers" (which she did with Elvis Costello) what it's like to be an indie/alt act with country influences. Personally, I would have preferred Cowboy Junkies to release something more along the lines of their bittersweet, lushly orchestrated 2007 song "Brand New World", but "Stranger Here" is still a good song nonetheless.
"Compliments" by Band of Horses: Though "Laredo" is still a hot item on the Adult Alt. charts, "Compliments", the second single off of BOH's "Infinite Arms" is rapidly getting attention on adult alt. stations as well. Longtime fans of BOH will probably take more of a liking to this song than "Laredo" since it goes more for a '60s pop/rock sound (a la The Beatles' "Getting Better" and Three Dog Night's "One", at least rhythmically) than "Laredo"'s John Fogerty/Neil Young-ish vibe. Lyrically, I can't tell whether it is supposed to be sincere or tongue-in-cheek, especially during the somewhat ambiguously worded lyrics in the chorus ("If there's a God up there/Someone looking over everyone, at least you've got someone to fall back on"). Apparently, many of BOH's most loyal fans seem to have taken both the lyrics and the song itself to be a vain attempt for the band to garner more radio airplay than they've previously had, though personally, I think "Laredo" already took care of that. I still wouldn't call BOH "sellouts", though. They still have good music, it's just going in a slightly different direction at the moment.
"Crossfire" by Brandon Flowers: Of all the "indie" bands out there, Brandon Flowers' band, The Killers (who aren't always viewed as "indie" due to their popularity among listeners of more "mainstream" modern rock stations), is probably the one that is most influenced by that crop of bands who tend to overlap the boundaries of musical time by being played on both classic rock and alternative rock stations (i.e. The Police, U2, The Pretenders, etc.) Flowers seems to have only gotten MORE intent on displaying these influences with each new record he makes. It's not as though this is a bad thing, necessarily (as I much prefer the U2-ish "Read My Mind" to the more Depeche Mode-ish sounds of "Somebody Told Me"), but in "Crossfire", it seems like he's trying a bit TOO hard to emulate the U2 sound. He also seems to employ the use of pseudo-philosophical lyrics whenever possible (like the chorus's "lay your body down"), in what seems like a desperate, almost fanboy-ish effort to please Bono and maybe Bruce Springsteen as well. In spite of how harsh this review might sound, though, I must admit that I LIKE this song! Flowers might not rank so high on originality in "Crossfire", but he gets an A for effort, catchiness, and accessibility.
"If You Let Me" by JP, Chrissie, and The Fairground Boys: During The Pretenders' reign of popularity, Chrissie Hynde was almost like a female Neil Young in her ways of alternating between heartfelt, bittersweet songs like "Kid", "Talk of the Town", and "2000 Miles" and tough, unapologetic rockers like "Tattooed Love Boys", "Mystery Achievement", and "Middle of the Road". These days, Chrissie seems to want to go more in between the two moods. In her latest effort, "If You Let Me", she pulls off a distinctly classic rock vibe a la The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty, just as she pulled off a decent Chuck Berry/Bo Diddley in her 2008 songs, "Boots of Chinese Plastic" and "Break Up the Concrete" with The Pretenders. While "If You Let Me" lacks the in-your-face vibe of her nearly punk-ish early days in The Pretenders, it is certainly no "Kid", "Talk of the Town", or "2000 Miles" either! It is clearly a rock and roll song, from beginning to end, complete with a catchy, memorable guitar riff. Welcome aboard the S.S. Classic Rock Renaissance of 2010, Chrissie!
"Stranger Here" by Cowboy Junkies: In spite of their name, Cowboy Junkies are not called "Cowboy Junkies" because of their love for country music. It was basically just a random name they came up with, supposedly (see also The Grateful Dead, R.E.M., and Indigo Girls, each of whom got their names by flipping through a dictionary). However, Cowboy Junkies are basically a country-rock band masquerading as an alt/indie band. Even on their debut album, they covered a Hank Williams tune, as well as a Patsy Cline song. Their latest song, "Stranger Here", is also pretty country-rock influenced, but with the past 5 or so years of adult alt. radio being dominated by indie groups, it seems as though the sound of this song is probably more commonplace than it would've been during their debut in 1988. Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley, in particular (and perhaps the whole band) would probably appreciate a song like this, since she knows from the blatantly country-rock sound of "Carpetbaggers" (which she did with Elvis Costello) what it's like to be an indie/alt act with country influences. Personally, I would have preferred Cowboy Junkies to release something more along the lines of their bittersweet, lushly orchestrated 2007 song "Brand New World", but "Stranger Here" is still a good song nonetheless.
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