New songs for July 20th, 2022

 here they are:


"Brad Pitt" by Coin: Why name your latest track after one of the most well-known actors of all time? Because you're using him to represent the idea of eternal youth, that's why! The celebrity's name is not mentioned even once in the song, but in Coin's latest song, the deceptively catchy "Brad Pitt," the indie-pop trio challenge the idea of eternal youth being something worth celebrating. After all, everyone grows old someday. Coin don't really confront the problem head-on as much as they mock it, singing "keep me young forever" during the chorus in a manner that could be interpreted as being partially sarcastic.

"Here to Forever" by Death Cab for Cutie: Musically, Death Cab's latest song, "Here to Forever," picks up where their 2018 songs left off, giving off a lite-goth-rock sound of sorts. It's lyrically, however, where the song really has some weight. Even in the opening lines, Ben Gibbard has deep and rather dark thoughts about the impermanence of life, commenting how everyone he sees on 1950's movies is no longer alive. He spends the rest of the song trying to come to terms with how he, too, will go one day, while still having a sliver of hope that "forever" might be a possibility if there is an afterlife.

"Hurts (But it Goes Away)" by The Head and The Heart: The intro to this song is cool, using a bass in place of the expected piano and/or guitar, but those two instruments do make their way into this song around the 15-second mark. The Head and The Heart's latest song, "Hurts (But it Goes Away)," continues in the more mainstream pop/rock direction the band have taken roughly since the mid-2010's, adding slightly more artificial synth-y instrumentation in back of the central role the piano takes in the song. These days, it's hard to tell if a song like this is a plea for a lover to come back, or if it's about life itself and wanting reassurance from it. I would opt to say it's the latter, though, given both the time it's come out in and how it doesn't seem to be addressed to a specific person.

"It Ain't Over" by The Black Keys: Much like their song "Wild Child" from earlier this year, "It Ain't Over" is another song in The Black Keys catalog that attempts to mix funk and blues-rock into one thing. The song has a very '70s R & B sound and rhythm, but Dan Auerbach's trademark fuzz-guitar sound is still in here, especially during the chorus. A powerful and catchy tune, no doubt about it! The only weakness this song has is probably its guitar solo at the very end, which feels rather anticlimactic compared to the rest of it.

"Records" by Weezer: Seems like as Weezer have aged, they've lost the ability to rock that they once had. I personally have mixed feelings about this myself. I actually think they're really good at being a sweeter and more melodic group, but songs like this one tend to fall flat. Specifically, on "Records," Weezer use a synth-y pop sound for their verses and a chunky, almost "More Than a Feeling"-ish guitar riff during the chorus that rocks a bit less than Boston despite trying to boast otherwise. Not the best mix if you ask me, yet there's still something winsome and fun about this track. 

New songs for November 17th, 2021

 here they are:

"Chapstick" by Coin: Coin are a band worth every penny to listen to! Their style is one that hasn't really been attempted before, mixing fuzzy, blues-y garage rock riffs with more electronic rhythm instruments. The title of the song is probably one of the strangest sexual metaphors I've heard yet in a song so far, with lead singer Chase Lawrence saying to his objection of affections that he "wants to taste (their) chapstick." Both the lyrics and the music to this song are weird and cool at the same time!

"Face Down in the Moment" by Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats: Nathaniel is usually more soulful and peppy with The Night Sweats, as opposed to his sweeter and almost country influenced solo material, but there are exceptions to the rule, such as the bittersweet country-rock of The Night Sweats' "Wasting Time." "Face Down in the Moment" is another tune where Nathaniel sings with The Night Sweats that's a bit of a slower song. It is perhaps the most bittersweet song he has come up with yet as a performer in a band. It's a song that seems to want to show comfort and sympathy to its listeners. I do prefer The Night Sweats as a more energetic and soulful act, but this song is still worth listening to if you feel like no one understands what you've been going through.

"Love Dies Young" by Foo Fighters: Foo Fighters manage to combine two unlikely retro rock styles here with their latest song, "Love Dies Young." The beginning of the song clearly borrows from the chugging, charging guitars of Queen's debut single, "Keep Yourself Alive," while the second verse onward was apparently influenced more by the disco-pop of groups like ABBA. Well, if Blondie can manage to combine rock and disco, why not The Foos?! Apparently, the song started out as kind of a joke in terms of the rock/disco combo it ended up with, but it still manages to shine through in earnest as a solid anthem of both rock and dance-pop. 

"Once Twice Melody" by Beach House: Beach House's combination of electro-pop and light, dreamy psychedelia has always been endearing to me, and lead singer Victoria Legrand's soothing vocals only hooked me into their music more. Their latest song, "Once Twice Melody," attempts to dive a bit more into the avant-garde than they have done previously while not completely alienating their core audience. The song is slightly more bouncy than I'm used to with the largely airy, ambient music of Beach House, but it still manages to rank along with "Norway," "Zebra," and "Myth" as one of their best tracks (and the only one out of the four to have a title longer than one word!) The sighing instrumentation and Legrand's breathy vocals against pulsating synthesizers that aren't present on all of their material make "Once Twice Melody" the perfect chill-out song!

"Stand for Myself" by Yola: Yola's unique take on soul music has managed to win over adult alt radio programmers for the past two or so years, and with her latest song, "Stand for Myself," Yola takes herself in yet another new direction! Yola has sounded neither this blues-y nor this country before. Burning, churning acoustic guitars mark the intro of the song before the even more fiery electric guitars take charge from the chorus onward. The cutting lyrics of the song could fit in the context of both a political situation and in that of a relationship, and there's a good chance that Yola probably meant for the lyrics to be taken either way. There's no telling whether she wants to "stick it to the man" or to walk out on someone who did her wrong, but either way, Yola unleashes her fury here like never before and she really lets her victim have it!

"The Only Heartbreaker" by Mitski: This track, which seems to lift heavily from '80s pop tunes like "Take on Me," albeit with a slightly darker twist, is a pretty simple song lyrically. Buried beneath its repetitive lyrics, however, is the story of a woman scorned that seems more rooted in sadness than in fury. Mitski's fear is that she will be "the only heartbreaker" in her relationship. In other words, she will be the only one feeling as passionately about it as she is. That could leave anyone feeling cold, so it's no wonder the song seems so icy!