New songs for March 8th 2017

here they are:


"A Little Uncanny" by Conor Oberst: In the fashion of his idol, Bob Dylan, Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes attempts here to make a roots-y folk-rock tune that contains plenty of name dropping and cryptic but interesting lyrics. Ronald Reagan, Robin Williams, Sylvia Plath and Jane Fonda are all mentioned here in this song. It's hard to tell what the central message of it is, but my best guess is that it gets spelled out towards the end of the song when Conor says, "They say a party can kill you. Sometimes I wish it would." As for what that means, perhaps he's trying to indicate that self-medication can sometimes feel painful after a long time of doing it. Given how critical Mr. Dylan tends to be of many things, I'm not sure if he'd find this song flattering or overbearing, but "A Little Uncanny" does seem to be the most Dylan-inspired song yet from Conor Oberst, who has done many other songs in his style as well.


"Black Tears" by Imelda May (featuring Jeff Beck): The wild, sassy Irishwoman who gave us fun ravin' rockers like "Mayhem" and "Inside Out" back in 2011 tones it down a bit for her latest song, "Black Tears", featuring legendary rock guitarist, Jeff Beck. This is also a calmer song for Jeff than most of his material as well, though he still shows his guitar wizardry in a more subtle manner here. The song bears similarity to the early '60s instrumental song, "Sleep Walk", by Santo and Johnny, in terms of both its slow doo-wop styled rhythm and its loopy Hawaiian influenced guitar sound. Imelda pours her emotions out like never before in "Black Tears" with a passion akin to musicians like Etta James and Janis Joplin. Bittersweet with a bite, "Black Tears" is a great song to listen to if you've recently broken up with someone.


"Feel It Still" by Portugal. The Man: Portugal. The Man may be big among "indie" fans, but they've always had a bit of an R & B streak hidden behind their neo-psychedelic pop facade. "Feel It Still" starts out with just bass and vocals, but gradually gets other instruments added in shortly afterward, most prominently a brass instrument that, when combined with the bass and drums, sounds like it would not be out of place in a "James Bond" or "Austin Powers" movie. PTM clearly want to reflect the era of both cinema and music from the mid '60s in "Feel It Still", going so far as to mention the year 1966 by name in a lyric that ends up being a play on words of the Chuck Berry song, "Route 66". The last verse of "Feel It Still" makes it apparent that "Feel It Still" is not just a song written for fun, but also for the cause of ending war, similar to statements they've made in songs of theirs like "So American" and "Modern Jesus".


"Fight For Love" by Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors: You probably already knew that you had to fight for your right to party, but did you know you also have to fight for your right to love? Well, country-rocker Drew Holcomb certainly seems to think so! In this roots-y John Mellecamp-esque number, Drew passionately pleads for peace among everyone. In contrast with the slightly rocking sound of this song, Drew sounds almost sad but urgent at the same time with the delivery of his lyrics. Love should be free, but sometimes you just gotta work for it instead!


"Green Light" by Lorde: The now 20-year-old "Royals" hitmaker, Ella Yelich O'Connor, better known by her stage name, "Lorde", has returned to grace the pop and rock airwaves a little wiser for the wear than she once was. She had a few bittersweet songs early on, like "Team", but most of her songs went for a catchy but somewhat mystical sound. "Green Light" has a slightly more melancholy sound, at least initially. The song plays out like a Tori Amos tune that starts to sound more like a Madonna song as it progresses and starts gaining more instruments than just the keyboard. The song is centered around what Lorde's life became like after her high school years. In interviews, she came off as down-to-earth and not nearly as obsessed with her own image as most pop stars tend to be. She even thought it was funny when "South Park" decided to make fun of her, so she has a pretty strong backbone! Or so it would seem. Having a popular television show skewer your image for comedy is nothing like trying to build a new image for your own self so that people don't see you as a "glamor queen" and instead see you as a serious artist. Hints of not feeling like "part of the crowd" were already evident with songs like "Tennis Court", which served as her scathing indictment of the high school drama she was then surrounded with, but "Green Light" brings it to a whole new level! This song will probably make a huge impression on people who are fans of more music than just pop and rock!


"Wild Fire" by Laura Marling: This song may be gentle, but its words are most certainly not! Laura Marling's latest song, "Wild Fire", seems to emulate her idol, Joni Mitchell, both lyrically and musically. From the song's opening question, "Are you trying to make a cold liar out of me?" to its penultimate lyrical statement of, "You can stop playing that sh*t out on me", it's clear that "Wild Fire" is, well, wild and fiery! Laura is no soft, gentle hippie chick. She means business here! Then again, Joni Mitchell was never comfortable being referred to as a "hippie chick" either. For every whimsical musing like "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Both Sides Now" Joni had, she also aimed caustic, stinging messages to her exes in songs like "Nathan LaFraneer" and "Raised On Robbery". Likewise, for every bittersweet song like "Sophia" that Laura has, she also has songs that are just plain old bitter, like "Wild Fire"!

Let's hear it for the gals!!

I think this is the first time my blog entry of the week has focused entirely on female performers! And what great names they have, too, Imelda May and Lana Del Rey (hey, that rhymed!!) Anyway, enough chatter, and on with the show!!

"Inside Out" by Imelda May: In the summer of this year, the sexy, jazzy, black-haired Irishwoman known as Imelda May caused a lot of "Mayhem", and this time around she's up to more of her old tricks with the saucy, slinky, seductive, soulful (and somewhat subversive) song, "Inside Out"!! The instrumentation of this song (and Imelda's steamy, passionate vocals) make "Inside Out" catchy enough, as though Gwen Stefani joined the Brian Setzer Orchestra, but it's the lyrics to the song that just crack me up and are worth mentioning!! Throughout the song, Imelda not only says she loves the subject of her song "inside out", but also describes why, pointing out how she loves each part of her subject's body on the way. It starts out relatively innocent ("I love your eyes, blue as the skies/I love your lips to your fingertips"), but it gets weirder as the song goes on, ultimately resulting in lyrics like, "I love your nails, even your entrails", and "I love your wits and your wobbly bits" (Whoa!! TMI, Imelda!!) She even admits that the way she loves the person in question is "kinda creepy", but that, at the same time, the person she's addressing "loves it deeply", and that he "know(s) (he)'s gonna keep (her)". Catchy AND funny (and attractive)?!? I think we got a winner here!!!

"Video Games" by Lana Del Rey: A good song about a subject I've never been crazy about (though practically all my friends are). Or so it would seem. Though "Video Games" might be the title of this song, that's not exactly what it's about. In fact, the term "video games", in this song, is probably more of a metaphor, suggesting either masculinity and/or an example of an activity Lana Del Rey doesn't like but is willing to endure to keep her boyfriend company. Lana tends to deliver the lyrics of "Video Games" in a rather dry manner, but with sweet, benign vocals, and instrumentation similar to acts like Feist, Florence and The Machine, and Joanna Newsom.

New songs for June 22nd, 2011

here they are:

"Finally Begin" by Cold War Kids: This is a cool song, but I'm having a rather difficult time figuring out what (if anything) is so special about it. Many CWK songs seem to have some sort of distinguishing factor. For instance, "Louder Than Ever" was very dynamic (yet still melodic), and "Hang Me Up to Dry" had some catchy piano hooks. "Finally Begin" just seems to be more of the "U2-goes-indie" vibe that CWK have become known for. There really isn't much else to say about this song, but it is catchy, melodic, and was easy for me to get stuck in my head. Perhaps that's all a good CWK song needs, though!

"Fragile Bird" by The City and Colour: This song is a far cry from the only other City and Colour song I know, the largely acoustic, somewhat melancholy, but rhythmic "Sleeping Sickness". "Fragile Bird" shows a whole new side to the Canadian indie band, with its fuzzed out, "psychedelic" guitars, and pulsating rock 'n' roll beat! My fave part of this song so far is the chorus, which, strange as it may sound, suggests what it might have been like if The Velvet Underground covered The Police's "Wrapped Around Your Finger" (since both "Fragile Bird" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger" have a chorus consisting of a G chord followed by an F major 7 chord). The guitar solo here, short as it may be, is also pretty rad! Certainly not what I would have expected from The City and Colour, but a fantastic song nonetheless!!

"Mayhem" by Imelda May: Get ready for this description, folks - a female Brian Setzer!! WHAAA?!? That's right!! Imelda's pretty cute, too, with her black hair with yellowish "stripes" in between! "Mayhem" is such a catchy tune, and not one you'd normally get to hear in the 21st century! It's a rock 'n' roll song with jazz and swing influences that sounds as if it's being sung by a somewhat lower-voiced Gwen Stefani. It also makes me wanna dance more than almost any song I've heard within the past five years. I dunno about you, but I think right now, I'm gonna party like it's 1998 and put in some Squirrel Nut Zippers, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy records, 'cause those are the type of swingin' hepcat bands that "Mayhem" reminds me of!!

"Never Lookin' Back" by Kenny Wayne Shepherd: With all the various alumni of The Allman Brothers (Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, and Gregg Allman himself earlier in the year) and contemporary bluesman Keb' Mo' all releasing new stuff in 2011, and now this song, a gritty, Stones-y blues-rocker, I'm thinkin' 2011 must be the "blues-rock comeback" year!! Shepherd seems to have already built a pretty large fanbase among "classic rock" fans (despite the fact he debuted in the mid-'90s), but THIS song takes the cake as far as classic rock influenced songs are concerned! I hear The Rolling Stones, The Black Crowes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and ZZ Top ALL influencing the punchy, boogie feel of this song! "Never Lookin' Back", huh?! Sounds like you're LOOKIN' back, Kenny, but at least you're doing so in all the right directions!!

"Stand" by Lenny Kravitz: And speaking of contemporary musicians influenced by classic rock, who would embody that description more than Lenny Kravitz?!? The man has made a cliche of his own work within the past five or so years, with just about every song sounding like a faux-Stones/Zeppelin/Who type song! It was fun when he did this in the '90s, but after awhile his "classic rock revival" schtick started to get old. Thankfully, "Stand" is a much more refreshing song than that! Instead of taking on the more "commercial rock" approach The Rolling Stones started to go for in the late '70s/early '80s, "Stand" sounds more like Lenny's attempt at doing one of the "Sgt. Pepper" songs!! It's bright and optimistic, while still retaining a rock 'n' roll sound with its echo-y swirling guitars and sunshiny organs! It's about time Lenny broke free from his "commercial curse", and if he puts out any more material like "Stand", I'll be looking forward to it very much!!