New songs for October 14th, 2020

 here they are:


"Lifetime" by Romy (from The xx): The female half of the guy/girl electro-indie-pop duo, The xx, Romy is striking out on her own this time around. Her debut solo single, "Lifetime", sounds like an odd cross between Madonna and Imogen Heap. How this came to be is anyone's guess. "Lifetime" is both energetic dance-pop and soothingly ambient. As it turns out, there is a reason this song sounds like something Madonna might have done in the '90s. The Material Girl's fave sound engineer, Mark "Spike" Stent, was the one who mixed this track. Who would have guessed?!

"Making Do" by Lake Street Dive: Lake Street Dive have been making blues-y R & B revival music since 2014. A lot of it has sounded fun and energetic, and the lyrical themes usually revolve around romance. "Making Do" is not such a song. It still has that chugging retro R & B flavor to it like most of their songs do, but this time it's a bit slower. What's most noticeable about "Making Do", though, is how serious the subject matter is! When a band as (typically) carefree as Lake Street Dive wants to shift gears into making protest songs, you KNOW something is wrong with the world! "To the next generation, Merry Christmas", lead singer Rachael Price half-sarcastically states in the opening of the song, following the line with the more truthful whammy of, "You're working harder than ever now, and the coffee sucks." Rachael continues addressing problems ranging from climate change to unfair pay throughout the song. Many more painful reminders of reality can be heard during the rest of the song, as Rachael questions where the heroes are in this day and age. Having just been married last year, the "baby girl" mentioned in the song is literally Rachael's own baby, not even a year old yet. Rachael brings her up to complain about how irresponsible contemporary society has been in creating a world where people are more physically vulnerable than ever before. My heart weeps for humanity!

"Shaken" by David Shaw (from The Revivalists): David Shaw from blues-rock group, The Revivalists, has struck out on his own now, after having been in a surprisingly successful band for 6 years. His debut solo song, "Shaken", doesn't sound too different from his material with The Revivalists. The song does have noticeably more acoustic guitar than most Revivalists songs do, but that just provides as a backdrop here for the more blues-y instruments up front. The song appears to be about a breakup of sorts. As much as I like songs with metaphorical messages, I'm glad that "Shaken" is NOT some sort of allegory for the present crisis we've been facing. Sometimes, songs with simpler topics are just easier to take!

New songs for June 7th 2017

here they are:


"Driver" by Billy Raffoul: This song has a rather slow buildup, but once it reaches that point it explodes! Billy Raffoul's husky, roots-rock vocals mix with vaguely Peter Gabriel-esque world-music-cum-rock-music during the verses. Once the chorus comes along, the guitars get slightly louder and ultimately crescendo into a loud, triumphant arena rock roar, slightly reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen or U2 circa the mid 1980's. Billy's debut song, "Driver", appears to be about him wanting to be in control during certain situations where he feels helpless otherwise. "Driver" is a very driven song, in more ways than one!


"Everything Now" by Arcade Fire: An appropriate song title for a band who really has covered everything. Arcade Fire have done it all, from folk-rock to post-punk to psychedelic to prog-rock. One thing they haven't covered (to my knowledge) is disco. Until now, that is. "Everything Now" is a 5 minute song that mixes sunshiny harmonies and melodies with groovy, soulful beats. As if that wasn't disco-y enough, the string section in this song even sounds a bit like ABBA. Arcade Fire are not ordinarily this bubbly and optimistic sounding, though, so perhaps there's a layer of cynicism beneath its bright surface. Win Butler might be trying to warn us here that instant gratification, which seems to be the central theme of this song, is not always a good thing.


"Holding On" by The War on Drugs: Mixing the grandiose yet earnest arena rock of Bruce Springsteen with the more understated but pristine vibes of Roxy Music, The War on Drugs' latest song, "Holding On", would not have been out of place on The War on Drugs' 2013 record. It combines The WOD's two "hits" from their previous album, using the relentless beat of "Red Eyes" and mixing it with the relative F sharp major key of "Under the Pressure". The Springsteen-ian chimes that come in during the chorus really help to distinguish this song from some of their other ones. "Holding On" is nothing life changing or groundbreaking, but it's a great song to escape into after a long, hard day of school or work.


"I Dare You" by The xx: Aside from Beach House, The xx are probably one of the only contemporary bands out there whose music is influenced by "dream pop" from the late '80s and early '90s. The Sundays, The Cranberries, and Cocteau Twins were some of the better known names from this subgenre back when it was first starting out. Although The xx's approach to this uses more keyboards than it does guitars, their song "I Dare You" definitely evokes the lush harmonies and ethereal vibe that those types of groups typically went for. The exchange between male and female vocals also sounds quite lovely on this track. Listening to this song is like floating on a cloud, just as heavenly and just as fluffy.


"Living In the City" by Hurray for the Riff Raff: Not since Cowboy Junkies covered The Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane" in the late '80s has there been a song that blends country-rock with Lou Reed quite like this one does. Hurray for the Riff Raff's "Living In the City" is more upbeat than pretty much anything that Cowboy Junkies have done. HFTRR's lead singer Alynda Segarra is actually my age (29 years old) and hails from New Orleans, but this song makes it seem more like she's a New Yorker somewhere close to 70 with her spiky yet accessible urban lyrical poetry, slightly reminiscent of folks like Lou Reed and Patti Smith. As they say in "Rent", "Viva la vie Boheme!"

New songs for November 23rd, 2016

here they are:


"Cocoon" by Milky Chance: Yes, this is the same German folk-funk-rock duo who brought you the 2014 smash hit, "Stolen Dance". "Stolen Dance" was a great song, but knowing how Milky Chance's second big hit, "Flashed Junk Mind", was basically a copy of that song, I wasn't sure how Milky Chance would fare with a third big song in their repertoire. Thankfully, "Cocoon" is a good song. It employs the same combo of acoustic guitar strumming and hip-hop beats as their others, but it's not in the same key, making it distinct from "Stolen Dance" and "Flashed Junk Mind". The use of an electric guitar riff as a backing instrumental sound during the chorus (and even a brief electric guitar solo in the middle) also gives "Cocoon" a fresh enough flavor for Milky Chance's fans to fall in love with their music all over again.


"Come" by Jain: Jain is a French singer/songwriter whose name is probably pronounced like "John", but with a sound like the "-sio" part of the word "television" at the beginning instead of the "J" sound. Her breakthrough song, "Come", is like a fusion of different genres coming together into a single piece of music. It utilizes elements of electronica, folk music, jazz, and various types of world music. Its chorus, consisting of the words, "come and I'll show you the world", seems to be a wide-eyed idealistic romp inviting the soul of the listener to explore his/her surroundings in a playful yet all-knowing manner. If you thought music was running out of originality, you might wanna take a listen to this song!


"On Hold" by The xx: For those unfamiliar with the following indie-pop group, their name is not pronounced "the twenty" (XX is Roman numerals for 20), and nor is it some strange pronunciation like "the chk chk" or "the double asterisk". It is pronounced "the ex ex", exactly how it looks. Much like fellow indie-pop group, Warpaint, did earlier this fall, The xx are an already beloved indie group whose latest song is a bit more electro-pop than their fans are used to. That song, "On Hold", filters Andy Summers-esque guitar riffs through an artificially processed electro-pop beat. The switching between male and female lead vocals gives this song an interesting touch that is often more associated with folk-rock than it is with electro-pop. There is a rather dreamy, hypnotic ambiance about this song that most electro-pop groups don't have, with the notable exception of Ben Gibbard's side project, The Postal Service.


"You And I" by Colony House: Colony House are an indie-pop quartet whose sound is similar to what Imagine Dragons or American Authors might sound like if U2's The Edge was their guitarist. The song doesn't bring a whole lot of originality to the table, although it does get interesting in the middle of the song when its beat becomes a bit more slowed down and unsteady. Perhaps unsteadiness was the vibe they were trying to give off in this song, though, as it is a song about trying to cope with a fragile and volatile world. During the chorus, they place the blame on themselves ("Maybe the world isn't crazy. Maybe it's you and I") instead of the rest of the world. If only that was somehow true.