New songs for January 27th 2021

 here they are:


"All My Favorite Songs" by Weezer: This is a rather unusual song for Weezer! It's one of the few songs where they don't have any guitar! However, according to Rivers Cuomo's lyrics, there is a reason for this. Supposedly, "all (his) favorite songs are slow and sad." So is the case with "All My Favorite Songs." The song itself is slow and sad. It is written in C sharp minor, is dominated by cello instead of guitar, and manages to make the quirky but edgy punk-pop of Weezer classics like "Buddy Holly" and "Undone (The Sweater Song)" sound like heavy metal in comparison! "All My Favorite Songs" seems to serve as an unofficial "sequel" song to Weezer's surprisingly bittersweet and ultra-soft 2008 song, "Heart Songs." In contrast to the complete sincerity of "Heart Songs," though, "All My Favorite Songs" is somewhat self-deprecating, with Rivers claiming during the chorus that he "doesn't know what's wrong with him"!

"Call Me A Fool" by Valerie June: A sweeping, haunting neo-soul tune, "Call Me A Fool" might be sung by a millennial musician, but it is none other than 1960's R & B legend, Carla Thomas, providing the opening spoken word part: "Only a fool tests the depths of the water with both feet." Valerie, in response, kicks off the song with the four titular words, "call me a fool," twice. Why is she a "fool," exactly? Well, it's because she's fallen for a person who has used her, but she likes them anyway, in a way that's more than just friendly. Somehow, I feel like this is the perfect kind of song for Valentine's Day of this year, which will be coming up shortly!

"Ghosts" by Bruce Springsteen: In fall of last year, Bruce made a grand return to adult alt radio with "Letter to You," a sweet, heartfelt song that recalled vintage Bruce songs from the 1970's. With "Ghosts," the vintage Bruce sound continues, albeit on a much grander scale! The spirited, lively tone of this epic, five-and-a-half-minute song sounds like it was made for the arenas! (There'd better BE arenas sometime this year!) Unlike what its title might suggest, "Ghosts" is not about a dead person or people, but rather a metaphor for how music makes Bruce feel! The comparison here is that, much like a ghost, Bruce is haunted (in a good way) by the sound of music. Bruce, someday, when you're a ghost yourself, I hope to feel the same way you do when you hear music! One more thing I might add. The ghost of Clarence, the Big Man himself, appears to permeate this song towards the end of it! It's probably his son, Jake, playing sax during that part! 

"Waiting on a War" by Foo Fighters: If you thought "Shame Shame" from fall of last year was too "soft" for a Foo Fighters song, then this song might disappoint you even more. However, for the people who enjoy the softer side of Dave and the boys, like me, "Waiting on a War" is an excellent, haunting track! The song is their folkiest since the days of the acoustic version of "Everlong" and the equally haunting, "Walking After You"...well, until the end of it, that is, although even that part still retains the sense of sweet melody and harmony the song starts with. Since the song did come out during autumn of the tumultuous and unpredictable year of 2020, the lyrics to "Waiting on a War" are heavily reflective of just how torn apart the U.S. (and arguably the rest of the world, to a degree) had become by that point. The title of the song comes about from how Dave Grohl wonders throughout the song whether there is more to life than just "waiting on a war." There's never any definitive proof of an answer to this, but he seems to lean towards the more hopeful side, as the song is attempting to spread a message of peace and love amongst a nation (and planet) of war-torn citizens!

New songs for January 25th 2017

here they are:


"All I'm Asking" by Band of Heathens: Band of Heathens have actually been around for awhile, but this is the first song I've heard of theirs so far. It is a roots-y rock number slightly reminiscent of acts like The Band. It starts out with a thumping, funky bass line, but as a honky-tonk sounding piano and various string instruments in the background start to come in, "All I'm Asking" starts to get a bit more of a shape as a song. The chord progression from A major to F sharp minor is a bit like The Small Faces' "Itchycoo Park". A song like this one wouldn't have been out of place in another decade, and it is only from the production of the record that you can tell that this is not actually an older song.


"Angela" by The Lumineers: First "Ophelia", then "Cleopatra", now "Angela"?! Is it just me, or does Wesley Schultz have more girls on his mind than just his bandmate, Neyla Pekarek?! Of the three titular girls, "Angela" seems to suffer less than the other two characters. Ophelia and Cleopatra both suffered in their respective songs, which I suppose makes sense since the names of both are synonymous with Shakespeare characters, but Angela is a more liberated character, one who feels "home at last", as the refrain in her song states. The epic saga of The Lumineers only continues from here!


"Friendship (Is A Small Boat In A Storm)" by Chicano Batman: You're not gonna hear bands with a name like "Chicano Batman" every day, are you?! Didn't think so! Well, as it turns out, you're not gonna hear their kind of music every day either! The weirdly named quartet (who are, in fact, Chicano, but sadly not alternate identities for Batman), have an eclectic blend of late '60s styled soul music, Latino rhythms, swirling psychedelic guitar riffs, and groovy organ riffs, all in one brightly colored package! To top off all the excitement you might be getting just from reading this, Chicano Batman happen to hail from my hometown, which is none other than Los Angeles!


"Hungry Ghost" by Hurray for the Riff Raff: It's not even the second month of the year and already I have a good song for this year's Halloween playlist! The mysterious, spooky (but fun) vibes of Hurray for the Riff Raff's "Hungry Ghost" go perfectly with its haunting title! The electro-rock instrumentation of "Hungry Ghost" is a bit closer to Bat for Lashes than it is for Hurray for the Riff Raff. Come to think of it, the lyrics the song has, largely concerning isolation and alienation, seem a bit inspired by Bat for Lashes as well. Happy Halloween, 10 months in advance!


"I Give You Power" by Arcade Fire (featuring Mavis Staples): With a sound that comes off as an unlikely cross between Talking Heads and Nine Inch Nails, Arcade Fire's latest song is, as you might have guessed, a protest song about the person who now occupies the position of being the 45th President of the United States of America. "I give you power", Win Butler sings, followed by, "and I can take it away", immediately afterwards. Soul mistress Mavis Staples joins Win on what could be described as her darkest song yet! Arcade Fire giveth, and Arcade Fire taketh away. No more Mr. Nice Indie Rocker! When the going gets tough, the tough get going!


"Push Off" by The Palms: "Palms", perhaps, refers to palm trees in this case, and not to the palms of our hands, but I guess we'll never know for sure. The reason I say palm trees is because the music of The Palms' debut song, "Push Off", is gentle like palm trees swaying in the breeze, at least in the musical sense it is. Lyrically, it's a bit more bitter. It's clearly about a relationship that the lead singer wants to brush aside and forget about, as evidenced by him calling his former lover a "push off" and then telling them to "push off" afterwards. What a calming song, though! This mostly acoustic guitar based rock song even has a soft piano solo in the middle of it to add to its already breezy flavor! If you've had a bad breakup but you still wanna play it cool, then this song is for you!


"Shakedown" by Valerie June: After the heavenly, ethereal "Astral Plane" from fall of last year, we now have the more gritty, blues-y "Shakedown" from Valerie June. Not as mean and funky as her debut song, "You Can't Be Told", but it still has a more electric guitar based sound than some of what Valerie's fans might be used to at this point. "Shakedown" is probably one of a growing number of songs that is reflective of how uncertain many people think the world has become today. With its rollicking, catchy, "Lust For Life"-like beat, though, some people might be more under the impression that "Shakedown" could just be your basic blues-y rock song about dancing and falling in love. Valerie June's lyrical themes have never been basic, though, so I'm willing to bet that there is some righteous anger behind "Shakedown".


"Strange Or Be Forgotten" by Temples: The leap from a '60s homage to an '80s homage seems to be becoming increasingly common in today's indie-pop groups. Temples debuted back in 2014 with "Shelter Song", which sounded to many like a long lost Byrds tune. The fluttering synths in Temples' second big tune, "Strange Or Be Forgotten", make it clear that their musical time machine can travel to multiple eras. "Strange Or Be Forgotten" is still somewhat an ode to psychedelia, but with more keyboards than guitars. This is the sort of song that would be likely to play during a scene in a movie when someone is tripping out on drugs at a dance club. So are Temples strange, or do you think they will be forgotten?! I would go with "strange"!


"The Lost Sky" by Jesca Hoop: Jesca Hoop (yes, that's how she spells her first name) is nominally a folk-rocker, but "The Lost Sky" truly has flourishes of folk music in comparison to the only other Jesca Hoop song I currently know, "Born To", which was essentially a blend of indie-pop and singer/songwriter with a sound that was more like a melodic electric guitar distortion than a pure acoustic sound. "The Lost Sky" is primarily an acoustic-guitar-and-vocals-only song and it seems to be the name of a fictitious location that Jesca uses as a metaphor for her means of escapism, presented in poetic lyrical fashion laden with vocals that are as bittersweet as the song itself. It is a place known only to the dreamers of the world, both the aspirational kind and the nocturnal kind.

New songs for October 26th, 2016

here they are:


"Astral Plane" by Valerie June: Do you notice something different about Valerie June's latest song?! It doesn't have the roots-y flavor she usually goes for in her songs, but there is a very good reason for this. That is because "Astral Plane" was a song that was originally written for the smooth-jazz influenced trip-hop group, Massive Attack. "Trip-hop", for those who aren't familiar with it, is basically like a smooth, ethereal, and jazzy form of alternative pop music with electronics as backing instruments. There are no electronic instruments backing Valerie's version of "Astral Plane", but it still manages to maintain the billowy, blissful beauty of what Massive Attack's music typically sounds like. Much like Van Morrison's similarly titled "Astral Weeks", "Astral Plane" is a magical musical trip to heaven written in A major that's guaranteed to soothe all your troubled nerves!


"Glitter And Gold" by Barns Courtney: Throughout both the spring AND summer of this year, Barns Courtney had an unexpected but oh-so-catchy hit song with the blazing, hot song, "Fire", on both the alt and adult alt charts. It was only a few weeks ago that the possibility of a second Barns Courtney hit was hinted at, but perhaps I should have figured this was coming with "Fire" being one of the most successful songs of 2016. His newest song is called "Glitter And Gold" and contains a similar mix of blues-y spirituals and rock and roll attitude. "Glitter And Gold" is already pretty catchy and the vocalized "ting ting" in the chorus of the song brings a bit of humor along for the ride as well. "Glitter And Gold" seems to be about the desire for fame, but I doubt Barns really has such a desire anymore now that he's GOTTEN it! With "Glitter And Gold", his 15 minutes of fame might have just expanded to 30!


"Here In Spirit" by Jim James: Jim James is like the bearded roots-y folk-rock version of David Bowie in some ways. He's not afraid to experiment with other sounds and he's able to sound sweet and heavenly just as much as he is brooding and scary. Jim's "Here In Spirit" attempts to have a more heavenly sound, albeit with an R & B sounding backbeat. Fitting to its title, "Here In Spirit" has a rather spiritual message of peace and love, apt to the neo-hippie image Jim James has attempted to cultivate. As a warning to those who get lulled into James' hypnotic musical trance, there is a "hiccup" in either the keyboards or the percussion at about 3 and a half minutes into the song. It should be a smooth ride otherwise, though.


"In A Drawer" by Band of Horses: It's been awhile since we last heard Band of Horses come up with a solid ballad, and "In A Drawer" is proof that BOH still have potential to be a calmer band at times. The song's odd title seems to be a reference to all the memories that Ben Bridwell keeps finding throughout the song (he finds them in a drawer). As such, the song has a rather bittersweet, nostalgic quality. "Casual Party" might have been a more likely song to hook BOH fans into listening to a new record by them due to its catchiness, but I would have preferred to have "In A Drawer" as the first single off their new album. And who, you might be wondering, is that scraggly, quavering voice singing beside Ben during the chorus? Well that just so happens to be none other than J. Mascis, the lead singer of the legendary proto-indie and pre-grunge group, Dinosaur Jr. Pretty cool, huh?!


"Shine" by Mondo Cozmo: Our last entry of the week comes from the only group of musicians making their debut onto the blog. The other four have had entries on my blog before, but not Mondo Cozmo. Their name alone sounds pretty intriguing, doesn't it?! Well, wait 'till you hear their music! Although folk-rock is precious to me in general, I must admit that I haven't been THIS impressed by a folk-rock song since Mumford and Sons debuted back in 2010! (Or when The Tallest Man on Earth broke through 2 years later). There's something very striking and poignant about Mondo Cozmo's "Shine". Perhaps it's the chord progression or the way it's being played. Perhaps it's the "everything will be alright if you let it go" refrain in the chorus that can lend itself to multiple interpretations. Maybe it could even be the echoic choir sound that comes through as the song builds up. Whatever it is, though, "Shine" does exactly what its title suggests it would do, and how!

New songs for November 6th, 2013

here they are:


"Holding On For Life" by Broken Bells: For the first time since the start of the 2010's, The Shins' James Mercer and Gnarls Barkley's Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton are back together again for a new album called "After the Disco"! An appropriate title, considering the disco influence that Danger Mouse brings into their latest song, "Holding On For Life". The folk-y acoustic strums in the background of the song make it very much of a James Mercer tune as well. Songs like this one are proof that sometimes, two heads are better than one! As Danger Mouse pumps disco/techno beats into "Holding On For Life", James adds in enigmatically soul searching lyrics, lush, mellow harmonies, and folk-rock influence, and together, the elements of the song melt into a nice, tasty, out of this world stew!


"She Lit A Fire" by Lord Huron: Lord Huron first hit the adult alt airwaves last November with their dreamily psychedelic song, "Time to Run". Now, exactly one November later, the dreaminess of Lord Huron has come around a second time with "She Lit A Fire". Between this song and "Time to Run", I'm starting to notice a lyrical theme in Lord Huron's music. They seem to write love songs, but they do so using really abstract lyrics and evocative imagery. The chorus of the song states that the girl of the lead singer's affections "lit a fire, and now she's in (his) every thought", so the love theme here is pretty obvious, but what makes the song so special to me is the ultra-mellow, acoustic guitar based sound the song uses, as well as the imagery of deserts, mountains, seas, and (of course) fire. This is the song all the hippies merely wish they had written!


"Swimming In the Sea" by Bob Schneider: And now, more indie-pop love poetry featuring lyrics that evoke nature (specifically fish and the sea, this time around)!! This is certainly not a bad thing, though. After all, Bob Schneider is one of those people who has a way of making love songs sound dreamy in a good way, rather than a cheesy one. It seems like he was quite influenced by Snow Patrol when he did "Swimming In the Sea", at least musically. The lyrics here seem to concern love at first sight, rather than a more general love theme, but the sentiments of falling in love certainly abound in this song!


"This Lonely Morning" by Best Coast: The Los Angelean duo of the fun but sassy Bethany Cosentino and her bandmate Bobb Bruno are doing what they do best on their latest tune, "This Lonely Morning". That is to say, they are making fun, summery music that mixes the sunny pop of early Beach Boys music with the sneaky indie-pop snark of Rilo Kiley. "This Lonely Morning" is anything BUT lonely!! Well, musically, at least. The lyrics are a bit darker than the song itself, as Bethany is "running from (her)self this time", and stating (negatively) how her "feelings never change". Perhaps this is the reason they released the song in fall instead of summer?! Because otherwise, it totally sounds like a summer song, like pretty much all of their material tends to!


"Workin' Woman Blues" by Valerie June: Valerie June first sizzled her way onto the adult alt airwaves in the summer of this year, with her Black Keys-esque (and Dan Auerbach produced) blues-rocker, "You Can't Be Told". Despite the use of the word "blues" in the title of Valerie's "Workin' Woman Blues", its sound more suggests a blend of folk, soul, and jazz that people like Joan Armatrading were known for using in the mid 1970's. It's the lyrics of the song that bring the "blues" part into the title. Valerie is clearly worn out from all the demands people put on women of being mothers, wives, etc. in the song, and addresses the issue of poverty in it as well. Definitely worth listening to, especially for those who identify with oppression, whether the roots of it are sexual or political (or both).

New songs for June 19th, 2013

here they are:


"The One That Got Away" by The Civil Wars: The second album from The Civil Wars, a folk-rock duo comprised of one guy and one girl, is finally out. Its first single, "The One That Got Away", sticks to a lot of the bluegrass and folk influences that The Civil Wars have had for a while now, but it has a considerably "darker" sound. "The One That Got Away" could be considered the first Civil Wars song that is truly "folk-rock" for its use of both acoustic and electric guitars (and drums, another instrument previously unheard of in a lot of their material). The song's instrumentation, along with its rather brooding sound, remind me more of an acoustic Led Zeppelin song ("The Battle of Evermore" and "Gallows Pole" both come to mind here) than they do of The Civil Wars. Not a bad direction for the band to go in, though, and who knows, it must just set the template for the next Mumford & Sons or Lumineers album!!


"You Can't Be Told" by Valerie June: The typically folk-y Valerie June doesn't sound so folk-y here, which is ironic, considering that this is the first song that's gotten significant attention from her. There's a reason for "You Can't Be Told"'s blues-y snarl, though, and that is because of how The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach produced it. The particular blues-rock sound used on "You Can't Be Told" brings to mind a lot of bands from the '60s and early '70s who used that same sound, such as The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and The Allman Brothers Band (The Allmans' cover of "Trouble No More", especially, since it has the same rhythm and distortion as this song does). Though the song only lasts a little over three minutes, it still delivers a powerful, spicy sound. As with most blues-rock songs, "You Can't Be Told" is more about the instrumentation, rhythm, and raw vocal quality, than it is about the lyrics of the song, but that should be enough to get people to like it. It worked for me!