Major announcement!!

 Hi everyone!! 

So I just found out that the website I normally use to gather information for new music is no longer in service. Therefore, I will be gathering information from a website that updates every Monday instead. There were no major songs (that I know of) for me to review today, so I will be skipping today. However, it will no longer be New Music Wednesdays (despite what the url for this site says). It will instead be New Music Mondays for now, since that's when the other site I gather info for new music on updates weekly. I hope this news doesn't shake anyone up too much, and I'll see you all on Monday! 

Sincerely,

Spencer

New songs for October 26th 2022

 here they are:

"Honey" by The Lone Bellow:  The Lone Bellow continue their previously unexpected turn to synth-pop/rock they had from earlier this year with "Gold" for their latest single, "Honey." I'm not exactly the biggest fan of their leap from folk-rock to synth-pop, but this song is at least tolerable for its occasional swaths of sweeping, echo-laden guitar, and for maintaining the signature harmonies The Lone Bellow have cultivated since 2013. Though lead singer Zach Williams addresses his subject as "honey," the truth is that his wife doesn't actually like being called that, so the title is partially tongue-in-cheek. However, the message of the song still manages to be sincere, centering around when Zach first fell in love with his wife and trying to recapture the glory days of his romance.

"I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am" by Arctic Monkeys:  Arctic Monkeys impressed me quite a bit with their last adult alt radio hit, the Sinatra-esque "There'd Better Be a Mirrorball." Their latest song, "I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am," takes Alex Turner and co to previously uncharted musical territory once again! "I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am" goes in a "retro" direction like their previous single did, but this time, we get a song that fuses the lighter side of the psychedelic rock that dominated the late '60s with the wah-wah dominated funk sounds of the early '70s. Fitting to its spacey sound, "I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am" seems to be about the aftermath of partying all night long and wondering why you are where you are and why you're doing what you're doing. 

"I'm in Love With You" by The 1975:  "I'm in Love With You" continues in the surprisingly folk-rock-y direction that The 1975 decided to pursue earlier this year with the poignant "Part of the Band." "I'm in Love With You" is bittersweet both musically and lyrically, centering around how you can be in love with someone and not even realize it until it's too late. The song doesn't contain the intricate orchestration that their previous single, "Part of the Band," did, but it still utilizes acoustic guitar in a way that songs from The 1975's other albums did not, with its main backing instrument being percussion. The lyrics seem like they could be relatable for many people, as the realization that you could be in love with someone and not even know it can both make and break a relationship. If I am to go by this song's aching yet still upbeat sound, I would say that "I'm in Love With You" is about a relationship that ended up being made rather than broken. 

New songs for October 19th 2022

 here they are:


"Bad Thing" by Miya Folick:  A swath of post-millennial synth-pop creeps up on the listeners of Miya Folick's breakthrough song, "Bad Thing," before shortly swallowing its listeners whole in a whirling wave of self-loathing. The song itself seems to reflect the post-millennial lifestyle of being willing enough to admit you need help while still despairing the life of drugs and "fake friends" you've surrounded yourself with. Whether Miya is referring to online friends or to ex-friends is not made clear, but both seem to happen in the lives of typical Gen Y and Z people. "Bad Thing," as its title indicates, talks about bad things. It never really makes an effort to resolve them, but it does an excellent job venting about said subject.

"Just Before the Morning" by Local Natives:  "Just Before the Morning" is the perfect song to listen to...well...just before the morning! Its ethereal, ambient, synth-laden folk-pop atmosphere fits well with the dawning of the day. Local Natives are typically a pretty gentle-sounding group, but this song seems even more soothing than their usual material. The song describes how repetitive life is while being a bit repetitive itself, albeit not in a bad way, just by not moving beyond the four chords it starts out with. Perhaps that was intentional on their part? Regardless, this is a great wake-up song if you want to start the day off with something chill.

"Lover's Game" by The War and Treaty:  The War and Treaty are probably one of the best examples of how the classic R & B style has thrived through the late 2010's and early 2020's. Of all their material so far, though, "Lover's Game" is probably the song that goes more towards the B (blues) than the R (rhythm) of their material! "Lover's Game" is a saucy, barn-burnin' blues-rock track that sets its subject straight! Exactly who the subject is is unclear, as The War and Treaty are a husband-and-wife duo. Perhaps the song is being addressed to one of their past lovers, but whoever it's about, "Lover's Game" pulls no punches and shows you who's the boss!

"New Body Rhumba" by LCD Soundsystem:  Here's a triple dose of indie rock trivia for ya! In addition to LCD Soundsystem, a cult fave of indie fans, releasing their first successful single to adult alt radio stations, it is also on the soundtrack to a movie based on Don DeLilo's "White Noise," from which the indie-pop/rock group, The Airborne Toxic Event, got its name, and said movie is being directed by indie film director fave, Noah Baumbach, whose name inspired indie-folk-rock group, Noah and The Whale! Talk about a whirlwind of information! "New Body Rhumba" is also one of the more uptight, claustrophobic songs of the LCD Soundsystem catalog. Despite their techno-y sounding name, LCD Soundsystem are also sometimes influenced by folk-rock, power pop, and other forms of music ("All My Friends" probably would have made a great adult alt radio single for its more melodic sound and folk-rock influence), but instead, it's "New Body Rhumba" that's gracing the adult alt airwaves, a 7-and-a-half minute post-punk revival song with stark, slightly paranoid music and somewhat off-putting lyrics about "needing a new body," the meaning of which is never made quite clear in the song. 

"This is Why" by Paramore:  Led by post-millennial female rock revolutionary, Hayley Williams, Paramore quickly became one of the most recognizable faces of the "emo-pop" movement of the mid to late 2000's with their scathing single, "Misery Business." It's obvious that Hayley, much like her emo-pop contemporaries, was a fan of mid-'90s pop-punk trailblazers like Green Day, Weezer, and blink-182, all of whom paved the way for the emo movement later on. However, Hayley was fresh out of high school when that song hit the big time, and she's now approaching her mid-30's. So what does she listen to now?! The answer might surprise you! If their latest song, "This is Why," is anything to go by, I'd guess she has unexpectedly become a Talking Heads fan! The song recalls the spiky and off-kilter yet still catchy post-punk of Heads tunes like "Crosseyed and Painless," and even the lyrics of "This is Why" seem somewhat Byrne-esque. The exaggerated paranoia in both songs combined with catchy beats might give you the impression that not much has changed between 1980 (when Talking Heads' "Crosseyed and Painless" was released) and 2022, but the coronavirus pandemic has made people twice as paranoid now as they probably were then, which brings a whole new dimension of fear to "This is Why." Where David Byrne expressed hesitancy to trust others in "Crosseyed...," "This is Why" expresses hesitancy to trust the world outside your home! 

New songs for October 12th, 2022

 here they are:


"Every Shade of Blue" by The Head and The Heart: The first minute alone from The Head and The Heart's latest song, "Every Shade of Blue," provides a marked contrast between that song and their typical material. The Head and The Heart trick their listeners into thinking they're going to get an orchestral pop/rock song in the vein of Florence and The Machine or Lana Del Rey. However, about halfway into the song's first minute, acoustic guitars (gasp!), piano, and percussion all chime in, giving the song a more upbeat sound. The way some of the verse parts shift from G major immediately into G minor is a rare progression in pop music these days, which also makes this an interesting song. The song actually swings between being melancholy during the verses (yet still mostly major key), and being more happy sounding during the chorus. "Every Shade of Blue," then, is an apt title for this song! Blue can be a lonely and sad color, but there's also happier shades of it, like in the sky and on bluebirds. 

"Growing/Dying" by Backseat Lovers: You could call a song like this one "indie rock that really rocks." As the term "indie" has been increasingly relegated more to folk and pop than it has to rock during the 21st century, it's easy to forget that "indie" once meant noisier bands like The Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., and Sonic Youth. "Growing/Dying" by Backseat Lovers definitely bears resemblance to The Pixies, from its minimalist yet dark lyrics to its meandering yet jagged guitar sound that never explodes too much (though it does feature slightly more distortion towards the end), even down to the lead singer sounding like a somewhat more nasal Black Francis/Frank Black with bits of Radiohead's Thom Yorke added in for good measure. The song also retains the cryptic messages that a typical Pixies song tend to have. "Growing/Dying" could be about loss of innocence, but I'm only drawing that conclusion based on the song's chorus. Its verses seem almost random to me. 

"Oceans of Darkness" by The War on Drugs: A surprisingly happy and surprisingly short song from The War on Drugs, who are normally more melancholy and sprawling in their songs. Despite the song's dark title, "Oceans of Darkness" is really more of a love song, with the title coming from how "something more can be gained until my oceans of darkness pull me back in again." Adam Granduciel does have an undercurrent of doubt if we are to go by the song's refrain, but it otherwise seems like a song from a lovelorn soul who has finally found what's he's been looking for. As much as I've come to admire The WOD's typical neo-goth-prog sound, a fun song in their catalog still seems like a breath of fresh air for me!

"Off My Mind" by Joe P: "Joe P" could be any guy's name! But in this case, it happens to belong to an indie-rock performer whose breakthrough song just happens to be a song with both folk guitars and heavily distorted ones that seems like a kiss-off to his ex. The song is about how he struggled to get that person out of his life by drinking to forget about her, but that now that he has a new lover, his former is "off his mind." The song itself, aside from the lyrics, is also interesting. It starts off as a slightly disquieting yet still catchy acoustic rock strum before the electric guitars come in shortly afterwards to make the song slightly more intense. However, it never reaches a level of maximum distortion, and is instead more of a "cliffhanger" song, musically speaking, that never quite reaches a sonic resolution. 

New songs for October 5th, 2022

 here they are:


"Do I Love You? (Indeed I Do)" by Bruce Springsteen: A few weeks after the Boss's late September birthday, he releases a song that's not actually his. "Do I Love You? (Indeed I Do)" was originally done by soul musician, Frank Wilson, in 1965, but Bruce makes it his own here! Even into his septuagenarian years, the Boss still proves once and for all why people call him that! No other performer in their 70's has quite the energy and dynamism Bruce does, and he makes the soul classic he's covering here sound just as invigorating as it must have been when it first came out! Do we love the Boss? Indeed, we do!

"Go Through You" by Rhett Miller: "Go Through You" sees Old 97's singer Rhett Miller at his most George Harrison-esque. The late Beatle has inspired a lot of songs he's done, both solo and with the 97's, but there's something especially Beatlesque about this one. In "Go Through You," Rhett combines George's trademark twang with Paul McCartney's brightness and chord progressions. In true Rhett fashion, "Go Through You" is about a jaded lover in a relationship gone wrong, contrasting with the song's bright, sunny sound. The most lyrically interesting aspect of this song is probably during the chorus where he says, "If I'm gonna get to Heaven, I'm gonna have to go through you." The capitalization of the "H" in "Heaven" in the lyrics suggest something of a religious nature, but the "you" remains lowercase, so the song is not about God or Jesus, but perhaps Rhett is making something of an oblique comparison in these lyrics. Perhaps he feels like a martyr to his lover, thereby evoking quasi-religious imagery. 

New songs for September 28th, 2022

 Here they are:


"Evergreen" by Mt. Joy: Probably Mt. Joy's hardest-rocking song to date, "Evergreen" is surprisingly upbeat and electric-guitar driven for the mostly psychedelic folk-rock-y Mt. Joy. "Evergreen" is also very upbeat and doesn't dip into weird beat-changing territory the way that, say, "Lemon Tree" did. Another thing that makes "Evergreen" stand out in Mt. Joy's catalog is how funny it is! You probably didn't think the band behind bittersweet songs like "Silver Lining" could be so hilarious, but their humor is proved here in lines like "This is the part where your wedding ring gets pulled across your eye." Ouch! Definitely subversive humor there, but funny nonetheless! 

"Fairweather Friend" by GA-20: Continuing our streak of rock-oriented songs for this week is "Fairweather Friend" by GA-20, with a sound whose roots go back to the blues! The song's syncopated shuffle recalls groups like The Black Keys, but GA-20 seems to be a bit more authentically blues-y than they are. Even their name is a nod to a classic electric guitar model from the 1950's. One particularly interesting thing to note about the instrumentation of this song is that its melody comes from two guitars. There is no bassist to be heard on this track! The combination of the thickness of the guitars and the song's prominent drumbeat could easily fool listeners into thinking there is a bassist. 

"Night Moves" by Lissie: Not to be confused with Bob Seger's bittersweet mid-'70s country-rock tune of the same name about becoming a teenager, Lissie's "Night Moves" has a bittersweetness of its own for entirely different reasons. It is a stark song that, fitting to its title, has a rather nocturnal sound that is as mysterious as it is mellow. Her "Night Moves" takes place in her post-teen years and is about being betrayed by love, as opposed to Seger's ode to curiosity about the mysteries of sex and romance. Another interesting parallel between the two songs is how they both illustrate a folk-rock sound, although Lissie's is less influenced by roots-y country and more by the melancholy, isolated, yearning sounds of musicians like Stevie Nicks, and probably by Joni Mitchell as well. It's probably mere coincidence that Lissie has a song title identical to one of Bob Seger's most popular songs, but both the coincidences and contrasts between the two songs are rather striking!

"Should've Been Me" by Mitski: In the ever eclectic catalog of indie-pop musician, Mitski, we find her once again channeling pop music of the 1980's, but it's a rather specific song she's set on emulating this time. Perhaps you could say she has a "Maneating" appetite for '80s musical nostalgia here! Both the riffs and beat for "Should've Been Me" are practically identical to Hall and Oates' "Maneater," although she slips in a middle section between the verses that have enough usage of major 7th chords to distinguish itself from that song. Beneath the upbeat vibes of the song are troublesome lyrics about how Mitski wanted to be more available to her partner in a relationship that had shaky, questionable communication. The song's title basically serves as an apology for how she "should've been" the one to satisfy her partner's needs, but in a relationship both as rocky and as shady as the one she's describing, how are you supposed to know what's going to happen?! This song has a great way of masking feelings of regret with a catchy, nostalgic beat and melody, which in turn serves as a great and clever way for people to listen to you!

"Supernatural" by Barns Courtney: Barns Courtney is great at churning out catchy rock/indie-pop anthems, particularly his blues-by-way-of-pop debut single, "Fire." With each new song and album, Barns reinvents himself, but the way "Supernatural" sounds is something that I don't think any of his fans would've anticipated! "Supernatural" sounds a bit like what Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" might have been like if she felt scorned enough to create a fiery, back-with-a-vengeance rock song over a pop/soul template. "Supernatural" has surprisingly blazing electric guitar riffs during the chorus that shake the listener by the neck and demand they listen to what he has to say! So just what does Barns have to say in his latest tune?! From what I can gather from its lyrical content so far, "Supernatural" seems like Barns' way of getting back at a former lover who wronged him. In the chorus, he claims he is unstoppable and "supernatural," perhaps to signify how he won't get out of his ex's life no matter how much they want him out of it. Way to haunt your ex, Barns! "Supernatural" is a swinging song that's somewhat scary, yet still soulful, sweet, and satisfying!

"The Perfect Pair" by beabadoobee: Unlike the recent alt-pop/rock-oriented experiments beabadoobee has ventured into with her last few singles, "The Perfect Pair" is a back-to-basics folk-pop song that seems like it could work equally well on acoustic guitar and ukulele. The first four chords almost sound like a folks-y, elevator music version of "Stairway to Heaven," but not in a bad way. With such a sweet, mellow sound, you would think this would be one of beabadoobee's few positive songs lyrically, right? Wrong! Beabadoobee's bitterness can still be detected in "The Perfect Pair" as she repeatedly directs her partner to "break her heart in two" due to the hopelessness of her latest relationship. Is every song for this week a breakup song?! I guess so! Well, not every week can have nice lyrical content, can it?! 

New songs for September 14th, 2022

 Here they are:


"Run Away to Mars" by Talk: I have not heard a new entry like this one in a long time! "Run Away to Mars," the debut song from Talk, is thoughtful, bittersweet, and contains both acoustic guitar flourishes and enough backing from the electric guitar to make it into a solid neo-folk-rock piece that can move mountains (and Mars)! The yearning tone of the song is palpable everywhere from the instrumentation to the lead singer's vocals, and its lyrics also tug at the heartstrings. The song is not about literally going to the planet Mars, but just trying to find somewhere to escape to when times get tough. Why aren't there more songs out there like this one these days?!

"Tongo Barra" by Vieux Farka Touré (featuring Khruangbin): Two eclectic musical acts, both of African origin (directly from Africa in Touré's case, in the country of Mali), coming together to create musical fusion! Does that sound cool or what? That's 'cause it is cool! Together, Touré and Khruangbin stir up a musical gumbo that has a hypnotic, otherworldly sound with foreign words chanted over it that manages to be catchy and danceable, not unlike Talking Heads' "I Zimbra," which this piece reminds me heavily of! "Tongo Barra" is a bit more blissed out than "I Zimbra," but both the setup and sound of the songs make them sound like musical cousins to one another! 

"Tonight" by Phoenix (featuring Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend): I've long considered indie-pop groups Vampire Weekend and Phoenix to be similar to one another, so it's not that surprising that they collaborated with one another. What's more surprising to me is that it took over a decade for either band to consider such a project happening! Both bands combine electro-pop, power pop, and a rhythmic influence slightly akin to reggae (especially in Vampire Weekend's case), so "Tonight" ends up being a song that could pass for either band. As such, it hearkens back to the more new wave influenced electro-pop sound that Phoenix broke through with in 2009 with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, known for the late '00s mega-hits "1901" and "Lisztomania." While I'm doubtful that "Tonight" will join the ranks of those two songs, I have no doubt at all that "Tonight" will be a fun song to hear for fans of both Phoenix and Vampire Weekend!