here they are:
"Dancehall Domine" by The New Pornographers: Who knew that The New Pornographers would be responsible for one of the biggest adult alt radio hits of the summer ("Brill Bruisers")?! Usually, a band as quirky as they are is lucky to get ONE song off their latest album to make waves on the radio, but The New Pornographers actually pulled it off this summer, so much so, that they've decided to release a SECOND single to adult alt radio stations for the fall! That song is "Dancehall Domine". Like most of their material, "Dancehall Domine" is a song that is as enjoyably weird as it is catchy. As you might expect from the title, the song is basically the NP's ode to dancing and having a good time. The song also contains such oddly juxtaposed couplets such as, "Just like every idea/Wants to be like no other". The New Pornographers are like Barenaked Ladies. They both have risque names, but they also both have a fun, upbeat sound!
"Dearly Departed" by Shakey Graves: Just the name of the band "Shakey Graves" probably fills your mind with Halloween-y imagery apt for the month of October. Combine that with lyrics like, "You and I both know that the house is haunted, and you and I both know that the ghost is me", and you've got the perfect ingredients for a song that'll scare the pants off of you! Or so you would think. "Dearly Departed" is actually an upbeat country-rock stomper, whose sounds don't even come close to being "spooky". It is a song more fit for playing out on the barn porch on a hot afternoon than it is for feeling frightened on a dark, cold night.
"Louder Than Words" by Pink Floyd: PINK FLOYD?!? (pretends to spit milk through nose) WHAA-AATTT?!?! There are two reasons I never thought I'd be reviewing a Floyd song. First of all, it's been about 20 years since they last released an album, so I assumed that they had broken up for good, what with David Gilmour and Roger Waters having both released solo records in the '00s. And second of all, most of their material isn't exactly the folk-rock-y, roots-y, melodic stuff I usually review if I'm blogging about a new song from a classic rock band. But lo and behold, Pink Floyd's "Louder Than Words" was all over adult alt radio in less than a week!! One thing people tend to forget (or at least overlook) about Pink Floyd's material is that they had more "soft" songs than just "Wish You Were Here". "Goodbye Blue Sky", most of "Mother", and "Fearless" are also great acoustic Floyd songs. That being said, "Louder Than Words" isn't entirely acoustic, but it does lean towards the more sensitive side of the band's catalog. The song centers around how "this thing that we do" (presumably either playing music or existing as a band) is "louder than words", which I'm guessing refers to the phenomenon of relaying musical messages from one person to the next. The length of the song stretches for a while, like most of their songs, in this case, totaling to around 6 minutes.
"She's the One" by Ray LaMontagne: And speaking of classic rock, contemporary folkie Ray LaMontagne is using a lot of influences from such bands on his latest album. The exuberant, summery splash of "Supernova", one of the biggest adult alt radio hits of 2014, recalled groups like The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac. "She's the One" goes for a bit of a harder-edged sound, deriving its sound from the propulsive, defiant riff of The Allman Brothers Band's "Whipping Post". As you could probably guess from the title of "She's the One", though, it has none of the angst and turmoil that The Allmans had lyrically on "Whipping Post". Still, this song serves as a nice way of introducing rock fans to a previously folk oriented musician!
"Then Came the Morning" by The Lone Bellow: A year ago, The Lone Bellow joined the ranks of Mumford and Sons, The Lumineers, and The Civil Wars as being a successful folk-rock group with a string of catchy songs (though they weren't quite as big as those three groups were). "Then Came the Morning" is a bit less like Mumford, and a bit more like Morrison. Van Morrison, that is. The song seamlessly mixes folk, rock, and soul, much like Van the Man did. Surprisingly, the Irish folk-rock hitmaker was not the first person that The Lone Bellow's lead singer, Zach Williams, had in mind when he wrote "Then Came the Morning". Instead, the person Zach had in mind was none other than Elvis. Yes, Elvis Presley, not Costello! Specifically, he thought of what Elvis sounded like during his final years as a Las Vegas performer. Long live the King!
