Here they are:
"After Dark" by Eliot Sumner: In spite of her name, Eliot Sumner is, in fact, a gal, not a dude. Speaking of dudes, her dad happens to be one of the biggest in the music business. His name is Gordon and he is best known by the moniker "Sting". Yes. THAT Sting. The man who combined reggae with rock in a trio who released five albums and then went on more of a straight jazz slant on his own. Eliot is picking up where her dad left off back in his heyday with "After Dark". Picture, if you will, a song like "Message In A Bottle" if it used more conventional chords and had more synth to back it up. That's pretty much "After Dark" in a nutshell. If Andy and Stewart still backed Sting up into the '90s and the 21st century, he'd sound an awful lot like his own kid! The Sumners are actually a musical family. Sting's son, Jake, had a minor adult alt hit with the reggae/rock fusion song with "Two Sisters" back in 2007. I wonder what his other kids have in store for us!
"Help Me Out" by Wild Feathers: Wild Feathers' second single from "Lonely Is A Lifetime", "Help Me Out", opts once again for a vibe that is more straight "indie" than it is country-rock. "Help Me Out" is a bit more slowed down than their previous single, "Overnight", but it still rocks in its own little way. On the surface, "Help Me Out" might sound like a lovesick plea, but the type of love that the song centers around is more platonic than romantic. According to one of the band members, it's basically their equivalent, lyrically, to a song like "Lean On Me", with its universal message urging people to stand by one another through the good times and the bad.
"New Song" by Warpaint: You couldn't come up with a better title of your song than what your song is, eh?! Actually, "new song" doesn't refer to the song itself, but is instead a cute nickname for the lead singer's object of affection. I can't help but feel a little bad that this is the first Warpaint song I've really heard. They've been a cult fave for a long time among indie fans and were (from what I heard) more experimental. "New Song" isn't really all that experimental. It doesn't stray too far from the C minor note that starts it off, which is also used heavily in the verses and chorus. Its electronica sound isn't anything new or different either, but I suppose I should still give credit where credit is due. This song is probably just a vehicle for Warpaint to get a larger audience, and if so, I think they will probably succeed in doing so.
"Real Love Baby" by Father John Misty: The title of this song just sounds like some sort of laid back hippie phrase, doesn't it?! If it does, then what you see is what you get here. FJM dials back the odd sort of experimentation he's done with his last few songs and returns to a more basic folk-rock sound with "Real Love Baby". As you might expect with a song with this title, the message of "Real Love Baby" is simple but still satisfying. "Real Love Baby" also tends to tone down the irony and sarcasm that FJM seems to use in a lot of his songs. This song, in contrast, is a very sincere one, and quite possibly the most sincere so far in his catalog.
"River" by Bishop: Bishop Briggs, if you want to know her alliterative full name. This slinky combination of soul, rock, and electronica is just the right track to make your sizzlin' summer more steamy! "Shut your mouth and rock me like a river", Bishop saucily croons during the chorus of the song. With "River"'s electronic beats coming off as sultry as Bishop's own voice, "rock (her) like a river" is probably exactly what many of her male fans would like to do to her. Add this one to your soundtrack of love-makin' music if you have one!
