here they are:
"Calm Down" by Pete Yorn: Pete Yorn released an album in 2009 that yielded three adult alt radio hits with "Don't Wanna Cry", "Last Summer", and "Paradise Cove". I would not have anticipated that exactly one decade later he'd still be doin' stuff in the music biz. Yorn's career has gone on for almost 20 years now, and his latest song, "Calm Down" seems to combine the best of the moody, introspective folk-rock he went for in the 2000's with the more indie-pop direction he seemed to take in the 2010's. The keyboards in "Calm Down" give it a pop-y aspect, but the melancholy folk-rock guitars remind me of why I fell in love with Pete Yorn's music way back in 2001 when he debuted! I loved the bittersweet flavor of his breakthrough song, "Strange Condition", and it looks like with "Calm Down", Pete has finally found his way back to doing what he was so great at doing in the first place. Welcome back, Pete!
"Chevrolet Van" by The Nude Party: This song is not as glam-rock as their debut single, "Feels Alright", but it still sounds retro. This time, The Nude Party are going for a Bob Dylan sound, circa the mid '60s when Dylan "went electric". Much like Dylan, the lyrics to "Chevrolet Van" seem oblique yet somewhat caustic as well. Hard to believe this is the same band who did "Feels Alright", one of the hardest rocking songs of 2019 to hit the adult alt airwaves. "Chevrolet Van" is a much more mellow song, but still one that feels like it might still have some edge in terms of its lyrical content.
"Gotta Get to Know Ya" by Seratones: For those who like a bit of sass in their rock and soul songs, "Gotta Get to Know Ya" might just be for you! The song seems a bit like what The Black Keys might be like if their lead singer was a black female, as opposed to a white male. That singer's name is AJ Haynes, and boy, does she deliver in this track! You know AJ means business when she says, "I know what I'm doin', baby, so don't f**k with me!" Wowzer! I guess I won't mess around with her! But still, she makes some mighty fine music that will keep both rock and roll and R & B chugging on into the next decade!
"Help Me Stranger" by The Raconteurs: Earlier this year, The Raconteurs pulled off a rare feat of getting two hit singles to hit the adult alt airwaves within a single day! A little less than half a year later, The Rac's are back with "Help Me Stranger". The song's vibe is much like their previous songs, with a blues-rock sound that's both roots-y and punchy, and equally blues-y lyrics like, "Help me, stranger. Brother can you spare the time?" being repeated many times during the song. "These 16 strings we're strumming will back up every line" might just be the best line in the song for a few reasons. For one, does this mean that Jack White and Brendan Benson are each playing guitars with EIGHT strings instead of six?! If so, I wanna see those! Second off, note the alliteration of "sixteen", "strings", and "strumming". Last but not least, the line does exactly what the band members are doing at that very moment. The action of the lyrics describe guitar playing accompanying the lyrics, and...well...that's exactly what they're doing!
"Hurry On Home" by Sleater-Kinney: The piercing electric guitar attack of indie darlings, Sleater-Kinney, is normally a lot more vicious and gritty than it is on their latest song, "Hurry On Home". However, rest assured, the song still has an edge of its own that will probably please their longtime fanbase. Instead of taking from punk rock like The Sex Pistols and Patti Smith, "Hurry On Home" takes more from post-punk like Siouxsie and The Banshees and Joy Division. Joy Division particularly comes to mind here with "Hurry On Home"'s combination of techno beats and angry, brooding guitars that never spiral out of control yet still seem on edge. Lead singer Corin Tucker's voice quakes with urgency as she sings the words of the song's title, as though she's expecting someone to clean up her emotional mess. One also senses both jealousy and spite when she claims she's "unlovable" and "unf**kable" midway through the song. (That's the second time I've used a word that I don't normally use in real life on this blog this week. How weird! Well, for me, that is...)
"Live Wire" by Sheryl Crow (featuring Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples): I get the sense that Sheryl has tired from the folk-pop/rock image that songs like "Soak Up the Sun" and just about every other song she did during the first 10 years of the millennium gave her. Within the past three or so years she's tried to escape that by getting back to her blues-rock roots with Gary Clark Jr., as well as her "alternative" roots with St. Vincent. "Live Wire" is yet another attempt, and quite a successful one, at that, for Sheryl to get in touch with her blues-rock roots, enlisting the help of legendary blues-y women who inspired her like Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples. The song has a very Bonnie Raitt-ish vibe to it, and since she is one of the three people featured on the track, it's not hard to see why. In addition to a theme of femininity, a theme of motherhood might also be present on "Live Wire". Sheryl has been greatly inspired by Bonnie Raitt, and Bonnie has been greatly inspired by Mavis, thus uniting three generations of blues and country inspired rock together. Sheryl has been a mother for quite some time now, so this might just be her way of passing down the wonderful gift of music to her own children!
"Losing Battles" by Josh Ritter: Much like "Old Black Magic" from earlier this year, "Losing Battles" is yet another Josh Ritter song that moves away from his folk-rock roots and goes more into scorching Southern rock territory. The lyrics to this one evoke Southern rock and roots-rock here as well. In "Losing Battles", Josh mentions Colorado and Tennessee. A lot of "road trip" rock songs, such as The Grateful Dead's "Truckin'", use names of states and cities to give their songs a distinctly roots-y feel, and it looks like that's what Josh is going for here on "Losing Battles". I mean, don't lyrics like, "Drifted down to Tennessee/Lost my girl to a heart of silver" sound like they wouldn't be too out of place in a song by a group like The Allman Brothers or The Black Crowes?! Well I'd say they do!
"When We Drive" by Death Cab for Cutie: Death Cab's latest album seems to be a trip back in time across alternative rock history. Their previous single, "Northern Lights", evoked both The Smiths and R.E.M. Death Cab's latest song, "When We Drive", seems somewhat inspired, musically, by David Bowie's "Heroes", with its spacey, pulsating guitar and synth combo droning dreamily in D major. This seems like the perfect song to listen to when you just want to stare out into space at the stars with your loved one, imagining you and that special someone drifting into outer space and uniting in the cosmos!
