here they are:
"Making a Fire" by Foo Fighters: If "Shame Shame" and "Waiting on a War" felt too lightweight for you, then "Making a Fire" might be more up your alley! The song rocks pretty hard from the start, although not without enough melodic vocals to buoy it over and prevent it from becoming too edgy for adult alt radio stations to consider playing. True to its title, "Making a Fire" is a pretty explosive song about wanting to live life to the fullest no matter what obstacles might be in the way! Quite a far cry from the plaintive melancholia of their last single, "Waiting on a War," but after a particularly harsh winter and questionable spring, perhaps this song is just what we need to have a rockin' summer this year!
"My Cleveland Heart" by Jackson Browne: 1970's rock fave, Jackson Browne, might be getting old, but his spirit still sounds as young as ever in his latest song, "My Cleveland Heart." Aside from the rootsy rock and roll guitar sound Jackson has on this song, another thing he has kept intact is his sense of humor. For instance, the word "heart" might sound like it's supposed to mean something sentimental, but it actually isn't, in this case. It refers to an actual human heart, or at least to a hospital in Cleveland that specializes in cardiology which is called (I kid you not) Cleveland Heart. Browne is aware of how his time is slipping away, so when him and a friend were driving by the place and he found out what it specialized in, he got the idea for his latest song, given the benefits that having an artificial heart from such a place could provide him! He is also very well aware of new talent on the horizon, which is why current indie-folk sensation, Phoebe Bridgers, appears in the video for the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_gWWzLph24) dressed as a nurse (for all you Phoebe fanboys - no, she is not a "sexy nurse" in this video), adding to the song's already tongue-in-cheek humor (or should I say "heart-in-cheek") by eating his "heart"! There's heartbreaking and there's...ummm...whatever this is! Jackson, when I said some of your songs were "heartbreakers," I didn't mean that literally, ya know!
"Wolves" by Garbage: Utilizing the same combo of goth-rock and grunge that made them so big in the '90s, Shirley Manson and co are at it again for the first time in almost a decade with "Wolves"! The lyrics to the song are just as venomous, if not more so, than the song itself! It's a song about inner conflict, about how chaotic the world has gotten lately, and about regrets Shirley has had about her past self. No wonder the song sounds so...well...angry! Probably more so than Garbage typically is already! In the parts between the verses and chorus of the song, chord changes are used that often sound too dissonant for most pop and rock stars to feel comfortable putting into their music. Even Shirley Manson herself has questioned the notion of whether she wants to put out another song like this one, but has also concluded that she is more adept at writing songs fit for the spooky underbelly of pop/rock music, and not more upbeat and happy material. The song could possibly serve as a reminder to some as to why Garbage were called "Garbage" in the first place. Apparently, someone heard them rehearsing in their garage and, as a response to how noisy they were, said their music sounded like...well...garbage! Hence the name of the group. This might just be the noisiest and darkest song yet in Garbage's catalog...but what would you expect from an already jaded band heading into what is shaping to be an even more doomed decade than the one they started out in?!
