In celebration of Women's Day

Three days after International Women's Day, we have three songs that are all done BY women! So here goes:


"Garden Song" by Phoebe Bridgers: Phoebe Bridgers' vocals are naturally soothing. They still are in her latest tune, the Nico-esque "Garden Song", but here she trips things up a bit in a few different ways. First, it seems like the song skips a bit throughout, although this is intentional. Phoebe's breathy vocals and calming music contrast with the skipping of the rhythm here. The weirdest part, though, is the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u8rIx65QgA). Phoebe warns those with epilepsy not to watch it. I did not watch the whole thing since this is a potential problem with me, but I saw parts of it and couldn't help but notice that in some of the video, it looks like she's being snuggled by what look like cheap, store bought versions of "Sesame Street"s Mr. Snuffleupagus! Ummmm....WHAT?! As Snuffy himself has been known to say, "Ohhhh...dear!!"


"Stay With Me" by Margaret Glaspy: Margaret Glaspy debuted during the rather tumultuous year of 2016, and her cynical, world weary views and raspy vocals fit right in with the attitude of the time! Four years later, things haven't gotten much better, so we could use Margaret's cynicalness once again. Though her pessimistic attitude and sarcastic lyrics remain in her latest song, "Stay With Me", her sound is a little different this time. The grunge-meets-blues-rock electric guitars of her 2016 songs have been replaced here by synths and acoustic guitars, which tend to offset her caustic, timely lyrics, like, "Who's the clown and who's the savior?" This lyrical refrain could refer to a strained relationship, but it's possible that it could also refer to the condition of how things have been in the United States, where people just can't seem to tell if their "leader" truly is one anymore.


"The Steps" by Haim: Sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim, known all together by their last name, had one of the most deceptively catchy tunes of last summer with "Summer Girl", which sounded sweet on the surface but was actually inspired by the cancer diagnosis that Danielle Haim's boyfriend received a few years prior. The fact that the trio showed off their bathing suits in a way that was both silly and sexy in the song's video only further distanced itself from what the song was really about. In "The Steps", Haim make their subject matter clearer. Though the song features sunny, Lindsey Buckingham inspired guitar playing on the surface, there is now an obvious undercurrent of angst in the lead vocals of the song. "The Steps" centers its lyrics around domestic strife within relationships and its video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2O_xa8cems) also depicts the difficulties they experience in their day-to-day lives. As in the "Summer Girl" video, all three members of Haim are in states of undress on the video for "The Steps", but it is not necessarily meant to be sexy here, and it certainly isn't meant to be silly. Instead, it's meant to tell what it's like for them to wake up in the morning, only to deal with frustration even from the moment the day begins. Relationships can be such a chore sometimes! Both the video and the song for "The Steps" exemplify how this can be so!

2 Girls, A Blog, and October

How much better can you get?! Anyway, here are this week's songs:


"Emotions And Math" by Margaret Glaspy: Emotions and math?! I thought those were two completely different things!! That's like saying "chemistry and Shakespeare" to me. I guess the concept of two radically different heads being better than one is a good way to describe "Emotions And Math", the second single from raspy, angst-ridden indie gal, Margaret Glaspy. The song would fit pretty well lyrically with any song from Liz Phair's "Exile In Guyville", yet it also has a funky bass line that one might not typically associate with a musician like Phair. The title comes from Glaspy's description of what she thinks her love life is in the chorus of the song: "an ice cold bath of emotions and math". In other words, love is confusing and hard to handle. Yeah, we hear ya loud and clear, Maggie.


"Not Gonna Let You Walk Away" by LoLo: No, the name "LoLo" has nothing to do with "LOL" or any other sort of Internet slang. It is actually a nickname for the name "Lauren", singer Lauren Pritchard, specifically. LoLo's sound is as memorable as her unique moniker. Her debut single, "Not Gonna Let You Walk Away", mixes Alabama Shakes-ish distortion and alterna-soul vibes with the choppy syncopation on every even numbered beat that reggae music is known for having. LoLo's smoky, husky white-girl-with-soul vocals are the cherry on top of the cake that is "Not Gonna Let You Walk Away", a yearning mid-tempo ballad that put's LoLo's ex in a corner of guilt in a way that sounds more lovesick than it does accusatory.

New songs for April 13th, 2016

here they are:


"Wish I Knew You" by The Revivalists: This is only the third song that The Revivalists have a had an adult alt radio hit with, yet they're already starting to make changes to their music! The Revivalists first two hits made me believe that they were a New Orleans R & B band. While they are from New Orleans, "Wish I Knew You" proves that R & B is not the only genre they like. It still has jazzy sax parts and a funky backbeat, but its guitar playing is decidedly folky in comparison to their other two hit songs. "Wish I knew you when I was young, we could have got so high", David Shaw soulfully croons during the chorus. Before any you of you go off assuming that this song is about drugs, it is probably more of a spiritually yearning sort of song about wanting to get to know someone before he/she passed away.


"Wristband" by Paul Simon: With alternative metal band Disturbed having had a surprise hit this year with a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence", perhaps it only figures that Simon himself was also inclined to make a record this year, perhaps in part because of his song becoming a hit again after many decades (Simon said that he liked Disturbed's version of his song in a recent interview). "Wristband", though, is neither folk nor metal. Instead, it is a song that retains the rhythmically driven African roots sound that Paul Simon cultivated on his "Graceland" record. The lyrics of "Wristband" also have a similarly spiritual theme to what a lot of the "Graceland" songs had, revolving around a place where "if you don't have a wristband, you can't get through the door" (Heaven, perhaps?) With Simon's mention of St. Peter and the Pearly Gates during one of the verses of "Wristband", it seems pretty likely that he's referring to the celestial abode of the Man Upstairs.


"You And I" by Margaret Glaspy: A raspy voiced white girl leading Alabama Shakes? A young woman leading T. Rex? These descriptions would probably sound farfetched for any other song except for this one, the debut song from sassy, rockin' California native, Margaret Glaspy. If this song has anything to teach us, it's that looks can be deceiving! With her petite, demure appearance, you'd probably expect her to be a folksinger of some sort, but she isn't. Her lyrics are pretty sour as well, especially when she bluntly states that she "doesn't give a f**k". Elsewhere in the song, Glaspy basically cuts her ex-lover down in just two and a half minutes!