New songs for September 9th, 2020

 here they are:

"I'm Ready" by Black Pumas: On the strength of three hugely successful and hugely soulful songs on adult alt radio, Black Pumas are now ready for a fourth song to hit the adult alt airwaves. Their latest song, "I'm Ready", is actually a bonus track from their debut album (another of which is a lovely cover of the classic Tracy Chapman song, "Fast Car.") "I'm Ready" is a more upbeat song from Black Pumas' catalog, like most of their material so far has been. Lead singer Eric Burton talks a few times about being born in California in the song, though his band is based in Texas (another state he makes reference to later on in the song.) Like most Black Pumas songs, "I'm Ready" is essentially a love song, but the title of the song could mean other things, like how Eric is ready to make his music known to the world!

"Impossible Weight" by Deep Sea Diver (featuring Sharon Van Etten): You might not know Deep Sea Diver offhand, but if you're a fan of contemporary indie/alt music, chances are you've heard lead singer Jessica Dobson providing backing guitar for major acts of the genre like The Shins and Beck. It's taken us almost a decade to hear Jessica strike out with her own band to score an adult alt radio hit, but with "Impossible Weight", it looks like she's finally achieved her goal! The song, not surprisingly, bears resemblance to groups like The Shins, if St. Vincent somehow got involved with them. Providing additional support to Deep Sea Diver in "Impossible Weight" is indie-folk cult fave, Sharon Van Etten, who has scored a few adult alt radio hits of her own within nearly the last decade. For those are fond of hearing women in the indie scene rock out, "Impossible Weight" might just be the song for you!

"Lonely Heather" by The Nude Party: The revitalized, Stones-esque rock and roll flavor of this song is only one aspect that makes this song worth reviewing. The other is its stunning music video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FteAfB5Sw9A&ab_channel=TheNudeParty)!! It seems almost "BoJack Horseman" influenced, albeit with more actual humans than human-animal hybrids (a few wolf-people are featured at the beginning of the video, though.) There's something that just screams "adult animation" about this video, but not in a gross way, more in a subtle way, as BoJack has been known to have. The animator for this video, however, was never involved in that show. "Lonely Heather"s animator is a man named Parker Worthington, and not much else is known about him. The song itself is a mere two-and-a-half minutes of joyously fun rock music, capped off by the rebel yell (or should I say "rebel L") of "Luh-luh-luh-Lonely Heather" during the chorus!

"Mind Eraser" by Nicole Atkins: The unexpected darkness of 2020 has certainly impacted Nicole Atkins! As the pandemic was just beginning to rage earlier this year, she gave us "Domino", a deceptively catchy song that was actually about the end of the world. Now, we have the even darker "Mind Eraser", a seductive, bass driven, funky song (with a surprisingly blues-y guitar solo midway through) that seems to be about questioning the very nature of reality! Nicole talks throughout the song about how "it seems (her) mind's erased", as well as how, if that's the case, she "never wants to leave again." Wow! Chilling lyrics! However, they are strangely befitting for the time being!

"The World" by Pete Yorn: A short but sweet folk-rock tune, Pete Yorn's "The World" is about...well...the world! More specifically, though, it's about how unpredictable Pete feels the world is. It seems to let him down. Having had nearly 20 years in the music biz, one might expect Pete to feel a little world weary right now, but this song almost feels like a reflection on just what a sad state the world is in right now. There are many songs in Pete Yorn's catalog that can be called "bittersweet", but this one probably tops 'em all so far in that regard!

"Time Is Wasting" by Josh Ritter: This upbeat folk-rock tune, which has a similar beat and sound to Paul Simon's "Graceland" (albeit without the rhythmic African influence the song was known for), was supposedly a song Josh Ritter originally wrote for a movie, although what movie that was is currently unknown. Upon actually releasing the song, Josh found it to be strangely fitting for our present coronavirus pandemic, and then decided to write other songs with a similar theme for his latest album. However, "Time Is Wasting" is the song that got the ball rolling for Josh in 2020. Underneath the song's happy sound, there is a rather disquieting sense of desperation in the lyrics. How will the other songs on Josh's new album pan out? Well, we'll just have to wait and see!

"Under the Table" by Fiona Apple: There hasn't been a Fiona Apple album as heavily anticipated as her latest one has been since...well...since her debut in 1996! Quite a bit of time has passed by between her debut album and our current year, but Fiona's sense of confessional, wounded angst has remained all these years! Songs like "Under the Table" are like the opposite of the cliche about fine wines. Instead of tasting sweeter over time, Fiona's songs seemed to have grown more sour with each passing year. On the subject of wine, apparently "Under the Table" was inspired by an actual dinner, not a metaphorical one like one might expect, that Fiona had where a lot of expensive wine was involved. It's not the food and drink that's important here, though. What is important in the subject of this song is how Fiona felt used by the guy who hosted the dinner. To put it in more polite-ish terms, this song is basically a "screw-you" to the guy who used her. Ah, the beauty of songs! They can mean so many things...and yes, that includes how songs can be a kiss-off to someone you really don't like! 

beware the Ides of March...

As the world panics over a virus that no one I know personally has contracted, no one seems to know how to deal with the results of its befuddling statistics. This includes musicians. Here are four entries for this week (as if by eerie coincidence, "four" is considered a bad luck number in Japan). Here are this week's entries:


"Caution" by The Killers: "Caution" is what we all need to be taking during this unprecedented time in our lives! The fact that the song has the title it does and was released on the week that it was is pure coincidence, though. Whether that's good coincidence or bad coincidence is a bit hard to say, but what I can say is that it sure sounds good! Fans of groups like The War on Drugs will probably dig this song, dominated by synthesizers in a distinctly Springsteen-ian manner circa the '80s. The lyrics of the song are neither political nor apocalyptic, but rather surrealist, which lead vocalist Brandon Flowers is no stranger to in terms of the words and phrases he puts into his songs. Adding to the already gung-ho dynamic of the song is the song's surprise guitar solo that it ends on, played by none other than Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham! When the going gets tough, the tough certainly get going here!


"Domino" by Nicole Atkins: It's the end of the world as we know it (so far), and Nicole Atkins feels fine! In the sleek, funky song, "Domino", she lets the world know she's not gonna go down without a fight! "I'm not gonna play safe and sound when the world comes tumbling down", Nicole sings during the chorus. Partially inspired by musicians like Prince, "Domino" could be for 2020 what the song "1999" was to 1984, a disaster warning disguised as a fun party song. The title of the song comes from how Nicole feels watching society "fall, like dominoes". Two songs into this week's blog, and my anxiety is through the roof already. Not exactly a good thing, is it?! I suppose that's what music is for, though!


"4 American Dollars" by U.S. Girls: This song was actually released a few weeks before the world went into panic mode, but this song still deals with rather dark subject matter nonetheless. Like our previous entry for this week, this song is also a funky party song on the surface with a bleaker message underneath. "You can do a lot with 4 American dollars", lead singer Meg Remy sings during the chorus, before going into how, "No matter how much you get to have, you will still die and that's the only thing". Wow...ummm...thanks?! I suppose this serves as a good reminder to all of us that even if we are poor, a few scraps of money is better than none at all, but as the whole WORLD heads into poverty, this message isn't exactly the most comforting thing in the world. Perhaps that was intentional, though.


"Temple" by Thao with The Stay Down Get Down: Our last entry for the week still brings us no comfort during increasingly dark times. This song is about how lead singer Thao Nguyen lost her city. She goes into great detail to describe her loss, too, mentioning helicopter blades, thick smoke, and even war. A mere 40-ish years ago, the radio was blasting songs about how we built this city (WHICH city is unknown, though) on rock and roll...now we have lost our cities with rock and roll. Electric guitars set to a funky beat tell the saddening story of Thao's struggle to survive. The year mentioned in the song was 1973, but it seems even more relevant now, sadly.

New songs for January 15th, 2014

here they are:


"Bad Blood" by Bastille: In an ever growing revolution of indie-pop bands that fall between electronica and rock, Bastille joined their ranks in summer 2013 with their smash hit, "Pompeii". Their latest song, "Bad Blood", also has an electro-pop/rock sound, but its minor key sound makes it considerably darker than "Pompeii", which was written in major key. One thing that both songs have in common is that they are both about the downsides of adolescence. "Pompeii" is about disillusionment, while "Bad Blood" seems to be about losing a friend. Sometimes, to get through the darkest of times, you gotta sing about 'em too, right?!


"Digital Witness" by St. Vincent: "And you may find yourself...listening to a song by St. Vincent!!" St. Vincent's first big breakthrough might have been with the enigmatic, Bjork-ish "Cruel", but it was her project with David Byrne that seemed to really bring St. Vincent (a.k.a. Annie Clark) into the limelight with many people (including Stephen Colbert!) St. Vincent's latest song, "Digital Witness", seems to have that fun, quirky blast of electronica-meets-funk-meets-jazz-meets-rock sound that Byrne typically has, both with and without Talking Heads, so perhaps Byrne's influence rubbed off on Ms. Clark!! St. Vincent is also just as enjoyably mysterious as ever in the lyrics of "Digital Witness", with one lyrical phrase asking, "What's the point of doing anything?", and another demanding to "give (her) all of your mind"!


"Girl You Look Amazing" by Nicole Atkins: "Girl, you SOUND amazing" is more like it (though Nicole certainly looks amazing too)!! Nicole's seemingly effortless combination of disco and indie-pop really shines through on this song just as it did on her debut from 5 years ago. The song also offers an empowering message to women everywhere to have a good, healthy sense of self-esteem. It's funny I mentioned David Byrne in my previous review for this week, because the inspiration behind "Girl You Look Amazing" was (guess who?!) David Byrne!! Apparently, Nicole had a dream where the Talking Heads frontman was singing a song called "Girl You Look Amazing" at a discotheque, and she just snatched the song out of her dream and into reality!!


"Say It, Just Say It" by The Mowgli's: Is there anything The Mowgli's can't do to win people over with their charming, fun, friendly music?! Between this song and their springtime megahit, "San Francisco", I would say that the answer to that question is "no" - there's nothing these guys can't do to make me and thousands of others break into a big grin!! "Say It, Just Say It" is a love song, pure and simple, but its bouncy melody and infectious harmonies seem to make it more than that! And then there's that cute little claymation video that would melt Gumby's big green heart just watching it!! The video for the song can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRn8Sl6-sRo

New songs for Jan. 26th, 2011

here they are:

"Cry Cry Cry" by Nicole Atkins: Not too many people know Nicole Atkins, but it's high time they did, I think! She created a minor buzz on adult alt stations back in '08 with the somewhat Regina Spektor/Kate Nash sounding "Maybe Tonight", a danceable upbeat indie pop tune with wistful, benign feminine charm. I always suspected she'd be a "one hit wonder" on such stations, but apparently I was wrong! "Cry Cry Cry" is also making a buzz on the adult alt airwaves! It continues in the same path as "Maybe Tonight", but with a bit less of an emphasis on the danceable-ness. Think what it would sound like if Regina Spektor attempted to cover a Bonnie Raitt song, and you'll probably get a pretty good idea of what "Cry Cry Cry" sounds like!

"Pyro" by Kings of Leon: Like "Radioactive" before it, "Pyro" is also becoming a fast climber on the adult alt charts!! Unlike "Radioactive"'s rivetingly raving rocker type feel, "Pyro" is more of a plaintive, poetic piece of pop-rock. Though KOL have had slower songs before ("Revelry", for instance), none of their slower material was as popular as their faster, catchier tunes, so "Pyro" marks a first in KOL history! The beat of the song sounds remarkably similar to another poetic, introspective pop/rock song ("Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears), and even lyrically, "Pyro" is an achingly yearning ballad (for instance, in the chorus, "I won't ever be your cornerstone"). One more interesting thing to note, neither "Pyro" nor "Radioactive" used their titles anywhere within their lyrics - I guess KOL want to try to trick us as to what the titles of their latest songs are!!