New songs for March 2nd 2022

 here they are:


"Becoming All Alone" by Regina Spektor: The quirky yet sensitive music of Regina Spektor was all over the adult alt airwaves during the mid to late 2000's, yet her power just didn't seem to stay as strong in the decade that followed. She was kind of like an unlikely but irresistible cross between Tori Amos and They Might Be Giants. "Becoming All Alone" is a bittersweet comeback song for Regina. The song might be a bit more electro-pop than the less flashy piano-pop that Regina's fans might be used to, but it really gels in this song, which gradually adds other instruments like percussion and brass as it goes on, winding down towards the end into a more typical piano-and-strings Regina song. As is to be expected with Regina, oddball lyrics (such as "I asked God, 'Please call my name,' and I said, 'Hey. Let's grab a beer") accompany a more somber musical sound. Her mid '10s song, "Bleeding Heart," was somewhat of a disappointment, but I think she's come back to her musical roots with "Becoming All Alone." Welcome back, old friend!

"Come Back" by Trombone Shorty: The sounds of '60s and '70s soul have always been part of the Trombone Shorty sound, but on "Come Back," he really flaunts that sound! As one might think with a title like "Come Back," Trombone Shorty's latest song is basically a lovesick plea. The lyrics aren't anything new to the music world, but the way Shorty delivers his music and the passion with which he delivers it inject fresh life into the rather stagnant musical climate of the 2020's. Fans of early '70s R & B will probably dig this song, and, true to his stage name, Trombone Shorty has heavy use of brass in this song, as he does in all his material. 

"Everything's Electric" by Liam Gallagher (Oasis): Two of the major players of '90s rock collide in the Oasis frontman's latest song, "Everything's Electric." In addition to Oasis finding new musical life, Foo Fighters also do in this song, in which FF's lead singer Dave Grohl is featured on the drums! The song overall sounds like some of the attempts at "new" music that vintage rockers like The Rolling Stones, U2, and Lenny Kravitz have attempted during the new millennium. In other words, it definitely sounds like a rock song, but it doesn't sound like it's trying to add anything in that hasn't been done before. How a notoriously friendly guy like Dave Grohl and a notoriously unfriendly guy like Liam managed to make it work here is anyone's guess, but the chemistry is noticeable here and it works somehow. 

"Highest Bidder" by Fantastic Negrito: Like our entry from two songs ago, this song is also a foray into '70s R & B in the modern era. Fantastic Negrito's "Highest Bidder" really captures the more minimalist side of the funk movement, with almost the entire song defined by just the E minor chord (and guitar solos being played over it sometimes). The song is not without a dose of dark humor either, taking on such topical issues as racism, capitalism, and other subjects of a political nature while both gleefully and sarcastically singing in the chorus that "Everything goes to the highest bidder." In other words, Fantastic Negrito is commenting on how the greedy people of the world are profiting while those on the lower yet more generous end of the economic totem pole are suffering. Fantastic Negrito clearly knows what he's talking about here and isn't afraid to put it in our faces! The song culminates with an E minor riff that's noticeably more distorted than the rest of the song, perhaps as a way of symbolizing the anger he feels throughout the song and just letting it all out for the last few seconds!

"Made Up Mind" by Bonnie Raitt: Not actually a Bonnie tune, but actually one from the bluegrass-influenced rock group, The Brothers Landreth, that came out in the mid-2010's. The original version wasn't very memorable, but Bonnie has a knack for making just about anything she does good, and her cover of "Made Up Mind" is no exception. She turns the mild country sound of the original into a slinky, blues-y vamp all her own here! The fact she is now two years past 70 and still churning out juicy blues-rock tunes just as she did at the start of her career is also truly a wonder to behold!

"Problems" by Neal Francis: Neal's first big adult alt radio hit, "Can't Stop the Rain," had a very blues-y, gritty sound to it that quickly caught on with its demographic! His followup song, "Problems," is not as blues-y, but still attempts to go with the whole "blue-eyed soul" feel that he had with his first big song. In fact, the song sounds an awful lot like something Hall and Oates, arguably the best-known blue-eyed soul group of the 1970's and early '80s, would have come up with, though it has noticeably more synth than the typical H & O song does. Perhaps it's the song's seamless, fluid mixture of meaty rock riffs, crooning vocals, and soulful rhythm that give me the H & O vibes here. Also distinguishing "Problems" from its predecessor, "Can't Stop the Rain," is the fact that "Problems" has a bridge that doesn't quite sound like the rest of the song does that almost feels like it doesn't need to be there, yet it still comes back strong in the end. 

New songs for October 25th 2017

here they are:


"Holy Mountain" by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: With constant comparisons to The Beatles, Noel Gallagher's first major band, Oasis, was never a band to stick to current trends. Perhaps the same could be said of Noel Gallagher's side project, The High Flying Birds. Evoking the sound of such glam rock classics as "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" and "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting", "Holy Mountain" is a lively, hip-shakin' rock 'n' roll song which, like its glam rock ancestors, is basically about girls and rock 'n' roll. If you need to indulge your escapist fantasies into a song, then try this one!


"Ti Amo" by Phoenix: Half neo-psychedelia and half disco, Phoenix's "Ti Amo" (Spanish for "I love you") is a celebration of just how eclectic the French indie-pop quartet's musical taste is! Name dropping many musicians from punk rockers, The Buzzcocks, to classical master, Beethoven, and a mention of "unsophisticated soft rock" as well, "Ti Amo" seems like one of those songs in which the lyrics were just randomly cobbled together, but that is definitely one aspect of it that makes it so entertaining! English and Spanish are not the only languages used in the song either. There also a brief lyrical interlude in French, though this shouldn't be surprising considering where Phoenix come from.

7 MORE songs?!?!? WHAAA....?!?!

That's right!!! 7 MORE songs!! Perfect way to start the month of September! Here they are:

"Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine" by The Nightwatchman (a.k.a. Tom Morello, ex-Rage Against the Machine member): Would you have expected the guitarist of '90s hard rock group Rage Against the Machine to have suddenly reinvented himself as a Dylan-esque folk singer?! Probably not many of you would have, but around the mid 2000's he did so, and he did a mighty fine job at it too! The latest from Morello, "Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine" seems like where ends would meet for him, musically. While acoustic guitar and harmonica both play a central role in "Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine", the fast pace of the percussion makes it sound more like a rock song, and the chorus (just the song's title, really) is "sung-spoken" in an aggressive fashion more typical of a Rage song than a Dylan song. Hope to hear more of Morello channeling his inner Dylan sometime soon, he really does an excellent job at it!

"Bright Lights" by Gary Clark Jr.: Amazingly, there are three songs from blues musicians that are being reviewed this week, and this one is first in line! This song, Gary Clark Jr.'s ode to New York City (as he states in the opening line, "Woke up in New York City"), sounds more like it belongs in the 1970's than it does to the 21st century, with its flashy guitar solos and its propulsive boogie beat! Somehow, though, whoever produced this song made it sound polished enough that it sounds recent, in spite of the instrumental techniques used in this song. At 5 minutes and 13 seconds, the length of the song also seems more suited to classic rock than it does to modern/alt rock. Ultimately, though, it's songs like this one that make music all the more worth listening to in the 21st century, and it's also proof that rock 'n' roll is not "dead", despite what some people might think.

"Cruel" by St. Vincent: So how exactly does one classify a song like "Cruel"?! Electro-disco-classical-post-punk-hard-rock?!? Somehow, it kinda sounds like that. Aside from incorporating influences from multiple genres, "Cruel" also manages to evoke multiple emotions. The overall tone of the song is dark, yet the lead singer has very melodic (but sometimes desperate) vocals, and it's also a song that makes me want to dance AND play air guitar at the same time!! Yet I don't know if I'd feel entirely comfortable dancing to a song that's so ominous sounding, and also what is a rock 'n' roll guitar solo doing in a song that's supposed to be disco inflected...with post-punk creepiness?! There doesn't seem to be an easy way to define this song, but sometimes those are the best kinds of songs!!

"If I Had A Gun" by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: Oasis might not be as big as they once were in the '90s, but WOW, the members are definitely still active!! Around February of this year, the band Beady Eye (featuring Liam Gallagher from Oasis on lead vocals) came out and released a fun, jaunty Beatlesque tune called "The Roller". Now it's the other Oasis brother, Noel Gallagher's turn in the spotlight. "If I Had A Gun" provides an introspective, poignant contrast to the bouncy, pop-y aspects of "The Roller". In some ways "If I Had A Gun" almost sounds like a "sequel" to Oasis' biggest hit, "Wonderwall", as both songs are slow, sweet sounding, prolific, and even in the same key (F sharp minor, though "Wonderwall" was capoed). It's unfair, though, to dismiss "If I Had A Gun" as a "ripoff" of "Wonderwall", since it is a song that takes on beautiful, reflective qualities of its own!

"Love the Way You Walk Away" by Blitzen Trapper: Though I only know three songs (including this one) by Blitzen Trapper, I love pretty much everything they have released so far! Much like Fleet Foxes, Mumford and Sons, and The Decemberists (all of whom Blitzen Trapper have probably been compared to by now), Blitzen Trapper are a bittersweet sounding neo-folk-rock band that have made a name for themselves among indie rock fans (including me)! That being said, I was looking forward to hearing what their latest song, "Love the Way You Walk Away" was going to sound like. Its sound seems kind of country-folk influenced, in a very laid-back, "traveling back home on the highway" kind of way. Though I was expecting it to have more of a Donovan-esque "psych-folk" sound the way other Blitzen Trapper songs (especially "Dragon's Song") typically do, "Love the Way You Walk Away" does have a very earnest, heartfelt sort of sound. This one (and probably the Noel Gallagher song as well) are my fave releases of the week so far!!

"River's Gonna Rise" by Warren Haynes: Like his song released earlier this year, "Man In Motion", the part-time Allman Brothers and Gov't Mule guitarist lays down some mean blues licks once again on his latest effort, "River's Gonna Rise". Unlike the frenzied, enthusiastic guitar playing "Man In Motion" boasted, "River's Gonna Rise" is a bit of a calmer song. This does not mean Warren doesn't show off his chops on his axe, though, he most certainly does. However, the feel of this song is a bit more earthy like B.B. King, and not so much a "guitar hero" Eric Clapton type sound. Somehow, the title alone seemed to indicate to me that this would be a calmer song, as this song uses the word "river" in the title, and that's what rivers usually are.

"T-Bone Shuffle" by Johnny Winter: It's quite amazing to me that three of the songs I've reviewed this week are blues songs. "T-Bone Shuffle", however, is by far the blues-iest of the three!! No complex emotions or "deep" lyrics in this song, and no weird chords or odd song structure either, just your basic 12 bar blues. As much as the gentle, poignant, bittersweet songs I review have become close to my heart, sometimes it's fun to just play the blues! It's great to listen to, and fun to dance to. No song I've reviewed so far has come as close to reviving the spirit of the blues as "T-Bone Shuffle" has, with its feel-good, toe-tappin', guitar blastin' sound!!

It's my first Blog-i-versary!!! (kind of)

I first started this blog on February 11th of last year (but that's not a Wednesday), so today I'm celebrating my first blog-i-versary!!! With 8 cool new tracks to review, too! So here they are:

"Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes: I love how nostalgic and simply beautiful Fleet Foxes' music sounds. "White Winter Hymnal" has a very dreamy sound, and "Mykonos" has remarkably similar chord structure to The Mamas and Papas' "California Dreamin'", another personal fave of mine. That being said, I was pretty excited to hear Fleet Foxes released a new track this year!! "Helplessness Blues", once again, evokes the same dreamy, nostalgic qualities that most of their songs tend to. It almost sounds like it uses the same tuning as Joni Mitchell's "You Turn Me On I'm A Radio", and the mood of the song even seems somewhat Joni-like (and Dylanesque). Fleet Foxes have once again managed to win my heart over, and I hope they continue to do so!!

"Let the Light In" by Bob Schneider: Bob Schneider has been around for longer on the music scene than most people probably think he has been (since around 2003). It wasn't until 2009, though, that he started getting attention with songs like the marvelous, enchanting indie-pop/adult alt fave "40 Dogs (Like Romeo and Juliet)" and the more subdued, somewhat Dave Matthews-ish "The Bringdown". I guess adult alt radio liked Schneider enough that they've decided to give him another chance. "Let the Light In", amazingly, lives up to its title. It's not bittersweet like "40 Dogs" or melancholy like "The Bringdown", but instead is a rather happy song, with sunny synths and exciting xylophones to set the mood! I wasn't sure whether to expect indie-pop or folk-pop with "Let the Light In", as Schneider has been known to do both, but this song meets somewhere in between, and I think I like that!

"Me Me Me" by Middle Brother: Imagine what it would be like if alumni from three somewhat roots-y indie rock groups (Delta Spirit, Deer Tick, and Dawes) formed into one supergroup and somehow landed a guest spot on "Happy Days". What would that be like?!? Well, wonder no more, for Middle Brother is a supergroup comprised of members of all three of the bands I just mentioned, and their first big hit (among the indie/adult alt crowds), "Me Me Me", sounds more like a song you'd expect to hear from Elvis Presley or Jerry Lee Lewis (albeit with a "fuzz" guitar solo in the middle) than you would from three bands who typically bear more similarity to acts like Bright Eyes, Wilco, and My Morning Jacket. It's a darn catchy tune that I would definitely like to hear more of for at least the late winter/Spring season!! Between the rockin' boogie vibe of this song and the Joni Mitchell-esque folk-rock of "Helplessness Blues" I can't decide which is my fave pick of the week!!

"Poison And Wine" by The Civil Wars: A bit of a late review here, but please bear with me. This song could easily be called "Falling Slowly - redux". It's a melancholy folk-rock tune that features a duet between a guy and a girl (though unlike Glen and Marketa, of "Falling Slowly" fame, I don't think The Civil Wars are Irish). "Poison and Wine" definitely seems like it was intended to be a tearjerker, yet I only get that emotion from the song about halfway. I guess "Falling Slowly" had such an authentically emotional grip on me that I didn't expect any song or band to try and copy it, yet lo and behold, The Civil Wars' "Poison and Wine" shows up about four years later! Perhaps I shouldn't care too much if one song is copying (intentionally or not) another, as I do typically love songs like "Poison and Wine"!

"The Roller" by Beady Eye: Hmmmm....who's "Beady Eye"?!? This sounds more like an Oasis tune. That's because, technically, this IS an Oasis tune. Beady Eye is the side project of one of the Gallagher brothers (though I forget which one at the moment), and "The Roller" really doesn't sound too different at all from the typical Oasis song. Oasis are one of my fave bands, though, so no problem here! The jaunty, toe-tapping feel of "The Roller" also helps to give it a little bit of flavor and distinction from most Oasis tunes (besides "Lyla" which had practically the same rhythm).

"Too Dramatic" by Ra Ra Riot: Ra Ra Riot's follow-up to "Boy" sounds like...well..."Boy". But it's still worth reviewing because it's a tune that's been catchy enough to get stuck in my head! And plus you gotta love a band who combines the reggae-tinged new wave sound of The Police with the "orchestral rock" vibes of groups like Arcade Fire! Perhaps one advantage "Too Dramatic" has over "Boy" is that the guitar seems to be used throughout the song (though "Boy" had a much more distinct guitar solo), and, since I play guitar, this does make a difference for me.

"When I'm Alone" by Lissie: Between this song and Lissie's previous hit, "In Sleep", I'm pretty convinced that Lissie is on her way to becoming the indie world's answer to Alanis Morissette! Both songs manage to combine a pop-y melody with minor key chords and world-weary, frustrated lyrics. "When I'm Alone" is a bit more of an intense tune than "In Sleep", though, I think, not only because of its more frenzied rhythm, but also because of the rushed way she delivers the lyrics in the verses, almost as though out of desperation. "When I'm Alone" uses a rhythmic technique that isn't really that common in pop/rock music these days, and the way Lissie manages to keep steady vocal patterns in the chorus over its frenetic instrumentation makes it all the more worth listening to!

"World Gone Crazy" by The Doobie Brothers: Back in the summer of last year, an updated version of The Doobies' 1972 song "Nobody" started (surprisingly) hitting the adult alt airwaves and (even MORE surprisingly) hit the Top 20 of the adult alt charts somewhere around mid-fall of last year. What made "Nobody" such a cool song was that it sounded like a vintage Doobie Brothers tune (the kind you'd be likely to hear on a classic rock station, not the Michael McDonald era Doobies). "World Gone Crazy" doesn't quite have the same vibe. It sounds a bit more like an updated version of an Eagles song (only more sax heavy). It does have two saving graces, though. First off, it's a catchy tune (I can't say that about too many of the Michael McDonald songs, save for possibly "Takin' It to the Streets"), but the best part is that the lead vocalist was the one who sang on all the pre-McDonald tracks (I forget his name, but I like him MUCH better than McDonald).