Saturday, November 22, 2014

Robert DeLong - 'Long Way Down'

'Long Way Down' by Robert DeLong is a clever amalgam of electronica, hip hop, rock, and pop.  It oscillates between both wooden and balladeering vocals, with some auto-tune sprinkled inbetween. A very chilled cadence serves as a reassuring beat all-throughout.  The end result is irresistible.

Stream the audio to 'Long Way Down' in the player below:

Meg Myers - 'Desire'

Probably one of the more visceral singles currently on alt-rock rotation, 'Desire' is the brilliant siren from Tennessee-born Meg Myers.

Why is the song so great?

First, it blends just the right amount of industrial beats with focused, intense lyrical stylings.

Second, the melody is--plain and simple--sensual and seductive;  indeed, the narrator exclaims, very plaintively, 'I want to f*** you.'

Third, the track's tenor and attitude serve as the very embodiment of its title:  desire.  The meter of the lyrics and arrangement is one of concentration and fixation all throughout the entire production.

Watch the video for 'Desire' in the music player below:  

St. Lucia - 'Elevate'

Capturing the Zeitgeist of current indie rock, St. Lucia's 'Elevate' is heavy on the synth rhythms and light on the pop hooks.  In fact, just a few bars of the beginning may lead you to believe you are watching a classic John Hughes film.  

There are other bands that also implement the sound:  Bear Hands and Future Islands are just a couple. Nevertheless, 'Elevate' is still a quality single.  It even has a sound reminiscent of Miami Sound Machine at the end.  (Yes, that's a good thing).  

Stream the video to 'Elevate' in the player below:

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Sam Smith - 'I'm Not the Only One'

British sensation Sam Smith made incredible inroads with American audiences in 2014 with his epic ‘Stay with Me.’  In fact, it was near impossible not to walk in public without hearing the song blasted someplace, whether it be the local mall, aquatic center, park, or public square.

There is no doubt that ‘Stay with Me’ is one of the most soulful pop productions of the last decade.  Yet, ‘I’m Not the Only One’ strikes a different, but just as powerful chord, with Yours Truly.

Maybe it’s the subject matter featuring a narrator who is deeply hurt?  Maybe it’s the wonderful instrumental accompaniments?   Or maybe it’s just the sheer fact that Sam Smith is a damned good vocalist??  

In any event, ‘I’m Not the Only One’ resonates in an equally valuable, but very different, way as ‘Stay with Me’ did. 

You can watch the video to ‘I’m Not the Only One’ in the player below:

Hozier - 'Take Me to Church'

Hozier—born Andrew Hozier-Byrne—presents a modern day Gospel with his contemporary masterpiece, ‘Take Me to Church.’ 

The Irishman recently performed ‘Take Me to Church’ on SNL, and he brought down the house.  The song effortlessly brings together blues, Gospel, soul, and rock.  Indeed, it is refreshing to hear an electric guitar-driven alternative track in an era dominated lately by synth, computers, acoustic instruments, and light percussion. 

Beyond the music, the lyrics are deeply powerful and moving.  One choral stanza reads:
           "Take me to Church;  I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies;                              I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife; Offer me that deathless                  death; Good God, let me give you my life."
And when Hozier sings these words, he belts them out with passion and heart.  It may take a few spins for the words to connect to the listener, but once they do, you’ll feel you’ve, in fact, been taken to church.

Watch the SNL performance of ‘Take Me to Church’ in the player below.  (If you want to watch the official video instead, click here):


Sunday, October 19, 2014

Limp Bizkit - 'Rearranged'

Limp Bizkit is often minimized as self-indulgent: making music for the mere sake of mentioning their own name in their recordings.  Sure, they do utter the words “Limp Bizkit” in several of their songs.  And Fred Durst seemed pretty into himself during the band’s heyday.  

Nevertheless, the band produced some iconic songs and videos emblematic of the late-nineties.

Of course, everyone had ‘Nookie’ burned into their brains in 1999.  But Significant Other contained some other great gems.  Among them was ‘Rearranged,’ a seemingly mellow rap-rock track with an arc that travels from chill to raucous in the span of about four minutes. 

The video for ‘Rearranged’ follows the band’s faux arrest, referred to in the video for ‘Nookie.'   Interestingly, it featured Matt Pinfield, the former MTV VeeJay and Farmclub.com host.  He plays a judge who sentences the band to death.  Subsequent to that, the band rocks out with their cocks out in the death chamber, playing to the death as the room floods with milk and drowns them. 

The final scene shows the group in what is presumed to be Heaven, having been drowned, when Fred Durst says, “If this were Heaven, I’d be kicking it with Method Man.”  The video cuts to a “To be continued” title screen, setting the stage for the band’s following single, ‘N 2 Gether Now,’ which featured Method Man prominently. 

'Rearranged' was reportedly one of guitarist Wes Borland's favorite tunes of the band's to play.  Indeed, it is one of the undersigned's cherished tracks from the band as well.  


Watch the video to ‘Rearranged’ in the video player below:

Album Review: Godsmack - 'Godsmack'

In 1998, Godsmack was panned as a bunch of Alice in Chains rip-off artists.  Notably, the debut album’s ‘Someone in London’ could have served as sequel to AIC’s ‘Sludge Factory.’  (It also didn’t help that the band shared its name, sans space, with a track from Dirt).   But, for the most part, the Boston band survived off of its own unique energy, as its sound was just hard enough to remove it from the neo-grunge criticisms prevalent of the day. 

Led by Track 2’s ‘Whatever,’ Godsmack shoved its way unto rock and alternative radio with a vengeance.  Angry, pounding, thrashing—yet melodic and slightly poppy—‘Whatever’ served as an anthem for alienated Millennials coming of age in the late-nineties.  Indeed the song’s oft-repeated lyric, “better fuckin’ go away!’ spoke directly to the cohort’s misanthropic attitudes and overall angst. 

Moon Baby’ served as an interesting first track; it features a clip of Neil Armstrong’s famous quote just before the band launches into a driving cut sprinkled with exoticism and mysticism. 

‘Time Bomb’ harmlessly begins like a typical Depeche Mode synth-rock melody before vocalist Sully Erna screams, “I am in living hell; makes me wonder if I’m alive.”  His vocals, of course, are accented by robust guitar and drum work.

Many of the remaining tracks on the album fit within a similar framework:  Sully Erna projects guttural vocals whilst the rest of the band presents thrashing guitars and thumping drums and bass.  The final track, however, departs sharply from this paradigm. 

Godsmack’s final offering, ‘Voodoo,’ is a stripped down tribal chant that, not surprisingly, shares a similar structure with AIC’s ‘Angry Chair.’ But what separates ‘Voodoo’ from ‘Angry Chair’ is an earnest vocal, layered upon sobering acoustic drums and a steady, yet stripped down, bass guitar.  It also contains the same mysticism and exoticism ‘Moon Baby’ serves up—only tenfold. 

As a whole, Godsmack’s debut was a solid premiere, offering true rock fans a great alternative to the emo and pop-punk offerings prevalent of the day.  And 16 years later, it’s still a great album to pop into the ole CD player when you need just a little extra motivation to make it through the day.  

Steve's rating:  4 out of 5 stars.  

Watch Godsmack's live performance of 'Time Bomb' from 2000's Ozzfest in the player below:


Friday, September 05, 2014

George Thorogood and the Destroyers - 'I Drink Alone'

Here's a throwback Thursday post, inspired by a nightcap of rye whiskey (and by my fellow contributor Steve's closet favorite radio station, 95 KGGO).

There's something about pop culture that takes what's inherently cool, and then twists it and repackages it until it doesn't seem cool any longer.  A cliché.  That was always my relationship with George Thorogood and the Destroyers' biggest hit, "Bad to the Bone".

Granted, that song came out a whole year before I was born, but I grew up feeling like it was an "ode to being cool" that was really just pretty corny.

It's the type of song that's reserved for Harley Davidson rallies... no, not a Hell's Angels gathering, but more like an aging gang of American flag bandana-wearing financial planners who take a weekend to ride to Sturgis and drink one Michelob Ultra, because it has fewer calories and is still rather refreshing.

I even had a pair of boxer shorts as a kid that my mom bought from Pamida (anyone still with me?) that was covered in cartoonish skeletons and had a waistband that read, "Bad to the Bone".

You get my point.  But apparently I didn't get my own point recently when I found myself completely and utterly sucked in by one of G.T. and the Destroyers' other singles, "I Drink Alone".

There I was, cruising down a stretch of rural highway, when I quite randomly decided to switch to some classic FM rock radio.

I'd heard the song before, but I'd forgotten just how cool it actually was.  The dirty, blues-rock vibe of the song is undeniable.  Thorogood's voice has that distinctive grit and wail that really nails it on this song. The lyrics are simple, but witty and funny and delivered to perfection.  And then there's that saxophone solo. Seriously, what else do you need?  By the end of the song, I felt like I was Patrick Swayze doing flying kicks in Roadhouse.  It was invigorating.

The moral of this story is that much of what surrounds us deserves a fresh lease on life.  Take something old and look at it in a new way. You might be surprised how much you enjoy it.

Here's the video for "I Drink Alone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers:



Sunday, August 10, 2014

SOHN - 'Artifice'

I'm certainly a fan of London-based record label 4AD.

Artists such as Bon Iver, Iron & Wine and The National are some of the label's biggest acts to-date, but it's also been credited for breaking out lesser-known indie and electronic artists.

4AD started as a side-label to Beggars Banquet Records in 1979, and was popularized for releasing breakout albums by Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins and the Pixies in the 1980s.

But in recent years, the label has really hit a stride, signing some of independent music's brightest and most creative artists.

One artist on the label that deserves mention is SOHN.

An English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer, SOHN relocated to Vienna, Austria in 2010 to join the growing electronic music scene.  By 2012, he was signed to Aesop records, and a year later, to 4AD.

His debut album, Tremors, was released in April 2014 and features the lead single, "Artifice".

"Artifice" is a deeply atmospheric chillout session, played at dance-club pace.

It's layered with vibrant jungle rhythms, a haunting backdrop of electronic blips and keys and soulful vocals.

Fans of 4AD label-mates Purity Ring, Twin Shadow and Grimes should definitely give SOHN a chance.

The mysterious video for "Artifice" may be viewed below:




Visit sohnmusic.com for more information on this artist.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Artist Spotlight: Paul Sprawl



Paul Sprawl is an artist I learned about through another musical connection about a year-and-a-half ago, and his sound caught my attention right away.

Growing up listening to my father's Michael Hedges records, I've long felt a kinship to fingerstyle guitar.  The harmonic tapping of two hands on the neck of the guitar, drumming against the wood body of a hollow acoustic - there's a strange power I've always felt calming and beautiful.

Years later, I became a big fan of Minnesota guitarist Billy McLaughlin and his fingerstyle approach. I've been fortunate to see him play in intimate settings on several occasions and have been continually inspired by the magnetic quality of his live performances.

So, when I learned of Sprawl - another Minnesota-based musician with an incredible talent for fusing fingerstyle, experimental acoustic and bottleneck blues - I jumped at the opportunity to see him perform live.

Paul Sprawl is a California native, who's lived all over the U.S. and most recently settled in the Twin Cities.  He's been performing and writing music since the late '60s, but finally quit his temp job to pursue music full-time in the late '90s.  Choosing the life of a troubadour, Sprawl tours cross-country and internationally, with a staggering work ethic and commitment to his art.

The name "Sprawl" is somewhat perfect for a guitar style which blends technical accuracy with loose jams and unexpected twists.  Occasionally, his songs can start to spin outward and grow abstract, but then he'll suddenly bring them back inward.  His baritone vocals and bluesy harmonica reach through pockets and bring a distinctly American sound to the listener, like a campfire song held in an art gallery.

Sprawl has released nine independent albums, including 2011's stellar Dream Zoo - an album that finds his sprawling guitar technique tightened into more concise pop songwriting structures.  There's a sense of darkness sweeping down echoed halls, like the lyric, "Dreams are kept in cages, People buy tickets, They come to look and listen" from the title track, "Dream Zoo".  It's an album that's set perfectly for an introspective late-night drive down a forgotten highway.

I've met Sprawl on two occasions now and his conversations are well in tune with his songwriting sensibilities.  Both times, I've felt drawn in to his performances in the same meditative way as he seems to be playing - as if the music is light pouring out from some dark place within.

For more information on this artist, please visit: PaulSprawl.com


Saturday, July 26, 2014

Dandelion - 'Weird-Out'

Dandelion emerged with 'Weird-Out' just as grunge was beginning to die off.  In many ways, the tune comes across as a blatant Nirvana rip-off.  (Maybe it's the double tracking of the vox track?)  Yet, there is something just a little bit different about the arrangement that distinguishes the song from the Cobain led troupe.

Dandelion never really went anywhere after the modest success of 'Weird-Out' wore itself out.  Indeed, the band found themselves the subject of ridicule in a Beavis and Butthead episode.    Nevertheless, Dandelion is surely a band that epitomizes the 1990s alternative music scene, especially when you consider the band's other singles: 'Under My Skin' and 'Waiting for a Ride'.  The video for 'Weird-Out,' for instance, features Gen-X slackers, dressed in t-shirts and jeans, vocalizing in shoe-gaze style whilst jamming out hard on the guitars.  The music is Pixies-inspired, the exuberance muted, and a slowed down Punk beat serves as backdrop--characteristics most grunge music shared with each other in that time.

Watch the video for 'Weird-Out' in the player below:


Sunday, June 29, 2014

Morcheeba - 'The Sea'

This one is an oldie, but a goodie.  'The Sea' was featured on Morcheeba's 1998 release, Big Calm.  It's trip-hop all chilled out, and is--once again--another song well suited for a lazy Sunday.

Watch the video for 'The Sea' below:


In the Valley Below - 'Peaches'

'Peaches' contains catchy electro loops and a dainty chorus.  It's the perfect song for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Watch 'Peaches' by In the Valley Below in the video player below (wow, that's a mouthful):


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Jagwar Ma - 'Uncertainty'

Industrial rock sprinkled among nineties shoegaze, Jagwar Ma presents a clamorous single with 'Uncertainty.'  Slightly detached, yet surprisingly focused, the recording is quite compelling.

Watch the video to 'Uncertainty' in the player below:

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Future Islands - 'Seasons (Waiting on You)'

If Fine Young Cannibals had recorded a single in 2014, 'Seasons (Waiting on You)' would have been it.  The track is defined by synth, driving drum and bass, and a soothing vocal.

Watch the video for 'Seasons' by Future Islands in the player below:

Bear Hands - 'Giant'

"I am loving you more."
Bear Hands sets forth a catchy electronica-infused drum and bass single with 'Giant.' The track has gained greater airplay on regional indie stations as of late.  Of course, that's mostly due to its infectious chorus.

Watch the video for 'Giant' by Bear Hands in the player below:



Sunday, June 01, 2014

Rixton - 'Me and My Broken Heart'

Here's some more British blue eyed soul for ya:

'Me and My Broken Heart' is infectious, to say the least.  Part Bruno Mars, part Maroon 5, Rixton sets forth a stylish summer crossover hit with the single that seems to be blowing up everywhere.

Watch the video for 'Me and My Broken Heart' below:

Ed Sheeran - 'Sing'

'Sing' is a pleasing blend of folk and hip-hop by UK redhead Ed Sheeran.  Pharrell Williams lends his Midas-Touch to the bridge, joining Sheeran's soulful chops in near perfect unison.  Sheeran does a great job rapping some of his lyrics as well.

Watch the video to the exciting 'Sing' below:


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Jesse McCartney - 'Superbad'

Jesse McCartney reinvents his boyish image in the new video epic, 'Superbad.'  Smokin' stogies and sippin' down scotch, the Leo-lookalike's babyface doesn't entirely sell the new Don Draper playboy image.  But it's nevertheless an okay start to a potentially new dynamic career.

On the other hand, the vocals and underlying audio are great.  Jesse's voice has matured, and the end product is one worthy of JT or Michael Jackson.

Watch the official video for 'Superbad' below:


Ariana Grande - 'Problem'

If you liked it when Amerie belted "It's the One Thing That Got Me Trippin!," then you'll really like 'Problem' by Ariana Grande.

The tune has been climbing the charts lately, but despite its popularity, it's thankfully not pure saccharine like the rest of the Top 40.  Instead, 'Problem' is an amalgam of thumpin' bass, Jay-Z-inspired lyrics in the bridge, careless whispers, and some catchy hot sax (see Late Night with Jimmy Fallon).

Stream 'Problem' in the video player below:


Friday, April 18, 2014

Big Data - 'Dangerous (Featuring Joywave)'

'Dangerous' requires some patience, but the wait is well worth it.  Steady bass and drum slowly lead the song toward a metaphorical head butt at around the 2:10 mark (see video below).  From there, the track seduces its listener into a raucous crossover dance party that they don't ever want to end.

If you like the neo disco of LCD Soundsystem and the indie vocals of Of Montreal, then 'Dangerous,' by Big Data, is right up your alley.  Watch the official video in the player below:

Sunday, March 02, 2014

Beck - 'Waking Light'

'Waking Light' is a soothing ode that caps Morning Phase, Beck's first studio album in six years.  It features beautiful orchestrals and luscious space-inspired vibes. 

All in all it's a very well put together song.  In fact, I've been playing the tune several times a day since Morning Phase was released last week.

Stream 'Waking Light' in the video player below:

Monday, February 03, 2014

Bruno Mars - 'Gorilla'


Ooh I got a body full of liquor / With a cocaine kicker

Bruno Mars absolutely slayed his Halftime Show at the SuperBowl tonight--with help from The Red Hot Chili Peppers nonetheless.

Despite his amazing showing, he neglected to perform one of my favorite B-Mars tunes: 'Gorilla.'  This is not to take away from his near-perfect performance tonight, but is merely a lament.

Watch the official video for 'Gorilla' below: