Let us continue our adventure through the flood of (mostly) new music that has arrived with spring.

“Understand” – The Cry
The Cry are one of those un-searchable bands. There are albums named The Cry. A TV show. A movie. Books. Enough noise that search engines find it very difficult to spit out information about the actual band, which is kind of obscure to begin with. From what I was finally able to dig up they were apparently big with skaters around 1990 then went away. They have reformed and are putting out new tunes, and I love this one. It’s subtle swagger, that mix of sounds that has some ’60s, some ’80s, some surf, some post-punk, some lo-fi. Good stuff.

“Blossom” Eliza Shaddad
I’ve been a huge fan of Shaddad for quite awhile now. This sounds like nothing she’s released before. She wrote it to honor her Sudanese heritage. It is wonderful.

“Last Day on Earth” – beadadoobee
Bea Kristi continues her one-woman ’90s revival.

“Into the Blue” – The Joy Formidable
I gave up on this band awhile back, but this song has my full attention.

“Off Grid” – Holiday Ghosts
Some glorious jangle-pop that sure sounds Australian to my ears. But these kids are actually Brits.

“Monsters” – Hits Like a Girl with Bartees Strange
Summer is getting nearer. This seems like a song for young folks to listen to while driving around with their windows down and holding hands with their sweetie.

“Trippin’ On a Hole in a Paper Heart” – Stone Temple Pilots
Man, STP… One of the most maddening bands of the grunge era. I could write about them for a long, long time. Fortunately a lot of other folks did a few weeks back when the 25th anniversary of their Tiny Music…Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop passed and I am off the hook. I was checked out on them by the time it was released, but this song always did bang. If Scott Weiland could have overcome his personal demons STP would be a Mt. Rushmore band of 1990s rock. As it was, they had moments when they soared as high as anyone. And enough stumbles along the way to drag them out of the elite.