“Cold Shoulder” – Peace Ritual
Since I first heard this band a month or so ago I’ve been trying to figure out who they remind me of. I know it’s some late ’90s/early ’00s band that I did not like. I think my mind is intentionally blocking those memories since I like Peace Ritual’s songs and it doesn’t want to ruin them by making the connection to the turn-of-the-millennium band I did not like.

“Night Moves” – Lissie
Speaking of sounding like other artists, on this track I think Lissie sounds like 50% Stevie Nicks, 50% Miley Cyrus.

“Baby, Does Your Heart Sink?” – Martha
Who says breakup songs always have to be slow and sad? I love the title line and the acknowledgement in it that his partner isn’t excited when they see his name on their caller ID anymore.

“Head In The Clouds” – The Beths
I’ve shared at least one song from The Beths over the past couple months. I wasn’t expecting much from their album; it wasn’t even on my running list of new releases to watch out for. Then I saw they got an excellent review in Pitchfork and I’ve listened to the album multiple times over the past week. It’s really good, and highly recommended if you like this, or any of their other songs I’ve posted.

“Carry the Zero” – Built to Spill
BtS (not BTS) released a new album a week back that also got really good reviews. I tried to listen to it but it just wasn’t my jam. After giving up a few songs in, I pulled up this, likely their greatest song ever, the first BtS song I ever heard, and one of only a few of their songs I’ve ever really loved. It was a year or two after its release in 1999 that I got into it, but for a while it was a staple on the mix CDs I used to make to listen to at work or in the car. Remember making mixes on physical media???

“A Million Miles Away” – The Plimsouls
I heard this song on the way home from dropping L off at school this morning. It got me thinking about how my relationship with music has changed over the past 20-ish years. In the late 1990s, classic but semi-obscure songs like this were hard to hear, unless you owned the albums they came from. Even on Eighties Weekends on local radio stations, this wasn’t exactly in high rotation. When it would pop up, it felt like a special occasion, and you could pick out the real ’80s Music G’s by how people reacted to it.

But once file sharing, the iTunes Music Store, and eventually streaming took over, you could hear these songs whenever you wanted to. If you listen to a specialized channel like SiriusXM’s First Wave today, you’ll hear this once a week or so. Which is all cool, and hopefully The Plimsouls are making a little bit of money off of. But I also realize that some of the magic of the track has been rubbed away. It’s still a great, great song. I just don’t react the same way I do when I would only hear it a few times a year.

BTW, those real ’80s Music G’s will instantly recall the scene in Valley Girl that featured this song. Valley Girl had the soundtrack that Fast Times at Ridgemont High should have had.