After months of having more than enough songs in the queue for these posts, the tide of new music might finally have slowed a bit. Have no worries, I still have plenty of songs for you. It is just taking a tad more work to put this week’s playlist together. Which I, of course, do not mind.

“Summer’s Over” – Jordana, TV Girl
One weekend left.

“Hallelujah” – Bad Moves
There is always a debate on whether rock music and politics go together, and then how much politics you can inject into a song before it puts people off. Of course there is never the same debate for country music and politics, but let’s not get into double standards at the moment.

At first listen this song would not seem to be political at all. As soon as you pay attention to the lyrics, though, you’ll find this is a scathing indictment of the various ways conservatives attempt to legislate rights away from fellow citizens they don’t like. And you can shake your ass to it, which is a bonus.

“Bitter Pill” – Queen of Jeans
I can’t imagine anyone not liking this song.

“Madeline” – Georgia Gets By
GGB is the solo project of Georgia Nott of the band Broods. Here she sings about the overwhelming feelings that come with meeting someone you know will change your life.

“In the Moonlight (Fade #3)” – The Tisburys
I forget the exact conversation, but some music writer was referring to Bruce Springsteen and recommended this band as one that picked up his mid-80s Heartland Rock sound and carried it into our times. I hear more direct lines to R.E.M.’s Eighties sound than Springsteen’s, but I get what that person was trying to say.

“Little While” – Wishy
Another track from local kids Wishy, who keep getting national love for their new album.

“The Feast Of St. John” – Glen Hansard
As I mentioned, I didn’t know much about Hansard’s music before seeing him open for Pearl Jam Monday night. He introduced this song as being about the “fuckers who try to drag you down.”

“Setting Sun” – Pearl Jam
One more song from Monday, and another great one from the latest album. PJ has always done a pretty good job sequencing tracks, opening and closing their albums with songs that fit the moment. This is the closer for Dark Matter, and has become an immediate, late-in-the-encore track at their concerts. I’ve grown to love it more-and-more over the past few months. Seeing it live Monday reinforced that love. When Eddie lets loose in the extended bridge/outro section it was truly amazing. Earlier this year they were using it as the final song of the night, which makes a ton of sense given its emotional weight and tone. Now, however, it serves as the last new song of the night with the traditional closers (“Baba O’Reilly,” “Rockin’ In The Free World,” and/or “Yellow Ledbetter”) to follow.

“Acquiese” – Oasis
The biggest music news of the week was the Gallagher brothers finally calling a truce and announcing a set of reunion shows later this year. I guess Liam needs to make back the money he lost in his divorce. We’ll see how all of that goes. I liked, but never loved, Oasis’ music. I’ve always been entertained by their dumb antics, though. This song has always been a banger.

“Panama” – Van Halen
Mixing it up a bit this week, sharing a song that was on its way down the charts instead of up the week of September 1, 1984. All of the new songs this week were kind of crap. Somehow this peaked at just #13. This was its final week in the Top 40, landing at #32.