Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0cSNkNVWgtwrDKvmyMxTlh?si=832582c9770f441e “When They Come For Me” – Spielbergs When this dropped a couple weeks back, one of my Brothers in Music sent me a message that said, “Shit is hot.” My response: “Shit is indeed hot.” Still laugh about when we coached soccer together and wanted our team to take the field to Spielbergs’ “We Are All Going To Die.”…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1S8VmIz2vLY58bOnc84YPa?si=67bf765e15ae4f71 “Turn Up The Sunshine” – Diana Ross, Tame Impala Calling it right now: this is the cross-generational, cross-genre song of the summer. One of my nephews loved Pharell’s “Happy” when he was two. I predict his two-year-old brother is going to be crazy about this song. “Summer Nights” – Hazel English And this should be the indie rock song…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1zOgnk1hAyASh3VtPfMlOR?si=32493b6bdd5449c8 “Rewind” – Whimsical Some very turn-of-the-millennium shoegaze from Northwest Indiana, of all places. “Alive” – POLIÇA Oh, damn! This song absolutely slays. “Bones” – Rosali After some shoegaze and electro-pop, let’s take things in a completely different direction. It sure seems like a whole lot of shreddy songs like this come out of Philly. I think Rosali has worked…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ZyKR7YFqwhX5O169NXdvH?si=94e27eb74ddf48cb “Better Days” – Liam Gallagher I’ve never been a huge fan of the Gallagher brothers’ post-Oasis solo/group efforts. But this song is solid. And I hope that Liam is right that the better days we’ve been waiting for eventually get here. “Nowhere At All” – Young Guv Nobody is better right now at making hazy, summery, jangle pop like…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 73
Chart Week: May 5, 1979 Song: “Music Box Dancer” – Frank Mills Chart Position: #3, 15th week on the chart. This was the song’s peak. Songs like “Music Box Dancer,” complete outliers to everything else on the pop chart at the time, fascinate me. It makes no sense that this track spent over four months in the Hot 100 and…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6APHaq6NZeEF0f87JHijhx?si=1dd3c386c6584b37 “Do You Pray?” – Tess Parks When artists are described as “Psych rockers” it can go several directions. I like the direction Parks takes that description. “Falling Apart (Right Now)” – Wilco Wilco has had a hell of a journey through their nearly 30 year career. They’ve meandered all over the soundscape, had various levels of success, had lineup…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 72
Chart Week: April 26, 1980 Song: “Cars” – Gary Numan Chart Position: #22, 11th week on the chart. Peaked at #9 for three weeks in June. It has always bothered me that Gary Numan never seemed impressed with the biggest song of his career, 1980’s “Cars.” I’ve read several stories in which he speaks of it dismissively. On the song’s…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7curiq1YPat8lwaHLQzfIR?si=7715cf94c2a04e21 “Roman Holiday” – Fontaines D.C. FDC’s new album dropped last week, to critical acclaim. It is a little too one-note for me, so no surprise that this track is the one that stuck out to me, as it is the only one that varies (slightly) from the rest of the album’s sound. “Wonderment” – Chastity Brown Hey, it’s Adele…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3pPq5rG5tq9LcLyLoO2rhc?si=ff9c013661944deb “More Than Love” – Hand Habits Meg Duffy spent the lockdown huddled in a home with fellow artist Sasami and engineer Kyle Thomas. Duffy said the time spent with them gave her the courage to write the songs for her latest album. I’ve given it a listen and this is, by far, the standout track from it. “Dignitary Life”…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 71
Chart Week: April 19, 1986 Song: “A Little Bit of Love (Is All It Takes)” – New Edition Chart Position: #38, 8th week on the chart. Peaked at #38 for two weeks. Every teen pop group faces a dilemma as they get older: how do they maintain their audience as they, their fans, and their music matures? New Edition was…