“True Trans Soul Rebel” – Laura Jane Grace with Miley Cyrus Miley is doing some interesting things these days. I can’t say I’m on-board with, or understand, many of them. But her Happy Hippy Backyard Sessions are often fantastic. I highly recommend checking out the other performances. Here, she joins Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace for one of the best…

“Turn Around” – Mikal Cronin In the style of Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn.” Cronin’s new album, MC III, is one of my favorites of the year. As he did on his last album, he perfectly combines classic power pop with straight-ahead rock, and this time throws on some layers of strings to add a lushness to each song.

https://youtu.be/98AJUj-qxHI “Once In A Lifetime” – Talking Heads One of the oddest, and thus most memorable, videos from MTV’s earliest days.

https://youtu.be/jFvtMp7hRF8 “Street Fighting Man” – The Rolling Stones In honor of Yordano Ventura and the 2015 Kansas City Royals, who are apparently going to get into some kind of altercation with every team they play this season.

Two classic Crowded House appearances from Letterman’s show this week. “Now We’re Getting Somewhere” Performed in 1987. Album one, side one, track three. In the heart of one of the all-time great opening stretches of any debut album. “Locked Out” From 1994. Most famous for its inclusion on the Reality Bites soundtrack. Funny to see the difference between the original…

“Under A Rock” – Waxahatchee Two weeks after Courtney Barnett dropped the first great album of the year, Katie Crutchfield drops one that is almost as good. I’ve been a fan of Crutchfield since Waxahatchee’s last album, and I love her mash-up of mid–90s college rock with a healthy dose of the more recent indie sound. Say a mid-point between…

Not one, not two, but three videos this week! The first two were ones I meant to share before we took off on spring break two weeks ago. Alas, that final Thursday was entirely too busy and I wasn’t able to queue them up. The first one seems appropriate for the Final Four weekend. “Dunked On” – Froggy Fresh &…

“The One I Love” – Big Country Odds are if you mention the band Big Country to most people in our generation, they immediately and only think of one song. Which makes sense, as other than that classic, Big Country was never huge in America. But they had a couple other smaller hits here in the States, including this gorgeous…

“Let’s Groove” – Earth, Wind & Fire EW&F was a big part of the broad musical education my parents gave me. I remember there being a couple of their albums in our record crate, and I loved flipping through them because of their fantastic, futuristic, outer-space themed covers and liner notes. The music was pretty solid, too. I found myself…

“Pedestrian At Best” – Courtney Barnett In terms of music, it’s been a slow start to the year. Some solid songs, but there has yet to be a great album. Each Tuesday I check the new releases, hoping for something exciting and amazing that I want to listen to on repeat for days. But each week I’m disappointed. Although it…