This week features a song that choked me up and an oldie I’m guessing most of you won’t remember.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/6o14w4OebmqlOXpDNmjBaX?si=ec15a77caad44f7b<\/p>\n
“Wishbone” – Husbands
\nA cool post-post-post-post punk track by a duo from Oklahoma. With guest vocals from a third Sooner State artist. Doing my best to push emerging artists from Big 12 country!<\/p>\n
“Everything Is Simple” – Widowspeak
\n“Everything is simple ’til it’s not.” Damn, that kind of sums up the whole world, doesn’t it? Which, from what I read, was Widowspeak’s intent: that transition from approaching something new with wonder and excitement about its potential to realizing its shortcomings and complications. This has a cool edge I don’t recall past Widowspeak songs having.<\/p>\n
“Endless Summer” – Superchunk
\nAt first listen I disagreed: I wouldn’t mind endless summer. Then I got into the lyrics and realized these alt-rock lifers are singing about climate change and its broader effects beyond how the seasons are different than they used to be. <\/p>\n
“A Wave Across A Bay” – Frank Turner
\n“I spoke with Scott last night.” I did not know the background of this song the first time I heard it, and thus was not prepared for, and floored by, its impact. This is Turner’s ode to his good friend Scott Hutchison<\/a>. He writes of the former Frightened Rabbit lead singer’s suicide in a way that I think Scott would very much appreciate: in stark, honest, often uncomfortable terms. Turner doesn’t shy away from brutality of the act. If you loved Scott’s music, or if you’ve ever had anyone close to you take their own life, this can be a difficult listen. But Turner also bites another Hutchison lyrical technique: turning a punishingly emotional song into something that is hopeful by the end. I think that’s what we all hope for those we lose this way: that despite the tragedy of their end, that they somehow found peace through their actions. “God damn I miss you, man…”<\/p>\n