https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/7gecH6WQXHOX9iL3Rqxcht?si=93cd5f1f7c8e4e29<\/p>\n
“September” – Earth, Wind & Fire
\nOK, we’re a day off. But I can’t miss my annual chance to throw this into a playlist.<\/p>\n
“Deep End (Paul’s in Pieces) – The National “Us Against The World” – Jungle “waterlilly” – crushed “Heaven Help Me” – The Bones of J.R. Jones “Joiner” – Blondshell \u201cBoys on the Radio\u201d – Hole \u201cEyes to the Wind\u201d – The War on Drugs
\nThe National dropped a surprise album Monday, serving as a companion to First Two Pages of Frankenstein<\/em>, released earlier this year. There are two really good songs on it. This is obviously one of them. You think I would waste your time with a bad track?<\/p>\n
\nI hope some team, somewhere, that goes on to great success adopts this as their anthem so we can hear them chanting it after a big win.<\/p>\n
\nThis track has some serious early 90s overtones. I’m reminded a bit of Sophie B. Hawkins.<\/p>\n
\nFirst time I heard this song, something about it struck me that I couldn’t quite place. Then I read that Jonathon Linaberry records and performs as a one-man-band and it made sense. There is a certain feel you get from those one-person acts who, using loops and pedals and a unique setup, can stand on stage and generate a band’s worth of music on their own. That vibe is definitely present here. <\/p>\n
\nI feel like I haven’t shared much of Blondshell’s music. Then I checked and this is the fourth of her songs I’ve posted in the past year-plus. That’s a sign both that she’s put out a lot of good songs and my memory isn’t as good as it used to be.<\/p>\n
\nThis week I listened to the \u201cDoll Parts\u201d episode of 60 Songs That Explain the 90s<\/a>. I owned Hole\u2019s breakthrough album Live Through This<\/em>, but not 1998\u2019s Celebrity Skin<\/em>. Host Rob Harvilla said this was one of three perfect rock songs that Courtney Love wrote in her career. I don\u2019t recall ever hearing it. I have to agree with him, though, it\u2019s pretty awesome. When she first formed Hole, Love listed Fleetwood Mac as one of her influences. That seems crazy if you just know Hole’s grungier songs where she is screaming. But this? I can totally hear Stevie Nicks singing it. <\/p>\n
\nThis is the last full day of astronomical summer. Every year, right around this time, I try to listen to this song while driving with the windows down. That started in, oh, 2015 or so. I was running an errand around 7:30 PM, driving our huge Chevy SUV, with the windows down, TWOD\u2019s most Bob Seger song came on, and it all felt perfect. I imagined people driving big Chevys in 1977, listening to \u201cNight Moves\u201d or \u201cMainstreet\u201d as the last of summer\u2019s warm breezes moved the evening air. Even though I’m driving a smaller, German SUV now, it still feels right to repeat that act each September. It also gives me a chance to remind you of this most excellent, if slightly less autumnal, live version<\/a> I\u2019ve shared several times in the past. <\/p>\n