40 Watt Gigolo

from the forthcoming album Snow (2017)

I dig Simon.  I dig Garfunkel.  I adore Simon & Garfunkel.  The same applies to Angus & Julia Stone.

As splendid as Angus' Bird On A Buffalo or Julia's Justine are, there is something magical that occurs when they record together.  Past releases, like Mango Tree, Big Jet Plane, and Grizzly Bear dazzle with their laid-back, warm vibes, enchanting listeners with each successive track.

Snow - the title track from their forthcoming album - is the latest addition to this body of work.  It is a simple song featuring dreamy guitar and bass over a vintage drum track, adding a tasty synth during the interlude.  The lyrics are about being with someone while wishing you were with someone else.

I really dig the lyrics and vocals.  Initially, the song consists of Julia singing a line with Angus repeating it.  However, as their relationship devolves, Angus' responses veer in a different direction.  The lyrics craftily reference "smiling…

from the album We're All Alright! (2017)

After hitting the music scene with four essential albums, The Ramones had begun to devolve into a pop-punk caricature of themselves.  Then, on the album Too Tough To Die, The Ramones roared back, reclaiming their relevance with emphatic, hardcore punk wrapped in heavy metal tones.  The record makes an amazing statement.  It is one of my all-time favorites.

Similarly, Cheap Trick hit the music scene with four essential albums before their pop own devolution.  And now, forty years after their first release, we find them reasserting themselves with inspired hard rock and punk playfulness.

Their eighteenth studio album opens with the song You Got It Going On.  The song opens with a menacing guitar riff, followed by Robin Zander's trademark vocals.  Thunderous drums and booming bass follow.  With several stops in the song and a blistering guitar solo, you are left with your jaw hanging, saying "Damn, Cheap Trick can rock."

Hats off…

from the single The Camp (2017)

Sometimes I sit in disbelief, wondering why, in a world so fucked up, there are so few protest singers.  Shouldn't young and old people be grabbing acoustic guitars the way angry peasants grab pitchforks?  This complacency, what the fuck?

That said, I really dig the direction PJ Harvey has taken her music and her platform, collaborating with musicians in oppressed and war-torn regions of the world, creating awareness, making art.  It is beautiful.

On her latest single - The Camp - she collaborates with Egyptian protest signer, Ramy Essam, to produce a world-folk song about Syrian refugees living in Lebanon.

Ramy Essam is notable for playing protest music in Tahrir Square in Cairo in the lead up to his country's 2011 revolution.  One of his songs - Irhal - became a rallying cry in the movement, calling for the ouster of Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak.  This resulted in his imprisonment and torture.  Today, he lives in exile in Malmö, Sweden…

from the album Powerplant (2017)

I dig it when bands try new things, evolving their sound.

On the song It Gets More Blue, girlpool open with a tom-tom beat similar to something off The Cars debut album.  This is remarkable in that girlpool had - until this album - existed as a guitar and bass only duo.

Despite the three-piece newness, the beauty of Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker's vocals are ever present, offering a high-wire act in California harmony.  Together they create something a bit dreamy, a bit folky, a bit dirty.

The beat and dreaminess juxtapose the song's sombre theme of building up - and putting faith in - an unworthy lover.  I particularly dig the line "I faked global warming just to get close to you."

Throughout Powerplant, you hear talent evolving.  Can anything be better?

Click Hereto watch the official video for It Gets More Blue.

from the album Capacity (2017)

With its discordant opening, Shark Smile is a song that might get overlooked by someone clicking for gold.  However, forty-two seconds into the chaos the song takes a hard pivot into warm rhythm guitar, pulsing bass, and a straight-four beat.  Within no time at all, you realize that you have found your newest favorite song.

The simple and straightforward instrumentation speaks directly to my rock and roll sensibilities.  Layer on top Adrianne Lenker's magnificently understated vocals and I am in love.  This band of Brooklynites pins my dig meter on ten.

Further accolades go to the lyrics and subject matter.  This song is about a car crash that leaves your partner dying.  Dark stuff, that - when juxtaposed against the melody and vibe - becomes macabre art.

I can't stop listening.

Click Here to listen to Shark Smile.  Note that this version edits out the aforementioned opening.

from the album The Storm (2017)

ZZ Ward is a terrific, LA-based singer-songwriter with a great feel for deep blues grooves.  Her sophomore album - The Storm - is chock full of excellent music.

The song I am digging most is Cannonball.  With a deep groove and stellar vocals, this is one of the best songs I've come across this year.  On the song she is joined by Fantastic Negrito, and together their raw energy gives buoyancy and life to a 1-4-5 blues progression.

I particularly dig the guitar work, harmonica solo, and ZZ Ward's vocal intonations that give off a near Amy Winehouse vibe.

Undoubtably, this song will be on my "best songs of 2017" list later this year.

Click Here to listen to Cannonball.

from the album Dragonfly (2017)

Back in 2001, I reconnected with my long-time songwriting partner - Fred - to write a dozen, or so, songs.  It had been seven years since we had last written together, making it necessary for us to "sync-up" on what we'd been listening to and where our musical heads were at.

I burned a CD of roughly fifteen songs by new artists whose songwriting skills impressed me, and mailed it off to him.

When we finally sat down face to face, he couldn't stop talking about one of the songs: Not Pretty Enough by Kasey Chambers.  He played it on his guitar, talking about chord changes, technique, and lyrics.  Few songs have ever connected with Fred this way.

Fast forward sixteen years, and I find myself listening to You Ain't Worth Suffering For, a new song by Kasey Chambers.  She has grown up, her voice a bit deeper and more mature.  Her vocal chops and songwriting are better than ever, belting out this well-crafted tune like few can.  Wow.

I ke…

from the album The Underside Of Power (2017)

This holiday weekend is really expanding my party lexicon.

One of my funky friends introduced me to the term alcohnox, meaning the time of day when you transition from caffeine to alcohol.  How didn't I know that?

The other network is vibender, meaning a song whose vibe shifts between genres in mid-song.

The Underside Of Power is a vibender.  From the opening  pulses, suggesting a Jesus and Mary Chain, to deep, big-beat, booty-shakin' soul, to fuzzed-out interludes, this son is a vibending tour de force.  Certainly a contender my "summer single."

Click Here to watch the official video for The Underside Of Power.