Thursday, October 25, 2012

Jerry's Pick: "Closer"

"CLOSER"-TEGAN AND SARA


Indie-rockers Tegan & Sara have been on my favorites list for quite a while and I've been surprised they have yet to score a hit single on the US pop charts.  I mean, "Back In Your Head," "I Know I Know I Know" and "Walking With a Ghost" were all chart-worthy in my book. But it now looks as though the identical twins from Alberta, Canada may finally get that shot with a track from their forthcoming seventh album Heartthrob, due out this January.

Working with Greg Kurstin (who just recently help put P!nk's "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" into Billboard's Top-10) -- Tegan & Sara have come up with their most radio-friendly recording to date, a perfectly crafted piece-of-pop called "Closer."  Like other T&S tracks the synths are there, but not in your face… and their lyrics (about young love) come with an uptempo hook that should grab a hold of your ears not long after that first listen.  (I'm guessing the way the girls twist those last syllables upwards suggest innocence.  Or flirtation.  Maybe both?)

Tegan Quin told Rolling Stone, "Although I do imagine that this would be an okay song to make out to, all I intended was to write something sweet that reminded the listener of a time before sex, complicated relationships, drama and heartbreak.  In short, I was writing about my youth -- a time when we got closer by linking arms and walking down our school hallway, or talked all night on the telephone about every thought or experience we'd ever had."

Okay… your first piece of business is to get "Closer."  Next, check those Tegan & Sara tour dates as they're opening up for the Killers this month and then the Black Keys in November and December.  Now that's a pair of terrific twin, twin bills!  Matthew & Gunner never had it so good.


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Jerry's Pick: "93 Million Miles"

"93 MILLION MILES"-JASON MRAZ

On the heals of Phillip Phillips comes another "Home" song, but this one is 93-million times better.

Actually, the song's parent album (Love Is a Four Letter Word) has been out since the beginning of this year but Jason's record company is just now pushing this beautiful ballad as his next single. The acoustically-driven "93 Million Miles" flows so effortlessly from beginning to end -- punctuated with a Dorothy Gale-like axiom that is not-so-hidden in the middle-eight.

Using astronomy as an analogy, Mraz shines a loving lyrical light on the love of a mother, the wisdom of a dad.  But be it your parents, a friend, a place or someone who is in your heart 365/750, "home" can be a very powerful, moving concept.  And Jason does wonderful work of melding words and music into a heavenly homage to home.