New Music "Picks of the Week!"

Welcome back, new music maniacs! Glad to see you're still staying ahead of the curve.

By-the-way, you can listen to each of the tunes on these pages by clicking on the song title.  If you've been having problems with the link, you may have better luck through Firefox.  But if you're trying to play them via your iPad or iPhone... sorry.  Blame Apple.

Okay, here's your chance to be the first on your block to play these recently-released, soon-to-be-hit singles! Ready... GO!

"SHE'S SO MEAN"-MATCHBOX20

I've been a big fan of Matchbox20 from their start when they stopped up for a fun interview and a memorable acoustic performance of "Long Day" on my Orlando radio show just after they signed their first record deal and shortly before the release of their debut album in 1996.  Well, it's been over a decade since the last all-new MB20 album, but I'm happy to say that Rob Thomas and crew have come up with another gem.

Using a classic power-pop recipe featuring sharp guitar riffs, hand-claps along with that same passion Thomas supplied for "Smooth," Matchbox20's "She's So Mean" has hit-single written all over it... to the degree that if you avoided listening to radio altogether (like I do), this song will still find a way to seek you out.  So, you might as well give in now as the parent album (North) won't be out until September 4th.

Incidentally, Thomas pointed out that "She's So Mean" is not about his wife.  Instead, it's “really a tongue-in-cheek song about a girl who keeps doing you wrong, but you can’t stay away. Like a drug, every guy and girl have had someone like that in their life at some time or another.”

"GIMME TWICE"-ROYAL CONCEPT

This act sounds more like Phoenix than Phoenix sounds like Phoenix. But, after further review, they're actually a Swedish band that was originally called The Concept. But after they discovered there was another group on the East End called The Concept they had to rename themselves The Royal Concept. Then when The Concept decided to revert their name to The Regulars, The Royal Concept briefly considered going back to The Concept but instead thought, "What's the point?"

From what I understand, this track was recorded in Dublin so it's entirely safe to crank it up to 11.

Got time for two more? Great! These are pretty damn good too!

"CHANGE"-CHURCHILL

"NEXT TO ME"-EMELI SANDE

New Music "Picks of the Week!"

I am such a rock 'n' roll purist that I went through all of my iTunes songs and inserted and/or replaced the supplied album cover pic with the track's single artwork instead. It took a while to complete the project, but now I have a wider variety of images which are more directly associated with the song I'm listening to.  In fact, most of the artwork you see on this blog are from the cover of the song's single release.

It's real easy! Find the image on-line; save the image on your computer; right click on the iTunes song; click on 'get info'; click on 'artwork'; click on 'add', find the picture in your files and you're good to go!

Okay, here are a few just-released songs (and pics) you may want to add to your collection!



"COME ALONG"-VICCI MARTINEZ (with CEE LO GREEN)

One listen and I was hooked!  The slow, driving beat pulls you in but it's the perfectly paired voices of Vicci Martinez (who took third place on "The Voice") and Cee Lo Green who give this bluesy track its soul. It'll take just one-half of a listen to "Come Along" (which was originally recorded by Swedish artist Titiyo in 2001) before you accept Vicci's invitation and start singing with the chorus. 

“I think the lyrics are really important for people today, for all of us but especially for our generation,” says Vicci. “We can break the cycle and habits that our society has been stuck in. It is a time of evolution, evolving into our divine, most perfect self. I feel this is a step that I’ve been trying to take and by singing this song, I’m asking everyone else to come along with me and take a stand.”

"GUARDIAN"-ALANIS MORISSETTE

I know it doesn't seem as though it's been over 15-years since the release of her breakthrough Jagged Little Pill, but I'm here to reassure you that you will not be aurally bitch-slapped while listening to Morissette's latest single "Guardian." The gentler, kinder, more nurturing Alanis has, more than likely, once again borrowed words from her personal diary and set them to a flowing rollercoaster back-track.

For now, this is all you get from the Canadian songstress as her seventh album, Havoc And Bright Lights, will not be available until August 28.

"HEARTBEAT"-JJAMZ

Katy Perry and I both agree that the perfectly-produced "Heartbeat" from this California supergroup should be the summer song of 2012. The LA-based musical collective known as JJAMZ (pronounced juh-jamz) got its moniker from the first-name initials of the five best friends in the band: Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes), James Valentine (Maroon 5), Alex Greenwald (Phantom Planet), Michael Runion (solo) and Z Berg (The Like). I hear it! Can you?

Also very good and worthy of a few moments of your time...

"THIS HEAD I HOLD"-ELECTRIC GUEST

"STARE INTO THE SUN"-GRAFFITI6

"TAKE A WALK"-PASSION PIT

New Music "Picks of the Week!"

Okay. I ditched the PC and bought an iMac a couple of months ago and had to learn how to use a computer all over again... this time, the Apple way. Still learning. (So, how do you word-search an internet page? Ugh.)  That's why I haven't updated my site since the last time I updated my site. But I think I have figured out just enough to finally post something Fresh & Easy... and with very few calories!

After listening to about 200 new releases this last week, only a half-dozen satisfied my inner-aural. Hey, what can I say? My ears are very picky.


"DANNY, DAKOTA AND THE WISHING WELL"-A SILENT FILM

The very first time I heard this song I said, "Wow."  I'm not a huge fan of the minute-long Eighties-styled synthesized opening on this track... but when it kicks in, look out! Behind their Springsteen "Dancing In the Dark" back-beat, the lyrics tell a love story not unlike Billy Joel's "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant."

According to A Silent Film lead vocalist Rob Stevenson, "'Danny, Dakota and the Wishing Well' is a love song to a bygone era of Americana that inspired us in books and films when we were growing up in England."




"DON'T LEAVE ME (NE ME QUITTE PAS)"-REGINA SPEKTOR

"Ne Me Quitte Pas" is considered an international, often-covered, pop classic that was written by Belgium singer-songwriter Jacques Brel over 40-years ago.  Apparently Regina has been fond of the song for well over a decade now and has finally come up with a version worthy of her new album, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, which will be available at the end of this month. Her version of this song -- about love in Paris -- is a whole lot of "fun" with a good dose of "cute."

If you already have Spektor's "On the Radio" on the iPod... this one is an easy "Oui!"




"BLOOD FOR POPPIES"-GARBAGE

I remember the first time I heard Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." I instantly fell in love with the song's vibe but couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what the hell Kurt was singing.  Same vibe here.

“The song is meant to feel sort of like an abstract dream,” explains Garbage lead vocalist Shirley Manson. “The inspiration came from a story I had read in The Los Angeles Times about the opium trade and also from watching the documentary ‘Restrepo.’  It’s not literal in any sense whatsoever but it’s a song about disorientation and delusion and the human struggle to stay sane in the face of insanity.”

Works for me.  Thanks Butch!




"HOUDINI"-FOSTER THE PEOPLE

"DON'T STOP (COLOR ON THE WALLS)"-FOSTER THE PEOPLE

"HOUDINI"-FOSTER THE PEOPLE

"DON'T STOP (COLOR ON THE WALLS)"-FOSTER THE PEOPLE

The LA trio known as Foster the People (who were just here in Southern California at the Coachella Music Fest last month) came up with a couple of wonderfully unique melodic studio pieces which can be found alongside the overplayed "Pumped Up Kicks" on the band's just released debut album Torches.

"Don't Stop" -- which got a big boost in iTunes sales when it was used in a Nissan Versa TV commercial -- was apparently written about what a four-year old would do if it ruled the world.  Their latest, the ultra-catchy "Houdini," is an uptempo confessional about being on stage. Both are guaranteed to get repeated listens.

What else?  Well, check these out...

"CALL ME MAYBE"-CARLY RAE JEPSEN

"WE TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN"-BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN