Jerry's Pick: "Hell No"

"Hell No"-Ingrid Michaelson

I've been an Ingrid Michaelson fan going on ten-years now.  Songs like "Parachute," "Be OK," "Afterlife" and "Time Machine" are all still in rotation on my iTunes playlist.  In fact, Ingrid's "Boys Chase Girls" was one of my top-10 best picks from all of 2014.

Well, my favorite bespectacled female indy-singer-songwiter may have just released her strongest pop-single to date with "Hell No..." a you-go-girl break-up anthem that you can dance to.

No doubt "Hell No" was inspired by Michaelson's own recent and somewhat messy divorce.  She told the Huffington Post, “We all have been through being wronged, so we created a powerful break up song. This song is not about one specific relationship but about lots of different relationships and how they culled together into one unified force of anger."

For me, Ingrid's new see-ya-later single is a mix of Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and Avril Lanigne's "What the Hell" with a few dashes of Meghan Trainor's "No" sprinkled over the chorus.

"Hell No" was written by Ingrid in Nashville with country music vets Barry Dean and Luke Laird (Little Big Town, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw).  Michaelson told James Dinh of iHeart Radio, “I just wanted to kind of go outside of my comfort zone and write in this different world and see what happened.”  She added, “I think there is definitely a country feeling to the vibe of the song. It's just produced in such a poppy way but we just had so much fun."

With clever/cute/cutting lines like, "I should've known better/I saw her wearing your sweater/Nice glasses, fake red hair/Just like me," I feel the Parker Posey of Pop may have just produced her first true mainstream breakthrough single.  (By-the-way, the song's yet-to-be-titled parent album -- featuring more letting-go/moving-on themed tunes -- is set to be released this August.  And her self-made Snapchat Filters-inspired music video is below.)

So, go ahead... give it a spin!  I'm sure you too with say "Hell yeah!' to "Hell No!"

Jerry's Pick: "Never Gonna See Me Cry"

"Never Gonna See Me Cry"-Good Old War

Now here's one smooth, gliding power-pop concoction that should have you singing along with its delightfully hooky chorus before this three-minute clip comes to a cold close with a "ha-ha-ha!"

The band is Philadelphia's Good Old War -- a group moniker Frankensteined from members Keith GOODwin, Tim ArnOLD and Daniel SchWARtz's surnames -- who have come up with their most radio-friendly track to date.

"Never Gonna See Me Cry" is fun and clean and genuine and full of lyrical metaphors.  And aside from being skillfully scored, what really stands-out is the song's smartly crafted harmonies.  You'll "Ahh" at their "Oohs."

This very good Good Old War song has been around since last year, but because the band's label is just now getting behind and promoting the trio's "new" single, I just had to give "Never Gonna See Me Cry" five :v) :v) :v) :v) :v)... and zero frowns.

I don't think the alt-indy guys have released an official music video* for "Never Gonna See Me Cry," yet... but you can stream the audio by clicking on the image below.  And, to give you an idea of how vocally talented these dudes are, be sure to audition their library acoustic version, too!  They're both right here!

(*They have! It's below.)

Jerry's Pick: "Wide Open"

"Wide Open"-Chemical Brothers

I found myself alone, on a passenger car linked-up far behind the locomotive where the steady, evenly spaced clicks of the steel wheels against the tracks below the floor put me into a six-minute semi-hypnotic-like trance.

Well, sort of.

At least those were a few of the first images that drifted around in my head while zoning-out to the latest Chemical Brothers creation "Wide Open."  But I must admit, this ultra-alternative track is not for everyone.

Twenty-years after becoming electronica pioneers, the duo released the album Born In The Echoes (rumored to be their last) which features "Wide Open," a simple four-chord recording supporting the song's mechanical yet floating, dreamy aura.  They told Rolling Stone, "We wanted to make a record that would fit alongside the other records we've made, and we both felt that there was another good Chemical Brothers album in us."

For vocals, the "Brothers" (Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons) wisely recruited Beck whose laid-back delivery didn't dominate, but instead softly complimented the duo's synth-laden backing track.  Beck's lines seem to be deep but empathetic, most likely to fans like me with more than a few decades under their belts.  "Slow me down, it's getting away from me.  It's getting away from me.  Getting away... from... me."

Aside from being the kings of EDM, the Chemical Brothers are also well known for their imaginative promotional music videos, most notably the visually trippy 1999 clip "Let Forever Be." 

Most likely inspired by last year's sci-fi film "Ex Machina," the recently released mini-music movie for "Wide Open" is just as fascinating and beautifully compliments the duo's Kraftwerkian creation giving the song yet another dimension.  Trust me... check it out below.  It's pretty cool.