Jerry's Pick: "What I Do"

"What I Do"-Taylor Janzen

Hey! My ears found another one!

It’s a new release that takes me back to the Lilith Fair-era of the late-90s/early-00s when radio regularly broadcast the talents of Lisa Loeb, Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, Tracy Chapman, Tori Amos, Rilo Kiley and Jewel. (Remember what a radio was?)

She's 19-year old Taylor Janzen who -- like fellow Canadian Alanis Morissette -- specializes in composing confessions highlighting heartaches seemingly pulled directly from the pages of her private journal.

According to the author, the lyrics of “What I Do” are extremely personal and poignant, words she carefully layered underneath a guitar-driven, mid-tempo backbeat. It’s a familiar theme: The more one reaches out, the more the other pulls away.

“I know that you try your best, but there are things you just can't fix, and darling I am one of them…” 

Janzen explained to Apple Music, “I’ve struggled with mental health issues my whole life, and so when I got into my first serious relationship, I had to get used to the reality of those issues affecting the other person. This song is about not knowing what to do to change that.”

It was this revelation which made me wonder if those personal struggles became the reason the first four notes from her guitar perfectly mirror John Mandel’s 1970 composition, “Suicide Is Painless.” (Remember the theme from “M*A*S*H?”)

I seriously doubt it, but I found the correlation a somewhat curious coincidence.

Although “What I Do” has an ebb-and-flow feel that quickly glows-up in depth and dimension, this brief ballad (just under three-minutes) acoustically lands where it was launched but remains powerfully simple throughout.

“It started out as an acoustic folk song I wrote in my bedroom,” she says. “I’m so proud of what it’s morphed into, because I love exploring different sounds and energies in my music, while still keeping the core of my songwriting sacred. And this song is a perfect example of what that looks like for me.”

During the core of the track, Taylor delivers her vocals in a matter-of-fact manner which seems to match the emotional exhaustion found within her poetry. This all leads-up to an infectious chorus preceded by a momentary pause where she catches her breath before releasing a series of “OOHs” that come immediately after she does the “DOOs.” Each one more a bit more emotional than the last.

I hope you enjoy this latest find as much as I have. Her music video is posted below. And, I shall keep my ears peeled for more!

That’s just what I do.

Jerry's Pick: "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings"

"So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings"-Caroline Polachek

Remember Chairlift? The alternative band out of Boulder, Colorado produced several songs that are still in recurrent rotation on my iTunes playlist including “Evident Utensil” and “Romeo.” But I’m pretty sure you are familiar with their ballad “Bruises,” a song that got a big boost up the charts in 2008 when it was used in an Apple iPod Nano television ad.

Well, Chairlift split-up two-years ago giving singer-songwriter Caroline Palochek a chance to release an album of material under her own name for the first time in her career (Pang, out last month). And boy, did this girl come through! My pick of the pack was the track with the curious song title.

Turns out, “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings” has nothing to do with lame pick-up lines. Instead, think sexual separation frustration served-up in a very cute, playful way. Or as Caroline tweeted, “It’s about a spicy long-distance crush.”

Polachek explained to MTV News, "'You're so hot it's hurting my feelings’ is something I'd actually told someone a week prior, and the phrase just kept playing on my mind. I had a session set up towards the very end of writing this record with a couple friends of mine, and the first melody that came was the melody that's now the beginning of the song. There's something kind of classical about it, but it also reminded me of ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’-era Eighties pop. Just something about the quality of the jumpiness of it. And then I thought, wait a minute, this is kind of the perfect vessel for that lyric.”

This breezy bop begins with stereo-panned angelic “ah”s immediately merged with a bold bass-line that takes you to the opening stanza which establishes her lusty longing.

“Not like I'm counting the days/But it's been twenty-five/You're out there killing the game/But damn, I miss you tonight…”

I sense a little bit Feist mixed with Haim and Imogene Heap over a Japanese House vibe. Polachek’s voice is beautifully bright and bubbly, but I'm also a fan of how she merges the analog and the digital with subtle auto-tuned, vocoded vocals on the refrain.

“I get a little lonely/Get a little more close to me/You're the only one who knows me, babe/So hot you're hurting my feelings…”

She then sums up those frustrations with her two-word acquiesce…

“Can’t deal.”

I also love the little extra touches that at first went by unnoticed. For instance, listen how Caroline interjects gasps and sighs with her vocal delivery -- each succeeding breath just a little deeper -- adding a feel of sexual fluster to her story line. And aside from the alternating coquettish “woo”s sprinkled through the production, there are also Caroline’s lascivious lyrics; “With all the X-rated dreamin'…” “Don't send me photos, you're making it worse…” and a middle-eight that just could be home to pop music’s very first dick-pic reference.

Polachek confessed to PopCrush, “I will tell you a secret, which is that in the bridge, underneath the vocal solo -- which by the way is the first guitar solo I've ever done with my voice -- there is the lyric ‘Show me the banana,’ which you can interpret that one however you want.”

I’m positive Harry Belafonte, Gwen Stefani and Donovan can dig it.

Jerry's Pick: "Me Without You"

"Me Without You"-Mads Langer

Here’s your late-Summer guilty pop-pleasure of the week.

You know, one of those car-karaoke tunes that has you mimicking its percussion with both thumbs thumping on the steering wheel, intermittently reaching to tap your rear-view-cymbal while simultaneously singing out-loud like nobody's watching.

Well, Jukebox Hero... I found another auto-anthem for you!

Consider this spirited sonic score a “Shake It Off,” but without the Taylor Swift, and from a different hemisphere.

Although Mads Langer is considered a major rock star in his native Denmark, his name has yet to trigger a single sonic blip on even the far outer perimeter of Billboard’s rock ‘n’ roll radar.

After a decade-long string of Top-40 singles on his hometown Hitlisten popularity poll, the multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter is finally trying his luck to see if his latest creation creates waves on this side of the Atlantic. And Mads’ Danish chart-topper “Me Without You” certainly appears to have a sound shot of worming its way into a few ears here in North America.

“Me Without You” is a charming ode to your better-half; that special someone who completes you but also has the ability to quickly shift your brain and body into out-of-synch mode simply with their absence. It's a theme that's made of Mads' mediocre metaphors...

▶ "ATM with no cash..."
▶ "Guilty, no proof..."
▶ "Treasure under padlocks..."

His lyrics are just as ironic as that Alanis Morissette single, meaning -- of course -- they’re not ironic at all, just a series of sad, unfortunate coincidences sung over a breezy and blithe background. But honestly, who cares?! As a package, this works!

Langer explained to Germany’s TheMellowMusic blogsite, “Music touches me most when it is a little melancholy, but always carries that spark of hope in itself. That's the point I always try to find in songwriting,”

To summarize, “Me Without You” is a light, bouncy, hook-filled three-minutes of fun.

And who says "No" to three-minutes of fun? Yeah... didn't think so. :v)