Round 2
1. The Gutter Twins - The Stations
Mark Lanegan. What more needs to be said? People get your ears checked out.
NOW! I always hate putting my picks first in these lists (unless it's Bowie), but I've been obsessed with Lanegan's voice for the last quarter of 2020. Then I tripped into The Gutter Twins with their "All Misery/Flowers" track and was elated. It took a while to decide which of these two tracks to post here, but erred on the side of caution feeling that "The Stations" might be more approachable all around. The strings are borderline overdone for me, but the song is solid.
2. MIEN - Earth Moon
oooo groovy. I'm digging this a lot. It's like the smoothest best of Sky Cries Mary and Autolux. I can get into this. And it's actually building. I enjoyed Woodkid, but gotta bump this one up above it for the variety of it all.
3. Woodkid - Run Boy Run
Woo just a few seconds into this one and I'm already overwhelmed. Video takes this sound to the next level. It's as if Morrissey and that guy from Alt-J were caught up into a single teleport stream on the Starship Enterprise, then convinced Hans Zimmer to write a percussive pattern for a pop song, all to be directed by Tim Burton's imagination but with someone else's restraint. Huh. Totally listening to the next track that's loading now.
4. Sky Pig - The Strain
Decent sound all around. I even like the vocals. Just takes too long to get there, and the wall of reverb feels dated. No idea when this came out though. Woah. 2020? Did not expect that. All in all though, it's pretty good. I think shave about 3 minutes off to tighten this up and I feel it'd have a similar energy to "War Pigs." Hm. War Pig? Sky Pig? Is there a relation?
5. Marshmello & Halsey - Be Kind
Not a fan of the genre, but dang if I can't take my eyes off the video =x That said, Choreography feels plucked from Sia's "Chandelier" (excellent vid, btw. nearly brings tears to my eyes/ears watching and listening to that one). Sorry. Gotta pause this ranking to finish listening to "Chandelier."
6. Don Williams - My Heart To You
Good country. Just never much of a fan so other tracks will usually take higher billings with me. (sorry!)
7. Jaime Wyatt - Wishing Well
This is right there at my border of country. Pretty good all around, but that classic voice-cracking is a bit much in the first verse. Melody reminds me of something but I can't place it. I'm thinking Emmylou Harris maybe. Maybe Aoife O'Donovan. Hate I can't find it...
8. Linkin Park - Bleed It Out
Linkin Park is the devil! But at least Fred Durst is the devil's pool boy.
p.s. I hate Morrissey tho