+6
1. David Bowie - Life On Mars?
2. Led Zeppelin - Moby Dick
3. Jim Reeves - Room Full of Roses
4. Ashley McBryde - Girl Goin' Nowhere
5. Uncle Tupelo - Moonshiner
6. Danny Kaye & The Andrews Sisters - Civilization
7. Jorja Smith - Blue Lights
8. King's X - Prisoner
9. Akua Naru - Sweat
10. Seven Spires - Drowner of Worlds
11. Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)
12. Ava Max - Who's Laughing Now
13. CHAI - N.E.O.
My thoughts as I listened:
Uncle Tupelo: I just recently listened to the good Uncle's debut album while I was on the elliptical. They are a big name among underground/alt country music fans, but a pretty big blind spot for me. I want to check that scene out a little more. I know we live in an unjust world, so complaining about certain deserving individuals not getting the shine they deserve is futile, but these guys clearly deserve to be known much more than they are. This is the same type of stuff Kristofferson was doing.
Ashley McBryde: As much as I love bad bitches in country music, I still haven't gotten into Ms. McBryde. She's great on this track. It feels real and honest. Performing it solo acoustic like this adds a layer of vulnerability that works really well with a lot of female country singers. I can't remember the exact song that I am thinking of, but this reminds me a little bit of one of the Caitlyn Smith songs I'm a fan of.
Danny Kaye & The Andrews Sisters: Probably heard this a hundred times playing Fallout and never knew what it was. It's campy, but entertaining as hell. It really sounds like ol' Danny says "uncivilized bitches" but I guess he says "pictures". Reminds me of how my brother thought that Brenda Lee said "Later we'll have some f*cking pie" when she in fact was planning on eating pumpkin pie.
Ava Max: There is something here, don't know what it is. It suffers from what a lot of pop music suffers from though, as it doesn't feel authentic in any way. One of my thoughts while listening to this was that I would be willing to bet a lot of people wrote this song. Yep six writers.
Led Zeppelin: My nom. Bonzo beats the sh*t out of the drums. Everybody plays their machines well. This is my favorite track from Zep II.
Radiohead: Never really been able to get into Radiohead. I think "Creep" is a great song, but that seems more like an anomaly to me than anything else. Radiohead is the epitome of okay to me. This song is okay. Whatever Radiohead is missing it's not the same thing as Ava Max. I do believe these guys, they feel authentic. But I guess their stuff is supposed to be pretty depressing, but the only time they get me on their side is "Creep". Maybe because it is so in your face and abrasive, and the self-pity in that song is also manifesting as anger instead of only wallowing and moaning about. Okay song that doesn't click for me.
King's X: Don't guess I know anything about these guys. This is pretty solid, maybe even pretty good if I were to give closer inspection. I'm here for the solo.
Jim Reeves: Not much to say here other than this is really good stuff.
Seven Spires: I love how f*cking goofy this aesthetic is. Which is how I feel about most metal stuff. Metal goofiness is kind of an impediment to my enjoyment. I think I'd enjoy it more if it didn't seem like a bunch of edgelord nerds cosplaying. This choir (?) in the background sounds good. That one dude has a long neck in the video. It's better than bad, but not that much better than alright.* *Allow me to issue a disclaimer about this statement I just made. I'm only speaking for myself, I don't mean for this to sound inflammatory or in judgment of someone else's taste. I'm sure there's plenty of stuff I like that others would find to be low-brow or of inferior quality.
Akua Naru: Never heard of Akua Naru. The best compliment I can give right now about this song is that there is enough depth in the lyrics that I'm sure I missed a whole lot in it. I did hear a "cracker" in there, which is obviously not as bad as using the N-word as a derogatory term. I do think in can clash with a message of a song, but I wouldn't protest the usage of the word. I'd also need to read the lyrics of the song for more context. And I agree with Akua Naru, slavery f*cking sucked. Obviously.
David Bowie: Yeah, David Bowie was pretty good. He had to be pretty good to get over while looking that atrocious.
Jorja Smith: I'm not entirely in love with this song (yet) but it's this type of pop song-writing I can get behind. Enough depth to it, that it could require a little looking into to know what everything means. Sirens are provocative, so using that terminlogy and production using sounds that invoke sirens are a good way to get your attention. Good usage of sampling on the track as well. This track feels authentic in the way a pop song can, as in it feels like the majority of this track was written by one person, but I can see that there are several writing credits here too. One of them, at least, are credits for the dude whose song was sampled though. I don't guess I know how song credits are given anymore, so maybe I should retract my statement about the Ava Max song.
CHAI: grating.
Last edited by jiraffejustin; 01-10-21 at 06:49 AM.