Saturday, June 30, 2012

Cool New Stuff! (Music Review week of 6/25/2012)

This evening, I thought I would get a good jump start on my blog, by rough drafting it on paper (the old fashioned way) out on my deck (I don't have a laptop, and my desktop is in our office on the second floor.   I was going to write about summer songs that me and friends listened to down the shore in the 1970's and 80's.   I got all finished writing, then went inside and wrote down the possible songs that I would add this week, as I do every week.     Brian Sniatkowski's Song of the Week, Public Image Ltd's comeback single, "One Drop", a great song, a no brainer for sure was at the top of the list.    But what I didn't expect was a couple other songs coming in this week would blow my ears off.  So I shelved that blog until another time.  
Last week was also the first week in which I had created my new Facebook group "Scenes 'n' Soundwaves Music Page", and posted my top 20 songs, which I will also get into later.  So for now, let's get into the new stuff.

I've always thought that Public Image Limited (or PiL, for short) was to punk rock like Foo Fighters were (and are) to grunge.   Think about it.    The frontman for both, long-running bands was originally a member of a very short-term, but important band in rock 'n' roll history, featuring a member who died unexpectedly.  Just as Foo Fighters had been around for ever, Dave Grohl's previous band Nirvana, left an indelicable mark in the annals of rock, until their leader Kurt Cobain took his own life.

PiL emerged out of the ashes of The Sex Pistols, who, along with the Ramones defined punk rock as a serious form was music and yes, even the start of alternative rock, as this music contrasts with the arena rock that was prevalent in the mid seventies.    The Pistols featured Sid Vicious who died of a drug overdose in 1978.    It was then that Johnny Lydon (known as "Johnny Rotten" in the Pistols), formed his own band out of the ashes of the Pistols.   The band's initial run, which took them into the early 90's, was influential in its own right, although making very little impact sales-wise in the U.S.: Only half of their eight studio sets made the album charts here (unlike the largely-successful Foos).   Their second effort, 1979's Metal Box, at the high of the first New Wave era, is generally regarded as their best work.   They did do well on Billboard's alternative rock chart (established in 1988), garnering a #1 there with "Disappointed" (from 9), and a #2 the following year with "Don't Ask Me", from their compilation set The Greatest Hits So Far.

But after one more album, 1992's That What Is Not, Lydon put the band on hiatus, when the band's record label refused to pay for the tour.   Writing memoirs, a reunion tour with the surviving members of the Sex Pistols, and a solo album comprised his activity the rest of that decade.   PiL would finally reunite in 2009 for a series of concerts in their native Britain.

Finally, after twenty years, we now have the bands new album, This is PiL, from which the track "One Drop", the top debut at #71 this week, is taken from.   I have to admit that I am not that familiar with PiL's earlier work, but upon this listen it takes me right back to the punk/new wave era contemporaries like The Clash, Undertones, Bad Manners, and others.    Lydon is one of the few singers that can sing the same note many times and can come off as melodic.    I unexpectedly liked this song, so now, for the second time in three weeks, I've featured a band that has been around for over 30 years (The Beach Boys being the other) as the top debut and Pick of the Week.   They are touring, but it's in Europe including many dates in their native UK, nothing so far on any U.S. dates. 

Right behind PiL at #72 is "What Makes A Good Man", by The Heavy. another from across the pond.   The quartet have been around since 2007 and are best known for the song "How Do You Like Me Now", featured in a car commercial.  That song was from their second album, 2009's The House That Dirt Built, and reached #64 on SNS in the fall of 2010.  There is something about this that I like.   While retaining the essence of their prior song, there are retroactive echos reverbing through this one.   With an easy-going beat, the bass tracking recalls the acid rock era, and the harmonies are very late 60's-early 70's R&B mixed in for good measure.   Like the PiL song, this is very infectious, and should be in my Top 20 very soon.    Did I mention it's very catchy as well?  But alas, like PiL, they won't be in this area in the new future....a couple dates in the northwestern U.S. and a few in Europe so far.    But keep your fingers crossed for more.

Finally, completing the trio of new stuff, at #73 is "If I Wanted Someone" by Dawes, a four-member band from L.A.    You might remember their song "Time Spent In Los Angeles", the song reached #27 on SNS last fall.    Both songs lead off their most recent endeavour, their second set, Nothing Is Wrong.   Early this month, my wife and I drove down to Silver Spring MD, to visit our niece, Bailey, who has always been into new, cutting-edge music.   She just set up an apartment down there (she got a job working for the EPA in Washington), and during our visit she had her iPod going, and this album was playing.   I recognized "Time Spent in Los Angeles", immediately, although I didn't recall the band.  During my customary question I as every time I see her "What are you listening to these day", she mentioned Dawes was a new band she was into.    More folk-rockish that anything else (Bailey's primary genre, definitely reflecting the boomer-era rock shared by her mom and myself).     The guitar work does work very well as do the harmonies as well.   Unlike the other two bands, Dawes WILL be playing in this area, opening for Mumford & Sons at Hoboken's Pier A on August 1st.  Two days later they will be at Lollapalooza in Chicago.   And for the first time in a while, I have some music to get excited about, and soon we will see those double-digit "weeks on list" numbers dwindle a bit.


As mentioned earlier, I created a new Facebook music group, where anyone can discuss their favorite stuff they're listening to as well as post their favorite songs.    And it will be my new home for posting and talking about new music as well.   I started things off my posting my Top 20 from last week in countdown form.   With a variety of music, I got some good feedback.    The most popular responses were to Florence + the Machine's "No Light, No Light" (#18 this week), and the long-running "Screws Get Loose" Those Darlins, (#5), plus Grace Potter's "Never Go Back" (#4), Electric Guest's "This Head I Hold" (#12), and of course Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know", (#9).

Also, when someone posts a song on their wall that is on my SNS 100, I will shared it on this page as well.   Two people posted Maroon 5's current single "Payphone", #2 on the Billboard chart this week, and advances on SNS to a new peak of #43.   My chart does consider songs that are popular with friends as well.    If you want to join in on the discussion, please send a request to join this group.  Right now it's open to the public, you don't have a to be a Facebook friend of mine to join it.   The page is called "Scenes'n'Soundwaves Music Page".   See you there.

The top 3 remain intact, with Metric's "Youth Without Youth" heading the list.   The big mover into the Top 20 is the third song from The Kooks, "Is It Me", from their Junk of the Heart set (24-11), and the other newbie there is "That's What's Up" by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, also their third entry into the upper echelon.


Scenes'n'Soundwaves 100 for Week of June 25, 2012:

This Week
Last Week
ARTIST-Title
Weeks on List
1
1

METRIC
"Youth Without Youth"
Album: Synthetica
(2 weeks at #1)
8
2
2
Maroon 5 - Come Away To the Water
13
3
3
The Shins- The Rifle's Spiral
11
4
6
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Never Go Back
10
5
4
Those Darlins - Screws Get Loose
15
6
13
Mayer Hawthorne - Henny and Gingerale
6
7
14
The Wombats - Jump Into the Fog
15
8
5
Ty Segall & White Fence - I Am Not A Game
13
9
9
Gotye f. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know
22
10
17
Passion Pit - Take A Walk
5
11
24
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:

THE KOOKS
"Is It Me"
Album: Junk of the Heart
4
12
8
Electric Guest - This Head I Hold
16
13
12
Lady Antebellum - Dancing Away With My Heart
13
14
7
The Decemberists - One Engine
11
15
16
Linkin Park - Burn It Down
8
16
10
Garbage - Blood For Poppies
13
17
15
Jack White - Sixteen Saltines
11
18
19
Florence + the Machine - No Light, No Light
23
19
11
Toby Keith - Red Solo Cup
13
20
22
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - That's What's Up
8


21
36
Trails and Ways - Nunca
5
22
28
Oberhofer - Away From You
10
23
23
Marriages - Ride In My Place
13
24
21
Silversun Pickups - Bloody Mary
13
25
27
Florence + the Machine - Breath of Life
7
26
32
Best Coast - The Only Place
6
27
41
M83 - Reunion
6
28
26
Eve6 - Victoria
15
29
20
Beach House - Myth
15
30
37
Kelly Clarkson - Dark Side
4
31
29
The Hives - Go Right Ahead
13
32
34
Snow Patrol - This Isn't Everything You Are
10
33
38
Graffiti6 - Stare Into the Sun
7
34
42
Wolf Gang - The King and All His Men
4
35
25
Dante vs Zombies - Natural Disaster
15
36
30
The Black Keys - Gold On the Ceiling
22
37
31
The Offspring - Days Go By
7
38
40
Lost n the Trees - Golden Eyelids
12
39
18
Town Hall - Good Boy
13
40
33
Fitz and the Tantrums - L.O.V.
16
41
35
Dirty Heads - Spread Too Thin
15
42
43
Grouplove - Tongue Tied
28
43
47
Maroon 5- Payphone
7
44
56
The Beach Boys - That's Why God Made the Radio
3
45
39
Fun. f. Janelle Monae - We Are Young
30
46
49
Fun. - Some Nights
13
47
51
Phillip Phillips - Home
5
48
66
MOVER OF THE WEEK:

THE BLACK KEYS
"Little Black Submarines"
Album: El Camino
2
49
45
Zach Heckendorf - All the Right Places
11
50
46
The Rapture - How Deep is Your Love
24
51
50
Alabama Shakes - Hold On
15
52
59
Ty Segall - I Brought My Eyes
4
53
61
Train - 50 Ways to Say Goodbye
3
54
64
Beach House - Lazuli
3
55
44
Miike Snow - Paddling Out
14
56
60
The Gaslight Anthem - 45
5
57
57
Foo Fighters - Bridge Burning
10
58
58
Gotye - Eyes Wide Open
10
59
48
Chromatics - Kill For Love
9
60
71
Of Monsters and Men - Mountain Sound
2
61
63
Reptor - Sebastian
5
62
65
Florence + the Machine - Never Let Me Go
16
63
87
Gossip - Move in the Right Direction
2
64
53
Smash Palace - Living It Lonely
9
65
62
Alex Clare - Too Close
7
66
52
Train - Drive By
24
67
54
E'lissa Jones - Best I Ever Had
17
68
55
The Fray - Run For Your Life
10
69
69
Frank Turner - I Still Believe
4
70
70
Katy Perry - Wide Awake
4
71
72
Eric Hutchinson - Watching You Watch Him
3
72
----
TOP DEBUT:

PUBLIC IMAGE, LTD
"One Drop
Album:  This is PiL

1
73
----
The Heavy - What Makes A Good Man
1
74
73
The Phenomenal Handclap Band - Radio Girls
4
75
----
Dawes - If I Wanted Someone
1
76
77
The Tallest Man on Earth - 1904
3
77
98
Matchbox Twenty - She's So Mean
2
78
67
Rachel Allyn- Ain't No Fun
28
79
83
Awolnation - Kill Your Heroes
3
80
97
Dead Sara - Weatherman
2
81
68
Gary Clark Jr - Bright Lights
22
82
90
Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
4
83
----
The Royal Concept - Gimme Twice
1
84
81
Blind Pilot - Half Moon
5
85
86
White Violet - Lays Around Lazy
4
86
93
Junior Doctor - Oh Oh
2
87
92
Theory of A Deadman - Hurricane
3
88
76
Caveman - Old Friend
22
89
78
Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling
23
90
95
Dr. Dog - Lonesome
2
91
75
The Walkmen - Heaven
4
92
82
Wild Nothing - Nowhere
22
93
----
Emeli Sande - Next To Me
1
94
79
Allo Darlin - Capricornia
6
95
----
Thompson Square - Glass
1
96
----
Rihanna - Where Have You Been
1
97
80
Atlas Genius - Trojans
5
98
84
Haley Reinhart - Free
14
99
91
J.D. McPherson - North Side Gal
4
100
94
Mayer Hawthorne - The Walk
37