Stagnation Nation! (Music Review 4/2/2012)

DEJA VU: If you take a look at the Top 20 on my SNS chart this week and it seems all too familiar, well, you're not hallucinating at all.   Seventeen songs have been on the list ten weeks or more, with Nada Surf not far behind with nine weeks.    In fact, only Those Darlins and to a lesser extent, Young The Giant, are relative youthful. 

It's not that I'm lazy when it comes to new music.   Those song in the upper echelon are just that great, most of them remind me of an event (the Lake Placid ski weekend in February), and to be honest, some of the newer stuff (with the obvious exception of "Screws Get Loose") hasn't really set my soul on fire.

However, there seems to be some help on the horizon.   As I mentioned last week, and was enamored with second and third listens this week, I'm really into the new Ty Segall & White Fence "I Am Not A Game", Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup" (which might have the best chance for a Country song to reach my Top 10 since Zac Brown early in 2011), and especially Miike Snow's "Paddling Out".   Keane and Garbage have impressed as well.

This week, there's a whole new bumper crop of stuff, so let's get into it now.     Silversun Pickups have the top debut with "Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)".  The song is from the LA-based indie quartet's new album Neck of the Woods, which drops on May 8.    To me, this is their strongest track since "Panic Switch", from their last album Swoon.  That song reached #1 on the Alternative chart, and was my #2 song for 2009.    The new tune is comparable, yet different enough from that hit.    It's also miles better than their recent song "Broekn Bottles" which was off their EP Seasick which contained stuff left off their last effort, but reached #19 on SNS nonetheless.    It looks like their immediate tour dates will be on the left coast, Alaska and Canada, but hopefully we should see an eastward turn soon.

Next come The Hives, with "Go Right Ahead".   If you go back about ten years, you had, what was called the four "Neo-garage" bands, a throwback to the early days of garage rock from the 1960's.    They were also known as the "The" bands:   Others in that group (from different regions in the world and not concentrated to any one music scene) were The White Stripes, The Strokes, and The Vines.    With the latter missing in action, the Stripes broken up, and The Strokes releasing stuff just last year, it's good to here from the Swedish band again.   This is their first release since 2007's The Black and White Album.  Lex Lives will drop on June 4.   Like the Garbage song I mentioned last week, this may take a few listens to get comfortable with again, but it's good to see them with new material.   Like the Silversun's, however, they're concentrating on the West Coast and overseas for the first part of their tour.

Marriages are next with "Ride In My Place".   Hailing from L.A., the band is a side project of members of the post-punk band Red Sparowes.  The song hails from their new six-song EP Kitsune, and has several influences ranging from the Cocteau Twins, to PJ Harvey with a bit of Pink Floyd overtones thrown in for good measure.

Finally we come to a local band, recommended by my friend Merrill Kenny Butler, Town Hall.    They enter the chart with "Good Boy".   The band is an indie-folk band from New York City (from the hotbed of music known as Brooklyn), consisting of  Stefan Weiner, Phoebe Ryan and Jess Kranzler.    Merrill brought this band to my attention a few weeks back when she posted one of their videos.  I checked them out, and saw that they had released a new video "Good Boy" from an upcoming album, Roots and Bells to be released in April.    The single is out, and the album, Roots and Bells will drop on April 15.   Phoebe on her own made it to the Hollywood round on American Idol back in Season 8, and she has loads of talent (as to her band mates).   "Good Boy" starts off in their indie-folk vein, but you can hear several other sounds going on here.   Definitely check this out.  I love it with friends recommend artists that deserve to be heard.   This band has a future.

OTHER GOINGS ON:    Fun spends a third week at the top with "We Are Young", which also rests atop of Billboard's Hot 100 for a fifth week.   In fact my Top two would match Billboard as well if a bunch of misguided Justin Bieber fans didn't go crazy over his new "Boyfriend" single which debuts at #2.   Gotye is up to #3 with "Somebody That I Used To Know", and when (and I do mean "when"...there's no radio airplay on the Bieber single, and it should drop clear out of the top ten next week), our top two songs could match.   Those two are also at the top (in reverse order) on the Alternative and Triple-A charts.

My wife and I got tickets for Aerosmith and Cheap Trick, on their "Global Warming" tour at the Izod Center in July; it will be the first time seeing either band, which at one time or another were among my favorites.   I also hope to check out some of the festivals featuring bands that I am following at the moment this summer.


Scenes 'n' Soundwaves 100 for Week of April 2, 2012:

This Week	Last Week	ARTIST-Title	Weeks on List
1	1	FUN. featuring JANELLE MONAE "We Are Young" Album: Some Nights (3rd week at #1)	18
2	2	Gotye f. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know	11
3	3	The Rapture - How Deep is Your Love	12
4	4	Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling	11
5	6	Pageants - Edible Rust	12
6	5	Wild Nothing - Nowhere	10
7	15	Those Darlins - Screws Get Loose	4
8	7	Rachel Allyn- Ain't No Fun	16
9	8	The Black Keys - Gold On the Ceiling	10
10	9	Caveman - Old Friend	10
11	10	Nada Surf - Waiting For Something	9
12	12	Sarah Jean - At Last	10
13	13	Bush - Baby Come Home	10
14	19	Young the Giant - Apartment	7
15	14	Snow Patrol - New York	14
16	11	Kelly Clarkson - Stronger	13
17	16	The Cranberries - Tomorrow	14
18	17	Tennis - Origins	13
19	21	TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK: GROUPLOVE "Tongue Tied" Album: Never Trust a Happy Song	16
20	22	Dr. Dog - That Old Black Hole	11

21	23	E'lissa Jones - Sweet Surrender	7
22	24	Gary Clark Jr - Bright Lights	10
23	18	Atlas Sound - The Shakes	17
24	20	Sharon Van Etten - Serpents	16
25	28	E'lissa Jones - Best I Ever Had	5
26	26	Electric Guest - This Head I Hold	5
27	27	Omnia - Grace	16
28	25	The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Heart Attack	12
29	38	Fitz and the Tantrums - L.O.V.	4
30	31	Santigold - Disparate Youth	6
31	35	Cloud Nothings - Stay Useless	9
32	32	Florence + the Machine - No Light, No Light	12
33	34	My Morning Jacket - First Light	13
34	29	Wilco - Dawned On Me	15
35	41	Ingrid Michaelson - Ghost	8
36	53	Beach House - Myth	3
37	78	MOVER OF THE WEEK: MIIKE SNOW "Paddling Out" Album: Happy To You	2
38	36	Anna Calvi - Desire	8
39	30	Adele - One and Only	19
40	42	Delta Spirit - California	6
41	46	Leila - Black and White	5
42	39	Mayer Hawthorne - The Walk	25
43	43	The Jayhawks - Mockingbird Time	5
44	45	Islands - Hallways	7
45	52	Jessie J - Domino	5
46	44	Katy Perry - Part of Me	7
47	51	Florence + the Machine - Never Let Me Go	4
48	66	Dante vs Zombies - Natural Disaster	3
49	50	That Ghost - Morning Now	6
50	37	Adele - Love Song	19
51	49	Cage the Elephant - Always Something	6
52	89	Toby Keith - Red Solo Cup	2
53	33	The Shins - Simple Song	12
54	40	Red Hot Chili Peppers - Look Around	8
55	57	The Wombats - Jump Into the Fog	4
56	84	Ty Segall & White Fence - I Am Not A Game	2
57	77	Garbage - Blood For Poppies	2
58	61	Dirty Heads - Spread Too Thin	3
59	54	Jack White - Love Interruption	10
60	47	Martin Solvag & Dragonette - Hello	23
61	58	James Durbin - Love Me Bad	8
62	65	The All American Rejects - Bee Keepers Daughter	3
63	80	Haley Reinhart - Free	2
64	62	Norah Jones - Happy Pills	4
65	56	The Kooks - Junk of the Heart	38
66	55	Heartless Bastards - Parted Ways	11
67	68	Howler - Back of Your Neck	5
68	64	Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine	6
69	----	TOP DEBUT: SILVERSUN PICKUPS "Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)" Album: Neck of the Woods	1
70	48	Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks	15
71	60	The Ting Tings - Hang It Up	7
72	69	Jason Mraz - I Won't Give Up	6
73	70	The Wanted - Glad You Came	6
74	71	Madonna - Girl Gone Wild	5
75	73	Walk the Moon - Anna Sun	4
76	81	Eve6 - Victoria	3
77	90	Lady Antebellum - Dancing Away With My Heart	2
78	92	Keane - Silenced by the Night	2
79	83	Colbie Caillat - Favorite Song	2
80	----	The Hives - Go Right Ahead	1
81	63	Sleeper Agent - Get Burned	17
82	59	The Kooks - How'd You Like That	15
83	96	Maroon 5 - Come Away To the Water	2
84	79	Tribes - We Were Children	5
85	----	Marriages - Ride In My Place	1
86	75	Bruno Mars - It Will Rain	8
87	85	Train - Drive By	12
88	82	Foster the People - Don't Stop (Colors on the Walls)	22
89	----	Fun. - Some Nights	1
90	----	Town Hall - Good Boy	1
91	97	White Rabbits - Heavy Metal	2
92	67	Omnia- Change This Place	16
93	74	Red Hot Chili Peppers - Monarchy and Roses	22
94	76	Civil Twilight - Fire Escape	9
95	91	Animal Kingdom - Strange Attractor	3
96	----	Lana Del Ray - Born To Die	1
97	72	Flogging Molly - Saints and Sinners	7
98	86	Florence + the Machine - What the Water Gave Me	32
99	88	Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun - We Were Wild	4
100	99	Alabama Shakes - Hold On	3