First up, we have a new #1, "I Am Not A Game", by the collaboration of Ty Segall and White Fence. The garage-ish / jam rock hybrid finally unseats the long-running "Screws Get Loose" by Those Darlins'. Feedback on the new chart topper, unlike its predecessor hasn't been there, and there's no national chart entry to be found, but to me this song just cooks, especially at the end. "Screws" falls to #2; Electric Guest's "This Head I Hold", which IS in the lower rungs of Billboard's Alternative chart, remains at #3, while The Shins' great song "The Rifle's Spiral" jumps to #4. This is a band that defies categorization, that's for sure. Gotye's "Someone That I Used to Know", falls to #5, but is at the top of the Billboard's Hot 100 for an 8th week, the most by any song this year. Combined with the six week run of "We Are Young" by fun., Alternative rock songs have ruled the top of the Hot 100 for 14 straight weeks. That's is great and all, but it would be nice if some really rocking bands, like The Black Keys (whose "Gold on the Ceiling" displaced the aformentioned two songs at the top of the Alt chart), or say, Foo Fighters would gain the upper hand of the chart, but that's a discussion for another time.
Metric's "Youth Without Youth" is the only new Top 10 entry at #9, while Florence + the Machine's "No Light, No Light" is the only new song in the Top 20. This song finally gets in there after 21 weeks, the longest of any song to do so. It's unusual, since about a year ago, when I took a second look at "Dog Days Are Over", Florence's songs have been immediate hits here. This third single from Ceremonials followed my #1 "What the Water Gave Me", followed by the #8 (but much more popular with the masses), "Shake It Out". "No Light...." is a great song, too, but perhaps I had tired a bit of the sound, and for some reason it needed a few more listens with me. It peaked short of the Top 20, dropped a bit, but started advancing again. The song is on the Alternative and Triple-A charts and is building nicely, thank you. It thus becomes their fifth straight entry into the upper echelon.
That streak apparently would be broken anyway, because the fourth single, "Never Let Me Go" drops to #69 from a peak of #47, but again, not a bad song at all. That also goes for "Breath of Life" (#30) from the soundtrack of the hit movie Snow White and the Huntsman. Florence Welch (no relation to Bob) will be performing at Jones Beach on September 15, a show to check out.
Among the debuts this week are "The King and All His Men" by the British band Wolf Gang (two separate words). This is the catchiest thing I have heard in quite a while, I had some good prospects with this song. The band is centered around Max McElligott and the style falls somewhere between alt-rock and symphonic rock. They've been around since 2009 and have toured with some well-known names to SNS readers: The aforementioned Florence + the Machine, Metric, and Miike Snow. They've released only one album so far: 2011's Suego Faults, which contains this song, but a new album is being recorded for later this year. In the meantime, they will be opening for Coldplay on that band's second leg of their Mylo Xyloto tour, so this may be a good time for people to check out what Max and the Gang are all about.
Ty Segall's follow-up to his current SNS #1 collaboration with White Fence, is "I Brought My Eyes". This one is with his own back-up band, but still a song worth checking out, as it continues the garage rock sensibilities of the prior song, and even jams, albeit briefly, into acid-rock territory. This song, billed as the Ty Segall Band, will be on its forthcoming album Slaughterhouse. "I Am Not A Game" is not on this album, in fact, Segall has said he will release three different albums this year" Hair, in which "Game" appears, with White Fence (a separate outfit), Slaughterhouse, with his band, and a pure solo album is in the works as well. If you want to see him live, head on out to the Pitchfork Music Festival in July, he'll share the bill with bands such as Vampire Weekend, Cults, Sleigh Bells, Real Estate and Beach House (who incidentially has their second SNS Top 20 with "Myth").
HYPNOTIZED: This is just been a horrendous year for musician deaths, and that continued this week with the passing of Bob Welch, a former member of Fleetwood Mac and a solo artist who had hits in the late seventies. Unlike most of the others who left us, this was an apparent suicide; he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, he was 66.
Welch, from LA, bridged the gap of the predominately British Band's blues period with that of their pop-rock Buckingham/Nicks era, and played on five of the band's albums from 1971 to 1974. And although I always enjoyed Mac's music, my favorite song by them of all time was a Welch composition, "Hypnotized", a nice, dreamy jam from their 1973's Mystery to Me set. Welch was actually in three bands...before Mac was Head West, an LA outfit that was based in Paris, France, and then upon leaving Mac, he briefly formed the outfit called Paris, which released two albums in 1976.
But the masses, will remember him for his solo career, namely French Kiss and the big hit "Sentimental Lady", in late 1977. Welch's album was one of the soundtracks to my senior year in college; my economics professor for some reason referenced "Sentimental Lady" a few times (he loved to chat with the classes about non-topic subjects from time to time). "Ebony Eyes" definied my last semester at Montclair, and the third single "Hot Love, Cold World" was heard on a road trip I took after graduation. His album was a hit, and his next album, 1979's Three Hearts yielded his final Top 20 hit, "Precious Love" before fading from popularity.
A FINE FINE DAY FOR A REUNION: This weekend for me will feature TWO reunions: a brunch with some former co-workers when I was at Prudential and IBM (1978-2002), and then in the evening, an all classes Roselle Park High School reunion. I don't expect music at the former, and probably nothing new at the latter, but perhaps some old songs will come up being referenced, and I am sure the band English Creek Road will jar our memories with songs from that era that we listened to back in the day (just as they played them back then as well). I'll try to capture some of that in my next blog.
Scenes'n'Soundwaves 100 for the Week of June 4, 2012:
|
This Week
|
Last Week
|
ARTIST-Title
|
Weeks on List
|
|
1
|
2
|
TY SEGALL & WHITE FENCE
"I Am Not A Game"
Album: Hair
|
11
|
|
2
|
1
|
Those Darlins - Screws Get Loose
|
13
|
|
3
|
3
|
Electric Guest - This Head I Hold
|
14
|
|
4
|
7
|
The Shins- The Rifle's Spiral
|
9
|
|
5
|
4
|
Gotye f. Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know
|
20
|
|
6
|
10
|
Maroon 5 - Come Away To the Water
|
11
|
|
7
|
6
|
Garbage - Blood For Poppies
|
11
|
|
8
|
8
|
Lady Antebellum - Dancing Away With My Heart
|
11
|
|
9
|
13
|
Metric - Youth Without Youth
|
6
|
|
10
|
5
|
Dante vs Zombies - Natural Disaster
|
12
|
|
11
|
9
|
Silversun Pickups - Bloody Mary
|
10
|
|
12
|
11
|
The Decemberists - One Engine
|
9
|
|
13
|
14
|
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Never Go Back
|
8
|
|
14
|
12
|
Toby Keith - Red Solo Cup
|
11
|
|
15
|
20
|
Jack White - Sixteen Saltines
|
9
|
|
16
|
18
|
Town Hall - Good Boy
|
10
|
|
17
|
19
|
Beach House - Myth
|
12
|
|
18
|
16
|
Fitz and the Tantrums - L.O.V.
|
13
|
|
19
|
24
|
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE
"No Light, No Light"
Album: Ceremonials
|
21
|
|
20
|
15
|
Miike Snow - Paddling Out
|
11
|
|
21
|
26
|
Marriages - Ride In My Place
|
10
|
|
22
|
28
|
The Wombats - Jump Into the Fog
|
13
|
|
23
|
17
|
Fun. f. Janelle Monae - We Are Young
|
27
|
|
24
|
22
|
The Black Keys - Gold On the Ceiling
|
19
|
|
25
|
23
|
Dirty Heads - Spread Too Thin
|
12
|
|
26
|
35
|
Mayer Hawthorne - Henny and Gingerale
|
4
|
|
27
|
32
|
Linkin Park - Burn It Down
|
6
|
|
28
|
27
|
The Hives - Go Right Ahead
|
10
|
|
29
|
29
|
Eve6 - Victoria
|
12
|
|
30
|
30
|
Florence + the Machine - Breath of Life
|
4
|
|
31
|
21
|
The Rapture - How Deep is Your Love
|
21
|
|
32
|
31
|
Oberhofer - Away From You
|
7
|
|
33
|
33
|
The Offspring - Days Go By
|
4
|
|
34
|
34
|
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - That's What's Up
|
6
|
|
35
|
25
|
E'lissa Jones - Best I Ever Had
|
14
|
|
36
|
36
|
Snow Patrol - This Isn't Everything You Are
|
7
|
|
37
|
40
|
Lost n the Trees - Golden Eyelids
|
9
|
|
38
|
41
|
Grouplove - Tongue Tied
|
25
|
|
39
|
43
|
Train - Drive By
|
21
|
|
40
|
59
|
MOVER OF THE WEEK:
PASSION PIT
"Take A Walk"
Album: Gossamer
|
3
|
|
41
|
48
|
Zach Heckendorf - All the Right Places
|
8
|
|
42
|
37
|
Rachel Allyn- Ain't No Fun
|
25
|
|
43
|
49
|
Smash Palace - Living It Lonely
|
6
|
|
44
|
51
|
Graffiti6 - Stare Into the Sun
|
4
|
|
45
|
54
|
Maroon 5- Payphone
|
4
|
|
46
|
38
|
Gary Clark Jr - Bright Lights
|
19
|
|
47
|
53
|
The Fray - Run For Your Life
|
7
|
|
48
|
57
|
Chromatics - Kill For Love
|
6
|
|
49
|
42
|
Norah Jones - Happy Pills
|
13
|
|
50
|
58
|
Best Coast - The Only Place
|
3
|
|
51
|
71
|
The Kooks - Is It Me
|
2
|
|
52
|
56
|
Fun. - Some Nights
|
10
|
|
53
|
39
|
Young the Giant - Apartment
|
16
|
|
54
|
46
|
Wild Nothing - Nowhere
|
19
|
|
55
|
73
|
M83 - Reunion
|
3
|
|
56
|
45
|
Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling
|
20
|
|
57
|
47
|
Caveman - Old Friend
|
19
|
|
58
|
52
|
Haley Reinhart - Free
|
11
|
|
59
|
61
|
Foo Fighters - Bridge Burning
|
7
|
|
60
|
65
|
Alabama Shakes - Hold On
|
12
|
|
61
|
44
|
Pageants - Edible Rust
|
21
|
|
62
|
60
|
Gotye - Eyes Wide Open
|
7
|
|
63
|
67
|
Allo Darlin - Capricornia
|
3
|
|
64
|
50
|
Colbie Caillat - Favorite Song
|
11
|
|
65
|
69
|
Alex Clare - Too Close
|
4
|
|
66
|
75
|
Trails and Ways - Nunca
|
2
|
|
67
|
----
|
TOP DEBUT:
WOLF GANG
"The King and All His Men"
Album: Suego Faults
|
1
|
|
68
|
79
|
Phillip Phillips - Home
|
2
|
|
69
|
62
|
Florence + the Machine - Never Let Me Go
|
13
|
|
70
|
68
|
Morning Parade - Headlights
|
6
|
|
71
|
55
|
Nada Surf - Waiting For Something
|
18
|
|
72
|
----
|
Kelly Clarkson - Dark Side
|
1
|
|
73
|
84
|
Atlas Genius - Trojans
|
2
|
|
74
|
97
|
The Gaslight Anthem - 45
|
2
|
|
75
|
87
|
Reptor - Sebastian
|
2
|
|
76
|
----
|
Frank Turner - I Still Believe
|
1
|
|
77
|
66
|
The Cranberries - Tomorrow
|
23
|
|
78
|
74
|
Mayer Hawthorne - The Walk
|
34
|
|
79
|
89
|
Colbie Caillat - Brighter Than the Sun
|
12
|
|
80
|
----
|
Katy Perry - Wide Awake
|
1
|
|
81
|
----
|
Ty Segall - I Brought My Eyes
|
1
|
|
82
|
63
|
Jessie J - Domino
|
14
|
|
83
|
70
|
My Morning Jacket - First Light
|
22
|
|
84
|
72
|
Dr. Dog - That Old Black Hole
|
20
|
|
85
|
86
|
NeedtoBreathe - Keep Your Eyes Open
|
3
|
|
86
|
91
|
Alanis Morissette - Guardian
|
2
|
|
87
|
94
|
Blind Pilot - Half Moon
|
2
|
|
88
|
----
|
The Walkmen - Heaven
|
1
|
|
89
|
81
|
Atlas Sound - The Shakes
|
26
|
|
90
|
----
|
White Violet - Lays Around Lazy
|
1
|
|
91
|
93
|
Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks
|
24
|
|
92
|
----
|
Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
|
1
|
|
93
|
----
|
J.D. McPherson - North Side Gal
|
1
|
|
94
|
64
|
Temper Trap - Need Your Love
|
9
|
|
95
|
80
|
E'lissa Jones - Sweet Surrender
|
16
|
|
96
|
83
|
Sharon Van Etten - Serpents
|
25
|
|
97
|
76
|
Omnia - Grace
|
25
|
|
98
|
----
|
The Phenomenal Handclap Band - Radio Girls
|
1
|
|
99
|
82
|
Sarah Jean - At Last
|
19
|
|
100
|
85
|
The Big Pink - Hit the Ground Superman
|
8
|
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