Thursday was a rather satisfying day. Halloween is my birthday, and I turned 57. But much of the time I don't think of it as such, instead focusing on the haunts of the day. Well, the day was a good one. A bit cloudy, some mist, and even a little rain late in the evening...kind of like Halloween is supposed to be. But I was just ecstatic that the day went on at all, having seen trick-or-treating essentially canceled the last two years due to the "Snowtober" in 2011 and "Superstorm Sandy" last year. This Halloween, to borrow a line from that other holiday carol, "all is calm".
I love giving out candy to the kids that came by. We had sixty kids show up at our door, and you gotta love the costumes they wear, especially the little ones. Sometimes you have to "coax" them out on what they're here for (as do the accompanying parents). But eventually they say "trick or treat". And of course, after you give them the candy, it would be nice of them to say, without being coaxed, "thank you". I wish them "Happy Halloween", and they're on their way to the next door.
But of course, I'm a music person, and I have the need to put my Bose out there with my Halloween playlist. After all, you can't "feel" the holiday unless there's some background music. So I prepared a several-hour music mix combining popular songs with some "background haunts" as well as some scare movie and TV theme songs. Some great albums like Mannheim Steamroller's "Halloween Monster Mix" and Midnight Syndicate's "The 13th Hour". Inter-dispersed with those are themes from "The Munsters", "Addams Family", 'Twilight Zone" and "X Files", sound effects from Psycho, a couple songs from Rocky Horror Picture Show, Stephen King's Pet Sematary, the title track performed by The Ramones and the ubiquitous "Tubular Bells" from The Exorcist..
Popular songs included stuff perhaps not popular during past Halloween's, but fit the time perfectly. "Monster Mash" is a given, as is "Thriller", and you know you gotta include Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare" and Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London". "Ghostbusters" is on there as well. But perhaps a stretch of the imagination isn't too much; after all, you have witches, "Witchcraft", Frank Sinatra, 'Season of the Witch" by Donovan and "Witchy Woman" by the Eagles; Devils "Devil Woman", Cliff Richard. And perhaps the Oak Ridge Boys' "Elvira" isn't the "Mistress of the Dark" that they had in mind (the song came out seven years before that), but heck, I'll include it. An obscure gem is "The Legend of Wooley Swamp", a 1980 top-40 hit from the Charlie Daniels Band. Anyone remember "A Nightmare on My Street" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince (aka Will Smith)?. "Spooky" by Classics IV? Five Man Electrical Band had a hit in 1971 with "Signs", but they had another gem a couple years later with "Werewolf".
Granted much of the kids never heard this music, but I had to think it set the mood for the evening.
NEW STUFF FROM NOTTHAT NEW ALBUMS: The top two debuts are from artists that have been hanging out the top of the SNS chart lately. We'll start with the second highest debut. As I briefly alluded to last week, the second single from Fitz & the Tantrums' More Than Just a Dream set is "The Walker". If you're expecting to here the retro-soul of their first album, the semi-poppy "Out of My League" or my recent #1 album track's gutsy "Keeping Out Eyes Out", forget it. Starting with, and interspersed with whistling, this is a driving tune. This one has a better chance to crack the mainstream pop airwaves than the others, but that in no way they're compromising themselves. They're having a great time on this one, as I suspect they do in real life. They have completed their summer tour opening for Bruno Mars, and now are playing some dates in the South with Capital Cities. I really need to catch these guys somewhere soon!
Back in March, when I started to play "Keep You" from sibling duo Wild Belle, it was an introduction to a new group and to launch their album Isles. Of course I was so busy getting into this song, all spring, all summer, and now into the fall; including a six-week stint as my number one song. Still #6 as of 34 weeks, I lost sight of the fact that the album is now that old, and that two subsequent singles have been released: "Backslider" and "It's Too Late". I had read that Isles was so named in that every tune stood on its own and there was no connections or continuity in the album. "Keep You" was of course, a reggae-inspired tune.
I didn't expect "Backslider" to sound like that, but it is a great tune in its own right. It has a haunting tempo, eerily so. Natalie Bergman sings along with such convincing, this one really grabs hold of you. It does have some tropical influences, even reminding me of Blondie's 'The Tide is High", a least to a small degree. The only negative to all this, and again, a consequence of me staying on "Keep You" so long, is that their tour is completed. If you were luck to catch them at New York's Bowery on October 8, no doubt you were in for a treat.
AT THE TOP: Man Man's "Head On" heads the top of the SNS chart this week. The song entered Billboard's Alternative Chart a couple of weeks back. The entire top 10 is very strong; any of those songs could have been at the top in another time period. That explains that, except for some jostling for position, they are the same songs as last week. There is some good movement in the second 20, with new entries from Tame Impala, Kings of Leon, Foals, and The Veils, all of who have been here before, plus a first time entry from Smith Westerns. Tame Impala's song "Elephants" is significant to me. While looking at my Facebook timeline from last November (2012), for another item, I noticed that a friend Gianni Piacentini, who had previously recommended Anna Calvi's "Blackout" and it made my top 10.
Well, I noticed that Gianni has posted a video on my timeline, "Elephant" by Tame Impala, a band I had never heard of. Just a couple weeks later, Brian Sniatkowski posted another song b that band, "Apocalypse Dreams". I then saw another song by them "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" which was getting some airplay. Both of those songs moved up my chart earlier this year, peaking at #21 and 22, respectively. "Elephant" meanwhile got lost in the shuffle. It was finally announced as the next single from their album Lonerism, and even started making some charts. I added the song and it was making its way up my SNS chart when, I looked back a year on my Timeline to see Gianni post the song. Well, it took awhile, but he's picked my second hit as the song moves to #15, becoming the band's first top 20 SNS hit. Time to recommend another song for late 2013 and early 2014, Gianni! Except for an appearance at a Seattle festival with Vampire Weekend as top billing, they'll be playing in their native Australia in the upcoming months.
Scenes 'n' Soundwaves 100
November 3, 2013
|
This Week
|
Last Week
|
ARTIST-Title
|
Weeks on List
|
|
1
|
3
|
NUMBER ONE:
MAN MAN
"Head On"
Album: On Oni Pond
|
13
|
|
2
|
4
|
Terraplane Sun - Get Me Golden
|
14
|
|
3
|
2
|
Cage the Elephant - Come A Little Closer
|
12
|
|
4
|
1
|
Fitz and the Tantrums - Keeping Our Eyes Out
|
10
|
|
5
|
6
|
Robin Thicke f. T.I. & Pharrel Williams - Blurred Lines
|
15
|
|
6
|
5
|
Wild Belle - Keep You
|
34
|
|
7
|
8
|
Lorde - Royals
|
11
|
|
8
|
7
|
Field Mouse - How Do You Know
|
13
|
|
9
|
9
|
Portugal. The Man - Purple Yellow Red & Blue
|
18
|
|
10
|
10
|
Golden Void - Rise to the Out of Reach
|
12
|
|
11
|
11
|
Blake Shelton - Boys 'Round Here
|
17
|
|
12
|
19
|
Katy Perry - Roar
|
12
|
|
13
|
15
|
Matthew Koma - One Night
|
12
|
|
14
|
12
|
Case Studies - Everything
|
20
|
|
15
|
23
|
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
TAME IMPALA
"Elephant"
Album: Lonerism
|
19
|
|
16
|
21
|
Kings of Leon - Supersoaker
|
14
|
|
17
|
22
|
Foals - My Number
|
17
|
|
18
|
31
|
Smith Westerns - Varsity
|
6
|
|
19
|
29
|
The Veils - Another Night on Earth
|
10
|
|
20
|
16
|
Rachel Allyn - Dear Prudence
|
14
|
|
21
|
17
|
Phoenix - Trying to Be Cool
|
21
|
|
22
|
13
|
Train - Bruises
|
18
|
|
23
|
20
|
Silversun Pickups - Dots and Dashes
|
17
|
|
24
|
25
|
Franz Ferdinand - Right Action
|
15
|
|
25
|
14
|
Lana Del Rey - Summertime Sadness
|
16
|
|
26
|
33
|
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Better Days
|
13
|
|
27
|
46
|
Capital Cities - Safe and Sound
|
13
|
|
28
|
35
|
Florence + the Machine - Spectrum (Say My Name)
|
11
|
|
29
|
45
|
Avicii - Wake Me Up
|
8
|
|
30
|
26
|
Leila Hegazy - The Reason Why
|
13
|
|
31
|
44
|
Those Darlins - Optimist
|
4
|
|
32
|
18
|
Bruno Mars - Treasure
|
16
|
|
33
|
28
|
Fitz and the Tantrums - Out of My League
|
37
|
|
34
|
37
|
The Avett Brothers - Another Is Waiting
|
8
|
|
35
|
41
|
The Satelliters - Where Do We Go
|
8
|
|
36
|
43
|
Passenger - Let Her Go
|
15
|
|
37
|
24
|
Pink f. Lily Allen - True Love
|
15
|
|
38
|
38
|
Lady Gaga - Applause
|
10
|
|
39
|
40
|
Zedd f. Foxes Clarify
|
8
|
|
40
|
42
|
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
|
8
|
|
41
|
49
|
Panic! at the Disco - Miss Jackson
|
4
|
|
42
|
72
|
MOVER OF THE WEEK:
EMILIANA TORRINI
"Speed of Dar"
Album: Tookah
|
2
|
|
43
|
34
|
Atlas Genius - If So
|
20
|
|
44
|
27
|
Dan Croll - From Nowhere
|
29
|
|
45
|
36
|
Palma Violets - Best of Friends
|
19
|
|
46
|
32
|
Paramore - Still Into You
|
18
|
|
47
|
51
|
OneRepublic - Counting Stars
|
13
|
|
48
|
60
|
Phillip Phillips - Where We Came From
|
6
|
|
49
|
52
|
The Livesays - Until You Kissed Me Like That
|
8
|
|
50
|
69
|
San Cisco - Fred Astaire
|
4
|
|
51
|
30
|
Cayucas - High School Lover
|
22
|
|
52
|
59
|
Emeli Sande - My Kind of Love
|
6
|
|
53
|
57
|
Dawes - Most People
|
8
|
|
54
|
63
|
Taylor Centers - Alibi
|
6
|
|
55
|
83
|
Cold War Kids - Lost That Easy
|
4
|
|
56
|
58
|
Porchistas - Johnny Miner
|
10
|
|
57
|
65
|
Wig Party - She Figured It Out
|
8
|
|
58
|
39
|
Foxygen - No Destruction
|
16
|
|
59
|
----
|
TOP DEBUT:
WILD BELLE
"Backslider"
Album: Isles
|
1
|
|
60
|
55
|
Pixies - Bagboy
|
15
|
|
61
|
50
|
Imagine Dragons - Radioactive
|
47
|
|
62
|
61
|
Mikal Cronin- Change
|
11
|
|
63
|
67
|
The Unlikely Candidates - Follow My Feet
|
14
|
|
64
|
----
|
Fitz and the Tantrums - The Walker
|
1
|
|
65
|
71
|
The 1975 - Chocolate
|
11
|
|
66
|
77
|
Bonnie McKee - American Girl
|
6
|
|
67
|
81
|
The Killers - Shot At the Night
|
4
|
|
68
|
79
|
Brent Dennen - Wild Child
|
6
|
|
69
|
48
|
Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Under the Earth
|
20
|
|
70
|
75
|
Sara Bareilles - Brave
|
21
|
|
71
|
82
|
Coldplay - Atlas
|
4
|
|
72
|
47
|
Paul Czekaj - At the Beach
|
20
|
|
73
|
56
|
Foxygen - San Francisco
|
28
|
|
74
|
78
|
Hands - The Game is Changing Us
|
8
|
|
75
|
76
|
Grouplove - Ways to Go
|
18
|
|
76
|
53
|
I Am Dynamite - Hey Girl
|
20
|
|
77
|
85
|
J Roddy Wilson and the Business - Heavy Bells
|
6
|
|
78
|
62
|
Waaves - Demon to Lean On
|
23
|
|
79
|
87
|
Calvin Harris f. Ellie Goulding - I Need Your Love
|
16
|
|
80
|
89
|
Bell X1 - The End Is Nigh
|
4
|
|
81
|
88
|
Taylor Swift f. Ed Sheeran - Everything Has Changed
|
6
|
|
82
|
54
|
New Politics - Harlem
|
35
|
|
83
|
93
|
Bastille - Pompeii
|
2
|
|
84
|
68
|
Omnia Hegazy - Aziza
|
24
|
|
85
|
86
|
Blue October - Bleed Out
|
6
|
|
86
|
91
|
Ellie Goulding - Burn
|
13
|
|
87
|
64
|
Jay Arner - Don't Remind Me
|
27
|
|
88
|
94
|
King Tuff - Sun Medallion
|
2
|
|
89
|
95
|
Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop
|
2
|
|
90
|
97
|
Eagulls - Pompeii
|
2
|
|
91
|
----
|
Linkin Park - A Light That Never Comes
|
1
|
|
92
|
----
|
The Joy Formidable - Silent Treatment
|
1
|
|
93
|
70
|
Lana Del Rey - Young and Beautiful
|
22
|
|
94
|
66
|
The Thermals - I Go Alone
|
21
|
|
95
|
100
|
Pearl Jam - Sirens
|
2
|
|
96
|
90
|
Nonono - Pumpin Blood
|
11
|
|
97
|
92
|
Jack Johnson - I Got You
|
4
|
|
98
|
----
|
American Authors - Best Day of My Life
|
1
|
|
99
|
----
|
Of Montreal - Fugitive Air
|
1
|
|
100
|
74
|
Neko Case - Man
|
20
|
TREMORS:
101. Jagwar Ma, Come Save Me
102. Haim, Forever
103. The Head and the Heart, Evil Friends
104. Saints of Valory, Neon Eyes
105. White Denim, Pretty Green
106. The Limousines, Love and A Dog From Hell
107. The Colourist, Little Games
108. John Mayer, Wildfire
109. Holy Ghost, Okay
110. Fall Out Boy, The Phoenix
111. Goo Goo Dolls, Come to Me
112. Miley Cyrus, Wrecking Ball
113/ Daughtry, Waiting For Superman
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