Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Joining the Nation? (SNS 4/7-4/14/2014)

So, you think that I was going to go through the whole month of April without a blog entry?   Well, you'd be almost right.    Yes, it's another layofff and this stretch had its adventures as well.     In July 2001, I bought a new SUV; a Ford Explorer.    I had seen many of them on the road up to that point, so why not?   As it turned out, it was the beginning of the 2002 model season.   It's brought me many places, many shore, ski and road trips, and it even climbed Mount Washington in New Hampshire.

2014, however was a rough year for the old workhorse.     Now over two hundred thousand miles logged, it was having its problems.     First of all, the four wheel drive stopped working, and with the winter we just experienced and the area we lived in having many hills, it was a nightmare--the big SUV couldn't make it up the hill anymore.   Then finally on April 9, on Interstate 80 on the way to work, the car died.  I coasted partially off an exit ramp and stopped.    It was something to do with the timing belt, said the garage who towed the car there, luckily near where I work. 

That afternoon, it appeared they fixed the problem, just for a few hundred dollars, and home I went that night.   Nice?   Well, not exactly.  Seems that the closer I got home, the car got noisier and noisier, until I pulled into my driveway.    A huge racket.  I knew it was going back to the garage the next day, the question was, will it make it there?     After a few tense moments, I got to the garage for day too; I walked the short distance to work.    By afternoon I called and this time the news wasn't good.     The engine needed replacing.    In other words, that's all folks!   Thus, the late afternoon of the 10th, the car was towed to a junkyard.   Rest in peace.

That weekend it was new car shopping, and after a couple of showroom visits, the verdict was:  A new, 2014 Subaru Outback, dark red in color.     For the first time in over twenty years, not an SUV but a "crossover".  A nice ride, and a few days later, the car was mine.

OK, by now, you may be asking, what does this have to do with music?   Well, I'm going to tell you.   Among the features of the car is Sirius XM Statelite Radio.   This, of course has been around for well over a decade or so, but, aside from my father-in-law listening to "40's on 4" or the classic country station when we go up and visit, or my firend Anthony Josephs having it on during some ski trips the last couple of years, I never listened regularly.   Of course there are channel for every genre of music, every decade, and special channels. 

Well, as you can imagine, I took to "Alt. Nation", which plays current and recent (last decade or so), alternative rock.   Some stuff I've been listening to on my iPod or on my blog chart, but some new things as well.     If you think that doesn't sound like a big deal, remember this is the New York metropolitan area.  With the exception of WXRP, 101.9 that ran for about two years from 2009-2011 (and very briefly again early last year), this area has never had a commercial station for alternative rock (and I don't count 92.3 K-Rock in the mid 90's to mid 2000's, which made a mockery of the format.

Needless to say, I love the station, and I've already incorporated a couple of songs that have been playing on alt nation.    MS MR, whose "Hurricane" spent 10 weeks in the lower regions of the blog chart, have "Think of You", also from the duo's Secondhand Rapture set, in my opinion a much better, soulful song and catchier song, and a bit more sentimental as well.   They are New York-based, and they'll be playing locally at the Prospect Park bandshell, opening up for The National.   Nice song, and it debuts at #62, higher than the #70 peak of "Hurricane".

Another featured song on the station, debuting at #75 is "Sheila Put the Knife Down", by Junior Prom, another from the Brooklyn NY music scene.   Another great song in my opinion, and to be honest, it just sounds better hearing it on the radio.   Finally, Chromeo enters with "Jealous" at #83.

There are plenty of good songs out there again.   Sirius XM, of course, is by subscription and after four months I will make the decision whether to pay and subscribe to satellite radio.   Given the lack of this kind of music locally (not to mention reliable sources to discover it), this may be a good course of what I add to the my chart.    Of course, I still check out WEQX in Manchester, Vermont as well as WFUV's "The Alternate Side".     I know my SNS chart has, in the past, featured pop, country and soft rock, and I will still try and get the best from those formats and genres (how do you not resist "Happy" by Pharrell Williams), but I see for the time being giving priority to more alternative rock.   

WHAT'S HAPPENING:   Meanwhile, back at the top of the chart, which encompasses the weeks of April 6th and 13th, we see Foster the People garnering their second SNS #1, with the very hummable "Coming of Age", following "Pumped Up Kicks".   The song is top 5 alternative, but since it's more rock oriented and has artistic creativity, it only "bubbled under" the Billboard pop chart.    The new single is "Best Friend" which has been playing on "Alt Nation" recently; I will add that on in the next few weeks.  Pharrell, whose "Happy" is now in it's 8th week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, advanced to #2; while the previous week's #1, Young the Giant's "It's About Time", drops to #3, as a new entry by them, "Crystallized" enters at #61, which is another winner, by the way.

Elsewhere, Rachel Allyn's "Triggerman" advances to #20, the only new entry in that upper echelon this week.   It's her ninth straight SNS top 20 song, the fourth from her album Do It Yourself, and that doesn't count the two songs released as singles before that albums release.    If your'e looking for her, head down to Atlantic City, where she's playing much of her shows these days.

KEYS TO SUCCESS:    Outside the top 20's the top two debuts are worth mentioning.    The Black Keys have always been a favorite of mine going back to the middle of the last decade.    The first four weeks of my blog, when I introduced it in August 2010, the number 1 song was the band's "Tighten Up".   Since then, they've been fixtures on my radar, and this week, their new single, "Fever" comes in at a lofty #28, which I believe is the second highest debut of all time (behind Avi Buffalo's 'What's In It For", which entered at #21 a few years back).   "Fever" is a more dancable song that their others, except perhaps for "Lonely Boy", another SNS #1.   A bit more synth-driven than their classic stuff, this is no sell-out.   The band still maintains its rock edge in a beat-driven effort.    The song chugs along at a, uh, a feverish pace.   It's persistent but you never get tired of it.  Halfway thru the song, it gets even better and moves it up a notch, with Dan Auerbach's vocals becoming more soulful and the song even more coming to life.    Look for this one to be their third #1 on SNS.  Great effort!

The second highest entry, at a not-too-shabby #41, is "Amy's World" by The Hounds of Winter.   The Hounds, friend Tom Corea's studio band (as opposed to his Bad Attitude band which plays area clubs), are no strangers to SNS.   Two of their holiday entries made the upper half of my chart in 2012, and they had three top 20 songs backing up other artists:   Two songs with Sarah Jean in 2011-12, and another top entry with seasoned musician Thom Sebastian, "Not Broken".     Unfortunately, Sebastian passed away last year, and this new effort, "Amy's World", is past of an album, entitled Sebastian that is a tribute to the late singer-songwriter.    The song, and video, is a bouncy, cheery, uptempo song that could have come out during the late 60's or early 70's in the "sunshine pop" genre, represented by bands such as Spanky & Our Gang, The Cowsills, Peppermint Rainbow, plus other studio bands of the area.     Well, at least it's the perception when viewing the colorful video.     While perhaps those bands weren't in the "cool" category, the Hounds make it cool in a hurry.   The song is what perhaps those pop bands would have sounded like had they featured forceful guitars.   I'm not exactly sure of the relationship between Amy and Thom, but apparent it was significent enough.    This is a bouncy pop/rock song that is retro, yet much needed nowadays.    A great effort for Tom and the crew at Babyfishmouth studio in East Hanover.  My recommendation is to listen to the song first, then catch the video.

LONG RUN AT AN END:    "Keep You" by Wild Belle, after a 54 week run, finally drops off the chart; however, Fitz & the Tantrums "Out of My League" still hangs in there at #93 in its 58th week.    The band will be playing at Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel on June 6th, and it would be wise to grab some tickets while you can.    Will this song, the first single by the band which still has two other songs from their album on my chart, including "The Walker", another #1 on both SNS and Billboard's Alternative chart, and I will be adding another song from that album soon, hang on for a 60th week?   I was reflecting about all the things that have taken place since I added this song at the end of February of 2012:  Some geocaching expeditions, trips to the Shore, tailgates for Jets games, etc.   A lot of memories of that song.

Then again, there have been a lot of memories--13 years, almost--associated with my 2002 Ford Explorer, too.


Scenes n' Soundwaves 100

April 6-13, 2014

..

This Week

Last Week

ARTIST-Title

Weeks on List

1

3

NUMBER ONE:
 
FOSTER THE PEOPLE
"Coming of Age"
Album: Supermodel

12

2

4

Pharrell Williams - Happy

7

3

1

Young the Giant - It's About Time

19

4

2

Tired Pony - All Things All At Once

20

5

7

Phantogram - Fall in Love

14

6

5

Fitz and the Tantrums - The Walker

22

7

9

Haim - Forever

21

8

8

Caveman - Shut You Down

19

9

6

Shannon Marsyada Trio - What You Do To Me

21

10

11

Broken Bells - Holding On For Life

18

11

17

MOVER OF THE WEEK:

CAGE THE ELEPHANT
"Take It Or Leave It"
Album: Melophobia

5

12

10

Capital Cities - Kangaroo Court

17

13

20

Kings of Leon - Temple

18

14

13

Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know

17

15

19

Wild Belle - It's Too Late

10

16

14

Hellogoodbye - Everything Is Debatable

14

17

16

Dum Dum Girls - Lost Boys and Girls Club

16

18

12

Paul Czekaj - Elvis in Heaven

14

19

18

Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes

14

20

25

TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:

RACHEL ALLYN
"Triggerman"
Album: Do It Yourself

10

.

21

29

Beck - Blue Moon

10

22

30

Lucius - Turn It Around

16

23

31

Zedd f. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night

12

24

34

U2 - Invisible

7

25

33

Hospitality - Going Out

10

26

26

King Tuff - Sun Medallion

23

27

27

Those Darlins - In the Wilderness

15

28
----
TOP DEBUT:



THE BLACK KEYS
"Fever"
Album: Turn Blue

1

29

28

Zedd f. Foxes - Clarity

29

30

15

Man Man - Pyramids

19

31

21

Field Mouse - How Do You Know

34

32

36

Of Monsters and Men - Dirty Paws

17

33

45

Temples - Shelter Song

11

34

39

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Lariat

12

35

24

Wild Belle - Backslider

22

36

37

Phoenix - SOS in Belaire

12

37

47

Kongos - Come With Me Now

10

38

48

Golden Void - Smiling Raven

5

39

46

Silversun Pickups - Cannibal

11

40

54

Avicii - Hey Brother

11

41
----
The Hounds of Winter - Amy's World

1

42

49

Franz Ferdinand - Bullet

15

43

51

Mind Spiders - The Steady

16

44

58

Sleeper Agent - Waves

5

45

23

Eminem f. Rihanna - The Monster

17

46

22

Lorde - Team

18

47

35

The Fray - Love Don't Die

20

48

50

Hospitality - Rockets and Jets

7

49

60

Temples - Keep In the Dark

7

50

44

Alt J - Tesselate

19

51

62

Papa - Put Me to Work

7

52

42

Vance Joy - Riptide

12

53

53

Imagine Dragons - On Top of the World

12

54

59

Sam Roberts Band - We're All in This Together

7

55

43

New Politics - Tonight You're Perfect

18

56

67

Wild Club - Thunder Clatter

14

57

32

Katy Perry - Unconditinally

18

58

41

Cate Le Bon - Are You With Me Now

21

59

69

Birdy - Skinny Love

10

60

76

No - Leave the Door Wide Open

3

61
----
Young the Giant - Crystallized

1

62
----
MS MR - Think of You

1

63

40

Ylvis - The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)

20

64

68

Brick + Mortar - Locked In A Cage

10

65

64

Augustines - Walkabout

10

66

72

Capital Cities - I Sold My Bed But Not My Stereo

3

67

61

Grouplove - Shark Attack

11

68

66

Fitz and the Tantrums - Keeping Our Eyes Out

31

69

78

Magic Man - Paris

3

70

71

Bad Suns - Cardiac Arrest

5

71

38

Eli Young Band - Drunk Last Night

16

72

57

Of Montreal - Fugitive Air

22

73

79

Afghan Whigs - Algiers

3

74

65

Terraplane Sun - Get Me Golden

35

75
----
Junior Prom - Sheila Put the Knife Down

1

76
----
Broken Bells - No Matter What You're Told

1

77

52

Emiliana Torrini -Speed of Dark

23

78

82

Birds of Tokyo - Lanterns

3

79

55

Portugal. the Man - Modern Jesus

18

80

77

Lost in the Trees - Past Life

11

81

86

Coldplay - Magic

3

82
----
Eagulls - Possessed

1

83
----
Chromeo - Jealous

1

84

56

Cold War Kids - Lost That Easy

25

85

63

San Cisco - Fred Astaire

25

86

80

Bruno Mars - Young Girls

5

87
----
Sir Sly - Gold

1

88

73

Cage the Elephant - Come A Little Closer

33

89

81

Crosses - The Epilogue

5

90

74

Cut Copy - We Are Explorers

19

91

85

John Legend - All of Me

5

92

89

Fitz and the Tantrums - Out of My League

58

93

92

Cloud Nothings - I'm Not Part of Me

3

94
----
Elbow - New York Morning

1

95

90

White Sea - They Don't Know

5

96

91

Bleachers - I Wanna Get Better

3

97

70

Capital Cities - Safe and Sound

34

98

94

Cherub - Doses and Mimosas

3

99
----
Damien Jurado - Silver Timothy

1

100

84

Lady Gaga - Do What U Want

7

.
...