Jammin' (SNS week of 3/1/2015)

MOVIN':  Last weekend, I had the pleasure of checking out the local band Moving Company, a classic rock/jam band based in Milford PA, and which includes a longtime friend, Ron Pietranowicz on keyboards.    I have caught them before, twice in fact.    This time, they played at Frenchy's, a bar in my hometown of Roselle Park, a place that I have frequented a lot lately.  It's a cool place where I have gotten together with many friends I grew up with, and even the bands that have played there consist of friends I've known (and not just Roselle Park; my Jets tailgating friend Bob Shupp plays there frequently as the drummer for Blueschamber.

But last Saturday was sort of a mini-reunion of my RPHS Class of 1974; after our 40th reunion last October we vowed we'd have some sort of mini-reunions in the meantime the mostly informal ones.  And we did have a good turnout of Roselle Park people to check out one of their own.   Moving Company did a great job.

In the past twenty years or so, I have grown to appreciate "jam bands", in which Moving Company has self-described itself.    Perhaps back in the day, I didn't, but definitely do now.   Of course, this band played inside (it's very cold out this season anyway), but bands like this just give me the feeling of being outside at a show--or even just hanging out informally--and listening to any band just play on asnd providing a great backdrop to the day.   It's a great feeling.    This is another reason why music always seems to fit the mood--or improve one's mood as well.

SHAKIN':   When we got home around midnight, I turned on Saturday Night Live just in time for a performance by Alabama Shakes.   I reviewed their new single last week,  "Don't Wanna Fight", which they played.  I know I've said a lot about this band, but to see them perform live just adds another dimension to them.    Later in the show they performed "Give Me All Your Love", from their forthcoming album Sound and Color, which comes out next month.  If anything, that is an even better song.    Brittney Howard definitely has the soul and she just let her emotions run rampant.  Talk about jams.

Rock music has definitely taken it on the chin the last several years or so, but the Shakes performance, and even cover bands like Moving Company just go to prove that, although it may not be the dominant genre, rock will never die.  It's flexible and full of emotion.


AROUND THE TOP 20:    Another jam song of sorts, "Weight of Love" by the Black Keys, jumps from #6 to the top spot in only 4 weeks, becoming their fourth number one song.    Only Fitz and the Tantrums have topped my list more.     This is a perfect song for this time of year in my opinion, when a cold winter hopefully comes to an end and it's time for spring.    The song was one of the key selections from my ski weekend last month.    The Raveonettes have their second top 3 song as "Killer in the Streets" moves up, as does Bell & Sebastian at #6 and Florence + the Machine at #7.    The Kooks have their fourth SNS top 20 as "Bad Habit" advances 22-17 and the still popular (nine weeks at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100) "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars regains its bullet and moves 21-19.  Everyone still loves the song and it's finally starting to etch into my brain as well.

NEWBIES:  A rather slow week for debuts with nothing really grabbing my total interest, but some familiar bands to my blog make entrances.   Django Django best known here for the 2012 #2 hit "Default" and it's top 20 follow-up "Hail Bop" are back with  "First Light", the top debut at #78.  While not as catchy as "Default", this is still a palatable straight-ahead dream-poppish effort, easy on the ears but not boring at all.    Their second album, Born Under Saturn ships on May 4.

The Voice is back for a new season and coincides with coach Adam Levine's band Maroon 5's third single from their V album, "Sugar",  The song is already top 3 on Billboard's Hot 100 and all three singles have reached the top 10 nationally.   For me, it's the best of the three; "Map" made my top 10 but "Animals" stalled out at #46.   This one should put them back in my top 20 as this one has a bit more emotional than the prior single.   A good bet.  Incidentally, the song's video picked up some controversy as it was purported to be about weddings that the band "crashed" and performed.  In reality most of it was staged.

ALSO NOTEWORTHY: The Mowgli's had a top 20 SNS song a couple years back called "San Francisco" (no relation to the Foxygen song) this has a indie-poppish sometimes even folkie-feel to it.   Definitely worth of attention.   Death Cab for Cutie, who last time out hit #2 with "Stay Young, Go Dancing" back in the latter half of 2011 (and was the favorite of some Facebook friends, most notably Suzanne Logeman) are back with "Black Sun".   The song is from their forthcoming set, Kintsugi which comes out on March 31.  Not a ballad like the former hit, but also a bit on the subdued side.     Finally, the Wombats, who have two SNS top 10's to their credit, debut with "Greek Tragedy".  Not as immediate as "Tokyo" or "Jump Into the Fog" but still worth listening to, although it may take a couple of listens to get used it; it does grow on you and has a cool sound to it.   It's from the Liverpool band's forthcoming Glitterbug coming out in April.

Finally, other debuts include The Griswolds, and Alice Russell, the latter another Brit singer with "Breakdown", another SoundHound find from her 2013 set To Dust.   And I do finally add the Rihanna/Kanye West/Paul McCartney song "FourFive Seconds", the national top 5 song, as a Tremor at #102.  Incidentally, Kanye did apologize to Beck regarding West's outburst following the recent Grammy awards, and also made amends with Bruno Mars.    Hopefully, he can let the public focus on his music now.     It's the first appearance for both him and Paul McCartney on my SNS chart; incidentally another McCartney composition, "Bluebird" has a cool cover by Corinne Bailey Rae, who does a great jazzy/blues rendition of the Band on the Run classic.

AVI NO MORE:    There are many bands out there who haven't gotten their big break and probably never will.  Some of them try very hard but then throw in the towel as it is very rough out there getting a slice of the airplay pie. Many of them call it quits without any fanfare.    Such as the case with Avi Buffalo, the California quartet that released a very strong album in 2010, self-titled.    A few weeks ago, leader Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg issued a statement that he and his band called it quits, citing that the project "went too far" and the touring was causing stress and depression.  

Avi Buffalo was probably the one band that made me decide to make this blog a weekly affair and after initially started it up.   The third blog I ever did, 'What's In It For", from their debut, entered at #21 which is still a record, and reached the top and stayed there for five weeks.    The video and song was very retro, it looked like it came out of the 1960's.    The band consisted of four kids just out of high school and I really felt they were going places.     But two members left (including Rebecca Coleman, who formed Pageants) and it really wasn't the same.   The band released the stand-alone single "How Come" which reached #5 in 2011, and then finally last year,  their second album At Best Cuckold which yielded the #6 single "So What".

They will be missed...by me anyway.

This Week	Last Week	ARTIST-Title	Weeks on List
1	6	NUMBER ONE: THE BLACK KEYS "Weight of Love" Album: Turn Blue	4
2	1	Cage the Elephant - Cigarette Daydreams	12
3	4	The Raveonettes - Killer in the Streets	8
4	2	Lucius - Hey, Doreen	10
5	5	Foster the People - Are You What You Want To Be	12
6	7	Belle and Sebastian - The Party Line	4
7	12	Florence + the Machine - What Kind of Man	3
8	3	St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Call Me	14
9	10	Calvin Harris f. John Newman - Blame	6
10	11	White Arrows - We Can't Ever Die	6
11	9	Cold War Kids - All This Could Be Yours	11
12	13	Wizards of Winter - Gales of December	10
13	16	Foxygen - Cosmic Vibrations	7
14	18	Ariana Grande - Love Me Harder	7
15	8	Fitz and the Tantrums - Fools Gold	15
16	19	Meghan Trainor - Lips are Movin'	7
17	22	TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK: THE KOOKS "Bad Habit" Album: Listen	5
18	15	The Black Keys - Gotta Get Away	11
19	21	Mark Ronson f. Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk	6
20	14	Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine●	23

21	23	Fall Out Boy - Centuries	6
22	17	Hozier - Take Me To Church●	26
23	25	Alvvays - Archie Marry Me	7
24	29	Fremont - All That I Needed	8
25	31	Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You)	5
26	27	The Decemberists - Make You Better	14
27	26	The Big Takeover - Children of the Rhythm●	18
28	34	Waters - I Feel Everything	9
29	20	Meghan Trainor - All About that Bass	15
30	38	Catfish & the Bottlemen - Kathleen	7
31	64	MOVER OF THE WEEK: ALABAMA SHAKES "Don't Wanna Fight" Album: Sound & Color	2
32	41	Taylor Centers - Wild	4
33	33	Vivian Girls - Take It As It Comes●	24
34	46	Hozier - Angel of Small  Death and the Codiene Scene	3
35	24	Taylor Swift - Shake It Off	13
36	32	The Fresh & Onlys - Animal of One	22
37	42	TV on the Radio - Happy Idiot	7
38	43	Launderettes - Red River	5
39	44	Phoebe Ryan - Mine	4
40	55	Kelly Clarkson - Heartbreak Song	3
41	48	Kjband - Man of Few Words	6
42	50	Modest Mouse - Lampshades on Fire	4
43	28	Christina Perri - Burning Gold	8
44	37	Fitz and the Tantrums - 6AM●	24
45	52	Interpol - My Desire	6
46	30	SomeKindaWonderful - California Love	12
47	51	Stater-Kinney - Bury Our Friends	9
48	36	Foxygen - How Can You Really?	15
49	39	Colony House - Silhouettes	14
50	47	Kendrick Lamarr - I	8
51	35	Yast - Heart of Steel	13
52	40	The Orwells - The Righteous One	11
53	69	The Big Takeover - Dolphins	2
54	59	Sir Sly - You Haunt Me	4
55	63	Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do	3
56	49	Maroon 5 - Animals	11
57	45	Lana Del Rey - Shades of Cool	12
58	67	Yelawolf- Till It's Gone	6
59	61	Brick + Mortar - Hollow Tune	5
60	57	Train - Cadillac, Cadillac	7
61	85	The Drums - I Can't Pretend	2
62	53	Foo Fighters - Something From Nothing	12
63	58	Jessica Lea Mayfield - I Wanna Love You	22
64	54	Ty Segall - Tall Man Skinny Lady	13
65	66	Jungle - Time	22
66	75	Deers - Bamboo	6
67	56	White Fence - Like That	16
68	62	SomeKindaWonderful - Reverse●	30
69	78	Sam Smith - I'm Not the Only One	6
70	71	Taylor Swift - Blank Space	4
71	77	Shakey Graves - Dearly Departed	9
72	65	Imagine Dragons - I Bet My Life	10
73	74	Banks - Beggin For Thread	8
74	82	Blondfire - Waves	3
75	83	Glass Animals - Gooey	2
76	60	A Day to Remember - End of Me	13
77	88	Ed Sheeran - Think Out Loud	2
78	---	TOP DEBUT: DJANGO DJANGO "First Light" Album: Born Under Saturn	1
79	81	George Ezra - Budapest	4
80	---	Maroon 5 - Sugar	1
81	94	Corinne Bailey Rae - Bluebird	2
82	---	The Mowglis - Through the Dark	1
83	73	Junior Prom - Cheap Thrills	8
84	90	Damien Jurado - Ohio	2
85	89	Milky Chance - Flash Junk Mind	2
86	91	My Goodness - Cold Feel Killer	2
87	72	Valerie June - You Can't Be Told	31
88	92	Julian Casablancas & the Voidz - Where No Eagles Fly	8
89	---	The Griswolds - If You Wanna Stay	1
90	68	The Gaslight Anthem  - Get Hurt	18
91	---	Alice Russell - Breakdown	1
92	---	Death Cab for Cutie - Black Sun	1
93	84	Weezer - Da Vinci	5
94	87	Sam Smith - Stay With Me	13
95	102	U2 - Every Breaking Wave	1
96	---	The Wombats - Greek Tragedy	1
97	70	Broken Bells - After the Disco	12
98	76	Alabama Shakes - Heartbreaker	16
99	93	Alt-J - Every Other Freckle	3
100	96	Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness - Cecilia & the Satellite	5

Tremors:

101	101	The New Basement Tapes - Kansas City
102		Rihanna, Kanye West, Paul McCartney - FourFive Seconds

Songs with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.

●    Songs with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲       Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod.