Scenes 'n' Soundwaves: SNS Week of 7/31/2016

Here is another brief blog in an attempt to play catch-up.   I hope to have another expansive one soon as I have much to talk about. But in the meantime, here is a synopsis of what I've been listening to:

The Red Hot Chili Peppers still hold the top spot for a fourth week with "Dark Necessities". It loses points this week and is just barely ahead of the #2 song, Paul Czekaj's "That Old New Jersey", while "The Hot Spot" by Us Commoners stays in the #3 position.    The latter two songs most likely won't advance further, however, as I was late in adding both of those songs, and both acts have new singles already released that I will be jumping on in the next couple of weeks. Kaleo, #2 on Billboard's alternative chart, holds at #4 while Fitz and the Tantrums are again at #5, although this time it's "Complicated" that replaced "HandClap" at that position as the latter falls to #10; but giving the blog's hottest band another week with two songs in the top 10.

Big movers in the top 20 continue to be M83's "Go" which moves 14-6, and Mayer Hawthorne's "Cosmic Love" (17-11).    San Francisco band Finish Ticket, which has toured with SNS faves like Fitz & the Tantrums, The Black Keys and Ed Sheeran, now have a top 20 song in their own right, as "Color" jumps from 26 to 14.

Rachel Allyn drops out of the top 20 with 'Next Year's Girl", while another area act, The Billy Spanton Band, featuring my friend Ron Pietranowicz on keyboards, hits the upper echelon with "Shake Your Soul".   Beck has his third SNS-era top 20 has "Wow" enters at #19, one notch behind Bishop Briggs' "River" which advances 22-18.    And just inching into the top 20 is Blink-182, with their Billboard #1 alt-hit "Bored To Death".

With the exception of Santana's "Blues Magic" there really aren't any big movers on the SNS 100 as there seems to be a lack of excitement in this summers' music.   In a future blog I plan to explore why, at least for me, the music isn't inspiring as it was in summers past.

Two debuts worth noting, although the entries aren't that high at all.   Eagulls, a Leeds, England band whose "Nerve Endings" hit #34 in early 2014 from their self-titled debut, are back with their second album Ullages, and the lead single "Velvet".    I have drifted behind on country once again after a flurry of activity last winter and spring, but I still pick up the Zac Brown Band's latest, "Castaway", which is a cool revisit of their songs "Toes" and "Knee Deep", although the song doesn't sound like those two.   They are my favorite country band right now, and just a listen will show you why.

Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100

July 31, 2016

This Week	Last Week	ARTIST-Title	Weeks on List
1	1	NUMBER ONE: RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS "Dark Necessities" Album: The Getaway (4 weeks at #1)	10
2	2	Paul Czekaj - That Old New Jersey	8
3	3	Us Commoners - The Hot Spot	8
4	4	Kaleo - Way Down We Go●	19
5	7	Fitz and the Tantrums - Complicated	4
6	14	M83 - Go	5
7	6	Trent Harmon - Falling	12
8	8	Cage the Elephant - Trouble	9
9	9	The Revivalists - Wish I Knew You	10
10	5	Fitz and the Tantrums - HandClap●	15
11	17	Mayer Hawthorne - Cosmic Love	12
12	13	Adele - Send My Love (To Your New Lover)	8
13	10	Pink - Just Like Fire	7
14	26	TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK: FINISH TICKET "Color" Album: When Night Becomes Day (EP)	6
15	11	Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - I Need Never Get Old	12
16	18	Awolnation - Woman Woman	12
17	31	Billy Spanton Band - Shake Your Soul	4
18	22	Bishop Briggs- River	10
19	25	Beck - Wow	7
20	21	Blink 182 - Bored to Death	7

21	23	Flume f Andrew Wyatt- Some Minds	7
22	29	City and Colour - Wasted Love	8
23	30	Nada Surf - Believe You're Mine	14
24	28	Kongos - Take It From Me	8
25	32	Charles Kelley- Lonely Girl	12
26	16	Ray Lamontagne - Hey No Pressure	18
27	24	Collective Soul - Contagious	13
28	12	Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - No Love Like Yours	15
29	36	The Dreamers - Drugs	11
30	43	Phoebe Ryan - Chronic	5
31	20	Smash Palace - My Mistake●	17
32	15	The Heavy - Since You Been Gone	13
33	19	Rachel Allyn - Next Year's Girl	13
34	37	The Avalanches - Frankie Sinatra	6
35	38	BORNS - American Money	8
36	27	The Parlor - The Surgeon's Knife●	18
37	46	Young the Giant - Something to Believe In	4
38	42	Twenty-One Pilots - Ride	11
39	75	MOVER OF THE WEEK: SANTANA "Blues Magic" Album: Santana IV	2
40	35	Santigold - Can't Get Enough of Myself	18
41	45	Pop Etc. - What Am I Becoming	10
42	49	Foals - What Went Down	4
43	33	Garbage - Empty	11
44	34	Avid Dancer - I Feel It●	22
45	48	Greeting Committee - Hands Down	7
46	58	The Blossoms - At Most A Kiss	5
47	56	Death Cab for Cutie - Good Help	6
48	57	Hozier - Better Love	5
49	44	Paul Czekaj - Up In the Sky	14
50	53	Parquet Courts - Dust	9
51	68	Barns Courtney - Fire	4
52	39	Strumbella - Spirits	21
53	41	Mutemath - Light Up	15
54	62	Calvin Harris f Rhianna - This Is What You Came For	6
55	64	Langhorn Slim and the Law - Spirit Moves	7
56	74	Amos Lee - Vaporize	3
57	70	Coin - Talk Too Much	3
58	40	The Thermals - Hey You	13
59	47	The Joy Formidable - The Last Thing on My Mind	20
60	67	The Monkees - She Makes Me Laugh	6
61	54	The Veils - Axoloti	7
62	65	Band of Horses - Casual Party	6
63	72	The Strokes - Oblivius	4
64	55	Palma Violets - Matador	9
65	69	Goo Goo Dolls - So Alive	5
66	50	Young the Giant - Amerika	12
67	52	Run River North - Run or Hide	20
68	60	Foals - Give It All●	22
69	59	Weezer - King of the World	10
70	51	Meghan Trainor - NO	13
71	78	Coldplay - Hymn For the Weekend	5
72	61	Wild Belle - Throw Down Your Guns	14
73	63	Santana - Anywhere You Want to Go	16
74	77	Beth Orton - 1973	6
75	80	Chris Stapleton - Nobody to Blame	5
76	98	Leon Bridges - Better Man	2
77	82	DMA's - Too Soon	3
78	84	Phantogram- You Don't Get Me High Anymore	3
79	66	Demi Lovato - Confident	16
80	86	The Doughboys - For Your Love	2
81	94	Two Door Cinema Club - Are We Ready (Wreck)	2
82	71	Elle King - America's Sweetheart	13
83	89	The Grip Weeds - Rainbow Quartz	2
84	73	The Lumineers - Ophelia	18
85	85	Disturbed - The Sound of Silence	5
86	103	TOP DEBUT: EAGULLS "Velvet" Album: Ullages	1
87	81	The Avett Brothers - Ain't No Man	8
88	83	DNCE - Cake By the Ocean	23
89	96	Chef Special - In Your Arms	13
90	---	Zac Brown Band - Castaway	1
91	76	Atlas Genius - Stockholm	11
92	91	Banners - Shine a Light	14
93	105	Passenger - Somebody's Love	1
94	101	888 - Critical Mistakes	1
95	104	Glass Animals - Life Itself	2
96	---	Deerhunter - Snakeskin	1
97	102	Katy Perry - Rise	1
98	100	Elle King - Under the Influence●	24
99	107	Bell X1 - Out of Love	1
100	---	The Hunna - You and Me	1