Up here in New Jersey, we've definitely had our share of soggy rain, and I've had cabin fever much of the week. But I have had the chance to look back on the summer gone by, specifically my "Song of the Summer", one I have awarded each year since 2010. As you may have read, Billboard magazine had named Drake's "In My Feelings" as the official "Song of the Summer" for 2018. As of this writing, the song is STILL #1 on the Billboard chart, and is starting to inch up the SNS 100 where it sits at #73. As for the song on my summer list, it only ranks at #152. So then, what topped my summer list for 2018?
It was a rather unusual summer for my musical tastes as I had pretty much veered away from what was popular. Much of the music I listened to was a year, even two years old. But, after tabulating the points from all of my spreadsheets that determine the rank on my playlist, we have a winner:
"Bad Luck", by Neko Case.
Case, a 48-year old indie singer-songwriter from Washington State, is no stranger to my playlists; having hit my top 10 back in 2010 with "People Got a Lot of Nerve". "Bad Luck" was a very catchy song and thus topped the list for three weeks in late June and early July. While new music rarely invades my brain or causes me to associate it with certain events (largely because others who attend them aren't into anything new, much less anything I listen to), "Bad Luck" was one of three songs that shaped my "Berkshire Geobash" weekend up in Massachusetts, a geocaching series of events that took place in mid-July.
Without seeing my tabulated results, I had theorized that three songs in particular, all hitting the top spot had a chance to top my list: Aside from "Bad Luck", there was "Straight Love Affair", from a 2016 album by Nick Waterhouse, another when went through my mind that weekend, and Kungs' "This Girl", another 2016 song that I didn't hear until early June when it was played over the loudspeaker at Martell's Tiki Bar in Point Pleasant Beach NJ, and carried it with me to the Geobash weekend as well.
Pretty much to form, those songs ranked 1, 3, and 5 on the summer list. At #2 was another song that had a chance, Florence + the Machine's "Hunger" which spent a few weeks at #2 and stayed near the top a good portion of the time. At #4 was Curtis Hardings' "Need Your Love".
For Waterhouse, it was a second "near-miss" for the summer honors. His album Never Twice, also produced "It's Time" which hit #2 on the summer list last year. Actually it was tied in points with Miley Cyrus' "Malibu", but lost out due to tiebreaker number one---most weeks at the top.
Actually both "It's Time" and "Malibu" made the summer list this year as well, albeit down towards the bottom of the list, as both songs lingered near the bottom of the SNS 100 all summer. While "Malibu" finally left the list after 48 weeks last month, "It's Time" racks up week 49 and hangs onto the list at #99. For the summer of 2018, the Cyrus song ranked 125 and the Waterhouse song 121.
Here are my Top 20 songs of the summer for 2018:
SONGS OF THE SUMMER: 2010-2018
2010: The Black Keys, "Tighten Up"
2011: Rachel Allyn, "Say Hello to Goodbye"
2012: The Shins, "The Rifle's Spiral"
2013: Paul Czekaj, "At the Beach"
2014: The Black Keys, "Fever"
2015: Ed Sheeran, "Thinking Out Loud"
2016: Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Dark Necessities"
2017: Miley Cyrus, "Malibu"
2018: Neko Case, "Bad Luck"
THE NEW TRIUMVERATE: Turning to the current playlist, Donna Missal becomes the fifth New Jersey artist to ascend to the #1 spot this week as "Keep Lyin'" moves from #2 to #1 in only its fifth week.
The very bluesy song is from her just-released debut album, This Time. She has been attracting some buzz lately as last week she was named Facebook "artist of the day". She also recently performed an acoustic set on the Elvis Duran morning radio show on Z-100 in New York. "Keep Lyin'" is still on the playlist of renowned commercial alternative station WEQX in Manchester, Vermont, where I first head the song.
Aside from the fact that she is from the Garden State (now based in New York City and Los Angeles), and that a couple of my Facebook friends are friends with her on that social network platform, and also that she had done some session work with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis a couple years back, I still don't know much about her.
Still, this is one singer with great potential. Although I rarely listen to whole new albums anymore, I may check out This Time. When I do, I will report back. Congratulations Donna on topping SNS!
As mentioned above, Missal becomes the fifth artist from New Jersey to hit the top spot on my SNS playlist. She joins Rachel Allyn (Ogdenburg), Vivian Girls (two members hailed from Ridgewood), Paul Czekaj (Mount Olive), and Smash Palace (Haddonfield).
As I was continuing to write this blog, I got a private message from the person who is friends with Donna. As it turns out, Donna is her niece! My friend is keeping it low-key so I will respect her wishes and not name names, but she did mention watching her perform in clubs around New Brunswick back in the day. With Hegazy still in my top 20 this week, it seems that nieces of friends are doing quite well musically.
Despite her quick ascent to the top, it might be short-lived, as two other songs, Elle King's "Shame" and The James Hunter Six's "I Don't Wanna Be Without You" jump from 12-2 and 21-3 respectively. Like the Missal record, King puts a lot of soul into this song. There's a reason why she hit paydirt with her prior, debut album. As for the Hunter record, this is an awesome retro romp that takes you back to the Grand Strand. I have been a sucker for this kind of music, as evidenced by recent music by Nick Waterhouse, Leon Bridges and several others.
The only thing holding any of these songs back from a lengthy stay at number one is the fact that none of these artists' songs are household items yet, even though they deserve to be. While Missal is gaining buzz, she still has not been on a Billboard chart, although I do hope that will change very soon. Appearing on a Top 40 station in the country's largest market, is a big deal, even though the current pop landscape is somewhat of a hostile environment these days. Here's wishing Donna a great breakthrough!
As for Elle King, yes, she has had much success with her debut, 2015's Love Stuff. "Ex's and Oh's" reached #2 here on SNS, #1 on the alternative chart, and even #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. She even won a Grammy for alternative artist. "Under the Influence", the follow-up to "Ex's.." topped the SNS 100. As for "Shame", it is moving up the charts, but not quite with the impact of her debut song. This is an awesome performance and should ultimately be a success, and not make the daughter of Rob Schneider a one-hit wonder. "Shame" drops 27 to 28 on the Billboard Alternative chart, but does a big advance on Triple-A, from 37 to 13 to the current #6.
And finally, for the James Hunter Six, you probably won't see them on any Billboard chart. As they are popular on the Carolina Beach Music circuit, I tried to access the weekly "Beach Music Top 40" chart (yes, one does exist), but the most recent one I could find was from October, 2017. Still, three songs from the group, (or Hunter solo) were present on that chart. I'm sure without a doubt, "I Don't Wanna Be Without You" is high on that current chart.
It should definitely be interesting to see where these three songs wind up during the next several weeks. In the meantime, listen to them and enjoy.
Further down the list, some key moves are by Shannon Marsyada's "Tough Girl" (33-18) and Jeff Rosenstock's "9/10" (46-25).
As for some of the adds this week, I reach back one more time into Nick Waterhouse's 2016 album, Never Twice which has already yielded two #1's and a third top 20 entry. While playing one of this videos, "Katchi" came up as a recommended song. It pairs him with Leon Bridges and once again, provides a unique (for this century anyway) sound. This time it's a rather funky, doo-wop-ish sound complete with saxophones and Bridges' extra soulful voice. The song is actually a remake of sorts; it was originally done by French DJ Ofenbach, with Waterhouse featured on vocals. This is cooking jam for sure. It is the Top Debut at #63 this week.
Coming in next at #67 is Neko Case's "Curse of the I-5 Corridor". Coming off of her SNS #1 (and Song of the Summer) with "Bad Luck", this is a change of pace, more of a ballad, and features Mark Lanegan formerly of Screaming Trees. The song runs about seven minutes but is very melodic, and doesn't bore you like you might think a ballad running that long could do.
It seems like ages since we heard from Guster, but they are back with "Hard Times", a rather rhythmic, harmonic romp and the pulsating and doesn't quite. Lord Huron, Manchester Orchestra and lovelytheband follow up their recent alt-rock (and SNS) hits.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
September 9 ,
2018
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 2 | NUMBER ONE: 
"Keep Lying"
Album: This Time
|
5 |
| 2 | 12 | Elle King - Shame | 4 |
| 3 | 21 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"I Don't
Wanna Be Without You"
Album: Whatever It Takes
|
3 |
| 4 | 3 | Two Feet - I Feel Like Drowning | 17 |
| 5 | 1 | St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Apollo | 8 |
| 6 | 5 | Franz Ferdinand -Paper Cages | 8 |
| 7 | 6 | The Regrettes - Come Through | 16 |
| 8 | 7 | Weezer - Africa | 9 |
| 9 | 11 | Greta Van Fleet - When the Curtain Falls | 6 |
| 10 | 9 | Portugal. The Man - Tidal Wave | 8 |
| 11 | 8 | Courtney Barnett - Charity | 10 |
| 12 | 4 | Hegazy - Smolder | 12 |
| 13 | 13 | Tennis - My Emotions Are Blinding | 11 |
| 14 | 20 | Vance Joy - Saturday Sun | 12 |
| 15 | 10 | Interpol - The Rover | 10 |
| 16 | 22 | Metric - Dark Saturday | 5 |
| 17 | 23 | Ed Sheeran - Happier | 4 |
| 18 | 33 | Shannon Marsyada - Tough Girl | 4 |
| 19 | 16 | Kungs vs Cookin' on 3 Burners - This Girl● | 13 |
| 20 | 18 | Neko Case - Bad Luck● | 18 |
|
|
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.
The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list
of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.
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