SHORT AND SWEET: A quick blog this week. We have a new number one song, that being The Revivalists' "All My Friends", which knocks out Elle King's "Shame" after a lone week at the top. Coincidentally, the reverse happened on Billboard's Triple-A chart as Elle King had knocked out The Revivalists from the top spot last month with those same songs. What is interesting is that both of these songs aren't performing as well on the Alternative Songs chart compared to their past efforts. "Shame" drops a notch from its peak of #16 last week to #17, while "All My Friends" falls off that chart this week after peaking at #10. Even more interesting is that the first singles from each of these act's prior albums---from 2015 and 2016---"Wish I Knew You", and "Ex's and Oh's", respectively, hit #1 Alternative.
Perhaps that is not unusual: The life cycle of many artists who make it big Alternative can be rather short. Unless you're the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters or Green Day, or reinvent yourself like Weezer and Beck, you perhaps have a one or two album streak at Alternative, then move on to the slightly more sophisticated Triple-A (Adult Album Alternative). A while later, you find yourself moving on to Adult Top 40 and even Adult Contemporary, before relegating yourself to "nostalgia cruises".
Neither King nor the Revivalists have gone in that direction yet, thankfully. They are both talented acts and should stay on either Alternative or Triple-A for a while to come. And my appreciation has gotten stronger for both: "Ex's and Oh's" stalled at #2 in 2015 while "Wish I Knew You" hit #7 a year later. I will be on board for their new singles: "You And I" by The Revivalists, and whatever King releases as a follow-up.
Incidentally, King was appearing on some of the morning shows this week: She was on Good Morning America on Monday, and Live with Kelly and Ryan on Tuesday (which as of this writing has already taken place; luckily, I DVD'd it). I also understand that King had been through a lot in her life since her last release, including substance abuse and a stormy relationship with Andrew Ferguson, but she seems to have gotten back on track.
I like this artist and her influences, including some cool bands like The Donnas and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, while also listening to Blondie, Otis Redding, Etta James, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and AC/DC. That's quite a range of music. Her new album, Shake the Spirit was released this past week. Wishing her the best and continued success and making great music.
The rest of the Top 10 is rather stagnant with the only new entry being Curtis Harding's second top 10 here, "It's Not Over" (11-9), but some songs are making strong gains despite only moving up a notch, namely Real Estate (4-3) and Nick Waterhouse (8-7). There are some great songs in the top 10, thus it's rather competitive and those gainers just outside it are clamoring to get there, including Lord Huron, Winnetka Bowling League and Rex Orange County. Florence + the Machine's "Patricia" is the Impact winner (21-16), while Kurt Vile makes an impressive jump, from 36-20 with "Loading Zones"; it's Vile's second solo top 20 here; he also made the top echelon earlier this year in a duet with Courtney Barnett.
Further down, the big mover is Caroline Rose's "Jeannie Becomes a Mom", 61-30. As for the debuts, the third single from Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, "Coolin Out" heads the list. The track, which features the band Lucius, debuts at #65 and is a much stronger (and perhaps a little poppier) than the act's previous "A Little Honey" which peaked at #17 a few weeks ago.
STILL WINNING?: One of my biggest hits of last year was "Winning as Truth", a social commentary song by Trapdoor Social. The track hit my top spot for four weeks and spent 34 weeks on my list. Unfortunately, in the search of a worthwhile follow-up, I came up empty. Could they be a "one song wonder"? I was all set for them to join the 22-20's as SNS "one hit wonders" (hitting the top spot then not adding anything by them again), until I saw that they released a new song, "Hold Me Down". While not as effective and hooky as "Winning" it is a decent song, ditching the social comments, and deserves several weeks of plays. It's sort of a jangly guitar pop effort. The next step is to get a Wikipedia page. Speaking of which, Donna Missal doesn't have one either. Get with the program, fans!
Speaking of no Wikipedia page, The Palms (not to be confused with supergroup Palms---without the definite article) enter with the fourth single from their debut, "Human Condition". Their first three songs hit 1, 2 and 3 respective (in that order). It's in the same vein as those other songs. Cayucas, best known for their "High School Lover" a #4 SNS hit from 2013, are back with "Jessica WJ" , a nice attempt at another catchy song, with a little more soulful approach and somewhat of a retro beat this time. The Regrettes and Interpol follow up recent top 10's, and I take another stab at The 1975, with "Love It If We Made It".
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
October 21,
2018
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 2 | NUMBER ONE: 
"All My
Friends"
Album: Take Good Care
|
6 |
| 2 | 1 | Elle King - Shame | 10 |
| 3 | 4 | Real Estate - Time | 6 |
| 4 | 3 | Donna Missal - Keep Lying | 11 |
| 5 | 6 | King Princess - 1950 | 13 |
| 6 | 7 | The Kooks - Four Leaf Clover | 10 |
| 7 | 8 | Nick Waterhouse f. Leon Bridges- Katchi | 7 |
| 8 | 5 | James Hunter Six - I Don't Wanna Be Without You | 9 |
| 9 | 11 | Curtis Harding - It's Not Over | 6 |
| 10 | 10 | Spinn - Crazy For You | 10 |
| 11 | 13 | Lord Huron - Never Ever | 7 |
| 12 | 15 | Winnetka Bowling League -On the 5 | 5 |
| 13 | 17 | Rex Orange County - Loving Is Easy | 5 |
| 14 | 9 | Shannon Marsyada - Tough Girl | 10 |
| 15 | 14 | Parquet Courts - Almost Had to Start | 8 |
| 16 | 21 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"Patricia"
Album: High As Hope
|
4 |
| 17 | 19 | Tennis - No Exit | 5 |
| 18 | 16 | Anna Calvi - Don't Beat The Girl Out of my Boy | 9 |
| 19 | 12 | Jeff Rosenstock - 9/10 | 9 |
| 20 | 36 | Kurt Vile - Loading Zones | 4 |
|
|
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.
