I only have two goals for this series: 1) Introducing the masses to great new music and 2) Giving myself an excuse to listen to every single new release on the Tidal streaming service so I can stay up with new music. Doing this on a weekly basis means that I have a one week window to get this up before the Tidal feed flips to the next set of records, so by posting song reviews rather than full album reviews, it allows me to get more out there and then if you choose to dig deeper, you can.
So… songs of the week for the release date of 3/27/2020.
- Artist: Pearl Jam
- Song: “Who Ever Said”
- Album: Gigaton
- Genre: Rock
- Notes: Well, I came into this not really liking any of the singles but blasting them in album form, I actually enjoyed all of them (“Superblood Wolfmoon” “Dance of the Clairvoyants” and “Quick Escape”) and combined with the rockin’ opening track, “Who Ever Said,” really got me quite excited that this album was going to be good. Then PJ mixed in the mellower tracks and my expectations slowly dwindled. It’s a decent record and has a half dozen really rockin’ tunes on it and it’s better than Lightning Bolt for sure but in the end, I only enjoyed a little more than half of it.
- Artist: Dua Lipa
- Song: “Future Nostalgia”
- Album: Future Nostalgia
- Genre: Electro-pop
- Notes: Electro-pop baby! You know her from “Don’t Start Now,” the first single from this album, or one of eight singles from her debut three years ago, but this time around, she’s created a fun, dancey, electro-pop record, brimming with catchy hooks everywhere.
- Artist: Clutch
- Song: “Cyborg Bette”
- Album: Monsters, Machines and Mythological Beasts
- Genre: Rock
- Notes: A complication of Clutch tracks about, well…monsters, machines and/or mythological beasts.
- Artist: Vanessa Carlton
- Song: “Die, Dinosaur”
- Album: Love Is An Art
- Genre: Pop
- Notes: Never was a Vanessa Carlton fan but this album is pretty damn unique. I don’t know what she has sounded like since she fell out of the spotlight but this album is not what I expected, knowing only the hits. This is a dark, minimal pop record. Sparse instrumentation mixed with some minimal electronic touches, Love Is An Art ends up being a pretty beautiful record.
- Artist: In This Moment
- Song: “Fly Like An Eagle”
- Album: Mother
- Genre: Melodic Heavy Metal
- Notes: I almost feel bad putting a cover song here when a band releases an album of originals, but they do have three covers on the record and “Fly Like An Eagle” is also the first song on the disc, so it’s clear they want to spotlight it – and so I am too. Never been a fan of the band (but what dude can argue with Maria Brink?) but the album is very good and this is a fantastic cover song.
- Artist: Jeezy
- Song: “Billions”
- Album: Twenty/20 Pyrex Vision
- Genre: Hip-Hop
- Notes: Killer hip-hop track by Jeezy, nearly 20 years into his career.
- Artist: Melt Yourself Down
- Song: “Crocodile”
- Album: 100% Yes
- Genre: Avant Garde Jazz/Funk
- Notes: 100% Yes is the third album from this London based avant garde funk/jazz/afrobeat band and there’s a quite a few really funky almost-rock tracks on this record, just like the one I’m sharing here.
- Artist: San Cisco
- Song: “Reasons”
- Album: Flaws
- Genre: Indie Pop
- Notes: The first true EP from this Australian trio after three full lengths, brings sparkling pop music with some sweet psychedelic touches. But “Reasons” is a great pure pop song.
The Trusty Steed 