Songs of the Week: 7/10/2020

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 7/10/2020

• Artist: Rufus Wainwright
• Song: “Romantical Afternoon”
• Album: Unfollow the Rules
• Genre: Pop
• Notes: I haven’t followed the career of Rufus Wainwright as his style usually isn’t for me but I do know that’s he’s loved in the music world. Now that I’m listening to every new record in the Tidal feed, this was the first one this week, so I listened. And the interesting thing I get from a couple tracks is a very Billy Joel vibe. No idea if that’s a common vibe on other albums too but I kept thinking that here.

• Artist: Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard
• Song: “John Lennon Is My Jesus Christ”
• Album: Non-Stop EP
• Genre: Indie Pop
• Notes: The debut “EP” (which I say because it’s a full length record) from this Welsh band is a super fun mix of indie pop with some glam mixed in and when you listen to this song, you’ll know that influence comes from David Bowie.

• Artist: The Streets, IDLES
• Song: “None Of Us Are Getting Out of This Life Alive”
• Album: None Of Us Are Getting Out of This Life Alive
• Genre: Grime
• Notes: One of only a handful of Grime artists that still make it over the pond to the US, Mike Skinner, aka The Streets, has always put out a consistent product that is unmistakably British Grime in all aspects.

• Artist: NZCA/Lines
• Song: “Pure Luxury”
• Album: Pure Luxury
• Genre: Synthpop
• Notes: This is the third album from this British synthpop band and while it’s better than the first two, there’s still something missing. This is a funky snythpop record, something that’s 100% in my wheelhouse but there’s a little something missing that I can’t put my finger on that makes some of these cuts simply not a exciting as they should be. But there are some great songs like this title track.

• Artist: Eric Hutchinson
• Song: “Cooler Than You”
• Album: Class of 98
• Genre: Power Pop
• Notes: Eric Hutchinson’s ninth album, Class of 98, reminds me a lot of a Butch Walker throwback pop record. Referencing the 1998 part of the title, you immediately get that late 90s early 00s power pop vibe and that’s something I can still get into quite a bit.