A Music Blog For People Who Like Music, Blogs & Music Blogs
Friday 5×5 is our segment where we give you five new tracks to check out and give ourselves the challenge of describing said tracks in only five words.
Need some tunes to keep you leveled out as you battle through the scrum that is Black Friday? We got you. Check out these songs so good they don’t need a bunch of hyping up for you to want to bring them home to the family. New tunes from Nick Noon, Miriam Clancy, picnic., Lazy Queen and Farewell Horizontal.
.
.
This week we send you into your Saturday / Sunday with an indie/art pop gem from Newcastle artist Ruth Lyon. “Clown” grabs you from the jump with a steady and simple drum part, a tasty minimalist bass line and their rich vocals. Piano enters the mix at the first chorus to flesh things out, but it’s still a song that lets the open space keep you suspended in a special kind of groove. Shades of Regina Spektor here, but Lyon makes it their own with a vibe that is unique.
Here’s to the songs that subvert our expectations. For the first 32 seconds of the Jointheinternet track “About A Second” it seemed like we’d received another chillwave indie rock track with the usual easy going vibes and catchy melody – the sort of thing we get hundreds of each week. But then the vocals come in at the 33rd second and our ears are perked, our heads tilt and we realize what we thought was just another Wave / House / Beach / Day (combine any two of these to get a current indie rock band name) track is actually a glorious little weirdo in an easy pop disguise. Not unlike Ween’s most accessible material, it has all the hooks to make it a legitimate radio single but also the freak DNA to make it stand out.
TGIF amiright? You know what that means. That’s right, it’s Tunes Goodenough Itsdumbto Fillyourscreenwithwordsbecausetheyspeakforthemselves. Check out the latest from Jessica O’Donoghue, Blue Lupin, Lukka, Hunter Ellis and Niall Summerton and our micro reviews of each after the jump.
.
.
This week’s submission was creative and different. I don’t know about you but that checks a few boxes right off the bat for me. I spun LIJO’s “Spell” and this three minute and forty second vocal layer cake really grabbed my sweet tooth. As with most vocal predominant songs you always expect an instrument, beat or sample to possibly come in and when it does its very simple yet super effective. Pure vocals for the most part. I suggest giving your brain a second listen once you realize that to really absorb the structure and complexity of this tune. It opens with, you guessed it, vocals. Sparse and environmental at first, they build a foundation and through line for the song. Very little reverb, clear and crisp with the lyrics cutting through. Layers begin slightly with harmonies doubled beautifully but still no wave of reverb, crisp and clear. Good midrange on the recording, not always easy to do with vocal mixing. Her breaths in are percussive, you feel them. The first time we get the chorus it immediately feels familiar. Second verse hits with what sounds like a cello that cuts hard before the second round of the chorus. The same deep low-end sample brings in the third verse. The last chorus has the sample, which is what you’ve wanted all along, you just didn’t know it yet. The music and vocals crescendo into the final line of lyric, “someone else’s spell”. Very beautiful yet dark tune about what sounds like possible loss of a relationship. The lack of reverb tail is seriously impressive, the song is very clean which can be a mixing and editing challenge. I really dug this tune, again give it a few spins, it really got me second time around. Great use of winter imagery the song feels cold and dark yet beautiful and honestly, catchy.