Our job as a radio station is to give you the best music. The cream of the crop. We want to discover new music and give you new music to discover. We have done the leg work here. We listened to all the duds that came out this week. There were plenty of songs that were overrated, songs that fell flat, and songs that just plain sucked. These are not those songs. These are the best of the best. The ones that exceeded our expectations. The ones we discovered on Monday and listened to on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and this morning. These are 5 songs we can’t stop listening to.
Jack White- Lazaretto
So far Jack White has released two tracks, totaling 7:33, of music from his forthcoming album Lazaretto. Out of the seven minutes and 33 seconds, only one minute and ten seconds are vocals. That leaves a whopping six minute and 23 second vocal-less remainder. What fills the 6:23 vocal void, you ask? Face-melting guitar solos. Morbidly obese basslines. Fumbling piano blurts. Deep fried-extra crispy drums. Dualing fiddles. A high pitch alarm sounding thing that I can’t quite place. And more. So much more rock ‘n’ roll. Play this song, close your eyes, and shred on air guitar like no one is watching.
Jack White’s second album, Lazaretto will be out June 10 th on Third Man Records
Listen if you like: Fat bass lines, old school hip-hip played on electric guitars, face-melters
-Justin Barney
Alvvays- Archie, Marry Me
An author will tell you that the key to plot is tension. In this song title alone, there is a plot, there is a story. Our protagonist is in love with Archie, but is he in love with her? She is willing to commit, but is he? There is love, longing, and tension all in three words. That’s more than most songs have in an entire album. And that’s just the title. Will there be a resolution to this story? We may never know. And that’s fine. Songs are about having that feeling in the first place.
Sadly, Alvvays has not announced an album release yet.
Listen if you like: Camera Obscura’s Lloyd, I’m Ready to be Heartbroken, The Love Language, Teen Daze
-Justin Barney
Thee Oh Sees- The Lens
Thee Oh Sees have reached a state of clarity. After years of hiding melodies under seven layers of guitar buzz and signature lo-fi, Thee Oh Sees unplugged the pedal board and revealed their new song The Lens. Delicate harmonies, tasteful musical accents, and a blissful state of clairvoyance are phrases I never thought that I would use when describing a song by Thee Oh Sees, but, here I am. It’s an unexpected turn from a band that seems to not only have a signature sound, but has created a musical scene in California based on that sound. It’s a musical 180 from Californian musical contemporaries like Ty Segall and Hunx and his Punx who dove deeper into their metal and punk sides this past year. It’s interesting, and it’s beautiful.
Thee Oh Sees new album, Drop is out now.
Listen if you like: The Beatles circa the end, late 60’s psychedelia, dreamy harmonies
-Justin Barney
Chad VanGaalen- Monster
Canadian singer/songwriter/producer Chad VanGaalen has always had an incredible imagination, evident through both his self-drawn album artwork and the science-fiction-like narratives he creates in his music. In his latest offering, Monster, off of his Shrink Dust LP, he describes himself waking up one day turning into a grotesque monster (scales, talons, and all); something that you could picture popping right out of the book “Where The Wild Things Are”. That is not the only thing that makes this track interesting and even endearing though. The texture of the track is very warm, with accents like the light cymbal splashes at the end of each measure of the chorus as well as the guitar proceeding in a rather repetitive, folksy manner---giving the listener a feeling as if VanGaalen is describing his odd happenings over a campfire. With VanGaalen’s shrilly-sounding vocals and the driving drums, sail away to a fantastical world that recalls back to every great storybook you read as a kid that only someone as eccentric and creative as VanGaalen could bring back to life through music.
-Jake Kestly
Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band- Hugh Beaumont Is Dead
“Born to the Illusion” Tunde Adebimpe chants as the song Hugh Beaumont Is Dead gains momentum. One can wonder what exactly Adebimpe means here, referencing “Leave It To Beaver” actor Hugh Beaumont (aka Ward) in the title. Whatever it may be, perhaps if you plug in both what he is emphasizing lyrically to the title, one can infer. Apart from musings into the meaning of the title, that isn’t really the point of why its on “5 songs”. The true highlight is that TV On The Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe just came out with a ridiculously good EP with his new band called Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band (hell of a band name). “Hugh Beaumont Is Dead” is one of the best tracks on it, displaying the essence of what Higgins Waterproof is: a badass experimental funk psych rock influenced experience, a description as wordy as the band name itself.
-Jake Kestly
