Ben Howard – There’s Your Man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=866tvpFOzSQ
Genre: deep indie rock
Feeling: eery beauty
“There’s Your Man,” one of my favorites off Ben Howard’s recent album, Noonday Dream, is a great example of the album’s ability to combine depth and space with catchy melodies and head-knocking riffs. I caught him live in Dublin in January at the 3Arena, and his sound is so clean–and his light show so mesmerizing–you forgot you’re at a show.
Greensky Bluegrass – Do it Alone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBSRf4c988k
Genre: bluegrass rock
Feeling: driving at dusk
#albumopener
First time I heard Greensky was in my college house in Pittsburgh, on the top floor which I shared with a roommate (though it was dubbed the “penthouse,” zillow would probably estimate its worth as somewhere between lead poison lawsuit and whatever bricks are going for on the open market). My roomate’s cousin, an unabashed Dead Head, was on the sticks, and Greensky’s cover of Pink Floyd’s “Time” came on, and I was quickly put on to bluegrass. Fast forward to 2019 and Greensky has a new album out, which opens with “Do it Alone,” a dark, blues-grass-rock track that makes you lament the follies of the past but god damnit if we’re not in this struggle together.
Chuck Barry – Oh Louisiana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef-bhrzFfEg
Genre: Blues
Feeling: homesickness
Chuck Berry is from St. Louis, not Louisiana, so when he’s crooning on “Creole Baby, Cajun queens” he might just be harking back to a fun night on Bourbon Street. I don’t know, I’ve never been to Louisiana, even though True Detective Season 1 is top three television for me, I love the blues, used to play the trombone in a jazz band, and have a French-Canadian last name. It’s on the list though.
John K. Samson – “Vampire Alberta Blues”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0BVLUW6JJw
Genre: Blues Rock
Feeling: Society, man.
It’s Monday night, hence all the blues. Just be glad I didn’t post the youtube video of this guy singing this song in a Michigan living room to about 8 people. If that’s something that interests you, then you can be view number 112. I was 111.
Panama – Sports
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3Ec8y1HiYk
Genre: Beachy Indie Rock
Feeling: Daqs and Pinas by the Pool
This song came out in 2015, so I don’t think it qualifies for Song of the Summer 2019. However, I did not appreciate this song until this year, so I’m gonna say fuck qualifications they’re my ears. Frontrunner SotS19. Let the games begin.