The second single from dream team Gallagher-Squire is out and starts with a warbly solo straight out of the Silvertone-era of the Stone Roses and shimmies into a catchy chorus, the likes of which first made Liam Gallagher a star. I like that these two know what they do well and double-down and triple-down on it for all the chips on the table.
It was trendy–nay, required–that famous people of the 90s hate being famous. Not for Liam Gallagher or his now estranged brother. If anyone loved being famous it was the Gallaghers, and they let you know it in every interview. So it’s no surprise to me to see Liam lean on that fame with a video stuffed to the brim with clips from his days in Oasis and Squire’s days in the Stone Roses. They know why we’re interested in this partnership and they’re going to deliver it until we’re sweaty and tired.
The first two singles from the duo have piqued interest enough that I am genuinely excited for the release of the full monty. I’m old enough not to care if it doesn’t hit the same highs as their previous bands and will be happy to sit back and pick from it what I can. Gallagher and Squire will happily serve it in splatters and swells.
Directed by Hannah Lux Davis. From Deeper Well, out March 15.
I like Kacey Musgraves. I like the idea of her whole cosmic cowgal thing. I’ll admit I prefer the earlier stuff, back when she was working closely with Brandy Clark and Shane MaAnally. But the newer, shimmery disco she’s been making with Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk since 2018’s Golden Hour is cool too.
“Deeper Well” sounds like a bit of throwback, at least musically. It wouldn’t be totally out of place on Same Trailer, Different Park. But lyrically, she no longer seems interested in the clever wordplay and conversational emotionalism that first got our attention with “Follow Your Arrow” and “Blowin’ Smoke.” She’s apparently gotten into astrology and self-help goopiness. Worse than that, “Deeper Well” has some lyrics that are just clunky.
I used to wake and bake
Roll out of bed, hit the gravity bong that I made
And start the day.
For a while, it got me by
Everything I did seemed better when I was high
I don’t know why.
But whatever, it still sounds great. And she’s still a super interesting person in the country music scene.
Everyone’s favorite guitarist (or at least everyone’s favorite Smith) continues to plug away on both his solo career and as the most sought-after guest musician this side of Dave Grohl. With 37 years of post-Smiths work in his back pocket now, Johnny Marr has certainly earned a “Best of…” collection and Spirit Power pulls from just the last decade to deliver 24 tracks, including two brand new ones.
The latest single, “The Answer,” bears a family resemblance to one of The Smiths’ most raucous numbers, “London,” with an aggressive, driving beat punching from Marr’s guitar. But like most of us, the resemblance is limited; features softening and sharpening with each generation. Lyrically, the song is a bit of a mess with lines like, “Put your mamma in them lows.” I have no idea what that means but I also don’t listen to Johnny for his witticisms. Oscar Wilde, he ain’t.
And while Johnny may benefit from having a musical foil, I am not sure anyone would look at the split with Morrissey and ask, “do you think you’ve made the right decision this time?”
So turn up the volume and ride on the riff for a bit with a really ragged notion that you’ll return. In Johnny’s world, the trains run on time.
Love this groovy Speedy Ortiz rocker that reminds me of all the coolest songs from the 90s. I don’t understand what any of the lyrics mean but I love the line: “Fuck off, my cackle shimmers like some crystal.”
Guitarist Andy Molholt who shot the video says, “In March 2022, Speedy Ortiz was finally back in the studio. I brought along my family’s treasured Hi8 camcorder from the early aughts to document our saga, hoping to capture some little and big moments along the way in the style of vacations past. Two years ago easily feels like ten to me now, and watching the footage feels like finding a time capsule full of lost gems. It’s a warm reminder of how much fun we had making Rabbit Rabbit, and of how integral the two eponymous ranches—Rancho de la Luna [in Joshua Tree, California] and Sonic Ranch [in Tornillo, Texas]—were to this record. […] If you get the chance, I highly recommend taking a bunch of footage of your life, then putting it away for several years. It’s nice to be reminded about how lucky we are to spend time with the people we care about!”
Unlike a lot of people of my pre-iPhone generation I have a lot of video footage of my youth. Throughout much of high school and college I was lugging a bigass VHS camera around with me. Since I’m positive most of the footage is extremely cringey I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch any of it in decades. I’ve got all my tapes in a box in a basement, secretly hoping they just rot away. But maybe it’s time to dust them off and check them out. It might be nice to be reminded about how lucky we were to spend time with the people we cared about.
I was a pretty good dad when my son was a newborn. I had been warned that new parents don’t get any sleep for that first year but that wasn’t my experience at all. We had a system. He slept in a little bassinet in our bedroom and when he’d wake up in the middle of the night, I’d get up and change his diaper and hand him to my wife and immediately konk back out while she nursed him. When they were done she’d hand him back to me and I’d change his diaper and put him back in his bassinet and immediately konk. Even if this happened four times in a night I was losing maybe a total of an hour of sleep. No biggie.
I was a great dad when my son was a toddler. We’d sit on the floor do puzzles and play with cars and trains and read Richard Scarry books. And Jamberry. And Is Your Mama a Llama? So many books. I talked to him all the time. I’d make up stupid songs. He learned to speak super early and was pretty articulate by the time he was three. He was so smart. He knew all 50 states and once chewed a Pop Tart into the shape of Minnesota. He could do basic addition and subtraction. We watched Planet Earth and he loved the “Ocean Deep” episode with all the spooky anglerfish and siphonophores. He used the word “bioluminescence” correctly.
I was a good dad when my son was in elementary school. I read to him every night before bed. We’d go to the library and the bookstore all the time. He had a million books but his favorite was The Pokémon Essential Handbook that listed all 646 known species in alphabetical order with their moves, height, weight, and evolutionary chain. I helped him read the BOB books, even when it was hard for him. I promised that one day it would be easy and he wouldn’t even have to think about. “Remember how hard it was to zip up your jacket at first? And now you just do it.” I drove him to all his activities: cub scouts, swim lessons, basketball, tae kwon do, snowboarding lessons, lacrosse. So many activities.
I was an alright dad when my son was in middle school. He played the cello and got pretty good although encouraging him to practice was always a struggle. Just before schools shut down for covid he’d made first chair. During covid I had hoped we’d spend some quality time together. Seemed like everybody on Facebook was enjoying all the family time. But my son preferred to play videogames online with his friends. And since he couldn’t see them in real life it seemed reasonable. But I was watching him slip away, not needing me as much.
Directed by Joey Garfield. From Cousin, out now on dBpm.
Growing up in the suburbs of Grand Rapids, Michigan I spent a lot of time in skating rinks. In the summer, my local rink Wheel-A-While would host all kinds of specials. We did everything from temperature night (the price was whatever the mercury hit for a high that day), to flashlight night (exactly what you think), to all-night lock-ins where you would skate until you dropped and then looked for the least disgusting piece of carpet to catch a few winks. It was pre-teen suburban boot camp and suffice it to say, I developed some skills.
Years passed and we all grow up. I eventually moved to Chicago, having long packed my skates away in mothballs. But then it happened: A friend had her birthday party at the now dearly departed Rainbo Roller Rink on Clark. I was in my early 30s by this point but giddy to dazzle my friends with my dormant, but still very much present skating skills. And dazzle, I did. It was a glorious night where I glided and swayed to the beat of the music, pulling off a spin here and there for dramatic effect. It was a night dreams are made of.
For their latest single, “Meant to Be,” Chicago’s own Wilco set up camp in the middle of a rink where they are encircled by skaters with greater skills and silkier fluidity than I ever honed on Plainfield Avenue. And while “Meant to Be” is catchy in that old familiar Wilco way, the real show-stoppers are the rollers in the video. May they forever run or at least wheel-a-while longer.
No idea why Sub Pop quietly released a new video for a song on an album that’s been out for over a year by an artist who’s not currently touring and doesn’t seem to have anything new to promote, but I’ll take any opportunity I can find to listen to Natalie Mering’s amazing voice. “A Given Thing” is the closer from 2022’s And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow and it encapsulates all the cosmic Karen Carpenter vibes we’ve come to expect from Weyes Blood.
It’s not a one way street
Sometimes our love is enrapturing
And other times, it’s just unraveling in front of me
And it feels like we’re burning
Making ashes of our joy.
Hopefully this video is a hint that something new is coming. But even if it’s not, who cares, it’s nice to have more Weyes Blood to watch.
Directed by Ty Segall. From Three Bells, out now on Drag City.
Wiener dogs are the best. Ty Segall obviously agrees. A dachshund is a big dog trapped in the body of a little dog. They have a big bark and big personalities. But they fit comfortably on your lap. They’re like a cat who actually cares about pleasing you. They’ll even hunt mice. They’re the best of all possible worlds.
I’m on my third dachshund. First there was Frankie who we got as soon as we had an apartment with a yard. I worshiped her. A year later we got her a pal, Georgia, and Frankie full-on hated her for at least two years. They eventually became pals and would curl up in their bed, yin-and-yang style. Frank had attitude but George was sweet and dopey and never once barked or even growled except in her sleep. George lived to be 14 and Frank held on for a few more years. After George was gone, Frank was going downhill so we decided to her a new pal to see if that would brighten her spirits. Birdie had been in a puppy mill situation, bred too young and had a complicated litter that resulted in a hysterectomy rendering her useless to the breeders. Frankie completely ignored her. Maybe she just couldn’t see her or hear her since she had gone totally blind and deaf by then. Frank lived to be almost 19. So now it’s just Bird. And she’s the best. Her traumatic early life has made her completely anxious and needy and that’s alright: I work from home and I rarely leave the house. I hope Bird has Frankie’s longevity because I can’t imagine life without her.
All I need is my best friend, I do.
All I need is my best friend, I do.
Directed by Joey Frank. From Loss Of Life, out February 23 on Mom+Pop.
With a lilting ditty that could be a sonic sister to 2010’s “Congratulations,” our heroes are back to tickle our senses and bob our heads once again. “Nothing to Declare” has all the hallmarks one would expect from MGMT, including clever lyrics like “Nothing to declare/Not in the bags under my eyes,” which leads me to wonder if the party pop band from the mid-oughts aren’t still dipping their toes in the punch from time to time?
But let’s talk about the video for a bit because I think it’s one they want us to talk about. We follow a gal as she navigates some travel from Pittsburgh to gay Paris. And the navigation is the interesting part as she has no arms. I only mention that because as an able-bodied fella with all the original equipment, it is interesting (to me) to see how one without arms manages everyday tasks like showing your passport, flipping down your airplane seat tray, or even just sipping a cup of coffee without the use of hands or arms. There’s more than one shot of people in the video similarly interested, if not bemused, which makes me think it was intentional to use someone otherly-abled and therefore worth the mention. As you might guess, she manages it all perfectly well and is just another young person having fun and on an adventure.
There has always been a strange tint of youth to MGMT’s music. Not entirely without that hint of danger that defines adventure either. “Nothing to Declare” carries the same scent and makes me sad not to be young, while happy for my own adventures. Go see the world, kids. You can’t tell people what you didn’t do–that’s not a story.
Directed by Crispian Mills. From Natural Magick, out February 2 on Strange F.O.L.K.
Brit Pop aficionados will remember the time between The Stone Roses’ eponymous first album and their follow-up, The Second Coming, as “the one hundred year drought.” We clamored for whatever we could get our hands on that would even remotely moisten our sun-dried lips and usually ended up with The Charlatans (who were fantastic, don’t get me wrong).
Even in the years following The Second Coming, other bands attempted to fill that lemon-sized hole, including Kula Shaker. A funky party of a band, Kula Shaker had some success with their eastern-infused tub thumpers like “Tattva”, “Hey Dude”, “Govinda”, “Hush”, and “Sound of Drums.” But critics hated them and they broke up for a while, reformed, and broke up again.
Now they’re back (for now) with another bong water soup of a song that is sure to get your flares swaying. Backed with a retro video, these guys know how to tap the sentimentality vein and pump it full. I am here for it.
