This week’s songs
Duran Duran – Invisible
Matt Sweeney and Bonnie Prince Billy – Resist the Urge
Merchant – Dead days and Gatorade
Sufjan Steven’s & Angelo De Augustine-Reach Out
Silk Sonic –Skate
Bobby Gillespie and Jehenny Beth – Chase it Down
John Sally Ride – Putting It Off
Hiss Golden Messenger – Sanctuary
Olivia Rodrigo – Brutal
added after
Gram Parsons – Streets of Baltimore
Silk Sonic – Leave the Door Open
Sufjan Stevens – Mystery of love
Father John Misty – Real Love Baby
John Sally Ride – Don’t Flatter Yourself
Duran Duran – Invisible
Bob’s first 2 selections were suggested by good friend Lisa Riipi. Duran Duran has returned after a 5 year absence with the new single is “Invisible”. The music video for the song was created by an artificial intelligence system called Huxley.
Matt Sweeney & Bonnie “Prince” Billy Superwolves
Song – Resist the Urge
16 years after their original underground classic, Matt Sweeney and Will Oldham reunite for an album that plays like the continuation of a decades-long conversation.
Afew years after he’d decided to start calling himself Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Will Oldham released a song called “A Wolf Among Wolves.” It’s about a person who doesn’t feel properly seen, and it’s exceptionally sad, even for the guy who wrote “I See a Darkness.” “Why can’t I be loved as what I am?” he sighs. “A wolf among wolves, and not as a man.” Wildness, ferocity, heart, all the things wolves tend to signify—the way he sings, it’s as if they’ve all been drained away by loneliness. In the years since, Oldham has made collaboration central to his work, partly, as he recently told GQ, in the hopes of “turning aspects of an innate introversion into something that resembles extroversion.” And while he’s had innumerable artistic successes, both on his own and with others, he never sounds more at home, more fully himself, than he does when writing and recording with guitarist Matt Sweeney. Not for nothing did they name their first album together Superwolf.
From Fader – 10 Songs you need in your life right now
personally, I could really only find one or two. Bob added this song from Bonny Prince Billy. Nice song!
Merchant – Dead days and Gatorade
Lisa also suggested the song “ Dead Days and Gatorade” by Merchant because it features Duran bassist John Taylor. Looks like the song gives a excellent advice in how to deal with a hangover.
Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine – “Reach Out”
Heather suggested this song, and here are her notes. This sums it up for sure.
I chose this song because it has been a while since I have listened to Sufjan Stevens. I love the guitar plucking, like tiny thoughts flying through the air, the reflective lyrics and their beautiful voices together.
and from elsewhere
Last year, they released their first collaborative song, “Santa Barbara.” In April, Stevens shared “Celebration VIII,” from Celebrations, the fourth installment of his five-volume set, Convocations, which arrived in May. De Augustine dropped his latest album, Tomb, in 2019.
Silk Sonic –Skate
Bob’s other 3 suggestions were all taken from the blog. “Burning Wood”. This is an excellent blog that contains the musings and tastes of former New York record store owner Sal Nunziato Explore it here. http://burnwoodtonite.blogspot.com/
Silk Sonic is an American R&B superduo consisting of recording artists Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak. The duo released their debut single, “Leave the Door Open”, on March 5, 2021, with a forthcoming debut album, An Evening with Silk Sonic, announced for release. To quote the blog’s author Sal Nunziato, “I took a walk around the neighborhood on Saturday and heard a song coming out of some guy’s car, as he was fiddling with something under his hood. I knew what it was but I couldn’t place it. The Whispers? Tavares? No! Shuggie Otis! I couldn’t place it. Then, while scrolling through one of Brooklyn Vegan’s email blasts, the word “vintage” followed by “R&B” jumped out at me. Could it be Silk Sonic? Yes. It could. “Skate” is the brand new second single from Anderson.Paak and Bruno Mars doing business as Silk Sonic and it’s a good one. The first single “Leave The Door Open” got by me, and it too, has a classic summer soul sound, though I think “Skate” is the better of the two.
Bobby Gillespie and Jehnny Beth – Chase It Down
Album – Utopian Ashes
My choices are now from the Guardian – they released a great article last week – The Month’s Best Albums – July.
I pan to go back to this great list for our next show. Incredible what can come out in one month!
Born in Glasgow, Bobby Gillespie, 58, founded Primal Scream in 1982. The band’s third album, Screamadelica, won the 1992 Mercury music prize. Utopian Ashes, Gillespie’s album with Jehnny Beth, is released on 2 July; their single, Remember We Were Lovers, is out now. He lives in London with his wife, fashion stylist Katy England, and two sons.
The Primal Scream frontman trades brashness for contemplation in this rewarding collaboration with the former Savages singer
During the course of a 35-year career, “sensitive” and “mature” are not adjectives that have often been wheeled out to describe Bobby Gillespie’s lyrics. Indeed, the Primal Scream lead singer’s canon of work has generally favoured MC5-lite rebel posturing over insight and depth. All of which makes this collaboration with former Savages frontwoman Jehnny Beth such a welcome surprise. The pair have written a set of songs located within the wreckage of a marriage that is falling apart, with both parties torn between looking back with remorse and nostalgia on what’s been lost, and moving on and making a new start alone. We’ve come a long way from Bomb the Pentagon.
Recorded with Gillespie’s Scream bandmates, as well as Beth’s regular foil Johnny Hostile, as much care has gone into the arrangements as the lyrics. Opener Chase It Down is a gorgeous slice of southern soul, made all the more powerful for its devastating “I don’t even love you any more” line. Grievances are aired in the despairing Living a Lie. Your Heart Will Always Be Broken, meanwhile, recalls Gram Parsons’s work with Emmylou Harris. Throughout, there are echoes of the rootsier moments from Give Out But Don’t Give Up, but with the earlier swagger replaced by vulnerability. It’s as pleasing as it is unexpected.
Phil Mongredien– Guardian
John Sally Ride – Putting It Off
Next is “Putting it Off” by the John Sally Ride. Sal Nunziato plays the drums in this trio. Check out the band’s link for some excellent power pop
Hiss Golden Messenger – If it comes in the Morning
Album – Quietly Blowing It
MC Taylor offers up soulful Dylan-esque country rockers about the impact of the system on ordinary lives
At the start of the pandemic, MC Taylor, AKA Hiss Golden Messenger, sat in his North Carolina basement studio and began several months’ of pouring out songs about “life as I felt it”. There was a lot going on outside – protests after the murder of George Floyd, the presidential election, and fires burning across the US – but his thoughts turned to some of the deeper issues underpinning it all, from class and inequality to the climate crisis.
The title track finds him watching the news and sighing “things don’t look too good”. However, the tunes are stirring and uplifting and the overall spirit is optimistic. As the father-of-two sings in the exquisite If It Comes in the Morning: “There’s a new day coming, we’ve been a long time running … but all hope is contagious.”
Dave Simpson
Olivia Rodrigo – Brutal
Finally we wrap it up with, at this moment, one of the most popular performers on the planet. Olivia Rodrigo.
Rodrigo has had some controversy recently as Courtney Love accused Olivia Rodrigo of plagiarising the cover of Hole’s “Live Through This.” https://www.spin.com/2021/06/courtney-love-says-olivia-rodrigo-ripped-off-live-through-this-album-cover/
Sal comments, ““Rodrigo’s “Brutal” is a rip of Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up,” which it is, to some extent. Costello’s response? “This is fine by me, It’s how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did.” Is a rip? You be the judge…
Just a note – this episode has extra songs, some come out of our conversations during the show. he extra songs are basically in context and were added to give the show the 90 minutes for VoicEd Radio – thank-you Stephen Hurley!
As they are extras, we are not writing about these ones.
have a great week everyone!
Whole-Hearted 