17 May 2021 - Throwing Muses - Pearl

Throwing Muses, as I have stated elsewhere, is my favorite band ever.  I've seen them live twice (1989, 1995) and neither time did they disappoint.

And if there was ever a post I had been dying to write, it was this one.  

This song, from 1992's Red Heaven, is almost every Muses's fan's favorite song.  It has been compared to "Stairway To Heaven", and I get that comparison - it's epic and pulls on a wide range of emotions.  Essentially a fever dream, Kristin Hersh's vocals and unaccompanied opening guitar give me chills every time.  In the middle, it moves to a very bass-and-drum heavy song

Live, the song has a slightly different feel, with Hersh on an electric instead of acoustic guitar... but Bernard Georges and David Narcizo still don't accompany her until nearly two minutes into the song, which opens a bombastic two and a half minutes before it becomes a soulful solo again. Simply beautiful, it is a song that you need to listen to until the end.

14 May 2021 - Liz Phair - Spanish Doors & Divorce Song

Liz Phair has written songs about divorce before. 

This, the first single from her new album Soberish, her first album in over a decade, is nuanced and layered and beautiful.  Anyone who has been through divorce, or any breakup, can relate to the feeling of wanting to be alone and just hiding in the bathroom.  This song illustrates that in such a artful way.

Contrast that with an also excellent, but less beautiful and more gritty, song from her 1993 debut album Exile In Guyville, and the Girlysound tapes before that. In 2016, she called this one of her favorite songs, and I agree.  It's sad, and dark, but also jangly and hard not to relate to.  

13 May 2021 - Mark Morrison - Return of the Mack

This song leans heavily on the beat from "Genius of Love" by the Tom Tom Club.  Samples are a hallmark of hip hop music, and this entertaining song uses it well - changing the key on the sample ever so slightly.  

This song, which went to #2 on the pop charts in 1997. would be British R&B singer Mark Morrison's only hit.  Which is OK, since he is now a politician challenging to be the mayor of Leichester, in his native UK.  

12 May 2021 - The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

That famous guitar rift at the beginning of this 2003 song was the first part written by Jack White in 2002.  The rest of the song flowed pretty easily after that.  Jack plays both traditional and slide guitar on this song, as well as providing vocals.  Meg White's drum beat keeps time.

But the song is more than that.  It's an anthem at sporting events.  It's a rallying cry for political rallies.  It was a catalyst for a growing garage band movement, based on how incredibly sparse the song actually is - able to be played by a band of 2 or 3 people.  

Of course, the White Stripes broke up in 2011, but we still have these songs and performances to remember them by.  Take this show from 2005, in Brazil - proof positive that you can play this song with a band of 2.  

Also, can we talk about how happy Meg looks on the drums?

11 May 2021 - MAMAMOO - 딩가딩가 (Dingga)

We just can't stop the K-Pop.  I feel like I short-change y'all last week because, well, Darling Buds Day, so I'm making up now. 

MAMAMOO have been released really good music since 2014 - music that is both poppy and critically acclaimed.  All four members have strong solo careers outside the group..  which, in K-Pop, isn't all that uncommon - but the level of success they've all had as solo artists is nearly unprecedented - all four of them have extensive solo discographies that rival the success of the group as a whole.

Still, the group stays together and makes excellent music.  This single, from late 2020, is an example of that. Not only is it entertaining - it DIRECTLY addresses the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it had (and, as of this writing, still has) on social life.

As is not uncommon in K-Pop, a Japanese version of the song was released in early 2021.  I'd like to point out that this isn't just a redubbing - there are a lot of portions of this video that were recorded to reflect Japanese lipsync.  

10 May 2021 - aespa - Black Mamba

I was originally going to post this during the two weeks of K-Pop, but, you know, the Darling Buds annual celebration interrupted that.  So, you get an extra day of K-Pop.  Not like I don't have literally three months worth of solid K-Pop to post.....

And when I first saw aespa, I thought they looked a lot like BLACKPINK - but theirs is a unique sound.  

aespa, however, doesn't need uppercase letters.  This was their debut single, premiering in November 2020. It is an bass-heavy song that has become a worldwide hit.   

The video definitely does NOT shy away from the snake imagery.  The song itself is meant to explain the concept of aespa.....yes, there's a whole concept about avatars and experience.... you see, a lot of K-Pop is focused on performance and entertainment, and not the actual music.  

However, this one's a banger, DESPITE the high concept.  The four women in the group (I promise you there's only four) are clearly talented at singing, and the music here allows each of them to highlight their vocals.  

7 May 2021 - BLACKPINK ft. Selena Gomez - Ice Cream

How do artists clearly in two different countries collaborate in the middle of a pandemic?

Clearly, via Zoom.  

Yes, they made an actual video for the song, but I wanted to show off the Zoom version first.  However, even in this version, you notice that BLACKPINK is very much not in Selena Gomez's area, as their scenes were recorded in Korea, whereas Ms. Gomez filmed in the States.  

The song was teased before its release, with BLACKPINK fans hoping the mystery collaborator not initially mentioned would be Ariana Grande.  As it turns out, Grande was a co-writer of this song, but Selena Gomez was chosen to perform. 

The song is nothing more than a huge double entendre, mostly in English, save for Lisa's Korean rap near the end.  I mean, it was partly in Korean - not that it wasn't filled with double entendres.  The song is BLACKPINK's biggest in the US to date, peaking at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.