The summer lull continued and so did the rain but the fireflies provided nightly light shows all the same. Favorite song of this week was “A Bee Without its Sting” by The Go! Team from Brighton, UK, because sometimes you just want some pop. Also enjoyed the dreamy sounds of Lightning Bug (“The right Thing Is Hard To Do”) and the stripped-down piano-driven sound of Clairo’s “Amoeba.” Fortunately, Desperate Journalist was on hand to wake us up with the dark, urgent gothiness of “Fault.”
Radio
Just Like The Rain – July 7, 2021
Right after the Fourth of July, our region in the northern northeast entered an unexpected rainy season where we’ve been on and off ever since. This prompted us to wonder what was up with the sun which just days before had been baking us in (nearly) 100 degree heat. We especially liked “LMK” by Caribbean artist Navy. Panache! amused with their very French “Paradis,” and who wouldn’t be amused by Cheekface’s “Listen to your heart — No!”
No Way, New Way – May 12, 2021
Half the theme of this week’s Bubble Wrap show was The World. The other half was No Theme At All. Always good to include the random element. Picks of the week include Thee Brinks, Daudane, Sorry, and Jessie Ware, whose dance hit “Please” pleased us. Thee Brinks are a French band, reminding us that French […]
Rain Cloud Rain – May 5, 2021
Who knew there were so many songs about rain? It’s Spring, so yes, it rains. What choice have we but to acknowledge it? New music helps. We’ve been especially liking Benjamin Belinska, The Silver Sands, The Bablers, and Daudane, among others. But first, it’s time to revive Issac Burgess and Emily Parrish, Detroit dance pop duo whose super fun dance pop ep Year In Review seems to have been roundly and unfairly ignored, at least on the Internet.
One Thing After Another – April 28, 2021
Another interesting week of music on Bubble Wrap radio where the glories of spring met the grumpiness of our current state of mind. But we do our best to remain cheerful despite the events that make us doubt our sanity for doing so.
On the grumpy side: Yard Act, our new favorite UK band, with a new song “Dark Days.” This on the heels of last week’s “Fixer Upper,” seemed almost too good to be true. These guys fall into the new British genre of talkie rock which seems possibly influenced by the recently departed Mark E. Smith.
Shall We Dance? – April 21, 2021
In case you hadn’t noticed, April 21, 2021 is the five year anniversary of Prince’s death, and while not a happy milestone, it proved to be a great opportunity to play a bunch of Prince and Prince-related music. On Bubble Wrap this week, we played selections from his first album, For You, all the way […]
Weather Happens – April 14, 2021
April is the month of “now you see it, now you don’t” weather. It’s sunny and bright! It’s dark and stormy… The wind howls! It’s peaceful and still. So too in all of life. Does this have anything to do with music? Maybe. It’s up to you to find out.
Top tracks this week from the likes of Grrrl Gang and their the delicious Honey, Baby ep; also from The Happy Smiling Germ, Nashville’s best kept indie folk secret. Robot Rights “Getaway” was a fun surprise, doubly so because he’s from “around here,” in this case Vermont.
Smart As Art – April 7, 2021
Lots of new music this week, leading off with Chris Catalyst’s “Make Good Art,” featuring (of all people) novelist Neil Gaimon. We like this song because it gets right to the point, and it’s a good point. Continuing with this new UK “talkie” rock thing, we heard from Yard Act (really?) who gave us a […]
Make Your Own Revolution – March 31, 2021
This week saw the return of rock to Bubble Wrap, brought to us by the serendipitous luck of the draw. We especially liked French retro rockers Thee Brinks, strange Baltimorean L Cars, and The Armoires in their Covid-tinged memoir “Ghost of Fall Singer…” Revival of the week: Scruffy the Cat, that legendary Boston pop band whose late ’80s glory days brought a touch of playful insouciance to the otherwise gritty local scene.
Not So Dark After All – March 24, 2021
As Spring emerges from the snow and the snow melts into the earth and the rivers run down to the river and on into the Sound, we find the pulse and pace of life have quickened, but to what end? That is a question to ponder as Bubble Wrap gently escorts you through the earliest days of this virginally new season. Surely this involves music, no? And so it does, from The Dowling Poole and Snapped Ankles to the Armoires and Parker Milsap. In short, a motley assortment of late winter/ early spring releases.
Top of the Evenin’ – March 17, 2021
It being St. Patrick’s Day, we felt it was our sworn duty as Americans to play some Irish music in honor of the day. As we discovered, there’s a fair amount of St. Paddy’s Day music tucked away in Archive.org, recorded off of scratchy old 78s. There are also plenty of Irish and Irish-American musicians […]
Haiku for Everything – March 10, 2021
This week’s show featured more from La Souterraine, plenty of classic funk, and a hefty helping of new music by artists at various levels of obscurity from Hanford Flyover to Haru Nemuri, touching both ends of that spectrum. Hanford Flyover continue to impress. We played another from their most recent release, this time the moody, downtempo rocker “Cloverfield.” We also played tracks from I Think Like Midnight album and our new political rock faves The Dowling Poole.
Whither the Whetherman – March 3, 2021
Bubble Wrap continues and once again, you missed it! But we’re here to tell you all about it so you won’t feel left out. We enjoyed “Mr. Whetherman” from UK band Hanford Flyover’s new release Hanford Tape Sessions, a surprisingly good record for such an obviously thrown together collecction. Meinfreak from Berlin gave us “Blütenmeergewehr,” which translates roughly as “Sea of Flowers.” We even found a song from a Vermont band, Clever Girls, who were decent enough to email us a link to it. Thank you, Clever Girls! We debuted “Spark.”
Shamanic Legacy – February 24, 2021
This week’s edition of Bubble Wrap was a rough and tumble mix of tracks from all over, baby. There was the old: De La Soul, Parliament, Aretha, Gary Bartz, and even a snippet of Philip Glass. There was the new with a touch of the familiar: Bobby McFerrin’s daughter Madison doing her new song “Hindsight” and a pair from the son and grandson of Fela (Made and Femi Kute from the Legacy collection). Plus a few more tracks from recent faves Spunkshine, Mt. Pleasure, Nuevos Dolores, and Welsh rockers Bandicoot.