The work don’t quit, as they say. It’s August, when everyone gets back to the old routine, and life starts anew. We aren’t sure how that works. Distracting us from intermittent anxiety were the hushed ambient waves of Bartosz Lugowski, the mixed media adventures of Zach Promesa, and the romantic swirl of Veronique Bilodeau. (We are grateful to Ultra Vague — Uvarious Artists Vol. 11 in this case — for all three…)
Jonas & I, Finland’s entry onto the indie-pop world stage, sound lonely and northern on their latest track “Yellow Walls.” A bit like Simon & Garfunkel if it was just Garfunkel…
Dead Blonde by Княжна из хрущёвки (The Princess from Khrushchev) was our favorite international electropop song of recent memory, consisting of stripped down electric piano juxtaposed with an unexpectedly rustic acoustic piano part, making it sound like a low rent Russian tabac dropped onto the dance floor of a Russian night club. The vocalist is an appealing mix of east and west, adding to the intrigue.
Finally, Big Rips (yes, that’s their name) wowed with a from-the-heart rock epic entitled “Everything Has Sucked Lately.”
And so another week comes and goes, and another in its place. But still there is music, so much music.
August 18, 2021
Love Me Baby
Space Ghost – What Day Is It?
Sweet Honey in the Rock – On Children
Prince – One Day We Will All Be Free
Mac McCaughan – Dawn Bends
Big Rips – Everything Has Sucked Lately
Sorrows – It’s Not Love Anymore
The O’Jays – Back Stabbers
Prince – 1000 Light Years From Here
Noel Belmondo and the Richards – Stormy Japan
Noel Belmondo and the Richards – Another Country
Tycho and Benjamin Gibbard – Only Love
Yellow Magic Orchestra – Behind The Mask
Public Enemy – How To Kill A Radio Consultant
Robert B. Illes and James Stein – Neophyte Intro
Dead Blonde – Бесприданница (Penniless)
Bartosz Lugowski – Kolysanka
Prince – Same Page, Different Book
Trouble Funk – Get On Up
Alice DeVille’s Hard Drivers – NBTS (excerpt)
Alice DeVille’s Hard Drivers – COTRS (excerpt)
Alice DeVille’s Hard Drivers – RR
Noel Belmondo and the Richards – Blitzkrieg Bop
The O’Jays – I Love Music (original album version)
People’s Choice – Do It Anyway You Want
Jonas & I – Yellow Walls
Zach Promesa – Abride, Abridged
Wendy & Lisa – Are You My Baby
Photo credit: Lorenzo Lotto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons