Hello music lovers! 🎶
Two weeks down and the #newtunes fresh music suggestions to listen to over the weekend and beyond are here! Mostly this year's releases, but a few from last year.
Well-known and lesser-known musicians from different genres are fighting fiercely for attention in our sound space! Let's support them by listening.
If you can spare a few minutes of your time in this fast-changing world of sounds and melodies, you might even find something for yourself. And if you don't like something, feel free to skip it.
Music4life!
The Smile - Under Our Pillows
I've been mentioning The Smile quite a lot lately, in fact, their new second album 'Wall of Eyes' came out seven days ago and this song is the second single from that album.
Btw: If anyone is not familiar with The Smile, it's a rock trio of multi-instrumentalists, two of them are also members of Radiohead, they've been getting a lot of attention the last couple of years, and I think they're one of the best rock acts out there at the moment, especially live.
Thom Yorke is again mysterious and eclectic and uniquely handles current issues.
The Libertines - Shiver
The Libertines are an English indie rock and post-punk band from London. They have been active since 1997, their second album The Libertines reached number one on the UK album chart in 2004. And, as it tends to happen when their asses are full of everything, especially various banned substances, they broke up. They picked themselves up for a long time, reunited in 2010, and are still playing their music to this day, more or less successfully. They have released three albums so far, with a fourth, All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade, announced for 8 March this year.
The song Shiver is the trailer for the album, the video is a bit bizarre, but the music, the lyrics with a universal message, and the melodies are still the old Libertines. I recommend.
Abstract Concrete - Ventriloquist/Dummy
Abstract Concrete is a new English band from London. They were formed in early 2019 and released their debut album, Abstract Concrete, last November. A new band for me and a positive surprise, with a fresh, interesting, original sound that you can't exactly define stylistically. Of course, they didn't just appear on the scene. The band is the project of Charles Hayward, a seventy-two-year-old drummer who has spent most of his career drumming in underground, studio, and experimental bands, always on the fringes or outside the mainstream and at the forefront of musical innovation.
The whole album is difficult to define in terms of genre, but the song Ventriloquist/Dummy is a great example of musically fresh ideas in composition, the lyrics very topical, the concern over society's sleeping while fascism is re-emerging wrapped up in a schizophrenic dialogue with a puppet, it doesn't matter whether on the left or right side of the ideological spectrum. I recommend listening to the whole album.
Sunny Day Real Estate - Novum Vetus
Sunny Day Real Estate is an American band from Seattle, home of grunge. They have been around since 1994, but are more Emo than grunge band. I mention them here mainly because after ten years they have released something new again, namely this song, 'Novum Vetus', which heralds the re-release of their first album Diary from 1994. A recycling of old stuff, what do we want, but this song is recorded for the first time and will be the only new one on Diary, which comes out in March this year. Emo style but a certain optimism spreads from it.
Future Islands - Say Goodbye
Future Islands is an American trio from Baltimore. They have been performing since 2006 and they are synth-pop or, as they call it, 'post-wave', I've never heard that term before, but one learns throughout one's life, doesn't one?
They've released ten albums so far, and the latest one, People Who Aren't There Anymore, supposedly last Friday.
The song Say Goodbye is from that album, it's a love song, melodic, and emotional, and it gives me some positive expectations for the future.
Maybe it will be a hit? I wouldn't know.
Pissed Jeans - Moving On
Pissed Jeans is a punk rock band from Allentown, Pennsylvania, and they've been making music for over twenty years, so it's safe to say they've got some mileage under their belt in terms of gigs, about five albums and a couple of EPs. They're not too fussed about fame or anything like most bands that stick with SubPop.
Their latest album Half-Divorced is out in March and the song 'Moving On' is the announcement and promotion for that album. There's a bit of aggression in this song but, what do we want, honest and sincere punk has always been like this.
Lucidvox — Naidiya
Lucidwox is a new name for me, but it's a band from Moscow, Russia. The four girls have been playing together for over a decade and successfully mix psychedelia, rock, and Russian folklore. They have been concentrating intensively in Europe for the last few years, releasing three albums so far, the last one being That's What Remained at the end of November last year.
The song Naidiya is rooted in Eastern Slavic folklore, and over rhythmic drumming, the rocking psychedelics are very well incorporated with vocals, organ sounds, guitars, and brass, maintaining the mysticism and occasional cathartic moments.
Green Day - Bobby Sox
Finally, some melodic punk from Green Day released their 14th studio album Saviors two weeks ago. Yeah, I know, nothing particularly new, they're not discovering warm waters, nor are they too bothered about anything. I agree with the founder of the independent label Epitaph Records (also guitarist of Bad Religion) who said, hey, you know the punk genre is the legacy of rock and roll and Green Day is simply the biggest band in that.
I've listened to the whole album and all the songs seem to me to be first-class three-chord hits. I have no proof but I suspect they used AI for all the songs. Anyway. I don't care.
This song or video was released with the album.
🎶That's all for today, enjoy in #newtunes!
I hope you liked something, and thank you for your attention.
newtunes2024 19.1.2024, 12.1.2024, 5.1.2024
If you're interested in #newtunes suggestions from the past five years, you can listen to them at these links - there are Spotify playlists for each year:
newtunes2019 | newtunes2020 | newtunes2021 | newtunes2022 | newtunes2023
If you like rare and alternative live performances take a look at my recordings - 3speak video channel, or Seckorama Music Podcast - audio.
And here's something else:
There has been a lot of development in Hive core but documentation is outdated and updates are needed. So I invite you to support and vote for Hive devportal updates proposal by @good-karma.
Thank you in advance.
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