The Flashing Lights: “Summertime Climb” (1999)
Led by singer/guitarist Matt Murphy, this Canadian foursome’s roots as a 60’s cover band showed on their independently released 1999 debut.
The sound of power pop is definitely the sound of summer.
Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
03 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: summertime climb, the flashing lights
The Flashing Lights: “Summertime Climb” (1999)
Led by singer/guitarist Matt Murphy, this Canadian foursome’s roots as a 60’s cover band showed on their independently released 1999 debut.
The sound of power pop is definitely the sound of summer.
26 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: lovergirl, madison beer
Madison Beer: “Lovergirl” (2026)
Madison Beer first achieved notice when Justin Bieber shared link to her singing a cover of “At Last” at age 13.
Three albums into her career the Long Island native has established herself as a first-rate songwriter, albeit one whose singles and albums routinely perform better outside her native US.
After four singles were released from her 2026 locket LP, the melancholy “Lovergirl” was the lead single from the album’s deluxe edition.
23 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: a.j. croce, jim croce
17 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: chicago, walter parazaider
06 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: luna lee
Luna Lee breathes new life into the classic rock of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others by blending the modern with the traditional, and the western with the eastern. The results are dazzling. As she explains on her website:
The gayageum that I play is an ancient, traditional Korean instrument made for the purpose of playing traditional Korean music. My ancestors played the gayageum in a small room, so the sound did not need to be loud. But my music is performed with modern instruments such as the drums, bass and the guitar. So I had to redevelop my gayageum so that the sound would match that of the modern instrument. I had to increase the volume and pressure, develop tone and increase the sustain sound. And hoping to express the sound of gayageum more diversely like that of the guitar, I had to study guitar effectors and amplifiers and test them to see if they would fit to the sound of the gayageum. Playing modern music on a traditional instrument was not an easy process. I have come a long way from the beginning but still have a long way to go!
Most amazing of all is how she does it all without any trace of that ubiquitous rock guitarist painface that I assumed was necessary to hit those high notes…
06 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: amazing blondel, three seasons almaine
Amazing Blondel: “Three Seasons Almaine” (1971)
Amazing Blondel took their unique Classicist Renaissance blend a step further on 1971’s Fantasia Lindum LP than on the previous year’s Evensong.
The album’s title track was a 10-section, 20-minute suite (or fantasia) that comprised the album’s entire first side.
Harpsichord, recorder, lute, harmonium and dulcimer adorned lyrics about leafy lanes, lovers and lasses, woodsmen, ploughboys and verdant countrysides, sung in unapologetically English accents.
The phrase “baroque pop” is thrown around, even in this blog, to describe contemporary pop songs onto which is grafted some antique instrumentation.
Amazing Blondel deserves the description–like no other.