Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
01 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: plasmodesmata, pluto gang
Pluto Gang: “Plasmodesmata” (2020)
Having had their first regional tour interrupted by the COVID pandemic, Carolina sextet Pluto Gang convened in a cabin in the Carolina mountains to create their genre-blurred Better Out Here LP,
Their sound is something the band calls “high energy jam soul”. Works for me.
01 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: gerry rafferty, her father didn't like me anyway, humblebums
Humblebums: “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (1969)
From the second release by the mostly low-key British folk rockers and the first with Gerry Rafferty.
Rafferty’s addition coincided with an advent of brass and woodwind arrangements which, along with Rafferty’s subdued, reflective songwriting, gave the group an enhanced emotional richness. But it was a short-lived collaboration.
Rafferty and Billy Connolly would embark on solo careers one album later.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/06/29/songs-you-may-have-missed-435/
01 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: beatles
28 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: El Rey Tiburón, el rey tiburon, mana, maná
Maná: “El Rey Tiburón” (2006)
From Maná’s Grammy-winning seventh studio album Amar es Combatir (“To Love Is To Fight” in English). The album shared the distinction with Shakira’s Fijación Oral Vol. 1 (2005) as the highest debut of a Spanish language album in the history of Billboard until surpassed by Bad Bunny in 2020.
“El Rey Tiburón” (“The Shark King”) is a warning to the, uh, “mermaids” to beware the one who will “eat you with his kisses”. Or something:
I’m the king of the seas, the shark
The one who smothers you with kisses
But I’m the king of the sea, the shark
The one who eats you up, my love
Ay Ay Ay Bom Bom My mermaid of my love
Beware of the kiss
Oh, this is excess of love, that the shark has arrived
Compositionally, the song catches the ear by resolving minor-chord verses with a major, then ending the major-chord chorus by returning to a minor.
Cha cha cha!
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2024/01/01/songs-you-may-have-missed-740/
28 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: changing, kevin jonas
Kevin Jonas: “Changing” (2025)
The last of the three Jonas Brothers to step out with a solo single, Kevin Jonas had previously contented himself supporting brothers Joe and Nick as songwriter, guitarist and backing vocalist.
However his reflective “Changing” has been warmly received since he debuted it at the Fenway Park stop on the Brothers’ 2025 tour.
To quote Danielle Holian’s excellent summation in Atwood Magazine:
The lyric that has already become its signature appears in the opening verse, “This coffee’s cold like these same old conversation.” The line has a lived-in realism. This song is truly an awakening. A recognition of the subtle erosion of routine, the quiet hollowness that can creep into the corners of adult life, even when nothing is technically wrong. It’s the soundtrack of a person lifting their head one morning and thinking, “What if I am overdue for a new chapter?”
From a songwriting perspective, “Changing” perfectly displays a mastery of the contemporary hit formula of following a verse with a climb (in this case, melodically-speaking a literal one) to a memorable chorus.
We dedicate this one to the crusty, taste-locked “new music sucks” curmudgeons who won’t listen to anything less than 40 years old.
There are still people out there who know how to do this pop music thing.
Every Moment Has A Song 