Songs You May Have Missed #780

24 May 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

Keola Beamer: “He Punahele No ‘Oe” (1995)

Keola Beamer is a fifth-generation musician and master of the Hawaiian slack key guitar style. He’s also the composer of “Honolulu City Lights”, one of Hawaii’s biggest-selling songs of all time.

Moe’uhane Kika: Tales from the Dream Guitar was produced by George Winston and distributed by Windham Hill subsidiary Dancing Cat Records, so it might be mistaken for New Age music.

But the album is mostly comprised of tranquil instrumental versions of familiar Hawaiian songs–or songs that would be familiar to Hawaiians.

This isn’t New Age, but it is World Music. It isn’t wimpy, but it is serene. It isn’t steel guitar and ukulele, but it is music with deep Hawaiian roots.

And it’s gorgeous.

Songs You May Have Missed #779

15 May 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

Pomplamoose: “Bust Your Kneecaps” (2016)

Husband-and-wife led Pomplamoose have found an atypical business model that works for them–to the tune of about 2 million YouTube subscribers.

Where artists have historically promoted physical product with music videos, Pomplamoose have subverted the dominant paradigm in that their videos are the songs. “Videosongs”.

There is no lip-syncing. Every vocal is performed on camera. Every instrument you hear, you will see.

Literally what you see is what you get.

Jack and Nataly Conte and friends want to demystify the music process and a culture that seems to put artists and bands in some rarified realm.

Their videos remove the “smoke and mirrors”, as they put it, replacing fakery with authenticity, the pedestal with accessibility. The only rarified thing here is their talent.

While most of the material they perform is cracking covers and brilliant mashups, “Bust Your Kneecaps” is an original. It’s a charming, darkly comic ode to the dangers of breaking up with the wrong girl.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2021/03/18/songs-you-may-have-missed-684/

Songs You May Have Missed #778

07 May 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

Steve Earle: “The Other Kind” (1990)

From Earle’s last MCA studio album (the label decided to cut him loose after the live record that followed).

After losing his record deal Steve got clean while serving time for drug and weapons charges, though he’d done some of his best work while his personal life was going off the rails due to cocaine and heroin addiction.

This song peaked at #37 on the Mainstream Rock charts. It would be a decade before Earle would crack a US chart of any kind again.

The machine gun drum fill at 4:28 is the kind of emotional impact moment that owed more to arena rock than Nashville. Earle’s songwriting stretched country’s envelope, and often sat more comfortably in a rock arrangement.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2021/03/07/songs-you-may-have-missed-681/

Songs You May Have Missed #777

26 Apr 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

Shivaree: “I Close My Eyes” (2005)

Listening to Shivaree is like looking through a prism of musical facets and moods. The torch song sensibilities are overlaid with Cowboy Junkies alt country leanings. It’s dark. It’s creepy. It’s coffeehouse vibe. It’s smokey late-night last call. It’s jagged with reverb and Tom Waits cacophonous clash. It’s smooth with a sultry R&B feel. Wait, was that a banjo?

Pulling it all together into an appealing blend is the voice of Ambrosia Parsley, she of the Wednesday Addams besuited cover photo, whose interesting past is explored in the post linked below.

Shivaree disbanded in 2007 after four full-length albums, 2 EPs and various singles.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/04/19/songs-you-may-have-missed-393-2/

Songs You May Have Missed #776

25 Apr 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

John Denver: “Today” (Live) (1975)

John Denver’s credentials as a songwriter are impressive. He is also the subject of a unique bit of music trivia in that his first two top 40 hits have been adopted as official state songs.

Colorado recognized “Rocky Mountain High” as such in 2007. And in 2014 “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (co-written by Denver with Bill Danoff and Tammy Nivert) was given the same distinction by the state of West Virginia.

But Denver wasn’t averse to putting his stamp on other writers’ work if it spoke for him.

And Randy Sparks’ moving ballad “Today”, a #17 hit in 1964 for Sparks’ folk group the New Christy Minstrels, is one of the most sublime songs Denver ever sang.

Denver’s beautifully recorded live double LP An Evening with John Denver reached #2 on the pop album chart and was a #1 country album in an era when double and even triple live albums cracked the top 10 with regularity.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/01/11/songs-you-may-have-missed-290/

Songs You May Have Missed #775

15 Apr 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

Adolf Fredrik Girls Choir: “Varmlandsvisan” (1993)

Choral music from one of Sweden’s most acclaimed and awarded choirs, representing the Adolf Fredrik Music School in Stockholm.

The choir is comprised of girls from grades 6 to 9, so membership turns over each year, but the spirit and sound remain consistent, and consistently excellent, through the years.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/05/11/songs-you-may-have-missed-413/

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