Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
13 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: dawes, hey lover
Dawes: “Hey Lover” (2013)
It doesn’t get much simpler than the sentiment (or the chorus) here:
Blue and white racing stripe pick-up truck
And when did I decide to grow this beard and gut?
Well, I may be white but I don’t like my people much
But I want to raise with you and watch our younglings hatch,
Fucking make the first letters of their first names match
Hey lover, hey lover
Hey lover, hey lover
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/02/21/recommended-albums-7/
13 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: badflower, daddy
Badflower: “Daddy” (2019)
Mumble rap, EDM, bro country…it’s a depressing popular music landscape these days for anyone who still prefers music to say something.
Fortunately the genre of rock still has its bright spots here and there, though it may be a bit ironic to use the term for subject matter this dark.
“Daddy”, from Badflower’s 2019 debut Ok, I’m Sick, is an unflinching and impactful vignette of familial abuse. The verses take you to a pretty messed up place. But the chorus has a cathartic clout.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2022/02/07/songs-you-may-have-missed-722/
10 Feb 2020 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: steely dan, your gold teeth II
Steely Dan: “Your Gold Teeth II” (1975)
Donald Fagen is not an easy guy to impress. But when he hears Denny Dias’ guitar solo in a studio outtake run-through of “Your Gold Teeth II”, the song’s co-writer exclaims, “Holy fuck! That’s great!”
It is.
Casual rock fans and critics alike love Aja, Steely Dan’s 1977 jazz-rock fusion masterpiece. But two years and two albums earlier they produced another glossy, sophisticated jazzy rock classic brimming with the sort of great melodic hooks, cryptic lyrics and jaw-dropping performances the Dan are known for, that being the Katy Lied LP.
And no performance tops Dias’ adventurous solo here. “Your Gold Teeth II”–so-named because the band had already released a song called “Your Gold Teeth” two years earlier–neatly straddles the fence between accessible pop rock and real jazz.
1970’s Steely Dan were the open-minded pop rock fan’s gateway drug into jazz exploration.
Just as Gentle Giant knocked holes in the wall separating English progressive rock and jazz, Steely Dan at their best blurred the lines between the worlds of bop, pop, and what is now called Yacht Rock–except that term seems to do a disservice to the excellence of the Steely Dan catalog.
If this is Yacht Rock, I’m on board with it.
Every Moment Has A Song 