Virginia singer-songwriter The Frontier holds the top spot for a second week with his beautiful and uplifting pop-rock gem “Walk Through the Fire”, while “Francesca” by Irish singer-songwriter Hozier moves up a notch into second place. Blink-182‘s “ONE MORE TIME” moves up three spots to #4, and “HONEY (ARE U COMING)?” by Italian rock band Måneskin continues its rapid upward trajectory, entering the top 10 at #6.
Three songs make their debut this week: Entering at #28 is “Angry” by TheRolling Stones, a pretty solid banger that shows the legendary rockers still have what it takes. Who would have ever imagined that Mick and Keith would still be going strong at 80 and 79, 60 years after they released their first single “Come On” in 1963.
The second debut is “Your Side of Town” by American alt-rock band The Killers, entering at #29. The synth-driven song was intended to be included on their next album, however, band frontman Brandon Flowers nixed that project. In an interview with British news publication The Sunday Times, he explained “Halfway through recording I realized, ‘I can’t do this’. I think this will be the . . . I don’t think you’ll see us making this type of music anymore. This is the crisis I’m in. The Killers are my identity, and our songs fill seats, but I’m more fulfilled making music like ‘Pressure Machine’ [their 2021 roots rock album]. I found a side of myself writing it that was strong. This was the guy I’d been looking for! I’m as proud of ‘Hot Fuss’ as you can be for something you did when you were 20, but I’m not 20. So I’m thinking about the next phase of my life.”
The third debut is “Run Away With Me” by L.A.-based indie rock band Cold War Kids (who I saw in concert in August when they opened for Tears for Fears), at #30.
WALK THROUGH THE FIRE – The Frontier (1)
FRANCESCA – Hozier (3)
KISSES – Slowdive (2)
ONE MORE TIME – Blink-182 (7)
DIAL DRUNK – Noah Kahan (4)
HONEY (ARE U COMING?) – Måneskin (11)
DAYDREAMS AND ALGORITHMS – Eleanor Collides (8)
LOVING YOU – Cannons (9)
RUNNING OUT OF TIME – Paramore (10)
GOOD VIBRATIONS – MISSIO (5)
OVERRATED – dwi (6)
WHEN WE WERE CLOSE – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (13)
BAD IDEA RIGHT? – Olivia Rodrigo (14)
UNDER YOU – Foo Fighters (19)
OVERCOME – Nothing But Thieves (17)
PULL ME THROUGH – Royal Blood (18)
ODYSSEY – Beck & Phoenix (12)
SAY YES TO HEAVEN – Lana Del Rey (15)
MY KINDA GIRL – The 23s (22)
DARLING – Western Jaguar (23)
THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND – Bad Omens (24)
HOLD ME LIKE A GRUDGE – Fall Out Boy (25)
MORE THAN A LOVE SONG – Black Pumas (27)
SUMMER OF LUV – Portugal. The Man feat. Unknown Mortal Orchestra (28)
EVICTED – Wilco (30)
THE SHAMEFUL – Amongst Liars (29)
PINEAPPLE SUNRISE – Beach Weather (16) 22nd week on chart
A long-time favorite artist of mine, on both a professional and personal level, is The Frontier, the music project of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jake Mimikos. Based in northern Virginia, the talented, gracious and hard-working guy skillfully blends elements of pop, folk, rock and electronica to create memorable and pleasing songs about love, relationships and loss. Delivered with comforting pitch-perfect vocals, Jake’s lyrics are honest and relatable; there’s just something about his songs that makes them so addictive, and I’ve found that they continue to grow on me more with every listen.
Since 2015, he’s released an impressive number of songs, and I’ve loved them all. Three – “Dark Places”, “Can We Go Back” and “Closer” – have reached #1 on my Weekly Top 30 charts, while “Sleep” and “It’s You” both reached the top 4. His latest single, “Walk Through The Fire“, now becomes his fourth single to top my chart. Serving up three minutes of infectious toe-tapping grooves and beautiful jangly guitar notes, the song is a plea to a loved one for a second chance: “Everyone falls sometimes. Dying to stay alive. Everyone has their fight. It’s how we walk through the fire.”
In other notable chart developments, the beautiful “Francesca” by Hozier moves up three spots to #3. A whopping four songs enter the top 10, the first of which is the poignant auto-biographical song “ONE MORE TIME” by pop-punk veterans Blink-182, which is also the highest-debuting song this week, entering my chart at #7. The other three, all of which advance 4 spots, are “Daydreams and Algorithms” by British artist Eleanor Collides, at #8, “Loving You” by L.A. dream pop band Cannons, at #9, and “Running Out of Time” by Tennessee pop-punk band Paramore, at #10. For a second week, “HONEY (ARE U COMING)?” by Italian rock band Måneskin, is the biggest upward mover, jumping 10 spots to #11. And finally, besides Blink-182’s new song, the other debut is the wonderful “Evicted” by Chicago alt-rock band Wilco, which enters at #30.
WALK THROUGH THE FIRE – The Frontier (2)
KISSES – Slowdive (1)
FRANCESCA – Hozier (6)
DIAL DRUNK – Noah Kahan (5)
GOOD VIBRATIONS – MISSIO (3)
OVERRATED – dwi (4)
ONE MORE TIME – Blink-182 (N)
DAYDREAMS AND ALGORITHMS – Eleanor Collides (12)
LOVING YOU – Cannons (13)
RUNNING OUT OF TIME – Paramore (14)
HONEY (ARE U COMING?) – Måneskin (21)
ODYSSEY – Beck & Phoenix (7)
WHEN WE WERE CLOSE – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (16)
BAD IDEA RIGHT? – Olivia Rodrigo (17)
SAY YES TO HEAVEN – Lana Del Rey (8)
PINEAPPLE SUNRISE – Beach Weather (9) 21st week on chart
OVERCOME – Nothing But Thieves (18)
PULL ME THROUGH – Royal Blood (19)
UNDER YOU – Foo Fighters (20)
CALL ME WHAT YOU LIKE – Lovejoy (10)
FORGIVING TIES – Deer Tick (11)
MY KINDA GIRL – The 23s (23)
DARLING – Western Jaguar (24)
THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND – Bad Omens (25)
HOLD ME LIKE A GRUDGE – Fall Out Boy (26)
CANNONBALLERS – Colony House (15)
MORE THAN A LOVE SONG – Black Pumas (28)
SUMMER OF LUV – Portugal. The Man feat. Unknown Mortal Orchestra (29)
It’s hard to believe we’re now into October, as 2023 continues to speed past at a dizzying pace. British dream rock band Slowdive holds the top spot for a second week with their bewitching song “kisses”. Sliding into the #2 spot is “Walk Through the Fire” by Virginia singer-songwriter The Frontier, with “Good Vibrations” by Texas duo MISSIO right behind at #3. Otherwise, the top 10 songs remain the same, albeit with a bit of shuffling around. The biggest upward mover this week is “HONEY (ARE U COMING)?” by Italian rock band Måneskin, leaping nine spots to #21.
For the second week, there are three new songs making their debut, though truth be told, there were seven or eight I wanted to add, but that would have meant dropping more off, which I couldn’t do. “More Than a Love Song” by Austin, Texas-based neo-soul duo Black Pumas (currently the #1 song on the Billboard AAA chart), enters at #28, “Summer of Luv” by Portland, Oregon-based rock band Portugal. The Man, featuring New Zealand psychedelic rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, at #29, and “The Shameful” by British hard rock band Amongst Liars (which I reviewed a month ago today), at #30.
KISSES – Slowdive (1)
WALK THROUGH THE FIRE – The Frontier (3)
GOOD VIBRATIONS – MISSIO (4)
OVERRATED – dwi (2)
DIAL DRUNK – Noah Kahan (6)
FRANCESCA – Hozier (9)
ODYSSEY – Beck & Phoenix (7)
SAY YES TO HEAVEN – Lana Del Rey (8)
PINEAPPLE SUNRISE – Beach Weather (5) 20th week on chart
CALL ME WHAT YOU LIKE – Lovejoy (10)
FORGIVING TIES – Deer Tick (12)
DAYDREAMS AND ALGORITHMS – Eleanor Collides (13)
LOVING YOU – Cannons (14)
RUNNING OUT OF TIME – Paramore (15)
CANNONBALLERS – Colony House (11)
WHEN WE WERE CLOSE – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (18)
BAD IDEA RIGHT? – Olivia Rodrigo (19)
OVERCOME – Nothing But Thieves (20)
PULL ME THROUGH – Royal Blood (21)
UNDER YOU – Foo Fighters (24)
HONEY (ARE U COMING?) – Måneskin (30)
WHAT WAS I MADE FOR? – Billie Eilish (17)
MY KINDA GIRL – The 23s (26)
DARLING – Western Jaguar (27)
THE NARCISSIST – Blur (16)
THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND – Bad Omens (28)
HOLD ME LIKE A GRUDGE – Fall Out Boy (29)
MORE THAN A LOVE SONG – Black Pumas (N)
SUMMER OF LUV – Portugal. The Man ft. Unknown Mortal Orchestra (N)
Terry Gomes is a composer/guitarist from Ottawa, Canada who’s been involved with music his entire life, both as a musician, singer-songwriter and composer of instrumental music, and as a teacher of rock and classical guitar. (He also taught elementary school for 26 years.) He studied classical guitar/composition at the University of Ottawa, where he graduated with honors. Over the years, he’s played in several rock bands and as one half of a flute/classical guitar duo. After writing songs for others, he began recording his own music in 2006, releasing three albums featuring songs in the singer-songwriter/pop/folk-rock genres. He later transitioned toward mostly guitar-based instrumental music, beginning with the release of his album Shh., which featured a more jazz-oriented, easy-listening style. In 2015, he released his Caribbean-influenced EP Blue.Green.Aquamarine, which he followed with The Tropical Dream in 2018, a delightful concept album detailing a tropical vacation written while he recovered from a back injury.
In 2019, Terry released an instrumental single “Rumjaro 360”, in which he combined elements of rumba, jazz and rock, and in 2022, he released two beautiful piano-based singles, “Elegy” and the jazzy “Steen’s Reverie”. Now he returns with “Dark Riders“, a rather unorthodox rock guitar soundtrack he wrote several years ago, accompanied by a quirky animated video. For the recording of the track, Terry played all guitars, bass and organ, and Jeff Asselin played drums and percussion. Mixing was done by Steve Foley at Audio Valley Studios in Ottawa, and mastering by Jason Fee at Conduction Mastering.
“Dark Riders” is a six and a half minute long instrumental track with progressive elements, though Terry’s twangy guitars lend a strong Western vibe to the proceedings. I love his guitar work, and the spooky organ adds some great texture to the track. About the video, Terry says “Encompassing a surreal “dark ride” with Old West imagery, it follows an individual’s unexpected and unusual journey. I think of this project as a cross between David Lynch and Scooby Doo–somewhat creepy and surreal and yet, sort of, fun.” The fun and clever video was made with mostly black and white animation images created by Andres Olmos.
Without question, one of the prettiest songs of 2023 is “kisses” by British dream rock band Slowdive. Though they formed way back in 1989, I’m embarrassed to admit I was not familiar with them until hearing “kisses” this past June (which may partly be due to the fact they’ve never had a single chart in the U.S., and only two of their albums have appeared on the Billboard 200 Album chart). Consisting of Rachel Goswell on vocals, guitar and keyboard, Neil Halstead on vocals and guitar, Christian Savill on guitar, Nick Chaplin on bass guitar and Simon Scott on drums, they rose to prominence in the British shoegaze scene in the early 90s. (In a recent NPR interview with Scott Simon, Halstead explained that the term “shoegaze” originated in the early 90s when a journalist from the British music magazine Melody Maker coined it to describe bands such as Slowdive who didn’t have much stagecraft and spent a lot of time looking down at their shoes as they frequently turned their guitar pedals on and off.)
While their second studio album Souvlaki (1993) initially received mixed reviews, it has since been recognized as one of the best albums of the 90s and one of the greatest shoegaze albums of all time by Pitchfork, NME and PopMatters, among others. (Wikipedia) Slowdive broke up soon after the release of their third studio album Pygmalion in 1995, but reunited in 2014, and released their fourth studio album, the self-titled Slowdive, in 2017. They dropped their stunning fifth album Everything Is Alive on September 1st, which became their first top 10 album ever, reaching #4 in the Netherlands, #6 in the UK and #7 in Germany. Though I think it’s one of the best albums of 2023, it only peaked at #63 on the Billboard 200 Album chart. Unbelievably, “kisses” has not appeared on any singles chart, however, it’s the new #1 song on MY chart! About the gorgeous album and song, Halstead told NPR: “A lot of the album is sort of about time passing. And I suppose, seeing as we’re all getting on a bit now, that’s one of the things we’re writing songs about… and ‘kisses’ is about having a second act, having a different chance in life.” Those dreamy synths, shimmery chiming guitars and sublime harmonies are simply breathtaking.
In other chart developments, “Walk Through the Fire” by Virginia singer-songwriter The Frontier, and “Good Vibrations” by Texas duo MISSIO move up two spots to #3 and #4, and Irish singer-songwriter Hozier enters the top 10 with his magnificent “Francesca”. The biggest upward movers are “Loving You” by L.A. dream pop band Cannons, and “Running Out of Time” by Nashville alt-rock band Paramore, both jumping 6 spots to #14 and #15, respectively. Debuting this week are “THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND” by American metalcore band Bad Omens, at #28, “Hold Me Like a Grudge” by American rock band Fall Out Boy, at #29, and “HONEY (ARE YOU COMING?)” by Italian rock band Måneskin, at #30.
KISSES – Slowdive (2)
OVERRATED – dwi (1)
WALK THROUGH THE FIRE – The Frontier (5)
GOOD VIBRATIONS – MISSIO (6)
PINEAPPLE SUNRISE – Beach Weather (3)
DIAL DRUNK – Noah Kahan (8)
ODYSSEY – Beck & Phoenix (9)
SAY YES TO HEAVEN – Lana Del Rey (4)
FRANCESCA – Hozier (11)
CALL ME WHAT YOU LIKE – Lovejoy (7)
CANNONBALLERS – Colony House (14)
FORGIVING TIES – Deer Tick(15)
DAYDREAMS AND ALGORITHMS – Eleanor Collides (17)
LOVING YOU – Cannons (20)
RUNNING OUT OF TIME – Paramore (21)
THE NARCISSIST – Blur (10)
WHAT WAS I MADE FOR? – Billie Eilish (19)
WHEN WE WERE CLOSE – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (22)
The wonderfully trippy and boisterous “Overrated” by Canadian artist dwi holds the top spot for a second week on my latest Top 30 chart. Sliding into second place is the enchanting love song “Kisses” by British indie dream pop band Slowdive. Songs by two of my favorite acts – “Walk Through the Fire” by Virginia-based singer-songwriter The Frontier, and “Good Vibrations” by Texas-based duo MISSIO – both climb four spots to #5 and #6, respectively. Moving up five spots and entering the top 10 are “Dial Drunk” by Vermont-based singer-songwriter Noah Kahan, at #8, and “Odyssey”, a breezy collaboration between French alt-rock band Phoenix and American singer-songwriter Beck, at #9. “Dial Drunk” has become a huge breakout hit for Kahan, and his version of the song with guest vocals by Post Malone, is currently #1 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay and Adult Alternative Airplay charts.
Three songs make their debut this week: “Under You” by the mighty Foo Fighters, at #28, the sultry love song “My Kinda Girl” by British collective The 23s (which I recently reviewed), at #29, and the sweet love song “Darling” by Canadian artist Western Jaguar, from his wonderful album Oblivion (which I also reviewed), at #30.
OVERRATED – dwi (1)
KISSES – Slowdive (4)
PINEAPPLE SUNRISE – Beach Weather (2)
SAY YES TO HEAVEN – Lana Del Rey (3)
WALK THROUGH THE FIRE – The Frontier (9)
GOOD VIBRATIONS – MISSIO (10)
CALL ME WHAT YOU LIKE – Lovejoy (5)
DIAL DRUNK – Noah Kahan (13)
ODYSSEY – Beck & Phoenix (14)
THE NARCISSIST – Blur (6)
FRANCESCA – Hozier (15)
PUPPET SHOW – Beck Black (7)
BONES – HEALER (8)
CANNONBALLERS – Colony House (16)
FORGIVING TIES – Deer Tick (17)
LAST TIME EVERY TIME FOREVER – Grian Chatten (11)
DAYDREAMS AND ALGORITHMS – Eleanor Collides (18)
ORBIT – Gooseberry (12)
WHAT WAS I MADE FOR? – Billie Eilish (21)
LOVING YOU – Cannons (22)
RUNNING OUT OF TIME – Paramore (23)
WHEN WE WERE CLOSE – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (24)
In the creation of music, good things often arise when artists of different backgrounds come together to collaborate on a song or album, as the pooling of their individual songwriting and musical talents and feeding off each other’s creativity can generate some wonderful musical alchemy. Such is the case with the new collaborative single “Underneath the Same Stars”, by Texas indie rock band The Formerly Misinformed and Welsh indie artist Secret Postal Society, the music project of prolific singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Craig Mapstone.
The Formerly Misinformed is a family band comprised of siblings Brandon Green, Erica Jones and Emily Henney, and their father Terry Green. Together, they create a pleasing brand of alternative indie rock, with strong elements of folk and singer-songwriter. Brandon also hosts and produces a music podcast Gimme These Two. They released their debut album All In A Dream in 2020, followed by a number of singles and an EP Let’s Pretend it’s Fine in 2022.
Photo of The Formerly Misinformed by Eric Cabrera
As Secret Postal Society, Craig wrote, recorded and released an astonishing 53 songs in 2021. Though his music style can generally be described as primarily pop-rock infused with indie folk, it’s actually quite eclectic, often drawing upon elements of progressive, experimental, grunge, post-punk and alternative rock. I’ve previously featured him twice on this blog, in which I wrote about his herculean songwriting efforts, which you can read about here and here. Since then, the busy guy has released more music, took over as host of the Welsh Connections Playlist radio show, and along with his friends Mike Kennedy and Kaysha Louvain, created TIWN Media and TIWN PR & Plugging, which also produces and monthly magazine featuring news, reviews and articles about independent artists from Wales and beyond.
Photo of Craig Mapstone by Jon Plimmer of GSD Media
Brandon and Craig collaborated on “Underneath the Same Stars”, co-writing, recording and producing the track remotely from their respective homes in Texas and Wales. Each recorded their parts and ideas, emailing them back and forth as they gradually built up the song from scratch. Additional vocals were sung by The Formerly Misinformed member Erica.
The result is five minutes of musical bliss. The song has a pleasing vibe and a compelling melody, but what’s particularly striking to my ears is the outstanding instrumentation. Brandon and Craig’s dual guitar work is both intricate and stunning, with a colorful array of textures that go from chiming and shimmery, to jangly and grungy. The bass, percussion and piano are all superb too, and I love that deep throbbing bassline in the bridge, accompanied by an enchanting psychedelic guitar riff.
As for the song’s meaning, Craig explained that it’s “a stream of consciousness about time passing and the ups and downs of life, and how – no matter how far apart two people are geographically – we can still be there for one another as we’re all underneath the same stars.” Both Brandon and Craig share vocal duties, and their comforting, low-key vocal styles complement each other quite well. Erica’s gentle backing vocals in the choruses blend nicely with Craig’s as they sing “It’s OK love, I will still be here when everything is falling down. Don’t be scared. Although we’re far apart, we’re still underneath the same stars.”
“Underneath the Same Stars” is a wonderful song, and a fine collaboration between two very talented acts. I hope The Formerly Misinformed and Secret Postal Society will create more music together again!
And here’s the song on Bandcamp:
Connect with The Formerly Misinformed on Instagram
As I wrote last October when I reviewed his brilliant album Friday Night Rockstar (which you can read here), singer-songwriter-musician Lewca is one of the funniest, most creative and irreverent artists I’ve come across, with a deliciously bawdy sense of humour. As he cheekily states in his bio, “Lewca was born in a squat in Brixton, by age nineteen he was living in a squat in Paris, go figure. After studying fine art and dabbling in film, he started making music just before he was too old to die young. His influences range from cheap beer to expensive rum, and also The Clash, The Streets, Sleaford Mods, LCD Soundsystem, Bob Dylan, Eminem, Tom Waits…whoever is making decent music. He currently lives in Normandy, has three kids, a mortgage, and a semi-domesticated hedgehog named ‘Sonic’.”
To reiterate, he’s been making music for years, and after being in a few bands “that fell apart for the usual reasons”, he decided to embark on his own music project as Lewca in 2018. Although he collaborates with lots of different musicians on his projects, his main partner in crime is S.O.A.P. (shorthand for Son of A Pitch), a Parisian composer, producer, drum & bass DJ and beatmaker he met at a gig in 2013. Their partnership grew from a shared love of wonky beats, British soundscapes and a healthy dose of humour, along with an “expectation of absolute world domination and unfathomable wealth, obviously”. Together, they make exciting, zany and eclectic music drawing from a multitude of genres ranging from alternative rock, post-punk and indie pop to hip hop, drum and bass and nu disco.
Now the dynamic duo are back with another uproarious new album Boombap for Boomers, and I’m here for it! Though Lewca is far too young to be a Boomer (the generation I sit squarely in the middle of) and is most likely at the tail end of Generation X, he perfectly articulates the puzzled bewilderment of a middle-aged working stiff and parent coming to terms with the fact he’s not young anymore. As for the word “boombap”, a quick Wikipedia search revealed it to be a subgenre of hip hop that’s “an onomatopoeia representing the sounds used for the bass (kick) drum and snare drum, respectively.” The style was apparently prominent on the East Coast of the U.S. during the golden age of hip hop from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.
Lewca says Boombap for Boomers, the second album to come from the basement sessions with S.O.A.P., “is as laid back as ‘Friday Night Rockstar” was angst ridden“, adding that it’s “about time passing, personal doubts and demons, abuse and dreams that will never come true.” All the lyrics were written by Lewca and the music composed by S.O.A.P., who also mixed the tracks. Mastering was done by Blanka. Besides Lewca and S.O.A.P., additional vocals and/or instrumentals on the album were performed by the artists MC Burnoot (of Scottish band Fire Up The Sun), Mick Swagger, Jamaican dancehall artist Elephant Man, Faya Braz, OrangeG, John Michie, Ian Williamson, Christelle Canot, Cody and Dylan Forsyth, and Luis.
The album kicks off with blaring bagpipes and the voice of Scottish artist MC Burnoot trashing the album right from the get-go on the 32-second long “Fire Up the Intro“: “What the fuck is this? I’ve just finished listening to the new record by Lewca and let me tell ya, it’s pure dogshit. ‘Boombap for Boomers’, what in the fuck is that?” Next up is “Peace of Mind“, a delightful tune about facing yourself after having sold your soul to the Devil to get what you thought you wanted: “Does the Devil now have my number, or have I always been in hell?All I ever wanted, was peace of mind. Bought a brand new soul, with a piece of mine. All those Sunday mornings, behind locked doors. I had all I needed, but I wanted more.” I love the slow, honky tonk piano riff, carnival-like synths and quirky childlike background vocals and sound effects that give the song its zany feel.
Single art by Anoosh from Fivr
Even more delightful is “Roundabout“, where Lewca reminisces about lazy summers spent with friends during his teen years: “Sitting in the middle of a roundabout, smoking weed and wonderin’ what life’s about. Spend a whole summer hanging out, pretending we were free. And I guess we were somehow.” As the song progresses, he sings of how that comaraderie is recaptured when they meet up again as adults with kids of their own, knowing those kids will end up behaving just the same, also viewing him as “a geezer who’s out of touch“. Once again, Lewca and S.O.A.P. employ all sorts of quirky instruments and goofy sound effects to create a lighthearted and playful vibe.
On “I Got it All“, he questions whether material possessions really make us successful, acknowledging with his usual cheeky humour that he’s already satisfied with what he’s got: “Got a beautiful wife that can hardly stand me. We got a nice house, yeah we got a nice family. Car that starts every once in a while. Different colored doors really give it a style./I don’t need shit, mate. King of the world, mate. I got it all!” Listening to Lewca sing, I can’t help but compare his deep, heavily accented vocals to those of Mick Jagger. Conversely, the jazzy hip hop track “Day Job” sees him lamenting about the difficulties of making it in the music industry: “The game’s fucked up, and with the money I make in music, I’ll be giving it up” Guest vocalist Mick Swagger raps in agreement “I guess we do it for the love / Money’s a disease and I’m tryin’ to catch it / Fingers crossed, but ain’t we quittin’ day jobs yet.”
“Quite Like Me” has Lewca and S.O.A.P. teaming up with Jamaican dancehall (a style of reggae known as ragga or dub) legend Elephant Man, who Lewca said they “managed to get by basically cold calling him drunk.” Apparently written as a vehicle for the dream collaboration, the song celebrates the joys of being a totally unique artist with a style like no one else. With call and response lyrics, Elephant man ponders “Why you do what we do?”, to which Lewca replies “There’s nobody quite like me.”
On the madcap drum and bass gem “All Grown Up“, Lewca decries the soul-killing responsibilities of adulthood and how desperately he wants to avoid it: “We’re all grown up, and it fucking sucks! Oh no, I don’t wanna grow. I refuse to be an adult.” Once again, S.O.A.P. draws from his bag of musical tricks to create a playful sense of mayhem with goofy synths, funhouse sound effects, squeaking toys and the child voices of brothers Cody and Dylan Forsyth. All that being said, there are times when Lewca simply must perform his role as an adult in order to get his kids off to school, despite suffering from a hangover, on the wonderful ska song “Monday Morning“.
One of my favorite songs on he album is the superb title track “Boombap for Boomers“, a celebration of the music Lewca and S.O.A.P. make: “I really got nothing to say, just rappin’ some shit, hope it sounds okay / We ain’t got a lot of talent, but we do what we can / We ain’t in it for the money, we’re just booming boombap.” With its propulsive drum and bass beat, wobbly industrial synths and intense scratching, the song is an exhilarating blast from start to finish.
And speaking of exhilarating, “Discoboy” nicely delivers with a wonderful pulsating house dance groove, exuberant piano keys and a colorful blend of gnarly and swirling synths. Featuring some terrific beatbox by French beatboxer and looper Faya Braz, the song encourages us to lose ourselves on the dancefloor while ignoring the haters and judgemental pricks, and practice a live and let live attitude by embracing others’ differences. Lewca frantically raps “Be who you want in life, fuck who you wanna fuck, goddamn, and fuck them haters / Forget the grind, the world outside, let’s lose our minds again.”
Featuring a buoyant retro 80s synthpop vibe, “Internet Recovery” opens with those annoying dial up sounds we all suffered through in the early days of the internet. Lewca cleverly uses a computer reboot as a metaphor for reviving his exhausted and frazzled self “I’m running on fumes, mate. It’s like my system is about to shut down / I need to regroup, get my shit together / Best guess is to erase the whole damn disk, format my mind, I might cease to exist.“
One of the many things I love about Lewca’s songs are the entertaining and humorous stories he weaves. On the autobiographical “Life, innit?“, he tells of his marriage, and how it went to shit: “I met a girl / We had sex, we fell in love, we had more sex / We got married on a beach / We had kids, we left the city / We got a loan, we bought a house / I did it up, but guess what, she threw me out / Love is funny like that, innit mate.” But later in the song, he confesses that his marriage is in fact pretty good: “Full disclosure, I was just kidding. Me and my wife, we’re okay, we’re still winning. I’m so happy we’re still together. But for this song, getting thrown out just worked better.” With a deep drum and bass house groove, lots of glitchy sounds, and guitar played by British singer-songwriter and musician John Michie, it’s a great track.
The closing track “Daydreaming“, a mellow Americana-tinged ska song featuring charming banjo strumming by Pittsburgh artist OrangeG, continues the autobiographical theme with Lewca confessing some of his shortcomings, which aren’t really so serious at the end of the day: “I played a fool / Made believe that I break the rules / My life is one big bluff, but too much is never enough / Daydreaming, wasting my life away / Nothing’s gonna be okay, and that’s okay with me.” It’s a heartwarming end to a fantastic, massively entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable album.
Boombap for Boomers will also be available in a limited edition Halloween Orange 12-inch Vinyl. For purchases within the UK, Lewca advises pre-ordering through the Wax & Beans website shorturl.at/zFKT9, as the postage will be more affordable.
leaving richmond is the instrumental electronic music project of exceptionally talented Los Angeles-based composer and producer Jordan Pier. For the past 13 years or so, he’s had success both as a recording artist and as a composer of music for a wide range of TV shows, documentaries, audio books and advertisements. Since 2010, he’s released numerous albums, EPs and singles, including his outstanding most recent album Visions in 2020 (read my review here).
Some of the notable TV programs his music has been featured on include VICE, True Crime (Oxygen), Killer Cases (A&E), Cold Case Files (A&E), Unidentified With Demi Lovato (Peacock), The Toys That Built America (History Channel) and Model America (MSNBC), to name but a few. His works have received widespread acclaim from both music critics and fans alike, with several of his songs garnering airplay on NPR and other radio stations around the world.
Now he’s back with a new EP Radiant Apparitions, featuring six captivating instrumental tracks he describes as “downtempo, chill electronica with dreamy guitars and beats to help you drift off into a relaxed state of mind.” That sounds about right, as he creates lush, magical soundscapes that transport us to exquisite faraway places, and it’s no wonder his compositions are in great demand. All the music was composed, recorded and mixed by Jordan, and mastered by Douglas Reynolds.
The EP opens with the title track “Radiant Apparitions“, an enchanting composition featuring a gorgeous mix of instruments and exotic textures that give the track an East Asian vibe. I love the glittery guitar notes, delicate keyboards, snappy percussion and trill-like synths that sound like a kind of harp or exotic string instrument. Next up is “Tomorrow Sorrow“, a bewitching contemplative composition with dreamy ethereal synths, highlighted by a hauntingly beautiful piano riff and subtle orchestral touches that create a tranquil atmospheric mood.
“My Eyes Your Eyes” has an exuberant retro 80s feel, with soaring melodic keyboards punctuated by somewhat harsher industrial synths, layered over an emphatic percussive beat and accompanied by whisps of a vocal chorus. And though I really like all six tracks, my favorite is “Some Other Sunset“, on the strength of its vibrant Western-flavored twangy guitars, bold percussion and sweeping cinematic synths. Like a lot of leaving richmond’s music, this would make a great soundtrack piece for a film or TV show.
“I Love You” features romantic synths and sparkling guitar notes that seem to meld together in a dreamy sonic dance, and artfully layered over a mesmerizing trip hop groove. The female vocals are from samples leaving richmond found in his sample library and melded into the track. Another favorite is the quietly intense closing track “A Gentle Passage of Time“, with its stunning piano work and lush, cinematic synths drenched in reverb. This track would also be a perfect accompaniment to a film soundtrack.
Radiant Apparitions is a wonderful EP, filled with six outstanding instrumental gems. As I previously noted in my review of his album Visions, leaving richmond’s talent for writing beautiful, compelling melodies is quite impressive, as are his considerable guitar, piano and synth programming skills.
One of my favorite Canadian artists is dwi, the music project of singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Dwight Abell, an immensely creative, talented and imaginative guy with a totally original sound and an endearingly quirky vocal style that make his music so uniquely distinctive. Based on the outskirts of Vancouver, British Columbia, he’s also the longtime bassist for Canadian alternative/power pop band The Zolas. He’s released two phenomenal albums – Mild Fantasy Violence in October 2021, which explored feelings of disconnect from the everyday normalities of relationships, addiction, politics and environmentalism, and Zoo Life this past July, which addressed Dwight’s childhood experiences in foster care, which he equates with being “taken away to a zoo”. (I reviewed both albums, which you can read here and here.)
One of my favorite songs from Zoo Life is “Overrated“, an incredibly infectious track featuring a poweful foot-stomping groove, gnarly bass, spacey synths and dwi’s wonderfully-crazed vocals as he ticks off a number of popular things in culture, like VR, Top Gun, licorice and 69, as well as passion, anger and temper, he feels are overrated. I love the song so much it’s risen to the top of my latest Weekly Top 30 chart. It’s his third song to top my chart, the previous two being “Good Friend” and “Party4One”. The surreal video shows dwi as a kind of gaming character, reflecting his life-long love of video games.
In other chart developments, “Good Vibrations” by another favorite act of mine, Austin, Texas-based MISSIO, enters the top 10 at #10. The biggest upward movers this week are “Cannonballers” by Tennessee indie rock band Colony House and “Forgiving Ties” by Rhode Island alternative folk-rock band Deer Tick, both of which jump six spots to #16 and 17, respectively. The sole debut, at #30, is “Pull Me Through” by British rock duo Royal Blood. The song is from their newly-released fourth studio album Back to the Water Below, which dropped September 1st.
OVERRATED – dwi (3)
PINEAPPLE SUNRISE – Beach Weather (1)
SAY YES TO HEAVEN – Lana Del Rey (2)
KISSES – Slowdive (6)
CALL ME WHAT YOU LIKE – Lovejoy (5)
THE NARCISSIST – Blur (4)
PUPPET SHOW – Beck Black (7)
BONES – HEALER (8)
WALK THROUGH THE FIRE – The Frontier (9)
GOOD VIBRATIONS – MISSIO (12)
LAST TIME EVERY TIME FOREVER – Grian Chatten (11)
ORBIT – Gooseberry (13)
DIAL DRUNK – Noah Kahan (14)
ODYSSEY – Beck & Phoenix (15)
FRANCESCA – Hozier (16)
CANNONBALLERS – Colony House (22)
FORGIVING TIES – Deer Tick (23)
DAYDREAMS AND ALGORITHMS – Eleanor Collides (21)
PSYCHOS – Jenny Lewis (10)
DAYLIGHT – David Kushner (20)
WHAT WAS I MADE FOR? – Billie Eilish (24)
LOVING YOU – Cannons (25)
RUNNING OUT OF TIME – Paramore (27)
WHEN WE WERE CLOSE – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (28)
ECLECTIC MUSIC LOVER 