Some of you who read my blog or this post may wonder what my weekly Top 30 lists represent or how they’re compiled. They’re essentially lists of my favorite songs for a given week, my own personal Top 30 that I would focus on were I the program manager of my own radio station.
There’s so much great music out now that I could have included 40 songs on this week’s Top 30. And all the songs in this week’s top six could easily be #1 (two of them already have). The sultry “High in Low Places” by Beach Weather remains on top for a second week, while Pearl Jam‘s gorgeous song “Wreckage” moves up a notch to #2. I love Glass Animals‘ “Creatures in Heaven”, AWOLNATION‘s “Panoramic View” and Fontaines D.C.’s “Starburster” so much, as well as “The Craving”, which reinforces yet again why twenty one pilots continue to be one of my favorite music acts of all time.
Entering the top 10 this week are “On the Game” by The Black Keys and “A Foretold Ecstasy” by Norwegian psych-noir band Mayflower Madame. The one debut is “Waking Life” by Nicholas a. Milillo featuring Dee Wolf, Bobby Jasso, Gabrielle Marella and the voice of Tony Milillo. I reviewed the dramatic song when it came out four weeks ago.
HIGH IN LOW PLACES – Beach Weather (1)
WRECKAGE – Pearl Jam (3)
CREATURES IN HEAVEN – Glass Animals (2)
PANORAMIC VIEW – AWOLNATION (5)
STARBURSTER – Fontaines D.C. (6)
THE CRAVING – twenty one pilots (10)
END OF BEGINNING – Djo (7)
TOO SWEET – Hozier (4)
ON THE GAME – The Black Keys (12)
A FORETOLD ECSTASY – Mayflower Madame (14)
BURIAL GROUND – The Decemberists & James Mercer (8)
MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR – Royel Otis (9)
LUNCH – Billie Eilish (17)
THE BREAK – Blame My Youth (15)
TOO MUCH – girl in red (16)
FOR US ALL – Asgard Raven (11)
I HAD SOME HELP – Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen (19)
LIKE YOU DO – The Frontier (20)
GOLD – Caitlin Lavagna (13)
VICES – 5ilas & Shimmer Johnson (22)
LOST IN SPACE – Foster the People (23)
RUN YOUR MOUTH – The Marías (24)
WHAT IF I FEEL LIKE THIS MY WHOLE LIFE? – HULLAH (25)
PAYBACK – Aaron Frazer (26)
ESPRESSO – Sabrina Carpenter (27)
SCARED TO START – Michael Marcagi (18)
RAINBOW – Cage the Elephant (29)
JUST WANNA SLEEP – Halfloves (30)
I’VE GOT LOVING FOR YOU – Bottlecap Mountain (21)
WAKING LIFE – Nicholas a. Milillo feat. Dee Wolf, Bobby Jasso, Gabrielle Marella and the voice of Tony Milillo (N)
On the strength of their infectious melodies, ace musicianship, strong charisma, and lead singer Nick Santino’s beautiful vocals, pop-rock trio Beach Weather have become one of my top favorite bands. In fact, a photo I took of them at a concert last year graces the header of my X (formerly Twitter) page. In addition to Santino, the band includes Reeve Powers on bass and Sean Silverman on guitar. I’ve loved every one of their songs, and their latest single “High In Low Places” becomes their fourth to top my weekly Top 30 chart (the previous three are “Sex, Drugs, Etc.”, “Trouble With This Bed” and “Pineapple Sunrise”.
The song has a brooding cinematic vibe in the vein of Ennio Morricone that would make it a great addition to the soundtrack of a Spaghetti Western film, and I love the twangy guitars and Santino’s sensuous vocals. He had this to say about the song: “We like to call ‘High in Low Places’ our apocalyptic love song. There was beauty in the idea of finding peace in one another while the world was slowly melting. We wanted to create something that felt cinematic, the closing credits of a modern end-of-times western. There are hints of those influences in the guitars and strings running through the chorus where we want to pull everyone into a world but stay hopeful that we can all rise above that insanity transpiring around us.” The lyrics speak to remaining positive and optimistic in the face of life’s problems and obstacles: “You and I got some troubles we’re facing, I know we can make it staying high in low places. Never mind all the tears that we wasted, I know we can make it staying high in low places.”
The video, which was shot in the Arizona desert outside Phoenix, involved the guys getting stuck by cholla cactus and other hazards that come from being in a beautiful but hostile environment – one I’m intimately familiar with living in the Coachella Valley.
In other chart happenings of note, “The Craving” by twenty one pilots moves up five to enter the top 10 at #10, and “Foretold Ecstasy” by the wonderfully-named Norwegian psych-noir band Mayflower Madame advances four spots to #14. Two songs make their debut this week. Entering at #29 is “Rainbow”, by another favorite band of mine, Nashville-based Cage the Elephant, whose previous single “Neon Pill” was a huge #1 hit on all the Alternative charts, as well as my personal Top 30. And coming in at #30 is the rousing garage rock gem “Just Wanna Sleep” by Iowa indie rock band Halfloves, which I reviewed last month.
HIGH IN LOW PLACES – Beach Weather (2)
CREATURES IN HEAVEN – Glass Animals (1)
WRECKAGE – Pearl Jam (3)
TOO SWEET – Hozier (4)
PANORAMIC VIEW – AWOLNATION (6)
STARBURSTER – Fontaines D.C. (9)
END OF BEGINNING – Djo (10)
BURIAL GROUND – The Decemberists & James Mercer (5)
MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR – Royel Otis (7)
THE CRAVING – twenty one pilots (15)
FOR US ALL – Asgard Raven (8)
ON THE GAME – The Black Keys (13)
GOLD – Caitlin Lavagna (12)
A FORETOLD ECSTASY – Mayflower Madame (18)
THE BREAK – Blame My Youth (16)
TOO MUCH – girl in red (17)
LUNCH – Billie Eilish (19)
SCARED TO START – Michael Marcagi (11)
I HAD SOME HELP – Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen (21)
LIKE YOU DO – The Frontier (22)
I’VE GOT LOVING FOR YOU – Bottlecap Mountain (14)
VICES – 5ilas & Shimmer Johnson (25)
LOST IN SPACE – Foster the People (26)
RUN YOUR MOUTH – The Marías (27)
WHAT IF I FEEL LIKE THIS MY WHOLE LIFE? – HULLAH (28)
It’s another great week for music, and Glass Animals remain on top for a second week with their beautiful song “Creatures in Heaven”. Beach Weather slide into the second spot with their smoldering summer hit “High In Low Places”, while Pearl Jam‘s “Wreckage” moves up a spot to #3. I really love this song, which has become my favorite Pearl Jam song ever. Hozier‘s “Too Sweet”, which has become the biggest hit of his career, is currently #1 on the Billboard Rock/Alternative Airplay, Alternative Airplay and AAA (Adult Alternative Airplay) charts, having spent nine consecutive weeks and counting on the latter. The song spent two weeks at #1 and four weeks at #2 on my chart, and now sits at #4. “End of Beginning” by Djo enters the top 10, and “The Craving” by twenty one pilots jumps 10 spots to #15, making it the biggest upward mover this week.
Debuting this week are two marvelous songs by artists who make their first appearance on my chart. The first is “Payback” by L.A.-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Frazer. It’s funny, not funny how often we come across artists or bands in passing, but sadly not pay close enough attention at the time for things to fully register. Though he’s been making music for more than a decade, first as a member of contemporary R&B and soul revival group Durand Jones & The Indications, and also more recently as a solo artist, I didn’t become fully cognizant of the immensely talented falsetto-voiced Mr. Frazer until seeing “Payback” moving up the Billboard AAA chart, as well as reading about him in a post by fellow blogger Christian’s Music Musings. In doing a bit of searching about Durand Jones & The Indications, I saw they were the ones who sang the wonderful song “Witchoo”, which reached #22 on the AAA chart in 2021. I’ve always loved male singers with tenor and falsetto voices, so Frazer’s vocal style is right up my alley. “Payback”, from his terrific second album Into The Blue, has an irresistible retro 60s soul vibe that calls to mind some of the great soul acts like Marvin Gaye, the Temptations and The Capitols (who had a hit with “Cool Jerk”), but with a modern edge.
The second debut, entering at #30, is the Latin-tinged “Espresso” by American singer and actress Sabrina Carpenter. After appearing in various TV and films, she gained recognition for her role in the Disney Channel series Girl Meets World that aired from 2014–2017. She’s released five albums since 2014, the last of which, her 2022 release Emails I Can’t Send, was successful, reaching #23 on the Billboard Hot 200 Album chart. “Espresso” was the lead single from her forthcoming sixth album Short n’ Sweet, due for release August 23rd. Her follow up single “Please Please Please” reached #1 on the Hot 100 last week, but I like “Espresso” more.
CREATURES IN HEAVEN – Glass Animals (1)
HIGH IN LOW PLACES – Beach Weather (5)
WRECKAGE – Pearl Jam (4)
TOO SWEET – Hozier (3)
BURIAL GROUND – The Decemberists & James Mercer (2)
PANORAMIC VIEW – AWOLNATION (8)
MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR – Royel Otis (6)
FOR US ALL – Asgard Raven (7)
STARBURSTER – Fontaines D.C. (10)
END OF BEGINNING – Djo (12)
SCARED TO START – Michael Marcagi (13)
GOLD – Caitlin Lavagna (14)
ON THE GAME – The Black Keys (15)
I’VE GOT LOVING FOR YOU – Bottlecap Mountain (9)
THE CRAVING – twenty one pilots (25)
THE BREAK – Blame My Youth (18)
TOO MUCH – girl in red (19)
A FORETOLD ECSTASY – Mayflower Madame (20)
LUNCH – Billie Eilish (22)
FORTNIGHT – Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone (11)
I HAD SOME HELP – Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen (23)
LIKE YOU DO – The Frontier (24)
ADRIFT – Voodoo Planet feat. Mikey J (17)
LONELINESS – Pet Shop Boys (16)
VICES – 5ilas & Shimmer Johnson (27)
LOST IN SPACE – Foster the People (28)
RUN YOUR MOUTH – The Marías (29)
WHAT IF I FEEL LIKE THIS MY WHOLE LIFE? – HULLAH (30)
It makes my blood boil when I hear my contemporaries – or anyone for that matter – opine that there’s no good music being made any longer, because nothing could be further from the truth! While I concede that some of the best non-classical music was created during the years 1965-1973, there are many talented artists and bands putting out great music today, several of whom are represented on my latest Weekly Top 30.
Case in point is English psychedelic art pop band Glass Animals, whose beautiful song “Creatures in Heaven” ascends to the #1 spot. Formed in 2010 when they were all attending college in Oxford, the band consists of Dave Bayley (vocals, guitar, keyboards, drums, songwriting), Drew MacFarlane (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Edmund Irwin-Singer (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), and Joe Seaward (drums). Since 2014, they’ve released three albums, with their fourth, I Love You So F***ing Much, slated for release on July 19. “Creatures in Heaven” was the lead single from that album.
I first learned about Glass Animals in 2016, when they released their second album How to Be a Human Being. One of the songs from that album is “Life Itself”, which I loved so much it went to #1 on my Top 30 chart and ended up ranking #60 on my decade-end 100 Best Songs of the 2010s list. I love Dave Bayley’s singing voice, which is so distinctive that it makes their songs immediately identifiable as only theirs. “Creatures in Heaven” becomes their second song to top my chart (“Heat Waves” peaked at #2, but spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their biggest hit so far).
About “Creatures in Heaven”, Bayley told Atwood Magazine: “It’s about a moment in time, be it a split second or a year or whatever, having the capacity to be enormously formative and life-changing, even if it is over. Or if it doesn’t go as planned. Or if it dies too soon. It is still fucking beautiful. The love and care and the feeling in that moment lives forever. It never really dies. If that’s how you choose to see it.”
The two biggest upward movers this week are by two more bands I love – “Starburster” by Irish alt-rock band Fontaines D.C., leaping eight spots to enter the top 10 at #10, and “High In Low Places” by American pop-rock band Beach Weather, which jumps seven spots to enter the top 10 at #5. And this week there are four new debuts, starting with “The Craving” by twenty one pilots, entering at #25. The second single from their latest album Clancy, “The Craving” replaces their previous single “Overcompensate”, which just spent 15 weeks on my chart, 13 of them in the top 10.
Entering at #28 is “Lost In Space” by Foster the People, which now consists of founding member and frontman Mark Foster and multi-instrumentalist Isom Innis, who started as a touring member of the band way back in 2010. The exuberant song is the lead single from their upcoming fourth studio album Paradise State of Mind, to be released on August 16. Both twenty one pilots and Foster the People were my top two favorite bands for several years in the mid-to-late 2010s, and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them both in concert.
Next up is the sensuous “Run Your Mouth” by L.A.-based indie pop band The Marías. Formed in 2016, the band is comprised of lead vocalist María Zardoya and drummer/producer Josh Conway, guitarist Jesse Perlman, and keyboardist Edward James. Known for performing songs in both English and Spanish, they’ve released two albums, Cinema in 2021 and Submarine, which dropped May 31st. Their 2021 single “Hush” reached #1 on the Billboard AAA chart.
The fourth new entry, coming in at #30, is the hauntingly beautiful and moving “What if i feel like this my whole life?” by talented and silky-voiced English singer-songwriter HULLAH (which I recently reviewed). This is his third song to appear on my chart, the previous two being “Chasing Trains”, which reached #1, and “Wild as the Wind”, which reached #7.
CREATURES IN HEAVEN – Glass Animals (3)
BURIAL GROUND – The Decemberists & James Mercer (1)
TOO SWEET – Hozier (2)
WRECKAGE – Pearl Jam (6)
HIGH IN LOW PLACES – Beach Weather (12)
MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR – Royel Otis (4)
FOR US ALL – Asgard Raven (9)
PANORAMIC VIEW – AWOLNATION (10)
I’VE GOT LOVING FOR YOU – Bottlecap Mountain (5)
STARBURSTER – Fontaines D.C. (18)
FORTNIGHT – Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone (7)
END OF BEGINNING – Djo (14)
SCARED TO START – Michael Marcagi (13)
GOLD – Caitlin Lavagna (15)
ON THE GAME – The Black Keys (16)
LONELINESS – Pet Shop Boys (8)
ADRIFT – Voodoo Planet feat. Mikey J (17)
THE BREAK – Blame My Youth (19)
TOO MUCH – girl in red (20)
A FORETOLD ECSTASY – Mayflower Madame (22)
DILEMMA – Green Day (11)
LUNCH – Billie Eilish (25)
I HAD SOME HELP – Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen (29)
LIKE YOU DO – The Frontier (27)
THE CRAVING – twenty one pilots (N)
BROKEN MAN – St. Vincent (21)
VICES – 5ilas & Shimmer Johnson (30)
LOST IN SPACE – Foster the People (N)
RUN YOUR MOUTH – The Marías (N)
WHAT IF I FEEL LIKE THIS MY WHOLE LIFE? – HULLAH (N)
ECLECTIC MUSIC LOVER 