Songs You Need To Hear Now #28
Songs You Need To Hear Now #28
Highlights include the classic rock twang of Cordovas, plus new singles from Wild Nothing and Future Islands!
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Here is some of the great new music I’ve been listening to this week. Thanks to everyone who is saving the playlist! Please be sure to follow and “like” for all of the latest updates 🙏
Listen on Apple Music 🎧
Oooh yeah, I’m feeling this tight 37-minute playlist this week, with only one song over four minutes - a real rarity around here! Let’s dive into a few of them:
It feels fitting that Cordovas, a group that considers The Band to be one of their top influences, released their excellent new record, The Rose of Aces, only two days after the passing of Robbie Robertson (I highly recommend this interview from the CBS Sunday Morning archives) last week. The Charlotte-based band, fronted by Joe Firstman, has always grooved in the American roots music lane, but this new effort is especially spectacular. On the opener, “Fallen Angels of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” he asks an important question, “How many times did music save your soul?” in his Petty-esque croon, and it’s all hits for the rest of the record. Cordovas is one of those great bands guided by the classics - you’ll also hear a ton of Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead on The Rose of Aces - yet one could never mistake them for some lame tribute band. Like last month’s Wild & Precious Life by Duane Betts, this new Cordovas album hits all the right Southern jam spots I’m looking for at this time of year. It makes sense that they’re a great pairing, as Betts currently has Cordovas as his opening act while performing some sets together. My buddy sent me videos from the Denver show last Friday, and I had serious FOMO - don’t miss this one if the tour comes to your town.
Wild Nothing’s Gemini is one of the definitive records of early ‘10s dream pop revival, but for my money, the follow-up, Nocturne, is where Jack Tatum really hits his stride and is one of my all-time favorite records. Tatum’s output since hasn’t ever hit me again quite like that one did (that’s not to say there’s been a ton of highlights), but “Headlights On” from his upcoming record, Hold, is a beast of a single that has me looking forward to its October release date. Like many songs I’m digging this summer, “Headlights On” updates Wild Nothing’s sound by going further along into the 80s to some baggy Madchester beats. Plus, Hatchie, who we just heard a few weeks ago on George Clanton’s new record, does a great job again by adding some soaring backing vox.
Future Islands is in a groove of releasing one of its singles over the past few years, and the latest, “Deep in the Night,” has me shouting, “Enough! When’s the album announcement?!” I continue to love this band so damn much, and I always appreciate one of their tender numbers like “Deep in the Night” - and I especially dig how fat Garrit Welmers’s synths are on this one. While we wait for a new album, you can read what I had to say about their classic record, On the Water, a few years ago to celebrate its tenth anniversary.
What are you listening to this week? Let me know in the comments!
These songs are also included in the ever-popular Good Ass Songs 2023 playlist. At almost three hundred songs and counting, it’s the best way to catch up on another excellent year of music!
Listen on Apple Music 🎧
Can’t pick something to listen to? Throw on Earwormz!
Future Islands rule!
This week I’ve been on a Talking Heads kick (the Stop Making Sense re-release showed up), and listening to a ton of Red Pants’ stuff ahead of their upcoming release. Also a bunch of Northern Soul type-stuff & a jangle pop outfit called Tossing Seeds.
37 mins that flew by, cheers you the man.