A quick video post for tonight. Pa’lante is an incredibly powerful song and the highlight of Hurray For The Riff Raff’s 2017 album Navigator. Besides being an extremely important and influential song, there’s also another reason to post this song on the blog. Hurray For The Riff Raff is the band to see this summer, because they will play at Pori Jazz Festival on the 21st of July. Alynda Segarra is an inspiration both as a musician / songwriter and as a good socially conscious human being who is willing to fight for what is right. She is the Finland visitor that we should all be talking about this summer. Here’s the music video that Kristian Mercado Figueroa directed for the song Pa’lante.
Continuing with the quick round-up posts as a vacation activity. So much great music out there for one dude with a day job and I badly failed to feature all the cool stuff during the spring. This time I have some excellent pop songs for you, because hey it’s summer and everything and what could be a better way to spend it than go outdoors and listen to the finest kind of melodic pop treasures that 2018 has given so far.
First up is the new David Myhr album Lucky Day that came out 18th of May on Lojinx. Back in the 90s, David Myhr and Anders Hellgren had this band called The Merrymakers that released a couple of classic pop albums. That was the time in history when the Swedes ruled the pop world. Nothing to take away from ABBA, but hey it ain’t no Popsicle, The Merrymakers or The Wannadies. But enough with the blast from the past. David Myhr is super relevant in 2018 and his new sophomore solo album Lucky Day is a treasure for fans of pop melodies, sweet harmonies and catchy arrangements. David Myhr co-wrote songs with other pop maestros like Brad Jones, Linus Of Hollywood and Bleu, so the album has a bit of an “all-stars” cast at least for the ones who spent an early adulthood in the power pop circles like I did. Here’s the latest music video for album outtake My Negative Friend.
One of my all-time favourite bands Canadian Sloan also has a new album out on Yep Roc. It was released in early April and it’s kind of criminal that it took me this long to mention it. I suppose there’s no harm done, because I think it’s fairly obvious that I love the band and everything that they release. 12 is indeed the 12th Sloan album and the band has been continuously magnificent throughout all these years. I have all twelve and I like each and everyone of them. All might not be stone cold classics (and some definitely are), but even the ”worst” ones are pretty damn good. 12 is another gorgeous addition to the Sloan discography. Here’s the opener Spin Our Wheels from the new album.
And finally a song that’s maybe a little more obscure, but still one of my favourite pop songs of the year. I don’t know anything about The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness, but I wouldn’t even be surprised, if the band members turn out to be people that I already know. At least they’ve been listening to the same music as I have, because this song Nervous Man is kind of like the foundation of my music taste in one song. There’s a beautiful pop melody, sweet vocals with harmonies and that lovely Scottish pop jangle. What’s not to love. I think there’s a seven inch single out sometime soon on the Spanish Pretty Olivia Records.
A late night blog entry. It’s 3 am here in Finland, I’m on vacation and I poured a little bit of whiskey into a glass and I’m introducing my heart to the new Patrick Sweany album Ancient Noise that is finally out here in Europe as well. Life is good, the record is too. Patrick Sweany is a master of soulful blues from Nashville, Tennessee and I’ve been fan since his 2011 album That Old Southern Drag. This new one was recorded at Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis and it’s got both the beauty and the howl. Here’s one early favourite that might not actually be the best selection for introductory purposes, but a bit of Country Loving just fits perfectly to this late night. Ancient Noise is now out on Nine Mile Records and you can stream/buy the whole thing by hitting the links on that Bandcamp player below.
A jump across the ocean to New Zealand. Emily Fairlight is a folk songwriter from Wellington and her new album Mother Of Gloom came out in May. I bought a download of it a week or so ago and find it rather special. The songwriting is really good and her voice is powerful and captivating. Occasionally the voice reminds me of Hurray For the Riff Raff’s Alynda Segarra, but that’s obviously not a bad thing. Here’s a couple of personal favorites from the new Emily Fairlight album.
Back to the US and this time West Virginia to finish this little round up blog entry. You might have seen this new William Matheny EP on the mid-year list thing I did a week or so ago. It certainly would deserve a bigger blog post, but there’s so much great music out there for one dude who has a day job too. Anyway, Moon Over Kenova EP is sort of a companion piece to William Matheny’s excellent 2017 album Strange Constellations, but it sure has enough quality to live on its own merits even if you have never heard of that record. There’s some completely new songs, alternate takes, live versions and covers and it’s out now on Misra Records. This is the title track Moon Over Kenova.
