”Hangover,” Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden
NoiseTrade put out a summer mixtape earlier this year to give us music lovers a sample of some of the artists they are lovin’ right now. I put a bunch of songs from the sampler on my phone’s music player, and, as I often do, listened to the playlist to keep me company on long bike rides. Usually this process will weed out songs I’m just not connecting to, but other times, the opposite happens. Case in point, ”Hangover” by Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden. This single is from their upcoming album (funded through a Kickstarted campaign) and if it’s any indication of what’s to come, the record should be very solid. Kate’s voice is has a sense of vulnerability when she sings about a tumultuous relationship that is summed up quite nicely with the lyric, ”Love Bite/ Bee Sting.”
”Dirty Girl Blues,” Burning Condors
Thanks to fellow Popdoser, Dan Walsh, for sending this along. It took a few spins, but I finally got into this straight ahead rocker from the Burning Condors — a London-based ”art punk” band. There’s very little punk or art in this single, however. It’s all about the dirty grind on this tune with four on the floor drumming and no-nonsense approach to the entire composition. If you need a song for those hot summer days where you just want to blast the tunes from your car and sing along, this will certainly do the trick.
”Rocket Science,” Salvatore Ganacci
If you ever need a song where you can continue to dance like PSY, cue up Salvatore Ganacci’s ”Rocket Science.” Not that the song is completely derivative of that whole ”Gangnam Style” sound, but it does have that ”Hey, I’ve heard something like this before” quality — mostly in the keyboard hook that serves as kind of chorus. Overall, though, ”Rocket Science” is a top notch club song that features a nice variation in tempo, and vocals that have a kind amped up Chad Kroeger vibe. An odd combo, I know, but it completely works in the context of the song.
”Built On The Bone,” Dw. Dunphy
I’ll admit that including this is a bit incestuous since Dw. and I are colleagues at Popdose. But the release of his third album, The Radial Night has musical elements from his last record, People Wearing Masks, that I really liked. That is to say, he includes an instrumental selection that’s both delicate and dark. ”Built On The Bones” starts out a bit ominous — with the sound of a disconnected phone alarm that’s layered underneath a keyboard part that suggests something not-so-pleasant awaits the listener. However, Dunphy makes a sly segue into a more sunny acoustic guitar riff that signals everything will be alright. If Dw. wants, he could certainly find a way to feature his music in movies since many of his compositions have a cinematic quality to them. Have a listen to ”Built On The Bones” and you’ll hear what I’m talking about.
Comments