Songs Of The Week #88: TCDroogsma

Bad Suns, Pattern Is Movement, Big Scary, Snowmine, & MaLLy...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies!  Welcome to Songs Of The Week #88!
 
For those of you who are new to the SOTW column, here's the story:  TCDroogsma and MinneSarah are both fans of The Current's Song Of The Day podcast.  They're also both opinionated and have access to computers.  Seeing an opportunity to let them indulge in their MP3 habit and put them to work writing reviews we created the Songs Of The Week column.  Over a year later later and here we are.

Unfortunately, this week MinneSarah took the week off due to what could kindly be called "Current-based fatigue."  Trust us, her words were considerably more harsh.

As always, we strongly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast yourself.  It's free and it's fun for the whole family!

To that end, once you've given each song a spin or two, feel free to cast a vote for your favorite song of the week in the poll to the right side of the page.  The artist who accrues the most votes wins the validation that comes from winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the loftiest height to which a modern musician can aspire.

So... Droogsy... thoughts?

01. Bad Suns - Cardiac Arrest (from the album Transpose)

 
TCDroogsma:

     The Bad Suns is a band coming out of southern California that seems to have a real soft spot for early 2000's British music.  "Cardiac Arrest" bounces around nicely due to some solid work of the rhythm section, while lead singer Christo Bowman's elastic voice sounds as if he learned to use it by singing along to The Kooks, Kaiser Chiefs,  etc...  As somebody who was a huge fan of that type of band, this isn't a bad thing.

     However, much like the collected work of The Kooks & Kaiser Chiefs, "Cardiac Arrest," though pleasant enough in the moment, is not particularly memorable.  Despite his claim of "high voltage when we kiss," it's a low-stakes love song (he starts that same chorus by claiming, "I'll try my best..." Gripping.)  "Cardiac Arrest" is a fine, trivial spring single.  Not a bad little number, but nothing special.

Final Score: 2.5/5

02. Pattern Is Movement - River (from the album Pattern Is Movement)

TCDroogsma:

     Heading into this week I only knew two songs from Pattern Is Movement and they were both covers.  Bjork's "Enjoy" and The Smiths' immortal "I Want The One I Can't Have."  I'm not familiar with the original "Enjoy," but their take on Moz's yearning was certainly curious enough to make me excited to hear some of their original work.

     "River" rides a slinky, streaming verse of falsetto & synths that recalls Dirty Projectors before collapsing into a chorus of... well... more synths & falsettos.  Frankly, it's the same kind of song structure that has made millions of dollars for everybody from The Beatles to New Found Glory.  Pattern Is Movement puts their own Philly-white-boy-indie-soul twist on it.  That seems like a mouthful on paper, but they pull it off admirably the first couple times.  The song loses all its steam at the end when they decide to just crash the chorus into the ground and neglect to rebuild it, but up until then PTM makes an interesting racket.

Final Score: 2.5/5

03. Big Scary - Twin Rivers (from the album Not Art)

TCDroogsma:

     "Gonna have to wake up, I don't wanna have to wake up, get up, get changed, game face, I don't want to have to wake up again this morning..."

     That's how we're greeted by Big Scary on "Twin Rivers."  Suffice it to say, hearing that as I listened to the song while walking to work at 5:45 in the morning all week may have given those lyrics some extra weight.  Big Scary wraps those lyrics around some big, shuffling drums & strings that give lend those melancholy sentiments some color.  The rest of the song features some lovely boy/girl vocals, and clattering piano, and a chorus that's big in the same way a Travis chorus is big.  They don't go full Chris Martin, and that suits them.  The whole song takes its cue from those first lyrics and provides enough small glimpses of beauty to remind you that life can be so much more than the daily grind.

Final Score: 4/5

04. Snowmine - Columbus (from the album Dialects)

TCDroogsma:

     Snowmine is a five-piece coming out of Brooklyn with a crowd-funded new album, Dialects.  Just based on that information (and the picture above), you can probably gather what the band sounds like.

     "Columbus" is rich in keys, strings, gospel-esque harmonies, and a great chorus.  There's not much going on in this song that you haven't heard before, but Snowmine seems to be doing it as well as anybody.  Their great trick on "Columbus" is giving all of their ideas space to breathe.  It takes a lot of parts that are easy to dismiss on their own and deploys each with brutal efficiency.  The result is a song that, as you listen, is captivating, and yet leaves almost nothing behind when it ends.

Final Score: 3/5

05. MaLLy - A Long Day (from the album The Colors Of Black)

TCDroogsma:

     I feel like I"m cheating a bit here with "A Long Day."  When it was released as an SOTD track I spent a week with it and, despite the fact that I'm a MaLLy fan, I wasn't too high on it.  I thought the piano was a bit too saccharine while MaLLy's "life is tough" take struck me as a bit too constructed.

     However, since then I've picked up the song's parent album The Colors Of Black.  Given proper context on the album, "A Long Day" stands up as a highlight.  The album is an angry affair, with MaLLy's ire directed almost entirely at the struggle a young, black man faces in America.  By the time we get to "A Long Day," it's clear that MaLLy's not depressed, merely exhausted.  "A Long Day" is the sound of a man who's upset with the world around him, and equally upset with the fact that, despite his best efforts, he's nearly powerless to change it.

Final Score: 4/5

Well there you have it, MP3 junkies!  Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, & filed away!

As always, please keep in mind that neither Newest Industry nor our contributors are in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or MPR.  We're just music fans with laptops and a bit too much time on our hands.

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  He can also be found right here on Newest Industry hosting our free weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio









For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors.  More importantly, we have a Facebook page here.  Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free & legitimate way to support the blog.

Songs Of The Week #86 & #87: TCDroogsma

No, Lost In The Trees, Trust, Gardens & Villa, Howler, The Drive-By Truckers, Tycho, Stone Jack Jones, Stepdad, & And The Professors...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies!  Welcome to Songs Of The Week #86 & #87!
 
For those of you who are new to the SOTW column, here's the story:  TCDroogsma and MinneSarah are both fans of The Current's Song Of The Day podcast.  They're also both opinionated and have access to computers.  Seeing an opportunity to let them indulge in their MP3 habit and put them to work writing reviews we created the Songs Of The Week column.  Over a year later later and here we are.

Unfortunately, MinneSarah is continuing her sabbatical this week. Without his co-reviewer, TCDroogsma got lazy and took a week off.  Fortunately, taking a week off from reviewing songs didn't mean taking a week off from listening to the songs. He's back this week & making up for lost time with a double-dose of reviews.

As always, we strongly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast yourself.  It's free and it's fun for the whole family!

To that end, once you've given each song a spin or two, feel free to cast a vote for your favorite song of the week in the poll to the right side of the page.  The artist who accrues the most votes wins the validation that comes from winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the loftiest height to which a modern musician can aspire.

So... Droogsy... thoughts?

01. No - Leave The Door Wide Open (from the album El Prado)

 
TCDroogsma:

     Back in SOTW #15 MinneSarah & I reviewed No's single "What's Your Name?"  Both of us came to the conclusion that, while it was an OK song, it was basically a case of the sum of a bunch of other indie band's traits not adding up to an especially compelling whole.

     "Leave The Door Wide Open" still sounds like it's aping somebody else's sound, but fortunately the sound that it's aping is The Killers circa Sam's Town.  Singer Bradley Hanan Carter & Co. aim for a sweeping, epic sound and, for the most part, succeed.  Carter's lyrics, particularly, strike the tongue-in-cheek-tone that Brandon Flowers used to be able to nail in his sleep.  "We make some noise inside a room and call it art..." is, at different times in the song, delivered with nonchalance & passion, leaving the listener to wonder whether he's serious, super-serious, making a commentary on his band's commercial ambitions, or mocking the concept of pop music as art altogether.  No may or may not be finding their own sound (it's legitimately difficult to say), but until they do they'd be wise to keep crafting songs with hooks like this.

Final Score: 4/5

02. Lost In The Trees - Past Life (from the album Past Life)

 
TCDroogsma:

     Their must be something in the water in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  Lost In The Trees is yet another band to come out of the college town to somehow strike the delicate balance between epic & personal, aiming for big ideas while providing just enough little flourishes to make it feel like you're hearing something in the song that nobody else hears.

     "Past Life" provides enough "indie rock 2014" signposts to leave the song sounding very much of the moment.  There's echoing vocals, keyboard pulses, and some nonsense about staircases, lover's eyes, and nature.  The real star of "Past Life," however, is the guitar work.  The band aims for hooks in just about every manner possible, but the lead guitar work provides the most memorable wrinkle.  The bouncing guitar figure that opens the song (and returns halfway through each verse) is light & catchy in a song that threatens to be bogged down by ideas.  When the riff is finally spun into a full-on solo at the end of the song it feels like everything that was holding the song together comes unraveled brilliantly.  There's a lot of very good ideas at work here and Lost In The Trees deserves credit for balancing them well.

Final Score: 3.5/5

03. Trust - Capitol (from the album Joyland)

 
TCDroogsma:

     "Capitol" is a peculiar track that grew on me over the course of the week.  The song opens with some garbled noise before giving way to a clear, catchy keyboard line.  That, however, gives way to Robert Alfons' mumbling, which then gives way to a clear, catchy chorus that somehow thrives on Alfrons' nasal delivery.  You see the pattern here?

     While "Capitol" is a frustrating song due to it's essentially non-existent verses, at its core it's a lesson in pop song structure.  The song ebbs & flows brilliantly (if predictably).  By letting the pieces fall apart during the verses, Alfons is able to make the chorus sound like a glorious payoff even if, in a vacuum, it wouldn't amount to much.  Alfons deserves a ton of credit for playing to his strengths to turn "Capitol" from a struggle to a single.

Final Score: 4/5

04. Gardens & Villa - Colony Glen (from the album Dunes)

 
TCDroogsma:

     Going over the lyrics to "Colony Glen," Gardens & Villa seem to paint a picture of a mutually-maintained secret that involves the murder at Colony Glen.  It's a curious subject, but they manage to pull it off reasonably well.

     Unfortunately, the lyrics are matched with a very "2014-by-the-numbers" synthesizer bounce that actively detracts from the devious lyrics.  The song is aching to breath, to give more weight to the lyrics, but in the end the can't (or won't) concede aiming for the instant pleasure of dance-pop to take the chance on something darker, more memorable, and potentially terrible.  It's a risk/reward proposition and Gardens & Villa played it safe.

Final Score: 2.5/5

05. Howler - Indictment (from the album World Of Joy)

 
TCDroogsma:

     I don't own a Howler album, and yet they just might be my favorite local band.  Everybody jumped on Jordan Gatesmith when he (justifiably) called on the Twin Cities music scene as insular, narcissistic, & thin-skinned.  He was right on all accounts and the fact that he was deemed a pariah by the local music "press" essentially proved his point.

     However, none of that would matter much if he & his bands didn't have the tunes to back up their smartass remarks.  With "Indictment" as the lead single off their World Of Joy LP, it's pretty clear that they do.  The band works up a pretty straight-forward rave up while Gatesmith (who sounds like he spent his time between albums smoking filter-less Lucky Strikes) spits some early-20's lessons about not wasting your time on fading youth, pitching fits... really giving a shit about of the trivialities of young manhood.  It's hardly groundbreaking stuff, but the band bring enough snotty conviction to the track to remind you that there's no gimmick in rock music quite like youth.

Final Score: 4/5

06. The Drive-By Truckers - Pauline Hawkins (from the album English Oceans)

 
TCDroogsma:

     Despite the fact that I own three of their albums and have seen them live, I've never totally bought into what The Drive-By Truckers are selling.  I realize that it's ridiculous for a guy who's a huge fan of The Hold Steady to criticize a band for writing fictional narratives as songs, something about their old-timey Southern tales just fails to get me too enthused.

     "Pauline Hawkins" is a fine, harmless number that is unlikely to make believers of the non-believers.  Patterson Hood (who sounds more & more like Wayne Coyne everyday) fires some mean-spirited shots at a lover while the band works up their typical southern rock racket.  Frankly, the most telling description of "Pauline Hawkins" is also the most basic.  "Pauline Hawkins" is a new single from The Drive-By Truckers.  You don't really need any more information than that to have a good idea of what it sounds like.

Final Score: 2.5/5

07. Tycho - Awake (from the album Awake)

 
TCDroogsma:

     Tycho is the working name of Scott Hansen, a musician & photographer out of San Francisco.  He's also an artist who frequently turns up on my "suggested artists" list on Last.fm and is being played frequently by my Last.fm friends.  I was kind of excited to see what all the fuss is about.

     "Awake" is a a fine instrumental song that is difficult to place.  It's built mainly on some smooth electric guitar work with a canvas of ambient keyboards underneath.  Hansen works up a pleasant, inconsequential sound that's less club-friendly and more Volkswagen commercial.  It's sunny sound provides pleasant background noise but not much else.  Hansen seems to understand that it's hard to make a grand statement in a song without lyrics and, as such, just aims for something pleasant and harmless.

Final Score: 3.5/5

08. Stone Jack Jones - Jackson (from the album Ancestor)

 
TCDroogsma:

     I don't know much of anything about Stone Jack Jones and it seems neither does the rest of the internet.  He's from West Virginia.  He was unable to serve during the Vietnam War due to bouts with epilepsy.  He released an album back in the 2006, relocated to Nashville, and returned in 2014 with Ancestor.  Also, he can ride a horse.

     "Jackson" is a delightfully off-kilter song that, while owing something to the old Nashville country sound, remains rough around the edges.  Jones recounts a searching Jackson for a lost love, but meanders into descriptions of the townfolk, the sky, & the corn along the way.  He sounds like a man who knows what he wants (or, rather, knows what he doesn't, which is to "lose you"), but he also sounds like a man who's spent enough time in his life looking that he's not going to waste his time.  By the end of the song Jones has found a glass of whiskey rather than his lost love. The cycle begins again.

Final Score: 2.5/5

09. Stepdad - Running (Does That Mean You Care?) (from the EP Strange Tonight)

 
TCDroogsma:

     One of the most difficult things a musician can accomplish in 2014 is writing a synth-based song that stands out from the crowd.  Stepdad accepted that challenge and very nearly pulls it off.

     "Running (Does That Mean You Care?" pulses along predictably, but becomes memorable thanks to a good old-fashioned sped-up sample that sounds like Kanye West remixing an old Cut/Copy track.  Singer Ultramark fashions a world-beating hook out of the chorus, giving the song more personality than a sample every could.  Stepdad's aiming to be the kind of a the well-populated synth-pop hill and with "Running" they've staked their claim.

Final Score: 3.5/5

10. And The Professors - Turn-Of-The-Century Recycling Blues (from the album Our Postmortem)

 
TCDroogsma:

     I spent a whole week with "Turn-Of-The-Century Recycling Blues" before realizing Adam Levy of The Honeydogs was the man behind the song.  Suddenly, this well-crafted, expertly executed pop song made a lot more sense.

     I'm sure Levy has no desire to read about his full-time band in relation to this one, but it's difficult to make the distinction.  Frankly, he should probably consider it a compliment that he's been crafting pop songs with such consistency that it doesn't matter what he calls the band he's fronting.  "Turn-Of-The-Century Recycling Blues" finds levy & company going full McCartney, bouncing along on percussive piano, swooping strings, & group harmonies.  The song's texture is rich & pleasant while it's lyrics, which recount the World's Fair, appeasing Hitler, & the Dust Bowl.  I barely understand what Levy's getting at, but it doesn't really matter.  If you like pop music you'll love this one.

Final Score: 4/5

Well there you have it, MP3 junkies!  Two week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, & filed away!

As always, please keep in mind that neither Newest Industry nor our contributors are in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or MPR.  We're just music fans with laptops and a bit too much time on our hands.

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  He can also be found right here on Newest Industry hosting our free weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio









For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors.  More importantly, we have a Facebook page here.  Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free & legitimate way to support the blog.

Newest Industry Present - Flatbasset Radio: Episode #35

Yeah, I called you fat, look at me I'm skinny...

Hello again, free music fans! Welcome to Flatbasset Radio: Episode #35!
 
For those of you who are unaware of the Flatbasset Radio format, here's what you're looking at: TCDroogsma is our resident MP3 junkie. As you've probably noticed in his Songs Of The Week column, he's not always the most positive music fan. In an effort to prove that he is, in fact, a fan of music, we give him an hour each week to play the songs he's digging and talk a little bit about them. Once he's recorded his podcast we put it right here on the website for free to stream and/or download!

In this week's episode TCDroogsma is flying solo from Planet New Basset yet again.  In the process of trying to get his podcast game "back on track" he's feeling extra "saucy" because of the warm weather, celebrating the anniversary of one of independent hip-hop's great albums, buying CD's on Amazon for a penny, lamenting the 20 year anniversary of a generational icon, celebrating Rex Manning Day, anticipates a summer of Rhymesayers, finds himself coming around on a couple artists he didn't care for, (yet again) mispronounces a band's name, explains why St. Vincent is one of his "desert island" artists, vows to get MinneSarah back into the fold for next week's show, and discusses the song that best embodies old Modest Mouse & new Modest Mouse!

You can download the podcast for free by clicking the episode's title or stream the episode by clicking on the Mixcloud player below.

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #35

Flatbasset Radio: Episode #35 by Tcdroogsma on Mixcloud

01. Superchunk - Precision Auto
02. Madvillain - Money Folder
03. Nirvana - Lithium (Solo Demo)
04. Chance The Rapper - Acid Rain
05. Evan Dando - The Ballad Of El Goodo
06. Blueprint - Respect The Architect
07. CFCF - Lorraine
08. No - Leave The Door Wide Open
09. Straya - Chronologies
10. The Hood Internet - Digital Humpty
11. The Church - Under The Milky Way
12. Modest Mouse - Ocean Breathes Salty

There you have it, music fans!  Enjoy!

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page.  Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.

For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors.  More importantly, we have a Facebook page here.  Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free & legitimate way to support the blog.    

Songs Of The Week #85: TCDroogsma

Sylvan Esso, Tinariwen, Sally Seltmann, Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes, & K.Raydio & Psymun...

Well hello again, MP3 junkies!  Welcome to Songs Of The Week #85!
 
For those of you who are new to the SOTW column, here's the story:  TCDroogsma and MinneSarah are both fans of The Current's Song Of The Day podcast.  They're also both opinionated and have access to computers.  Seeing an opportunity to let them indulge in their MP3 habit and put them to work writing reviews we created the Songs Of The Week column.  Over a year later later and here we are.

Unfortunately, this week MinneSarah took the week off due to what could kindly be called "Current-based fatigue."  Trust us, her words were considerably more harsh.

As always, we strongly suggest that you follow this link and subscribe to the podcast yourself.  It's free and it's fun for the whole family!

To that end, once you've given each song a spin or two, feel free to cast a vote for your favorite song of the week in the poll to the right side of the page.  The artist who accrues the most votes wins the validation that comes from winning an anonymous internet poll, arguably the loftiest height to which a modern musician can aspire.

So... Droogsy... thoughts?

01. Sylvan Esso - Coffee (from the single Coffee/Dress)

 
TCDroogsma:

     As mentioned up above, MinneSarah is not joining me this week.  We traded text messages earlier this week and she told me that she just didn't have the energy or the patience this week to slog through another batch of Current songs.  I could definitely understand.  If you didn't read last week's reviews, I hit a similar wall with that Yellow Ostrich song.  Spending years with these SOTD tracks has taught me that, more often than not, you're just going to get stuck with very, very average music that aligns with The Current's definition of "relevant" or "trendy."  As such, you have to sift through a lot of sound-of-the-moment bullshit to find the gems.

     Why do I bring all of this up?  Because "Coffee" is just such a gem.  Sylvan Esso is a collaboration between vocalist Amelia Meath of The Mountain Men & producer Nick Sanborn aka Made Of Oak.  On "Coffee," Sanborn works up lovely, synth-heavy canvas for Meath's vocals.  His production hinges on keyboads that create a backdrop for crystal clear plinks, plunks, & percussion.  It's a brilliantly laid back production that perfectly matches Meath's matter-of-fact vocals.

     Meath, in turn, puts together a stellar performance, painting a picture of falling in love from the perspective of somebody who's probably fallen in love a few too many times.  Her vocals are weary, yet hopeful.  When she pulls out the tired hip-hop trope of , "Get up, get down.. get up, get down..." it's tellingly delivered as old news, yet, obviously, always a crowd pleaser.  "Coffee" ebbs & flows brilliantly, with both members of Sylvan Esso sounding absolutely essential. 

Final Score: 4/5

02. Tinariwen - Chaghaybou (from the album Chaghaybou)

TCDroogsma:

     This is Tinariwen's second appearance as a SOTD track.  Their first, a song called "Tenere Taqhim Tossam" was a peculiar song that found success by mixing in airy vocals and guitar work that left plenty of room to breathe.  They caught a nice groove and rode it for over 4:00.

     "Chaghaybou," unfortunately, brings none of that subtlety to the table.  The guitar work on this song is similar to "Tenere Taqhim Tossam," however it's significantly more claustrophobic than before.  Lyrically, not a word is sung in English.  While it's completely unfair to criticize a band from Mali for not singing in English, that doesn't change the fact that songs I can't understand do not appeal to me.  Were "Chaghaybou" an even mildly interesting song, I could understand its appearance as an SOTD track.  However, it's not.  Frankly, the fact that The Current is pushing a 30 year old band from Saharan Africa reeks of the kind of, "They're great, you've probably never heard of them..." music snobbery that pervades just about everything The Current does these days. 

Final Score: 1.5/5

03. Sally Seltmann - Seed Of Doubt (from the album Hey Daydreamer)

TCDroogsma:

     You may know Australian singer-songwriter-producer Sally Seltmann better by her former stage name New Buffalo.  Or, if you're like me, you may not.  No matter.  "Seed Of Doubt" is lovely, if somewhat cliche-riddled song.

     As I've mentioned many times before in these reviews, sometimes sequencing is everything.  I spent the week listening to Sally Seltmann's middle-of-the-road piano-pop immediately after that pointless Tinariwen song.  As such, it's familiarly warm hooks and lyrics of relationship confusion felt like putting on a warm, familiar sweater.  Seltmann's vocals are clear & pretty.  When she sings, simply & plaintively, "I love you, I love you, I love you-ooh..." in the last 30 seconds of the song, it's delivered with such little pretension that it's difficult not to become immediately smitten with Seltmann.  Sure, "Seed Of Doubt" sounds like it was meant for the next Cities 97 compilation, but so what?  Great pop is great pop.

Final Score: 3.5/5

04. Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes - Sun Goes Out (from the album Kid Tiger)

TCDroogsma:

     Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes is a Nashville-based band, however, Mr. Ellsworth hails from the Land Of 10,000 Lakes (many of which are great, though only one is labeled as such).

     "Sun Goes Out" actually sounds exactly like a Minnesota boy leading a Nashville band.  The hooks are sharp, but the performance is loose & open.  Lyrics like "I don't know why we fight just to get along..." sound like they're coming from a man who knows the true definition of "Minnesota Nice."  The song remains sunny as the band builds to a rock n roll chorus and finally explodes with an odd, wordless group vocal bridge.  While not a particularly memorable song, "Sun Goes Out" is a pleasantly familiar four and half minutes that takes small risks & yields small rewards.

Final Score: 2.5/5

05. K.Raydio & Psymun - Joyride (from the album LucidDreamingSkylines)

TCDroogsma:

     I was very excited to see a new single from K.Raydio & Psymun in this week's batch of songs.  If you're a frequent reader of SOTW, you should already be familiar with K.Raydio's voice from MaLLy's "Good One" & Homeless' "Get Gone."  If you're a frequent reader of my Flatbasset blog or listener of my Flatbasset Radio podcast, you may know that I spent the first week of February with Psymun's excellent Heartsick as my Album Of The Week and played their single "Jupiter" on Flatbasset Radio: Episode #24.

     So, for better or worse, I'm already exceedingly familiar with K.Raydio & Psymun's sound.  That said, "Joyride" does not disappoint.  Psymun builds one of his brilliantly off-kilter beats around percussion that drifts from speaker to speaker, a twinkling keyboard figure, and saxophone bursts.  As is typically the case with Psymun, the beat aims for the stars and hits the mark (even the inherently risky use of saxophone pays off big time).

     It should be noted, however, that for 2:50 seconds of the 3:12 song, the beat doesn't really go anywhere.  It doesn't push or pull or really have any say in the song's hook.  As such, K.Raydio (who's voice has proven so adept at selling hooks) is left to craft her own melody.  Fortunately, she's up to the task.  While she never crafts the kind of hook that will have you humming, she returns to the same melody enough times that the song maintains a structure.  While this sort of song could lend itself to vocal embellishment, she manages to keep her vocal flourishes strictly in the "tasteful" column.  Frankly, much like Sylvan Esso up above, K.Raydio & Psymun both bring their own ideas to "Joyride" and manage to compliment each other exquisitely.

Final Score: 4/5

Well there you have it, MP3 junkies!  Another week's worth of songs downloaded, reviewed, & filed away!

As always, please keep in mind that neither Newest Industry nor our contributors are in any way affiliated with the artists above, The Current, or MPR.  We're just music fans with laptops and a bit too much time on our hands.

For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma).  He can also be found right here on Newest Industry hosting our free weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio









For more Newest Industry be sure to give us a follow on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors.  More importantly, we have a Facebook page here.  Trivial as it seems, stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free & legitimate way to support the blog.