Going Steady: New Singles 4-9-21 – 4-15-21 Reviewed

Boogie Shoes – Live – Alex Chilton, Hi Rhythm Section – from an unissued 1999 live set, this is what we call a joyous noise indeed – B+

Vertigo – Alice Merton -her alt rock dance return from 2019 debut gets a nice vertiginous wooze I can emphasize with – B-

Fields of Bone – Black Veil Brides – songwriter Erik Ron (remember Godsmack) provides Andy with a piece of crap prog rocker when all we want is goth horrorshows – D

Stuck In Time _ Brando’s Lair – Barry Holdship’s masterpiece of folk rock and 60s rock pop – A

Here with Me – Brandon’s Lair – A gorgeous slice of 60s guitar pop rock, nice break there by the way – A-

burnout – Chynna – a year after her death, Chynna’s return is a dirge waking nightmare and all too appropriate – B+

Ivory Tower – Outtake – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – There are periods in a bands’ life where even their throwaways, lost in the shuffle, stock in a box in the studio, would be any one else second single. so it is with Stills, circa Deja Vu and at the top of his skillset, lost the lovely “Ivory Tower” and refound it to introduce the upcoming box set vuing, dejawise – A-

Tom – Damien Jurado – more indie folk than English folk and a little bland – C+

Mercury, Dave, Kamal – the English grime guy rapping between piano chords on a minor track, but still a winner – B

Titanium – Dave – Dave is flowing with ease on this goth pop rap grimer – B+

Garden – Dinosaur Jr – Lou Barlow style, an Americana guitar rocker as written by a pro, Kurt Vile produced so think a thought to Neil Young – B+

Slow Clap (with Saweetie)- Gwen Stefani, Saweetie – already Gwen’s best song since back in pre-The Voice days, a slow clapping dance track with a good Saweetie verse thrown in – B+

Calm On The Valley – Iron And Wine – the 00s Americana folk band returned to the beginnings, before the beginnings where they have emerged with a song from an album before the first one – B-

Turning Me Up (Hadal Ahbek)- Issam Alnajjar, Ali Gatie Luxury –  We seldom find Arabic pop breaking in Western culture, here the Jordanian teen sensation is remixed by Loud Luxury and breaks through on a fine and odd sounding but clearly EDM pop track – B+

All I Need – DJ-Kicks – Jayda G-  Canadian house gal – B-

Otra Noche Sin Ti – J Balvin, Khalid – Balvin has a modified reggaeton dream drip and Khalid pays it forward for him – B-

All In Your Head-J. Period, Black Thought, Dave Chapelle, Tiffany Gouché – the Brooklyn based mixtape assassin has the legendary resume builder comedian do the spoken word on the first track off the upcoming story album… this doesn’t quite tell us what to expect – B-

Easter In Miami – Kodak Black – an, ahem, snapshot of life after prison for Kodak, the flow is world class and the tongue twister handled skillfully, but not a particularly pop swipe – B

Show Me Up -Lil Tecca – absolute hip hop romance guy, catchy and atmospheric – B

Sparkles & Debris – Lydia Ainsworth – singer songwriter electronics and vocal harmony mix – C+

Waves Of Blue – Majid Jordan – You think you love Majid Jordan because you love “Hold On, We’re Going Home”… the duo needs Drake (I mean Drake circa the 2010s), but they are a crushing bore… again – C

Astronaut In The Ocean – Masked Wolf – The Australian rapper dropped this during the summer of 2019, and then signed to a major and dropped it again, right now it is the #5th most popular song globally and the addictive rap track twister plus tuneful hook deserves it- B+

Sociopath – Olivia O’Brien – electronic ho hum dance gal – C+

Slidin’ – EOB Remix – Paul McCartney, EOB – Okay, so the concept is that after solo recording McCartney III, Paulie would re-record the album with featured performers. It has worked very well, and this re-mix by Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien is the best so far – A-

RAPSTAR – Polo G – Sure, we all preferred Chicago Drill Polo G, but the money is in the melody in 2021 and this ear candy should hit big – A-

Welcome 2 America – Prince – Prince in jazz funk mode bebop vocal from the vaults – B-

Set Him Up (feat. Ari Lennox) – Queen Naija, Ari Lennox – in a quiet week for black women, Naija’s neo-r&b is welcome – B

Anywhere Away From Here – Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, P!nk – aka Rory Graham and Alecia Moore with folk soul balladeering track of just epic terribleness, this is the horror of middle age personified – MUST TO AVOID – D

Oh Christine, Reigning Sound – This absolutely excellent little rocker from the Memphis band is just gorgeous with an elegant guitar solo and a sweet and clear lyric. The sleek track couldn’t be better – SINGLE OF THE WEEK – A-

Nobody But You – Sonder, Jorja Smith – bland r&b soul track – C

Meditation V – Sufjan Stevens – lives up to its name – C

Wave Of You – Surfaces -ho hum Tik Tok track – C+

The Killing Of Georgie III – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – not bad, a mixing of feelings between the mirder of George Floyd and Rod Stewart’s devastated look at a man murdered for being homosexual in the 70s, with a raucuous party ska sound – B

Link – Tierra whack – Tierra should be about as big as SZA if not Noname, and this is another reason why – B

People Have The Power – Tomas Doncker And The True Groove Allstars – Doncker adds a verse and encapsulates the black experience… and the white (here)

Shy Away – Twenty-One Pilot –  their first single in over a year is a mid-tempo, electronic pop slice, understated to a degree – B