Going Steady: New Singles 7-3-20 – 7-9-20 Reviewed

Flood My Wrist (feat. Lil Uzi Vert) – A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, Don Q, Lil Uzi Vert – more songs about money and riches – B

Always In Love – A Certain Ratio – percolating beat and funky bass sound from the post-punk Factory Records signing – B

Die Midwestern – Arlo McKinley – John Prine signed Arlo to his label and the fiddle flavored Americana is a rowdy child of Prine – B

Seaside – Billy Currington – the essence of country, trying to move beyond the blueprint, but just not good enough – C+

Sweet Blasphemy – Black Veil Brides – from black-pop metal to progcore, BVB knows that audience – C+

Eyes of a child – Christine and the Queens – From Amazon’s “Hanna,” I have tried very hard to appreciate Christine, she ticks all of my boxes, but I don’t really like her and I actively dislike this slow and miserable, self important piece of crap – MUST TO AVOID – C-

If That Ain’t God – Chris Young – To quote the Bible , where is your god now? – C-

You Already Know – Cold War Kids – if they ever write a hook as great as the “oooos” on “Coffee Spoon” maybe they will be more than one hit wonders – C

Heaven Or – Corey Flood – bedroom pop as poppy SoCal a la Best Coast sound, brooding and beautiful – B+

How You Get Hurt – Courtney Marie Andrews – she is having problems finding another “May Your Kindness Remain,” this is a folk Americana and pretty but not that song – B

New Signs of Life – Death Bells – post punk from Australia with a touch of Depeche Mode about em – B-

Kiss from God – Dirty South – EDM disco track from Australia – C+

My High – Disclosure, slowthai – if I wanted to hear Gorillaz with a beat I’d listen to Gorillaz with a beat- C+

Slow Grenade – Ellie Goulding, Lauv – Ellie in her attempts to be the next Katy Perry enlists the great Lauv on a sweet nothing EDM slow fuse of prettiness – B-

Some Song – Live at Umbra Penumbra – September 17th, 1994 – Elliott Smith – some obscurity and shoulda stayed an obscurity – C+

Big Decision – Live at Umbra Penumbra – September 17th, 1994 – Elliott Smith – killer song I heard on that compilation, he really gives it some stick in the voice, power stuff – B+

Televised Mind – Fontaines D.C. – drone rocker and quite good – B

Upset – GASHI, Pink Sweat$, Njomza – Ho hum r&b plus beats, slowly – C

One Fine Day (feat. Tiggs Da Author) – Idris Elba, The Knocks, Tiggs Da Author – The Knocks are a pretty good DJ band, and Idris would have made a great James Bond, and together they have constructed a new old new style EDM banger – B-

Femenenergy – International Teachers Of Pop -house pop with metronomic hand claps and a vacant stare – C+

Femenenergy – Vince Clarke Remix – International Teachers Of Pop, Vince Clarke – much better, Vince speeds it up and covers the vocal in drums – B

Pressure, Pt. II (with Sinead Harnett) – James Vickery, Sinead Harnett, SG Lewis – first rate r&b from England, a superb falsetto and a skilful songwriter, as good as we get in 2020 – A-

The Mission’s End – Jason Molina -what does Jason and Elliott have in common? They are both dead – B-

Quisieran Tener Mi Lugar – Jenni Rivera – Mexican pop  banda by the late Queen, and it is easy to hear why her sorry 2012 passing in a plane crash at the age of 42 resonated in the Spanish speaking world. In celebration of what would have been 51st birthday, we got her third posthumous single – A-

Head & Heart (feat. MNEK) – Joel Corry, MNEK – Popular in the UK, Joel rides a nice bass lick constructed by MNEK – B-

Wash Us In The Blood – Kanye West, Travis Scott – sounds like Kanye in Yeezus mode, all industrial strength noise and Christianity. Suggesting Christianity to beat back racism, Kanye joined the protest and so far it sure hits me as though nobody has a better idea then calling for the holy spirit to come down  and now he is running for President in a bigger fairytale than life  Christianity – A

if this is the last time – LANY – pretty and sad with a gorgeous guitar break – B

Disuelta – Lucrecia Dalt – avant-garde electronic it reads here, a little ear piercing but not bad – B-

Sad Girl Summer – Maisie Peters – a soft sell folkie who can construct a strange vision and a sweet song, like this clever one – B

Said Sum – Moneybagg Yo – street legal viciousness meets misogyny – B

Black Mirror – Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire – produced by Madlib (just finished with Noname’s song of the year), is 90s style rap about black masculinity – B

Stay Alive – Mustafa -low key beauty about the friends he has lost to guns – B

Desahogo (feat. Carla Morrison) – Nicky Jam, Carla Morrison – Nicky freestyles about how fucked up life is now and  how he has risen above it, over Carla Morrison’s  “Disfruto,” there must be a story behind this somewhere – B-

Right Back – No Love For The Middle Child – bedsit, Lauv like song that will have its teenage audience and will know what to do with them, the song has a very good synth hook  – B

For Your Love – NZCA LINES, VIAA – 90s style, blue eyed neo-r&b – B

I Can’t Wait – PJ Morton – gorgeous piano ballad finds the sweet spot between soul and jazz – B+

Jam Fam – Chanel Show Version – Planningtorock – Planningtorock was the best thing about that DFA Records tenth anniversary gig a coupla years ago, here it  keeps to the narrow with some house rearranged instruments – B

Good For You – Porridge Radio, Lala Lala – moody and redoubtable UK post-punks with the follow up to their sophomore  album – B

Butterflies Pt. 2 – Wale Remix – Queen Naija, Wale – strong neo-r&b pushed by Wales verse – B

Me About Me – RaeLynn – very well written country story song, that gets louder, just enough, on the chorus – B+

Live From The Villa – Russ – a talented guy, no doubt, though he might have missed his opportunity two years ago. The clap board on here is a major irritant that hurts the song – C+

WTD? – Sad13 – Sadie at her most ho hum – C+

Pretty Bitch Freestyle – Saweetie – terrific rap, the best rap of the week actually – B+

Oh, To Be A Rainbow! – Soko – a gayteen love song ala King Princess before Mark Ronson  got his hands on her – B+

America – Sufjan Stevens – starts off like the hoped for follow up to Carrie And Lowell but then takes what Sufjan learnt from his stepfather about ambience and adds  it to where the song should’ve ended  on this twelve minutes plus opus. Big mistake – C+

Single – Tamia -old school, 90s style, soul bruiser – B

Stand Up (Tom Morello, Shea Diamond, Dan Reynolds & The Bloody Beetroots) – Tom Morello, Shea Diamond – A rowdy anti-police rant and rap – B-

Convertible Burt – From Road To Fast 9 Mixtape – Tory Lanez, Kevin Gates – Tory and Kevin on fast cars – B

Ego Death (feat. Kanye West, FKA twigs & Skrillex) – Ty Dolla $ign, FKA twigs, Skrillex, Kanye West – woah, talk about a big song! I guess Ty is out of prison, and he has the people he needs, FKA twigs from the get go, fresh beats courtesy Skrillex and Kanye  slaughters his verse – B+

Overtime – Alex Frankel Remix – U.S. Girls, Alex Frankel – Frankel is half of disco duo Holy Ghost!, who deserved to be much more popular than they ended up being, and who here adds a pure disco sheen that works very well with the U.G. Girls indie engineering sound – B+

Time to Walk Away – Washed Out -ten years into his career and he sounds like the Chainsmokers meets American Football – B

Recession Proof – Yo Gotti – he ain’t going broke for no bitch, so sez Yo Gotti on this worried about finance and different position track – B

All Night – Zion & Lennox – The Puerto Rican duo were meant to have their first US tour this year, after nineteen years, and I would have been there absolutely, this is a good song and would have been a great song without the rap in the middle – B