Five songs from this week

The weather in Utah the last few weeks has been strange. Heavy, hot, smoky. Oppressive. The kind of weather that makes for great sunsets. The weather that makes you feel a little bit crazy. This time of year I always find myself desperately grasping for new music. The music that I clung to in the colder months feels old hat. But the wrong music only makes me feel hotter and stuffier somehow. Does that make sense?

Soda Stereo was an Argentine New Wave band that has the 80s post-punk sound of The Cure mixed with a funky fusion sound like the Japanese band Casiopea. I found this song listening to KRCL during their NOVA FM program, and was instantly hooked.

The album “My Skyscraper” by Nirosta Steel (aka Steven Hall) has been getting all the indie buzz, and it’s well deserved. The sprawling 1 hour and 23 minute double album has drawn comparisons to Cindy Lee’s “Diamond Jubilee” and the work of longtime Hall collaborator Arthur Russell.

The album is all over the place, with disco-like party jams (BOSS TRIX (BENNY’S SONG)), 80s synth pop with Carl Weezer-like vocals (YHEMA), and sparse experimental folky stuff (MOHAN (MANDARIN VERSION)). This album is worth listening to, maybe a couple times. It’s definitely grown on me.

I can’t get enough of Faye Wong lately. Her voice and production blended in such a perfect way for a few years in the 90s. Her clear inspiration from Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins), Dolores O’Riordan (The Cranberries) and other ethereal 90s pop singers like Enya combined with her talent produced some of my favorite stuff ever.

Wong’s 1996 album Fu Zao (浮躁) is a masterpiece, and you could listen to the whole thing in about 35 minutes. The song “Fen Lie” meaning “to separate” was written and produced by Cocteau Twins (who Wong collaborated with many times), and is one of my favorites on an amazing album.

Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug. Amen.

I spend hours assembling my 50 States videos. I read so many articles about the local scenes, dive deep into local playlists, and go through literally hundreds of submissions for each state. And yet every time, incredible bands always slip right through my fingers. After the video goes up, I’ll inevitably find one or two more in the following weeks that would have easily made the video if I had found it earlier. For Louisiana, that band is Twisted Teens.

They’re a punk/americana band from New Orleans and their lead singer… his voice reminds me of someone, but I can’t nail it down. Let me know what you think. It’s on the tip of my tongue. Twisted Teens is really good. You’ll probably like them. Read this great article from Matt Mitchell at Paste for a close look at this duo: https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/twisted-teens/twisted-teens-blame-the-clown-album-review

As of last Friday, Twisted Teens has a new album out called “Florida Water Blues.” Go check it out!

Christopher Nolan’s new movie “The Odyssey” releases this week, and I’m very excited to see it. The wife and I are big Nolan fans, and I love Homer’s original poem. As I’ve been rereading The Odyssey, it’s set my mind wandering… surely one of western civilization’s most famous texts has inspired some music? I’ve got some choices that you may find interesting, coming up in this week’s Friday newsletter!

Thanks for reading this week! I hope you found some new music, and I’ll see you Friday for the deep dive.

-Joey

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