Cool, New Music Playlist: August 2022

Cool, New Music Playlist: August 2022 

ALBUMS

BEST NEW ALBUM (TIE): Ty Segall. "Hello, Hi". A welcome departure for Ty. Less psycho-delic, more introspective. A little quieter than most of his records. A triumph.

BEST NEW ALBUM (TIE): Ben Harper. Bloodline Maintenance. Funkier than usual, reminds me of the vibe of Marvin Gaye's classic "What's Going On". Great stuff!

Jack White. Entering Heaven Alive. The lighter folky Americana acoustic side of Jack White.

Dawes. Misadventures Of Doomscroller.

Interpol. The Other Side Of Make-Believe.

Danger Mouse & Black Thought. Cheat Codes.

Osees. A Foul Form.

King Princess. Hold On Baby.

Anna Tivel. Outsiders. Indie Folk

Oneida. Success.

CLAMM. Care. Aussie Punk Explosion.

The Chats. Get Fucked. Aussie Punk Explosion.

Ben Lee. I'm Fun. A favorite Aussie singer-songwriter who's become a welcome, sane political voice online.

Cass McCombs. Heartland.

Pussy Riot. Matriarchy Now. We like their activism more than their music. Hats off to some brave comrades fighting Putin's authoritarianism with art! This is mostIy Euro dance/club music. I liked their early punk classic "Putin Has Pissed Himself" (download here).

Silversun Pickups. Physical Thrills.

Kasabian. The Alchemist's Euphoria.

Panda Bear & Sonic Boom. Reset.

Julien Baker. B-Sides (EP).

Maggie Rogers. Surrender. 

Billie Eilish. Guitar Songs. Just two songs, "TV"/"The 30th".

SINGLES: TWO SONGS FOR A FREE UKRAINE

Dropkick Murphys & The O'Hamsters. "We Shall Overcome (Ukrainian Version)"

Pink Floyd. "Hey Hey Rise Up (feat. Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Boombox)"

SINGLES

Off! "War Above Los Angeles".

Plains. "Problem With It".

Dry Cleaning. "Anna Calls From The Arctic".

Valerie June. "Look At Miss Ohio" (Gillian Welch cover).

               Bonnie "Prince" Billy. "Outsider" (Dee Ramone/The Ramones cover)

Eddie Vedder. "Long Shadow" (Joe Strummer cover, Strummer would be 70 this year!)

Joe Strummer. "Fantastic". Previously unreleased gem from the late, great singer for The Clash. From a new forthcoming late-career Strummer compilation from Dhani Harrison's Dark Horse Records.

ARCHIVAL

Mike Bloomfield. Live At The Bottom Line (Live 1974)

Kate Bush. Essentials. We're all in on the Kate Bush revival, courtesy of the Netflix series Stranger Things. Loved her in the 80s, love her even more now. Of course, "Running Up That Hill" is essential, but so are "Wuthering Heights", "Babooshka", and "Them Heavy People" (which refers to spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff, who Bush's family followed; she grew up with his teachings).

Gordon Lightfoot. PBS Soundstage 1979 (live).

John Coltrane. Jazz Showcase 1962 (Live) & Birdland 1962 (Live). Two live albums, recently re-released.

Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, James Cotton. King Biscuit Flower Hour 1977 (live).

Muddy Waters. Folk Singer (Expanded Edition).

Louis Armstrong. Pale Moon (Live).

Billie Holiday. Last Recording 1959 (Remastered).

The Ramones. City Hall Plaza Live.

Tom Rush. Classic Rush.

Johnny Cash. Capitol Music Hall 1976.

Dead Kennedys. KALX 1979 (Live).

Thin Lizzy. Live in Japan 1980.

Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Live At Newport 1965.

Doc Watson. Pickin' The Favorites.

Bob Dylan. Early FM Radio Broadcast.

Victoria Spivey. Three Kings And The Queen. This 1964 recording features Lonnie Johnson, Roosevelt Sykes, and Big Joe Williams, who invited a young Bob Dylan to play harmonica on "Sittin' On Top Of The World" and "Wichita".

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Late, great folk king Fred Neil featured in new "Better Call Saul" Teaser: "Little Bit of Rain"

                Original Photos by MD & JB for ThisSmallPlanet.com. All rights reserved. 

Will Music in Adverts Save Music? Kevin Morby's "Parade" in New Delta Air Ad Joins Songs by Bob Dylan, Queen & Wreckless Eric as the Latest Cool Song in a Post-COVID Travel Industry Commercial

 

Artists no longer sell routinely millions of CDs, so many have been looking for other revenue streams - touring (though often delayed during COVID) and merchandise being chief amongst them. More and more artists now seem to be licensing their songs for commercials as a sure way to make money and get their name and music out there. 

Kevin Morby's 2014 song "Parade" is now being used in 2022 for a Delta Airlines commercial.

 

Kevin's 2016 song "Beautiful Strangers" was recently used by Airbnb. Airbnb suffered an enormous loss of business during the COVID crisis. This ad was part of a campaign to encourage people to rent out their homes to those, who, as the ad shows, may be monsters, but they are kindly monsters...."beautiful strangers", as it were.

 

Airbnb followed up that ad with another called "Camping" featuring Bob Dylan's "Shelter From The Storm", again offering Airbnb services for those wanting to escape and seek "shelter from the storm", this time in their "camping" category, in order to explore the great outdoors but with a comfortable base camp.

During the Super Bowl, we saw an ad for the travel website Expedia that we would see many times in the coming months called "Stuff" featuring Ewan McGregor. It encouraged people sick of COVID isolation to stop sitting at home buying "stuff" on Amazon and instead book a trip on Expedia to some exotic beach or something... just get out of the dammed house!

The song Expedia used to re-invite us to the world of travel is the delightful 1977 punk anthem "(I'd Go The) Whole Wide World" by Wreckless Eric. Flawless.

And then there was this Norwegian Cruise Lines ad:

The Cruise industry was one of the hardest hit during COVID. So the choice of Queen's "I Want To Break Free" (Free yourself from home confinement and hit the open sea!) was near perfect.

Late, great folk king Fred Neil featured in new "Better Call Saul" Teaser: "Little Bit of Rain"

Better Call Saul is gearing up for its highly anticipated final six episodes. They just released a teaser featuring "Little Bit of Rain" by the late, great Fred Neil (1936-2001). Neil was every guitarist's favorite guitarist in Greenwich Village in the early 60s. 

Cool, New Music: July 2022 Playlist

 

ALBUMS

Arthur Brown. Long Long Road

Joan Shelley. The Spur.

Al Stewart. Sparks Of Ancient Light.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Once Again In The World (Selected Songs, 1998-2020)

Black Midi. Hellfire.

Spiral Stairs. Medley Attack.

Tim Heidecker. High School. 

Ben Harper. Bloodline Maintenance

Soccer Mommy. Sometimes, Forever

Jeff Beck. 18 (EP). (feat. Johnny Depp)

DIVV. Sometime/Human/Geist (EP)

Various Artists. Minions: The Rise of Gru (Soundtrack) (feat Brittany Howard, St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, Weyes Blood, Gary Clark, Jr., Thundercat, et al).

Muna. Muna

Zola Jesus. Arkcon

The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Fire Doesn't Grow On Trees.

Peter Rowan. Calling You From My Mountain.

SINGLES

Julian Lennon. "Save Me"/"Breathe"

Test Subjects, 1986, New Method Warehouse, Emeryville (photo by the late, great Murray Bowles)

ARCHIVAL

T-Model Ford. I Was Born In A Swamp.

Sonny Boy Williamson II. Don't Send Me No Flowers (feat. Jimmy Page & Brian Auger)