New music this week from Internet Sensation and Behs player Danny Sapko, Peter Gabriel, Dinosaur Jr., Desmond Child with Alice Cooper, Glom, Go Public, Greta van Fleet, Lake Street Drive, Cory Wong with Joshua Redman and so much more. Enjoy!
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There are a few covers on this week's playlist, starting with Go Public's cover of the great Split Enz song "Don't Dream It's Over" (shortened here to "Don't Dream) that is so wildly different from the original that I didn't notice that it's a cover at first. Kingfishr adds to the growing list of artists giving tribute to the late Shane McGowan with a cover of "The Sunnyside of the Street" which might just be better than the original - I cannot wait for the full tribute album to finally hit because it's obvious that McGowan was a great songwriter. Desmond Child steps into the foreground for a live show of songs he either wrote or co-wrote, but he invites out original artist Alice Cooper to do a great reinterpretation of "Poison". And there is also Glom's remake of the great Stone Roses track "I Wanna Be Adored", which is fairly faithful to the original and worth your time.
OK Go's new single "Down for the Count" is a previously unreleased track from their 2005 album "Oh No". The Cleaners from Venus have a new album that doesn't sound like it's a new release but it actually is, and it's worth checking out if you're into Jangly pop.
If you didn't know, there is a whole sub-genre on YouTube of artists who are bass players. There's Davie504 - the resident expert on slap bass, Charles Berthoud who is more classically trained, Paul Thompson's "pdbass" channel where he gets into grove and jazz, Scott's Bass Lessons that gives lessons and interviews with bassists as well as creating challenges for other bassists....
...and then there is Danny Sapko, a punk firebrand and comedian who is also a pretty solid bassist and commentator, taking the piss out of just about everyone including himself. He is the man who named "The Dipstick Lick" that seems to be the most used flashy sounding lick that bassists play in solos, and he's the one who exposed the fraud that is Giacomo Turra (look it up). On YouTube he's tons of fun but he's also a serious musician and the opening track this week is actually a lovely bit of songwriting and his vocals are much smoother than you'd expect from his content. I've put up the video of the story behind the song below.
As an FYI, he is also the guitarist for Mellon-Collies, a punk band fronted by his girlfriend that has been played on these playlists, and they do all their own merch. I know this because I bought a T-shirt from them and they snuck in a second shirt, a pin, and a thank you note. They're good people.
I've been known to sneak in an instrumental track or two on these playlists but this week includes four, which may be a first. Huntertones (which features John Lampley from The Late Show band) new track "Messenger", Cory Wong's 4-piece band with sax player Joshua Redman towards the end of the playlist, and of course national treasure Jon Batiste and his continued reimagining of classical piano works. Add in the blues band GA-20, who have recorded a new album with harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite and the one instrumental on their new album "Blues Now" called "Cristo Redentor" that is easily the standout track on the record. Just too much good stuff without words this week.
There is a new movie coming along soon called "Nimrods", featuring a flurry of songs by Green Day and about a fictional band who finds themselves opening for Green Day. That is why the fictional band Anal OG Dogs is featured this week with the new song "Bored" which is basically a new Green Day song.
Two bands from the early 1990's who are still around (and technically never went away) have new albums out, Collective Soul and the Trashcan Sinatras. In both cases this is some of the best work they've done in a while, and the albums are worth checking out.
Finally, I have to talk about the new Peter Gabriel song, "One By One", which closes out this week's playlist. Pater's been doing some amazing work over the past few years but this might be my single favorite track so far and I hope it's the closing track of his upcoming release "o/i". It doesn't feel like a 9 1/2 minute song and it's some of the best played and arranged music he's ever done. It's up there with "In Your Eyes" in my opinion. See if you agree.
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This past weekend I saw in a movie theater the stage production of "Hadestown". This is really the only way I get to see Broadway productions, living on the other side of the country as I do. I gotta tell you, see this if you get the chance. You know the stories, but they're told in a new way and at the end you even learn why they're being told again - which gets worked into the plot.
I found Orpheus a bit bland, but that might just be part of his charm. Persephone and Eurydice were both knock out performances, and Hermes - our narrator - is played to near perfection.
But I have to give special attention to actor Patrick Page, who plays Hades. Before this performance he ruptured his Achillies Tendon, which requires you to have a cast and if you need to be mobile, a boot over that. I've had to do it myself and it's limiting. It changes your walk. Rather than replace Page the production literally leans into it, giving him a special boot to wear and a cane, and changing some of the choreography to fit. The results add to the performance. His entire gait, manner of movement, and even dancing is changed into something inhuman, and Mr. Page pulls it off. Very few actors... hell anyone... could have pulled it off.
5 Stars. Recommended.
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So some sport podcaster I've never heard of says he'll pay the WNBA Champions Las Vegas Aces $10 Million dollars (insert Doctor Evil gif here) if they can beat a high school men's team. Put the money in an escrow account you coward. I will not take you seriously until then.
There is an initiative on the Washington State ballot that would basically approve of state-sponsored pedophilia. Vote against it, please.
The head of the Crime Administration is so lost over what has happened in Iran that he's now basically asking, "You guys have any ideas?" Such is leadership as defined by these people.
In the current digital age, Water is the new Oil.
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And because I love you (and as promised) here is the tale behind Danny Sapko's "Some Kind of Magic".
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