Valerie June "You Can't Be Told"

It's hard to not be cynical.

Like when a superhero movie has great success, and then the next year a dozen superhero movies come out.

Or when a few cupcake stores do surprisingly well, and suddenly there are cupcake stores everywhere.

It makes you cynical, because it feels like someone is just cashing in on a trend.

This happens in music all the time.

Remember in the 90s when a couple of Big Band sounding records broke, and suddenly there were dozens of bands making swing music?

In the last 18 months, The Black Keys went from being a cool under the radar indie band, to headlining arenas.  And Alabama Shakes came from absolutely nowhere, to have one of the best, and most successful rock records of 2012.

So it's hard not to hear some record executive shouting, "Get me a chick that sounds like Britney Howard---and make her a looker---backed by a band that sounds like The Black Keys, pronto!!!"

That's what I hear in my head, when I hear Valerie June.

And I suppose it's not fair.

Of course it sounds like The Black Keys.  June's record is produced by Dan Auerbach.  So that sound/reference makes sense.

And she's been performing live since 2000, loooong before The Black Keys or Alabama Shakes were making money, headlines or even records.  So to say she's hopping on a trend isn't fair.

Yet, when I think about adding this song as a single, its hard not to be stuck in that reactive place of "this sounds too much like some other, very distinct stuff."

As a listener, could you hard this as its own thing?  Or is this just another cupcake store?


Hear the song on Youtube.

Local H "Bound For The Floor"

Here's another Weekend Post:

Before The Black Keys had the guitar/drums duo thing---even before The White Stripes---Local H was there . . .


See the video on Youtube.

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show. They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

Bruce Springsteen "Jack Of All Trades"

My two year old son is a shockingly opinionated music listener. Though he only knows about 20 words at this point, if he hears a song he likes, he will smile and bob his head (he's got rhythm, unlike his Dad). And if he doesn't like the song, he's been known to stick his fingers in his ears.

In the spirit of Bil Keane, turning over his comic to Billy, here now is my 2 year old son's partial review on the new Bruce Springsteen album "Wrecking Ball," which we listened to on Saturday morning.

"We Take Care Of Our Own"
He liked this one, smiling and nodding throughout. And when it was over, he shouted "Again!" (But he only shouted it once. When he really likes something, like The Black Keys' "Lonely Boy," he'll actually scream if you don't play it again)


"Jack Of All Trades"
We got about one minute into the first slow track on the record, before he shouted "Noooo!" several times, until I skipped the song. When I did, he smiled.


"Wrecking Ball"
The Irish beat inspired him to run off to his bedroom and get his drum so he could bang away. However, once he got in his room, he got lost in his own beat (and his toys) and lost interest in Bruce.


And thus ends my 2 year old son's first music review.

The Black Keys "Lonely Boy"

I wrote about how it is sometimes incumbent upon the station, to play a new track from a veteran artist, regardless of quality, because to ignore it would be weird.

Like, we always play a new Neil Young track, if only to let the listeners decide for themselves that maybe this one wasn't Neil's best.

Similarly, there comes a point with certain new artists, where we may need to address them, whether they are "mvy-style" or not.

Personally, I like sound of The Black Keys. But I've never heard them do a song that made me think they should be on mvy. The noisy garage rock just isn't the right fit.

But the band has had quite a run in the last year or so, showing up in places that mvy listeners are hearing them (Saturday Night Live, Letterman). People are curious.

This new song is good, but, objectively it still doesn't sound like mvy to me.

As the song gets added to stations around the country that are similar to mvy, as the band shows up on TV programs that mvy-listeners watch, as positive reviews stack up in publications our listeners read, it may become weird that we're not playing them.

Their absence is noticeable. But their presence seems out of place.

It's weird to feel so awkwardly ambivalent about what is a seriously kick-ass song.


Hear the song on Youtube.