13 Great Songs For You + The Best Stuff I Heard This Week 2/12/21
This week’s edition of BSIHTW is a day late. For that, I apologize, but Valentine’s Day only comes around once a year, and I had someone special I had to shower with affection. That, however, was yesterday, and today, I’ve got several bands and artists who are deserving of my praises and attention. In this round, we have a few songs that will be great once summer comes around. Maybe they can help you find warm thoughts for the dead of winter. Several of these picks came from last week’s CT Rocks! radio show on Trinity College’s WRTC. You can listen to DJ Bobby D every Tuesday from 6 to 9pm for a heavy dose of CT music to warm the soul. Here is my weekly round up of the best music I’ve heard in the last seven days. Keep reading for a few words on our 14 featured songs. Skip on down to the bottom of the page for the complete playlist.
“The Roof” – Vernon Thompson
Opening with an audio clip from 1989’s Lean on Me, “The Roof” has to be very personal to Connecticut MC Vernon Thompson; the passion he raps with is loud and clear. The track begins with dialogue from Morgan Freeman, playing Joe Clark, the principal at Eastside High in Paterson, New Jersey. Thompson, an educator in Bridgeport, faces a similar struggle to Clark. Thompson, like Clark, is working in an educational system that, while acknowledging it’s shortcomings, continues to do little to help the Black and Brown children it is failing.
On “The Roof,” Thompson lays out the life or death consequences education plays in the lives of many of his students, and he does it as a masterful wordsmith. With steady, punctuated rhymes, he sets the context perfectly: many students don’t know much more about their world than their city or neighborhood. The streets offer release and the temptations of a fast life with fast money. Thompson wants kids to see the larger picture by looking from the roof. This gives his pupils the opportunity to see beyond what they know and into what is waiting beyond their corner of the world; beyond the the world they think they know.
Undoubtedly, Vernon Thompson made “The Roof” for his students. That said, plenty of suburbanites walk away from listening closely to the track. Check out the video above.
2. “Extraction” – Kasi
“Extraction,” Eightball’s opening track, is like a flower with multiple blooms. It begins with the soft hum of an organ, before a little jingling percussion is introduced. Then… the saxophone. You won’t be ready for it, but really, it’s exactly what you want. Let that woodwind fill you sails, because you’re about to go on a musical journey. That’s only the first bloom. The next, is our star Kasi. Immediately, his voice exudes feeling and passion. Right away, the mind goes to a Nostalgia, Ultra or Channel Orange era Frank Ocean. His voice is rich and fills the cavernous beat with the warmth.
Then you make it to the 3:03 mark, and we’re met with another blossom. The bass drops and Kasi switches into high gear. He speaks confidence, joy, maturity, and thankfulness. The track feels like a prayer, flooded with grandeur.
MORE ON EIGHTBALL - The Best Music You’ll Hear Today: Kasi’s Eightball
3. “The Love Frequency” – Kasi
With the sound of a late night at the beach after a hazy July day, “The Love Frequency” feels like a young, careless night of two open hearts staring at the stars while they discover each other. It’s exciting and intoxicating, finite and ever fleeting, but nourishing. These are the kind of nights that happen when you have the thrust of youth and an independent spirit behind you. Kasi sings about the conflicting desire and needs people have, perfectly encapsulating the push and pull of connecting with someone who is ultimately not interested in love.
READ AND LISTEN TO EIGHTBALL - The Best Music You’ll Hear Today: Kasi’s Eightball
4. “Change of Seasons” – Your Friend Jebb feat. Lisa Mychols and Tom Richards
Opening with beautiful singing from Lisa Mychols (who I believe recorded a series of vocal tracks so she could harmonize with herself), Jebb and company have themselves a wonderfully upbeat song about love and the coming summer season. Making use of a variety of instruments, Jebb and bandmates Arthur Roberts, Owen Radford, and Tyler Green, along with featured performer Tom Richards create a rich poppy back drop that you can bop to this summer with the windows down, or today as you daydream of a day above 45 degrees.
5. “Collapse” – Murderous Chanteuse
Slow moving, and kind of (sort of) evocative of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” by Sinead O’Connor, “Collapse” finds a way to fit a lot of detail into it’s uncluttered soundscape. Released in 2016 by Connecticut artist Murderous Chanteuse, this modern, plodding pop track is perfect for the winter dull drums we find ourselves in.
6. “Freedom” – Blair Leavitt
Soulful singer and New England Blair Leavitt carries a gorgeous and buttery voice that she puts on full display on her track “Freedom.” The premise is Leavitt on a walk, thinking, in a general way, about when freedom will be free. This idea is especially poignant after a difficult year that stoked division and distrust seems to run rampant through the public. Accompanied by a gently moving piano, Leavitt puts her talents on full display and will have you thinking yourself, in a general way, about what it means to be free.
7. “The Routine” – Drive
Hailing from Newcastle Upon Tyne, the British duo Drive draw comparison to Phoenix and The 1975. Their latest release, “The Routine” fits right into this space, making use of electronic sensibilities to create a bubbly, pop rock environment. The steadily paced song carries a sense of urgency with it, emblematic of the desperation of love.
8. “Summerboy Blues” – Poploader
We at mvsicthovght have been experiencing an unexpected and delightful phenomenon: a growing and active German audience. The newest edition to this segment is Poploader, an indie pop outfit out of Regensburg. “Summerboy Blues” feels very 1998; we’re happy-go-lucky and having a walk on sunshine. Kids are laughing, flowers are blooming, and everything feels just right. Soak up the positive vibes ladies and gentlemen!
9. “Electric Eye” – Kevin MF King
“Electric Eye” is something I can’t really make an apt comparison to. King’s raspy vocals sound strained, as if making this song is the most difficult thing he’s ever done. It has the delightful gloom of an indulgent person who has resigned himself to vice. Strumming along on his acoustic guitar, King mosies forward in a drunken stupor.
10. “What He About” – Adversity
Wethersfield rapper Adversity comes with the aura of Big Sean. Unlike some other Hartford area MCs we’ve included here recently, Adversity is outside of the New York drill mold, instead relying on clever word play and varied flows to capture his listeners. “What He About” chronicles Adversity’s journey to earn respect in the world of hip hop. He’s gone from being doubted and slept on and is now poised to make a jump. All he needs now is opportunity. His newest single with Brittney Crush has already landed on next week’s playlist, so check back on Sunday for more Adversity.
11. “Bitter” - All That We Are
Last week, I wrote at length about how All That We Are is a lot like blink-182. A lot like blink-182. That’s especially true on “Bitter,” which features guitar riffs and drum combinations that could have come straight off of blink’s California or Neighborhoods. This however, is All That We Are, and they are a Connecticut treasure to be cherished. The record has the breakneck speed they’ve been known for, along with moments where the tempo varies, adding a balance and intrigue.
MORE ALL THAT WE ARE - Connecticut’s All That We Are - A better blink-182?
12. “Different Path” – All That We Are
We’re revisiting All That We Are, this time off their most recent project, More Reminders of the Past. “Different Path” finds the middle path between Angels and Airwaves and blink-182, taking long-time staples of pop-punk and arranging them with bits of space rock along the way. It gives us a look at the band from a different angle, even if singers Amar Lapastica and Justin ‘Riku’ Almodovar sound exactly like Mark and Tom.
IN CASE YOU DIDN’T CLICK ON THE LINK FOR SONG #11 - Connecticut’s All That We Are - A better blink-182?
13. “Big Hug” – Max & Haley
What would you have if FKA twigs paired up with a still-in-the-thick-of-chill-wave Toro y Moi? You might have Max & Haley, a pop duo that mixes whimsical, eclectic noises into their ambient musical spaces. Driven by a simple synth and bass, you’re awash in rising and falling waves. It’s dusk, and you’ve spent all day in the sand and the surf, and now you need to muster the stamina and gumption to ride your bike home. This is “Big Hug” in a nutshell. It’s lackadaisical and imprecise, but it knows exactly where it’s going.
The Complete Playlist: The Best Stuff I Heard This Week 2/12/21
Michael Stroneski, editor at mvsicthovght, has started several blogs and multi-media projects you’ve never seen. He is a life-long cheerleader for Connecticut and underground music. You can reach him at contact@mvsicthovght.com.