As I had stated earlier this month, July would overflow our collective cups with new music. The seventh month has kept that promise…and then some. Many people I know have raved about some of the songs I’ve found and shared here. I also had one friend talk up a new release that I didn’t have on my radar.
“Hey, Ian! The Twisters soundtrack has been released.”
Now, I have developed a reputation over the years for being a “music snob.” So, to be more inclusive, I gave it a shot on Spotify.
Country music is just awful. I never liked it growing up in southern Indiana, and I hated it even more when “Friends in Low Places” became a thing. I have purposely kept myself away from the post-9/11 “Murica, Y’all!” brand of country because it was much, much worse than Garth & Co. While Luke Combs’s cover of “Fast Car” is just terrible, it also made my irony meter hit red. It was awe-inspiring to see country music fans suddenly find value in a song about people struggling to make a life by getting away from an abusive situation only to fall into a similar life, written by a queer woman of color. Maybe country was going to open its worldview and worth another chance.
Nope. It’s still awful.
Anyway, I’m happy to move away from that album and talk about three songs that have caught my attention this week.
The Number 3 Star: TC and the Groove Family – We Have Each Other
On first blush, it’s easy to think of TC and the Groove Family as The U.K.’s answer to The Budos Band. However, there’s more to the 10-member band from Leeds than a quick reaction. Their booking website describes them as a “collective whose music celebrates the coming together of cultures, and the unity that music can provide for everyone. Driven by drummer Tim Cook, their live shows are powerful and dynamic, exploring grooves and genres from the UK and around the world, including afrobeat, breakbeat, jungle, jazz and highlife.”
The Number 2 Star: John Cale – How We See Light
After a seven-year gap between albums, John Cale has released his second in as many years. The last active member of The Velvet Underground hasn’t lost a step. Within the first three seconds of this release, you can quickly identify it as a John Cale song. While “How We See Light” has been in the water supple for a couple of months, its source album, Poptical Illusion hit the shelves earlier this month.
The Number 1 Star: Childish Gambino – Lithonia
First, there must be a talent anti-trust statute that limits how many things one person can excel in. If that were the case, Donald Glover would always be in court (along with Seth McFarland). Glover is a top-five actor, writer, director, musician, and show producer, and at 40, is halfway to an EGOT. He is a modern-day and real-life Buckaroo Banzi…a true polymath. The once-and-future Troy Barnes just released the soundtrack for the upcoming film titled Bando Stone & The New World, which is reportedly “Childish Gambino’s” final studio album, as Glover plans on retiring that moniker.
Ian Shane is the author of In Ten Years, Postgraduate and Radio Radio and creator of the blog, Liner Notes. His “almost memoir,” Sundry Notes of Music, is now available in paperback and Kindle. He currently lives in Denver with his cats.