When two of your favorite artists throw down a collaboration on one of your favorite YouTube shows and cover one of your favorite songs the results should be epically cool. And they are.
Author: falconi5
A place for musically minded folk to get together and share ideas, reviews, and basically spread the word.
Five Cool Ones: Just Five Cool Ones for This Week (January 8, 2021)
As musicians are dusting themselves off and getting ready to make their plans for the new year, the new record releases for this week have been a bit tepid, to say the least. But, fear not musical buckaroos, we will be back in full glory in the next couple of weeks as there are some really cool tunes primed and ready to hit our ear-waves very soon. In the meantime, here five cool ones that have hit our radar recently.
Grace Potter – Release
Somewhere along the line, Grace Potter has started to morph into a slightly more hip Beth Hart. But, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Here, on her fresh as a daisy new video for some inexplicable reason, we see her pulling a boat down the beach in a bikini, slow walking seductively in a field of flowers, and sitting down at the piano singing like a bird. But ours is not to question why ours is only to enjoy the ride provided by this song from her highly excellent 2019 record, Daylight.
Lukas Nelson – Set Me Down On A Cloud
Son of Willie proves once again that the apple falls right next to the tree. His series of quarantine songs, Special Soundcheck Songs, has been a beautiful respite of calmness during these trying days. Here, he performs an acoustically lovely version of “Set Me Down On A Cloud” from his debut self-titled record.
Peanuts Gang – Roundabout
This is a tough song to cover, but here the entire Peanuts gang joins in on one of the best versions of the song you will ever hear. Spoiler alert, Snoopy plays a mean upright bass.
Brothers in Exile – Last Orders
The former member of the Welsh band Sonny Jim, Lloyd Jenkins partners with Stu Calder for a new project, Brothers in Exile. With this, their latest single, the boys deliver a bouncy hook-laden gem in the Wildhearts mold. Classic Rock magazine describes the tune as more fun than a clown car driven at speed into a bouncy castle. And, heck they may have something there.
The Quins – Wild Ones
Put a pin in this one and save it in your musical memory banks because you are going to bearing a lot more great music emanating from this band in the coming months, you can bet on it. Solid riffs, Power Pop textures with a dynamically voiced singer that can carry the day. For practice dive into their back catalog that includes their 2019 epic of an album, The Woods Look Good.
And, for extra credit check the band out live performing “The Devil’s Abode.”
Song of the Day: CIEL – All My Life
Definitely, one of the bands to have on your what to look for list for 2021, CIEL delivers a brand of blissful Indie Pop that will soothe the soul and provide a calm, cool, and collected flowered for growing good things to come.
Video of the Day: Coach Party – Can’t Talk, Won’t
It is pretty amazing that such a great band would come from such a small island, Isle of Wight. But naturally, the limited square miles available for wandering about means it is fairly inevitable that like-minded musicians will find each other and form a band. Newly signed by Chess Club Records, the folks who brought you, Wolf Alice, the band provides razor-sharp melodies and killer Indie-Pop hooks that should put them on the map in relatively short order.
Song of the Day: Aaron Frazer – Over You
Once again Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio is shaping up to have another great year. This time, their eclectically cool new find is Aaron Frazer, the drummer for Durand Jones & The Indications who will be stepping out from the riser for his first solo record to be released in January.
Video of the Day: Mary Ann Cotton – Get It On
Named after a serial killer from the mid-1800s whose weapon of choice was poison, the band Mary Ann Cotton stops such sort of ’70s Alice Cooper tribute band territory all the way down to the endorsement directly from Alice himself along with high praise from the original Alice Cooper band member Dick Wagner who discovered them. With true talent to back up the gimmick, this Danish-American band should be on your Rock and Roll radar.
Five Cool Ones: The Top 5 Rock and Roll Songs from 2020
If you have not heard the news rock is not dead, and the demise of good old barn burning Rock and Roll has been extremely exaggerated. Here are our top five singles worthy of checking out to increase your musical street cred.
Thundermother – Driving In Style
These hard-driving all-female Swedish rockers delivered their stellar record, Heat Wave, carrying a ’70s rock groove that can stand fret for fret with any of their male counterparts. The lead-off single “Driving In Style” will take you pedal to the metal down to the parts of your subconscious that you have not visited in a very long time.
The Struts – Cool
It’s no secret that we love Luke Spiller and the Struts. In fact, their new record, Strange Days, would have been our record of the year were it not for the fact that Robbie Williams appears on the single, and we will have none of that. Here, on the appropriately named “Cool” the most dynamic frontman in the game today struts his stuff in a fine fashion.
The Dirty Denims – Last Call For Alchohol
Another fine band with a female rocker leading the way, this time courtesy of Mirjam Sieben, the vibe is pure AC/DC by way of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. With this ode to blasting past the last call at your local bar, or these days in your living room, and letting things rip you can start your own countdown to ecstasy.
The Wild – High Speed
Another Born to Be Wild jump on your Harley and ride hard groover of a tune. You will grow a mullet just listening to this one.
King King – Dance Together
As groove-laden a rocker as you are likely to come across in recent months, these Scottish rockers will make you miss putting a couple more tokens in your local’s jukebox just to make the night last a little bit longer.
Friday Night Fever – Our First five Jams of 2021
The vibe is an optimistic one for 2021 and here at Rock is the New Roll we are ready to go, ears-up, in search of music we all should be listening to.
The Midnight Callers – Red Letter Glow
Putting the power in Power Pop, the elegantly monikered Midnight Callers blend Power Pop and late 70’s Pub Rock bringing to the ear Rockpile or early Cheap Trick on their maiden voyage of a record, Red Letter Glow. The vocals in front of the mix are great particularly on the bands’ made it their own tribute to Bill Withers with “Use Me,” and “41 Miles to Roscoe” is on the shortlist for the driving song of the year that would have been played on repeat during that road trip you didn’t get to take last year. “I’m tired of the smokin’ and the drinkin’ and the women, I just want to be your man.”
If you are a fan of Mid-era Kinks, Cheap Trick, The Romantics, The Sweet, or even going back to early Slade these guys should be your jam and are definitely worthy of early placement on your “ones to watch” list.
Mike Viola – Creeper
In a year where the artistic community was particularly hit with the passing of musicians that still had a lot of their heart left to share with us, Mike Viola pays tribute to Fountains of Wayne frontman Adam Schlesinger. His record, Godmuffin, takes a poignant look at the past and sets a wait and see tone for the future.
Drake Bell – The Lost Album
Definitely living up to the interesting back story, Drake Bell’s latest, The Lost Album, despite the slight Yacht-Rock glossy sheen is definitely an ear-worthy throw-back sort of listen. After releasing a highly excellent debut record with It’s Only Time way back in 2007 Bell began work on his follow-up effort only to lose all of the material when he lost the hard drive that contained all of his demos. Recently, he found the drive, polished up the songs, and put a contemporary sheen on songs that at the end of the day seem to be aging very well indeed.
Whether he is rhyming Leonardo with “making out with Jared Leto” like he does on his ode to the late-night party hook-up on “The Party”
or, channeling the spirit of Harry Nilsson most effectively on “Sail On” along with the spirit of Boz Scaggs on “Nowhere Else To Go” the vintage throw-back wave of musical nostalgia we are treated to with this record provides a much-needed balm for the soul.
Hot Breath – Bad Feeling
Ripping it up and burning your house party to the ground, these young Gothenburg whippersnappers play it fast, rock it loud, and deliver the goods so impeccably they could have headlined the Goose Lake Rock rock festival back in 1976 blowing away those other Detroit bands The Stooges and MC-5 in the process. There is already an E.P. out but keep your ears peeled for a proper record, Rubbery Lips set to be released in April 2021.
Blackfield – For The Music
When Contemporary-Prog artist Steven Wilson is involved in a project the results are typically intriguing if not spectacular, and here his collaboration with the band Blackfield and Israeli star Aviv Geffen is next-level cool. “For The Music” is the star on the record but don’t sleep on the rest of the Summers Gone album. It’s the go-to Progressive Rock listen for those that think they don’t like Progressive Rock.
Live Video of the Day: Michael Kiwanuka – Lean On Me (Jools Annual Hootenany)
Michael Kiwanuka is one of the most underrated artists in the business today. His album Kiwanuka released in 2019 is one of the best records to be released in the last five years released, and his debut back in 202 was stellar as well. Here, he scorches the earth with his tribute to Bill Withers.
Live Video of the Day: Tom Jones and Jools Holland – Whispering Grass (Later…With Jools Holland)
Sure he’s lost just a bit off of his vocal fastball, but heck, it’s 2021, and who among us hasn’t. Here Sir Tom entertains on the New Year’s Eve episode of Later…With Jools Holland.
Rock Is The New Roll 