Tag: The National

Five Cool Songs: Five New Songs Released This Week (February 24, 2023)

Local Drags – Heard About It

The second single to be released from their upcoming record, Mess of Everything. This band from Springfield, Illinois travels the Power Pop edges of the Wilco, Cheap Trock universe with splinters of Tom Petty to soften out the edges. Look for the new record on March 17.

Nude Party – Sold Out Of Love

We are not sure of what is going on at camp Nude Party, but in the last couple of weeks they have put out a lot of content, and for the record, we here at Rock is the New Roll are quite pleased. This one, “Sold Out of Love” has a bit of a “Wild Horses” scent about it.

Ashley McBryde – Light On In The Kitchen

One of the shining lights on the Country/Americana scene, with her new single Ashley McBryde sings about the simple pleasures of life, pancakes that taste better after midnight, and a dose of local honey.

Angel – It’s Alright

If you were to ask RITNR senior contributor Bernie Sparrow there has been no decent rock music since 1977. This means this freshly minted single that features original Angel members Frank Dimino, Punky Meadows, and Danny Farrow will be on heavy rotation in the halls of Rock is the New Roll H.Q. And, god help us when the new record comes out on April 21st, via Cleopatra Records.

The National – New Order T-Shirt

The second pre-release single from their upcoming ninth proper release, Two Pages of Frankenstein.

The Top Songs of 2019 (70-66)

There have been a lot of really great songs released in 2019. This year, we will be revealing our top 100 songs five tunes at a time all the way to number one. Here are our picks for 70-66.

Go back in time to picks 100-96

Go back in time to picks 95-91

Go back in time to picks 86-90

Go back in time to picks 81-85

Go back in time to picks 80-76

Go back in time to picks 75-71

70. Petrov – Divine Wine

Petrov is another one of the great bands to come out of North Carolina, this time Charlotte. With the addition of Mary Grace McKusick as the primary songwriter and lead vocalist, an added Post-Punk attitude was developed giving the band a bit of a harder edge. With a passing resemblance to the Police song “Message in a Bottle”, this is the sort of song that might be what Janis Joplin would have been recording.

69. Tiny Ruins – School of Design

It is hard to imagine that a chance wandering into the library of a school of design to kill some time would yield such elegance, but imagine no more. This sparse pastoral beauty finds beauty in simple things like the well-designed clocks all ticking in time.

68. Bryan Adams – Whiskey in A Jar

Listen closely, as you likely will never see this sentence written in this space ever again. This new Bryan Adams song is really cool, and unironically so. Playing things acoustically safe Adams’ gargle with razor blades voice seems to be perfectly suited to this Thin Lizzy rocker. Sure, he goes all Rod Stewart unplugged on the arrangement, but hey, it is sort of good to see the guy relevant again in this new Millenium.

67. The National – Light Years

As you work your way through the highly excellent new National L.P., I Am Easy To Find, and the 16 songs presented to you, there, at the very end, the last track on the record is “Light Years.” It seems like a simple song, starting off with a piano melody morphing into the hushed vocals of Matt Berninger. Simple it may be, but it is a beauty.

66. Anderson . Paak – Make It Better (feat. Smokey Robinson)

This one is clearly the bedroom, between the sheets, jam of the year. Who among us wouldn’t want to rekindle a bit of romance by getting jiggy with it in a motel room just like you used to do? With Smokey Robinson in fine form, this one could have come right from a 1972 hot tub time machine.