247 songs, albums, videos submitted this week
Like a Dog, single by Jordana. This is the second track off the LA-based singer-songwriter’s upcoming album, Lively Premonition. The lyrics bemoan the dog-like love she held for someone who cares not. Musically, it is high energy, with the beat scaffolding her smooth and shiny vocals. On Spotify and major platforms.
RIP, single by X.ari. X.Ari never fails to surprise and please. RIP is a celebration of burying her old self and making room for a rebirth of a new better version of herself. As always, she carries you along with powerful, but not overstated drumming, complex and very satisfying instrumental arrangements, and her voice – at times personal and close in your ear, and at others exulting, but devoid of “the scream” that made her famous at one point. As always, she reaches into your mind with her music to display hers, a swirling, intimate, experience. The only thing better is seeing her live. On Spotify and major platforms.
Simplemente Amigos, single by Carolina Ross and Pepe Walker. Ross takes what used to be called regional Mexican music and has now gone mainstream as just “Mexican music “– a transformation her presence helped engineer – in this team up with Walker and moves into into unique pop territory. The accordion becomes a third voice, inserting sonic comments, while the duo spins out the story. If this is the future of Mexican music, I like it. Stream on Spotify and other platforms. Spanish.
Asi Hablamos in Tijuana, single by Adriana Rios. Classic Mexico corrido drama. But an anthem to the women of Mexico.. Rios grabs you with the urgency of her vocals , the power of her lyrics, and her haunting voice, and moves you with a tango-theater of guitars and violins, and accordion. A masterpiece of musical craftsmanship – or should I say craftswomanship, as she is one of the rising female regional voices that now line the national charts. Stream on major platforms. Spanish.
Straight into Darkness, single by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. From the Long After Dark album now just over a month from release (pre-order on Spotify while you listen to the tracks out now). Classic blues rock base with Petty’s must-listen story-telling voice capturing your ears until your muscles clinch in syncopation, Stream on all platforms.
Something to Write in Stone, single, by Mindy Smith. Sit down, close your eyes, put on your headphones and listen. This song emerged from Smith’s meeting her birth family and discovering her roots in the hills of the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains. Poignant only begins to describe it. She combines Americana, quiet passion and an angelic voice into a song that will penetrate your heart, and inspire you. Stream on major platforms.
Patrick O’Heffernan
