Slow week. 50 songs submitted, but good ones
’23 Roads Away from Rodeo Drive, ‘single by BINX. This is a different BINX; more singer-songwriter, less pop. It works. She pulls you in with a mesmerizing guitar and then holds you with the words and the vocals – unmistakably BINX, but sweet, urgent, and with a message. Stream on major platforms.
Do All Things With Love, single by Say She She. NYC punk-chic, disco, funk band Say She She brings us a dreamy-sounding but heavy dance-oriented song with the harmonies and solos that Say She She can deliver so well. It’s my fave song from the new Cut & Rewind politically-charged, dancefloor third album. The vocal trio of Piya Malik, Sabrina Mileo Cunningham, and Nya Gazelle Brown weave a psychedelic soundscape that moves your feet in Do All Tings With Love. Put it on and dance. Stream on all major platforms.
Me Asusta Amor Tanto la Soledad, single by RubIo. The Chilean Fran Straube Rubio has produced what she calls a “Dark Alchemical Journey” that blends EDM, trip-hop, and Andean roots music, dembow, and trap song (and album). It opens with an ethereal intro and then shifts to slow trap. The throughline is her voice– at once vulnerable and feminine and self-confident and rhythmic. An earworm after a few listens. Stream on major platforms. Spanish.
Lado Fragil, single by Regina Blandon. I am recommending this song, not only because I love it, but because the trajectory of Blandon’s career is noteworthy. She is a Mexican actress who became widely known in aTV sitcom as a “weird” but clear‑headed kid in a dysfunctional family. Since then, she has built a career across television, film, and theater and is now venturing into music with this single. “Lado Frágil” is a pop‑regional track produced by Simply Music that showcases her vocal range and ability to interpret contemporary Mexican music and make it her own. She has released other songs with bands and soundtracks, but this is an early, if not the earliest, solo, and she did a great job. Stream on Spotify and major platforms. Spanish.
Standards and Practices, single by Large (Jamie Hilsden). From his new Marine Life album, “Standards and Practices” is a gentle liquid journey that carries you along like a warm current – never far from the beach, but enjoying the sun as you float along on your back. A very nice way to relax. Stream on Spotify and major platforms.
Vueltas single by La Garfield and Maria Centano. Centano and La Garfield collaborate with Centano’s warm, expressive vocals and emotionally direct lyrics that move comfortably between folk, bolero, and contemporary pop, moved along by the band’s jazz, funk, rock, and Latin rhythms into a bright, horn-backed, danceable sound. A really nice combination that you will want to put on Repeat. Stream on major platforms.
Patrick O’Heffernan
