SuperNatural Possession - Laura Jane Grace

SuperNatural Possession - Laura Jane Grace

2:05

Stay Alive, 2020

Written by Laura Jane Grace

The songs on this album were born of the COVID pandemic and the election it came just before.  Grace recorded them without embellishment, often only with acoustic guitar and maybe a drum machine.  This song is delivered with the usual vitriol and growl.  Is Grace talking about an ex-love or something bigger, maybe a zeitgeist of doom?  "I'm having a hard time having a fun time / I’m having a hard time finding faith in myself" were mantras on a great many people's minds as they remained unscathed but saw the destruction and dumb-fuck ignorance helping it right along.

Time Is Wasting - Josh Ritter

Time Is Wasting - Josh Ritter

2:57

See Here, I Have Built You a Mansion, 2020

Written by Josh Ritter

I love this side of Josh Ritter: alive, bright, rejuvenated and rocking.  It's an uptempo love song, and Ritter sings it with giddiness and exuberance, bounding through the melody with that nervous energy you get when you just can’t wait to be with someone.  It's written from the point of view someone who may have made bad decisions but believes himself redeemed by love ("I used to be bad, people used to get hurt / So bad that better would've still've been the worst / But you took me to the garden, girl you took me to the light").  I love that "would've still've," a great example of Ritter's ability to write demotic speech as well as ornate poetry.  Backed by a solid band, featuring a hard-driving percussion over piano and guitar lines, he conveys youthful energy.  Ritter has written deeper songs, sadder songs, and cleverer songs, but few capture the sheer exhilaration of being in love.

Alleluia - PLK

Alleluia - PLK

3:19

Enna, 2020

Written by PLK

PLK is a French rapper of Polish ("PoLacK") and Corsican descent.  This track's production is fairly moody and minimal, letting his voice carry a mix of detachment and quiet intensity, interspersed with some brief but rapid-fire verses.  The hook has a melodic, almost chant-like flow.  He leans into his heritage ("Maintenant, fils de polonais, mes ancêtres n'étaient / Pas des enculés de colons") and images of Euro-cool channeled through The Matrix ("Les balles passent même dans l'imperméable / C'est dans les classiques que je fais mes bails").

Royals Style Punk - Puddles Pity Party

Royals Style Punk - Puddles Pity Party 
3:06

single, 2020

Written by Lorde and Joel Little, 2013

It's Cover Time! 

Backed by a fairly basic rock band, Puddles tears through "Royals" in what is very much not a punk style (except maybe the exuberant drums), but certainly as an uptempo bar rocker. Puddles' mellifluous, operatic voice is of course one of the most expressive instruments in music today, but here he rushes, and doesn't give himself a chance to really belt.  He also has released versions of this song straight, and in a reggae version, but this one scratches an itch I have for faster songs, and it's a testament to how brilliant the original is that all his versions work.

Kids In America - Billie Joe Armstrong

Kids In America - Billie Joe Armstrong

3:08

No Fun Mondays, 2020 

Written by Marty Wilde and Ricky Wilde, 1981

It's Cover Time! 

I have gone my whole life largely unaware of the Wilde version of this song, so I don't know how reductive it is of hers, or the Muffs' punk version.  It's a great pop punk track taken on its own, with teen angst lyrics and sing-along choruses.  Of course, Armstrong has one of the greatest voices in rock.  In its historical context, Armstrong released this and many other covers to entertain his fans during COVID, which is yet another example of how endearingly generous and thoughtful he is as an artist.

Get Famous - Mountain Goats

Get Famous - Mountain Goats

3:19

Getting Into Knives, 2020

Written by John Darnielle

This song is a satirical jab at someone who puts ego and ambition above all else.  "Light up the sky like a comet / Make yourself want to vomit / Shine like a cursed star . Show everybody exactly who you are."   Darnielle delivers the words this one with more emotion than typical, and the song is punched up with sharp, bluesy brass lines, giving it a full sound.  The song references Wesley Willis, whom Darnielle explained he uses as inspiration to write second-person, accusatory songs.

Dancing Lady - Teddy and the Rough Riders

Dancing Lady - Teddy and the Rough Riders

2:56

single, 2020

Written by Teddy and the Rough Riders

Teddy and the Rough Riders is a Nashville-based country rock duo.  Sounding like a cross between the Flying Burrito Brothers and Ween at their most earnest circa 12 Golden Country Greats, this song, with some solid steel guitar work, offers a deadpan but slyly weird neo-country ballad.  The narrator isn't doing well, but his infatuation with the titular dancing lady makes up for his troubles.  "This house is up for rent / Payment's overdue / Honey, I'm heaven sent / I wanna give it all over to you."

Strong Enough - Ray LaMontagne

Strong Enough - Ray LaMontagne

3:35

Monovision, 2020

Written by Ray LaMontagne

LaMontagne, a folk-rock, soul-rock singer-songwriter,  is clearly inspired by the Band and Ryan Adams.  Impressively, he did everything on the album — all instruments, engineering, and production.  This song, the single off the album, is a proud proclamation of growing up poor and with a father who left his family.  He praises his hard-working mother, takes stock of class disparity, and vows to do better.  "I left home with nothing but a dream I had / All I own I could roll up in a paper bag."  The brisk tempo, LaMontagne's impassioned, gravelly vocals, and clear narrative help set this song above most countrified "We're poor but salt of the earth" story songs.

Shit Kickin' - Indigo Girls

Shit Kickin' - Indigo Girls

3:53

Look Long, 2020

Written by Amy Ray

This track is presented like a memoir of Ray's rural tomboy days: riding horses and motorcycles, heading down to the ol' fishing hole, swaggering past the men loitering at Dean Brown’s gas store. "Get a load of that tomboy, kid." But it’s no misty ballad of the halcyon days; the song comes with grit. There’s a touch of Steve Earle's piss-and-vinegar defiance, wrapped in a moody echo that gives the whole thing a slightly darker edge. Musically, it rides a steady, earthy groove: twangy guitars, unfussy drums, and just enough atmosphere to keep it from sounding nostalgic or quaint.

Green River - Eilen Jewell

Green River - Eilen Jewell

2:57

single, 2020

Written by John Fogerty

This is a pretty straightforward cover, slowed down a bit and with Jewell's languid, melodic drawl in place of Fogerty's impassioned faux-Delta yowl.  It's got a '60s country-rock vibe to it, with a little bluegrass, folk twang in it.  It's a very nice listen, but the CCR version is already perfect, so since it doesn't reinvent the song or cast it in a new light, this cover isn't much more than a curiosity, albeit a well-executed one.

Alley Cat - The Woolen Men

Alley Cat - The Woolen Men

2:29

single, 2020

Written by the Woolen Men

A groovy lo-fi indie beat that evokes the Strokes.  This band is from the Pacific Northwest and deserve more recognition.  Who knows why some bands make it big and others languish?  It's an injustice.  In this song, the narrator muses about a relationship that seems to be over.  The subject he addresses now lives with "an alley cat."  But what could have been?  "How'd you know how you wanna be? / Never know how you’re gonna see / All the worlds you leave behind."

Can't Stay Long - Scott H. Biram

Can't Stay Long - Scott H. Biram 

3:18

Fever Dreams, 2020

Written by Scott Biram?

This is an intriguing blend of roots country, rockabilly, and garage rock sensibility.  Like a Johnny Cash song reinvented by R.L. Burnside.  Biram's trucker country accent brings authentic grit to the world-weary road song.  "I'm so tired of this ol' highway / Grinding gears done left me sideways / I been drunk in a motel room / Down on the floor just crying the blues."  It's got a runaway train beat and fuzzy guitars and a toe-tapping tempo; what more do you need?

Return To Oz - Laura Jane Grace

Return To Oz - Laura Jane Grace

1:50

Stay Alive, 2020

Written by Laura Jane Grace

Grace's lyrics have always been a bit recondite, and this song is no exception.  Here, she returns to Against Me's acoustic-punk origins with a short but fierce number full of recrimination and frustration.  She's chasing someone, but is it someone else or her ideal self?  "Petrified polymorphs / I'm tired of the games we're playing / Of many excellent qualities / Thinking has never been one of them."  Note the lack of pronoun before "thinking" — it's not clear if this is lashing out or a self-criticism.  As for the title, the chorus begins "Smudge and blazes!" which is what the Nome King in Ozma Of Oz cries out in anger when his enchantments are broken and things revoke to their proper, original shape.  For Grace, it's a potent image of trans reclamation, the violent joy of returning to who you truly are after years of distortion.

August - Taylor Swift

August - Taylor Swift
4:21
Folklore, 2020
Written by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff

As with almost all of Swift's songs, this is about a love that didn't last.  The song drifts forward on gauzy guitars and soft percussion, Swift's lush, ethereal voice hovering between nostalgia and quiet resignation. She writes from the perspective of the girl who wasn't "the one," citing secret assignations and hoping she and the guy are an "us."  She leaves the love triangle drama out and focuses on the emotional blowback: stolen afternoons, hope that lingers longer than it should, and the slow realization that the future belongs to someone else. "And I can see us twisted in bedsheets / August sipped away / Like a bottle of wine / 'Cause you were never mine."  It's a good song, but as usual I'd prefer more verses and fewer choruses.

I'm Going To Give It To Mary With Love - Loudon Wainwright III

I'm Going To Give It To Mary With Love - Loudon Wainwright III

3:16

I'd Rather Lead a Band, 2020

Written by Cliff Edwards, 1933

Assisted by Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Wainwright takes on this song, which, like all the others on the album, is from the early American songbook.  This one's a winking, risqué-for-the-time song of sexual innuendo ("I'm going to let her take it right in the hand / 'Cause I know that she'll stroke it so grand")  Later, of course, he tosses out the joke: "I'm talking about a necklace!" Wainwright, with his long history of describing himself as a cross between a goofy dad, a hopeless husband, and a ladies' man who can't help himself, is the perfect voice for this novelty song.

Summer Girl - Haim

Summer Girl - Haim

3:25

Women In Music, Pt. III, 2020

Written by D. Haim, E. Haim, A. Haim, Rostam Batmanglij, Ariel Rechtshaid, and Lou Reed

Who's Lou?

An ethereal soft jazz-pop track, with a nice saxophone line and based off of the "Walk On the Wild Side" riff, for which Reed got a songwriting credit.  The song was inspired by Rechtshaid's cancer diagnosis and is meant to be sunny and positive despite the bleak news.  "Walk beside me, not behind me / Feel my unconditional love."  

Ça plane pour moi - Whyte Horses

Ça plane pour moi - Whyte Horses

3:29

Hard Times, 2020

Written by Lou Deprijck and Yvan Lacomblez

Whyte Horses is a shifting French-pop collective.  Here they romp through a fairly faithful, bright-yet-trashy rendition of the Plastic Bertrand song, with female vocal.  It's just as fun as the original, and I do like the song, but it's a pretty inessential track.  Maybe I just don't enough about this band to hear what they're adding to the song.

Godzilla - Eminem

Godzilla - Eminem

3:31

Music To Be Murdered By, 2020

Written by Marshall Mathers, Jarad Higgins, David Doman, Luis Resto, and Alejandro Villasana

A virtuoso machine-gun-fire showcase of Eminem's vocal skills.  It's all the same things I wish rap would grow out of, the self-aggrandizement and braggadocio, but of course it's got some of that Mathers humor to alleviate all that.  The insanely rapid final verse really gets me bopping.  The mush-mouth sing-rapping between verses by Juice WRLD I could do without.

Revival - Zach Bryan

Revival - Zach Bryan

3:40

Elisabeth, 2020

Written by Zach Bryan

With its sparse instrumentation, this song is raw and feels intimate, like you're hearing a bar band playing some favorite song after hours, just for themselves.  It has the kind of sing-along chorus that Middle America and indie hipsters alike can get behind: "For the sake of my survival / Baptize me in a bottle of Beam, put Johnny on the vinyl."  It's got that old time religion, but with a shot of whiskey and the gospel choir plays outlaw country.  He confesses his sins and the expiation is a good time with the boys.

Love's Not Enough - the Mysterines

Love's Not Enough - the Mysterines

3:48

Love's Not Enough, 2020

Written by the Mysterines, I guess

These songs have Vs!

Another band totally new to me.  British alternative foursome plays grandiose, grunge-influenced rock.  But Pearl Jam, not Nirvana.  This song is no growled exercise in introspection, but a booming anthem to losing love despite it all. Singer Lia Metcalfe belts out stirring, brooding vocals in a lower register over big crunchy riffs.  The narrator bemoans an imploding relationship.  "Please take it back to where we began."  But we can't.