A huge chunk of me really wants to hate this song.  Really hate it.  It’s so light-weight, fluffy and sincere.  It doesn’t help that it has been used in a number of terrible movies including Fever Pitch, The Lindsay Lohan version of The Parent Trap, and So I Married an Axe Murderer.  And then there’s the Sixpence None the Richer version.

Really, what does it have going for it?

Despite my grumblings it’s a perfect pop song. It’s got an inescapable melody and some of the best Roger McGuin rip-off chords this side of Peter Buck.  It does what it’s supposed to and nothing more.  And sometimes, that’s all you really need.

So, yeah it’s pretty great after-all.

8th Grader (aka Jason Martinovich) is gearing up to release his self-titled EP.  The eponymous EP is a mix of new-wave sonics and a Neo-soul vibe.   Imagine if John Legend or Prince’s quieter moments were tracks for a John Hughes movie and you’d come up with 8th Grader.

Leading Us Absurd is proud to offer an exclusive stream of 8th Grader prior to its release   next Tuesday (May 21st.)

8th Grader – 8th Grader Stream.

Hadouken!’s third album Every Weekend has generated a lot of buzz before the album was even released.  Their single “Levitate” was released as part of their “People Are Awesome 2013″ video which went viral and has been seen by over 30 million people.

Every Weekend solidifies Hadouken!’s unique mix of dance-oriented pop and Linkin Park-style vocals.  In other words, you can mosh and dance to it at the same time.  This combination had made the group front-runners in the UK’s Bass scene.

Check out the “People Are Awesome 2013″ video here.

A while back, I wrote about the Goodnight Darling’s EP Dolldrums which contained the infectious and hooky single “Red Hot”.  Now the duo are back again with their latest single “Propaganda” which is equally as awesome.

Check it out on their over at their site.

I already digging Jay Nash’s Letters From the Lost and then I heard the fourth song, “The White Whale”.  Over a dark acoustic chord pattern and soft drum-beat, Nash compares a girl to Moby Dick.  Jesus Christ.

Obsession is one of music’s favorite themes.  Comparing a girl to Moby Dick is a bold move – Ahab and Moby Dick are almost synonymous with obsession and destruction. It’s not just himself that could go down, but anyone else around him.

Even before I heard “White Whale”, I was already thinking that Nash lifts Americana from its pigeon-hold.  Too often, Americana has become a catch-phrase for a genre of music that is country-influenced but doesn’t fit into the mode of contemporary country or rock.

Which brings me back to Moby Dick and “The White Whale”.  Letters From the Lost conjures up past lives of America.  It’s Melville in “The White Whale”, it’s camp-fire sing-alongs on “Sailor”.   It’s the sound of a cold Autumn night that fuels “I Won’t Let Go”.  It’s bootleg whiskey underneath those spacious chords and Nash’s voice on “Wanderer”.

Nash’s songs stand apart from his contemporaries, because he makes you believe.   When you listen to Letters to the Lost, you’re being transported back to another time because Nash has as well. Letters From the Lost was recorded in Vermont.  There’s no way it could have been recorded anywhere else.

Check out “Wanderer”:

Letters From the Lost out 5/14.

www.jaynash.com

Creed Bratton’s Tell Me About It is more than just a new release.  Unfolding over 3 Acts, Tell Me About It tells the story of his life in song form in what Bratton refers to as an “audio-biography”.   Produced by Grammy-award winning producer Dave Way, Tell Me About is both funny and touching – just like Bratton himself.

Your producer Dave Way suggested you that make Tell Me About It as a concept album what you refer to as an “audio-biography”.  What was your original vision for the album, and what was your reaction to his suggestion? 

We worked together on the last album with basically the same band.  We were listening to the songs  – I wanted to an off -Broadway show and he said, “This is your story.”  So I listened back to it and I thought wow this really is my life.”

That’s what I like it. I haven’t seen it this before.  The songs really stand on their own.  I thought we should start the album “One Guitar”.  It sets up the mood. I went out and worked with songwriters I respected.  The songwriting has improved a lot with this album.  It’s hard for me to imagine writing with someone else other than Dave.  I really enjoy working with Dave, it’s not like working, and it’s more fun.

Music has had such a profound effect on your life starting with being a member of the The Grassroots in the 1960s.   Why do you think it’s had such a profound effect on you? 

I’ve always had music in my DNA.  Everybody in my family played music.  If I was in a really down period, there’s something exhilarating about music.  If music is right, it can really lift your spirit.  Nothing else got me stimulated; the thing that was constant was a good song.  That’s still true to this day.

Has your songwriting processed changed over the years since you were in the Grassroots?

Songwriting is never the same.  I’m not one of these cats, “I’m gonna write about this.”  “Unemployment Line”, I did.  I was so embarrassed, but that’s very rare.  I usually watch sports and play guitar.  I can make a mistake and a riff comes out.  One chord will lead to another chord.  I hear a melody a few days later.  And all of a sudden –boom!  – Out comes the melody and the song.  I have no formula.  They’re gonna written somehow.  It’s like babies coming into the world.

Tell Me About It will be released as a limited edition vinyl.  Are you happy that there’s been resurgence on vinyl in the past few years? 

I’ve been planning this for a long time.  When I came to Dave, I said “I don’t even to sell CDs.”  He and I both agreed that most people don’t even listen to most albums, but I’m really proud of Tell Me About It and it takes you on this ride.   Sometimes it’s kind of raw, and vulnerable and let out those truths.  I can’t pull back; it’s also going to entertainment and inspires people not to give up.  I had really many years of being down.  I just kept going.  I went out and worked with songwriters I respected.  The songwriting has improved a lot with this album.  It’s hard for me to imagine writing with someone else other than Dave.  I really enjoy working with Dave, it’s not like working, and it’s more fun.

Much of your story is well known: being in The Grassroots, your eventual leaving, years of struggling as an actor and then eventually The Office.  Are you hoping that Tell Me About It will help fill in the gaps?

I don’t know if I really care if people know the real guy.  Obviously there’s a bunch of stuff you don’t want to tell because of the privacy.  I want people to know that even late in life, he achieved his goals and that he didn’t give up.   Sometimes, I’m not sure what the songs about.  Sometimes I’ll see it later –and realize it was sub-consciousness talking.  People bring and read their own meanings into the songs.  If they know my intent they might not get something out of it.

I’m having a pretty good life here.  People think that I am Creed (from The Office.)  People to this day, don’t realize the songwriting and that I do serious roles as well.  Tell Me About It was a lot of work.  The recoding and writing is fun, but the artwork and promotion is a lot of work.  But when people do react, it’s a real compliment.

Tell Me About It - Act One Out now!

(Act 2 on May 7 and Act 3 Ma7 21.)

My friends at City Bird Publicity are giving away two free tickets to see NTNT (Ninja Turtle Ninja Tiger) this Thursday (May 2nd) at Seattle’s High Dive.

Remember Bloc Party circa 2007 when they released A Weekend In the City?  NTNT pick up where that record left off with dance-infused rock and hints of Edge-style delay pedals.

Check out the video for “Vines, Baby” below:

To enter the contest email melissa@citybirdpublicity.com with the subject “NTNT Contest”.  Entries must be received by 11 PM EST, Wednesday May 1st.

Full info on the show below:

Of all the early R.E.M. songs, this is the one.  It’s the one I’ve never gotten tired of even when I’ve grown tired of R.E.M.  The one I still listened to when I was ready to throw in the towel of a band that defined much of my childhood.  It may not get played the same way as “Man on the Moon” or “Losing My Religion”, but “So. Central Rain” is as perfect as a song that R.E.M. has ever written.

Like most R.E.M. songs, Michael Stipe’s vocals are the crux of the song.  On most of the early records, he mumbled his way through the song daring the listener to decipher what his intentions.  He could be ironic, distant and cool, and sometimes you could never tell which was which.  That was half the fun of those early records.

On “So. Central Rain”, it’s a different Michael Stipe at the helm.  He’s still mumbles, yes. But there’s a sadness this time.  ”Did you never call?” He asks in the opening line.  ”I waited for your call.”  Even a guy like Michael Stipe feels the pain of rejection, it seems.  When he cries out, “I’m sorry!” in the chorus, you feel the pain of both parties: his pain and the pain he may have caused in return.  Is this a break-up?  Like most Stipe lyrics, it’s difficult to tell, but he stills manages to have the upper-hand by kissing-off with, “go build yourself another dream”.

Of course, Stipe’s delivery won’t matter as much if he didn’t have great music to back it up.  Peter Buck’s plaintive chords are the perfect match for Stipe’s confessional lyrics: they’re neither soft nor jarring.  Bill Berry’s simple yet effective drumming is a high-point (especially during the bridge on which he’s given the closes thing he ever had to a ‘solo’) as is Mike Mills’  lead bass.

As the song draws to its conclusion, the tension builds.  Stipe realizes that the only way to get his emotions through is to scream and moan.  It’s one of the rare moments where he doesn’t stick to the script.  Stipe is no Jagger – throwing in endless supplies of non-verbal shouts  - so to hear him fly off the rails makes it all the more effective.

It’s not exactly easy to incorporate the phrase “blah blah blah” into a song.  But Kristin Errett does it so effortlessly on “Don’t Call Me Sweetheart” when referring to what her would-be man said.  She then follows it up with a real killer: “were you talking to me?”

Ouch.

Lines and phrases like that form the backbone of  Errett’s debut album Confessions of a Songbird.  The melodic Neo-soul and piano-driven songs cover up Errett’s psyche.  She’s wounded and put down by men and her own expectations in life, but refuses to go down without a fight or a sense of humor about it all.  ”I kissed a frog,” She sings on “Happily Never After.  ”But he was just a toad.”

Still though, Confessions of a Songbird doesn’t have the caustic and unnecessary put-downs of Taylor Swift’s 22.  Errett lives too much in the real-world for that.  Her experiences can inspirations for songs, but she doesn’t find experiences just so she can create a song.   “If you had a secret to hide,” She sings softly on “Cross My Heart”.  ”I would know it.”

Confessions of a Songbird is a very good debut from an artist who looks like she’ll have a lot to offer in the future.  Sometimes debuts are measured more by being groundbreaking rather than on their own merit.  Confessions of a Songbird isn’t genre-bending, but on its own terms it’s a success.

Listen to “Don’t Call Me Sweetheart” here.

“Happily Never After” live at Mission Sound:

For more on Kristin check out her web-site.

“Uh ,this next song is the longest title in the Pearl Jam catalog,” Eddie Vedder announces on Pearl Jam’s 1998 Live on Two Legs.  Not only is the title of the song the longest in Pearl Jam’s vast catalogue, it might also be the most absurd.

But “Elderly Woman” or “Small Town” as it is written on the band’s set-lists, is the band’s campfire song.  It’s their version of “Sweet Virginia”, though not quite as raucous or drunken.  As it appears on the band’s second album, Vs. it’s a bright spot in otherwise bleak album.  Vs. found Pearl Jam fighting against what they perceived as enemies from all sides – critics, expectations, and perhaps even themselves.

“Small Town” hangs back a bit from the onslaught of “Go”, “Rearviewmirror”, “Blood” and “Leash” – punk tunes where Eddie Vedder is at his angriest.  ”Small Town” by comparison is a folksong with a gentle melody that begs for a sing-along with its famous chorus: “hearts and thoughts they fade away”.  It’s a portrait of American life that seems forgotten, and at times taken for granted.  ”I just want to say, ‘hello’!” Vedder sings during the song’s most emotional moment.  Even on an album where he screams, “Get out of my fuckin’ face!”, here Vedder seems happy to see loved ones.

The line resonates even more when the band plays it live.  The crowd almost always sings it so loudly, that Vedder himself is drowned out by the noise.  Like his heroes The Who, Vedder has always tried to break down the barrier between band and audience.  In the early days, he might not have been as successful as he wanted.  Fans were lost over the band’s war with Ticketmaster and other detours.  In recent years that line can be seen as a thank-you for those for that stuck around and are still supporting the group.

Even people I know that don’t like Pearl Jam absolutely love this song.  For a group that has been around a long time with little left to prove, “Small Town” remains an absolute high-mark of their career.