Spotify: t.ly/kgkqt
YouTube: t.ly/3s0_I
This is a hit, even though it sounds like sh*t on Spotify and Amazon. However, "Ain't in Kansas Anymore" sounds great on Qobuz! It's all compressed, squished together on Spotify, and in Amazon Ultra HD it's a bit clearer yet bottom heavy, whereas on Qobuz it's much cleaner and the instruments are separated, it sounds like music, whereas on the other services it sounds like it's coming out of the dashboard on an AM radio, and does anybody listen like that anymore? Even country fans have great car stereos. As a matter of fact, just like power windows and A/C, every car now sold has a reasonable stereo, but tracks are still being mastered for the old way of listening.
Yes, this is a country record. But it's not that far from a rock record. Take the twang out of Miranda's voice and punch in some guitars and you've got an anthem, the kind that used to blast out of the speaker when you drove your Camaro listening to AOR radio back in the seventies.
First and foremost it's got a hook. It ain't rocket science folks, even though with so many of today's tracks missing the target you'd think it was. You hear that fiddle and you can't forget it. And it's right up front, introducing the song, it's the anti-skip strategy necessary in today's overloaded economy.
But there's also melody in the verse. And attitude. She's singing like she believes it, like she wrote the words, there's that essence too often lacking in today's written by committee tracks, although Miranda did have two co-writers.
And the chorus is memorable. With multiple voices. It's the kind of number you sing along with, thrilled just to be alive. This isn't music for your head, but your heart, which is directly attached to your genitals. Not that it's directly sexy, it's just that it enlivens you, makes you feel powerful, like all those rock anthems of the past.
And then there's the post chorus, the na-nas, that's the sound of the summer, something simple, not playing to the last row, but evidencing its own glow.
The words are simplistic, verging on stupid, but when did that really matter? First and foremost comes the sound.
And it's not like "Ain't in Kansas Anymore" is made to last, it's of the moment, but with so many pandering tracks missing the mark it stands out, like a flower.
As for the movie it comes from, "Twisters," the original wasn't that good, so I wouldn't bet on the sequel. But you never know.
As far as terrestrial radio play, chart numbers, that's a controlled market. Who knows if the song will triumph, PDs look for reasons not to play records. But if you're a fan of country music, if you're a fan of classic rock, this is the sound you know and covet, it rings the bell.
DAVINA MICHELLE "ALL IS OURS"
Spotify: t.ly/Evfow
YouTube: t.ly/I7tWZ
WHO?
I didn't know either.
I follow Mikaela Shiffrin, probably the greatest ski racer of all time, on Instagram Reels. Honestly, I watch more Reels than TikTok, because they're shorter, however the Reels algorithm sucks, you end up seeing the same videos over and over again, which doesn't happen on TikTok.
So if you don't know, Mikaela is engaged to her Norwegian boyfriend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, another great racer who had an horrific accident last season, putting his future career in jeopardy, for a long time he couldn't even walk.
And Mikaela posts reels of her and Alexander working out, on the beach, skiing, from all over the world. And Mikaela's personality...
She is not a jock. And I know, I've been around these people. Too often the strong silent types, never mind uneducated. Mikaela is very verbal, alive, she screwed up at the Olympics and gave long responses to probing questions by commentators, she didn't slink away.
And another thing Mikaela loves to do is dance. As well as play hits of the day on the guitar. A veritable renaissance woman I tell you!
No, not really, she's just a typical twenty nine year old who happens to have paid her dues to become an athletic great.
Anyway...
I came across this video of Mikaela and Aleksander working out and dancing, and the song registered immediately, I loved the pre-chorus, and it too contains a hook. AND IT WASN'T EVEN IN ENGLISH!
So I looked up Davina Michelle. Turns out she's Dutch. Had a number one hit in her home country.
Wait a second, IT IS IN ENGLISH! But since Davina Michelle is not singing in her native language, it takes a bit to realize this.
You know, the first language of the world, English. We rule, don't we?
Well, not anymore. It's not the seventies and eighties anymore, with the internet and streaming media hits are popping up all over the world.
So how did Mikaela discover "All Is Ours," which isn't even a hit, at least not yet.
Well, Mikaela spends months in Europe...
But most people don't even know about developing acts in the U.S.
"All Is Ours" is a trifle, but it's a very catchy trifle.
Instagram Reel: t.ly/EEchN
GOOD NEIGHBOURS "DAISIES"
Spotify: t.ly/0omq9
YouTube: t.ly/khX3o
Once again, WHO?
THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE A WIKIPEDIA PAGE!
I love this song, and you will too if you're a fan of early eighties English stuff, you know the one hit wonders on MTV. It's catchy, with electronic sounds. And even spacey at times.
Trying to learn more about the act, I found this video on YouTube, a live version of "Daisies" performed at the Village Underground in London:
rb.gy/5cf98l
Well, the more I watch it I realize it's not really live, then again, none of those videos in the eighties heyday were either, and this slots right in.
I have no idea if this was all staged, whether they selected the girls down front, but the vibe is infectious, it's no different from how it used to be, when you had to go to a club to see it, to feel it, when you listened to the radio, read the throwaway rag to find out where the new English sensations were playing, you just had to go.
Now "Daisies" is a new song, but "Home" does have 227,678,123 streams on Spotify.
We don't have acts like this in the U.S. It's a cultural thing.
I could go on, but listen to "Daisies" and you'll either love it or hate it, from the very beginning. It's a direct descendant of Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" and so many of those cuts way back when, but not imitative, it's fresh. This is the kind of tune that could revolutionize music in America, the way Wham! and so many acts did all those years ago.
"Daisies" draws you in. It doesn't alienate. It makes you happy, it excites you.
You're not being TOLD to be excited, the effervescence is baked into the track.
It crosses genres, from pop to rock. It's got modern sounds.
I don't want to overhype it, "Daisies" is not revolutionary, but this is the sound that made music the most powerful medium in the eighties. We tuned into MTV just to see it. Radio fell in lockstep, spinning the tracks. It made you optimistic, this music is the antidote to today's dark pessimistic days, and it's not a trifle like the Davina Michelle cut, it's more than that.
Is there more to come or is Good Neighbours just a modern day Haircut 100?
I DON'T KNOW!
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