🎙️ Songs That Heal, Harmonize, and Hit Hard
If you’ve ever folded laundry to Foo Fighters or cranked jazz while painting, you’re not just vibing—you’re practicing science. 🎨🎧
Inspired by an episode of Alan Cross’s The Ongoing History of New Music, Mark opens this week with a deep dive into the mental and physical benefits of music, revealing how genres like classical, jazz, and even lo-fi hip hop support:
- 🎯 Concentration & productivity
- 🧘 Calmness & relaxation
- 🧠 Creativity & brainstorming
- 🏃 Endurance & repetitive tasks
A few listener takeaways:
- Classical = ✍️ detail work
- Jazz = 🎨 artistic flow
- Lo-fi = 📚 student focus
- Pop = 🧼 folding laundry energy
- Nature sounds = 😴 deep sleep
- Rock = 🧹 cleaning motivation
It’s all about context and connection, which segues into…
🌹 This Week’s Songs That Don’t Suck
1. “Rock Bottom” – Lovely the Band
🎧 Indie rock with lyrical bite and studio finesse
- Lo-fi verses, high-gloss choruses 🎚️
- String interlude surprise 🎻
- Solid lyricism + thoughtful dynamics
- Mark: “Fantastic production touch—everything flows beautifully.”
The band’s back with another killer track. Album incoming? 👀
2. “Trojan Horse” – Small Black Arrows
🎸 Funk-folk-pop fusion with a hooky bassline
- Sparse instrumentation lets the groove breathe
- Bassline = instant head nod
- Vocals shimmer with warmth
- Influences? Folk, trip-hop, opera (!), and rock
🎶 Their previous track “The British Museum” proves this UK act is the real deal.
3. “Somebody’s Child” – Blessing Offor ft. Dolly Parton
🌼 Gospel soul meets Mother’s Day magic
- Mark’s pick to celebrate Mother’s Day 💐
- Uplifting and soulful vocals
- Motown and gospel influences
- Backstory: Blessing was born in Nigeria, fully blind by age 10, and full of resilience ever since.
💖 “Much love to all the moms—and the people who feel like one.”
4. “Gone Without Warning” – The Commoners
🔥 Southern rock revival from… Toronto?!
- Blistering guitars + a driving rhythm section
- Think Rival Sons or Dirty Honey
- Album Restless drops soon, and it’s gonna be pure fire
- Classic bar-band energy meets modern polish
🎹 Rock piano lovers, rejoice—this track’s got the goods.
5. “Hopeless Dreams” – Heaney
☁️ Bluesy dream-pop with a bio-induced rant
- Found via Spotify’s algorithm and worth the click
- Smooth, gauzy, dreamlike textures
- Moody vocals + tight structure
🗣️ Mark’s gripe: “If you’re an artist writing smartass bios like ‘You’re the only one reading this’ — you’re doing it wrong.”
✅ Good song.
❌ Bad bio.
💡 Lesson: Every field’s a chance to connect.
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And until next week…
Keep searching for and listening to songs that don’t suck. 🎵
