Episode 77 – 1st Half Recap

Welcome to Songs That Don’t Suck, with your host, Mark Bradbourne.

What’s up, friends? Welcome to a very special episode of Songs That Don’t Suck. My name is Mark. I am your host. And normally, on any given week, I listen to hundreds and hundreds of new songs, hoping to find a few gems that don’t make me hate myself for putting on this podcast. And generally, I’m very, very successful. But this week, as I said, it’s a special episode.

Now, Songs That Don’t Suck started in 2023 with a very simple mission. Find songs that don’t suck. Halfway through that first year, something amazing happened. I didn’t find any songs that were worthy of sharing with you, dear listener. And that week just happened to be the midpoint of the year. So I got creative. I decided to do a first half of the year recap on a whim. And now we find ourselves in the same spot, from a calendar point of view, six months into 2024. And now I am happy to present to you these second annual Songs That Don’t Suck, first half recap. So basically this week, I’ve spent my time listening to and kind of reviewing and just getting familiar again with some of these songs, about 120 songs, over seven hours of music to listen to, to kind of go through and figure out and pick my favorites from this year, my top 10, if you will. And there’s some really great songs to pick from. Now the one thing that I remember saying last year, and it still holds true, is that some weeks are much better than others in regard to the music that I’ve shared. Now don’t get me wrong. If I didn’t think it was good enough, I wouldn’t share it. I wouldn’t put it on the podcast. But some weeks and some songs simply rise above the rest when you look at all of the music in totality. That’s why I really like this midpoint best of show. And that’s why at the end of the year, we will do our second annual Don’t Sucky Awards. But before we get into the top 10 for the first half of the year, let’s hear from my friend, Big Rick.

What was the last great Rock and Roll book you read? Or how about a good Rock and Roll documentary? Well, that’s why I started the Rock Talk Studio podcast, the place to go for previews, reviews, and recommendations of Rock and Roll books and documentaries. Give me 20 minutes and the Rock Talk Studio podcast will get you caught up on the world of Rock and Roll books and docs from every possible angle and leave you with a no doubt decision on where to spend your time and money. Get an exclusive look into what’s hitting the shelves and the screens and get ready to rock your reading and viewing list. The Rock Talk Studio, the podcast that answers the question, is this Rock and Roll book our documentary worth your time and money?

Thanks Rick. Hey, if you haven’t listened to Rock Talk Studio yet, go check out an episode or two. If you are a fan of music and in particular a fan of documentaries, whether it’s books or movies or TV shows or whatever, absolutely you need to go check it out. Rick’s got a very keen eye and ear for this stuff and I have not gone wrong with any of his recommendations yet. Okay, before we get into the top 10, we got to talk about some of the changes that have happened on the podcast. So when songs that don’t suck started, I was able to embed music directly into the podcast. Spotify decided to make some changes to their platform and was taking that feature away. It was called Music Plus Talk. It was cool because for Spotify premium subscribers, the songs were embedded directly into the podcast. For free tier listeners, they’d get like a 30 second snippet so they could get a taste of the song and then for non-spotify listeners, I wanted them to experience the podcast as well because with the Music Plus Talk platform, it wouldn’t publish outside of Spotify because of licensing. So I was producing a second version of the podcast called the Cliff Notes version if you remember and that went out basically to everywhere that wasn’t Spotify. Now Spotify made this announcement right at the beginning of 2024 and I was like, well do I want to wait it out and just keep doing it the way that I was? Or should I just rip the Band-Aid off? They had given podcasters up until July to kind of phase it out of your show but I was like fuck it, I’m pulling the Band-Aid off and for me, it was a good thing. I went down to one episode a week because I was able to do away with the Cliff Notes because the podcast would go everywhere now regardless and I had to figure out how I could continue to share the music with you as directly as possible. So after a little bit of research, I found a fantastic platform called Songwhip. Now I am not sponsored by Songwhip. This is not an ad for Songwhip but it’s merely just a thank you. The cool thing is I’m able to put in the song and artist and it will generate links to all of the music platforms so regardless of where you subscribe for music and podcasts and all that good stuff, you can get a link directly there. So whether you’re a title subscriber, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Bandcamp, whatever, you can find the music and support these artists which is the main goal honestly. So I was really happy with that but honestly like I wasn’t sure how a music based podcast would work without any music really baked into it but looking at the analytics, we’re doing okay, listenership is very steady and we’re growing. And I read somewhere like over 98% of podcasts don’t get past two episodes. So the fact that we’re sitting here a year and a half in with weekly episodes, I’m digging it. Now because of y’all and because I continue to see the listenership grow, I just want to thank you. It’s amazing that you take time out of your week to check out an episode or two. So whether it’s your first listen or your long time listener, I think you rock. So thank you so much. All right, with that out of the way, let’s talk top 10 for this year so far. I’m going to share these songs in the order they were released on episodes, not necessarily when they were released to the wild. So we’re going to start with episode 52.

So the first song on the top 10 is Give Me a Reason Why by Swimschool. Oh, this song, it perfectly encapsulates all those feelings of a brutal breakup. But we have that moment in a breakup where we recognize the freedom that this breakup will bring and you rediscover things about yourself and independence, if you will. And this song, I remember when I first heard it and was reading the lyrics, I was like, oh, yeah, completely recognize where this songwriter was coming from. This song has become a very regular song in my playlists. And to the point where the Spotify DJ will now randomly feed it up to me, which is awesome. It’s a fantastic song. If you didn’t get a chance to check it out the first time, here’s your second chance. Go check out Swim school’s, Give Me a Reason Why.

All right, the second song on the top 10 is from Friday Pilots Club and it’s called Vampire Disco. This one came from episode 54 and it’s the second song that the podcast has had on from Friday Pilots Club. If you’re a longtime listener, the first song that showed up last year was called Life Support. That one is honestly still in rotation for me. And this one feels like it’s on the same trajectory, honestly. It’s super catchy, different vibe from the last song. Life Support, I felt, was much more of a rock song where this one’s got much more of a pop rock vibe. You could almost hear it in a dance club almost. Almost. Granted, I haven’t been in a dance club in a few decades, but I can imagine it. Leave me alone. It was interesting though, as I was prepping for this week and I picked out the 10 songs, it randomly popped up on the AI DJ as well and it literally is instinctual that you just turn up the volume in the car and I’m just singing it at full voice. It’s got a great chorus to it, very singable. So go check out Vampire Disco and Friday Pilots Club.

Third song on the top 10 comes from Norway in the 56th episode, the sixth episode of the year. It’s Peter Pan from the band Supine. The guitar riff is so great in this song. And I mentioned this in the initial episode. They have this vibe of one of my favorite bands, Jellyfish. They don’t mention it in their bio as an influence, but I feel like if they weren’t aware of Jellyfish, they should be because I feel like they would love them. I did a quick check-in with them because I hadn’t heard anything for a while and they had actually released another single back in May, which somehow I missed, didn’t make it to the podcast, obviously. But it’s got a lot of the same qualities as Peter Pan. So I think the band’s got a very settled sound as far as like what they’re going for. So if you like this song, it might be a band to check out because I will tell you the biggest crime for this band as talented as I think they are, they only have 70 monthly listeners. How is that possible? How is that possible? Norway has more people than 70 and Spotify is a global platform. So go check out Supine and check out Peter Pan.

All right, the fourth song on the top 10 comes from episode 56, which may go down in history as the greatest episode of the podcast is when it comes to music, and you’ll know why here in a bit. The song is Once Upon a Time at Texaco Part 1 from Amiga the Devil. Now this song is this really amazing dark ride through a boozer run gone wrong due to some poor life choices and man, the trolling that I think he is doing by calling this a Part 1 is just brutal. I was really hoping to have a sequel to this song. It came out on his album that was released a little bit ago. And as of the recording of this episode, there’s been no Part 2 and I really think he’s just clowning me and it hurts because the song is so good, I want closure to know how the story ends and that my friends is the sign of a great songwriter when you’re that invested in a fictional story that you want the ending. So if you’re into banjo and dark folk rock, you need to check out Amiga the Devil and this track Once Upon a Time at Texaco Part 1.

The fifth song also from episode 56, so three songs from episode 56. I think I can dub it the best episode of the year when it comes to the quality of music. That song is Don’t Forget Me by Maggie Rogers. Yeah, not much to say about this song. It’s just amazing. Maggie is no musical secret. She has 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify. But honestly, as I was having a conversation with my daughter, the 10 million feels like it’s not enough because I was basically saying that there’s a big difference between someone being able to sing and someone having talent. And Maggie Rogers has talent. There are thousands of artists, thousands of female vocalists who can sing. You know, it’s something that can be trained and taught or adjusted in the studio if you’ve got a good engineer. But to have talent, to have true musical talent, you can hear it. You can hear the difference, and Maggie Rogers has that difference. So go check out Don’t Forget Me. It’s a fantastic song.

All right, we are halfway through the top 10, and here is number six on the top 10. It’s Glitching Prisms from Night Verses. This one came out of episode 57, and it was one of those rare gems that comes from a genre that I don’t normally find. It’s very hard to find very specific subgenres of music, and for that, it’s progressive rock and progressive metal. Night Vs. is generally an instrumental band, but the album that came out, they had a few guest vocalists on, and for Glitching Prisms, they brought in Brandon Boyd from Incubus. I absolutely love his voice. And musically, it was very similar, at least tonally, to what Incubus does. So if you’re an Incubus fan in general, you might want to check out Night Vs. But I will say, the rest of their album, it’s fantastic, especially if you’re a prog rock fan. So if you dig bands like Rush or Dream Theater, pick your progressive band. You should definitely give Night Verses. a try. I got a few messages from some listeners who really, really dug that one. Truly fantastic song. Truly fantastic album, to be honest, so there you go.

Number seven is All in Good Time, done by Iron and Wine with Fiona Apple as a guest vocalist. This one really honestly brought back Fiona Apple to me, like in the forefront of my musical thoughts. And it’s a fantastic duet with Iron and Wine. I can’t say that this one popped up a lot for me, but when it does, and I’m in the right frame of mind, this song is just so good. Like, if you’re in the chill out mood, this is the one. This is the one that you have to listen to. And I was never a big Iron and Wine fan. They’ve put out a ton of music, but I don’t know. This song actually caused me to go dive a little bit deeper into their catalog. There was some happy, happy things that happened there. So if you are a fan of Fiona Apple, as I am, and you like a kind of good chill out song, All in Good Time is one you definitely want to check out from Iron and Wine.

Okay, the eighth song also comes from episode 63, as does the Iron and Wine track. And it’s Atom Bomb by Bully. Another moody track that very much complements the Iron and Wine track. And I don’t know what I was feeling that week, but looking at the music of that episode, I must have been really deep in my feelings. This one is just fantastic. It’s got a really simple arrangement, piano strings, really beautiful, just beautiful and brutal vocals. But again, this is another one that I’ve got to be in the right headspace. Music is definitely a mood thing for me. It’s a mood enhancer or a mood changer. You know, and if you’re in the wrong headspace, this might be a song to listen to as well. Very, just very emotional vocal on this one. It’s so good. Honestly, the last two songs, fantastic. Episode 63, another good episode.

The following week, episode 64 brought me in Montreal from Kaia Katar. And this is probably the most unique track I found this year up to now. It’s so good. I made a couple of trips to Canada this year for work, and I kept hoping that my musical stars would align and she’d be playing somewhere in the area. But so far, I have not had any luck. Hopefully in the second half of the year, my luck will change because I would love to see her live. And now that I’m like sitting here thinking about it, this is the second track in the top 10 that has banjo very prominently featured. And it’s one of those things, unless you’re like seeking it out, it’s very rare to hear in music. But if I think about some of my other favorite bands like Moxy Fruvous, for example, banjo showed up quite a bit there. And honestly, when I hear it really well done, regardless of genre, it really stands out and I connect with it. So definitely check out in Montreal from Kaia Katar..

Number 10. The song came from episode 65. It is Sink You Teeth from The Mysterines. I honestly still have some emotional damage from completely butchering this band’s name last year. But The Mysterines continue to put out really good songs. And as I follow all the bands on social media, when I feature them on the podcast, I always get to see their touring schedules and what they’re doing and new singles that are coming out. And The Mysterines have a lot of good momentum going. If you haven’t checked out The Mysterines yet, definitely check out Sink You Teeth and honestly pick a song. They’re really, really good. And hopefully some things go well for them in the next few months and they just blow up because that would be amazing.

All right. That is it. At the end of this year, we will have to see if any of these bands end up winning the Coveted Don’t Suckie Awards. But we’re just going to have to wait and see. Do you have thoughts? Is this a good top 10? Did I miss one? Send me a message either through social media or through the website, songsatdon’tsuck. net. That’s it. As always, thank you for listening. Go support these artists and… Thanks for listening. And until next week, keep searching for and listening to songs that don’t suck.