Episode 83

Welcome to Songs That Don’t Suck, with your host, Mark Bradbourne. What’s up friends? Welcome to Songs That Don’t Suck. I am your host, Mark, and you know, every week I’m here listening to hundreds and hundreds of newly released songs, hoping to find a few that simply don’t suck. Before we get into the new music, I’ve got something special this week. This is the second time that it’s happened. Yes, it’s an interview.

[Interview was a little to hectic for AI to transcribe, so you just have to go listen to it -M]

I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. It was great to catch up with those guys. I hadn’t seen them or talked to them in probably a couple months. So good stuff all round.

Now, before I get into the new music this week, I want to kind of restate something. It’s been pretty much an unspoken rule of the podcast that I try and make every effort to find new artists or artists that don’t have a ton of monthly listeners. Usually I feel good if it’s under a million listeners per month. And that’s when I’m looking at their Spotify stats, right? Like I don’t have any indication of what their other platforms are. But you know, every once in a while I do feature a larger artist, but I do try and keep that few and far between unless it’s like an artist that I’m a big fan of and it’s music that I think you should hear. So with that, let’s get into the new music this week.

The first song this week is Obsession from the Sprats. The Sprats have just over 400,000 monthly listeners. Wait, scratch that. 400 monthly listeners. Only 400 on Spotify. Their first release was back in 2022 and they are coming to us from somewhere in the UK. Honestly, their bio didn’t lend me much help as I was trying to research, but most of their listeners are coming out of Manchester, so my guess is they’re probably from that area. Now the track itself, it oozes bluesy rock. Great groove, fantastic vocals, honestly a really unique vocal sound. I love the piano here. It adds such a great texture to the song and the piano is kind of holding down the parts that would be normally covered by a bassist. Think bands like The Doors, who used to do that. But apparently the configuration of the band appears to be vocals, guitar, piano, drums, and that’s it. Really cool sound. I checked out a couple of their other tracks and there’s a lot of elements and influences at play. There’s rock, there’s some pop stuff, a lot of swing to the rhythm so that you get that bluesy feel. In a weird way, it’s kind of like Ben Folds 5 had a one night stand with a garage band and that’s what they ended up with. I really dig what they have going on honestly though. So check out a little bit of obsession from the Sprats.

The second track this week is Cave Paintings from HIMALAYAS. Now HIMALAYAS have just over 500,000 listeners, they’re hailing out of Wales, which is UK. And they bring us a mixture of bands like Muse, Royal Blood, and there’s parts of the song where I hear the Queens of the Stone Age, especially towards the end of the track. This track is full of really chunky guitars, big rhythm section energy, like the interplay of the drums and the bass, really, really good stuff and the vocal is just peruding. And I really dig the layered vocal that they have going on through the choruses. Now with the studio, it’s really hard to tell if just the lead vocalist and their layer or their voice multiple times or other band members. But the more I listen to it, I feel like I’m hearing two very distinct voices, but I could be wrong. Regardless, it’s really good. If you dig bands like Muse and the Queens of the Stone Age, and any other bands that sit in that vein, I think you’re really going to dig this. So check out Cave Paintings from HIMALAYAS.

The third song this week is In Your Eyes from Dylan Flynn and the Dead Poets. Dylan Flynn and the Dead Poets have 22,000 monthly listeners. They come from Limerick, Ireland. And musically, the first thing it reminded me of was the band Travis. But vocally, which is where you’d think I’d pick up the Travis influence because Travis’s vocalist is, I believe, Irish, vocally, this band shifted me into thoughts of a band that I haven’t listened to in a long time and you probably haven’t heard of, the Pat McGee band. Now geographically, this makes absolutely no sense. Pat McGee and his band hail from Virginia, and that band is very much rooted in kind of Southern folk rock or pop rock. And with that said, there’s no denying the soulfulness in Dylan Flynn’s voice. And he’s got this great rasp on demand that drops in and out, and he just kind of employs it and like sprinkles it over this really smooth delivery that he’s got. Really the band lays down a really beautiful musical bed and a little bit of sax work, which isn’t something you hear a ton of in today’s releases. All together, this is a really, really beautiful song. Here is a little sample of In Your Eyes from Dylan Flynn and the Dead Poets.

And that is it for this week. Big special thanks to the Bytes for joining me this week for that interview. Really appreciate them carving out that time for me. As always, whether this is your first time listening or you’re a long time listener, thank you so much for taking the time to check out the podcast. Be sure and connect with us on all the social platforms, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, TikTok, X. We’ve got a website, songsthatdon’tsuck. net. You can see show transcripts there and see how bad AI transcribes my voice. You can send me song recommendations and give me feedback about the show. Please subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice. If you’ve got a chance to leave a review, please do so. Five stars is preferable, but hey, whatever you say, say it with your chest. Until next week, go out and support these artists.