Episode 105

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

What’s up, friends? Welcome to Songs That Don’t Suck. My name is Mark, and every week I listen to hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of newly released songs. And this week is no different. Most of them are shit. But I have found a few to share with you this week. But before we do that, I have some vinyl news, both personal and industry news. So let’s get into it.

So I realized that I haven’t given a vinyl update in a while. I was doing that pretty regularly when I started doing my collection. And I kind of fell off. So I figured I’ll give you a little update on a few of the things that I picked up recently. And there’s one album that continues to elude me, that I cannot find a copy of anywhere. And that’s Jimi Hendrix Are You Experienced. So if you happen to know where I can get a copy of that, please let me know. I have started tracking my collection on discogs, which is a fun little app. And I’ve actually made a couple of purchases through the app, even though I do prefer to buy them in store. But when I am unable to find the things that I really, really want, in my local stores, I have resorted to discogs, which I find the stores that are not local to me that are selling through there. And I buy through those stores. So I still feel like I’m doing the mom and pop shop right, even though I’m doing it online. So let’s see. Latest haul. I purchased from a record store down in Tennessee somewhere. He was able to get me Living Colors Vivid, which is their first release, which is fantastic. I got Genesis’ Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which is one of my favorite concept albums. And I also got Iron Maiden’s Live After Death, which this album was actually the first one I ever bought as a kid with my own money. It was a double cassette that I purchased. I was visiting family. My cousin had just introduced me to Iron Maiden. And I literally had money in my pocket. And I was like, I’m going to go buy some Iron Maiden so I can take it home. And I guess the rest is history. But yes, I felt really cool to get that one on vinyl. I also picked up a box set that Rhino Records had put out of Dream Theater’s second, third, fourth, and fifth album. Basically, it’s images and words through Metropolis Part Two scenes from a memory. It’s a fantastic. It was limited edition. I was really happy to get my hands on it. I also picked up Violent Femmes, a self-titled album, and Extreme’s Pornograffiti. All fantastic albums. A few others too, but the collection is growing. Someone started to talk about their vinyl collection as linear feet, not number of records. And I don’t know if I’m at that level yet, but it’s getting there.

Now, speaking of vinyl, I came across another report that I found interesting. This was an industry survey that was done by the Vinyl Alliance. And it was kind of focused on Gen Z, the way that they were kind of framing it. But it did cover all of the genres, right? Millennials, Gen Xers, in equal numbers. But a lot of the statistics were focused on Gen Z. And I found it really interesting. Apparently, Gen Z loves vinyl, which I was like, oh, cool. And they’re being credited as the driving force behind the resurgence of vinyl. And I figured it was me. But guess I’m wrong. But according to the survey, 76% of Gen Z music fans buy vinyl once a month, which is way more frequently than I buy it. And 26% identify as diehard collectors. 80% of Gen Z’s surveyed owned record players. So I think the base, if you kind of scale that number out, the base for people buying vinyl is pretty wide. Now, when you look at all of the people who are surveyed, it was like 1,100 people. 91% of those surveyed buy vinyl at least once a year. So that– I mean, when I think about when I was a kid, how often I bought music, God, it was like a couple times a month. Obviously, it’s not that anymore. But once a year feels anemic. But anyway, it’s still good that people are actually buying physical copies of music. I still appreciate that.

But here’s the thing. The vinyl is seen as a luxury pursuit by those surveyed, because it’s fucking expensive. 29% of Gen Zers were saying that it’s actually becoming a little too expensive. And they’re actually slowing down and reducing how frequently and how much they purchase. But you’re seeing a lot being drawn to purchase more used records, which honestly is great news for the mom and pop record shops. Because as much as they sell new vinyl, they buy old vinyl and resell it. So that’s always good to have in their inventory. And it’s good to hear that people are looking at used inventory, and they’re not just buying the latest Billie Eilish vinyl. One of the coolest things I saw in the survey was that Gen Z loves the tactile nature of owning a record, or owning the art. You’ve heard me mention that I refer to streaming as music rental. So I am a big fan of owning it. They see it as directly supporting the artist as do I. And they see it as a separation between the casual music fan, the person that just puts music on in the background, and they’re not really paying attention to it. And I think they’re right. This puts them in the super fan category that I’ve talked about in the past from other surveys and studies that I’ve found.

The other thing that Gen Z appreciates, and I join them in this appreciation, is they love that it’s an intentional act. And it gives them a break from the digital life that we all lead. It gives us a break from our screens. And it’s grown them an appreciation to listen to an entire album. So the concept of releasing an album is not dead. At least not yet. But I was loving the fact that they were talking about that. Other things. This was a great article. So Gen Z enjoys the community of the record store. They like the in-person social aspect of it. And it’s funny because they’re basically rediscovering all the things that Gen Z, and probably boomers to a certain extent, enjoyed about buying music. 84% were saying that they enjoy buying in store. And some of them are going to the store two and three times a week just to talk music. They’re not buying anything, but they’re just building a community around music. And I’m just like, hell, yes, that’s awesome. If you can’t tell, reading this report really made me happy. It really gave me hope. So bravo, Gen Z, and bravo to everyone who likes to buy music because I think it’s what we should be doing.

All right, let’s get into the new music for this week, shall we? The first song is “God Save the Queens” from Vienna, Vienna. This is Vienna Vienna’s second appearance on the podcast. And I happened to catch a snippet of this song online. And I was like, I love this song, and I love the message. It is a straight ahead rock song, basically giving the finger to bigots, homophobes, and any other small-minded individuals who can’t leave people to fuck alone and just let them live their lives, especially when it has zero impact on their own lives. The verses are written in a very conversational way. It’s just bass and drums laying down a very simple groove. And they are just delivering the lyrical message, very tongue-in-cheek, very sarcastic, very fuck you, honestly. And I love that. And then we just slam into this super catchy chorus. Not much else to say about this track, but here give a little listen to Vienna Vienna and “God Save the Queens.”

The second song this week is “LA” from “Couch.” Now, if you want some smooth R&B-tinged pop rock with a really beautiful vocal, reminiscent of like Sarah Bareilles or maybe even a little less raspy Cheryl Crow, “Couch” could be your next favorite artist. It also reminds me a little bit of the band Lawrence, who I’ve had on the podcast a couple of times. And Gracie Lawrence is an amazing vocalist. And they also have a really tight rhythm– or not rhythm section, really tight horn section. They have a tight rhythm section, too. The band’s incredible. And this band is, too. The intro of this one is just drums and vocal. It sets up a really kind of chill vibe. Like honestly, a very LA vibe, to be honest. When you think about LA and– I don’t know. In my head, it really framed it really well. Builds into a chorus. It’s really fantastic. There’s some really beautiful vocal runs, some great harmonies. And overall, this track just feels great. And I’ll tell you how I know that. I was in the car. And I had just put on the Spotify AI DJ. And my oldest daughter and I were driving somewhere. And we were chatting. And just kind of had put music on in the background. And we both stopped mid-song and went, who is this? And it literally stopped our conversation dead. And we rewound the song and listened to it in full. And I immediately put it on the review playlist for this week. It is not a recent release. It’s from 2023. But it’s fantastic. And honestly, when music stops a conversation, that’s when you know it’s good. But I’m going to let you be the judge. Here is a little bit of LA from “Couch.”

The third song this week is “Love Will Probably Kill Me Before Cigarettes and Wine” from Luke Spiller. Luke Spiller is the lead vocalist, lead singer, from one of my favorite bands, The Struts. He has been working on a solo album. It’s coming out this year. And this is the first single. And it’s interesting because Luke’s voice to me is very, very distinctive. Like the minute I hear him, I know, oh, it’s Luke. Like his voice is that distinctive to me. But stylistically, this is a turn from what The Struts would normally do. And there was a little bit of cognitive dissonance for me in listening to it. He’s definitely leaning more into his Freddie Mercury Queen influences. It’s got more kind of orchestral elements, bigger backing vocals. And it’s just more theatrical, if that makes sense. The guitar work, especially in the solo, has got this classic ’70s fuzzy tone. And I mentioned the cognitive dissonance. It took me a while to get into this song because I’m so used to what he does with The Struts and what The Struts do and how much I love them. But honestly, once I divorced myself and severed that connection, the song really got into my brain. And I caught myself humming it as I was wandering around the house. So yeah, check this out. This is Love Will Probably Kill Me Before Cigarettes and Wine from Luke Spiller.

The fourth song this week is Wildfire (Gone, Gone, Gone) / Death Song from Rabbitology. It must be the episode of long titles. But this was a really, really cool find. Obviously, if you know me and you know the podcast, you know that I love percussion as a drummer. And there’s really some awesome percussion elements that exist within this song. I’m hearing some kind of electronic drums, like toms and things, at least I think they’re electric. I’m hearing what I think is a Tibetan bowl, or maybe a series of Tibetan bowls, very shimmery glass sounding, and some other tuned percussion things that are just sprinkled in. And then the rest of the instruments just add color to what I will call this percussive bed of sonic loveliness. And there’s some banjo, some guitar. And that feels like it, honestly. I don’t hear a bass, at least I don’t think I do. It’s very sparse. But at the same time, once the vocals are layered in, it is really– it’s an audio cornucopia. And it’s honestly– it could kind of put you in a trance-like state if you listen to it in the right setting and set it frame of mind, maybe. Anyway, it’s really beautifully put together. I’m going to have to go listen to more of Rabbitology because this is apparently what this project is all about, just these really beautiful sonic landscapes. So it’s very cool. So check out “Wildfire” from Rabbitology.

The fifth song this week is “Time with My Sins” by The Head and the Heart. Now, it’s funny. I’ve seen the band, The Head and the Heart, kind of all over my Spotify at different times, as a suggested artist for me to listen to. And I’ve never clicked on it. And I don’t know why. And this is probably one of those instances where I probably should trust the algorithms. But it’s hard. It’s hard to figure out when something is just being pushed on you versus something that might actually match your tastes. So I’m going to have to find forgiveness for myself. And I hope that The Head and the Heart forgive me as well. This track reminds me of one of my other favorite bands, The Wild Feathers. Great heartfelt lyrics, great harmonies, just all around rock solid of a song. And honestly, as I was listening to the other stuff, I was like, ah, God, I hate myself for not clicking sooner. I think if you’re a fan of artists like Tom Petty, you might actually really enjoy The Head and the Heart if you aren’t already familiar. They have a very similar likability, honestly, when I think about Tom Petty and the songs that he has put out over his long career. And it’s folksy, but it’s got rock elements to it. I don’t know. It’s just really, really good. So check out The Latest From The Head and the Heart. It’s called Time With My Sins.

That is it for this week. You know what? Thank you so much for listening. Whether this is your first time checking out the podcast or if you’re a longtime listener, I really, really do appreciate you taking the time to listen. I would also appreciate it if you took the time to connect with me. You can go to songsthatdon’tsuck.net. That’s our website. You can find all the different ways to do that. You can send me a message through the website. You can find links to social media. And there’s actually a Discord community. There is nobody in there. There’s no– I’m going to be honest. It’s not like I’ve got a thriving audience of thousands of thousands of people. I don’t. But if you want to hang out in that community, if you’re a Discord person, that would be cool. Whatever. You know what? I don’t know. I don’t know what’s cool anymore. I’m old. Anyway, website, songsthatdontsuck.net. If you can, take a minute to like and subscribe and review the podcast on whatever platform you listen on. And be sure to tell your friends, because that is honestly the best way to spread the word about the podcast. With that, again, thanks so much for listening. And as always, go out and support these artists.

Thanks for listening. And until next week, keep searching for and listening to songs that don’t suck.