Episode 106

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 you know, every week, I listen to more new music than humanly possible. Actually, that’s not true. I mean, it’s really how much my brain can take. It’s hundreds and hundreds of songs, and it’s painful. But I do that so that my playlist stay fresh, and in turn, your playlist stay fresh. Just because we are possibly turning 50 this year doesn’t mean that we can’t find new music to enjoy. And if you are like me, who possibly are turning 50 this year, and you want to keep finding new music, you have found songs that don’t suck. You are in the right place. So whether this is the first time you are checking out the podcast or you are a long time listener, let me just take a minute and thank you so much for listening because I really appreciate it. Now, before we get into the new music, I want to start with a little album review. And that album is Dream Theater’s 16th studio release, “Parasomnia.”

Now, when I tell you that I have been looking forward to this album since I heard Mike Portnoy returned to Dream Theater, it would be an outright lie. Because I’ve been looking forward to this album since the day he left the band back in 2010. I knew deep down at some point he would have to return because Dream Theater is his band. Like him and John and John and James and Jordan at this point. Like it without Mike Portnoy, Dream Theater is not Dream Theater. So I figured at a minimum he would come back and play some sort of reunion tour. But deep down in my soul, I was hoping for more new music. And my friends, we got it.

Mike Portnoy is the secret sauce of Dream Theater. The band sounds different when he is behind the drums. In fact, in listening to the album Adnauseum this weekend, I have come up with a theory that the multiverse is actually real. So imagine musical Thanos snapped his fingers and Mike Portnoy leaves the band. And then another Mike joins the band, Mike Mangini. And the band’s sound becomes systematically changed. With Mangini, at least to me, the band sounded very sterile, very mechanical, very robotic. And Mike Mangini is a monster player. I would probably say from my technical standpoint, Mike Mangini is a better drummer than Mike Portnoy. And I’m probably going to get some hate on that, but bear with me here. What Mike Portnoy does is he has a high level of technical ability. At the same time, he brings a level of looseness and passion into the band. In fact, if you listen to the new album, Parasomnia picks up sonically where black clouds and silver linings left off. Like if you go and listen to black clouds and then listen to Parasomnia, you cannot audibly pick a difference. Like the band sounds the same. But if you go listen to any of the four albums that Mike Mangini played on, they are fundamentally different. So Mike Mangini, it just became a different band altogether. It was still called Dream Theater, but it was a different band.

Now, is this album formulaic Dream Theater? Absolutely it is. You’ve got classic shredding by John Petrucci. You’ve got amazing keyboard work from Jordan Rudess. You’ve got Epic Bass playing from John Myong. You’ve got great vocals, honestly. This is the best James LaBrie has sounded to me in ages. And of course, you’ve got the powerful trademark drumming of Mike Portnoy. Does it have like a bunch of his signature fills and sounds on it? Absolutely. And you know what? I loved every note, every grace note, every max splash crash, all of it. It was fantastic.

Now, as far as the album goes, it’s amazing. It’s it blew me away. And here’s the really cool thing. You really have to listen to it as an album from front to back. In the run up to the release, they released three songs from the album as singles. And they were fine. Like I enjoyed listening to them. I liked what was happening. But when I listened to the album in context, those three songs took on a very deeper meaning. They just sounded sonically in the right spot in the puzzle that is Parasomnia. And it’s not a concept album in like the traditional sense, like Pink Floyd’s The Wall or Metropolis Part Two, Scenes From a Memory. Like it’s not. But the way that the album is put together, there is an ebb and flow from one track to the next. And it creates this single complete canvas around the idea of sleep or unrestful sleep. I don’t know. But it’s it’s interesting because there’s moments in the songs where it almost acts like a palette cleanser between tracks as really strong themes need to fade away. So like there’s like a minute and a half track on their car called Are We Dreaming? It’s not really a song. It’s just a transition between Midnight Messiah, which is one of the more intense tracks on the album. And that leads into one of the more emotional songs on the album, which has Bend the Clock.

Let me back up actually to the beginning. The opening instrumental track in The Arms of Morpheus. Once you’ve listened to the album a couple of times, when you listen to In The Arms of Morpheus, you start to realize that the opening track is the menu for everything you’re going to experience in the next hour. You hear melodies that reoccur. You hear different rhythms, different atmospheric feelings that will rise and fall throughout the rest of the album. It really is a masterclass in delivering a complete album with thought. And and dare I say musical genius, this album was everything I hoped it would be. And do yourself a favor when you listen to it. Put on headphones. And I know I say that a lot because I think a lot of music is produced now to be played just through the speaker in your phone. And it’s a travesty because when you listen to this album in your headphones, there are some things happening with the production and the mixing and the balancing that toss the sound back and forth. And it becomes really pleasing to the brain when you’re just experiencing it. You kind of close your eyes and, you know, get lost in the moment. So highly recommended Parisomnia from Dream Theater, if you are a progressive metal fan, this album is going to blow you away.

So all right, with that, let’s just get into why we’re here. Let’s get into the new music. Here we go.

The first song is I am here from Sahaji. Sahaji are from Japan, and I hope that I am pronouncing their name correctly. If I am not, apologies, gentlemen. But in their bio, they are wanting to make a big mark on British music in the British music industry. And there’s some really obvious influences at play. If you are a Beatles fan, you’re going to feel that right away. And to me, it sounds like a song that would have been written by John Lennon. It’s just kind of got that give piece of chance kind of feel like messaging, which I dig. There’s definitely some oasis here. You know, it’s got a very strong 90s feel. It’s not retro in the fact that it sounds like the Beatles. It’s definitely got the Beatles influence, but it’s updated, right? I will say, and it’s completely understandable, but lyrically, it’s a little clunky. But I will guarantee the brothers that make up Sahaji, their English is way better than my Japanese. There’s no contest. But as clunky as it may or may not be, the message is very clear and I think it’s awesome. This track, it’s a bop, so it’s catchy. So check out a little bit of I Am Here from Sahaji.

The second song this week is Get So Bad from the Stems. When I heard this song and I went to go start researching them, the Stems formed in 1983. Yeah, 1983 in Perth, Australia. This is a garage punk band, which to me have some jangly pop hooks. They’ve been at it for over 40 years. Not consistently. They broke up in ’87. They took some time off. They reformed in 2003, broke up again in 2009, and then reformed again in 2013. This album actually did come out last year in 2024, but I have just discovered it. And honestly, this one, like the track from Sahaji, reminded me a bit of the Beatles. Got that jangly guitar and there’s a moment where the guitar lick kind of does the intro into the verses, which is very beatlesque. There’s claps. There’s harmonies. It’s a really, really catchy track. And I love when I find bands like this. This is one of those cases where the band has been making music on and off for 40 years, and they just fly completely under the radar because they’re not from the United States where I’m at. But everything that I kind of find on them tells me they do really well in Australia. So let’s bring it to the US, shall we? Here is a little taste of the Stems and their track Get So Bad.

The third song this week is I’ve Got a Know from the Trafalgas, another band from Australia. I think I must have gone into a bit of a rabbit hole as I was searching for music this week, but the Trafalgas have also been around for a while. They’ve been around for about 20 years, a little bit more than 20 years. And quite frankly, they fall into that same category as the first two tracks this week. It’s really nice, honestly, to find a little of a honeypot once in a while of just really listenable rock. It’s nice. I love that. A lot of retro influences on display here. You can hear a little bit of the Stones, maybe some Tom Petty, a teenage fan club. If you’re a fan of the fan club, you might enjoy this. It’s good stuff. It’s a good find. Not much more to say about this. Just hear it. Give a little bit of a listen to I’ve Got a Know from the Trafalgas.

The fourth song this week is No Way Back for Me by The Bracknall. So I climbed out of the rabbit hole and I found The Bracknall. There were on a couple of playlists that I follow and I could see why. A couple of curators had definitely propped them up and said, “Hey, this is definitely something you want to check out.” Compared to the other ones, it’s a little more meaty, a little more of a modern rock sound, gritty vocals in your face guitar lick, a riff, if you will. And there’s like this really oddly juxtaposed piano part that intros the song and then kind of pops its head in and out throughout the song. And it kind of ties the whole thing together. Nice bridge and a pre-chorus leads into a very short and sweet chorus which, you know, get in, get out, don’t bore us, show us the chorus kind of thing. Really nice find from these guys. I think this is their second album if I remember correctly. So check out No Way Back For Me from Bracknall

The fifth song this week is Auriela, but in the song they actually sing it as Auriela. But whatever it is, Auriela, Auriela, it’s from the band The Corvids. And when I first saw the band name Corvids, I read it as The Covids and I was like, “Yeah, I figure it’s about time that some band names themselves after this pandemic we had.” But no, this is The Corvids first release and as I was listening to it, I’m like, “What does this remind me of?” So there’s moments where vocally it sounds like a less screamy Kurt Cobain, like, you know, when he kind of sings the quiet parts, like, think that the Nirvana unplugged stuff. It’s gravelly. It’s that gravelly voice thing that a lot of male vocalists do really, really well. But musically, it’s very different. At first I was like, “Is this like really early Coldplay when they were good?” I’m like, “No, no, that’s not it.” Oh, I know what it is. And it took me a minute, but I got there. It reminds me of really early Radiohead, like Pablo Honey era, maybe into the bends a little bit. And that was the era of Radiohead that I really, really enjoyed. I enjoyed some of their later stuff, but those first two Radiohead albums were fantastic. So I immediately understood why I dug The Corvids first release. Really solid song. Definitely wanted you to check this one out. So have a listen to a little bit of Ariela from The Corvids. [

And that, my friends, is it for this week. Hey, go to the website, songsthatdon’tsuck.net. You can find all the things about the podcast there. You can find links on where to listen to it. And if you are listening to it, please take a moment to like, review, or subscribe to the podcast on your preferred platform. And if you have any other friends about the podcast, because that’s how we share the message, that’s how we share the music, and that’s, my friend, is what it all is about. On the website, you can send me email. You can send me just like feedback and recommendations. There’s like a form there. You can subscribe to the newsletter. There’s also a link to Discord. I don’t know what I’m going to do with that yet. You can help there. Anyway, as always, thanks so much for listening. Really do appreciate it. 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.