🎙 Songs That Don’t Suck: Surviving the Suckfest, Luminate Report Deep Dive & 3 Songs That Shine 🌟
Welcome back to Songs That Don’t Suck — where your host, Mark Bradbourne, listens to hundreds of new tracks so you don’t have to. This week nearly broke him. He describes it as “horrible, awful, and not very good.” But despite the sonic landfill, Mark unearthed three tracks worth your time.
Before diving into the music, though, we’re treated to a gloriously nerdy breakdown of Luminate’s 2024 Mid-Year Music Report, insights on the decline of rock, and why DIY recording is as much a spiritual commitment as it is a logistical one.
📊 The 2024 Luminate Report: Music Meets Metrics
Let’s get nerdy. Here’s what stood out from the report:
🔁 Streaming Still Rules
- 📈 Global on-demand audio streaming is up 15.3% over the same period in 2023.
- 🎵 Every core genre grew in the U.S., with Latin music leading the charge.
💿 Physical Media: Still Kicking
- Major artists (Taylor, Beyoncé, etc.) are still selling millions of CDs, vinyl, and even cassettes 😱.
- Top 10 albums had an average of 7 variants — different formats, bonus tracks, and store exclusives. Gotta catch ’em all.
🎸 Indie’s Rising Tide
- Indie artists (those with 1–10M streams) made up 60% of that segment.
- Those crossing 500M streams grew by 2% YoY — indie isn’t just surviving, it’s thriving.
🎤 Live Music = Streaming Bump
- Streaming jumps 42% during the week of a show.
- 🎟️ 65% of monthly music spending goes to live events.
- Gen Z finally took the crown from Gen X for most concert spending.
🧓 Rock’s Identity Crisis
- 70% of rock listening comes from “deep catalog” (older than 5 years).
- Mark’s take: “Rock music is in trouble because it’s expensive, and rock artists suck at TikTok.”
- DIY production is a labor of love, but quality rock is still time- and cost-intensive.
🎶 This Week’s 3 Songs That Don’t Suck
A hard-fought week of mediocrity yields three gems — one from a mega-streamer, one from a Talking Heads revivalist, and one from a fearless new duo.
1. “The Warmth” – Paris Paloma
🌬️ If Enya got dark, layered, and rhythmic in all the right ways.
Paris Paloma may have 3.6M monthly listeners, but she’s still under the radar for many U.S. ears. “The Warmth” is lush, atmospheric, and rich with rhythmic elements — toms, claps, breath percussion — all elevating her ghostly, emotional vocals. A must-listen for fans of ethereal alt-folk-pop.
▶️ RIYL: Enya, Aurora, Florence Welch
2. “Hey Kukule” – Font
🧠 Talking Heads would be proud.
Font drops a track that channels David Byrne’s spirit in full force. “Hey Kukule” references Friedrich August Kekulé, the 19th-century chemist who dreamt of the benzene ring as a snake eating its own tail — and yep, that’s in the lyrics. It’s a heady, twitchy, avant-garde groove fest.
▶️ RIYL: Talking Heads, Squid, DEVO
3. “23” – Pseudopomp
🌀 Unexpected harmonies, cool chord shifts, and total promise.
London duo Pseudopomp earns their place in this week’s episode with their debut track “23.” Mark hears Poe in the vocals — not Gwen Stefani, as some have suggested. This song has unpredictable chord progressions and adventurous harmonies, plus strong performances from both vocalists. It’s confident, interesting, and shows huge potential.
▶️ RIYL: Poe, Metric, Sharon Van Etten
🎧 Bonus Rant: Why Rock Feels Like a Ghost
Mark goes deep on the cost of producing rock:
- DIY recordings demand gear, time, tech knowledge, and lots of patience.
- Studio work? 💸 About \$1,000 per song, by his last experience.
- “Programmed drums suck the soul out of rock,” he declares.
So if you see a local or indie rock band, buy the damn shirt. Every dollar keeps the soul of rock alive. 🤘
🔥 …and I quote…
“You are all equal in my eyes until I press play — and then, well, you either suck or you don’t.”
🎙️ — Mark Bradbourne
🖤 Until next week, keep fighting the good fight and listening to Songs That Don’t Suck.
