Best of What’s New

New music never stops, even on Christmas. I almost would have forgotten today is Friday, meaning it’s time again for Best of What’s New. BTW, this is the 40th installment of the recurring feature. Let’s get to it!

Eddie Vedder/Matter of Time

Matter of Time is the title track of a new solo EP released by Eddie Vedder today. Initially, the Pearl Jam frontman had put out the tune as a single on November 18. The EP features four additional tracks, including a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Growin’ Up. As reported by Blabbermouth.net, Vedder premiered Matter of Time and Say Hi, another tune from the EP, during Venture Into Cures, a digital event presented by EB Research Partnership. Co-founded by Vedder and his wife Jill, the non-profit organization funds research for epidermolysis bullosa, a group of devastating and life-threatening skin disorders that affect children from birth. I salute music artists taking on such noble causes. It’s also quite a powerful tune and video clip!

Slaughter Beach, Dog/Are You There

The first thing that struck me about Slaughter Beach, Dog is “Slaughter Beach, Dog.” Who comes up with such a weird name? It turns out singer-songwriter Jake Ewald, who initially started this indie rock outfit in 2014 as a side project to Modern Baseball, his then primary indie rock band from Philadelphia. In October 2017, Ewald confirmed Modern Baseball is on indefinite hiatus. Slaughter Beach, Dog has since become his main focus. In addition to Ewald (vocals, guitar), the group’s regular line-up also features Nick Harris (guitar), Ian Farmer (bass) and Zack Robbins (drums). Slaughter Beach, Dog put out their debut album Welcome in 2016. Since Modern Baseball’s hiatus, three other albums have appeared, including At the Moonbase released December 24. According to this review in Consequence of Sound, Ewald wrote and recorded the album alone at his house and recording studio. Here’s the opener Are You There.

CMON/Blue-ray Saturday

CMON is a project by Josh Da Costa and Jamen Whitelock who initially started Regal Degal in 2009, a band Apple Music noted dabbled in everything from distorted synth punk to repetitive Krautrock-styled jamming over the next several years. After Regal Degal disbanded, Da Costa and Whitelock formed CMON and released their eponymous EP in 2018. According to Apple Music, The duo kept some of the textural atmospheres of their previous band but leaned heavily into programmed rhythm and disco-pop grooves on their 2020 debut Confusing Mix of Nations. Blue-ray Saturday is CMON’s new single that appeared December 10. The melodic mid-tempo tune doesn’t sound at all like disco-pop. If anything, the melody of the laid-back tune reminds me a bit of Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone. In any case, I like the feel of it. Plus, it’s quite catchy!

Sea Girls/This Is The End

Sea Girls are an indie rock band from England I first featured in an August Best of What’s New installment. They were founded in London in 2015 and include Henry Camamile (vocals, guitar), Rory Young (lead guitar), Andrew Noswad (bass) and Oli Khan (drums). Following their June 2017 debut single Call Me Out and a series of additional self-released singles and three EPs, the band secured a deal with Polydor Records in 2019 and released their full-length debut album Open Up Your Head on August 14 this year. This Is The End is their new single that came out on December 4. Back in August, I called the band’s guitar-driven sound catchy. I still stand behind that statement. The title also makes the song an appropriate choice to wrap up this installment.

Sources: Wikipedia; Blabbermouth.net; Consequence of Sound; Apple Music; YouTube

Best of What’s New

This has been an extremely busy week on the work and family fronts, which hardly left any time to listen to music and reading posts written by my fellow music bloggers – not to mention writing something myself. Time to start catching up! A great place to begin is to take a look at newly released music. And I found some really good stuff, mostly by bands I had not heard of before. There’s also a nice collaboration single by former Toto guitarist Steve Lukather.

South of Eden/The Talk

South of Eden, formerly known as Black Coffee, are a four-piece rock band from Columbus, Ohio: Ehab Omran (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Justin Young (lead guitar, vocals), Tom McCullough (drums) and Nick Frantianne (bass). According to their website, the band has already performed alongside everyone from the Foo Fighters to System of a Down, and invite you to join them on their journey of looking at rock ‘n’ roll through a modern lens…Originally from the country of Jordan, Ehab primarily listened to the Arabic music his parents would play, in addition to superstars like Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, and James Brown. After coming to America, he was introduced to a wider range of music that inspired him: eighties and nineties rock including Guns N’ Roses and notably Queen…Ehab and Nick performed together in various bands (channeling Iron Maiden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Alice In Chains) and eventually joined Justin and Tom who had been working on their own band (influenced by Van Halen and Black Sabbath). The Talk is the title track of the band’s debut EP, which came out yesterday (August 21). Credited to Omran, Young, McCullough and producer Greg Wells, this nice rocker reminds me a bit of Greta Van Fleet. While it’s more on the aggressive side, it’s got a catchy melody. Check it out!

The Lemon Twigs/Hell on Wheels

The Lemon Twigs are a rock band from Long Island, N.Y., fronted by brothers and multi-instrumentalists Brian D’Addario and Michael D’Addario. Brian and Michael, who had significant stage experience as children, formed The Lemon Twigs in 2014 when they were still in high school. The band’s touring line-up also includes Daryl Johns (bass), Tommaso Taddonio (keyboards) and Andres Valbuena (drums). Their first release was a cassette, What We Know, issued as a limited edition in 2015. This was followed by the debut studio album Do Hollywood from October 2016. They have since released two additional albums, an EP and various singles. Co-written by the brothers, Hell on Wheels is the opener of the band’s new studio album Songs for the General Public, which appeared yesterday (August 21). I think it’s a catchy tune.

Steve Lukather/Run to Me

Last October, following Toto’s final show in Philadelphia to wrap up their 40th anniversary tour, Steve Lukather told Pennsylvania local newspaper The Morning Call the gig marked “certainly the end of this configuration of Toto.” But apparently Lukather already had other plans. He was supposed to join Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band for a tour earlier this year, which of course didn’t happen and has been postponed until 2021. Now he’s out with a new song, Run to Me, the first single from an upcoming solo album, which as reported by Rolling Stone, is set for release sometime next year. The tune was co-written by Lukather together with his former Toto band mates David Paich and Joseph Williams. In addition to Paich and Williams, it features Ringo Starr and Huey Lewis and the News bassist John Piece. “This is a happy summer single for less than happy times,” commented Lukather on his website. “It just seemed like this was the right time to release the song…A little out of character for myself, but fun.  Inspired by my youth…” There’s definitely a ’60s vibe in this melodic tune, which came out on August 20. Here’s the official video.

Sea Girls/Forever

Let’s wrap up this new music installment with some indie rock from England. Sea Girls, formed in London in 2015, feature Henry Camamile (vocals, guitar), Rory Young (lead guitar), Andrew Noswad (bass) and Oli Khan (drums). The band’s debut single Call Me Out appeared in June 2017. This was followed by various additional singles and three EPs, which were all self-released. Last year, the band managed to get a deal with Polydor Records. After a few more singles and another EP, Sea Girls recorded their full-fledged studio debut Open Up Your Head, released on August 14. It includes the above tune Forever, which was written by Young. I really dig the guitar-driven sound of this tune – pretty catchy song!

Sources: Wikipedia; South of Eden website; The Morning Call; Rolling Stone; YouTube