Best of What’s New

Welcome to another installment of my weekly new music revue. This time, my picks include art pop, jangle pop, jazz and garage-oriented alternative rock. Once again, all artists are new to me. All tunes are included on albums that appeared yesterday (March 11).

Jenny Hval/Year of Love

Jenny Hval is a Norwegian singer-songwriter, record producer, musician and novelist. Before she released her solo debut EP Cigars in 2006, Hval was the vocalist in a gothic metal band called Shellyz Raven and subsequently studied at the University of Melbourne. During her time there, she sang in Australian groups iPanic and Folding For Air, and released an EP with the latter in 2004. To date, she has released 10 studio albums, two of which appeared under the name Rockettothesky. Hval’s solo music has been characterized as avant-garde, art pop and experimental folk. Her Apple Music profile notes she was inspired by Kate Bush, Jimmy Somerville, and the ambitious, androgynous feel of ’80s pop. This brings me to Classic Objects, Hval’s new album, and the opener Year of Love, written by her.

Young Guv/Good Time

Young Guv is a solo project of Toronto-based guitarist and vocalist Ben Cook, a co-founder of Canadian hardcore punk band No Warning that was initially formed in 1998 under the name As We Once Were. After the band’s break-up in late 2005, Cook joined another local hardcore punk cheerfully named Fucked Up. In 2015, Cook released his solo debut album Ripe 4 Luv, the first of four that have appeared to date under the Young Guv moniker. Cook’s Young Guv music is power pop-oriented and as such very different from his hardcore punk roots. His latest album Guv III has a nice jangle pop sound. Here’s Good Time, co-written by Cook and James Matthew DeLong.

Walter Smith III & Matthew Stevens/Loping

What do you get when combining American jazz saxophonist Walter Smith III and Canadian jazz guitarist Matthew Stevens? Walter Smith III & Matthew Stevens who just released their third collaboration album In Common III, which follows In Common II and In Common from 2020 and 2018, respectively. Smith began playing the saxophone at the age of seven and has performed with many other notable jazz artists like Terence Blanchard, Roy Haynes and Christian McBride. His debut album as a leader, Casually Introducing, appeared in 2006. Matthew Stevens, who has been active since 2004, is regarded as one “most exciting up-and-coming jazz guitarists” in his generation, according to Wikipedia. His 2015 debut album as a leader, Woodwork, garnered rave reviews from critics. On In Common III, Smith and Stevens are backed by Kris Davis (piano), Dave Holland (bass) and Terri Lyne Carrington (drums). Here’s a track titled Loping composed by Stevens. I like it!

The Mysterines/Life’s a Bitch (But I Like it So Much)

Wrapping up this post is new music by The Mysterines, an alternative rock band from Liverpool, England. Their members are Lia Metcalfe (vocals, guitar), Callum Thompson (guitar), George Favager (bass) and Paul Crilly (drums). According to Apple Music, Metcalfe is a fan of The Doors with a passion for poetry like her hero Jim Morrison [who] started writing songs at the age of nine. Her teenage years provided more meaningful material to write about, much of which formed a basis for songs on Reeling [the group’s debut album]…The Mysterines specialize in an emotive brand of garage rock that takes inspiration from a variety of sources. Musically, the debut albums by The Strokes and Arcade Fire were the blueprint for youthful swagger and experimentalism, respectively; the films of directors Alejandro Jodorowsky and Terrence Malick provided canvases on which the quartet could imagine new soundtracks. Here’s the opener Life’s a Bitch (But I Like it So Much). I dig the tune’s raw sound.

As usual, following is a Spotify playlist with the above and a few additional tunes.

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; YouTube; Spotify

Tom Petty’s Affection For The Byrds

This morning, my streaming music provider served up a great Get Up! playlist, which was based on my listening habits. It included Tom Petty’s version of Feel a Whole Lot Better. Not only did the tune immediately put me in a good mood, but it once again reminded me that in addition to writing so many great songs, Petty also performed fantastic covers. The Byrds and Roger McGuinn in particular were important musical influences. I also happen to dig the latter two, so I thought it would be fun to put together a post of Petty’s Byrds covers.

Let’s start with So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star, which appeared on Pack Up the Plantation: Live!, the first live album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from November 1985. Co-written by Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, the tune was first released in January 1967 as the lead single to The Byrds’ fourth studio album Younger Than Yesterday, which came out the following month.

Next up is the above-mentioned Feel a Whole Lot Better. Petty included that tune on his solo debut Full Moon Fever released in April 1989. The song was written by Gene Clark and first appeared in June 1965 as the b-side to the single All I Really Want to Do. Both of these songs were included on The Byrds’ debut album Mr. Tambourine Man released one week after the single.

For the last clip, I needed to cheat a bit. Mr. Tambourine Man, of course, is a Bob Dylan tune; however, it was The Byrds who popularized it in April 1965. And while Dylan has written many great songs, I think The Byrds not only made Mr. Tambourine Man their own, but also significantly improved it in the process! The following cover by Roger McGuinn and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is from a beautiful concert that took place at New York’s Madison Square Garden in October 1992 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Dylan as a recording artist. Most of that show was captured on a live album released in August 1993 and separately on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray.

In the wake of Petty’s untimely death in October 2017, McGuinn was interviewed for a story published by Philly Voice. He recalled the first time he heard American Girl, the third single off the eponymous debut album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. “I said, ‘when did I record that?…I was kidding, but the vocal style sounded just like me and then there was the Rickenbacker guitar, which I used. The vocal inflections were just like mine. I was told that a guy from Florida named Tom Petty wrote and sings the song, and I said that I had to meet him.” And he did, and the two hit it off!

McGuinn added, “When I covered ‘American Girl,’ I changed a word or two and Tom asked me if it was because the vocal was too high and I said ‘yes.’ I had fun with Tom’s song…There is nobody like Tom Petty.” I couldn’t agree more!

Sources: Wikipedia; Philly Voice; YouTube