Best of What’s New

As we head into the long Labor Day weekend here in the U.S., it’s time for another look at recently released new music. Before I get to it, let me use this opportunity to address the common misconception that’s driving me crazy, which is this holiday marks the end of summer. It does not. Summer 2020 officially ends on September 22.

Of course, with the ongoing COVID-19 national crisis, this season hasn’t felt much like summer except for heat and, depending on where you live, humidity. In fact, this entire year is pretty much lost in my book and I can’t wait for it to be over, hoping 2021 will bring back better times – this country desperately needs change!

Back to the much more pleasant subject of music. This is actually the 25th installment of Best of What’s New. This week features a nice mix of music styles, including high-energy rock, pop, indie surf rock (does that genre even exist? Who cares!) and country. With artists coming from the Houston, TX area; Los Angeles; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and the Canadian province of Alberta, there is also decent geographic diversity. Let’s get to it.

JunkBunny/Another Summer Song

JunkBunny are a rock trio from Montgomery County, Texas, which is north of Houston. According to their website, the band consists of 3 young musicians – Mac Johnson (lead vocals & guitar, 18), Cayden Diebold (vocals & bass, 17), and Jake Douglas (drums, 17). Like their heroes in Green Day or Blink-182, these childhood best friends save the “serious” for their songs, offering up anthems with the scale of Foo Fighters without sacrificing youthful exuberance and good-natured mischief...Over the past few years, the trio’s live reputation has continued to grow, as they performed with ZZ Top, The Struts, Sammy Hagar and more, as well as at festivals like Louder Than Life…The trio celebrated 17th and 18th birthdays the year they entered the studio with Howard Benson, Grammy-winning producer of landmark rock records by My Chemical Romance and P.O.D., to make their debut album for Lava Records, home to Greta Van Fleet and Lorde. Another Summer Song is the opener to JunkBunny’s new EP Down the Rabbit Hole, their sophomore release from September 2. Credited to all members of the band, the catchy rocker first appeared as a single on July 24. There’s definitely some of Greta’s energy and Green Day’s sound in that tune.

FINNEAS/What They’ll Say About Us

There’s something very soothing about What They’s Say About Us, the new single by 23-year-old American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor Finneas Baird O’Connell, aka FINNEAS. He’s the older brother of pop artist Billie Eilish who last year broke through internationally with her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and earlier this year scored a hit with No Time to Die, the theme song of the upcoming James Bond picture of the same name. FINNEAS produced the album and co-wrote the Bond tune. When he’s not working with his sister, he’s making his own music. To date, he has released his debut EP Blood Harmony from October 2019 and some 15 singles, including his latest What They’ll Say About Us, which appeared on September 2. Reminds me a bit of Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

Surfer Blood/Summer Trope

Surfer Blood are an American indie rock band from West Palm Beach, Fla., which were founded in 2009. Their members include John Paul Pitts (lead vocals, guitars) and Tyler Schwarz (drums), who had played together in an early incarnation of the band called TV Club. Mike McCleary (guitars, backing vocals), and Lindsey Mills (bass, backing vocals) complete the current lineup. Their debut single Swim from 2009 was well received and ended up at no. 37 on Pitchfork’s 100 Best Songs of 2009. Surfer Blood followed it up with the release of their debut album Astro Coast in January 2010. Four additional studio albums, two EPs and more than 15 singles have since come out. Written by Pitts, Summer Trope is from the band’s upcoming sixth studio album Carefree Theatre scheduled to appear on September 25. While the clip isn’t the most exciting, I do like sound of that tune.

Tenille Townes/The Way You Look Tonight

Let’s wrap up this installment of Best of What’s New with Canadian country singer-songwriter Tenille Townes, who hails from Grande Prairie, Alberta, and has been active since 2009. The now 26-year-old artist released her debut single Home Now at age 15. Her first studio album Real came out in June 2011. That same year, Townes was also nominated for a Canadian Country Music Award for Female Artist of the Year. Her published catalog to date includes two additional studio albums, 2 EPs and more than 10 singles. The Way You Look Tonight is a track from Townes’ most recent album The Lemonade Stand released on June 26. It was co-written by her, Daniel Tashian and Nashville-based singer-songwriter Keelan Donovan who also contributed vocals. Nice pop-oriented country that’s a bit reminiscent of Lady Antebellum.

Sources: Wikipedia; JunkBunny website; YouTube

Best of What’s New

As another busy week that left little opportunity for blogging is drawing to a close, the time has come again to take a look at newly released music. The selections in this latest Best of What’s New installment all fall into the pop rock and blues areas. Artists include a rock band from England teaming up with a U.S. rock singer-songwriter, two blues artists from down under, a gothic blues singer-songwriter from Nashville and Sheryl Crow with her latest single.

The Struts with Albert Hammond Jr./Another Hit of Showmanship

The Struts are a British rock band from Derby, England, which was founded in 2012. According to their website, In just a few years, The Struts have found themselves massively embraced by some of the greatest icons in rock-and-roll history. Along with opening for The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Guns N’ Roses, the U.K.-bred four-piece was hand-picked by Mötley Crüe to serve as the supporting act for their last-ever performances, while Dave Grohl praised them as the best band to ever open for Foo Fighters. To date, The Struts have released two full-fledged studio albums, 3 EPs and numerous singles. For their latest single Another Hit of Showmanship, which appeared today, they teamed up with singer-songwriter Albert Hammond Jr., who is best known as guitarist in American rock band The Strokes. “‘Another Hit of Showmanship’ reminds me of being at a club night called Ramshackle years ago at the O2 Academy in Bristol, where they’d play bands like the Libertines and Razorlight and Scissor Sisters, and of course the Strokes,” Struts vocalist Luke Spiller stated, as reported by Rolling Stone. “I hit up Albert out of the blue and told him, ‘We’ve got this song, and I’m so excited to see what you would do with it.’ As soon as he got his hands on it, he took it to a whole different level — it really just shows why he’s so brilliant at what he does.” It’s quite a catchy tune!

Josh Teskey & Ash Grunwald/Thinking ‘Bout Myself

Vocalist and guitarist Josh Teskey is a co-founding member of The Teskey Brothers, an Australian blues rock band formed in 2008. Ash Grunwald is a blues musician who hails from down under as well and has been active for 20 years. What do you get when you combine the two? Josh Teskey and Ash Grunwald, and an album, Push the Blues Away, scheduled for November 13. NME reported Thinking ‘Bout Myself is the first single released August 24. The two artists have worked together before. In 2019, they recorded a single, Ain’t My Problem, and while filming a clip for the song ended up jamming. “Somebody filmed our little jam,” Grunwald stated. “And it became the seed of a great idea: Why don’t we do an acoustic blues album? No bells and whistles, something from the heart.” All except two of the eight tracks were written either by Teskey or Grunwald. Well, based on this single, it certainly sounds promising.

Adia Victoria/South Gotta Change

Adia Victoria is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter, who according to Wikipedia is known for her “gothic blues” musical style. After a friend had given Victoria a guitar for her 21st birthday, she got into blues music. In 2010, she moved to Nashville and began performing locally. Her debut single Stuck in the South appeared in early 2015. Rolling Stone included her in a 10 New Artists You Need to Know feature, calling the tune a “swampy, bluesy track that put Adia Victoria on the map.” Her debut studio album Beyond the Bloodhounds came out in May 2016, followed by her sophomore release Silences from February 2019. South Gotta Change is Victoria’s new single released today and produced by none other than veteran T-Bone Burnett. Victoria’s compelling vocals and a great sound make this tune a real gem. Check out the official video.

Cheryl Crow/In The End

Threads may have been Cheryl Crow‘s final full-fledged album, as she stated when it came out a year ago. I previously reviewed it here. Luckily, Crow also said she’s not retiring from touring or releasing new music. Going forward, she added, she wanted to focus on singles or perhaps EPs. Apparently, Crow is following through. After releasing a cover of Bill Withers’ Lonely Town, Lonely Street in April and the original Woman in the White House on August 10, Crow is out with another single today: In the End. An excerpt from the lyrics leaves no doubt what’s on her mind these days. There’s a fly on the wall in the house on the hill/Where the king of the world watches TV/And the people await for his latest mandate/To a nation of angry believers/His words are a trap while his loyal band of thugs/Cover up all his many transgressions/The fly lands on his ear and whispers, “What’s there to fear/As long as you’re still the obsession?/As long you’re still the obsession”… Co-written by Crow and her long-time collaborator Jeff Trott, the nice pop rocker is classic Sheryl Crow.

Sources: Wikipedia; The Struts website; Rolling Stone; NME; YouTube