Tunes Tuesday: "Grilled Cheese," Peach Face

I was so into this song a few months ago, and I kept trying to google it but back then it was ungoogle-able. “Grilled Cheese Peach Face” was just a string of words to Google. After not finding it on YouTube, I ended up buying it on Amazon, I love it so much. This is just the sweetest voice and melody — and a doo-wap-esque chorus that gets stuck in your head, watch out. I want Peach Face to make it big!

Tunes Tuesday: "Brave," Pressing Strings

A lot of inspirational “we’ll get through it together” songs are in heavy rotation for me these days: for example, WTMD has been playing this Dave Matthews x Brandi Carlile song “Come Tomorrow” a lot. Maybe it’s my high school snobbery showing but the lyrics of that one are pretty much equivalent to that Simpsons “Children/Future” song.
I prefer this other WTMD pick from Annapolis band Pressing Strings with a sweet guitar melody and a message that’s a little less sappy and more straightforward: “Be brave like I told you.” Although the video with doctors and food bank employees and other folks getting the job done heroically during Covid might cue the waterworks.

Tunes Tuesday: "Two Fish and an Elephant," Khruangbin

Taken from Khruangbin's debut album 'The Universe Smiles Upon You'. Set for release on 6th November, order now at: LNT shop: http://po.st/kbLNT Bandcamp: http://po.st/kbcamp iTunes: http://po.st/kbitunes Taking influence from 1960's Thai funk - their name literally translates to "Engine Fly" in Thai - Khruangbin’s debut album ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration, Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock cool. The Texan trio is formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums. ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ was recorded at their spiritual home, a remote barn deep in the Texas countryside where their first rehearsals took place. The band listened to a lot of different types of music on the long drives out to the country but their favourites were 60s and 70s Thai cassettes gleaned from the cult Monrakplengthai blog and compilations of southeast Asian pop, rock and funk. This had a heavy impact on the direction of the band, the scales they used and the inflection of the melodies; which coupled with the spaciousness of the Texan countryside culminated in Khruangbin forming their exotic, individual sound. “We feel like there is an ease that comes from being immersed in a space, away from the distractions of the city and everyday life. We make our music in a barn, in the Texas hill country, because it makes sense to us. Being there allows us to make music that comes naturally, and that’s what we wanted this album to be. We wanted to make a record that just let the music happen, and we hope that’s what you can hear.” http://khruangbin.com http://khruangbin.bandcamp.com http://soundcloud.com/khruangbin http://twitter.com/khruangbin http://facebook.com/khruangbin

Leon Bridges was my gateway to Khruangbin. OK, also Obama has that song on his 2020 summer playlist, but you read it here first. I want to get more into them because it’s so groovy but I can’t get past this one, the guitar speaks to me.

Tunes Tuesday: "Lockdown On Date Night Tuesday," Ondara

The prettiest lockdown-inspired song, I say. And a reminder to wear real clothes even if we aren’t leave the house.  Nairobi-born J.S. Ondara sounds just like Bob Dylan (that’s by design), but his voice is one of a kind.

Tunes Tuesday: "Upside Down," Mondo Cozmo

Is there a song of the summer for 2020, or are we just calling this one a wash? If it’s still a go, may I suggest a sample-heavy, psychadelic sing-along track from Mondo Cozmo aka Josh Ostrander. He told Vanyaland: “Crazy times call for a crazy tune. It’s my attempt at a feel-good summer song in an imploding world. Good times…”

PS - I am going to go to so many live shows after this is all over.

Tunes Tuesday: "Devotion," Airpark

The lead single 'Devotion' is featured on the forthcoming Airpark EP entitled 'Songs of Airpark' - produced by Alaina Moore & Patrick Riley of Tennis. The si...

This Nashville duo has a pretty fine cover of “Babies,” one of my all-time favorite Pulp songs. But Airpark gets it done on their own single too: “Devotion” has a nice little guitar groove that make me feel like it should be lilting out of speakers in some mod ‘60s living room. Maybe the track’s producers Tennis helped with that.

I was pondering over this lyric: “Picture your name/As a palindrome/Said it so many times/My mind got thrown.” So I looked up an interview with the band that explained the inspiration of the song: “ In my mind I kept picturing myself at a party where I become infatuated with someone who didn’t notice my presence (all the while trying to break through to them).