Alternative Picks
The Spotify playlist features all the picks from 2017 plus others by the artists.
March
BAD SOUNDS Meat On My Bones
BAD WAVE Time To Get Lost
Bad boys from both sides of the pond. This is the latest single from Brit band Bad Sounds, who had my #3 song of the year last year, “Avalanche”. West coast synth-pop duo Bad Wave have put out a steady stream of singles over the last year and a half, 10 in all.
DU TONC Keep Movin’
PRIDES Away With The Night
I guess it’s synth-pop duo time. There’s something wildly hypnotic about this tune from French boys Du Tonc. Prides hails from Scotland and have done covers of Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love” and Scotland’s The Blue Nile’s song “Tinseltown In The Rain”. Like Bad Wave they have released 10 singles, but this time since 2014.
BANKS Trainwreck
This California singer songwriter had an alternative hit with her song “Beggin’ For Thread” in 2014. Her moody alt-rock has shades of r&b. She claims her main influences are Fiona Aplle and Lauryn Hill.
DREAMCAR Kill For Candy
AFI White Offerings
BLAQK AUDIO You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
What happens when you mix the lead vocalist of 90’s and AFI and the members of No Doubt sans Gwen Stefani? You get Dreamcar’s new wavey, alt-pop killer song. AFI’s polished punk has seen 10 albums since 1995, their biggest song was 2006’s #1 alternative song “Miss Murder. Blaqk Audio is AFI lead singer’s more goth side project, here paying tribute to Pete Burns, the lead singer of Dead or Alive, who passed away last October.
FAMILY OF THINGS Don’t Look Back
First single from Hamilton, Ontario band who use a n insistent guitar hook to drive this song. Other recent songs are more subdued.
WATT f/ POST MALONE Burning Man
Andrew Watt had 2 songs reach my personal chart last year, “Ghost In My Head” and Seeing Red”. Here he makes a bluesy alt-rocker with hip hop artist Post Malone to amazing effect. While rock is the genre that most shows off his guitar styling, as a songwriter he has had 2 huge pop hits in the last 6 months, DJ Snake’s :Let Me Love You” and Kygo’s “It Ain’t Me”.
ALEX VARGAS Inclosure
LOREEN Statements
LUXXURY Feel The Night
As with the above,there are definitely blurred lines between pop, dance and alternative. Songs like Jon Bellion’s “All Time Low” and the Chainsmokers collaboration with Coldplay are receiving alternative airplay as examples. The first 2 songs from Scandanvia (Vargas, part Uruguayan from Denmark and Loreen of Moroccan descent from Sweden) could sound equally comfortable in either format. On Luxxury’s webpage it says Disco. Made In Los Angeles. The funk and 70’s disco string flourish on this infectious song certainly indicate that. Luxxury is L.A. producer Blake Robin.
THE DEAR HUNTER Girl
I keep discovering songs from progressive rock band The Dear Hunter and mostly loving them. This is from their 2013 album “Migrant” and definitely more alt-rock than their more theatrical Five Act album cycle. Their 2011 36 song collection “The Color Spectrum” also showcases their varying stylistic vision, in songs like the driving “The Curse of Cynicism”. Prolific they are.
TREBLE Ten Thousand Floors
Energetic, anthemic and insistent song from Canadian band that has been together since 2008 but just released their first album “Modernaires”.
VHS COLLECTION The Longest Drive
Electro-rock trio from NYC. This song just came in as the #84 Alternative song on Beyond Radio for the month of March. They played Lollapalooza in 2016 and have charted 6 songs on Beyond Radio charts in the last 6 months.
DIONYSIA Zombie
GINGER SNAPS Phat Kids
2 songs I found on my Spotify “Discovery” playlist this week. Dionysia is from Burlington, VT, claims Red Hot Chili Peppers and Led Zeppelin as influences and may or may not be named after an ancient Greek festival in honor of the god Dionysus. This list comes full circle with Brit band Ginger Snaps who have a psychedelic sound, in a similar vein to Bad Sounds.
February