Song of the Day: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana

<<last song

<<next song

• OLDER POST
• NEWER POST

My song of the day, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, song is a symphony of rage and angst by a band with an innate sense of dynamics and a pile-driver beat. Hooray, posthumously, for Kurt Cobain, an anti-hero who screamed so that we should not have to scream. (Although most of us still scream along.)

With David Grohl's head-banging, hair-tossing, full-body drumming and Kurt's tragicd good looks and "I was over it 20 years ago" delivery, it's easy to lose track of bassist Krist Novoselic, whom I just learned co-founded the band,

He's integral too, supporting the song with four-chord equations so simple and catchy that the only possible answer is a mosh pit.

--Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "Black Summer" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

 

 

 >>last song

<<next song

• OLDER POST
• NEWER POST
  

 

My song of the Day is "Black Summer" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, off their brand-new album called, wait for it . . .  Black Summer.

 Come on. It's the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. When they put out a new song, there's always going to come a moment when I turn my futuristic, Tron-like, Gary Numan-like chair around and push the button like one of the judges on The Voice

This band, which after years of flirting finally won me over with their Californication album, has amazing durability and staying power.

 

—Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "FLAG (Feel Like A Girl)" by Coach Party

 

<<last song

>>next song

• OLDER POST
• NEWER POST

 
This song, "FLAG" by Coach Party, is a gift to the world. The guitars range from the emotional cheat-sheet that is a power chord to a discordant symphony. Dig the frontal assault of rage from a woman who's beyond had it. It's like the '90s all over but more polished and with an English accent. 

—Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "Hyperballad" by Björk

 

 

 

 

>>last song

<<next song

 

• OLDER POST
• NEWER POST

Some people just go jogging. My song of the day is "Hyperballad" by Björk.

Song of the Day: "Elephant Stone" by The Stone Roses

 

 

 

>>last song

<<next song

 

• OLDER POST
• NEWER POST
  

Listening to this song is as cleansing as burning sage. "Elephant Stone" by the Stone Roses is my song of the day.

Song of the Day: "Tesla Girls" by OMD

 

>>last song

<<next song

• OLDER POST
• NEWER POST

I like to think I'm one of those Tesla girls they talk about. My song of the day is "Tesla Girls" by OMD, which those from the glorious '80s knows stands for "Orchestral Maneuvres in the Dark."

—Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "Bound for the Floor" by Local H

>>last song

<<next song

• OLDER POST
• NEWER POST

I just got a hankering for this catchy and angsty number. The rhyme scheme of the chorus is like some perfect math equation. And if you haven’t screamed out “You know you’re so pathetic!” in your car, you haven’t lived.  

My song of the day is "Bound for the Floor" by Local H.

-- Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "Quiet Town" by The Killers

"Quiet Town" by The Killers is gut-wrenching. I can't tell you how many people I've met with fresh wounds from a young adult child dying from overdose of opioids and/or other prescription drugs.

This is Bruce Springsteen-level balladry by the Killers and in fact Brandon Flowers and Bruce Springsteen share a duet in recent release "A Dustland Fairtytale." It's off the band's latest album, Pressure Machine.

--Sarah Torribio

>>last song

<<next song

• OLDER POST
• NEWER POST

Song of the Day: "Eating Me Alive" by Alkaline Trio

>>last song

<<next song

•OLDER POST

•NEWER POST

I'm on a music binge. It's often the only way I can get myself motivated to work on large projects like screenplays. When I'm in the middle of them, I always feel like I'll never get it done.

I'm just catching up with some Alkaline Trio trio songs off the band's 2010 album This Addiction that I somehow missed. I haven't even started on the band's latest release, the 3-month-old EP "Is This Thing Cursed."

Anyhow, I'm most pleased with my song of the day, "Eating Me Alive."

—Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "Back on the Chain Gang" by The Pretenders

>>last song

<<next song

•OLDER POST

•NEWER POST

If you don't sing along with "Back on the Chain Gang" by The Pretenders age 30, you don't have a heart. If you don't sing along with this song after age 30, you don't have a brain.

Sorry. I get a little authoritarian when it comes to the other side-of-the tracks/ intergalactic talent of Pretenders front-woman Chrissie Hynde. She's life itself, isn't she! (I'm paraphrasing a quote by Adele, who in one interview said the same of R&B songstress and Barbados beauty Rihana.)

Chrissie Hynde has that irresistible tough-girl exterior, underscored by her trademark long shaggy bangs. The message is clear, or perhaps two messages are clear.

One is back-off pugnacious: "You don't look at me, I look at you."

The other represents a flirtier sort of rebellion: "I have pretty eyes. If you're lucky, maybe one day you can see them."

In other fangirl admonitions, don't underestimate Chrissie Hynde's lyrical ability. I mean, has there ever been a better line than, "Like a brick in the battle was your part. In the wretched life of a lonely heart."

Chrissie he also plays a mean guitar. Thanks to her catchy, original and impeccable riffs, Pretenders songs find a cozy place in your heart and stay there.

In another note

You know how old people tell the same stories over and over? I'm heading there.

Every time I think of Chrissie Hynde, I can't resist recounting an anecdote from Morrisey's 2013 biopic, aptly titled "Autobiography."

(Easing a sim cigarette into a long ivory holder)

"So Morrissey is at a pub in England with his friend and fellow singer/songwriter Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders."

(lighting the cig with nicotine-stained fingers and inhaling deeply)

"The musical icons are enjoying a pint when a woman approaches Chrissie, breathless."

(exhaling a cloud of smoke toward my imagined audience.)

"The woman exclaims, 'Oh my God ! You're Chrissie Hynde. You used to mean so much to me.'"Chrissie's response to the backhanded compliment? "Well, I don't now, so fuck off!"

—Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "Fire and Bone" by The Killers

>>last song

<<next song

•OLDER POST

•NEWER POST

You can't tell me Brian Eno didn't have a hand in "Fire In Bone"— a 2020 single from Imploding the Mirage, the' sixth studio album by The Killers—if only via inspiration.  I could look it up, but sometimes a gal's just too tired to Wikipedia. 

My song of the day also follows a now-familiar pattern, in which the Killers purposely straddle myriad eras. You can hear it in the rollicking rock 'n roll wild west romp that is Sam's Town and in the disco-kissed flavor of a number of subsequent songs. 

A we move further through "Fire in Bone," we find ourself ensconced firmly in the '80s.  Brandon Flowers' wavering voice channels more than a bit #gray Bruce Springsteen's Rage Against the Lonesome Inner Fire growl. 

The Killers are always redefining themselves. I've been away, but I have a feeling I"m going to enjoy catching up with these gents.

—Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "Faith Healer" by Julien Baker

<<last song

<<next song

•OLDER POST

•NEWER POST

My song of the Day is "Faith Healer" by indie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Julien Baker. There's a lovely sense of mood in this little masterpiece, elevated by dynamics. Baker's voice is winning, too, an alto just kissed by appealing vocal fry.  

I came across this American artist on my favorite music sharing/recommending site LetsLoop and will be delving deeper into this young lady's catalog. 

—Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "Slow Hands" By Interpol

>>last song

<<next song

•OLDER POST

•NEWER POST

I don't know whether this is a love song or a horror story, but I love Interpol. They're a stunningly good band. My song of the day is their "Slow Hands" off the band's 2004 album "Antics." I adore how unabashedly in love the song's protagonist is, which is belied by the detached sound of frontman Paul Banks' voice. 

It makes for an awkwardly beautiful declaration of devotion, akin to but more successful than George McFly's initial gambit in "Back to the Future" when he tells his future wife that she is his "density." I'd take it in a heartbeat: 

"I submit my incentive is romance/I watch the pole dance of the stars/We rejoice that the hurting is so painless from the distance of passing cars/And I am married to your charms and grace/I just go crazy like the good old days/You are me want to pick up a guitar and celebrate the myriad ways that I love you. . ."

I saw Interpol at Coachella many years ago and they were great. All faces were deadpan and the bandpass attired in frontier Victorian Doc Holliday attire. Then they played like they were on fire. But more full of ennui than panicked about it. 

While I'll always take the goth, sonically speaking, I hope Paul Banks—whose voice carries a sort of Ian Curtis hollowness—is happier than he sounds.  

—Sarah Torribio

.