The Regular Friday Post
Rando lyrics: And somehow I got stuck Between the rock and the hard place
Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “It leads you here, despite your destination” is from the song “"Under the Milky Way", a single by Australian alternative rock band the Church, released on 15 February 1988,[1] and appears on their fifth studio album Starfish. The song was written by bass guitarist and lead vocalist Steve Kilbey and his then-girlfriend Karin Jansson of Curious (Yellow).”
“Kilbey and Jansson had become friends in 1983 and lived together in Australia from 1986.[12] Kilbey said, "I smoked a joint and started playing the piano and she came in the room and we just made it up."[13] According to a press release issued with Starfish, the title is from an Amsterdam music and cultural venue, Melkweg (Dutch for "Milky Way"), which Kilbey used to frequent…
In 2001, the song was featured in the soundtrack for the movie Donnie Darko.”
Credit Wikipedia Link: Under The Milky Way
Thus endeth my Donnie Darko obsession for this year - Both Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and The Church “Under The Milky Way” play underneath the Halloween house party scene in the film. Some explanations of the inspiration for “Under The Milky Way” have differed from the one in the Wikipedia article….
Fun song to play:
Chord Chart For "Under The Milky Way"
Welcome to The Regular Friday post!
For Today:
Today’s “commentary” from me is kind of a highly subjective, “upside down world” rant. Shocking, I know….
I had been thinking of several topics and decided to get the “What I’m Listening 2” playlist (at the bottom of this post) out of the way first before I settled on a theme for today. I searched Spotify for something along the lines of “New Acoustic Folk Americana Releases Playlist” because I’ve been wanting to do a post on new music and artists and sort of get back to the acoustic genres of music as a break from the more technical aspects I sometimes write about. I was pleasantly surprised at first, especially at the huge playlist return. I didn’t count, but I would guess well over a hundred, probably closer to 200 or more songs - supposedly just 2023 releases in the category, which I think would have been even larger if I hadn’t included all of the parameters. “Pleasantly surprised” turned fairly quickly to YGTBSM!!
So, today’s commentary is something of a personal rant and, as always, your mileage may vary…
Very disconcerting to hear some really great acoustic flat- and finger- picked intros followed by uninspired, mundane lyrics. Worst of all were vocals that seemed to intentionally sound exactly like nearly every other vocalist on the list (both male and female vocalists seemed to have an archetype they were emulating, but I’ve no idea who those would be). Few, very few, stood out, and those are the artists I included in the WIL2 playlist for today (at the bottom of the post). I would have been more forgiving if I heard anything that even approached sounds like Bob Dylan, John Denver, Nanci Griffith, Chrissie Hynde, John Prine, Tracy Chapman, John Hurt, Elizabeth Cotton - anybody with an interesting vocal approach. I get it, not everyone is going to have those vocals. But each of those artists, or pick your own - there are thousands of male and female vocalists, past and present, who have great vocals, write and sing lyrically great songs, and are memorable, manage a “sound”, even if not completely unique.
But nope - some sort of generic American English fertilizer babbling was overwhelmingly common in the new release music I found. I realized most of the ones I could stand to listen to all the way through were male (in all fairness, male vocalists do seem to be by far the most numerous artists in the category searches I did), but also that wasn’t fair and the playlist may have been biased in some way other than just a greater number of male vocalists who sing in the genre.
So, when that wasn’t satisfactory, I searched “female vocalist only” Americana, Indie, Folk, acoustic 2023 releases. Disappointingly, it was mostly the same result in terms of “sameness”, but with a few pleasant surprises I included on the playlist. Admittedly, while wading through as many “2023 release playlists featuring female vocals” as I could this week, I did find myself adrift from what I was mostly seeking: actual folk/Americana/indie performers - mostly singer/songwriter types. Along the way, small groups/bands with a female lead definitely started to grab my attention as the final few songs on the playlist demonstrate. Since I’m totally a sucker for cool, indie goth/shoegaze/dreampop type songs, the last few can hardly be called Americana, but I really liked them, so they’re on the list. Also, I’m not entirely sure anyone really knows exactly what “Americana” is - I think it’s mostly just “nots”: not real country, not jazz, not rock, not metal, not a lot of things - maybe it’s more like ear porn - you just know it when you hear it. Yeah, going to hell for that, too, I suppose….
Anyway, that’s pretty much the extent of the rant, and it’s not like the sentiment is unique to me, or the genres I chose to search out and write about today. I, like you probably, have heard the sentiment that there is little in the way of great music being produced now, but that always sounds like “Kids these days…” sort of prior generational whiny lamenting to me. Yeah, there were some good, maybe even great songs on the lists that I passed on, and maybe some less than great that I chose. I will say I gave every song a chance, at least a few seconds worth, though I did have some criteria. First, if the intro was over 30 seconds long, it was automatically eliminated, and I kind of think that was generous on my part, if subjective. Next, and anyone other than me would have their own personal, subjectively great favorites, but every song that instantly sounded to me like every other vocal (as described in my rant above) got the “next” arrow treatment. The ones that managed to interest me were not just vocally somewhat unique, but at least IMHO, musically “good”. They didn’t have to be great, nor unique - in fact listening to the acoustic intros, most of them sounded like variations on the common “Calypso”, island beat: 1 2& &4&. Common, but still interesting. Some were just strums, but the most interesting that caught my attention were picked in some fashion. Listen for yourself, and draw your own conclusions, and feel free to comment with your own rants, likes, dislikes. We may or may not agree with one another, but it’s all good….
Musician Quote:
“Wow, looks like this leftover Halloween candy isn’t going to eat itself….”
- Michael Acoustic
The Gallery:
Some Links for today:
From ASCAP: Meditation
My PRO is ASCAP, and they’re pretty good about musician health and mental well-being. This is an interesting, recent article.
From Blues Guitar Unleashed:
From Speed Songwriting (Graham English):
From American Songwriter:
Bruce Springsteen Songwriting Tips
From Carvin Audio
From Songtown:
Interview With An A&R Exec “A&R” is “Artists and Repertoire” - the business end of televison/film production staffed by the people who decide what music gets used (and therefore who gets royalty payments from that use).
From Disc Makers
Band Breakups - maybe yours...
Music Promotion and Fan Base Expansion
This Substack is free, I receive no compensation of any kind from companies or products I mention. Some linked or quoted material may be copyrighted by others, and I credit them. I rely on the “Fair Use” doctrine for educational purposes (Link: Fair Use). I do not use AI, things I link to might though. -Michael Acoustic
Thank you, new Subscribers!!!!!! Mika, the Cat, welcomes you!!
This Week’s Conversation With Mika:
Mika: “I KNOW it’s only been 30 seconds since I was crying to go OUT on the deck!!! Now I want IN!! COLD!!!”
(ED. This cycle repeats at least 3 times a day……)
Shameless Self Promotion Section:
My song is out! Link: “Long Road Back” (click on link for streaming options)
What I’m Listening2: This week’s WIL2 playlist is more than just a random collection…
… the Josh Radin song is an example of a genre called “whisper rock”:
“Whisper Rock is a musical genre coined by Joshua Radin, a musical artist who's style doesn't closely match any other particular genre. While playing a concert in NYC on July 30, 2008, Radin described getting asked by interviewers on multiple occasions what type of music he played. Frustrated at the question, he started telling them, "Whisper Rock." He then proceeded to make a rock fist, but with extended thumb brought it sideways towards him, appearing as a "W" from profile view, until the edge of his index finger touched his lips and he whispered, "Shhhh.” Credit: en-academic.com Link: Whisper Rock
Next is the Ron Pope song has always been a favorite singer-songwriter/folk/acoustic/Americana song for me and it just popped into my head while I was adding some of the other songs below. Here’s an article about Mr. Pope…. Credit: American Songwriter Link: Ron Pope
The JS Ondara song and the Blue Rodeo song are new or remastered releases from artists that I’ve featured on Michael Acoustic previously.
“Love Will Tear Us Apart”, “Mad World”, and “Under The Milky Way” are all from the Donnie Darko soundtrack.
“I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain is a single from 1998 and caught my ear on a playlist….
The songs by male artists from “Come On By” through “Midnight Passing By” are listed as “new releases” on just one of Spotify’s playlists, and there are a million of them!! (ED. The Acoustic Alchemy song may be an exception that found it’s way into the new stuff by mistake - dunno) - see “For Today” section above for rant/commentary…
After that are the rest of the songs on The Church album “Starfish”, the 1988 album which features “Under The Milky Way” - great album!
And finally, some (admittedly according to my own subjective ear) female artists with new - 2023 - releases that I could separate from the crowded field of “sound alike” vocalists. In all fairness there were far more sound-alike male vocalists, all with that “whisper rock” sounding soft, high tenor (What does that even mean? Check this out: High Tenor). I don’t mean to insult male vocalists who can sing in that range - but within the genre, there do seem to be an overwhelming number who sound too much alike, which make male voices with other ranges (think Tom Waits) more interesting by their relative scarcity, I suppose. Nor do I mean to insult female vocalists who also sing in what I can only think of as an “Americana” voice - hard to define, but it’s kind of a thin, high, often sort of Midwest accented, vocal. Again, made less interesting because it’s so widely heard, especially in the genre.
The ones, both male and female that I could stand, make up the songs that are something other than Josh Radin, Ron Pope, Edwin McCain, JS Ondara and Blue Rodeo songs, Donnie Darko music, and The Church album “Starfish”. As far as I know, with the possible exception of the Acoustic Alchemy instrumental, they are all new, current releases.
Cheers and keep playing!!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”
I find the No Depression playlists extremely helpful in discovering more rootsy, acoustic new music. It’s how I’ve discovered many singer-songwriters.
And “Under the Milky Way” is sublime. A timeless classic. The Church released an excellent album in 2023 - The Hypnogogue - it’s more proggy and experimental than earlier stuff.
Always good to see some Joy Division on the playlist.