Spencer Griffin's New Music Mondays

 here they are: "Count the Ways" by The Last Dinner Party:  The latest song from The Last Dinner Party combines a slinky guitar riff with Abigail Morris' sultry yet venomous vocals. Right from the opening lyrics, we get lines like, "Let the snake bite/Let her crawl under your skin/Let it eat you from within/It's alright," and shortly after that, "You break into my house/I'll break into your house/I'll do it/Do it." Those are very vindictive lyrics if you ask me! But the song also has a yearning undercurrent to it, centering around how much Abigail misses her lover. I dunno 'bout you, but I think I'm gonna count the ways this song lends itself to lyrical ambiguity! "Site Unseen" by Courtney Barnett (featuring Waxahatchee):  When it comes to sardonic yet sweet women of 2020's indie-folk-rock, Courtney Barnett and Waxahatchee are both giants, so it's interesting to hear them come together here! The song lacks the bite...

 here they are: "Barbed Wire" by Cardinals:  With their previous single, "Masquerade," having a somewhat Radiohead-esque sound, "Barbed Wire" has an even more interesting tune to it! It has a mid '00s indie rock swagger akin to Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, or Arctic Monkeys, but beset by an accordion sound. Somehow, they turn the accordion into a rock and roll instrument on "Barbed Wire," a song that takes dark subject matter like imprisonment and drugs and makes it into a daring tale of adventure! "Paradise Road" by Clover County:  If you thought this said "Clover Country" instead of "Clover County," you wouldn't be that far from the truth! Clover County, whose previous works were closer to indie-folk, leans more towards a country sound for their latest tune, "Paradise Road." No place called "Paradise Road," real or fictional, is mentioned in the tune, but it could be inferred from the...

 "Fool's Gold" by Buffalo Traffic Jam:  By now, a song like this might be considered a throwback song! A Mumford and Sons-ish galloping rhythm, a bluegrass-y vibe similar to Trampled by Turtles, and a voice like the lead singer of Caamp all combine into one bluegrass-rock tune on "Fool's Gold" by Buffalo Traffic Jam! The titular "fool's gold" seems to be numbing ways of distracting oneself from the difficulties of life, such as drugs. In other words, things like that are just a crutch. They may seem like "gold," but they're really just another way of saying "I'm OK" when you're really not. This song is like an Americanized Mumford and Sons going through a revelation that nothing in life is as it seems! "In Your Ocean" by Iron & Wine:  The sublime, alternately tuned folk-rock sound on IAW's latest song, "In Your Ocean," makes it sound like it was an outtake from an earlier album they di...

 Happy New Year everyone!! Here goes!! "Lou Reed Was My Babysitter" by Jeff Tweedy:  A striking contrast to the other two following entries on my list in a few ways. It starts with L, not W, the performer of the song is white, not Black, it tells a statement, not a question (the other two both ask "Who?"), and it goes more towards alt-rock and folk-rock than it does to vintage R & B vibes. This makes "Lou Reed Was My Babysitter" a vibrant entry to start off 2026!! Even the title of the song says a lot!! The Patron Saint of Alt-Rock has long deserved his own song, and Jeff Tweedy finally gives him one! Does it sound like Lou Reed?! Yeah, it kinda does! It has a very laconic, dry rock sound that goes halfway between laid-back folk-rock and jagged, experimental alt-rock. The song contains rather obvious references to songs like "Rock and Roll," and other more oblique references to various Lou/Velvets songs, possibly evoking "Sister Ray...

 Here it is, folks!! The Top 20 songs of the year!! Ready? Here goes!! 20. "Mistakes" - Caamp 19. "Relationships" - Haim 18. "Metaverse" - Cage the Elephant 17. "After the Setting Sun" - The Head and The Heart 16. "People Watching" - Sam Fender 15. "Same Old Song" - The Lumineers 14. "Lucy" - Mt. Joy 13. "Rushmere" - Mumford and Sons 12. "Everything is Peaceful Love" - Bon Iver 11. "The Night Before" - The Black Keys 10. "Catch These Fists" - Wet Leg 9. "Everyday Magic" - My Morning Jacket 8. "Knockin' Heart" - Hamilton Leithauser 7. "Let Things Go" - Caamp 6. "Nothing I Need" - Lord Huron 5. "Ankles" - Lucy Dacus 4. "Sally, When the Wine Runs Out" - Role Model 3. "Time Waited" - My Morning Jacket 2. "Horses" - Jesse Welles ....and....the number one song of 2025 is..."MOODY" BY ROYEL O...

 here they are: "Ain't Nobody Making Me High" by Bartees Strange:  Thanks to musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Lenny Kravitz, we have seen Black performers who enjoy hard rock music. A more recent and rarer phenomenon are Black performers who enjoy indie music. TV on the Radio are such a group, and in the 2020's, Bartees Strange seems to have taken on this mantle. But on Bartees' latest song, "Ain't Nobody Making Me High," he shifts his gears from indie to more of a blues-y, gritty funk/soul flavor! It's the type of soulful song Lenny Kravitz himself might have done back in the day, and a lot of it brings about '70s funk vibes a la Funkadelic or Rufus ("Tell Me Something Good" especially comes to mind here!) Even the lyrics to the song are minimalist and blues-y, and the photo on the album's single showing a black and white photo of Bartees with a serious, somewhat contemplative expression and his hair in cornrows sets the tone fo...