Spencer Griffin's New Music Mondays

 here they are: "Dollar Bill" by Jack White:  The opening 30 seconds of this song sounds like someone trying to play psychedelic blues-rock out in the desert! From there, Jack White channels his inner Jimmy Page in a world where fuzz guitar meets slide guitar. In "Dollar Bill"'s brief span of 2 minutes and and 42 seconds, the song still manages to be a zonked out mindblower! The lyrics of the song seem like they're comparing being controlled in a relationship to being controlled by money. "Twizzler" by Cigarettes After Sex:  Our only other song of the week also has a time span of under 3 minutes, but it sounds vastly different! Instead of ear-splitting blues-rock, "Twizzler" is ear-calming atmospheric indie-pop. With Greg Gonzalez' seductive vocals repeatedly crooning "kiss so hot" in this song, this song is the perfect one to dive into a world of intimacy in just under 3 minutes!

 here they are "Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds" by The Mountain Goats:  Today on "Really Really Impossibly Long and Oddly Specific Song Titles," we're featuring The Mountain Goats! One of the more rockin' numbers from The Mountain Goats, "Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds" is told from the perspective of Charlie himself via John Darnielle's vocals. Lyrically, it's almost like a Randy Newman song, both for its "narrator" aspect and for its satirical lyrics! In only the second line of the song, the satirical lyrics, "Who among my brethren is more beautiful than I?" appear. The song is literally a hypothetical conversation between Charlie Sheen and law enforcement agents. Towards the end of the song, we get, "Gentlemen! The camera doesn't lie! How many more innocent women must die?" How did we get here again?! This song is a unique one that delivers both angst and humor over steady electric guitar p...

 here they are: "Angoon" by Portugal. The Man:  I don't know who or what "Angoon" is, but this piece is the angriest one I've heard yet from the normally calmer PTM!! Even reading the lyrics, I could tell it was a tense song. It uses a Pixies-ish method of swinging between calm verses and angry choruses, but the ire in this song is present throughout. With such dark lyrics as "when you dance with the devil, all I see I defend, no surrender in the shadow of drones," "No ICE no borders enforcer, no owners, no new world order," and "I'll be burning in water while we're drowning in fire," this is PTM at their most apocalyptic! Hard to believe these were the same guys who did "Feel it Still." The song's piercing guitar solo and eerie synth drone in the middle make it clear that John Gourley and co are not going to give up without a fight!! And the ending lyrics where John repeats the phrase, "Feeling that I...

 Since Monday was Memorial Day, I'm making it for it by posting about four brand new songs today instead. Here they are! "All the Beauty" by Pete Yorn:  This song is a bittersweet song from Yorn where he mixes electronic synths, indie-garage fuzz, and jangly indie-folk warmth into one song. This is one of those songs that could be about anything! According to the description for the song's official video, two ideas arise. One is about the song itself and how we should appreciate the present when it happens ("and I miss all the beauty of this place"). The other, though, is about his love of dogs! I'm not sure whether the song is actually about his dog, Rosie, but she might very well have inspired this one, especially given how often she appears in the video for this one! As for me? I love kitties! But any furry creature dear to our hearts is one worth treasuring! "Heart Has to Work So Hard" by Blondshell:  Like many of Blondshell's songs, th...

 here they are: "Doors" by Noah Kahan:  After the surprisingly angst-y explosion of "The Great Divide" from earlier this year, Noah Kahan's fans might be looking for a more relaxing song characteristic of what he started out with. That song is "Doors," a song complete with a roots-y, acoustic guitar-centered sound and even a DADF#AD tuning! The title of the song is metaphorical, referring to ways his partner could leave his relationship. There's a very "push-pull" dynamic in this song where Noah seems torn between pushing his partner away and keeping her in his life, much like how doors themselves work. "In the Stars" by The Rolling Stones:  The Stones, as they say, just keep on rollin'! Even with Charlie Watts now absent from the group for a few years, Mick and Keith still keep the band alive with their unmistakable vocals and guitar playing! Their latest song, "In the Stars," still has plenty of guitar swagger as...

 here they are: "Back of a Truck" by Rostam:  A founding member of indie-pop/rock sensations, Vampire Weekend, Rostam has also had a few good tracks of his own! This is one of them. It has an interesting "electro-folk" sound. Acoustic guitars and synths mingle with one another in this song, and they sound mostly in tune with one another (although part of the intro to the second verse makes it sound like the synths are deliberately out of tune compared to the guitars). "Back of a Truck" sounds like the title of a country song, and part of this song does have that "lonesome twang" that country songs tend to have, but it also sounds like something that's more likely to play at a club than it is at a barn or rodeo. To top it all off, Rostam reveals his inner Dylan fan in this song, twice! "Like a Rolling Stone" is mentioned by name, and "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" is alluded to towards the end.  "Freaking Ou...