Spencer Griffin's New Music Mondays

 here they are: "A Love International" by Khruangbin:  Khruangbin (pronounced "KRUNG-bin") have a knack for seamlessly mixing funk, jazz, and psychedelic rock into a single entity. Their latest song, "A Love International," is no exception. The track is instrumental and repeats a lot of the same chord sequences throughout (although there is a key change midway through), but in doing so, they also manage to create a track that is impossibly blissful and guaranteed to lift your spirits! There's really not much to say about this track that hasn't already been said since there are no words to it, but its accompanying video is an oddly endearing tale of romance that blossoms on a beach. Think a Hawaiian version of Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom" and you'll get the basic idea for the video, which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e4oRKhilhA "Burn the Hard Drive" by Jade Bird:  Known mostly for her indie-fo...

 here they are: "Right Back to It" by Waxahatchee:  "Right Back to It" continues in the Americana direction that Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee has steered her music lately. It's a bittersweet, slow song that makes heavy use of the banjo, perhaps more so than other Waxatchee songs have since a lot of them are more guitar focused. Adding to the song's already country-rock flavor is Spencer Tweedy (who shares a first name with me), Jeff from Wilco's son, who plays drums on this track.  "Someday, Someday" by Pete Yorn:  Pete Yorn's music has now been around almost a quarter century. I did not think he would be doing music for that long of a time, but he has, and his musical quality has not dimmed a bit! "Someday, Someday," Yorn's latest, even finds him exploring new rhythmic dimensions! In typical Yorn fashion, the song is a folk-rock number, but it's also a waltz, which is not common to his material. The song could be desc...

 EIGHT whoppin' new songs for a whoppin' new year!! Can you believe it?! Here they are!! "Beautiful People (Stay High)" by The Black Keys:  While The Black Keys are known for having a "retro" sound to pretty much all of their songs, they haven't yet nailed the sunny side of psychedelic pop quite like they have for their latest tune, "Beautiful People (Stay High)." If the words "beautiful" and "high" weren't clues already, this is a song that attempts to capture the spirit of the swingin' '60s! This is probably the happiest song I've heard from Dan and Patrick so far. For a year that is probably going to be a shaky one for many, The Black Keys have managed to kick off 2024 with positive energy like no other! Highly recommended! "Deja Vu" by Abraham Alexander (featuring Mavis Staples):  This is only the second song I've heard so far from neo-soul musician Abraham Alexander (the first being "T...