New songs for September 29th, 2025

 here they are:


"Dracula" by Tame Impala:  (to be read in a Transylvanian accent) Greetings! It is I, the music blogger! They call me the music blogger because I love to blog songs!And today, there are SEVEN! SEVEN songs in this blog!! Ah, ah, ah. (to be read in a regular accent) Come on, I had to!! "Dracula" is right there in the song's title! Unlike last week's TI track, "Loser," Dracula" has more of the synth-pop sound Tame Impala have cultivated in more recent years. Its spooky (but fun) minor-key sound is fitting to the song's title. Did Tame Impala intentionally release this song around Halloween?! One never knows, but I get the feeling they might have! It even includes lyrics like "run from the sun like Dracula." The song seems to center around how much of an outcast Kevin Parker feels like overall (keeping with the theme of "Loser" from last week). Also, are "dueling songs" a trend now?! Spoon also has two currently on the adult alt charts with "Chateau Blues" and "Guess I'm Fallin' in Love." 

"I Wish I Didn't Waste Your Time" by Thundercat:  What a coincidence that for our next song, we have one of Tame Impala's past collaborators, Thundercat! It's no surprise that Thundercat and TI have done stuff together, as their music seems to be in the same lane of ethereal synth-pop. Thundercat's latest song, "I Wish I Didn't Waste Your Time," certainly fits such a description! Though the song's title might be coming from a place of regret, the song itself seems almost reflective in a way. It's peaceful and meditative, like floating on a river! This song is not a waste of anyone's time!

"Tanana" by Portugal. The Man:  Another peaceful, ethereal song with slightly synth-pop-y influences for today's list, this is a song in which Portugal. The Man reflects on the ills of modern society. "Maybe it's the world/The world gone blind/They'll trade ya truth for a lieAn eye for an eye," John Gourley sings in the opening lyrics before quickly going to "Little birdie told me nobody's born/nobody's born bad." Together, these lyrics hint at how both how ignorant we are as a society and how fast to deny our wrongs we are as a society. The chorus has lyrics like "There's pigs running the zoo/There's murder in the news." The "pigs" and "zoo" metaphor seems straight out of the Simon and Garfunkel handbook, paralleling their "At the Zoo," which also used animal imagery to degrade the then-current political climate.

"Townies" by Wednesday:  Both the country-rock side of Wednesday and their more indie/grunge-influenced side show up in their latest song, "Townies." Perhaps part of the reason the chorus of the song "explodes" is because of just how much disgust Karly Hartzman feels towards the titular "townies" of this troubled tune. Even the title by itself carries a bit of vitriol. More specifically, the song seems to be about Karly's negative experiences being viewed as an object of sexual desire among men (the "townies" she mentions in the song). For instance, the lyrics, "You sent my nudes around/I never yelled at you about it 'cause you died." Ouch! "He got you in the back of his car/Just your sneakers and your drawers" ("drawers" probably refers to undies, not to dresser drawers) and "you were 16 and bored and drunk" are more examples of telling lyrics in this song about the angst Karly feels bubbling up inside of her, which comes to a vicious, unforgiving head by the time the song ends!

"Wait and See" by Saint Motel: I've never heard Saint Motel get orchestral in their influences before, but they make great use of it in their latest song, "Wait and See"! The song still uses rhythmic and synth-pop type influences that their typical material does, but this song still feels more meaningful than most of their material does! Well, as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures, and that seems to be the lyrical theme of "Wait and See," and perhaps why the song feels more poignant than most Saint Motel songs. The first verse of the song states, "From the dawn of man, heading back again/Are we at the end, kerosene?" and in the second verse, we hear, "Charming sycophant, kinda into it/Skinny elephant in the room/Making fun of them, but you're one of them/Sleek and elegant doom and gloom." Together, this suggests that we may be facing "end times" and how our so-called leader gets away with insulting people who have "wronged" the world, when he is such a person himself. Nonetheless, AJ Jackson reassures us that things will be fine, but I'm not sure if he even believes his own statement. 

"White Horses" by Wolf Alice:  After the largely guitar-less but still beautiful indie-pop vibes of "Bloom Baby Bloom" over the summer of this year, Wolf Alice return for the fall with a song that sounds a bit more autumnal with its country-rock influence, "White Horses" (I guess the "horse" part of the title gives away its country vibes). Unlike most Wolf Alice songs, Ellie Roswell does NOT take the lead vocals until the chorus. The song sounds like its title - like a white horse galloping freely about, albeit in a way that's more trepidatious and cautious than it is truly free. A lot of nature-oriented imagery here, too, like the titular horses, as well as wood, trees, leaves, and branches. The song has a bit of a duality - both rollicking and fragile!

"Words" by Big Thief:  In summer of this year, Big Thief released one of their most vulnerable songs yet with "Incomprehensible." Come fall of this year, Big Thief are back with another vulnerable tune, "Words." Where "Incomprehensible" seemed to be a coming-of-age tune about Adrianne Lenker herself, "Words" seems more about the struggles of communication in relationships. The song's fragile nature, capoed chords, and bittersweet yet universal theme resonate strongly with me!