Spencer Griffin's New Music Mondays

 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...

 here they are: "Cold at Night" by The Mountain Goats:  A song that was released last month but that I'm just starting to get to know now...it only figures The Mountain Goats would release something on Halloween month, right?! I mean with titles like "Damn These Vampires," "Up the Wolves," and "Werewolf Gimmick," The Mountain Goats run the gamut when it comes to "spooky" titles and topics. "Cold at Night" fits right along with that. The song also has a bit more of a rock sound than fans of the Goats' normally folk-rock-y music might be used to, but it still lands roughly in that indie-folk-ish patch. I'm surprised there isn't "fandom rivalry" between The Mountain Goats and The Decemberists, given how both were mid-'00s indie-folk-rock groups who often sing about dark subject matter over sweet folk-rock-y melodies. "Cold at Night" totally lands in that Decemberists-ish spot with its tale ...

 here they are: "Afraid" by Flock of Dimes:  Having made quiet yet considerable success on adult alt radio with the aching, acoustic "Long After Midnight" in summer of this year, "Afraid" is autumnal electronica melancholia at its finest! The song relies less on guitars than "Long After Midnight" did, but it's just as compelling and just as vulnerable! Like many Flock of Dimes songs, "Afraid" wears its vulnerability on its sleeve! "I did not enter this world afraid," Jenn Wasner says during the song's opening lines, and from there, she distills herself down to her emotional essence, laying her feelings bare for the listener of the song. The song's opening line is also its last line, but Jenn adds "But I refuse to leave it that way" during this part of the song. Songs like this make me sad, but in the best possible way!  "Anywhere" by Ratboys:  They're not rats, and their lead singer isn'...

 here they are:   "Day One" by Bon Iver (featuring Dijon, and Flock of Dimes):  For a group who hadn't had success on adult alt radio in over a decade, Bon Iver's latest album has done pretty well, now yielding four singles (including this one) onto the format! Still more electro-pop than folk-rock like most of Bon Iver's latest single, but they chose some fitting guests to bridge the gaps on "Day One." Dijon for the pop-soul/electro side and Flock of Dimes for the more folk-y side. Though the song itself I have mixed feelings about, I think "Day One" has a very clever music video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd2bebzkPS0) in which many musicians, including Annie "St. Vincent" Clark, Flock of Dimes' Jenn Wasner, and even Justin Vernon himself audition to be the "next Justin Vernon." It is set in an alternate future where Bon Iver have "retired." I'm not sure how much the video has to do with the song, bu...