New songs for February 9th 2026

 here they are:


"Buzzkill" by Jobi Riccio:  Before I begin this review, I want to say that I had the pleasure of seeing Jobi perform this song and others of hers live at a place called Healing Force of the Universe! I barely knew about her back then, but she did an amazing performance, sounding somewhere halfway between Joni Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt, but for the indie-folk generation. Though most of Jobi's material is rooted in folk and country, "Buzzkill" has that biting indie/alt edge to it, which is probably part of why it's ended up being her breakthrough single! The lyrics are also very relatable, especially to young adults! Jobi goes through being different ages in the song (21, 23, 25) and noting how, no matter how old you get, life can still feel incomplete and dissatisfying. Jobi herself is the "buzzkill" in the song. Her wry, self-deprecating humor combined with bittersweet observations on life make this song a winner!

"Dime" by Silvana Estrada:  No, this song does not rhyme with "slime" or "grime," and its title does not refer to money. It is actually pronounced "DEE-may" and is Spanish for "tell me." The song is entirely in Spanish (a first for this blog!!) It contains lush string arrangement and buoyant brass instrumentation. Though not every viewer of this blog is going to understand the lyrics of this song, music, as they say, is the universal language. The song, from what I can tell is a breakup song, especially towards the end when Silvana sings, "que yo te quiero, y te quiero olvidar," which means, "I love you and I want to forget you." This song can appeal to speakers of two literal languages (English and Spanish) as well as two emotional languages (love and loss)! 

"I Did it for Love" by The Lone Bellow:  Zach Williams is the lone man in an entry with seven women (although one of The Lone Bellow's backing vocalists is female), but his sensitive spirit still fits with a lot of the entries here. The group's latest tune, "I Did it for Love," starts off almost being synth-pop-y, but it quickly launches into the roots-y indie-folk the group have become known for by the time the chorus comes around. I have no idea what Zach's romantic life is like, but the lyrics to this song almost make it seem like he's coming into a romance for the first time in a while. A bit apprehensive, but still wanting to try out a romantic relationship and feel what it's like. 

"I Was Never Yours" by Karin Ann:  The sweet, singsong-y, fiddle-laden indie-folk of Karin Ann's breakthrough song, "I Was Never Yours," belies its true nature as a song that could be called a breakup song...if not for the title. Calling a song "I Was Never Yours" makes it so that it's not about a breakup as much as it is about acknowledging that what one person thought of as a relationship might have never been one to begin with. The song's innocent sound might conjure up imagery of fairies flitting about in a field of flowers, but Karin is no fairy. She's a jilted lover (or perhaps just a jilted person mistaken for a lover) who wants to leave the past behind!

"Keeper" by Courtney Marie Andrews:  Fitting to the coming holiday, Courtney Marie Andrews' latest album is called Valentine, and the album's first single is called "Keeper." The song's light, breezy folk-rock ties right into how it actually is. What Courtney is a "Keeper" of, as she explains in the chorus, is her lover's heart, as well as their secrets. This song is a very sweet tune, assuring its listeners that Courtney will pledge loyalty to them and never let them down! Just what we need for Valentine's Day!

"Not Today" by Kim Gordon (from Sonic Youth):  Sonic Youth were the kings and queens of noise-rock in the '80s and '90s! They took the inaccessible yet alluring nature of The Velvet Underground and made it even noisier and weirder, revolutionizing alt-rock in the process. At 72 years old, it seems like Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon wants to mellow out a bit, but I don't view this as a bad thing. I think it reveals a whole other facet to her music that most of her fans probably didn't know she had! The warm yet trippy sound of her latest song, "Not Today," is more reminiscent of The Cure than it is The Velvets. The song's lyrics seem somewhat negative, but more in an oblique manner than a direct one ("Never mind the mess, it's just my dress," "There's a hole in my heart, a hole," "Are you bold or stuck like glue?," "Paint me up, make me dark, make me down"). It seems like something is wrong in her life, a typical theme of her songs, but it's left up to the listener's imagination to figure out exactly what that is. 

"Til My Heart Stops" by The Beths:  The Beths' latest album has really been something! So far, we've gotten jangle-pop ("Metal"), fuzz-soaked power pop ("Straight Line Was a Lie"), and now, bittersweet indie-folk, with "Til My Heart Stops." Well, initially it is...more fuzzy, electric guitars are gradually added in by the song's second verse, but it retains a melancholy nature throughout. Lead singer Elizabeth Stokes seems to be singing about regret at first ("I pull away like I'm used to/Pointless game we play, do we choose to?"), but by the time the chorus comes around, she's essentially making a bucket list of what she'd want to do if her days were numbered, ending the list with "I want to love 'til my heart stops." In an increasingly sad and worried world, sometimes the best thing we can do is to love! 

"Victim of Luck" by Metric:  Kind of unusual to get two new "V" songs within less than a month (the other is "Votive" by The New Pornographers), but both fit with that vindictive, vengeful, vituperative, virulent, venomous, vitriolic nature of the letter V! "Victim of Luck" by Metric sounds like a world-weary, dance-oriented indie-pop/rock tune, and its lyrics are both regretful and fearful. The fear is evident early on when Emily Haines says, "I was a starving artist but I was fearless/Now I don't know what we are, frightened of heights we knew" (I guess another good V word here is vulnerable!) When Emily questions whether she's a "victim of luck," she answers her own question with, "Never better, baby, I don't give a..." Well, you probably know what that last word is! She may be happy to be apart from her ex-partner, but elsewhere in the song, her words tell a different story of someone who was treated unfairly!