Spencer Griffin's New Music Mondays

 here they are: "Beaches in Tennessee" by Cage the Elephant:  This bass-heavy indie-pop/rock song from CTE is a catchy one, but there's more than meets the eye than just how memorable it sounds. The song isn't about having fun on the beach, despite what its summer-slated release and energetic sound might make you think. It's actually about Matt Shultz's three-month stay at a psychiatric ward in Tennessee. Just as their 2024 breakout single, "Neon Pill," chronicled Matt's detainment from a hotel, "Beaches in Tennessee" is the song that picks up from where "...Pill" left off. Matt boldly declares he will not go back to the "beaches in Tennessee" where he was before. It's not the beaches themselves that gave him bad memories - it's what he did near that area!  "Can Old Lovers Ever Be Just Friends?" by Tom Odell (featuring The Lumineers):  While I've never been too big on Tom Odell's post-millen...

 Here they are!! "Knockin' Heart" by Hamilton Leithauser:  Thus far, a lot of the songs that Hamilton Leithauser from The Walkmen has done as a solo artist sound more like folk-rock than they do garage rock. Hamilton's latest solo effort, "Knockin' Heart," might be an exception to the rule that takes his sound back to the Walkmen days! If the "Knockin'" in the title wasn't enough to convince that Hamilton has a bit of kick to his solo stuff, then listening to the song might do the trick! It even has a cool psychedelic-tinged guitar solo to boot! It's never made clear as to whether this song is a declaration of undying love or if it's a song where the intent is for Hamilton to get an ex-partner back into his life, but either way...this song slaps! "Messy" by Lola Young:  Already a sensation on the adult alt airwaves for about a month or two, it took me finding out that the song has hit the regular alt airwaves as well t...

 here they are: "Classical" by Vampire Weekend:  The title to this song, of course, does not describe Vampire Weekend's music. That being said, though, "Classical" is  a song that illustrates the rich musical diversity that Vampire Weekend has to offer, perhaps more than any other song so far in their already vast catalog! The song manages to simultaneously sound like baroque pop, jazz, rock, synthpop, and soul, all stirred up into a tasty musical gumbo! The word "classical" in the title might just take on more than one meaning, also. There's the obvious element of classical music (even though that is not present in the song sound-wise), but "classical" here also refers to societal castes and how fragile they are. Lyrically, "Classical" seems to be about how, when different cultures clash with one another, they cause each other to collapse. A very heady topic for a very trying time in human history! "Daisy (Shine a Light)...

 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...