Spencer Griffin's New Music Mondays

 here they are: "Downstairs" by Matt Maeson:  Matt Maeson's work is usually guitar-oriented, but it often goes more towards folk-rock than it does electric guitar-based material. This is what makes his latest song, "Downstairs," stand out from his other material! The song starts out with just Matt's vocals and the electric guitar by themselves before it crescendoes to full-band instrumentation during the chorus. The title seems to be metaphorical, too, suggesting an escape from the world when everything goes wrong. Although clearly rooted in an indie-pop sound, there's something almost post-grunge-y about how "Downstairs" is set up with its soft-but-about-to-break verses and more explosive (but still relatively calm) chorus. "Enough" by Jeff Tweedy (Wilco):  In this midtempo folk/country-rock tune, Wilco's lead singer poses a tough question at the very start of this song: "Has it ever been enough? Has it ever been OK?" T...

 here they are: "Coyote" by Mt. Joy:  Not to be confused for the mellow, ethereal Joni Mitchell song of the same name, Mt. Joy's "Coyote" is a more bass-heavy, blues-rock-y song than the folk-rock song it shares a name with! Mt. Joy are normally pretty folk-rock-y themselves, though they do occasionally slip into slight shades of psychedelia with tracks like "Sheep," "Evergreen," and "Lemon Tree." "Coyote" is probably the hardest-rocking Mt. Joy I've heard so far!! (Though "Evergreen" is a close second) Not sure who or what the titular animal represents in this song, but the song itself seems to be about the joy of attending rock festivals, or drug trips...or maybe both?! Never thought Mt. Joy would jump onto the rock and roll bandwagon this much, but I'm glad they have! "Deadstick" by King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard:  ...and speaking of psychedelic garage rock, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wi...

 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...