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: "From" by Bon Iver:  What are the secret weapons to making an electro-pop indie song that also translates well to a folk-rock audience?! For one, get rising indie star mk.gee on your team for the guitar! That's what Justin Vernon and co did for their latest song, "From." Then, add post-millennial blue-eyed soul musician, Jacob Collier, on backing vocals. Bam! The perfect recipe for smooth-as-silk electro-indie-pop that walks a fine balance between using synthesizers as the main instrument with caramel-sweet textured guitars underneath to give it that extra layering. Perfection! "Mistakes" by Caamp:  The gentle acoustic breeze and reassuring lyrics of "Let Things Go" was just what 2025 needed during its turbulent start! Midway into the year, we have "Mistakes," which is a more upbeat folk-rock song that places more emphasis on the "rock" element than "Let Things Go" did. Where "Let Things Go...