Spencer Griffin's New Music Mondays

 here they are: "All I Ever Am" by The Cure:  The Cure are one of the most celebrated and influential alt-rock bands of all time, so naturally, when news hit in fall of last year that they'd be releasing a new album, avid fans of the band were all abuzz! While the first single, "Alone," seemed too long and spacious to make a lasting impact on adult alt radio, the second single, "A Fragile Thing," had far more appeal! Now up a third time at bat, The Cure's "All I Ever Am" is yet another song of theirs that hearkens back to their gloomy yet lovely vintage '80s sound. The song starts with an orchestral-sounding synth, but as soon as the drums start pounding in, so does the bass, masquerading as a fuzz guitar here. "All I Ever Am" is a bit of a long song at around 5 and a half minutes, but it's also a catchy one, so I think it'll fare well on adult alt radio. "Cry Baby" by Sunny War (featuring Valerie June):  B...

 Love is in the air...and so are 8 new songs!! Here they are: "Ghosts Again" by Depeche Mode: Depeche Mode are not known for writing love songs as much as they for writing songs that decry politics, religion, and pretty much anything central to human affairs that has the potential to both divide and unite us, but "Ghosts Again," just in time for Valentine's Day, is a love song. Well...sort of. It's an elegy of sorts to their recently departed keyboard player, Andy Fletcher, who passed away last year. It is both surprisingly upbeat and surprisingly pristine for a DM song while still maintaining the dark vibes that the now legendary pioneers of goth-rock have become known for. The song is almost U2-ish with the exception of its constant use of keyboard, but even the keyboard has a more soothing sound than the more synth-y stuff that DM usually go for. It is as mournful as it is celebratory, and this is exactly how the surviving members of the group intended fo...