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: "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: "Afterlife" by Alex G:  I overlooked Alex G when he first debuted on the adult alt radio scene with "The Runner" (I think a lot was going on in my life back then), but I've mellowed out enough since then that I'm ready to hear his latest tune, "Afterlife." I must say, I like what I'm hearing so far! Pop/rock beats wed to a string instrument that sounds like it could be mandolin all while feeling like a mellow day out on the lake while you listen to it? I'm all for it! "Afterlife" can mean different things to different people too. I mean Sharon Van Etten already came out with another song of the same title this year, but that one seemed to be more about a yearning hope to see someone after our mortal years end. In Alex G's song, "Afterlife" appears to be more of a metaphor for starting a fresh new life after a life filled with awkward mistakes. Seems pretty relatable to me! "@$$hole (When We First...

 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: "Dance With a Stranger" by Lake Street Dive:  While Lake Street Dive's sound is normally influenced by '60s and '70s soul music, they sometimes reach for vibes evocative of other times. Their latest song, "Dance With a Stranger," seems more like '80s funk and R & B a la Chaka Khan, Prince, and perhaps even Michael Jackson. Shimmering synths layer the song's shiny atmosphere along with the funky bass bubbling underneath. The song's lyrics, however, would not have been out of place in a song from the '60s, with its themes of unity. The title of the song, as well as the song itself, are just about having the freedom to do what you want when you want! "Sanctuary" by Wild Feathers:  Now a little over a decade old, Tennessee country-rockers Wild Feathers are still releasing songs to this day! Their latest effort, "Sanctuary," continues in the country-rock direction they debuted with. While the music is no...

 here they are: "Spotless" by Zach Bryan (featuring The Lumineers): Country music and alt-rock might seem like strange bedfellows at first, but if you know that most Lumineers songs are basically folk songs performed through a rock lens, it might not seem near as weird that country musician Zach Bryan and indie-folk darlings, The Lumineers, are collaborating together. "Spotless" is one of those songs that holds equal appeal to contemporary country fans and those who prefer their country music to have more of a rock edge and/or older sound. Though the song may sound fluffy and lighthearted, make no mistake. Zach Bryan is not the kind of country singer you'd want to introduce your grandparents to, at least not for this song. Swear words pepper the lyrics to "Spotless," and the lyrics of the song pertain to subjects like smoking, drinking, and losing faith in humanity. The title of the song, in fact, comes from how Zach claims that neither he nor the list...