ROBOJOM, “Monster Cookie”

ROBOJOM, “Monster Cookie”

Proving the age-old wisdom – you can sing whatever the hell you want as long as the music is this banging and your singer delivers. A trashy electro song about a monster cookie and a spicy spicy spicy popsicle stick? Maybe this is a metaphor? Or code? I don’t really care. This is amazing fun – and this is what really great art does: calms me down and makes me smile. I’m so glad I live in a universe where there is a total club banger which is both totally hilarious and totally sexy.Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #88 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

THE STYROFOAM TURTLES, “Sad Soul”

THE STYROFOAM TURTLES, “Sad Soul”

I love watching this band – and their great steps along their artistic path. So I know the back story, the previous show, the proposal, the obvious waves of positive energy when Tristen sat down to write this. It is supposed to be about the sad soul – an overly dramatic person acting overly dramatic – but somehow this song is suffused with so much lightness and kindness and hope and love. The bass is so catchy, the accented “ah is wonderful, and then the chord progression in the chorus rises away from the darkness and towards the sun.Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #88 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

UGLY RUNNER, “She Was Your Girl”

UGLY RUNNER, “She Was Your Girl”

It’s easy to tell when a band has a good time together on a stage, but much harder to capture that energy in a studio. But on the short and sweet “She Was Your Girl” by Ugly Runner, confirmation of those good times come in the hoots and hollers behind Stephen Britt’s guitar solo centerpiece: this band simply works well together. With the call-and-response that accompanies Britt’s “I didn’t know she was your girl,” the blues rock charms of The Yardbirds come front and center and smartly underscores the blame game played by the song’s narrator. It’s an intoxicating mix of pitch-perfect pop song construction and garage rock swagger, and stakes out a corner of the scene for Ugly Runner’s unique take on that classic rock sound.Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #88 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

https://uglyrunner.bandcamp.com/album/romanticizer
RADKEY, “Cat & Mouse”

RADKEY, “Cat & Mouse”

From the chainsaw buzz of an opening riff on “Cat & Mouse,” it’s clear that the three brothers of Radkey are here to melt faces, not make friends. And the band doesn’t hold back from there on, with a chorus exclaiming, “Nowhere to hide/He’s going to take your life/No one to cry to/He’s going to take your life” in a baritone that could summon the ghost of Ian Curtis. As machine-gun drums give way to a searing guitar solo, the darkness and tension of the song bursts into a cacophony of “woah”s and a welcome reprise of that opening riff, somehow even more brutal and urgent than at the top of the song. “Cat & Mouse” is a dangerous game that you’ll want to play again and again.Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #88 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

EXTRADITION ORDER, “Baby, What Have You Done For Me Lately?”

EXTRADITION ORDER, “Baby, What Have You Done For Me Lately?”

Enticing harmonies and soft tambourines may not spring to mind when thinking about J. Robert Oppenheimer, but London’s Extradition Order make a compelling case that the sound and subject pair better than you think. Blending stomping rhythms with shimmering guitars, Extradition Order has crafted a self-described “Northern Soul album about the atomic bomb,” but Alastair Harper’s lyrics on “Baby, What Have You Done For Me Lately?” don’t give up the game so easy. Gang of Four-style harmonies punctuate the repeated refrain, “Baby, what have you done for me lately?/I miss your torso, especially when it was unclothed,” which steps away from the specific subject into an accessible portrait of love and longing. Once the horns and voices coalesce in the chorus and the Northern Soul influences shine through, the song transcends into its final form: a kickass kiss-off, more universal and impactful than the man behind the bomb.Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #88 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.