New Adventures, New Music for 2025 #2
New Music, New Adventures 2025 #2
January 23, 2025
It’s been a week filled with some great people here in Palm Springs, including a visit from Frank’s nieces and dinners with a few of our local friends, David and Ken as well as Rudy and Glenn, all of whom we previously met on cruises. Frank and I also took the e-bikes out for a spin with no major mishaps although I find that my knees are feeling these rides now more than ever! It takes a good day or two afterwards to not feel that annoying joint pain. Of course, with fires still burning in Los Angeles and my friends back in Chicago dealing with sub-zero temperatures this week, I’ll deal with a bit of knee pain after a January bike ride!
Each week I plan to highlight a few songs that are in my current weekly list of Top Ten songs (recall: I’ve been keeping such a list since 1980...) I’ve been thrilled with some of the new music that has been released in the past few weeks. Some of it harkens back to electronic/new wave sounds of the 1980s. So, I’ll start first with…
New Music from 20th Century Hitmakers that Boomers and Gen X’ers Might Like:
A Flock of Seagulls - Him
Who can forget A Flock of Seagulls? With that awesome mohawk on leader singer Mike Score (now essentially bald) the band had a distinctive dance/electronic sound with songs like I Ran (So Far Away) and Wishing. In December, Score and his latest band members released a new album called Some Dreams. It’s a very tasty collection which features a few styles of music, including some harder edged rock. However, they don’t disappoint with echoes of their past on songs like Lovers and Strangers and Valley of the Broken Dreams. The song I’m into at the moment is called Him (not to be confused with Rupert Holmes’s early 80s hit with the same name.) It’s a bit slower than others on the album but pretty catchy.
New Music from Contemporary Artists that Everyone Should Check Out:
Panda Bear – Ferry Lady
Panda Bear is Noah Benjamin Lennox who is also a co-founding member of the group Animal Collective. Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, Lennox now lives in Lisbon, Portugal, (Hey Bernie!) something I didn’t know when his song Ferry Lady was introduced to me in the last couple of weeks. This one has hit me big time mostly due to the production. I love the reggae influence as well as the hint of brass which makes the song really soar. The lyrics suggest a friendship that has gone sour with thoughts that the twosome would be friends again. Not sure about the significance of that title though.
The Horn – Drift Away
This band’s website says it’s “London’s Britpop-infused rock band.” Sounds good to me! This track is a pretty upbeat for a song about someone’s soul “drifting away.” Still, it’s catchy with solid musicianship and some great vocal harmonies.
Freak Slug – Spells
I suppose it makes sense to use a different stage name when yours is Xenya Genovese. “Freak Slug” is definitely original! She is a British indie rocker from Manchester. Her latest album is called I Blow Out Big Candles. Spells is a cool track about two people who are too shy to express their love for each other.
Below is a link to all of the songs I’m mentioning this year. I’ll add more each week. Enjoy!
Thank you for adding the playlist! I’ll keep an eye out for Panda Bear. Perhaps the friends first met on one of the many commuter ferries on the Tagus River?