These days the music industry pumps such a continuous flow of new music that even the hippest of hipsters can have trouble keeping up. To stay off your phone for a day is to risk falling behind on the latest album release, the fire mixtape or the dopest music video featuring such and such, and such and suchâs booty.
With the load of content that becomes available to consumers several times a day, itâs easy to forget the artists we used to jam to on repeat back when iPodâs were just music devices. For a trip back a few years, hereâs a list of the newest releases from the past few months from musicians you completely forgot about.
Bastille â âFake Itâ
Also known as âNot Pompeii,â Bastilleâs newest single was released on July 27 and has already drawn close to two million plays on Spotify. An impressive start for being on the market for two weeks, but a failure when compared to the 376.6 million âPompeiiâ plays.
Itâs hard not to laugh during their newest song, as the lyrics read like Bastilleâs acceptance of their fate as a One Hit Wonder.
âWe can only do our best to recreate, donât turn over, turn over the page, we should rip it straight out, then letâs try our very best to fake it.â
Fake it they did. The same tribal drums introduce the chorus and backup singers echo like ghosts as the front man, Dan Smith, wails his British wail to vague sentences that could be mistaken for poetry.
Norah Jones â âCarry Onâ
The single comes as a sweet taste from her forthcoming âDay Breaksâ LP, set to release this October. Itâs been three years since her last productionâa team up with Green Dayâs Billie Joe Armstrong â which is a necessary listen in itself.
Since that experiment in the folk genre, Jones returns with âCarry Onâ as most remember her: petting the keys of a grand piano and singing us into love, heartbreak and longing. The single was released with an accompanying music video, a three-minute cry fest of an aging couple slow dancing to Jonesâ playing.
Relient K – âAir For Freeâ
Is everyone done crying? At least enough to read through the tears? Fair enough. The Christian rock band released their eighth studio album this past July, their first production since their last album, âCollapsible Lungâ in 2013. The three-year gap between the two albums is forgivable since âAir For Freeâ contains a massive track list of 16 songs.
Set yourself a few breaks, however, as each song blends into the other with the same church choir piano, steadyâif not boringâtempo and straightedge drum beats.
Between this album and the almost 75 songs that precede it, their 2004 album âMmhmmâ still reigns as the most energetic with their most popular songs âBe My Escape,â âMy Girlâs Ex-Boyfriendâ and âWho I am Hates Who Iâve Been.â
Third Eye Blind â âCop vs. Phone Girlâ
âCop vs. Phone Girlâ is Third Eye Blindâs first song in a year since the âDopamineâ album, and seven years since âUrsa Majorâ and is nothing less than a commentary on the current political issues of the country. The song tells the story of black student, Shakara, who pulls her phone out in class and suffers some serious consequence. “The teacher said get out of the class, ‘come on can I stay?’ To his shame, he said the call’s been made, I hear footsteps sounding eager of a cop that’s about to beat her”.
Singer Stephen Jenkinsâ trademark tight, fluctuating rhyme scheme and contrasting backbeats serve as a more entertaining, emotional address to the issue of police protection (or lack thereof) than any talking head on a corporate news network can attempt to provide.
Honorable Mentions: Manaâs single âDe Pies a Cabeza,â Shaggyâs single âThat Love,â and as much surprise to you as it is to me, Kidz Bop is still a thing, releasing their 32nd pop music collection.
As a final note, Frank Ocean has yet to release his newest âBoys Donât Cryâ album.
Eric Vasquez may be reached at [email protected]