* So today is Thursday. Not Wednesday. Which means this note is one day late. This was news to me a couple of hours ago. Time marches on!
For the first time in a very long time I sat on a patio and had a beer. Now it was after a round of a golf and there were only 5 people total on the patio (two of which I was with) but it was still interesting. I know this is old hat for some American colleagues but to be under 50 and double-dosed is rare in my parts of the world. Whatās next? Probably nothing. Probably just going to keep doing the exact same things weāve been doing all along for another few months while we wait for everyone else to have an opportunity to do their civic duty. And then maybe Iāll sit on a legitimate patio with 10 - maybe 20 - people.
On a music note, this collection probably ranks up there with the most laidback of all the notes Iāve put together. Itās not that itās slow and relaxing (itās not), itās just that I wouldnāt expect you to add anything mentioned below to your gym playlist.
š Goings On About Music
Let us take a look at some new(ish) albums and singlesā¦
šæ Albums
Half Moon Run - Inwards & Onwards ( Apple | Spotify )
In a note back in December I highlighted how I have a hard time understanding the popularity of a lot of Canadian bands outside of our borders. I donāt have anywhere close to a handle on how popular Half Moon Run are. I thoroughly enjoyed their first album and havenāt missed anything since. I would like to hope they get play elsewhere. This quick six-song twenty-minute EP doesnāt miss a beat. If youāre already a fan then youāre going to enjoy it - if youāre not because youāve never listened to them, then congrats on becoming the newest fan of Half Moon Run.
Folly Group - Awake and Hungry ( Apple | Spotify )
A bit of an interesting one from here. I first listened to the song, Fewer Closer Friends and almost stopped listening mere seconds in based on the looping sound effect and then almost stopped again around 25 seconds when the vocals came in but then my interest was piqued trying to figure out what music this reminded me of. After three listens I figured it out - the all-over-the-place-with-a-seemingly-random-mix-of-rhythms-sounds-and-vocals reminded me of a way-less-hard System of a Down. The rest of the album is just as all-over-the-place but it held my interest long enough to work through. This one is very easily filed under āNot Easy To Listen Toā but Iām glad I did.
šµ Tracks
Soccer Mommy - Kissing In The Rain
Relatively speaking Iām a new fan of Soccer Mommy. Iāve more than made up for it with the amount of time Iāve listened to her music since, though. This one looks like itās from a soundtrack for a movieā¦ or a comicā¦ or some kind of piece of media. The vocals are just as great but it felt like there was a bigger - or at least more prominent - band on this track than any previous music that Iāve enjoyed.
KennyHoopla - silence is also an answer//
Sometimes I wonder what artists Iād be into if I was back in high school. I canāt quite put it into words but the sound of this KennyHoopla song (and album, actually) is probably something Iād have been all over. Iād go see it live (probably on Warped Tour) and Iād rock out to it while I drove a group of friends downtown to visit Steveās Music Store and then have Lone Star nachos and queso before returning home, still rocking out to it. It has that angsty teen kind of vocals to it.
Goodbye Honolulu
This probably isnāt something I would have listened to in high school but Iāll undoubtedly listen to it now. If youāve seen Ex Machina - you know that scene where Oscar Isaac starts dancing with his robot maid AI bot person? The start of this song reminded me of that but the rest of the song nicely walks the line of being both a disco-infused upbeat track thatās also pretty chill and laidback.
š§ In My Queue
Aside from those albums and singles, what about some other tracks?
I got mixed up when I saw a new BANNERS song thinking it was Twin Atlantic but because I can tell a Scottish accent from an English accent, I knew immediately that I was wrong. Still an easy-to-listen-to trackā¦ On the strength of name recognition alone, The Killers and Bruce Springsteen are worth a listenā¦ Ensuring that this note is free of anything heavy, hard, or overly rockin', Iāll wrap this up with a Lone Waves track that I gave more than a few listens to this week.
Half Moon Run - On & On
Lone Waves - Slow Motion
Soccer Mommy - Kissing In The Rain
Goodbye Honolulu - Over and Over
BANNERS - Serenade
Folly Group - Fewer Closer Friends
KennyHoopla & Travis Barker - silence is also an answer//
The Killers - Dustland (feat. Bruce Springsteen)
Subscribe to the In My Queue playlist on Apple Music or Spotify. Itās updated weekly with the new tracks.
Check out my profile Apple Music or Spotify for links to the playlists from previous weeks.
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