New Music: Raindrops

           

Three weeks ago, Rick Astley shared his new single "Raindrops" now the icon is releasing the official video which consist of several footages taken from rehearsals to the Reflection Tour stage.  

 

Rocktrospectiva: The Gentle Indie Lost Classic "Eventually" Turns 30

Released on 30 April 1996 "Eventually· was the 2nd., solo studio album by US indie icon Paul Westerberg, the album spawned the single "Love Untold." The album started out in Atlanta, with producer Brendan O'Brien. Although those sessions produced good results—the leadoff single, "Love Untold", among them—Westerberg and O'Brien parted ways. O'Brien was pressed for time, and Westerberg needed more time to write enough songs to fill out a full album.  The song "Good Day" was written for late Replacements guitarist Bob Stinson. It references "Hold My Life", a track from the album

From the folk pop of opener "These Are the Days," it was clear he was more focused than ever. "You've Had It With You" arkens back to the more ragged Replacements vibe, while "MamaDaddyDid" and "Once Around the Weekend" were somewhat paint-by-numbers alt-pop for the era—radio-friendly pop songs, perfect for a soundtrack near you. 

The album was full of these mid-tempo, melody-driven adult pop songs that, while fine, fail to really catch fire at first. Paul Westerberg quit drinking around the time of The Replacements'  demise and began to mature. Some people never will forgive Paul for simply growing up. His first solo album  was an excellent, if slightly uneven record. Until today Eventually was his most fully realized solo album. Every song is excellent and brilliantly ordered in sequence of songs, each song builded on the previous one to create a sum that is greater than its parts.

It starts off brilliantly with "These Are the Days" and continued to grew, "Love Untold" was a heartbreaking ode to two potential lovers who never get a chance to meet. Westerberg’s attention to small details is captured as perfectly here as it’s ever been. It’s those small details that has made Westerberg one of the greatest, if unfortunately underrated songwriters of his generation. He captures all the heartbreak, the angst, the joy and the passion that we all feel from time to time. He knows how to convey what we all feel inside. "Ain't Got Me" was another excellent song that segues beautifully into  "You've Had it With You." 

Then it came "MamaDaddyDid" revealed his ambivalence towards having children & his own parents’ inability to raise him. Although I guess he had a change of heart a few years later, when he did in fact have a child. "Hide N Seekin" was probably the type of song that his fans crucify him for back then, the one of the most touching songs of his entire career "Good Day," a piano & strings-based ballad, a hopeful, positive ode to being alive sung with heartfelt passion. A tribute to fallen, former Mats guitarist Bob Stinson.

In the end, "Eventually" was one of those albums where everything came together all at once and is clearly a lost classic.

 

Eventually Track List: 

 

1. These Are The Days

2. Century

3. Love Untold

4. Ain't Got Me

5. You've Had It With You

6. MamaDaddyDid

7. Hide n Seekin

8. Once Around The Weekend

9. Trumpet Clip

10. Angels Walk

11. Good Day

12. Time Flies Tomorrow 

Rocktrospectiva: The Mainstream Succesful "Why Do Birds Sing?" Turns 35

Released on 30 April 1991 "Why Do Birds Sing?" was the 5th., studio album by the US band Violent Femmes. It was the band's last album with original drummer Victor DeLorenzo, who left two years later to devote his time to acting, and was produced by Michael Beinhorn. The album spawned three singles, the hit "American Music," which rose to number 2 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart during the week of May 18, 1991, and became a staple of the band's live shows, also the Culture Club's Hit cover "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me", & the college rock classic "Used To Be." 

Why Do Birds Sing? was something of a return to form, if only in terms of having song after song of the kind of weirdly fractured folk pop that represented the band at their most accessible. Upbeat and straightforward album-opener "American Music" was placedssomewhere between campfire song and pop masterpiece, with subtle production details like sleighbells and sparingly used organ runs growing along with the song's steady build. The snarling cover of Culture Club's hit "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me," the band chose to record this unlikely cover: We took it as a challenge,” laughs Gordon Gano, who reworked the majority of the lyrics, making the song sound like a Violent Femmes original. Ritchie adds, "It was an experiment that turned out really well…in fact, we bumped into Boy George once in a hotel bar and he told us, 'That is the best cover of any of our songs anyone’s ever done.'" the inverted girl group appropriation of "Look Like That," and the driving college rock of "Used to Be." 

The band's penchant for sardonic and juvenile humor remains intact on the faux-blues stomp of "Girl Trouble" and the shadowy clunk of "Make More Money," a bitter revenge story of the tormented high school nerd becoming a rich rock star. When Why Do Birds Sing? was first released, the Violent Femmes were already a decade into their career, enjoying cult success but still living mostly in the shadow of their debut. The album would be one of their most commercially successful up until that point, despite some critics finding it disjointed and a little too all-over-the-place stylistically. 

The album felt more solid, with its lesser moments strung together by some of the best songs the band ever penned, and production that makes space for both the Femmes' anxious demeanor and their not-so-secret love of big, dumb pop songs. As the band recorded Why Do Birds Sing?, they found themselves returning to their classic Violent Femmes-era sound, particularly with songs like "Out The Window" and "Look Like That." They also revisited several compositions from their earliest days, including  "Girl Trouble," "Life is a Scream," and "Flamingo Baby." 

The album pushed the Violent Femmes into their highest level of mainstream success—nearly a decade into their career. Over the next few years, the band became a must-see act at festivals like Lollapalooza and Woodstock '94, while their videos could be seen regularly on MTV. As the group was embraced by a new generation of fans, Violent Femmes entered the Billboard 200 for the first time since its release.

Why Do Birds Sing? Track List: 

 

1. American Music

2. Out The Window

3. Look Like That

4. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?

5. Hey Nonny Nonny

6. Used To Be

7. Girl Trouble

8. He Likes Me

9. Life Is A Scream

10. Flamingo Baby

11. Lack Of Knowledge

12. More Money Tonight

13. I'm Free  

Rocktrospectiva: Blur's Brilliant "Charmless Man" Turns 30

Released on 29 April 1996 "Charmless Man" was the 4th., studio album by English rock band Blur, and it was the fourth track on their fourth studio album, The Great Escape (1995). It was produced by Stephen Street and released by Food Records and Parlophone on 29 April 1996 in the United Kingdom as the fourth and final single from that album. The single reached number five on the UK Singles Chart and also charted in Australia, France, Iceland, and Ireland. 

The accompanying UK B-sides, "The Horrors", "A Song" and "St. Louis", continued the dramatic change in style for Blur first evidenced on the "Stereotypes" single, being stark and raw, foreshadowing the stylistic shift that would realize itself on their eponymous follow-up album.

The inspiration for the song was a visit by Damon Albarn to his grandmother in Lincolnshire. He stopped off at Grantham railway station and when inside the gentlemen's toilet, he noticed a piece of graffiti on a similar theme to the song's title. 

Reviews praised the single considered probably the best track off "The Great Escape",This should restore Blur's status as a more-than-convincing chart band." Even Morrissey quoted the single by saying he liked it at the time.  

The music video for "Charmless Man" was directed by British film writer and director Jamie Thraves. It starts with a man (the Charmless Man, played by Jean-Marc Barr) running down a dark street with a makeshift bandage or wrapping on his right hand, while cross cut edits show Blur playing in a music hall. 

Track List: 

1. UK 7-inch and cassette single

• Charmless Man
• The Horrors 

2. UK CD Single

• Charmless Man
• The Horrors
• A Song
• St. Louis 

3. European CD Single

• Charmless Man
• The Man Who Left Himself 

New Music: Call It In

           

Editors are back, four years on since their last album, "EBM," the  indie rockers return with frantic new single "Call It In". The tune is another emotive guitar-driven track from the five-piece that arrives after frontman Tom Smith released his 2025 debut solo album, "We spent a lot of summer '25 holed up in rural Gloucestershire, working on songs with all of us in a room, in a more traditional band set up," Smith said in a press release. "'Call It In' is one of the newest songs we worked on, it’s a song about asking for help, really, in the presence of an existential dread, finding solace and comfort in someone close, escaping the deafening noise of modern life."

New Music: Punching The Flowers

            

Death Cab For Cutie have shared "Punching The Flowers", the second single from their 11th studio album I Built You A Tower, out 5th June via ANTI- Records. The track is described by frontman Benjamin Gibbard as a gnarled, angular rock song built around a real-life moment of a toddler having a tantrum and literally punching flowers outside a bodega, transformed into a metaphor for a man who finds something beautiful but feels caged by it, the video has been directed by Jason Lester‘Punching the Flowers’ is a song about stagnation and the feeling of being imprisoned by The Known,” Gibbard explains. “And about the damage done when someone ventures deeper into the unknown.”

 

Rocktrospectiva: The Cohesive "Everything At Once" Turns 10

 

Released on 29 April 2016 "Everything At Once" was the 8th., studio album by the Scottish band Travis. The band also made a movie for the album, which was included as a DVD in the deluxe version of the album. The movie premiered on 17 March 2016 at The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema as part of South by Southwest. The album spawned 8 singles "Everything At Once", "3 Miles High", "Radio Song", "Magnificent Time", "What Will Come", "Animals", "Idlewild" & "Paralysed."

Nearly 20 years in the business, it would be impossible for a band not to have already established or discovered its signature sound. The band had clearly defined their position with the previous "Where You Stand" back in 2013, which were reaffirmed with "Everything At Once" with a truly distinct and unique sound. 

You can clearly noticed that with tunes such as "What Will Come" whose optimistic lyrics set the tone for the nine songs that followed. "Magnificent Time," which had already been released, has all the makings of a crowd-pleaser at a concert: rhythm, lyrics, and feeling. "Radio Song" reminded at times of one of the band's classics, "Love Will Come True." While there were completely different things, they evoke the same degree of romanticism. This romanticism faltered with "Paralysed" and "Animals,"  even though they attempted to innovate using strings and excellent bass chords that were sadly wasted here. 

At this point, the album had become slightly monotonous, so it's quite fitting that "Everything at Once" is included here; it's elegantly catchy with a touch of energy and vitality. "3 Miles High" was unremarkable, as is its successor, "All of the Places." However, "Idlewild" stood out from this sea of ​​familiarity. With a change in tone and vocals for the chorus, it was the most daring song. It managed to somehow fly off the radar without straying from Travis's essence. Then the closer "Strangers on a Train," perhaps it was not memorable, it was a good ending with a hint of spirituality. 

Overall, "Everything at Once" was listenable because it was cohesive: it followed the same path in every song. It's neither better nor worse than its predecessors; well-produced and executed effort, but it was predictable. 

 

Everything At Once Track List: 

 

1. What Will Come

2. Magnificent Time

3. Radio Song

4. Paralysed

5. Animals

6. Everything At Once

7. 3 Miles High

8. All Of The Places

9. Idlewild

10. Strangers On A Train

Rocktrospectiva: The Chart Breaker "To The Faithful Departed" Turns 30

 

Released on 29 April 1996 "To The Faithful Departed" was the 3erd., studio album by Irish alternative rock band the Cranberries. The album was made in memory of Denny Cordell, who signed the band to Island Records, and Joe O'Riordan (vocalist Dolores O'Riordan's grandfather), who had both died that year. Spawning four singles "Salvation", "Free To Decide", "When You're Gone", & "Hollywood, the album reached number one in four countries and became the band's highest-charting album on the US Billboard 200, where it peaked at number four.

The Cranberries music is driven by the distinct singing of vocalist Dolores O'Riordan, similar to previous albums, Dolores used her powerful voice to set the mood in many different ways, such as the tearful farewell in When You're Gone, to the emotional soft protest song, War Child, to the strange and bittersweet Will You Remember?. And maybe her best performance on the album was the opener, Hollywood. Dolores O'Riordan's voice was again one of the key elements of The Cranberries, and she certainly did not disappointed on To the Faithful Departed.

The album itself was a sort of a mixed bag. Across fifteen songs there were some filler tracks such as Will You Remember?, The Rebels, and Bosnia all of them were quite dull. Will You Remember?,  was just Dolores singing over a music box and did not add anything to the album. However, To the Faithful Departed had some excellent material, such as the rocker Hollywood; the fast paced songs Forever Yellow Skies and I Just Shot John Lennon, which featured the rest of the band at their best; the catchy, mid-paced single Free to Decide; the softer, ballady sounding Electric Blues, a song featured Delores at her best; the list goes on and on. To the Faithful Departed reached out to fans of several genres, whether it be a rockers and those who prefered mellower songs like When You're Gone and War Child, or those who just want to listen to laidback songs such as I'm Still Remembering, there is a song everyone could find appealing. 

Many of the songs on this album spoke out against certain issues at the time like Heroin abuse in Salvation, or anti-war protests in songs like Bosnia and War Child. Dolores' writing felt preachy, something. Other songs, such as The Rebels, I'm Still Remembering, and Joe featured the typical Cranberries themes such as love and reminiscence of the past as usual.

Perhaps, "To The Faithful Departed" was the band's most sought out album, but it was the band's biggest and succesful record ever released, it was a great album to pleased fans of every pop genre and still sounds nice and clever 30 years later. 

 

To The Faithful Departed Track List:  

 

1. Hollywood

2. Salvation

3. When You're Gone

4. Free To Decide

5. War Child

6. Forever Yellow Skies

7. The Rebels

8. Intermission

9. I Just Shot John Lennon 

10. Electric Blue

11. I'm Still Remembergin

12. Will You Remember?

13. Joe

14. Cordell

15. Bosnia 

Rocktrospectiva: The Formidable And Underrated "Whirlpool" Turns 35

Released on 29 April 1991, "Whirlpool" was the debut studio album by English shoegaze band Chapterhouse. The album spawned the single "Pearl", reaching No. 67 on the UK singles chart. 

Shoegaze had definitely reached its pinnacle in 1991, it was the year when My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" came out, also Ride's "Nowhere" had been released a year before, these two albums earned a huge acclaimed from their audiences in the UK. Inspired by the likes of Slowdive and Ride, Chapterhouse were part of the short-lived Shoegazing scene of the early 90s, but unlike other acts who acquired a set of guitar pedals and headed off to the nearest recording studio, they mixed beats with their wall-of-sonic-guitar-fuzz to create records to stimulate both the mind and the feet!

Chapterhouse's Whirlpool mixed rock freakouts like those found in "Guilt", and the effect-laden "Falling Down", with drum-driven trips like the fast-moving "Breather", and the poppy "Pearl." Whirlpool took its samples and heavily rhythmic beats and mixes them gloriously into a sea of jangly, distorted guitars especially on lead single "Pearl". The pop melody was not hidden in this album, it was brilliantly twisted into ways never thought possible by the likes of this reviewer. Other songs used samples for a similar blending of cultures, showcasing the band's hard rock side with "Falling Down", a song which may sound obnoxiously filled with wah-wah pedal foolery but pays off - like most of these songs do - with an anthemic chorus which glorifies rock until an explosive climax.

The vocals, were one of the key element especially in opener, "Breather".  A seductive, out-of-breath, and atmospheric, they uplift the album with their sense of content, yet shroud it also in mystery with unintelligible lyrics, there where certain wrong elements like "Treasure" a 6:22 track that practically no one care about it, antoher low points were "Autosleeper" & "April" as the low points on the record too. 

The cover of this album described perfectly the sound inside this record, a warm lightning album based around pop melodies with certain slices of hard rock, spacey tunes, soaring vocals to put the listener as high as posible, an axcellent but underrated album. 

 

Whirlpool Track List:  

 

1. Breather

2. Pearl

3. Autosleeper

4. Treasure

5. Falling Down

6. April

7. Guilt

8. If You Want Me

9. Something More 

Rocktrospectiva: The Epic "10,000 Days" Turns 20

Released between 28-29 April 2006 in parts of Europe and Australia 1-2 May in the UK and USA, "10,000 Days" was the fourth studio album by US band Tool. It marked the first time since recording 1993's Undertow that the band had worked at Grandmaster and without producer David Bottrill. 10,000 Days spawned three top ten rock singles: "Vicarious", "The Pot", and "Jambi". It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, with first week sales of 564,000 copies. 10,000 Days was Tool's last release for more than a decade; the band would not release their next studio album, Fear Inoculum, until August 30, 2019.

 

Tool recorded the album at O'Henry Sound Studios in Burbank, as well as at The Loft and Grandmaster Studios in Hollywood, California. It was mixed at Bay 7 in North Hollywood, CA and mastered at Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, Maine.

 

Guitarist Adam Jones employed various recording techniques for the album, including a "pipe bomb mic" (a guitar pickup mounted inside a brass cylinder), and a talk box guitar solo on the song "Jambi." Drummer Danny Carey operated many of the sound effects on the interlude tracks on the album using electronic drums called Mandalas. 10,000 Days has a heavier sound than its predecessor, largely because of the influence of avant-garde metal band Fantômas, who toured with Tool before the writing process.

 

The title 10,000 Days is thought to refer to the orbital period of the planet Saturn (the actual time period is 10,759 days). According to singer Maynard James Keenan, the Saturn return is "the time in your twenty eighth, twenty ninth year when you are presented the opportunity to transform from whatever your hang-ups were before to let the light of knowledge and experience lighten your load, so to speak, and let go of old patterns and embrace a new life." Keenan expected that the songs composed would "chronicle that process, hoping that my gift back would be to share that path and hope that I could help somebody get past that spot." The title 10,000 Days additionally refers to the amount of time that Maynard's mother, Judith Marie Gridley, was paralyzed.

 

In an interview, Alex Grey, who worked on the illustrations for the 10,000 Days and Lateralus covers, said that many of his artworks for Tool have been based on and influenced by the visionary journeys of a brew called ayahuasca. He described the 10,000 Days cover as "a blazing vision of an infinite grid of Godheads during an ayahuasca journey", and also talked about the Lateralus cover in a similar fashion. Grey stated in another interview when making the 10,000 Days cover that it depicts visions received during a DMT trip.

 

The album received generally favorable reviews, albeit with less enthusiasm than previous Tool albums. Most critics praised the album as another example of Tool's musicianship.  Critics who gave 10,000 Days a relatively low score questioned the merits of its ambient interludes, which Tool have also used on their previous releases. However, the album received a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Recording Package. That same year, the song "Vicarious" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. In 2008, 10,000 Days garnered another Grammy nomination when "The Pot" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance. 

 

Other reviews praised the album for re-embracing of the epic-length rock songs found at the roots of early heavy metal, while others called the album as probably the most engagingly brilliant heavy metal album that'll be released on a major label all year.

 

10,000 Days Track List:  

 

1. Vicarious

2. Jambi

3. Wings For Marie (Pt 1)

4. 10,000 Days (Wings Pt 2)

5. The Pot

6. Lipan Conjuring

7. Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)

8. Rosetta Stoned

9. Intension

10. Right In Two

11. Viginiti Tres