Alternative Top 10, Week of July 25, 2021

I used to do this a while ago, but now that the pandemic is over (sort of) but I still have tons of free time on my hands, it's probably time once again to check out the week's alternative top 10 songs (I used to cover the Top 5, but let's broaden it a bit, okay?).

According to Billboard, the No. 1 song in the country right now is Permission to Dance, the new single from South Korean boy band, BTS.  The single debuted this week, and displaced the previous No. 1 single, Butter, also by BTS, which is now No. 7. Eighteen-year-old pop star and former Disney kid Olivia Rodrigo, who I had never heard of before she popped up at the Biden White House telling people to get vaccinated, also has two songs in the Top 10 - Good 4 U (No. 2) and Deja Vu (No. 10).  So two artists have four songs in the Top 10, and that probably tells you all you need to know about the state of pop music right now.  

Personally, I stopped listening to Top 40 pop music sometime in the late 1960s.  Whatever we're calling new music these days - indie, alternative, college, or whatever - is more interesting to me.  So instead of the Billboard "Hot 100," let's look at this week's Alternative 40 Chart, as calculated from YouTube and Spotify streams, as well as blogs, shows, and playlists focusing on new alternative and indie music  (source: https://www.youtube.com/c/NewAlternative40Chart).

1. Chvrches - Good Girls
2. Big Red Machine (feat. Taylor Swift) - Renegade
3. Haim - Cherry Flavored Stomach Ache
4. James Blake - Say What You Will
5. The War On Drugs - Living Proof
6. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - Reach Out
7. Soccer Mommy - rom com 2004
8. Big Red Machine (feat. Robin Pecknold & Anaïs Mitchell) - Phoenix
9. Courtney Barnett - Rae Street
10. Tycho & Benjamin Gibbard - Only Love

Like BTS and Olivia Rodrigo in the "Hot 100" top 10, Big Red Machine has two songs in the Alternative 40 top 10.  Not only that, but their Latter Days, featuring Anaïs Mitchell, is No. 24 and their Ghost of Cincinnati (no guest stars) is No. 32.

Big Red Machine is the collaborative project of Aaron Dessner (The National) and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver).  In June 2021, they announced their second album, How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?, will be released on August 27, and they dropped the singles that now constitute 10% on the Alternative 40 Chart (20% of its top 10).  I won't post all their new singles here, but here are the two in the top 10, one featuring Taylor Swift and the other featuring Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes) and Anaïs Mitchell (writer of the Broadway musical Hadestown):

Sufjan Stevens also has two songs on the Alternative 40 Chart, one, Reach Out, in the top 10 and both collaborations with folk singer Angelo De Augustine. Olympus, their other single, is currently at No. 35.  According to Pitchfork, Stevens and De Augustine worked on the songs at a cabin in upstate New York while watching movies each day, which somehow inspired their new album, A Beginner's Mind.  Here's Reach Out:

As you may have noticed, I've tip-toed past Chvrches and Haim, who have the No. 1 and No. 3 songs, respectively.  Frankly, their sugar-coated songs are too popish for my tastes.  James Blake's No. 4 song,  the melodramatic Say What You Will, is certainly not popish, but it breaks no new ground for him and sounds like archetypical Blake. In fact, if someone was going to record a parody of Blake, Say What You Will is what it may sound like. 

The War on Drugs' acoustic-based Living Proof at No. 5 is far more acoustic-oriented and countryish that I'm used to hearing from this once-driving rock band, but it's still a good song, though.

At No. 7, Soccer Mommy's rom com 2004 is almost by design a pop song, but Sophia Allison at least put some nice splashes of noise into the track.

Rounding out the Alternative 40 top 10, we have Courtney Barnett with a typical Courtney Barnett song, Rae Street, at No. 9.  You can tell it's a Courtney Barnett song based on just the chord changes alone, even before her familiar and distinctive voice kicks in.

And finally, we have the somewhat unexpected collaboration of electronic musician Tycho and Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard at No. 10 with their song Only Love.  Frankly, I'm only posting it because it's easier to post than to come up with a justification for not, but it's really on the bublle.

As is often the case, there are a lot of good songs in the Alternative 40 Chart beneath the top 10, including Thom Yorke's latest remix of Radiohead's classic, Creep (No. 13), Yves Tumor and Kurt Vile at Nos. 14 and 15, respectively, and the debut of The Linda Lindas on the Alternative 40 with Oh! at No. 36.  

That's it for this week.  That's what all the cool, alternative kids are listening to this week, or your big brother or sister off at college.  We'll pick this up again next week. Meanwhile, enjoy!

Alternative Top 5 Chart, September 27, 2020

Gorillaz are continuing to hang in there. Strange Timez, which debuted at No. 1 two weeks ago and hung in at the top spot last week, drops one spot to No. 2 this week for it's third straight week in the Top 3.  The song features Robert Smith of the Cure sounding exactly what you'd think Robert Smith singing with Gorillaz would sound like.

Our new No 1 champion is a debut by England's Royal Blood, who, frankly, I had never heard of before.  They have a Jack White, White Stripes/Raconteurs kind of sound, which is very popular in some circles and very radio friendly, so it's no surprise that they're at No. 1.

Here's a neat trick - Tame Impala are back in the Top 5, this time with a remix of a song that previously made the Top 5.  Blood Orange's remix of Borderline is enough to land them the No. 3 spot.  It's a nice, long, sexy, slow jam, bringing out the best in both the original artist and the remix artist.  It should also be noted that Blood Orange also has a song, a collaboration with 박혜진 Park Hye Jin, called Call Me (Freestyle) currently at the No. 29 spot.

This is sweet - Kurt Vile recorded a nice, Appalachian-sounding folk song, How Lucky, with the late John Prine before the latter's demise, and this simple and unassuming song debuted in the charts at the No. 4 position.

Finally, Sufjan Steven's latest, Sugar, hangs in the list at No. 5 after debuting last week at the No. 2 spot.  I may have sounded flippantly dismissive of the song last week - yes, it does sound unmistakably like Sufjan Stevens, but that's a good thing and this is a good song, a worthy addition to Steven's long discography.

Looking down the list, Porridge Radio's 7 Seconds is still in the Top 40 but just barely at No. 36. and there's no longer any sign of Deep Sea Diver and Sharon Van Etten's Impossible Weight.  Yo La Tengo's sole original composition, Bleeding, from their new album otherwise of covers, Sleepless Nights, debuts at No. 39 and probably isn't going to be in the Top 40 for very long.

List compiled "from over 70 alt and new release sources" by alt.nwmsc.com   Enjoy!

Alternative Top 5 Chart, September 20, 2020

After last week's complete rewash of the Top 5 (all five songs were new debuts last week), we now have a measure of relative stability.

Last week's No. 1, Strange Timez by Gorillaz, which debuted at the top spot, is still our No. 1 reigning champion. The song features Robert Smith of the Cure sounding exactly what you'd think Robert Smith singing with Gorillaz would sound like.

Sufjan Steven's latest, Sugar, debuts this week at the No. 2 spot and Future Islands' Moonlight debuts at No. 3.  Nothing against either song - they're both perfectly fine - but both are by well established artists sounding unmistakably like themselves. 

Last week's No. 2 song, New Order's Be A Rebel, falls to the No. 4 spot and last week's No. 3, Worth It by beabadoobee, is our new No. 5.  

So three of last week's five debuts are still in the Top 5.  That's some notable stability for this list.   

Looking down the list, Porridge Radio's 7 Seconds makes its debut on the list at No. 16, and Deep Sea Diver and Sharon Van Etten, who debuted two weeks ago at No. 5 with Impossible Weight and then fell to No. 18 last week, are now at No. 33.

List compiled "from over 70 alt and new release sources" by alt.nwmsc.com   Enjoy!

Alternative Top 5 Chart, August 30, 2020

 

Identical, the new Phoenix synth-pop song from the soundtrack of the upcoming Bill Murray movie, On The Rocks, debuted at No 3 last week and is now our new No. 1.  Congratulations Phoenix, but don't get used to it - songs typically don't remain at No. 1 on this list for long

Norway's Marie Ulven, who performs as Girl in Red, takes the No. 2 spot with the synth-pop song Rue, apparently about the character Rue in HBO's Euphoria (she's wearing the same hoodie as Rue in the song's video).

Baby It's You, the synth-pop ballad by England's London Grammar (not the Burt Bacharach song covered by The Beatles in 1963 and by Smith in 1969) slipped from No. 2 last week to No. 3 this week.

It's typical and we should have seen it coming.  Although Sufjan Steven's synth-pop tune Video Game is a perfectly fine song, it's probably the least interesting of his recent outstanding releases (America, My Rajneesh, etc.), yet it's the one that debuted two weeks ago at No. 1 and remains in the Top 5 this week at No. 4. As I said, typical.

Finally, the No. 5 spot is taken by To S, last week's No. 4.  A one-off single by crooner Father John Misty backed with To R. (for Skyler and Robin of his old band, Fleet Foxes?), the song is a folk-rock ballad and not synth pop like the rest of this week's Top 5.

List compiled "from over 70 alt and new release sources" by alt.nwmsc.com   Enjoy!

Alternative Top 5 Chart, August 23, 2020

It's typical and we should have seen it coming.  Although Sufjan Steven's synthpop tune Video Game is a perfectly fine song, it's probably the least interesting of his recent outstanding releases (America, My Rajneesh, etc.), yet it's the one that debuted last week at No. 1 on the New Alternative Top 40 Chart and remains at the Number 1 spot again this week. As I said, typical.

Everything else in the Top 5 debuted this week.  England's London Grammar takes the No. 2 spot with Baby It's You (not the Burt Bacharach song covered by The Beatles in 1963 and Smith in 1969), Phoenix are back with a song from the soundtrack of the new Bill Murray movie On The Rocks at No 3, the No. 4 spot is taken by To S,.a one-off single by Father John Misty backed with To R. (for Skyler and Robin of his old band, Fleet Foxes?), and Angel Olsen's Waving, Smiling, which we posted here last Tuesday, takes No. 5.

All in all, not bad for a Top 5 - a little heavy on the ballads but perhaps the best quintet we've seen since we started posting this series.

List compiled "from over 70 alt and new release sources" by alt.nwmsc.com   Enjoy!

Alternative Top 5 Chart, August 16, 2020

It's typical and we should have seen it coming.  Although Sufjan Steven's synthpop tune Video Game is a perfectly fine song, it's probably the least interesting of his recent outstanding releases (America, My Rajneesh, etc.), yet it's the one that debuts at No. 1 on the New Alternative Top 40 Chart. As I said, typical.

It continues to be a big month for Bon Iver.  Although both Justin Vernon's collaboration with Taylor Swift and mxmtoon's song titled Bon Iver have fallen off the Top 40 list, his song AUATC (Ate Up All Their Cake), which debuted at the No. 1 spot last week, fell only to the No. 2 spot this week and is the only song from last week to remain in the Top 5. Meanwhile, his collaboration with Japanese House (Amber Bain), Dionne, debuted at the No. 5 spot.

The Killers are back with a new song and a new album.  Dying Breed debuts at the No. 3 spot.

Finally, Future Islands' song For Sure has fallen off the Top 40, but a new release from their forthcoming album As Long As You Are, titled Thrill, debuts at No. 4. 

List compiled "from over 70 alt and new release sources" by alt.nwmsc.com   Enjoy!

Another New Sufjan

Sufjan Stevens has released another track from his forthcoming album The Ascension.  Video Game has an 80s synthpop sound to it, and the aesthetic of the video matches that theme.  The dancer is Jalaiah Harmon, the creator of the viral Renegade dance on TikTok.

Someone needs to tell Sufjan that video games have come a long way since Pac Man.  

My Rajneesh

An unintended theme is starting to emerge here.  Yesterday, we posted a track by the Dalai Lama, and today we have a track about Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh by Sufjan Stevens.  

But what a track it is!  In its 10½ minutes it goes from folk to folk-rock to orchestral to minimalism to ambient to chamber pop, stopping along the way to visit some genres that haven't even been invented yet.

Ostensibly the B-side to his similarly expansive single America, My Rajneesh could stand on its own as a career-defining composition for almost any musician.  But for the accomplished Sufjan, it's just something to drop on a Friday.