New Music Friday Review: 30th April She Said Heels and Elevator Boots in Hand in Church

 "She Said" by Harper Finn

Holy shit! A pop song with groove in 2021...well at least that's what Harper Finn delivers with this pop song ode to the women in his life and it does sound closer to a pastiche to The Weeknd on "Starboy" if anything else but this is still pretty damn good even if it feels very late 80s. Check this out, its still good. 

Rating: 8/10

"Church" by Tina Arena

So here's the first English language single from Tina Arena since her 2014 EP with "Church", a song she co wrote and co produced and my god, this song might just be one of my favourite songs of the year with its almost gothic swell and Tina Arena absolutely belting and sounding great as per usual. I'd love to see this become a hit if that was even possible because this is awesome.

Rating: 9/10

"Heels in Hand" by Priscilla Block

So this is the latest single from one of the newer female country artists Priscilla Block, she's been slowly working her way toward the American country mainstream even if her sound borders on being pop country but yeah I kind of like this in spite of what sounds like drum machines but it's got enough going for it in terms of the twangy guitars and Block having a pretty solid presence behind the microphone as she sings about what this night out in her heels is doing to her with this guy...I like this enough,

Rating: 7/10

"Elevator Boots" by Counting Crows

And now for some nineties nostalgia, the Counting Crows are back with a new single except this song is more stripped back than any of the songs that the band released in their hey day in the 90s, think more late 70s/ early 80s soft rock in the vein of "Key Largo" by Bertie Higgins etc, that said I like this a lot more than I like the sloppily written "Key Largo", for one thing, the song tells the story of Bobby and how everybody wants to know him in spite of the fact he likely doesn't even know or understand all that much about himself and how every show he plays could be his last...which is an interesting reflection on life for the band as a whole. Just nice to have Counting Crows back and even better with a good song!

Rating: 8/10.

Good 1992 Vibrations. 3rd May. Weather with the Kickin' Clunk Undersound

 So this week saw some shifts...most of them for the better and while to degree 1992 popular music wise has to a degree felt saturated by European techno tracks and sappy love ballads, there's some quality starting to shine through and nowhere is this more evident than at number one with "Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers maintaining the number one spot, it held up ahead of "Way Out West" by James Blundell and James Reyne at number two and I'm not sure it's got the momentum to take the number one spot.

Unfortunately what does have momentum and is looming large is "To Be With You" by Mr. Big which climbed three places to number three somehow. Ugh. It also doesn't improve all that much because right behind it is "Stay" by Shakespears Sister up one place to number four.

Fortunately "Not a Day Goes By" by Rick Price rebounded two places to number five this week. Good to see. Glad this song is hanging around.

All of this saw "Get Ready For This" by 2 Unlimited plummet three places to number six as sales fell off and is now coming under pressure from "Be My Baby" by Teen Queens which rose two places to number seven this.

The utter collapse of "Marvellous" by The 12th Man feat. MCG Hammer has begun as the song fell four places to number eight. 

Pearl Jam's "Alive" continues to push into the top ten as it rose one spot to number nine this week while making it's way out is "Let's Get Rocked" by Def Leppard down two to number ten.

Gains

So there are some hugely positive shifts in the gains here, firstly " Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica  climbed from its debut of 29 to number 12 while "That Word (L.O.V.E)" by The Rockmelons fear Cutty and Nardo Ranks and Deni Hines up off it's debut from 42 to 26 while Girlfriend's "Take It From Me" also climbed off its debut of 41 to 28!.

Also up off it's debut last week was Prince and the New Power Generation which got a ten place boost to break into the top twenty at number 18. Rising nineteen places all of a sudden to 23 is "Dream Alone" by Killing Time...where did that come from? 

Finally "Sometimes (Live)" by Midnight Oil rose eleven places off it's debut last week to 36 somehow.

Re Entries

Just one new entry this week, back at number 48 is "America: What Time Is Love?" by The KLF.

Losers

So as per usual, let's start at the bottom and work our way up, falling six places to 49 is "Justified & Ancient" by The KLF. Michael Jackson might well have to "Remember The Time" his top ten hit was on the charts soon as it fell hard from 24 to 46 this week. 

In good news, the artsy pretentious wank that is "Sound" by James fell ten places to 43....thank goodness.

"Human Touch" by Bruce Springsteen dropped from 37 to 42 while "Help Yourself" by Julian Lennon slipped ten places to 40. 

"Insanity" by Oceanic plunged seven places to 38 while "Baby Love" by Dannii Minogue tumbled from 26 to 32 while "Diamonds & Pearls" by Prince & The New Power Generation dipped from 25 to 31. 

Sadly, "Tip Of My Tongue" by Diesel tumbled ten places to 27 and "I Can't Dance" by Genesis slipped six places to 20.

New Entries

Three new entries this week, let's start with...

44. "Weather With You" by Crowded House.

So here's yet another single from "Woodface" and honestly this song is fit for summer! Seriously with those guitars playing off against each other and then the harmonies of Neil and Tim Finn kicking in with lyrics about how we as human beings are taking our shit with us and how we create the environment we are in, how we take it with us which is kind of wild considering how bright and breezy the song is instrumentally but yeah it's still fantastic, if you haven't heard "Woodface" than I highly recommend you do so!

35. "Clunk (EP)" by Frente

So Frente are an Australian group with Angie Hart providing lead vocals with this EP charting on the singles chart and I got to be honest...I'm not at all impressed...Those vocals on "Ordinary Angels" are enough to give Panadol a headache. Come on girl...sing with a consistent tone or register that doesn't make you sound off key although I do suspect that was the whole point. I prefer "Accidentally Kelly Street" to this. Just saying.

33. "Kickin' to the Undersound" by Sound Unlimited Posse

So Sound Unlimited Posse are an Australian four piece hip hop group hailing from Burwood in Sydney with this song sampling songs from Australia's history like "Eagle Rock" by Daddy Cool and 'Down Under" by Men at Work, the song isn't all that impressive, sure the members have some seriously impressive flow but the production feels so much like a cut and paste job to the point it's not cohesive. I wouldn't say it's completely bad but Aussie hip hop can do so much better than this.

That completes the week with "Weather With You" by Crowdcd House comfortably taking best of the week while "Kickin' to the Undersound" by Sound Unlimited Posse takes the worst of the week. 

New Music Friday Review Part 1 April 30: "Your Power" by Billie Eilish

Normally I avoid reviewing songs that are going to chart on the ARIA Singles chart for New Music Friday Review so mostly to avoid becoming repetitive and the big songs that chart get reviewed anyway but I realized while listening to "Your Power" by Billie Eilish that the paragraph I afford a new song entering the chart during the ARIA singles top ten/chart review blog was not going to be enough given how dark the themes and ideas of the song are and I wanted to give the song it's full due.

Gtanted, Billie Eilish's lyrics always require a lot of deeper thought and there's always a lot of depth to the subtext of many of the songs she has written especially on the debut album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" and that felt like the case with the darker songs she has released for this upcoming album entitled "Happier Than Ever" beforehand with the Bond theme "No Time to Die" and "Therefore I Am" so what did we get with "Your Power"?

Well, we might have gotten one of the most appropriate songs this year in line with all the talk around consent and domestic violence in Australia with Eilish asking people in positions of power over others not to abuse that position or status and even to a degree points how so many people who gain great power tend to abuse that position be it politicians or somebody placed in a position of trust within a relationship or family dynamic. 

As always the lyrics from Eilish are pointed and she finds a way to share her own personal experience of an abuse of power following the end of her relationship with an adult when she was underage but Eilish is clever enough to ensure that everybody can connect to the song especially in a world where it feels like abuses of power are becoming more and more common just not in the political world but in our communities with the cases of domestic violence and sexual assault. Eilish is triggering that need for reflection and how we as human beings can get better to recognise that with power over others comes responsibility and for somebody like Eilish to recognise that is something special.

As for the music itself, it's a restrained acoustic guitar and just Eilish's vocals which again make the the song even more powerful and give the message Eilish is conveying more power.  This might be one of my favourite likely hits this year so far and it might just be one of the more important songs that Billie Eilish will ever release. 

ARIA Singles Chart Top ten/ Chart Review. 3rd May. Save Your Tears and Runway

So again another reasonably quiet week. Yeah we got some moves on the chart but we only got the one new entry so the turnover on the chart this week has been relatively slow...that said if we get an album bomb from DJ Khaled next week then I am not complaining about this week being quiet.

So let's get started with the top ten where nothing changed at the very top with "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" by Lil Nas X maintained the number one spot for a second week and honestly it's really only there because it's more consistent on streaming and doing better on sales than its closest rivals.

Speaking of it's closest rivals, the surprise was that "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals rebounded to number  stwo as this song got a second wind on streaming, it surpassed "Peaches" by Justin Bieber feat Daniel Caesar and Giveon, mostly because it started to fall back on streaming as "Heat Waves" went ahead of it this week but it's a running battle. 

Returning to the top ten is "Save Your Tears" by The Weeknd which climbed 15 places to number four thanks to a remix that features Ariana Grande (Most notably wasn't credited by Ariana when the chart was released on Friday). The remix created a streaming surge which saw this song return and that probably won't last.

Rising three places to number five is "Kiss Me More" by Doja Cat feat. SZA...this song is a number one hit in the making, it's getting its ducks in order on streaming, just needs sales to get on board and this will be number one soon...mark my words/

It pushed back "Astronaut in the Ocean" by Masked Wolf down one place to number six as streaming fell back for this...thank goodness, I am pretty well sick of this song. 

"Rapstar" by Polo G also fell back three places to number seven, this song is starting to have the feelings of what happened to "Calling My Phone" by Lil Tjay and 6lack earlier this year, Tiesto's "The Business" fell one place to number eight as it's on its way out naturally.

Slipping three places to number nine is "Deja Vu" by Olivia Rodrigo as it lost momentum on streaming this week. 

Hanging onto the top ten at number ten is "Without You" by The Kid Laroi but we're not going to see this song leave the top te just yet as it will get a boost from the just released remix that features Miley Cyrus

Gains

So I already mentioned "Save Your Tears" by The Weeknd returning to top ten at number four but there was a seven place gain for "Body" by Russ Millions and Tion Wayne up to 21...again,,,we don't need this shit becoming a hit.

Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" refuses to leave the chart as it rose five places to 31 while Amy Shark's "Love Songs Ain't Fir Us" feat. Keith Urban jumped eight places to 36 as it got something of a resurgence on streaming...expect this to get a further boost thanks to the release of Shark's album "Cry Forever"

"Martin & Gina" by Polo G climbed four places to number 42.

Wha

Losers 

Only two major losers this week with "Mr Perfectly Fine (Taylor's Version)" continuing to make it's way out of the chart down 12 place to number 45.

"My Head & My Heart" by Ava Max fell down seven places to number 38 (I haven't thought about that song in AGES)

Drop Outs

The lone drop out is "What Other People Say" by Sam Fischer and Demi Lovato....am perfectly fine with that if I am being honest.

New Entries

Just one new entry this week...

35. "Runway" by AURORA

So a 2016 single from Norweigan singer AURORA hits the ARIA singles chart after...of course...it blew up on Tik Tok, so how it is? Honestly, I kind of like this and it probably speaks more effectively during a pandemic now than it did in 2016 given the song is about wanting to escape and get home to family, it's a smart understated some minimalist song that Aurorar wrote when she was 11 or 12 (which given the lyrics is incredibly impressive), it reminds me of a sound that I think Billie Eilish would be impressed by and that's not a bad thing at all. Check this out of you are curious.

No best or worst of the week as we only have the one new entry. As for next week, Billie Eilish and maybe something from that worthless DJ Khaled album but we'll see what happens when the chart updates at 5pm AEST on Friday. 

New Music Friday Review. 23rd April. He said when it was over, She Said Don't waste your Love

 "Life of the Party" by The Veronicas feat. Allday

So I wasn't expecting this so soon after the release of the loud and raucous lead single "Godzilla" however this song is actually more Allday's than The Veronicas given The Veronicas are really only only on the chorus and one verse on a song where both The Veronicas and Allday are just out at a party trying to find somebody to make a genuine connection with even as everybody else is trying to be the 'life of the party' or the centre of attention at that party. It's decent but I'm not sure it's all that memorable. Ehh, check it out if you are curious.

Rating 6/10

"Don't Waste Your Love" by Boo Seeka feat. Golding

So this song is kind of interesting especially as it's this fizzy EDM/pop number that yeah, is rather catchy as Boo Seeka and Golding urge people not to waste their love or time but to rather enjoy the good moments in life. I love the positive message this song sells here. I don't mind it at all. Not bad! 

Rating: 7/10

"When Was It Over" by Sasha Sloan feat. Sam Hunt

Okay so I was not expecting Sam Hunt to turn up on a pop song by Sasha Sloan so this kind of turned up out of nowhere and while the song is about not being able to let go of somebody after a relationship has broken down and honestly it's a sentiment that Sasha Sloan sells well here, she sounds genuine enough over the guitar strums and then Sam Hunt shows up and if you got the feeling this would be like going over old territory for him? Well you'd be right because he sounds like the same smug jerk behind songs like "Drinking too Much" and "Body Like a Backroad"...yeah no...this song might be tolerable but it's only because of that guitar and Sasha Sloan.

Rating: 6/10 

"He Said, She Said" by CHVRCHES

So I was slow to the CHVRCHES hype train, seemed like everyone was going nuts about them a few years ago after they released "Every Open Eye", an album that is loved by critics but I missed it and only managed to hear them when they released the lead single "Get Out" for the 2018 album "Love Is Dead" and I still don't quite understand the fuss, yeah the band have good hooks but production was an issue quite honestly it remains an issue with the new single for the band's fourth album because my god the production here is off with that awful sounding guitar that sounds like it comes off a bad Sonic game from 1992, it's just not been mixed properly. I get wanting to do the 80s sound but this is the 80s sound done badly.

Rating 4/10

Good 1992 Vibrations. April 26th: Take It from Me, L.O.V.E, Nothing Else Matters 2 Night

 Let's not muck around this week and get stuck into the top ten where to nobody's surprise, "Under The Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers remains at number one for a second week, its got a decent sized sales margin over "Way Out West" by James Blundell and James Reyne which climbed one place to number two and "Get Ready for this" by 2 Unlimited which rose one to number three.

Granted the reason for the above gains is because "Marvellous" by The 12th Man feat. MCG Hammer slipped two places to number four as the momentum for this song is starting to fade away.

The momentum for "Stay" by Shakespears Sister isn't fading though, it's up two places to number five this week...unfortunately. Also not going away is "To Be With You" by Mr Big up three places to number six because we need cornball garbage in the top ten right now (sarcasm fully intended).

All of that saw "Not a Day Goes" by Rick Price down two places to number seven while "Let's get Rocked" by Def Leppard slipped two places to number eight.

We have two songs joining the top ten this week and its a bit of a mixed bag because on the one hand there's the garbage that is Teen Queen's cover of "Be My Baby" up three places to number nine for some reason but on the other "Alive" by Pearl Jam finally reached the top ten climbing one place to number ten which is awesome because yeah I still like that song.

Gains

So let's begin with the songs that debuted last week and gained this week and unfortunately one of them is the audio torture that is "James Brown is Dead" by L.A. Style which climbed from 34 to 18 this week. In better news "Djapana (Sunset Dreaming) by Yothu Yindi jumpe from 41 to 20 this week which is nice to see!.

Even better "I Love Your Smile" by Shanice rose from 38 to 22. Again, I like the song so am happy to see it climbing.

"Diamnds & Peatls" by Prince and The New Power Generation rebounded from 36 to 25 for some reason while "Baby Love" by Dannii Minogue jumped from 33 to 26. 

"Help Yourself" by Julian Lennon got a thirteen place gain to 30...I am still indifferent on this song and I'm not completely sure as to why. 

Losers

Wow....it was a busy week here so let's start with the songs that are fizzing out before their time like "Stars" down eight places to number 50, "Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man"  by Concrete Blonde down ten to 49 (In the case of the former, I am disappointed, in the case of the latter...I'm fine with it...the song isn't good), "Human Touch" by Bruce Springsteen unfortunately continues to fade, this week down eleven to 37 and "Feels So High" by Des'ree down from 29 to 35.

"Give Me Just A little More Time" by Kylie Minogue took an eight place hit down from 24 to 32 this week.

Then we have a slew of hits taking losses this week like "Rocket Man (I think it's going to be a Long Long Time)" by Kate Bush which plunged from 28 to 46, "Pride (In the Name of Love" by Clivilles & Cole down fifteen spots to 45 and "Justified & Ancient" by The KLF down eight to 43, "Love You Right" by Euphoria slumping from 25 to 40,  "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana skittled from 27 to 39, "Saltwater" by Julian Lennon pummelled down from 18 to 38 and "November Rain" by Guns 'n' Roses" down six to 27. 

New Entries

Six new entries this week, half of them being Australian. We starting off with....

47. "Sometimes (Live)" by Midnight Oil

Well this feels kind of odd, the live version of a song from Midnight Oil's 1987 album "Diesel & Dust" hitting the chart however this is a live recording of the song from the compilation album "Scream in Blue" and what I will say about this is that it's a bit frustrating again because it feels like Peter Garrett is is buried underneath the bevy of guitars and drums, don't get me wrong the instrumentation sounds good here but the mixing is just off. Also is there that need to drum the word 'sometimes' into our heads so much. Ehh, sorry but this isn't Midnight Oil's best...I'm skipping this. 

42. "That Word (L.O.V.E)" by The Rockmelons feat. Cutty Ranks, Nardo Ranks & Deni Hines

Now this is more like it. The Rockmelons bringing their pop/reggae sound and team up with Deni Hines again with Cutty and Nardo Ranks bringing the hype which does feel unnecessary to a degree as the song is pretty darn catchy enough with just the Rockmelons and Deni Hines on it and yeah the lyrics are a pretty standard set about a universal theme but you know what, this has hit written all over it, its catchy, breezy and honestly perfect for a summer at the beach hence I'm surprised it's only just debuting in mid autumn. I like this. Check it out!

41. "Take It From Me" by Girlfriend

Okay, so this is a brand new five member all girl group, it's members being Robyn Loau, Melanie Alexander, Siobhann Heidenreich, Lorinda Noble and Jacqueline Cowell, the band formed in 1991 with this song being the group's debut with mostly Loau and Alexander sharing the solo vocals, Loau singing the verses with Alexander in on the bridge and for me, its Loau's vocal delivery that better matches the almost new jack swing vibe of the song where the girls are begging their man to take their word that they'll be good to him. It's a cute pop dance song, check it out if you are curious.

33. "Sound" by James

This song is the first single from James fourth studio album "Seven" yet why does this remind me of U2? That instrumentation really does give me U2 knock off vibes and those vocals on the verses are creepy and that wailing post the hook is nonsense and pretty headache inducing. In short this is artsy wank and effectively meaningless rubbish...skip it.

29. "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica

Metallica return to the ARIA charts with this being the third single from their self titled debut album, and yeah I got chills, for one thing the production on this song is OUTSTANDING, it starts off with this low guitar and slowly brings in more orchestral elements  before James Hetfield starts singing about how he is on tour being away from home and everyone he loves and missing those people, being home with those people is the thing that matters for him, this power ballad hits pretty god damn hard. It's been a damn good year for rock so far and Metallica just added to it with this. Definitely give this a listen!

28. "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" by Prince & The New Power Generation

Well here's the latest single from "Diamonds & Pearls" and...well...it's better than "Cream" and the title track, for one thing there's a groove with the guitars and Prince having a better presence on the song as the lyrics shame the greedy and the focus on the material things (something on reflection has gotten increasingly worse in the 2020s) and slamming the rushing off to war by politicians post the first gulf war the previous year/ I like this, certainly the best of the singles so far.

However "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica is nabbing best of the week with "Take It From Me" by Girlfriend and "That Word (L.O,V.E)" by The Rockmelons, Cutty Ranks, Nardo Ranks and Deni Hines tying for honourable mention.

Worst of the week fall out easily that being "Sound" by James for just being intolerable artsy wank.

ARIA Top 50 Singles Top Ten/Chart Review: 26th April. Montero's Calling by Your Name at Number One

So in a week with absolutely no new entries, this week's chart update could be one of the shortest yet but the thing is we did see three re entries but the big news this lies in our top ten with our new number one and as expected it's "Montero (Call Me by Your Name" by Lil Nas X rising to top spot on the basis of strength on sales and some streaming particularly on Spotify, it was just enough of an edge to push "Peaches" by Justin Bieber feat. Daniel Caesar and Giveon down to number two but this could get back to number one, its certainly still pretty consistent on streaming.

This places "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals down to number three in a vulnerable position because streaming isn't going to hold it up much longer however it held up enough over "Rapstar" by Polo G which remained at number four, it's got some steady streaming but that's about it.

The same can be said for 'Astronaut in the Ocean" by Masked Wolf at number five, it's got decent streaming and some sales but it's an open question as to whether it can push any higher.

Olivia Rodrigo's "Deja Vu" spends it's first week inside the top ten up five places to number six this week, it's got solid streaming but that's going to need to continue improving if it's going to climb higher.

However it did enough to push "The Business" by Tiesto down one spot to number seven as it's started to finally bleed on streaming...thank goodness...this song has started to piss me off lately.

Hit in the making, "Kiss Me More" by Doja Cat feat. SZA climbed two places to number eight and if there was a song in the top ten right now to make a run at the top of the chart, it's this one, it seems to be a song that everyone likes and it's showing on streaming. Need sales to get on board and we might have a monster hit on our hands.

Down one spot to number nine is "Cover Me in Sunshine" by Pink and Willow Sage Hart, it's still a behemoth on sales but it's started to flag a little on streaming.

Finally "Without You" by The Kid Laroi is down three places to number ten but this could get a boost as there's a remix with Miley Cyrus coming so we'll have to see.

Gains

So outside of the top ten, "BED" by Joel Corry feat RAYE and David Guetta climbed 18 places off it's chart debut last week while Corry's big hit "Head & Heart" feat. MNEK rebounded four places to number 24.

Saweetie's "Best Friend" feat. Doja Cat got a five place boost to number 42 while "Body" by Russ Millions and Tion Wayne continued it's upwards momentum by rising four to 28 (WHY?)

Re Entries

So there were three re entries this week headlined by the return of "Martin & Gina" by Polo G (this might finally have some streaming traction...we can hope) at number 46. 

Also back is "What Other People Say" by Sam Fischer & Demi Lovato at number 47 and "Don't Start Now" by Dua Lipa at number 50.

Losers

There was one big loser this week with "Mr Perfectly Fine (Taylor's Version)" by Taylor Swift down 14 to 33 but apart from that there's not too many other notable losers this week, 

Drop Outs

Gone are "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" and "Forever & Always (Taylor's Version)" both from Taylor Swift, they took "Anywhere Away from here" by Rag 'n' Bone Man & Pink with them.

New Entries

There's no new entries on the ARIA singles chart this week and there's nothing of note on the charts around the world so might wrap up the week here. Next week is really who knows at this point because again it was a quiet week for new releases, we might get an Aurora song on the chart thanks to a sudden streaming push but we'll find out on Friday at 5pm.