Music In Is Broken

Well, processing the current Music In has been problematic.

Amazon used to send me weekly music recommendations. That is now monthly, oops! That & word-of-mouth were my main sources of new music.

Trying to get more coming in, I started getting a bandcamp weekly newsletter. This normally has 5 new albums or EPs featured.

I got several of these - alternative rock, indie, with nice melodies and good female lead singers - stuff I am a sucker for.

They are all good, but, the problem is, after 5-10 listens, I can't particularly tell most of them apart. So in this emptying of the pending music in tunes, lots & lots of 3 stars, and very few 4 stars.

Is this a function of my aging brain struggling to assimilate too much new content? Or maybe the music on bandcamp is just a touch below being catchy, to where it would stick better?

Inquiring minds want to know. Here we go.

• Van Morrison, "Moondance Expanded - Sessions, Alternates & Outtakes (All Previously Unissued)", 1969, 11 tracks, and "A Night in San Francisco (Live)", 1994, 14 tracks. These were both recommended by my friend and blues harpist Steve Konopka (fuzzy). I enjoyed them more than I expected. The "San Francisco" 1 features other band members singing lead. 1 thing I definitely got out of these is both have versions of "Moondance" with the vocals done in 3-part harmony. That song gets performed fairly often, I'm kind of tired of it, but next time it gets called I may try and sing some harmony with it. 3 stars.
• The Jayhawks, "Mockingbird Time", 2011, 12 tracks. Starting to work backward through their catalog. Not a bad album, but no standout songs. Somewhat disappointing, should I keep going back? 3 stars.
• Ra Ra Riot, "Beta Love", 2013, 11 tracks. This is the 4th of their albums I have, probably my least favorite. Nothing particularly catchy. They just put a 5th album out in August, I think I will check it out. 3 stars.
• Hop Along, "Bark Your Head Off Dog", 2018, 9 tracks. Bandcamp. A Philly indie band that's been around since 2004. Good tunes, good female singer, no standouts. 3 stars.
• Maria Taylor, "In the Next Life", 2016, 10 tracks. Bandcamp. Taylor has been around for 20 years. Good tunes, a variety of instrumental backing, no standouts. 3 stars.
• Petal, "Magic Gone", 2018, 10 tracks. Bandcamp. More rockish than the rest. Chanteuse & guitarist Kiley Lotz plus studio musicians. Nice tunes, no standouts. 3 stars.
• Barrie, "Happy To Be Here", 2019, 10 tracks. Bandcamp. More indie rock, a little better engineered and more dancable. Debut album of what appears to be 5-piece indie band from the Northwest with an alto lead & harmony singers. Finally, 4 stars! Here's "Dark Tropical".

• Britt, "Kill the Man", 2019, 6 tracks. Bandcamp. A bit more ethereal and conceptual than some of the others. Soprano lead singer. 3 stars.
• Great Lake Swimmers, "New Wild Everywhere", 2012, 13 tracks. I have enjoyed their tunes when they come up on shuffle play, so I decided to get more. No standouts on this album, 3 stars.
• David Bowie, "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)", 1980, 10 tracks. The song "Ashes to Ashes" came up somewhere and I discovered it was not in my collection. So I bought this album to get it - and of course, it is the only good song on the album. So 4 stars for "Ashes to Ashes", 3 stars for the rest.

• Tal Wilkenfeld, "Love Remains", 2019, 10 tracks. I of course greatly enjoyed Wilkenfeld's work as the 15 YO Australian immigrant playing bass for Jeff Beck. When I found she had an album singing & playing guitar, I had to check it out. Somewhat interesting blues/rock, but nothing really standout. 3 stars.
• Mavis Staples, "We Get By", 2019, 11 tracks. Mavis keeps on keepin' on. This album was written and produced by Ben Harper, and it is excellent. I gave it to Steve to pick the tracks he liked best for us to perform. He picked "Brothers and Sisters", and "Change". 4 stars.

• The National, "I am Easy to Find", 2019, 16 tracks. I think their 1st in a while. I like the baritone lead singer, who is joined by an alto on several songs. 3 stars.
• Children of Zeus, "Excess Baggage", 2019, 7 tracks. Bandcamp. Some nice electronica/dance for something different. 4 stars. Here's "Vibrations (Short Edit)"

• Christelle Bofale, "Swim Team", 2019, 5 tracks. Bandcamp. Austin TX based singer-songwriter. Nice arrangements. No standouts, 3 stars.
• Rick Howard, "Lil' Noir", 2019, 10 tracks. Rick is the most excellent guitarist of the most excellent SW Florida band Mudbone, live album blogged here. He is the nephew of Moe Howard of the 3 Stooges (?!?!?), and I take guitar lessons from him, so far working mostly on 1930's standards. Plus, neat new chords! I love that I have been playing guitar for over 50 years and still learn new chords. This album is 10 original jazz tunes, played with a 4 or 5 piece combo. Mudbone blues harp player Jerry Fierro plays on a couple of the tracks and acquits himself well. A very professional effort, 3 stars.
• Santana, "Africa Speaks", 2019, 11 tracks. Some world music from Carlos, assisted by various African artists. Some great grooves and rhythms. 3 stars.
• The Appleseed Cast, "The Fleeting Light of Impermance", 2019, 8 tracks. Bandcamp. A bit more abstract than some of the others. Out of Lawrence KS, apparently these guys have been around for 20 years. 3 stars.
• Market, eponymous, 2019, 4 tracks. Bandcamp. Australians, yay! Just over the catchiness threshold, 4 stars. Here's "Circles"

• Black Pumas, eponymous, 2019, 10 tracks. Bandcamp. Yay, some good modern R&B! Why isn't there more of this? This is 2 guys out of Austin. 4 stars. Here's "Black Moon Rising".

• Kate Bollinger, "I Don't Wanna Lose", 2019, 5 tracks. Bandcamp. This indie rock somehow managed to hit my sweet spot. Interesting instrumentals & alto vocals. 4 stars. Here's the oxymoronically titled "Untitled".

• Morley & Friends, "Borderless Lullabies", 2019, 21 tracks. I'm not sure where this came from. It is a collection of lullabies, by many different artists, in different languages and different styles. I burned a copy for my grandsons, maybe they'll like it to go to sleep by. 3 stars.
• The Soft Cavalry, eponymous, 2019, 12 tracks. Bandcamp. The debut album of a husband/wife duo. Very well done. Somewhat reminiscent of early Coldplay. 4 stars. Here's the 1st track, "Dive".

Phew, 24 albums! But things have gotten a bit sparse again, the Unrated smart playlist has only 64 songs in it. Guess I need some new acquisitions.