Five Songs They Should Be Playing on the Radio - 2/17/20

It's the ultimate dream of any audiophile, to be able run a radio station and be able to play anything you'd want to. I've put together a list of songs that I think should be playing on the radio, if they weren't so busy playing the same 40 songs over and over again.

21st Century USA - Drive-by Truckers

Emphasizing southern rock tropes with a triple-guitar attack, Drive-by Truckers celebrate their culture while refusing to gloss over its spotty past. I ran into the group while I worked in the Electronics department at Wal-Mart and noticed one of the CD's (remember CDs, kids?) in the rack. It was called "Southern Rock Opera" and it was a wonderful showcase of what this band can do.

They've been releasing albums since 1998 and "The Unraveling" is their latest. Reporting on what they've seen going on in America, this is perhaps, needless to say, their least-fun and good times album to date. But that certainly doesn't dull the potency of this very effective collection of songs.

"21st Century USA" is one of the best, a litany of what they see -good, bad and otherwise - set to a tune that sticks in your head. All of it makes for a song that not only deserves to be heard, but also very listenable.

Hasta la Raiz - Natalia Lafourcade

Natalia Lafourcade was born in 1984 in Mexico City, Mexico. She's been active in the music business since 1998, when she was part of a girl group called Twist. Her sixth album, "Hasta la Raiz" was released in 2015 and won the Best Latin Rock Grammy in 2016. The title song was its second single. A friend of mine, Rosy Gonzales introduced one of her songs to me and I've been a fan ever since. I searched for her on Spotify and found this gem.

Meaning "To the root", the song speaks of unconditional love of extreme devotion. With her lyric soprano voice and the gentle Latin beat, the song slowly builds to very pleasant finish.

Sing Along - Sturgill Simpson

I"m not a huge fan of country, but when Sturgill Simpson released his second album, "Metamodern Sounds in Country Music", it was just enough off the beaten path to make it interesting for me.

Sturgill Simpson has released four solo albums as of 2019 and each album has deviated further from his initial hard country sound. By the time, we get to 2019's "Sound and Fury", Simpson takes a hard left and dives deep into a synth-y rock album complete with an anime-type video album companion, that's currently streaming on Netflix.

To say that this was a departure is an understatement, but I always love artists who take chances with their output and try different things. "Sing Along" was the first video released and reveals a catchy song with a wonderful interplay of rock guitar and electronic effects.

Tom Down - Calibro 35

Calibro 35 is a cinematic funk band from Italy that formed in 2007. I discovered the band on Spotify when I was listening to a lot of cinematic jazz type music while I was writing a mystery novel. Their songs have been sampled by the likes of Jay-Z and Dr. Dre. A five-piece band, they incorporate elements of funk, jazz, rock and improvisation.

Their latest album, Momentum, was released in 2019. Tom Down starts with an infectious bass and drum rhythm and slowly builds as a song, showing off their atmospheric, cinematic chops.

Hyperdrive! (feat. Devin Townsend) - Reed Reimer and Benjamin Emory Larson

"Hyperdrive!" was first featured on the Devin Townsend Project album, "Addicted" in 2009. This 2020 remix by the team of Reimer and Larson trades the hard guitar crunch of the original and with atmospheric synth beds and a sleepy beat, giving it an altogether otherworldly feel.

There you go. As you can probably tell by now, I have a pretty esoteric taste in music. I may have this be a semi-regular article, but time will tell. I hope you enjoyed this sample.