New Good Song: What to Keep and What to Throw Away by Mary Chapin Carpenter

Here's a new good song -- "What to Keep and What to Throw Away" by Mary Chapin Carpenter

Two of the best new good songs are of very different genres. One is "Yoyo" by Pop Inc, and the other is the song above by Mary Chapin Carpenter. Both were featured a couple weeks ago on iTunes Indie Spotlight, and somehow neither has been uploaded to YouTube yet. So I am resorting to the Spotify embed, which I'm not sure works. The Pop Inc song isn't even there, though. Both are on iTunes, and I encourage you to check them out.

When I was moving into a new apartment in 2009, my roommate and I were putting up curtains, and I put my iTunes library on a random shuffle of songs while we did this chore. Some time later, I asked her whether she liked the music, and her comment was: "Everything you listen to is so sad."

I don't think that's necessarily true. "Yoyo" is not sad at all. But this Mary Chapin Carpenter song certainly is. Perhaps my taste does run toward the melancholy. But for a new song to be good, it must also be somewhat sincere, as I noted previously. Often, happy songs do not seem to be honest songs, while sad songs seem to be. This is because expressing sadness is often a confession, while expressing joy is often a put-on.

"What to Keep and What to Throw Away" is very simple and has no chorus. It repeats the same two chords and moves through verses. But the lyrics are so touching and nice, the melody so sweet, the production so gentle and the vocal performance so perfect, that the blend of these things creates one great song. It is sad, though.

For happy, go to "Yoyo" by Pop Inc. I have no idea what that song is not tremendously popular.

'04 Shame -- when new good songs were hardest to find

I dare you to watch the clip above.

This blog suggests that new good songs are difficult to find. But is 2012 a particularly bad year for finding new good songs?

No. Not only are there more ways than ever to find good songs, but songs this year have been pretty good. It takes more work to find them, but they're out there.

The worst year for new good songs (i.e., the worst year for songs)? In my opinion, of the past 23 years during which I've been following music closely, my vote is for 2004. What a piece of shit that year was. In life, fantastic. In music, nauseating.

Behold the year's most popular songs, which is not a comprehensive look at the year, of course, but a snapshot of what was widely deemed to be the best:

1. "Yeah!" Usher, Lil Jon and Ludacris
2. "Burn," Usher
3. "If I Ain't Got You," Alicia Keys
4. "This Love," Maroon 5
5. "The Way You Move," Outkast f/ Sleepy Brown
6. "The Reason," Hoobastank
7. "I Don't Wanna Know," Mario Winans, Enya and P. Diddy
8. "Hey Ya!" Outkast
9. "Goodies," Ciara f/ Petey Pablo
10. "Lean Back," Terror Squad

Typing this list actually made me angry. I need to take a few breaths. OK, that's better. WAS EVERYONE DEAF IN 2004??? Hold on, need more breaths. Phew, OK.

I cannot explain this list except to say that the output of 2004 was awful, if this is any indication. "I Don't Wanna Know" is cute. "The Reason," while overplayed, was not offensive. All the rest of this is trash.

I've gotten into heated debates about "Hey Ya!" that tend to end with me glaring with pity and bafflement at the other person. That is one horrid collection of consecutive noises.

But what if we look a bit further down the list than the Top 10. Any saving graces? Actually, it just gets worse and worse, if you can believe it:

11. "Tipsy," J-Kwon
12. "Confessions Part II," Usher
13. "Slow Motion," Juvenile f/ Soulja Slim
14. "Freek-a-Leek," Petey Pablo
15. "Here Without You," 3 Doors Down
16. "Slow Jamz," Twista f/ Kanye West and Jamie Foxx
17. "Someday," Nickelback
18. "Naughty Girl," Beyonce
19. "My Immortal," Evanescence
20. "Sunshine," Lil' Flip & Lea

Other than "Naughty Girl," those are the 9 worst songs ever written, produced or performed. I'm surprised I didn't stab my ears in 2004, or kill myself.

Fortunately, things got better in 2005, the year that gave us "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey, "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson, "Gold Digger" by Kanye West f/ Jamie Foxx and "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers. Not the best year for music by any means, but worth not stabbing my ears in 2004 for.

New Good Song: Scream by Usher

Here's a new good song -- "Scream" by Usher.

I struggle with Usher. My knee-jerk instinct is to dislike or discount his output out of habit. For the past 15 years, I have had to navigate through his body of work with a mix of disappointment and annoyance as he has churned out forgettable melodies amid grating productions. He is a talented singer and dancer, and very fit, but in my opinion outrated by the public in terms of his songs.

That said, I must admit that his songs will sometimes have hooks that I think are quite good. His breakout single, "You Make Me Wanna ...," was good.  "U Remind Me" was OK, but the harmonies on the track were lazy. "My Boo," his duet with Alicia Keys, was OK, but over-sung. His ballads tend to be snoozes. "Yeah!" was ghastly. Generally, I'm just not that impressed, particularly with the melody lines.

So imagine my surprise when he released "Climax" earlier this year, and I discovered a new good song from an unlikely source. The melody is nicely crafted and delivered, the sentiment seems honest, and the production is tight, modern, cool and original. This was really a nice track, and one of the better R&B songs of 2012 so far. It went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hip Hop/R&B chart.

After that, a slew of other singles from his latest album popped up on the iTunes list of most-downloaded songs. Despite liking "Climax," I was not that curious. And when I would click on these tracks while scanning the chart, I would be immediately annoyed. Everything, to me, sounded like typical American dance music, which is the worst modern genre.

But.

There was something interestingly hooky about "Scream." And as it rose up the charts higher and higher, breaking from the pack of his also-rans, I found myself turning back to it time and gain. Very reluctantly, I had to admit it was a new good song -- great melody, nicely sung, catchy. It's not a breakthrough, but it's good.

Pop music has a history of music that at first sounds horrible but then turns out to be either better, or perhaps even good. Examples include "Work It" by Missy Elliott and "What About Us?" by Brandy. The first time I heard these songs, I thought, "What is this garbage?" But after repeated listens, I grew to like it.

That's one disadvantage of the modern age. We are not as helplessly subjected to radio. This can be good news in some ways, as no one wants to be forced to consume bad music, but there is something to be said for a song "growing on you," and in this era of customization and music on-demand, not to mention an overwhelming amount of choice, it's less likely that listeners will have the patience to let that growth on them happen.

And while some songs grow on you, others shrink. Sometimes I've purchased slightly odd-sounding songs that have had aspects I liked, thinking it might grow on me, but instead they became worse upon repeated listens. Examples include "King of Hearts" by Cassie and "Menage e Trois" by Austin Brown.

Can a guilty pleasure be a new good song?

Sometimes a new song may be good, but you're not sure you are comfortable saying so aloud. Example: "Want U Back" by Cher Lloyd.

If is a song would otherwise be good, but you are embarrassed to like it, is it necessarily not good? One might wonder if such a song possesses an inherently un-good quality -- some sort of "guilty pleasure" factor -- that stems from it being juvenile, corny, too simplistic or in some way tacky.

I would say that this is indeed the case. If someone today likes anything by Justin Bieber (i.e., is under the age of 14 or is over the age of 14 but has poor taste), he or she would probably preface his or her favorable opinion by qualifying the fandom with the phrase "guilty pleasure." However, there's a reason some pleasures are guilty -- the songs aren't genuinely good.

But it isn't always clear whether something is a guilty pleasure. Some people assume that all music by or for teens is a guilty pleasure, but this surely isn't the case.  "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen, I would argue, is not a guilty pleasure, and nor is "Love You Like A Love Song" by Selena Gomez & The Scene. These are just new good songs. If you think they are guilty pleasures, you're just a snob. Guilty pleasures are things like Milli Vanilli's output, which is terrible.

But some artists' output straddles the line, like Celine Dion. Is she a guilty pleasure? This is hard to answer. As I've said several times, I am song loyal, not artist loyal. So, in my opinion, "The Power Of Love" is a guilty pleasure because it's terrible, while "A New Day Has Come" is not, because it's good. "Love Can Move Mountains" is a guilty pleasure, but "My Heart Will Go On" is not.

I think if you are embarrassed by your tastes, you don't genuinely hold those tastes. There's some quality in the song that gives you pause. You may like it, but you know it's not good. There's a difference between something being good and something being liked; that's why some No. 1 songs (e.g., "Macarena,") are horrible.

In the end, I at first thought "Want U Back" by Cheryl Lloyd was a guilty pleasure, but I have decided it's not. It's a new good song.

5 new good songs for running

My friend Denise wrote to tell me (a) that she has not been able to post comments on this blog, which has been a comment that others have made to me; I don't know what's wrong. And (b) she, an avid runner, wanted recommendations for new good songs for running.

As it happens, I keep an ongoing playlist on my iPhone called "Calisthenics," which is for when I work out. So I do have some thoughts about this. Note: The video above is for a song called "Run," by Matt Nathanson f/ Sugarland, and although it was a new good song earlier in 2012, it may not be ideal for running, since it's a ballad.

Here are five good new songs from 2012 that you might enjoy for a run:

1. "Yoyo" by Pop Inc. This is brand new and doesn't yet appear on YouTube, so you will have to either take my word for it or give the preview on iTunes a listen. Good for a burst of energy.

2. "Blood Pressure" by MuteMath. Good for burst of energy.

3. "Look Around" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Good for picking up the pace.

4. "Love On Top" by Beyonce. Good for building pace.

5. "Called Out In The Dark" by Snow Patrol. Good for keeping steady pace.

New Good Song: Easy Way Out by Gotye

Here's a new good song -- "Easy Way Out" by Gotye

After putting out what so far has been 2012's best new good song, "Somebody That I Used To Know," Gotye has an automatic audience for his follow-ups, the latest of which is the two-minute ditty "Easy Way Out." It's not as good as "Somebody," but then again, what is? Upon a few listens, though, "Easy Way Out" turns out to be quite good, and the clever video, which is both funny and sad, helps.

When an artist reaches the top of the charts for the first time, he has a built-in audience for follow-ups, an opportunity that artists sometimes squander, or perhaps don't want to seize. Example: "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter, which was the No. 1 song of 2006 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart. Americans have not shown interest in his subsequent output. Another example: "Fireflies" by Owl City.

Did these acts flail after their big hits because they really did not have any other good songs? Because I have a "cream always rises" view of music, and the world, my suspicion is that this is the case, although surely there can be other factors, such as lack of marketing support, or even lack of desire to achieve stardom. After all, it's hard to believe that someone could create such a masterful song as "Fireflies" and then find himself unable to put out anything else that's good.

Sometimes I am puzzled by the public's indifference to artists who follow up great songs with other great songs. Example: Vanessa Carlton, who had her biggest hit with her debut, "A Thousand Miles" in 2002. As you can see for yourself on her discography, her subsequent releases didn't chart as high (i.e., weren't as widely perceived to be good), but in fact they were just as good, all the way through "Nolita Fairytale," after which everything has been bad. The public's swift cooling off to Vanessa has always puzzled me. Not sure what the missing variable is.

Anyway, I will be curious to see where the road leads for Gotye. My inclination is to suspect, at the very least, conflict with his record company about artistic direction. I have found the couple of non-"Somebody" songs, like "I Feel Better," to be good. There's real talent there, and that should mean new good songs to come.

TastemakerX: A source for new good songs?

There's a gray area I never realized existed between iTunes, the stock market, social media and gaming, and it's called TastemakerX. This is an app where you establish your tastes by purchasing shares of artists and watching them rise or fall. You can find and follow other users with similar tastes and supposedly discover music this way. There is also a scoring system that rewards those who are influential and good at selecting up-and-coming artists. I joined yesterday at the suggestion of a co-worker and have had fun building my portfolio, although I'm still not completely sure of the point. I believe that it just went live a few days ago.

Time will tell whether this proves to be a fruitful source of new good songs. One apparent problem is that the site is artist-centric, and as I've noted before, I am interested solely in discovering new songs, not new artists per se. When you go to an artist's page, you can click on a sample of one song that I assume was chosen by the site's editors. There is then a link to iTunes where you can hear more by the artist.

Here's an article about it on TechCrunch.

When is a new good song not a good song?

It takes more for a new song to be a new good song than being good. Other qualities drive a purchase -- originality, appropriate maturity, a sense of sincerity. There needs to be some sort of essence of truth.

Take the clip above. "The Fighter" by Gym Class Heroes f/ Ryan Tedder is by many accounts a good song. The delivery and production are quite nice; it's catchy and has a good message. It's pleasant to the ears, for sure. Everyone involved is talented. But it feels phony. Expected. Calculated. As a result, it feels untrue and manipulative. Therefore it's terrible.

Even the mere fact of this particular collaboration seems inorganic. When I hear this song, between the lines I hear the murmur of producers, managers and record-label executives, seeking to produce a product with mass appeal. This is their job, of course. But the output should be independent of this objective, or at least disguise it better. When a song feels written, produced and performed for no genuine or artistic reason, it  cannot be good. This is what makes Justin Bieber's output particularly excruciating. He is talented, and some of his output has appealing musical qualities. But as a package, Justin Bieber's portfolio is American cheese.

This is the problem I had with "Payphone" by Maroon 5 f/ Wiz Khalifa earlier this year. It is right on the borderline of good. But there's something inauthentic about it. Listening to it does not feel like listening to music. It feels like listening to the result of meetings, not the result of feelings.

I have now presented a standard for goodness that many people will find naive, objectionable or impossible to measure. As a listener, I am sure I sometimes fail to detect authenticity. For example, is "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen borne from any authentic feelings? I don't know. I was not in the room when this song was conceived, produced, recorded and released. But I feels, at the very least, as though the song was written, produced and arranged by people who were enjoying their jobs, and were talented, and cared about quality. The vocals are delivered in a way that's perfectly appropriate to the material, which indicates some sense of sincerity or performance capability on the singer's part. This exact same song by, say, Madonna, would have a very different effect indeed.

Therefore, I realize that phoniness is a hard quality to identify accurately, but I think it is sufficient to say that if a song feels phony, that's reason enough to negate its otherwise good attributes.

The 30 Best New Good Songs of 2012, so far

Rank	Title	Artist
1	"Somebody That I Used To Know"	Gotye f/ Kimbra
2	"The Woman You Love"	Ashanti
3	"Call Me Maybe"	Carly Rae Jepsen
4	"Midnight City"	M83
5	"Give Your Heart a Break"	Demi Lovato
6	"Co-Sign"	SWV
7	"Silenced By The Night"	Keane
8	"Called Out In The Dark"	Snow Patrol
9	"Love On Top"	Beyonce
10	"Paradise"	Coldplay
11	"Ships In The Night"	Mat Kearney
12	"Stereo Hearts"	Gym Class Heroes f/ Adam Levine
13	"Cough Syrup"	Young the Giant
14	"Warrior"	Kimbra f/ Mark Foster and A-Trak
15	"Tonight Is The Night"	Outasight
16	"Satellites"	Catcall
17	"Video Games"	Lana Del Rey
18	"Set Fire To The Rain"	ADELE
19	"I Like It Like That"	Hot Chelle Rae f/ New Boyz
20	"Put It Down"	Brandy f/ Chris Brown
21	"Wide Awake"	Katy Perry
22	"Lights"	Ellie Goulding
23	"Domino"	Jessie J
24	"Give Me All Your Luvin'"	Madonna f/ Nicki Minaj & M.I.A.
25	"Just A Kiss"	Lady Antebellum
26	"I Won't Give Up"	Jason Mraz
27	"Guardian"	Alanis Morissette
28	"Always Summer"	Yellowcard
29	"Tonight (Best You Ever Had)"	John Legend f/ Ludacris
30	"Climax"	Usher

New Good Song: Big Machine by Ryan Miller

Here's a new good song -- "Big Machine" by Ryan Miller (lead singer of Guster)

How I found this song -- It is featured in the new good movie "Safety Not Guaranteed." A couple days after the movie it occurred to me that the song may have been recorded professionally and made available on a soundtrack. As it turns out, I was correct, and it was through a little Googling that I discovered that the lead singer of Guster was a person, named Ryan Miller, who wrote much of the music in the film. You may remember Guster from the 2000 good song "Fa Fa." This is not to be confused with the 2012 song "La La" by the Cab, which just barely makes the cut of goodness.

The studio version of "Big Machine" is available on iTunes but not featured on YouTube. There are actually three versions of the song on the soundtrack -- Ryan Miller's studio version, the same studio version sung by Mark Duplass, who performed the song in the movie, and an acoustic version by Duplass, representing the way it was sung in the film. I recommend one of the studio versions, which have fuller instrumentals.

Why is this song good? There's a cute anti-establishment message here delivered with an almost schoolyard melody. The best part is the pre-chorus ("Maybe I'm wrong and all that you get is what you see / maybe I'm right and there's something there to believe"). The chorus, which is weak, seems awkwardly similar to "Santaria" by Sublime, which is not a good song from which to borrow a chorus in the first place.

Are movies a good place to find new good songs? Probably not. Even if they were, that's an awfully expensive way to find songs, especially in New York. But soundtracks can be a decent source for new good songs. In fact, an instrumental track from the "Safety Not Guarnateed" soundtrack by Miller called "Time Machine," which reminds me of the opening of "Disarm" by Smashing Pumpkins (the band's only good song), is very nice indeed, but seemingly not posted on YouTube. Do check that one out. But you may recall that "Tonight" by John Legend is a new good song, and although the film in which it is featured was not how I personally found it, perhaps that is how others did so.

These days, songs featured in TV commercials do well on iTunes. Not to fault the artists or songs, but I don't happen to be wild about commercials springing a song into popularity. I would like to think that people like songs because of their innate qualities or perhaps the special feelings and memories the songs create, so when a song is featured in a commercial and then rises on iTunes, I'm disappointed in what seems to me to be a lack of emotional attachment to the music. Examples include "BURN IT DOWN" by Linkin Park, which is in an NBA Playoffs commercial, "Too Close" by Alex Care, which is in an ad for Internet Explorer, and "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers, featured in a commercial for Bing.

However, I did recently state that my favorite new good song right now is "Warrior" by Kimbra f/ Mark Foster & A-Trak, and not only is this song in a commercial for Converse Shoes, the video itself is a commercial for the shoes, even ending with the logo. According to Wikipedia:

The song was written as a part of "Three Artists, One Song", an annual series by shoe company Converse. The song was initially released as a free download in the "Three Artists, One Song" website. The song was later included in international and special editions of Kimbra's debut studio album, Vows. "Warrior" was released as the fourth single off Vows on May 4, 2012.

The music video premiered on the YouTube channel for Converse shoes on April 5, 2012. ^[2] The video features a group of prisoners being forced to wrestle, and being brutally beaten, with chairs and other objects, for the enjoyment of a man wearing a red sweater. Scenes of Kimbra singing with her arms tied while watching the fight are cut into the video. At the end, the wrestlers turn on the man wearing the red sweater, and Kimbra knocks him out. The video ends with Kimbra, A-Trak, and Mark Foster leaving the stadium. All of the wrestlers are wearing converse shoes.

So is this example of music in advertising any better, any cooler, any more legit? I think so, because it would seem that Converse had an active hand in even making this song happen, by bringing together three artists who wouldn't otherwise have collaborated. In that sense, the song would not exist if it weren't for Converse. In the case of, say, Internet Explorer featuring the Alex Care song, I suspect that a marketing team at Internet Explorer found the already existing song, paid for its use, and is using it not because they like it but because they hope it wil appeal to a target demographic. This isn't evil, wrong or bad by any means -- I have an MBA, so I get it -- but "Too Close" might appeal to me more if its rise up iTunes had been perceived by me to be based on the qualities of the song, not its repeated exposure through a TV commercial. Perhaps I need to update my perspective.

New Good Song: Para by Calexico

Here's a new good song -- "Para" by Calexico

How I found this song -- The Indie Spotlight area of iTunes

Why is this song good? This song has a beautiful chord progression and instrumental arrangement that creates a sexy and creepy "don't look behind you" atmosphere. The verses are romantic and transition into an ever-building chorus that swells into a dramatic climax. In another place and time, this could be the theme from a "Bond" movie.

New Good Song: Timebomb by Kylie Minogue

Here's a new good song -- "Timebomb" by Kylie Minogue

How I found this song -- Scanning the iTunes Top 200. Incidentally, if you don't have iTunes, you can still look at the list online, although you'll only get half of it, and you won't be able to listen to anything. Ultimately, if it's new good songs you seek, you'd be remiss not to make the real iTunes one of your stops. If you do have iTunes but find the Top 200 overwhelming to peruse, sort by artist for quicker scanning.

Why is this song good? -- Dance songs with good harmonies and real music in them can be a joy. In the case of "Timebomb," you might miss the goodness if you quit listening before 00:37, when things get good. The verses are throwaways, but the pre-chorus and chorus are killer. Kylie Minogue has enough of a career under her belt that she shouldn't be associated with sheer junk, so her odds of putting out a new good song are higher than average. However, modern dance music can be bad, but the odds of goodnes improve when the song is affiliated with Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom.

New Good Song: All The Rowboats by Regina Spektor

Here's a new good song -- "All The Rowboats" by Regina Spektor

How I found this song -- Billboard.com. On the homepage, Billboard will display a snapshot of who's at No. 1 across various charts, and I saw Regina's face as having the No.1 album. "Fidelity" was a new good song in 2006, although it was offbeat enough that the odds of future good songs ain't great. Fiona Apple is a quirky singer, not unlike Regina, and she had a couple good songs 15 years ago (e.g., "Shadowboxer" and "Fast As You Can"), but her latest is less good. But when you see that an artist previously responsible for goodness is back, it's worth a quick check on Wikipedia and then YouTube. This is what led me to "All The Rowboats," which as it turns out is a couple months old. That's why you must stay on top of these things!

Why is this song good? The music is beautiful, especially the instrumental breaks. The singing and melody are both OK, maybe just shy of good, although Regina's voice gets better upon repeated exposure. Now let's talk lyrics. Much of today's lyrics are bad, although to be fair, on average, they are not the worst ever. Sometimes, a popular song will have simple lyrics that are very good (e.g., "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen, "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye f/ Kimbra). But mainstream songs with lame lyrics are usually forgiven. Alternative songs with lyrics that try too hard can be difficult to swallow. Here, Regina is singing about how she feels sorry for the artwork in a museum because the pieces are trapped there and treated like prisoners. That this is an odd thing to sing about, I respect. That this topic is so narrowly belabored throughout this song, I do not. The lyrics sound written by a fifth-grade girl. But this still puts it a good four grades above most other songs today. And so I will not ding the song's goodness; I will instead be grateful that the music is beautiful and that it's at least trying to be interesting.

New Good Song: Wide Awake by Katy Perry

Here's a new good song -- "Wide Awake" by Katy Perry

How I found this song -- Most new good songs require effort to find; that's a main purpose and theme of this blog. But it's worth noting that not every new good song is hiding. Sometimes one gets pushed to you, like in the olden days before the Internet. "Wide Awake" will make its way to your radar through one channel or another. In my case, I first found it on Wikipedia, looking at Katy Perry's discography.

That this is the case suggests I am a fan, but as I've mentioned, I'm not really a "fan" of anyone per se. I'm song loyal. And I truly believe that through all the fashion, gossip and nonsense people discuss when they talk about artists, music careers are built on good songs. Yes, Madonna had innovative and provocative videos and built a captivating persona, but she also released good song after good song after good song. She would not be famous had she, in the early '80s, released awful songs like "4 Minutes" (named such, I believe, because that is how long it took to write the melody, then make a sandwich). And she is no longer as popular in part because nothing she has released in the past 10 years has been as good as "Don't Tell Me" in 2001. However, sometimes the audience will miss out on a good song because they have tired of an artist. For example, one of Janet Jackson's best songs (and possibly videos) ever was "Feedback" in 2008, but many people missed or ignored this good song when it was new because, perhaps, people had had their fill of Janet Jackson. Mariah Carey has enjoyed a little more consistent success than her contemporaries, but has also suffered from this phenomenon of having her new good songs ignored. She released, for example, a new good song in 2010 called "Up Out My Face," but it stalled on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart at No. 100. And one of her best songs is 2002's "Through The Rain," ignored in the wake of the harshly reviewed "Glitter."

The point is that you can miss some new good songs if you aren't willing to keep an open mind to popular (or previously popular) artists. They can have the very best new good songs. After all, they certainly have access to the best songwriters and producers. Similarly, don't tune out Katy Perry just because she's popular. I'm not a "fan" -- I'm not going to see her movie -- but this young woman has new good songs. "Teenage Dream," for example, is one of the best new good songs of the past few years.

What makes this song good? "Wide Awake," like "E.T.," uses synths, arrangements and production to create an atmosphere that fits and supports the melody and lyrics, a technique actively violated by, say, Rihanna, Britney Spears and David Guetta.* "Wide Awake" gets a little repetitive, since it's the same four chords over and over. But the melody holds enough interest to compensate, with a beautiful verse line closure ("so wrong" at 00:24 and "so long" at 00:36) and chorus lyrics that put a fresh twist on its cliches. And "Wide Awake" has a key ingredient to goodness that "E.T." lacks -- the absence of Kanye West.

*While one shouldn't discount an artist like Katy Perry just because she's famous, so too shouldn't one discount any artist whose body of work is mostly bad. For example, Coldplay's output of songs is a relentless embarrassment, but, lo and behold, "Paradise" has proved to be one of the best new good songs of 2012. Similarly, Rihanna will occasionally win with songs such as "Umbrella," and even the recent "We Found Love." Britney Spears has released nothing good since 2004, but surely the woman who brought us "Toxic" and "Everytime" is capable of goodness again. I'm still waiting on David Guetta.

New Good Song: Hard To Love by Lee Brice

Here's a new good song -- "Hard To Love" by Lee Brice

How I found this song -- iTunes Top 200, on one of the days I was so dismayed that I ventured into country. I found this song about two months ago, so it's bordering on not being new, but it's still worth mentioning because it shows that sometimes one must cross genres to find new good songs. Most of today's country cross-over attention is going to Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum, but there are other artists who do country music that you can stand, and that in some cases is good, such as "Glass" Thompson Square, which is a nice lullaby and great to listen to when you're at the doctor having blood drawn.

There's quality within country, even if you're not a country fan. Usually the ballads are more digestible because they're more like rock songs, and there's a current dearth of ballads in pop, so if one likes ballads one must often turn to country. The best ballad of 2011, of any genre, was "Wanted You More" by Lady Antebellum, unless one considers "Nothing" by The Script a ballad. The best song of last year, incidentally, was "Super Bass" by Nicki Minaj, in case you missed it.

What makes this song good? Say what you may about country music, but pretty consistently it's clever and rings true, telling familiar and funny stories. "Hard To Love" captures an oft-felt but rarely expressed sentiment: I stink and don't understand why anyone would love me. Also, country uses real instruments, which is a step in the right direction but certainly not a prerequesite for goodness (see "Super Bass").

Is the iTunes 200 a good source for country music? If you seek country, there may be better sources, but if you simply seek new good songs regardless of genre, the iTunes 200 can be your one and only destination for adding country songs to your playlist. It's flooded with country. You may also need Wikipedia open to verify release date, but it's unusual for an old country song to be on the iTunes 200 unless it was recently performed on "Glee" or was features in a TV series.

New Good Song: Tonight by John Legend f/ Ludacris

Here's a new good song -- "Tonight (Best You Ever Had)," by John Legend f/ Ludacris

How I found this song -- the R&B chart on iTunes. It's also featured in the film "Think Like A Man," which I did not see. But films can sometimes be a good source for new good songs as well, as can the music the theatre plays before a film begins. One of my favorite songs of 2011 was "Party For The Lonely" by Sharon Robinson, which I discovered by Shazaming it as it was playing over the pre-film ads. It's so obscure it's not even on YouTube, but it's available on iTunes. Turns out it's from 2008. It's really a beautiful song. Better than this John Legend song.

What makes this song good? Not the corny-ass video, that's for damn sure. This is just a silky, well-sung, solidly produced ditty that makes you move, and the lyrics are funny, on purpose (I think). It's a bit '90s, which I love, and it doesn't get tiresome on repeated listens. Nowadays, a good R&B song comes along about once every 2 months, so each must be celebrated. We took them for granted in the mid-'90s.

Is the R&B chart on iTunes a good source of new good songs? There are pros and cons to the R&B chart on iTunes vs. the Hip-Hop and R&B Chart on Billboard.com. The Billboard chart is by far better if one truly cares about what's new, as I do. Not only does a song necessarily have to be new to qualify for Billboard, but the chart provides information about exactly how new each song is. Billboard also orchestrates its methodology in such a way that its charts aren't unduly dominated by a particular artist; on the iTunes R&B chart, by contrast, Chris Brown has 22 songs out of the Top 200 R&B, and Usher has 18. It would seem iTunes' policy is that every time either of these men emits a sound, it will appear on the chart. Billboard is also better because it lets you listen to an entire song on its site, as opposed to just a 30- or 90-second clip.

However, Billboard has shortcomings. The website isn't user-friendly. Billboard still combines hip-hop and R&B into one chart; iTunes separates them into Hip-Hop/Rap and R&B/Soul, which is the correct answer. Billboard also doesn't include song samples with everything. And not everything on Billboard is available for purchase (e.g., "Beautiful Surprise" by Tamia, which is almost a new good song but is just a hair too boring).

If you want to go down this R&B road, I suggest using the iTunes R&B chart and Billboard in tandem. The churn in this genre is low, so you'll be up-to-date even if you don't search for new songs more than once a month.

New Good Song: Satellites by Catcall

Here's one of the summer's finest new good songs -- "Satellites," by Catcall

How I found this song -- The previously discussed Indie Spotlight area of iTunes. Again, it takes work. I find that if I don't have time to listen to all the samples of what's new and being spotlighted, I go for the album covers that speak to me. Album covers are surprisingly good clues. They can tell you whether something is going to be dissonant, masculine or depressing. Also, within the Indie Spotlight, after you click through, it will tell you what genre the song is. I wish they would tell you this beforehand, but, you know, first-world problems. Genres to avoid are Singer/Songwriter and Electronic, and I say this as a singer/songwriter who writes electronic music. It's all terrible.

But my curiosity piques when I click on something in the Indie Spotlight and discover its genre defined as Pop. First of all, this is necessarily false, as Pop is short for "popular," and so if it is not popular it can't exactly be Pop. But "indie pop," which I suppose is a thing, tends in my mind to mean "retro pop," and that's often a source of goodness, if the vocals are bearable.

What makes this song good? I will grant that this song is on the weird side, especially the verses, but pop music of yore had a tradition of weirdness. Off the top of my head, take "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by the Crash Test Dummies, "Return To Innocence" by Enigma, "Mouth" by Merril Bainbridge, "Stay" by Shakespears Sister and another song about satellites, "Sleeping Satellite" by Tasmin Archer. All weird, and all big hits at the time, and all extremely good. If these songs were released today, I believe they would be hiding in the Indie Spotlight area of iTunes. It's just a different world. "Satellites" by Catcall may have been a big hit if it had been released 17 years ago. Today it won't be, but that doesn't make it any less good. Give it a few listens. The verses are quirky and then rise into sunny, beautiful pre-choruses and choruses, and there's an excellent bridge as well. This song never goes wrong -- it's one of the best new good songs of 2012. Great while you ride a bike.

New Good Song: Sovereign Light Cafe by Keane

Here's a new good song -- "Sovereign Light Cafe," by Keane

How I found this song -- VH1 + Wikipedia. Keane has had one of the year's better new good songs, "Silenced By The Night." I discovered that song, if memory serves, in a totally 1992 kind of way -- on VH1. I DVR their Top 20 Video Countdown and sometimes scan through it on the weekend, even though that's silly because the list is also online. Having remembered that "Silenced By The Night" was a new good song, I visited Wikipedia to learn of what else Keane may have released since, and discovered "Sovereign Light Cafe," which is newer than "Silenced" but not as good.

What makes this song good? I respect a cheerful song that sounds as if its melody was carefully written, as opposed to improvised. This song borders on being a little too "la-di-da" but may remind you of Ben Folds or the Beatles in a good way. It's cute and timeless. Nice to stroll down the streets of New York to.

Is VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown a good source for new good songs? Surprisingly, yes. I have been consistently surprised that this countdown contains songs I manage not to discover through my numerous other hunting techniques, such as "Never Go Back" by Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. It's strange that a network that exhibits poor taste in its reality programming actually exhibits good taste in its video countdown. Sometimes what's on VH1's list will surprise you because it spans genres nicely -- you'll get the Adult Top 40 music you expect (e.g., Train, Jason Mraz, Daughtry, John Mayer) plus artists you've never heard of (e.g., Ed Sheeran, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals) as well as some hand-picked mainstream head-scratchers (e.g., Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, David Guetta, Usher). Not all of this is good, but some of it is. On this week's chart, for example, "I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz is good, as is "Give Your Heart A Break" by Demi Lovato and "Lights" by Ellie Goulding, although frankly if you were to have followed my advice and techniques from this blog you would have discovered these songs a few months ago.

New Good Song: Guardian by Alanis Morissette

Here's a new good song -- "Guardian," by Alanis Morissette

How I found this song -- iTunes. When embarking on any hunt for a new good song, I always start with the basic Top 200 songs selling on iTunes. The masses today don't have the best taste, but sometimes they'll surprise you. And a quick scan through this list always alerts me to the newest of the new, if not necessarily the best of the best. It was here I realized Alanis even had a new single. I adored "Underneath" a couple years ago. "Guardian" isn't as good because it's the same two chords over and over for more than four minutes. She can do better. But it's still better than most of what's out there. But if you haven't heard "Underneath," get that instead. It has one of my favorite bridges of all time, at 2:26.

What makes this song good? Instruments and a nice melody, and Alanis has a nice way with words. This isn't the greatest song on earth but it'll do.

Is the list of iTunes 200 most downloaded songs a good source for new good songs? Absolutely; this is the closest I've found to a "news alert" about what's new, although new doesn't mean good. For example, everything sung on "Glee" ends up on this list, but fortunately this poop is easy to spot and thus avoid, so that's no sweat. Then there's "The Voice," another series whose output clutters the list; these songs are not in the scope of my hunt because they're not new. They also aren't so much "songs" as "audition exercises."

Other than these shows, there are also a few genres that disproportionately take up space on the iTunes 200 list. One is American dance music, which is the worst genre of 2012 (see Jennifer Lopez, most Usher, anything featuring Pitbull, and a majority of Rihanna's output). The second is hip-hop, which used to be a good genre but in 2012 will make your ears bleed (e.g., "Get Low" by Waka Flocka Flame, "Work Hard, Play Hard" by Wiz Khalifa). For the most part, if a song on iTunes is marked "Explicit," and it's by an artist you you've never heard of, it's probably a hip-hop song from 2012, and therefore is the worst song ever made.

The final genre cluttering up the iTunes Top 200 is tricky to negotiate -- country. There are some new good songs in the country genre (e.g., "Hard To Love" by Lee Brice and "Glass" by Thompson Square), but in general most are bad, and it can be difficult to predict goodness or badness based on title and artist, especially if you're not a country fan. Fortunately, if you click on a country song preview, you can usually tell in 2 seconds whether it's the worst song of all time, by the degree of twang. Usually I only forge into country territory to find new good songs if I have exhausted the rest of the 200.

The iTunes Top 200 has been the source of many new good songs for me this year, including "Midnight City" by M83 and, ages ago, "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye f/ Kimbra. You can, of course, also sort through iTunes lists by genre. This can be very helpful in the alternative genre in particular; it's less useful in R&B and rock, because most of the songs on those lists are not new. That's when you need Wikipedia on your side. More on that to come.

New Good Song: Warrior by Kimbra f/ Mark Foster & A-Trak

This is currently my favorite new good song -- "Warrior" by Kimbra featuring Mark Foster & A-Trak

How I found this song -- Wikipedia. Believe it or not, Wikipedia can be an awesome source to learn about new good songs. Having adored "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye f/ Kimbra, I went to each artist's discography to figure out what else they had released. This is how I discovered another of my favorite new good songs, "Easy Way Out" by Gotye, which has an incredible video, BTW. Kimbra's discography reveals that "Warrior" is a 2012 song; I looked it up on YouTube, and loved it.

What makes this song good? It's very '80s but also very today, and although I don't like '80s music particularly, that combination can be fantastic because it can yield songs that are punchy, emotional and fun, like this one. This has an incredibly catchy chorus, in-your-face instrumentals and production, and cute vocals by Kimbra. The video also isn't bad; it underlines the kind of "Pushin' me down" energy of the song. Kimbra reminds me of a cross between Katy Perry, Cathy Dennis and Cyndi Lauper.

Is Wikipedia a good source for good new songs? Wikipedia -- particularly the discography pages -- is a really nice way to find out whether a song is new, and to see if your favorite artists are releasing any new material. But this is a second or supporting step in the hunt for new good songs; it's not a first step or a destination. When I'm hunting through iTunes, YouTube or wherever, I usually have Wikipedia open on the side so I can figure out whether something is new, or to use to satisfy whatever stream-of-consciousness thoughts I may have. For example, because Kimbra reminds me of Katy Perry, I may think to look up Perry's discography and discover that her latest single is "Wide Awake," which I then can look up on YouTube. And as it turns out, "Wide Awake" is among the summer's best new good songs, which would not necessarily be obvious given that "Part Of Me," her previous release, isn't good at all.

New Good Song: Co-Sign by SWV

Here's a new good song -- "Co-Sign" by SWV. The video is pretty shitty, though, so don't watch it. Just listen to the song.

How I found this song -- Believe or not, FM radio. For about three months, I was renting a car to drive to and from a client site. This gave me 2 hours a day with FM radio. I actually ended up discovering a few new good songs this way, such as "The Motto" by Drake, which as far as I am aware is the only new good song in the hip-hop genre released in 2012. When I caught "Co-Sign" for the first time, my reaction was complete joy -- it was an actual R&B song with instruments and vocals, and I suspected it was new because if it had been old I would have recognized it. I used Shazam on my iPhone to identify the song as "Co-Sign" by SWV, and I was elated to learn SWV was back. They are not particularly talented, but it made me feel good to know that there was at least some existing effort to put out '90s-influenced R&B. As it turns out, a lot of new good songs are by slightly bygone R&B artists who were not necessarily putting out good songs in their heyday.

The best example is Ashanti, who has released what so far is the second-best new good song of 2012, "The Woman You Love." (The best has been "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye f/ Kimbra.) "The Woman You Love" is a truly amazing song. The commonly found version features Busta Rhymes, who I generally respect, although in this instance I prefer the Busta-free R&B mix, which is available on iTunes. However, Ashanti's 2012 feat comes 10 years after this woman was ruining my life with the worst songs I've ever heard (e.g., "Happy," "Baby," and her many duets with Ja Rule, who I wish hadn't wanted to record his own voice.) However, some R&B artists who are attempting a comeback of sorts are on their own labels, or small labels, and are not putting out out new songs that are as good as they should be (e.g., Toni Braxton's "I Heart You.")

What makes this song good? "Co-Sign" gets off to a fantastic start -- this odd horn sound that says to me, "Here is a new good song!" There's an actual bassline, and actual drums, and capable vocals. The lyrics are cute. The arrangement is crisp, creative, a lot of fun and, most importantly, has durability. By contrast, there was another new good song I adored called "Put It Down" by Brandy f/ Chris Brown. At first, I thought this new good song would be an ongoing favorite, but after about three weeks I was pretty sick of it. "Co-Sign," by contrast, has been on my radar for nearly three months and I remain excited each time it comes on. "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen has this enduring quality as well. So does "Cough Syrup" by Young the Giant.

Is FM radio a good source for new good songs? It can be, if you're really out of the loop on music and don't like to spend the effort to hunt for songs and click on a lot of preview buttons in iTunes. There are limitations to FM radio, of course. They play the same songs over and over again, so you're not getting a wide variety/exposure to lots of songs you might like. DJs these days are asleep at the wheel, so they almost never tell you what you're listening to, so you will need another source of information, like Shazam, or Wikipedia. If you hear a song on FM radio that you like, and you don't have access to Shazam, try to memorize a few lyrics and Google them later. This has worked for me several times. Finally, you can't be sure necessarily that a song on FM radio is new, but you can quickly find out. FM radio is a good way to find new good songs if you're multitasking.

New Good Song: Is This Love by Aiden Grimshaw

Here's a new good song -- "Is This Love" by Aiden Grimshaw (although it turns into a terrible song from 2:42 to 3:10).

In my previous post, I mentioned this song. Let's discuss it.

How I found this song -- YouTube, oddly. Often, when I'm listening to previews on iTunes, I'll go to YouTube to try to hear an entire song. This can be risky because sometimes the version on YouTube is slowed down or sped up, or re-pitched, so that the clip isn't removed for copyright violation. You have to be careful with this because tempo and pitch are important in determining whether a song is good. However, you will often notice some marketing and slick publicity around a video clip -- it can look "official" through clues such as background imagery and copyright signs. Also, next to a legitimate music clip there will often be references to other songs by new or emerging artists that you might like. These are almost always shitty, but occasionally one will surprise you, like "Is This Love." This process on YouTube is how I've discovered a couple new good songs, like "It All Belongs To Me" by Monica & Brandy, although that is no longer particularly new.

What makes this song good? It's in the dance genre, which in 2012 makes it likelier than not that it is by David Guetta and consequently is the worst song you've ever heard. But apparently other countries sometimes release dance songs that are not by David Guetta, and therefore can be good, like this one. "Is This Love" has a haunting, unexpected chord progression, and is made more legitimate by Aiden's strong British accent and emotive delivery. Almost all 2012 American dance songs are tedious, cheap, irritating and stupid, and as if all that weren't bad enough, the vocals are usually so maniupated by a computer that they are bleached of all potential emotion and idiosyncracy (see: Britney Spears). "Is This Love" is quite good with the major exception of 2:42 to 3:10, when we are subjected to a terrible bridge that sounds as if the songwriters just stopped trying.

Is YouTube a good place to find new good songs? It's not the best. I would say it's actually less efficient than iTunes because the user is often lacking some critical information, such as whether the song is available for purcahse on iTunes in the U.S., and whether the song is in fact new. But there are advantages to YouTube, such as the ability to listen to the entire song as opposed to a clip. But a disadvantage is certainly the awful ads. Also, it seems Vevo is trying to be a good place to find music, but I've found it to be clunky and annoying. Usually if I'm redirected to Vevo I know I'm in for a terrible user experience and some sort of "Oops!" error message, and I am usually correct.

I have not been able to find information about when or whether "Is This Love" will be available for purchase in the United States.

New Good Song: Always Summer by Yellowcard

Here's a new good song -- "Always Summer" by Yellowcard.

How I found this song: I'm not much into that which the hipsters call indie. Usually, "indie" means bad vocals, cheap production, obscure song structure and indecipherable lyrics. But the Indie Spotlight area of iTunes contains some of the better new good songs of today, and it's where I discovered "Always Summer," as well as some of my other current favorites, including "Satellites" by Catcall, and "Para" by Calexico. It's also where I purchased a few songs that I originally thought were good but that turned out -- upon repeated listens -- to be merely almost good, such as "Totally True" by Violens (click if you like The Cure), "Pretty Face" by Soley (click if you like Tori Amos) and "In The Morning" by Soulsavers (click if you like Morrissey).

What makes this song good? Great melody, clean production, positive feelings, real instruments. This song is on the borderline of being bad because it's reminiscent of a very bad genre, which was the neener-neener pop-punk of the mid '00s (e.g., "Perfect" by Simple Plan, the worst song of all time). However, "Always Summer" is happy, not whiny, and seems fresh in 2012, and perfect for summer. I feel a little too old to like it (I'm 33), but the tremendously skillful violin/fiddle playing adds a stamp of offbeatness and musical credibility that makes me feel better about liking it so much. "Always Summer" would have been a Top 10 hit if it had been released 9 years ago, and I probably wouldn't have liked it at the time because it would've sounded too much like things that are bad. But in 2012, this type of song is rare, and therefore new and good.

Is the Indie Spotlight area of iTunes a good way to find new good songs? Yes and no. My hunch -- backed by no evidence -- is that more of today's music is released independently because of lower barriers to entry, or fewer opportunities at big labels, and thus the "indie" umbrella is wide. Therefore, the Indie Spotlight turns out to be where many new good songs live. But to find one such gem, you have to wade through about 5-10 pieces of poop. And that wading is made difficult by the surprisingly poor organization of the Indie Spotlight. I think iTunes should further divide this area into genres and then further rank them by popularity, which is an un-hip thing to do and counter, perhaps, to the whole "indie" vibe, but it would help sort out what's good from what's awful. To its credit, iTunes does help the user a bit by ranking the popularity of songs by artist. So, for example, if you do click on the Yellowcard album "Ocean Avenue," you will get two clues -- one is a visual clue called "Popularity," which fills in vertical bars by how popular a song is; another is a box at the left called "Top Yellowcard" where there's a ranking of songs. This can help you find new good songs, although you have to look carefully. "Ocean Avenue" is not new -- it's 9 years old, according to the information box at left. But "Always Summer" is new. To learn that this is so, you would have to follow the link to "Always Summer - Single" or go to the Yellowcard Wikipedia discography. There, you'll see that "Always Summer" is a 2012 release.

Incidentally, it tends to be the case that when an album title on iTunes is the same as the song title with the word "Single" after it, it's a new song. This is another good clue.

The Wikipedia discography is a fantastic but not fool-proof source for figuring out the difference between what's new and what's not. One particular limitation is that it's sometimes not clear whether something is new or old in the United States vs. elsewhere. For example, "Is this Love" by Aiden Grimshaw is a new good song, but even though its Wikipedia page says it was released a week ago, it's actually not available for purchase on iTunes in the U.S. (yet?). One clue that the release date on Wikipedia is not referring to the U.S. is that it says "3 June 2012," which is a British thing to say.

Welcome to New Good Songs



Me listening to music in Antigua.

 Dear People,

I'm John. I am an obsessive fan of post-1990 music. I'm very knowledgeable about music trivia. I'm weird and kind of a dork, although I'm really handsome so not that many people realize it. I like songs but hate concerts, and don't much care for albums. I'm song loyal, not artist loyal. My tastes are not cool. I hate pretentious hipster nonsense about underground bands you've never heard of. I hate bad songs. I like songs that are good -- that are pretty, fun, sad, well-produced and musical. And those can come from any genre.

For example, today some of my favorite new good songs include "The Woman You Love" by Ashanti (R&B), "Warrior" by Kimbra (alternative pop), "Wade Awake" by Katy Perry (mainstream pop), "Always Summer" by Yellowcard (indie rock), "Para" by Calexico (indie alternative rock), "Satellites" by Catcall (indie pop), "Hard To Love" by Lee Brice (country), "Timebomb" by Kylie Minogue (dance) and "Ships In The Night" by Mat Kearney (adult Top 40). These are new good songs, in my opinion. But nobody handed me a mixed tape with these songs on them. I had to put in a lot of effort and wade through a lot of shitty nonsense to find them. Now they're safely locked in my iPhone and I can listen to them at my leisure. I think the reward is worth it.

I am always looking for new good songs, and they are increasingly hard to find. It requires proactive diligence to discover them.

Twenty years ago, in 1992, my sources for new good songs were FM radio, MTV and VH1. That was it. Almost always, these channels re-enforced each other to push out hits to me, the audience. Songs came to me, and my job was to react, by disliking them, liking them somewhat or possibly liking them enough to buy the single or CD. I'd then make mixed tapes.

In 2012, we live in a completely different world. Practically never do I listen to FM radio or VH1; never do I watch MTV. So where do new good songs come from? Apparently, it takes hard work to find them. I am a busy professional who lives in New York and travels for work, and my free time is limited. I was growing more and more disconnected from contemporary music. I was not finding and enjoying new good songs. Earlier this year, it occurred to me that this made me sad. So over the past few months, I've made a determined effort to navigate the resources available to me (e.g., iTunes, Wikipedia, YouTube) to find new good songs. I am now keeping a weekly list, like I used to do 20 years ago.

I'm starting this blog because I want document what I'm discovering, share it with friends and possibly strangers and -- fingers crossed -- receive some recommendations of new good songs and sources/channels to find them. My plan is to regularly share new good songs I find, and explain how I found them and why I like them. This is going to be cool.