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.