New Good Song -- Circles Around The Sun by Dispatch

Here's a new good song -- "Circles Around The Sun" by Dispatch

Sometimes songs with strange storylines flop, and sometimes they soar. One critical achivement of a successful "story" song is that the tone of the story needs to match the tone of the music. That's why "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies is such a success. The music and stories are both a little melancholy and quirky. The music is downright gorgeous, in fact, and I think it's musically one of the most underrated songs of the '90s. For some reason in the 2010s, it's dismissed as some novelty song, when it's certainly not. I digress.

Here, in "Circles Around The Sun," we get the story of a nearly weightless boy who "cannot speak or walk" who appears to have been launched into space for the purposes of scientific research. It's told with humor and a spirit of adventure, and the music is poppy, high energy and full of unexpected chord changes, which mirror both the unexpected twists in the lyrical story, as well as the unexpected twists the protagonist would likely face on his space journey. The whole thing works pretty well together.

Enjoy!

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.