New Good Song: Two Way Street by Kimbra

Here's a new good song -- "Two Way Street" by Kimbra

Kimbra is so talented it's ridiculous. She is responsible for some of 2012's very best song, and she writes them! First, she was on Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know," which is still the years' best new song. Then she had "Warrior," with Mark Foster and A-Trak, which is so far one of the year's 10 best songs, not to mention one of the most durable (i.e., it doesn't get old upon repeated listens, trust me). Now the follow-up to "Warrior" is "Two Way Street," which has become her highest-charting song in her native New Zealand (No. 6).

For the sake of disclosure, I need to admit I'm actually behind the times on Kimbra's output. She actually has an ever newer song than "Two Way Street," called "Come Into My Head," which has an amazing video (that definitely channels Regina Spektor) and is also a very clever song. But for the moment, I am enamored with "Two Way Street," which is just beautiful. That transition chord into the chorus is one of the best into-chorus transitions I've ever heard. It's at 00:53. As usual, I suggest good headphones.

Enjoy!

New Good Song: Save Me by Gotye

Here's a new good song -- "Save Me" by Gotye

I think Gotye may be this generation's Peter Gabriel, and that's just about as high a praise as I can offer. "So," the first album I ever owned, is still one of the best I have ever heard. Gabriel has a way of being experimental and genre-less while still producing gorgeous and catchy music that can be appreciated by young and old listeners who like rock, pop, soul or alternative. I suspect Gotye would cite Gabriel as an inspiration although I have never read anything to that effect.

"Save Me" is another simple but thoughtful piece of melancholy brilliance, following "Easy Way Out." Even when Gotye tries to be upbeat on "I Feel Better," there's still a sad undertone, as there's an implication the singer was not feeling well before.
Enjoy!

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.

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.