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: 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.