Pop – Squawkin' Good Tunes

Thursday Throwback: Venus Hum

Posted on November 10, 2017November 10, 2017 by mcsquawk

Thursday Throwback is a feature on Squawkin’ Good Tunes where we dig up a forgotten gem from at least 10 years ago, play it on that week’s edition of Squawkin’ Good Radio, and review the album on squawkingood.com.

This week I thought we’d cover something a little different from the power-pop/punk bands featured the past few weeks. Let’s go back to 2003 and hear from Venus Hum, a dream pop/electronica group from Nashville consisting of lead singer Annette Strean and multi-instrumentalists Kip Kubin and Tony Miracle. Their debut full-length Big Beautiful Sky (a reference to lead singer Annette Strean’s home state of Montana) featured the single “Hummingbirds” a vibrant, dramatic song with surreal lyrics.

After kicking off with “Hummingbirds”, Venus Hum cycle through three candy-colored pop tunes with varying levels of success before arriving at the haunting “Alice”, a contender for best song on the album. It’s followed by the bouncy, intriguing pop song “Lumberjacks”, and the album finishes strong with the ethereal “Honey”, suspenseful “Sonic Boom” and closing track “Bella Luna”.

While very much a product of the early 00’s electronica scene, Big Beautiful Sky is a solid album recommended for fans of artists like Florence & the Machine, Goldfrapp or School of Seven Bells.

Take a listen to the whole album below on Spotify:

Squawkin’ Good Radio 6/1/16

Posted on June 2, 2016June 2, 2016 by mcsquawk

Last night’s show is now up on Mixcloud! This show featured great new songs from FAWNN, Speedy Ortiz, Operators and a Bob Dylan remix by Animal Collective! If you missed this week’s show, you can listen here:

Click here for this show’s playlist on Radioactivity.

Squawkin’ Good Radio 5/25/16

Posted on May 31, 2016June 2, 2016 by mcsquawk

Squawkin’ Good Radio is now on Mixcloud! Starting now, I will be putting each week’s show on Mixcloud where you can listen whenever you want! Here is last Wednesday’s show, featuring the latest music from Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop, Moderat, Magnet School, Marian Hill and more, plus a few throwbacks.

Click here for this show’s playlist on Radioactivity.

Weekend Mixtape #5: 5/8/16

Posted on May 9, 2016 by mcsquawk

Time for another set of my favorite recent Soundcloud discoveries! I’ve been busy enjoying the Waking Windows festival in Winooski this weekend, but I’ve found time to bring you this great set of songs including new music from Moonface, Marissa Nadler, Mercury Girls, Wilder Adkins and more! Take a listen below and let me know which songs you liked best!

Weekend Mixtape #4: 5/1/16

Posted on May 1, 2016May 1, 2016 by mcsquawk

Well it’s been a long time since you’ve seen one of these, haven’t you? Here is the first official Weekend Mixtape in over a month. I’ve got two weeks of new musical discoveries to share with you, so we’ve got 20 songs in today’s playlist. There’s quite a variety of music here from several different kinds of rock to more electronic stuff, from a mix of different artists from all over the world. There’s new single from Deerhoof’s forthcoming album The Magic, rockin’ tracks from Palace Winter, The Academic, Mean Jeans and LISBON, chill vibes from Cornelius, Maria Usbeck and Desert Sound Colony, plus the latest singles from Thrice, Why We Run, Aloha and Two Year Vacation.

Take a listen and let me know which songs you like best. You’ll be hearing some of these songs on Squawkin’ Good Radio in the next few weeks.

Squawkin’ Good Spring Mixtape

Posted on April 26, 2016 by mcsquawk

Apologies for the lack of Weekend Mixtapes the past few weeks. I’ve been really busy and haven’t had time to work on the blog as of late. I have still been discovering lots of great new music over the past few weeks, much of which I haven’t been played on my show yet. So I present the Squawkin’ Good Spring Mixtape featuring my favorite new songs I’ve discovered on Soundcloud plus a few other favorites I’ve been enjoying lately.

Some highlights this time around: my favorite track off of DTCV’s new album Confusion Moderne, you may remember them from the song “Miley Cyrus Wins the Race”, one of my favorite songs of 2016. Also, there’s a fun tune from the Swedish band Two Year Vacation, a perfect song for the warmer weather from The Hazy Seas, a new track from Mt. Wolf who you may remember from “VIII”, another of my favorite songs from 2015, plus great remixes of Saintseneca and Destroyer songs. Take a listen and let me know which songs you like best and I’ll get them on my show in the next few weeks!

Weekend Mixtape #3: 3/20/16

Posted on March 20, 2016March 20, 2016 by mcsquawk

Still finding new tunes you should check out! This week’s set features the return of Australian band The Belligerents with their new single, a track from Smith Westerns frontman Cullen Omori’s debut solo album that came out on Friday, plus some exciting new songs from Mons Vi, Flora Cash, HAWK, Ashley Shadow, Ten Fé, and ISLE. Listen to all songs below, I’ll play some of these on this Wednesday’s edition of Squawkin’ Good Radio.

Weekend Mixtape #2 (3/13/16)

Posted on March 14, 2016March 14, 2016 by mcsquawk

Apologies for this week’s Weekend Mixtape being so late. I was away for the weekend and just got back tonight. For this week’s batch of songs there’s an awesome new single from Big Deal, a track from The Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon’s new album Painkillers that just came out this Friday, plus great new songs from up and coming bands Constant Supply, Exam Season, Cavalier, Alxndr London, Service Bells and Baby in Vain. Seems many of this week’s songs have a mid-00’s indie rock vibe (think Death Cab For Cutie, The Notwist and Wolf Parade blended together). Listen to the playlist below.

Also, don’t forget to vote for which artists you want to compete in Squawkin’ Good Showdown, which starts this Wednesday! The 32 artists who get the most votes will be played on this week’s show and will compete to advance to the next round. Vote here!

Weekend Mixtape #1 (3/6/16)

Posted on March 6, 2016March 6, 2016 by mcsquawk

Starting this week, I’m trying a new variation on my Weekend SoundCloud picks. Squawkin Good Tunes’ Weekend Mixtape will be a weekly playlist of my favorite new songs I discovered on SoundCloud plus some other great new tracks I heard this week.

Former Burlington band Argonaut & Wasp are back with one of their best singles yet. Marian Hill of “One Time” fame have released a brand new single, plus there’s a bold new track from rising artist Mitzki, hard rockin’ singles from Nothing and Bleached, latest cuts from Yeasayer‘s Amen & Goodbye, Com Truise’s Silicon Tare EP, and The Boxer Rebellion‘s Ocean by Ocean, promising tracks from London acoustic-rockers Narrow Plains and New Zealand band The Leers.

Listen to all tracks below:

Let me know which tracks you liked best and I’ll play them on this Wednesday’s edition of Squawkin’ Good Radio!

Also, don’t forget to choose which artists you would like to compete in Squawkin’ Good Showdown which starts Wednesday, March 16. Vote here!

Rubblebucket – Top 10 Songs

Posted on March 2, 2016 by mcsquawk

A new feature I’ll be doing here at Squawkin’ Good Tunes is a showcase on a band I like and a countdown of their best songs. The first band to receive this honor is none other than Burlington exports Rubblebucket, in honor of their upcoming show this Friday, March 4, at Higher Ground Ballroom.

Formerly known as Rubblebucket Orchestra, this group fronted by lead singer Kalmia Traver and bandleader Alex Toth combine a brass band sound with Afrobeat and Latin jazz influences and have increasingly added rock and pop elements to their music with each album. Though they now call Brooklyn home, Rubblebucket are still a favorite here in Burlington and they were the winner of last year’s Squawkatiel Madness tournament on WRUV.

Here are my Top 10 favorite Rubblebucket songs.

10. “Shake Me Around” (Survival Sounds, 2014)