My favorite band, Good Hangs, have just released a new EP titled, DO IT FOR DALE (hope my love will quit). The album and title track got it’s name from the guys finding out that Nascar Xfinity Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a few of their songs on his playlist. The North Carolina native is apparently a bit time of pop-punk including bands like Have Mercy and The Wonder Years, and more recently Good Hangs.
My two favorites from the EP are pc4pc (hurt) and If I ate mold, do you think I’d notice? (Disa Disa Disa).
DO IT FOR DALE (hope my love will quit) is a song about trying to get over the love you have for your buddy’s girlfriend.
pc4pc (hurt) is a beautiful song about losing out on love due to addiction. The catchy, repetetive words in the chorus will surely get stuck in your head.
If I ate mold, do you think I’d notice? (Disa Disa Disa) is a song about your current, working professional, thirty-year old self looking back on you in your early twenties and being disappointed in how you never reached your dreams or at least are still pursuing them.
I Hate This City (Without You) starts off with a Mark Hoppus style bass line. And, just like so many pop punk albums had one or two acoustic songs, they also always had a song about how different the singer’s town feels now without their love there anymore. And this song is just that.
A few weeks ago, Bon Iver teased something on Instagram that got a lot of people excited. Including myself.
I first heard Bon Iver at a get together in college. I visited my friend at his school in New Hampshire and there was an option of Jack Daniels whiskey or marijuana. I was not a whiskey guy. I knew what I liked and didn’t like. I got high and then Bon Iver came on and everything changed forever. OK, maybe that is a little dramatic. But I have said that I want to create a bumper sticker that reads: Bon Iver was my therapist before I was in therapy.
I was obsessed. I still am. My ex had bought me a biography of his and I never got around to reading it because I didn’t feel like I really needed to. I could tell you everything about Justin. How he came up with the name for the band. The three original members. Every side project of his. Every project that his former band members and current band members have gone onto form. I even went to Eau Claire Wisconsin back in the day to see the festival that they put on with The National.
Justin recently announced a new EP, Sablet. The three-track album will come out on October 18th. The first single, “S P E Y S I D E,” has been released accompanied with a music video. The other two songs, “Things Behind Things Behind Things,”and “Awards Season,” will be released soon. The EP marks a return to Justin Vernon’s acoustic roots, reminiscent of For Emma, Forever Ago. The decision to strip back the sound comes after years of experimentation with a fuller band. Collaborators on the EP include producer Jim-E Stack and Rob Moose, who contributes viola.
Only 16 more days until we are blessed with three new tracks from one of the best musicians in history.
I grew up with Duncan. He graduated a few years ahead of me and I have been following his music career since my early teens. I have watched his music genres change, blend, and evolve of the years and found his lyrics only more relatable the older I get. He is a great singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist who can make a great sounding album with his own skills and talents.
I listened to this album from start to finish on a drive to New Hampshire recently, which seemed to just make sense. My son, who turns four soon, listened along and didn’t ask for Spider-Man the whole 10-song, 34 minute album. When I asked him what he thought, he said it was, “Great.”
The whole time I was listening to this album I had one thought: It reminds me of John Mayer’s Born and Raised mixed with the guitar licks of his other albums. This album seems like Pelletier’s Born and Raised. His dive into country music during a time in his life filled with changes.
About: Maine-based singer/songwriter Duncan Pelletier has been making music for over a decade in various capacities. As a solo artist, studio musician, and live theater composer, Pelletier tactfully weaves together elements of soft rock, blue-eyed soul, and traditional pop, resulting in a sound that benefits from influence while feeling uniquely his own.
“More Drugs” is a great song about mental health and just needing a little bit more time and more chemicals to figure everything out. I love the line about trying to get the codes right inside of you. And the organ in the bridge gives the whole song a southern feel.
“Nothing More” to come is another fun song about something ending. I really enjoy the bells in this one.
Up to Me” sounds like it could be a theme song to a 1990s television show. Did they still do that with modern television? If so, someone send this to Hollywood. I love the these lyrics, “Start feeling the pressure. Don’t dig in the dirt. I never felt better after I got hurt.”
“Nowhere At All” is a very reflective song filled with some twang and palm muted guitar and chorus that claims “I am everywhere, but nowhere at all.” And who hasn’t felt like that before?
“For a While” is the most country song on the whole album. Sounding like it was written on a rocking chair in Montana. Great guitar solo.
Start Right Here” also sounds like a theme song to a sitcom and I really love when the Oregon hits in this one.
I actually went ahead and added “Up to Me” to the Full House opening and it kind of works perfectly!
