Category Archives: Spotlight Single

Spotlight single: Banda AL9 “She Can Do It All”

11 Wednesday Feb 2026

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Brazilian Beatlesque sensation Banda AL9 are staging an American invasion, releasing their first ever official single in the United States with “She Can Do It All.” Anyone familiar with their fabulous first two albums, Amore E A Lei (Love Is the Law) and On Nono Rei (The Ninth King), know the drill. The song is brimming with all the chiming guitar and John, Paul and George-approved harmony vocals the duo have become known for. Written by indie power pop darlings Kurt Baker and Wyatt Funderbirk, it’s a track completely in tune with this band’s musical sensibilities. The hooks are breezy and will have you double hand-clapping along. Both the song and the video are also dripping with easter eggy Beatle-isms for the serious Beatlemaniacs in the audience. What is really exciting is that the track is just the first single from a brand new album Hey! Hey! We’re Banda AL9, due out from Wicked Cool Records July 17. Hopefully they’ll drip release a few more preview songs to really ramp up our expectations.

Banda AL9 are all over the interweb but you can start with their record company and Facebook pages.

Spotlight single: Barney Cortez “T-Shirt Salesman”

13 Tuesday Jan 2026

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Hot on the heels of his recent eclectic indie-rock long-player Earth Station, Barney Cortez returns with a poppy new wave single that shifts the profile of his sonic identity ever so slightly again. “T-Shirt Salesman” combines solid rhythm guitar playing with some sparkling lead notes to effectively cradle a soothing pop melody. The arrangement of overlapping vocals gives the tune a slightly other-worldly demeanor. Lyrically the song appears to be mocking how independent artists like Cortez are effectively reduced to flogging merch to make ends meet. The picture he paints of the contemporary music scene is not pretty. While one day like he’d like to ‘make the girls scream’ he fears he may have to ‘fake his death’ to pay off his last album. Still, he’s a trouper, singing ‘20 people here, it’s time to sell some beer.’

Altogether it’s a track where the pleasant tune belies the sentiment captured in the song’s chorus:

‘Smile for the people/don’t show them it hurts
We’re getting old and feeble/out here selling shirts’

I think a few sales might cheer this guy up. Check him out on Bandcamp, Facebook and wherever quality e-music is sold.

Holiday spotlight single: The Geezers “White Christmas”

25 Thursday Dec 2025

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Sometimes acts roll out their holiday song so close to the event there’s hardly time for us scribes to consult our thesauri for appropriate words of praise. Like these Austrian guys. Sure, they’ve had a busy year getting their sixth long-player Music into record stores. I reviewed it here and nearly bankrupted my suitable-superlatives overdraft trying to capture its energy. Obviously, I’m a fan. So when I spotted that The Geezers had a seasonal single out I knew I had to rally my writing reserves to get something into a post about it before Santa completely finished his work. “White Christmas” is not that song. You know the one. Bing’s thing. Instead this version is a thing of exquisite pop craft. The lumbering gate has the ambiance of The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” with its feel of a circular return in the pacing. Like you could just keep playing it over and over. Then there’s the distinctive guitar and keyboard flourishes, with some nice vocal harmonies coming in halfway through. This is perfect holiday montage music, adding a resonant seasonal sound to your mix of merry snaps of whatever this day brings you.

Holiday songs are plentiful this time of year but harder to make memorable than you might think. The Geezers have pulled off something both pleasant and original. Visit them on Bandcamp and Facebook to get more.

Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

Spotlight single: Stardust One “Someday Soon”

04 Tuesday Nov 2025

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Miami Florida band Stardust One have got a few recent singles out that are so reminiscent of a certain kind of mid-1980s smooth rock and roll. Acts like Mr. Mister, The Outfield and Bryan Adams come to mind. Their 2025 releases “All I Know” and “Almost Home” hit these marks and then some. Quality single-age for sure. But let me take you back to 2022 and their absolutely killer 45 entitled “Someday Soon.” Everything about this track is working overtime. From the sly opening that inches forward building tension with its subdued vocal and low key guitar, only to break out at the half minute mark. To the absolutely alluring vocal mix, which combines harmony and unison singing to fatten up the whole affair and give it that classic group vocal sound so well used by bands like the aforementioned Outfield as well as The Romantics. Here’s what I’m saying – this one is a winner. Even the instrumental break shakes things up, driving the song in a new direction and back again in a very inventive way. Looking for a sleeper hit? “Someday Soon” is a great lost maximum-rotation kind of song. Now if only the band would consider putting out an album …

Mentions of Stardust One fall light on the ole interweb. I could find only one album review. Their bandcamp page has merch but no music. They do have an Instragram page full of pictures and Facebook but it’s hard to get much detail about the band there. YouTube and iTunes are your best bet for finding their lone (as far as I can tell) 2017 LP Lonely Station and their subsequent handful of singles. All in all, these guys are ripe for a taste of that decades-in-the-making overnight success.

Spotlight single: Mike Browning “Lost In Conversation”

24 Tuesday Jun 2025

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Mike Browning has dug up a real gem of a minor hit from the 1960s to offer up as a cover. “Lost in Conversation” was originally recorded by Halifax, Nova Scotia band The Great Scots in 1965. Their story is a hilarious mix of lucky breaks and near misses, featuring tartan costumes and an apparent willingness to do anything to get attention. The band was originally known as The Beavers and all four members sported mohawk haircuts. This was 1962! Then as The Great Scots they donned kilts and working the Scottish Canadian angle mercilessly. Epic Records signed them to a record deal in 1965 but only put out a few singles, so quickly did fashions change in that era. Eventually, as sixties nostalgia created an audience for lost bands, two albums of material recorded by the band back in the day did get released. And it’s pretty good. You can check them out at their various internet real estate.

But back to Mike Browning’s new single. The original of “Lost In Conversation” comes off like a cross between Merseybeat and Paul Revere and the Raiders, jangly but with a muscular vocal. Browning’s version tweaks the jangle guitar, adding extra colour to the tone, while his vocal is more folk-rock innocent and slightly plaintive. It’s a winning formula, worthy of repeat plays. Now the question is, shall we expect more from Browning in this vein? Here’s hoping.

Mike’s more than just one cover song. You can dig into his back catalogue at his Bandcamp page.

Spotlight single: Jesse Welles “Certain”

09 Friday May 2025

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You may have seen him pop up on TikTok or Facebook reels doing the Okie folk troubadour thing, guitar strapped on in some kind of rural setting croaking out anti-establishment sentiment. If so, you know Jesse Welles is an amazing topical folk singer, nailing a Woody Guthrie vibe and totally on point politically in terms of what is happening to the American working class. But shift over to his recent album entitled Middle and you’ll see there’s a lot more to Welles musical oeuvre. Just to give you a taste we’re featuring “Certain,” my choice for the album’s break out single. The song opens with a slight country inflection before conjuring a bit of Bowie or ELO with the line ‘I am writing to you from earth stardate 2020 and 4.’ But as the song develops the lead guitar embellishments are 1980s strong in a Tommy Tutone or Greg Kihn way. The harmonica solo then bends the energy a bit toward Springsteen. Ok, maybe a lot towards Springsteen. Clearly this guy’s not just doing folk. Even when he offers up a stripped down acoustic guitar and vocal rendition of the song the feel is something much more than just an outdoor hootenanny. More John Fogerty than Bob Dylan, a heaping helping of Jesse Welles will both rock you and sate your thirst for populist truth telling.

Visit Jesse Welles online to keep up with his prolific output via social media or on a stage near you.

Spotlight single: The Sonny Wilsons “Maybe”

28 Friday Feb 2025

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There is something so distinctive sounding on this debut single from Memphis band The Sonny Wilsons. It’s partially about the vocal attack, particularly the slurred vocal chorus on the ‘maybe’ line. But it’s also about the careful, somewhat spare arrangement of instruments. I mean, it’s not a quiet song but there’s room in this mix to really hear all the bits and adornments. The lead guitar work is also clean and shimmery, adding an element of mystery. The tune and performance really remind me of later period Cowsills or Bill Cowsill’s work with Vancouver-based acts Blue Northern and The Blue Shadows. The overall sound is where poprock landed for me in about 1983. That means riddled with hooks, not afraid of being accused of being commercial, but still holding on to some strong indie cred. Yet it sounds just as in tune with today’s musical multiverse of competing and parallel styles. It’s a Jon Auer of the Posies production and the quality shows. Bottom line – this is one killer single and a strong kick-off for a band whose first long-playing album will be out soon. Can’t wait to hear more.

Keep on top of the latest news from The Sonny Wilsons at their Facebook and Instagram pages.

Spotlight single: Susanna Hoffs and Elvis Costello “Connection”

23 Monday Dec 2024

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This one-off tribute collaboration to mark Keith Richards’ 81st birthday is an inspired bit of cover-age. Hoffs and Costello take a lesser known deep cut from the Rolling Stones 1967 LP Between the Buttons and elevate the duet aspects of the tune, bringing out something rather special in the process. For instance, on the original it’s hard to hear that it is actually both Jagger and Richards trading off the vocals and they tend to hit the ‘connection’ line so hard it’s pretty much all that stays with you. But the remake rebalances the emphasis between the chorus and everything else and the result is more of an actual song, now cast in a folk rock vein. Vocally both artists are in fine form here, sounding very much on top of the material. Albert Lee also adds some dynamite electric lead guitar runs that really underline the rock part of the folk rock feel.

Hoffs and Costello work up some real chemistry here. I’d love to hear them do more. On the other hand, this effort could also inspire some rooting around in the Stones back catalogue for more hidden gems just awaiting an indie reinvention.

Spotlight single: The Mellons “Please Baby Please”

13 Friday Sep 2024

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Today’s spotlight single is actually a b-side. Hailing from Salt Lake City, The Mellons combine psychedelic and baroque pop influences in a most delightful way, as showcased on their debut album Introducing … The Mellons. They return now with a new single but are holding off on revealing both sides of the 45. That’s ok because the b-side “Please Baby Please” is a dynamite tune in its own right. It kicks off with a mesmerizing drone attack of insistent guitar hooks and 1970s Chicago style vocals, before they went all soft rock. Overall the sound sounds very Sloan in the way it gels together into a cohesive aural attack. Then in the instrumental break the atmosphere suddenly becomes British beat group circa 1965, all rough and ready guitar and band party vibe. I can’t wait to see where this goes on a whole-album treatment of such themes. Alas we have to wait until November just to glimpse the a-side here, let alone a whole batch of new tunes. But I’ve got a feeling it will be worth the wait.

Get your latest Mellons b-side at the Earth Libraries bandcamp shop and catch up on all things Mellon at their own unique internet locale.

Spotlight single: Fastball “America”

13 Tuesday Aug 2024

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This is not America, that’s the message from this great deep cut on Fastball’s latest LP Sonic Ranch. The ‘this’ talked about on “America” would be Hollywood, TV, or the seemingly endless loop of posturing politicians and pundits on social media. As the band sings, ‘maybe America is just a dream’ or perhaps it can found in the ‘middle of nowhere’ amid the folks who live out there. The song’s basic message is this: If common ground can be found in this oversaturated meme land it will require people talking to people in real, dusty, ordinary American places, not via polarized, overblown media representations of the country. Stylistically the song combines cool western guitar riffs and some great rough-hewn harmony vocals. The overall effect is gritty, like you can practically feel the desert heat and still taste the tequila in the back of your mouth. Check out this impressive live rendering of the song.

“America” is just one of ten great tunes on the album, if you’ll let me slip in a mini-review of the rest of what’s here. Sonic Ranch is the band’s ninth effort and it delivers on songwriting and performance. There’s a Beatlesque flavour to the flow of a lot of this record, from the White Album folk-fingerpicking style defining “Grey Sky Blue” to the more Rubber Soul light pop of “Hummingbird.” But there’s also classic Fastball super-charged singles like “Rather Be Me Than You” and “Let Love Back In Your Heart.” Basically, it’s another great package of tunes from a band that are just so reliably good.

You can visit Fastball at their website central locale here.

Top photo: Caroline LeDuc.