Pop, Lock & Bops: Best of November 2018
Enjoy songs from Ariana and the Rose, 1000 Beasts, Jake Miller, Rue Snider, Talk Time and more!
Welcome to Pop, Lock & Bops, a monthly playlist series documenting our favorite windswept country tunes, heartfelt tearjerkers and down-right intoxicating dirty-pop club bangers.
One of the year’s brightest newcomers, Devin Kennedy is a dreamy conjurer of euphoric club glitter. “Feel the Same” is just the latest in a string of should-be-smash singles, taking a turn on the dance floor with an irresistible swagger. Acoustic guitar is utilized as an organic foundation, and as the finger snaps and drum tracks flood into the eardrums, Kennedy remains firmly situated at the center of a musical (snow) storm. As danceable as it is, there is something charmingly grounded about the production, reliably mixing acoustic and electric guitar throughout the blinding flurry.
Granville Automatic jingle and jangle with an essential Radio Hymns moment, a front-porch prayer called “The Thing.” It’s as home-spun as you might imagine, borrowing a plain-spoken approach as you’d find with The Carter Family. It’s a wistful confessional that barrels along but never goes off the rails. It’s both dusty as it is warm and intoxicating. The fiddle tugs the entire production like a locomotive pulling out of the station. “When you want to know what heaven is like, just ask,” singers Vanessa Olivarez and Elizabeth Elkins profess over sun-baked layers of Americana.
Brett Cameron continues to carve out his alt-pop niche with the volatile “Diamonds,” glistening and dancing under a lamplight of hip-hop-bent dance rays. His voice is slick and placed within the reverberating walls of some dingy dive bar, but when given the chance, he comes in like a wrecking ball to upend expectations (and the concrete). Meanwhile, 1000 Beasts links up with Marybeth for the overwhelmingly tangy “Trust Me,” and Ariana and the Rose flutters across the moon like a “Night Owl” with another essential track.
The latest monthly roundup features songs from Timeflies, Dodie, Talk Time, More Giraffes, Sasha Sloan, Fly by Midnight, Brandy Zdan, Rue Snider, Cruel Youth, Prince Fox, Jake Miller, The Magnettes, RUUMER, Luca Chesney, Sheare and Rozes, among countless others.
When all is said and done, we’ve got 65 songs to spin like crazy leading into the holiday break.
Take a spin:
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