Islands in the Stream: 11/7/24

Islands in the Stream is a periodic series that highlights songs I've liked by artists who have a relatively low number of monthly listeners. It's like a public service with a dash of the thrill of discovery. What more could you ask for?

"Sweet Talk," Vistablue
If you're in the mood for a sweetly atmospheric pop song about the pained disbelief of finding yourself back in a place you thought you'd left behind forever — and something tells me more than a few of us can relate right now — then you could do a lot worse than "Sweet Talk." This is a somewhat older cut from Vistablue, who have continued to release music in the years since "Sweet Talk" dropped in 2020; I may need to investigate further.

"Cruise Control," Sky Olson
This poor fucker is based in Utah, which either means he has abhorrent political views or he's surrounded by millions of people who do. For the purposes of this particular column, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and argue that a guy who can write and record a pop song that's this effortlessly listenable deserves more attention. "Cruise Control" is from 2022; his latest release, the new single "Dying Breath," dropped today. What timing!

"Summer Nights," Quietglow
It looks like these guys haven't done shit since 2020, which is a shame — the wares they're peddling will be very familiar to anyone who's sought out '80s-adjacent pop-rock over the last few years, but it's well done, with all the appropriate synth-assisted atmosphere, a splash of digital delay, and even some sax thrown in. It's still basically a pastiche, but I'm not mad at it and you shouldn't be either.

"I Think I Want You (All the Time)," Badlands.
If you were to point a gun at my head and demand that I tell you what makes this song special, I would probably end up dead in the street. On the other hand, I feel like that fairly often when it comes time to write these little mini-reviews for Islands in the Stream songs, so I'm not going to worry too much about it; instead, I'll just say "I Think I Want You (All the Time)" is catchy and cleanly produced in a way that makes me feel the way I want to feel when I listen to this type of thing. I DON'T OWE YOU FURTHER EXPLANATION, YOU AREN'T MY DAD

"vampire social," By George
This is clearly shaping up to be an extremely middle of the road Islands in the Stream, which is probably fine; if you're anything like me, you turn to the safe and familiar during times of stress, which is why I spent many hours listening to Huey Lewis and the News during the days immediately after COVID lockdown started. I don't know much about By George, but based on "vampire social," they seem like they're probably pretty basic, fairly friendly fellows, and they make music that fits snugly in one's ear, at least if the one in question is me.

"Bedridden," Poppy Wizard
There's something about this song that makes me feel like I'm having a dream about the late '90s that's being soundtracked by an unreleased blink-182 song that has been slightly slowed down and swaddled in acres of reverb. The experience is a good deal more pleasant than that might make it seem, I assure you.

"No Man," William Tyler Sowers
Given that it was only a few months ago that I devoted space in multiple posts to rhapsodizing about Beatenberg, I feel like it's pretty clear that anyone who's even slightly adjacent to early Vampire Weekend — and therefore slightly less adjacent to mid-'80s Paul Simon/Talking Heads — is apt to tickle my amygdala. I'm just going to own it. "No Man" is a slightly bouncy midtempo number that goes down smooth, and that's a hearty endorsement tonight.

"Hurts to See You Go," Sean C Kennedy
Sean C Kennedy's bio says he's from Scotland, but as far as I can tell, he is from — and remains in — the Los Angeles of 1986, where he is very busy making immaculately produced pop-rock records with a high-priced cast of session players that includes multiple members of Toto. As soon as I get a minute, I'm going to listen to the rest of this album until my ears fall off. Docking him points for not slipping a butt joke into a song titled "Hurts to See You Go," but on the other hand, the earnestness is era-appropriate.

"Cliff," Take Lead
This post has been so chock full of margarine-coated, '80s-indebted pop-rock cuts that I don't even know what to say about them anymore. For the record, I collect these over time — sometimes weeks at a time! — and there's never any effort to organize them around a musical theme, or even a thought in that direction. If anything, I try not to let this happen, but whatever; the heart wants what it wants.

"What We're Here For," RAYLR
...Okay, so hopefully the next Islands in the Stream will be more eclectic. Until then, let's just agree that the algorithm really got me this time, and also agree to collectively pretend we're listening to these songs while driving around in an '86 Fiero with the top down. (I don't know if there's any such thing as a convertible '86 Fiero, but fuck you for even wondering. It's all about the vibes, man.)