4 July 2025 - Sabrina Carpenter (& Dolly Parton) - Please Please Please

Today, we're featuring two national treasures.

The first is the #1 hit - and 2025 Grammy nominee song written by Sabrina Carpenter, Jack Antonoff and Amy Allen, and performed by Sabrina Carpenter.  The single following her enduring hit "Espresso", THIS song was her first #1 single in the US ("Espresso" only made it to #3).  It was, in fact, the 16th biggest US hit of 2024 by any artist (to be fair, "Espresso" was 7th). 

Anyway, this song - a country-tinged masterpiece (more on that performance in a moment) is delightful and fun, and the video gritty and somewhat hilarious, featuring Carpenter's then-boyfriend Barry Keoghan. 

I mentioned two national treasures.

The second is Dolly freaking Parton.

This version, a duet between Dolly and Sabrina, was released in early 2025 as part of a deluxe version of the Short 'n Sweet album - reached #17 on the US Country charts (Carpenter's first appearance on that chart, not surprisingly). 

Also, I have now learned that we can't swear in front of Dolly - but also, leaving out the word "motherfucker" was probably a concession to country music radio.

This twangier version is still delightful. 

TO be fair, Sabrina made the lyric change when performing it live in BCC's Live Lounge as well. 

She definitely did NOT change the lyric for NPR, though. However, she also talks about the song and how it came to be, and it's a great story (and a great performance).

3 July 2025 - The D.O.C. - The Formula

When The D.O.C. was new and the best bud of all the guys in N.W.A., I didn't give him a chance.  

I should have.  No One Can Do It Better is a classic album that absolutely serves as a preview for Straight Outta Compton.  This is where they honed their G-funk sound that combined funky beats with hardcore rap.  

This particular song was written by The D.O.C. and contains significant Marvin Gaye samples.   

Because of an accident, The D.O.C. lost his unique voice early on, but his songwriting lives on.  

Oh, he's not dead, people.  He literally had a car accident that damaged his voice box.  

2 July 2025 - They Might Be Giants - Ana Ng

The opening song and opening single from TMBG's 2nd album, Lincoln, is possibly less goofy than people were expecting.  

What I wasn't expecting was the gated guitar riff throughout, which ties the whole song together.   

The unusual title comes from a browse of the New York City White Pages.  There were literally four pages of "Ng"s.  A common Cantonese last name, it is properly pronounced like the end of the word "song", but I have heard it pronounced as they do - which isn't quite the same Ng - and I have heard it pronounced "En-Gee".  

There ya go.  

Yes, the band is still touring, and yes, they do still play this song.  Here they are, performing it two months ago.  

The guitar is maybe even more impressive when you see the whole band.

1 July 2025 - Lights - How to Sleep When You're on Fire (The Full Album)

I mentioned back in March that Lights made a nighttime instrumental synthwave record during the pandemic to benefit Black Lives Matter Vancouver.  For Canada Day, here is the entire album.

That desciption, by the way, is hers, not mine. 

Over the last couple weeks of sleeplessness and learning and darkness and processing I made a nighttime instrumental synthwave record, it’s up at https://t.co/MYSW9C0K4o and all of the proceeds will go to Black Lives Matter Vancouver. pic.twitter.com/UqkZ8FAfqR

— Lights (@lights) June 11, 2020

If you enjoy this album, please go to Lights's Bandcamp page and throw some money at it. The proceeds are now going to the Black In BC Community Support Fund. 

24 June 2025 - hiperkarma - délibáb

Hiperkarma is a band from Budapest, Hungary.  

Do I understand what they're saying?  Nope.  

Do I really think they're great musicians who know what the hell they're doing and have a serious later-Chili Peppers influence?  Yup.  

Anyway, this is the title song from their 4th album, released in 2017. It's.... delightful. It really is.  It's a bright pop song with rock flavor. Featuring guest vocalist Krisztina Farkas from the band ZUP, it's the songwriting creation of  Róbert Bérczesi, who also happens to be the main vocalist and frontman for hiperkarma. 

Did you think being in Hungarian was going to stop me from finding a live performance? 

Nope.

This acoustic version doesn't lose any of the energy from the original. 

19 June 2025 - Barenaked Ladies - Brian Wilson

It wasn't meant to poke fun.   

Steven Page wrote "Brian Wilson" as a tribute to the recently passed Brian Wilson, and the real Brian Wilson took it as such.

And, as someone who at least fancied himself as being a lot like Brian Wilson - in that he strugged with weight and mental health issues - Page hit the nail on the head. 

You can see Page's deep feeling and emotion about the song shine through when performed live.  There are no jokes here. 

18 June 2025 - Tyler, The Creator ft. Kali Uchis - See You Again

This song started off as a minor hit for Tyler, The Creator in 2017, as it was a single off his excellent album, Flower Boy - an album I did not expect to like as much as I did. 

Well, actually, it started off as a song for Zayn Malik, but he didn't want that song, so Tyler kept it for himself.  

Well, in 2023, TikTok made this song trend, and it became a bigger minor hit.  

Tyler is a unique talent who I quite frankly did not expect to like as much as I do - and has consistently made innovative and original music.  This is no exception.