Chill, Throwback, and Makeup Music

Artist: Slightly Stoopid

Song: “The Fruits” (from the CD Slightly Not Stoned Enough to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid

Heard By: Marlon Hendred, Mission Hills

I thought it was pretty good, but it’s not like I haven’t heard it before. It’s pretty repetitive. It sounded kind of like “Pass the Dutchie” but in a different key. It sounded like San Diego surf rock. I would definitely compare them to Sublime or High Tide. I definitely heard guitar, a reggae bass line, drums, and someone singing. He was singing something about “the police don’t let people be who they be.” I think it was pretty poppy; the chord progression was kind of mainstream. It was like reggae for everyone. It’d appeal to more people than classic reggae. I think that song would go well with a back-yard barbeque or someone smoking a bowl…something chill.

Artist: Suburban Korner Kick

Song: “Lares and Penates” (from the CD Option B: To Linger, Remain, or Persist…)

Heard By: Kevin Walsh, Mission Valley

It’s one of those songs that’s in a 3/4 time signature, so it kind of keeps going around and around…like an Irish jig or something. I would say I’d want to hear that song in the context of the rest of their album: how it fits in with the songs before and after it. It’s almost a little bit of a throwback sound…kind of like the Muse. It was guitar, bass, and drums. I didn’t hear anything like a sitar or mandolin. Is that something that you might hear on 91X or 94.9? I kind of doubt it. Songs that are in that time signature are not that easy to pull off. I don’t know if that would work as a hit song. It kind of takes me back to the few years after high school — hanging out and going on a ski trip.

Artist: Laura Roppé

Song: “Mama Needs a Girls Night Out” (from the CD Girl Like This)

Heard By: George Cranford, Mission Hills

I’m probably not the right kind of person for this kind of music. It seems like “pop country.” It’s the same stuff I’ve heard from Shania Twain — I wouldn’t know if it was her or Laura Roppé, honestly. I guess she’s a good storyteller in the way that she writes her lyrics. She’s got good structure, in terms of songwriting. The lyrics were about being a single mom struggling to raise her kids and how she needs a night out. I understand that, but I don’t feel it because I’m not a single mom. I’m a 25-year-old dude who listens to progressive rock. I could see some 36-year-old mommy listening to that at her vanity as she gets ready to go out on a Thursday night to In Cahoots.