2010s

Todd Rundgren | The Last Ride

“Todd Rundgren is, apparently by design, a bundle of contradictions,” (Trouser Press). “A facile composer of memorable hook-filled pop melodies, he has often chosen to make willfully difficult music. A one-man studio wiz proficient on any number of instruments … possessor of a highly original sound … (and) a tireless innovator at the boundaries of music technology, he has often performed with a lone acoustic guitar and piano. Rundgren’s gifts as a lyricist are impressive, yet he has also recorded a fair number of instrumentals. To some, he’s better known as a producer than an artist, although his commercial achievements in both realms are not inconsiderable. In short, the kid from Upper Darby, PA has fashioned a fascinating life out of following his muse wherever it goes.”

A few albums into his solo career and still in his 20s, Rundgren released Todd in 1974. The reviews were all over the map. “Todd sags under the weight of such indulgences as ‘In and Out the Chakras We Go (formerly ‘Shaft in Outer Space’),’ yet still contains ‘A Dream Goes on Forever,’ one of the most beautiful piano ballads ever recorded. ‘The Last Ride’ melds Todd’s pop sensibility with his Philly soul enthusiasm; ‘Izzat Love?’ could have been the album’s pop single, and the album ends with two triumphs. ‘Don’t You Ever Learn?’ runs over six minutes but wastes not a second with its washes of electric piano and strong melody, while the anthemic ‘Sons of 1984’ comes complete with backing vocals by concert-goers on two coasts. (Rundgren was one of the first rockers to truly understand and make creative use of the connections between artist and fans).”

The easy 6/8 groove of “The Last Ride” belies the tune’s rich harmonic textures and intense emotionality. Rundgren’s ballads frequently feature star-crossed relationships, lost horizons, and missed opportunities — and “The Last Ride” is no exception. I thought I knew just everything / I had it made and I could coast / But I turned away love when I needed it most. For this 2011 live version, the setting is Rundgren’s home in Hawaii, but the production credit (and the stellar band!) belong to fellow Philadelphia-area native Daryl Hall and his groundbreaking web series Live from Daryl’s House. Built primarily in G minor, the tune shifts to F minor at 2:36; the two keys alternate from there.

Sure Fire Soul Ensemble | El Niño

“The nine players strong big band with the name that couldn’t possibly be more programmatic,” (Delrohsen) … “Even though their music has never been stuck in 60s/70s nostalgia and incorporates younger ideas like Hip Hop grooves or modern styles of guitar shredding, the overall vibe – no matter if the tune is smooth and soulful or a little more dirty and edgy – is one that makes you expect to see the ghosts of Charles Bradley and James Brown come down to join into the jam while Freddie Hubbard blows his horn at any given moment … ”

The band “continues the journey of broadening (its) sound with new influences and ideas, while maintaining their addictive easy accessibility. This is music for the soul, for good times – and to turn bad times around.”

Starting in D minor, “El Niño” (2019) at times covers its metric tracks a bit when it comes to “finding one,” including the moment the horn section makes its first entrance. But other sections have a groove that’s completely straightforward. At 1:52, an unprepared key change lifts us up to Eb minor in time for a tenor sax feature. After a percussion break clears the air, we return to D minor to close out the tune.

The Fretless | Jenny Bear

“There was a time when the fiddle was a complete ‘band’ unto itself. Barn dances, church gatherings, parties on the back porch, weddings, funerals (The Bluegrass Situation) … the musical cornerstone of these occasions, from Appalachia to Ireland and far beyond, was oftentimes a lone fiddle, standing apart, unencumbered. The ability of a fiddle to cut through the white noise and to wail at un-ignorable frequencies perfectly suited it to this role. There’s an immediacy to the droning sustain or slippery slurs, the humming double-stops or bouncing triplets of the instrument that, even solo, won’t leave your ears wanting more.

Canadian string ensemble the Fretless take this immediacy and multiply it by four. They translate the visceral, primal sounds that led fiddle to evolve into these one-instrument-band scenarios and weave them together so artfully that, all at once, they sound homogenous, as one cohesive unit, while the constituent parts remain perfectly distinct — as if they were each leading their own raucous living room step dance … you can feel the live audience leaning forward, reflecting the lilting energy of the modern-flavored percussive chopping and the timeless jig and reel drive back to the Fretless, who give it directly back to their audience. It’s almost as if they know they’re transporting each listener to a back porch, dance hall, or barn party with every bow stroke.”

Since forming in 2011, The Fretless “has toured extensively across Canada and worldwide, including Australia, South and North America, and seven European tours—playing historic small halls to prestigious stages such as the Cologne Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra Hall, Shetland Folk Festival, Festival Internacional Cervantino, and two sold-out shows at Celtic Connections (artist site). “At home, they’ve captivated audiences at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Small Halls, Hillside Festival, and Mariposa Folk Festival. They also had the honour of sharing the bill with legendary Canadian fiddler Natalie MacMaster for Canada Scene at the National Arts Centre.”

After a start in D minor and a shift to D major at 0:38, “Jenny Bear” (2018) alternates a bit more between these two key areas. The harmonic shifts and compelling groove would seem to provide plenty to keep the audience happy. But at 2:13 the tune shifts suddenly to E — and the jumps between major and minor accelerate to an even faster cadence.

I’m Not a Loser (from “Spongebob Squarepants”)

“SpongeBob SquarePants, the Broadway musical, has captured all the silly, goofy, broadly camp, good-natured fun of the Nickelodeon TV series,” (New York Theatre Guide). “And it is a rare feat to effectively translate style and comedy from one genre to another … More of a revue than a book musical, SpongeBob SquarePants aims to amuse, dazzle, and delight along the journey — topping each visual topper and playing with props in every imaginable way: glow in the dark neon rectangles that reconfigure to form shapes, dancing letters, and characters flattened to 2-dimensions when hit by a boulder that emerges from a Rube Goldberg-like device. The plot — and this really doesn’t merit a spoiler alert — is that the characters’ world may come to an end due to a volcanic eruption. Now strap yourselves in for the joy ride to armageddon.

Songs come courtesy of a lengthy list of prestigious pop and rock artists …SpongeBob SquarePants is not for those who might want a deeper (emotionally, not in fathoms) experience. It is for those who love non-stop creativity in costume, design, color, lighting, choreography, zany comedy, and madcap mayhem. If that is your cup of saltwater, prepare to be swept up in a tidal wave of bubbling entertainment.”

The “eleven o’clock number” of the 2016 musical, “I’m Not a Loser,” was written by John Flansburgh and John Linnell, collectively known as They Might Be Giants. After a start in C major, the tonality bubbles up to Db major at 2:32 — and largely stays there, other than plenty of quick shifts during the instrumental sections.

Snarky Puppy + Metropole Orkest | The Curtain

“Jazz has developed virtually since its inception through a close but often uneasy relationship between recorded media and live performance,” (UCLA Ethnomusicology Review). “Think of the ‘classic’ recordings that are celebrated as paragons of jazz artistry, but also of the common admonishment that any true experience of jazz is a live one, in which musicians and audience members commune with one another in a unique, never-to-be-repeated musical and social event. If recent trends are any indication, however, many jazz musicians do not view these modes of performance as irreconcilable … Snarky Puppy, led by bassist and composer Michael League … tour(s) the world extensively, introducing audiences to their exciting genre-b(l)ending style … They also invite an audience into the recording session, which sits among the musicians and listens through headphones. In this way, Snarky Puppy cultivates the intimacy and energy of live performance, but also retains the advantages of an outfitted recording studio.

Sylva … finds the band in the Netherlands to work with the Metropole Orkest, conducted by Jules Buckley … The theme of Sylva (2015) is the forest. … The album’s high point is ‘The Curtain.’ … this tune was the most challenging for the band, with sections featuring odd meters, multiple key changes, and forms with an odd number of bars … Jay Jennings’ flugelhorn solo is outstanding, his lyrical playing bolstered by the tasteful interactivity of the rhythm section and some beautifully building orchestral background figures. A new groove introduces League’s similarly impressive bass solo (well-deserved accolades for his roles as leader and composer mean he is sometimes overlooked as a stellar bassist) and a funky, virtuosic organ solo by Cory Henry. The musicians look on wistfully during Bill Laurance’s lovely, Chopin-esque piano cadenza, before joining him for a closing waltz.”

The piece begins with a strings feature in G minor, joined by building percussion at 0:51 and then going on to persist through various moods and meters. At 3:22, we hit uneven harmonic ground as the flugelhorn solo builds. The full instrumentation of the Metropole is then put through its paces until the 7:54 mark, where a calmer feeling prevails, along with a shift to F minor. By the ending, the piece has shifted back to a softer-spoken feel in G (major, minor, etc.).

Beach Boys | That’s Why God Made the Radio

“When the surviving members of The Beach Boys spoke of reuniting for a 50th anniversary tour and a new album in 2012, a lot of fans were unsure about how the conflicting personalities of members such as Brian Wilson and Mike Love would interact both on the stage and in a studio environment,” (Beats Per Minute). “However, one spin of That’s Why God Made the Radio (2012) is enough to suggest that while the band may have had their differences, they can still make engaging and unique music together that sounds remarkably fresh, despite the aging of its band members.

In fact, it’s quite a humbling observation that The Beach Boys are still capable of making music that sounds as eclectic as ever, and their commercial gravitas makes listening to the radio interesting once again. The Beach Boys are a breath of fresh air, because nobody is really making music like them nowadays … Brian and the band still sound brilliant singing together. Wilson has proven that his vocals are still on top-form with certain recent live performances, and on That’s Why God Made the Radio he’s hitting all of the right notes … There’s little doubt that this is one of The Beach Boy’s strongest albums since their 70s output, which really plays to their strengths and comes across as some minor miracle that they can still make music this good after five decades in the business.”

Brian Wilson, the sonic and creative core of the Beach Boys, passed away in 2025. While he released his final solo album, At My Piano, in 2021, That’s Why God Made the Radio was indeed the group’s swan song. The verses and choruses of the title track both contain quite a few brief keys of the moment, perhaps most noticeably at 1:01, when the end of the chorus gently grinds its gears as it shifts to the next verse. But at the end of the bridge (2:19), a lasting and unmistakeable half-step key change locks in for the final chorus/fading outro.

Laura Mvula | Show Me Love

“Taken from Mvula’s latest release The Dreaming Room, ‘Show Me Love’ is an incantatory, gospel-tinged art-pop hymnal that drifts from moments of deep personal introspection to fissions of out-of-body spiritual awareness,” (Pop Matters). “The climactic eruption of orchestration is startling in its intensity; over it, Mvula repeats the title phrase over and over and over again, trying to stretch it out, to discover its true contents and phonetic subtleties.

… She seems to channel the ethereal qualities of Bjork or Kate Bush. Her voice fits the gorgeous arrangement perfectly, and the lack of a consistent, thumping beat really works to the song’s advantage. Eventually, things build up toward the end, creating something unique and majestic. The vocals and production are constantly intriguing while enhancing the piece’s natural beauty. The mechanized vocals create a beautiful contrast with the lush strings and glorious brass sections near the end.”

Mvula’s career has taken more hold in her native UK than in the US, but she’d certainly be an intriguing addition to the US charts. Co-written by Mvula and Laura Pauline Amanda, “Show Me Love” (2017) starts in F major, but gently shifts to D major at 1:25. The original key returns at 1:50 as the momentum and volume begin to build. The keys continue to alternate throughout.

William Bell | This Is Where I Live

“Bell, who had his first hit in 1961 with the song ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water,’ brings his trademark compassion and tenderness to his new album,” (NPR). “Critic Ken Tucker calls 2016’s This Is Where I Live a triumph.

Bell first had a hit with the song ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ in 1961. Bell co-wrote the classic blues song ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ and recorded R&B for Stax Records in the ’60s and ’70s … William Bell sings with a warmth that remains undimmed more than 50 years after his first hit. He was never a huge star, but for anyone aware of his work he’s been a constant, steady source of pleasure, a singer whose sense of intimacy with his audience forms a direct connection. At his best, William Bell can seem to be inside your mind, articulating hopes, fears and doubts you may have had yourself.”

During “This is Where I Live,” an early half-step key change hits at 1:07. Occasional emphasis on the relative F# minor scroll by, but overall, the tune strongly resides in A major.

Maaya Sakamoto (坂本真綾) | Hotchpotch

Maaya Sakamoto (坂本真綾) is a well-known seiyuu and Japanese pop singer-songwriter … Maaya got her break at the age of 15 when she lent her voice to Hitomi Kanzaki in the anime series Tenkuu no Escaflowne,” (Sputnik Music). “Her debut single, ‘Yakusoku wa Iranai,’ was the opening theme for the same anime. The release was a beginning of a longtime collaboration between her and composer Yoko Kanno. In that time, she also started to write lyrics for her songs. Sakamoto also appears in a television drama and musicals; she is known for her role as Éponine in the Japanese adaptation of the musical Les Misérables.“

Sakamoto’s 2010 release “Hotchpotch” features an intro and verse which are predominantly in D major, but which make brief steps outside of the key nearly constantly. The chorus (heard for the first time at 0:47) limits itself more closely to the boundaries of F# major. The pattern continues from there.

Many thanks to regular contributor Julianna A. for submitting this tune to MotD!

Leveret | Ricer II

“In the close-knit world of English folk music, Leveret boasts an impressive pedigree,” (NPR). “The trio’s Andy Cutting is renowned for his mastery of the melodeon, a type of accordion with a push-pull mechanism for intonation that imbues it with a wheezy kick. The band’s fiddler is Sam Sweeney, of the flamboyant nu-folk band Bellowhead, and its concertina player is Rob Harbron — both are deft and expressive musicians in their own right. (The concertina is yet another variety of squeezebox, a small hexagonal specimen with a pure, invigorating honk.) Within its respective milieu, Leveret might be considered a supergroup were the term not anathema to the band’s entire ethos: introspective, understated, minimalist.

… Leveret’s members have stated on multiple occasions that their music is not so much arranged as felt, operating without predetermined parts — a jam session. So profound is the trio’s communion that its players seem telepathic, charting a rippling musical terrain visible only to each other. Leveret’s (2017) effort features exclusively original material and is aptly titled Inventions. In an album overflowing with lovely melodies, ‘Ricer II’ is the most baldly euphoric. (The tune was composed by Cutting, who named it after a potato ricer, presumably one that brought him especially great joy.) The happy-go-lucky number skips along in accelerated triple-time; about halfway through, it even goes so far as to change keys, modulating triumphantly with the gusto of a Broadway finale. ‘Ricer II’ is neither difficult nor complex, just two short parts that circle round and round like a kitten chasing its tail.” The two keys in question are C major and (after 1:04) D major.