Song Recommendations: 8/28/25

Hey ho! Welcome to the new-look Islands in the Stream. This is a series that's generated a lot of "more like this" nudges behind the scenes, but very little discussion, and I've started to wonder whether perhaps a more descriptive name might work in its favor. I'm still going to stick with acts who haven't already racked up massive monthly listener totals, but I'll probably be a little more flexible in terms of drawing a hard line around the 10,000-listener mark.

Anyway! Here's what I want to stuff in your ears this time around:

"Satellite," Julian Taylor Band
Kicking off with a riff that sounds like it might have been written by a Doobie Brother before pulling out the big melodic guns, "Satellite" could have been a medium-sized hit during the days when Fastball, Everything, and Tonic ruled the airwaves. This is smart, economical pop-rock songwriting, in other words, delivered with the sort of tastefully balanced production that can feel awfully hard to come by these days. You'll be singing along before the first chorus is finished.

"Emanation," Lance Ayers
What we have here is a track that reaches further back in time than the Fastball era, with buzzing synths accompanying its stomping beat and soaring vocals. I don't know anything about Ayers, but in this context, his singing voice leaves me imagining that I'm listening to a more animated, anthem-driven, parallel-universe version of Gary Numan.

Hey, where's everyone going?

"Born 2 Lose," Fast Times
You're courting disaster when you start a song with bongos, but I have to hand it to Fast Times — in spite of their fondness for McConaughey-approved percussion and Princely spelling in their song titles, this is a loping little gem that's very easy 2 like even if the thought of hacky sacks and beach drum circles makes you want 2 commit murder by patchouli.

"A Stranger's Daydream," Blue Sails
This song starts out with a bit of atmospheric guitar that sounds like Ry Cooder in soundtrack mode. What follows is more ordinary, but let's face it — once you've hinted at the Paris, Texas score, it's really all downhill from there. Taken on its own terms, this is a pleasantly propulsive number that's enlivened by splashes of flamenco-adjacent fingerstyling. Good for driving into vast horizons.

"Earth," Future Loves Past
Speaking of good driving music — not to mention songs that start out with classic rock guitar riffs — here's "Earth" by Future Loves Past, which is the type of politely choogling number that does a bunch of different things without shoving any of them down your throat, and is therefore perfect for creating the type of happy vibe you can enjoy without really needing to understand. Also, as you already know if you've been reading this space for any length of time, new songs that contain sax solos get bonus points.

"Household Name," Goran
These songs are clearly going to keep sending me around in circles, because this is a song that could have sold an extra million for Fastball or Tonic or Dog's Eye View. I realize that will sound like a hell of a lot less than a recommendation to a certain type of reader [Dave Lifton farts, sighs], but I still think there's plenty to be said for a song with a catchy chorus that makes a cheerful joke out of a schlubby guy somehow managing to get the girl. Yeah, it's a cliché, but in pop music, that's often a feature, not a bug. Case in point.

"Keep It Coming," Two Hours Traffic
From its opening seconds, this song is so effortlessly catchy that by the time it's over, you'll either be happily humming along or imagining creative ways to kill me for infecting you with it. Only one way to find out, if you dare:

"Doors Are Opening," The Society of Rockets
I recently waxed rhapsodic about these guys over at Harmonic, but if you don't have the time or patience to listen to the entire album and just want to cut to my favorite song, here's a glorious ray of jangly, harmony-drenched power-pop sunshine that might give you Paisley Underground flashbacks. Or, on the exceedingly likely chance you don't know what any of that means, it'll just make you feel real fuckin' nice.

"Slavery Is Crime," Vumbi Dekula and Dekula Band
Dekula's bio describes him as the world's foremost ambassador of Congolese music, which is very impressive if true. I don't know enough about Congolese music's various ambassadors to verify the veracity of that claim, but I do know that I've enjoyed pretty much everything I've ever heard from him, and "Slavery Is Crime" is no different. Simply irresistible, and not in the "Robert Palmer's most annoying hit" sort of way.

"Deadly," Social Cinema
This band's bio promises a blend of Blur and Elastica, and for once, that isn't just please-click-on-me desperation talking — and neither is it a prelude to the type of disappointed shrug that typically follows whenever that sort of lofty comparison is invited. "Deadly" slinks and struts with the best of the vintage Britpop singles in your dusty CD collection, with a swaggering groove that provides a perfect fit for the slightly snotty male/female vocals intertwined up top. Deadly catchy.

"Tell Your Mother," Dr JOE
Fuzzed-to-fuck Wurlitzer, barrelhouse piano, a stomping beat, and the type of 'tude-soaked white-boy howl we're all* tempted to believe we possess when we've had one too many beers? AND a title that begs for a mom joke? Dr JOE speaketh my language, and "Tell Your Mother" is a greasy good time. Get to it.