New on 94.3 The X, Print January 9, 2017

New on 94.3 The X– ‘Songs You Need To Hear’

by BandWagon Magazine

Shelby Taylor-Thorn | On Air M-F 3 p.m.-7 p.m.

Night Riots – “Nothing Personal”

As you’re reading this in 2017, just know that somewhere Travis Hawley of Night Riots is still trying to remove some of the body paint from the “Nothing Personal” music video– really, we asked him about it, even though it is a little, you know, personal. The newest radio single from the band since “Contagious” did not disappoint; it’s a little dark, incredibly edgy and one we hope to hear them play at the Moxi in the new year.

The Wind + The Wave­– “Grand Canyon”

The band’s bio states that the Austin-based indie rock duo never really meant to become ’a thing,’ but neither were Reese’s Pieces and we’re glad that these pairings unintentionally happen sometimes. We’ve had a lot of folk rock thrown our way in the last few years, but the female vocals– and pretty much everything else about the song “Grand Canyon”– makes it stand out, and had us enamored at first listen.

Twenty One Pilots– “Heavydirtysoul”

We can’t catch a break from Twenty One Pilots. As soon as we cool off on one song, they’ve got another one ready to fire off– but we’re OK with that. “Heavydirtysoul” is, for lack of better words, sporadic, wired and I may have needed to pop an Adderall after its first spin. It haphazardly fits into Twenty One Pilots’ signature genre of ‘is this hip hop or is this rock?’ But the hook is, well, a damn good hook. Once we were about a minute into it, we couldn’t let this one go.

Young the Giant– “Silver Tongue”

Merriam Webster defines having a silver tongue as being ‘convincing,’ ‘eloquent,’ and ‘able to speak in a way that makes other people do or believe what you want.’ If Young the Giant wanted us to put the sophomore track from their 2016 album Home of the Strange onto our recommendations list, then yes, they do ‘got that silver tongue.’

Dirty Heads– “Oxygen”

Stoners everywhere are relieved that the reggae rock band’s new single (unlike their last one) evades sampling a police siren, further avoiding any subsequent paranoia. Traditionally, I’m not a big reggae rock fan, but “Oxygen” is a fresh breath of summer air that warms up our playlist during our freezing Colorado winter.