Tune Tag #76 with Ryan Gonzalez (Ryry): The Kinks, ZZ Top, Roosevelt, Slade, The Pillows, Ramones, Tame Impala
The Ryry Rundown is real, and generations and centuries are traversed in this musical Tune Tag of trial and era. From singing to behind the mic at radio, these 2 musicians have a lot in common!🎶
Greetings, Ryry…and welcome! Tag, You’re IT!
Tune Tag welcomes (aka Ryry), the writer of The Ryry Rundown, a weekly newsletter containing music recs, short fiction, and stories from everyday life!
Ryry was introduced to music at a young age through his father, an avid karaoke singer. As a result, Ryry went through years of choir, musicals, concerts, and even got a bachelor’s degree in music…which all started because he loved singing to bands like The Fray, Gorillaz, and Weezer in his tiny childhood bedroom.
While his primary instrument is his voice, it’s been quite some time since Ryry’s picked up a guitar or even sang some songs at an open mic! These days, he hosts radio shows at his library’s community radio station. His shows air Mondays & Thursdays from 4-5 pm (U.S. Central Time), and are free to listen to from anywhere!
Last week, Tune Tag tussled with Russell of :
Next week, we’ll welcome the cordial company of of !
Ryan’s song #1 sent to Brad: Brett Newski, “Ride,” 2018
Brad’s response: Uh-oh. New music! Now, whaddo I do? On first listen to this artist I’ve not heard of….he’s very likeable. I love his little, unselfconscious, goofy dance steps! He looks like he’d be terribly fun to get to know and talk to! I see many Texas visual hints in the vid (as well as Bourbon Street)! Wonder where he’s from. Dyin’ to hear what motivated Ryan to pick this as his first song, and how he discovered young Master Newski!
I feel somewhat challenged to send Ryan a new artist, myself…like, so there! I know some newbies Newski’s, too! It’d be tough to link anything here to a legacy artist, but thematically or lyrically, I’m sure I could find something!
Ryan’s rationale: I heard this song on 88Nine, the local radio station, while I was living in Milwaukee. The year was 2018 and, while that was over half-a-decade ago, I’ve never forgotten it. Brett Newski was one of the last musicians I listened to before going on a hiatus from listening to new music from 2018-2022, thanks in large part to slowly burning out while working all sorts of jobs I didn’t like.
Newski knows the grind of bad jobs himself, but also offers a glimmer of hope on his live album, Going Solo is Better Than Being Alone, where he talks about the song:
“Y’know, unfortunately, I feel like most Americans don’t like their jobs, which is kind of a bummer. But I think a lot of that is like, it’s a lot of societal pressure too, and it’s really hard to, like, pivot and do a new thing y’know when no one else around you is doing that. So, this is a song – it’s just about I think if you have a good head on your shoulders and you try something new, you’re gonna land on your feet.”
I took that leap of faith when I was burnt out two years ago and ended up as a library assistant who also gets to spin some tunes on the community radio station.
So, when I started collecting CDs again for the radio and discovering new music again, this was one of the first albums I picked up. Because, without taking that leap of faith, I probably would still be stuck in that job and still blind to the joys of music.
Brad’s song #1 sent to Ryan: Roosevelt, “Illusions,” 2018
Ryan’s response: I’d never heard of this band from Germany, but I’m definitely adding them to my playlists! It’s especially interesting to listen to artists sing in English when that isn’t their first language.
While listening to this track, I couldn’t help but notice this clap/snap sound that Roosevelt uses throughout it. It immediately made me think of Tame Impala because they use that sound EVERYWHERE in their 2015 album, Currents.
Brad’s rationale: OK, we’ve got 3 things I’m matching…21st-century young artist, one-word title, and 2018 as the release year for both! I’ll be fascinated to see if Ryan’s ever heard of/heard Roosevelt!
So enamored of Roosevelt and his retro pop-songwriting ethos was I, a couple articles have been given the FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE treatment….like so:
Ryan’s song #2: Tame Impala, “Let It Happen,” 2015
Brad’s response: An amazing song response, but only because (and, Ryan couldn’t have known this) one of the first things I read about Roosevelt about 5 years ago (when I first stumbled upon his complete KEXP video) was that “Tame Impala sounds similar,” or that TI nearly always popped up on Spotify right after a Roosevelt track, the algo being what it is!
I don’t think the two sound alike at all, unless you’re filling out a list of 21st century, electronics-forward pop entities who aim at the charts. I much prefer Roosevelt…he’s a far more likeable figure, IMO, and his allegiance to and love for the ‘70s-era pop songwriting form is his obvious super-power, and I’m all about it! Go Ro! (Now, how to get us out of the 21st century!)…
Ryan’s rationale: I picked “Let It Happen” because I feel like it’s the one track that contains most of the spirit that Roosevelt has in theirs. When I’m picking songs for the radio, I like finding things that sound similar but are different enough so there’s still an element of freshness. These two songs would DEFINITELY be played back to back on a show for me.
On the flip side, it’s also fun to find songs that don’t sound similar, but somehow work. One time I played The Beatles “All Together Now” and dove into Charli XCX’s “Apple” right after that; while they’re very different genres, they somehow work!
Brad’s song #2: The Ramones, “I Won’t Let It Happen,” 1992
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