→ February 7, 2020
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Music update, January 2020.

I’ve been adding songs to this playlist for nearly two months now – since I wrapped up my top 100 songs of 2019 list – which, of course, led me to procrastinate writing and posting it, since it was getting long. I’ve trimmed it to a manageable level, and it’s more metal-heavy than most of my playlists, although those songs are (as usual) all at the end. You can listen to the Spotify playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

The Naked and Famous – Sunseeker. One side of a single with “Bury Us,” the New Zealand group’s first new music since 2018, and their first since founding keyboardist Aaron Short (now of The Space Above) left the band.

Ten Fé – Heaven Sent Me. Ten Fé are absurdly prolific; they’ve released two albums in the last two calendar years, then put out another two-track single with this and “Candidate” right before Christmas.

Pure Reason Revolution – Silent Genesis. I’ve included the edited version of this track, which runs over 10 minutes on the prog-rock duo’s upcoming album Eupnea, their first since they reformed in 2019 after an eight-year hiatus.

Tame Impala – Lost in Yesterday. Kevin Parker’s fourth studio album, The Slow Rush, comes out on Valentine’s Day, featuring this rather poppy track and all the singles Parker released last year, including “Borderline.”

The Districts – Cheap Regrets. The Districts’ songs to date have mostly been garage rock tracks, but this has an undeniable electronic dance influence that makes it the most interesting thing they’ve put out so far.

Working Men’s Club – Teeth. This Manchester trio released this first single since they signed with a record label back in November, and it marks a turn towards darker new wave sounds akin to Joy Division or Sisters of Mercy.

of Montreal – Polyaneurism. I haven’t liked much of what I’ve heard from of Montreal’s latest album, UR FUN, but this song is a bouncy, faintly ridiculous indie-pop track, even with Kevin Barnes’ weirdly annoying vocals.

Grimes – 4ÆM. I think we’re just going to have to see what c, formerly known as Claire Boucher, has in store for us on Miss Anthropocene, due out in two weeks; the five singles she’s released so far have been a mixed bag.

Sløtface – Tap the pack. These Norwegian punk-popsters just released their second album, Sorry for the Late Reply, full of more energetic bangers with clever lyrics.

Khruangbin with Leon Bridges – C-side. This collaboration is one of four tracks featuring the Texas avant-garde trio and singer Bridges on the Texas Sun EP, released today.

Artificial Pleasure – Into the Unknown (Pt. Two). I had to move this away from the Working Men’s Club track because they mine such similar darkwave territory.

HUMANIST feat. Dave Gahan – Shock Collar. Yep, that is indeed Depeche Mode frontman Gahan on Rob Marshall’s HUMANIST project.

The Amazons – Howlin. Introducing … The Amazons is a new 12-track record with B-sides, acoustic versions, and three previously unreleased tracks, including this one, which would have fit well on their last album Future Dust.

Thematic – Dirt and Chains. Progressive metal in a digestible song length! How novel. Their new album, Skyrunner, occasionally devolves into full-throated extreme-metal screaming, but when they avoid that the music is pretty compelling.

Toundra – I. Akt (edit). I’mprettymuch all in on anything this Madrid instrumental/progressive metal act releases, even when the songs are eight minutes long.

British Lion – The Burning. British Lion is the side project of Iron Maiden bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris, and this song is a definite throwback to Maiden’s heyday musically, although it’ll never really sound like Maiden without Bruce Dickinson or a facsimile thereof.

Demons & Wizards – Diabolic. Another side project, this one with members of Iced Earth and Blind Guardian, with a name taken from a Uriah Heep song. It’s also eight minutes long, but there’s some great vintage ’80s guitar riffing once you get through the slow open.

Carcass – Under the Scalpel Blade. The greatest melodic death metal band ever is back, with their first new music in seven years, although this lead single isn’t as precise as 2013’s Surgical Steel and sounds a bit more like pre-Heartwork Carcass.

Testament – Night of the Witch. The Pete Best of 1980s thrash bands, Testament is still going with their own blend of vintage speed metal and elements of more contemporary extreme metal; I’m just here for the riffing.

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→ December 12, 2019
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Top 15 albums of 2019.

I’ve given up on my gimmick of trying to match the length of this list to the last two digits of the year, which of course made assembling the list harder each year, and I’d rather keep the list organic – these are the albums I really liked from 2019, period. I think it was a down year for music overall, and my top 100 songs of the year will reflect that too, but there were still fifteen albums I liked and went back to repeatedly, with the top two albums standing up against those from any year.

Previous years’ album rankings: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013.

15. Crows – Silver Tongues. Signed to the new label under punk band IDLES, Crows are two generations removed from punk’s heyday, with sludgy post-hardcore that sounds like a mad scientist crossed Thrice with Drenge. The best tracks include “Wednesday’s Child,” the closest thing to a single on this album; the droning crusher “Hang Me High;” and the bottom-heavy title track that opens the album.

14. Town Portal – Of Violence. Progressive, technical, entirely instrumental metal, with offbeat, intricate guitar work that I thought might be played on a Chapman stick (it’s not). It’s one of two records on this list that subvert typical standards of rock song rhythms and song structures.

13. Temples – Hot Motion. What a great opening troika of songs for this psycheledic trip – the title track, “You’re Either On Something,” and “Holy Horses,” the last of which features one of my favorite guitar riffs of the entire year. The album travels within a narrow path of that late ’60s and early ’70s subgenre of rock, but that kind of music has proven timeless and Temples’ version of it is suffused with good hooks.

12. Wheel – Moving Backwards. Bottom-heavy progressive metal from Finland, with an English vocalist, that features tight radio-friendly singles like “Vultures” and nine- to ten-minute opuses like the title track or “Tyrant,” all of which revolve around giant, crunchy guitar riffs on a foundation of strong bass lines and big percussion.

11. The Amazons – Future Dust. I wanted the Amazons to make more music like “Black Magic,” built around their obvious talent for crafting huge guitar riffs, and they’ve done so with this second album, which has more uptempo songs and lots of muscular guitar work. The best tracks include “Mother,” “Doubt It,” and “End of Wonder.”

10. Foals – Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Part 2. Better than Part 1, released six months earlier, the second half of Foals’ diptych is heavier and more consistent throughout, with some of the best grooves they’ve ever laid down. Standouts include “The Runner,” “Like Lightning,” and “Black Bull.” The ten-minute closer “Neptune” is interesting as well, if a bit indulgent.

9. Alcest – Spiritual Instinct. Death metal-shoegaze isn’t really a blend you’d anticipate, but Alcest pioneered it, and for their second straight album (after 2016’s Kodama) they’ve delivered a record of long, thoughtful, intense metal tracks, occasionally punctuated by blast beats and screamed vocals, but with plenty of clean singing and easily discerned melodies.

8. Ten Fé – Future Perfect, Present Tense. Ten Fé’s second album in two years is full of more soft-rock gold, including this song, “Won’t Happen,” “Echo Park,” “Here Again,” “Not Tonight,” and the ballad “To Lie Here is Enough.” The general sound would have fit in on AM radio stations in the 1970s, and they seem like spiritual descendants of 10cc, which blended artsier musical ambitions with enough soft-rock elements to make it on the radio, but Ten Fé manage to do this without sounding anachronistic while working in a slew of great melodies.

7. Hatchie – Keepsake. I liked some of her earlier singles (“Sure” and “Sleep” were both on her Sugar and Spice EP last year) better than what’s on this debut album, but it still includes a number of shimmering ’90s dream-pop tracks that remind me of the best of Lush and other female-fronted Britpop acts that borrowed or just emigrated from Shoegaze. I wish her voice were stronger, but she mostly stays within her range. Standouts include “Obsessed,” “Stay With Me,” and “Without a Blush.”

6. YONAKA – Don’t Wait Til Tomorrow. The Brighton quartet’s debut album doesn’t include either of their best singles from the last two years, “Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya” or “Teach Me to Fight,” but is still full of great tracks and builds on themes of toxic relationships in Theresa Jarvis’ vocals. Standouts include the sultry “Creature,” the poppy “Rockstar,” the syncopated opener “Bad Company,” and the danceable “Fired Up,” but all of the tracks rely on Jarvis’ tremendous presence and smoky voice.

5. FKA Twigs – MAGDALENE. A whisper of an album, just nine tracks and 39 minutes long, and uneven in a few spots, although I’d say that’s unsurprising given FKA Twigs’ experimental style. Standouts include “sad day,” mournful closer “cellophane,” and her surprising collaboration with Future, “holy terrain.”

4. whenyoung – Reasons to Dream. A stunning debut album from this Irish trio that incorporates shoefgaze and dream pop to back lead singer Aoife Power’s potent vocals, eerily reminiscent of Dolores O’Riordan but with more range. The album starts with a strong quartet of songs in “Pretty Pure,” “Never Let Go,” standout single “The Others,” and “A Labour of Love,” and never lags, peaking again with “In My Dreams” and with the gorgeous closer “Something Sweet,” which is indeed a confection but builds towards a big finish.

3. black midi – Schlagenheim. Schlagenheim is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. It is dense, intellectual, and challenging, often asking you to rethink the basic tenets of melody and rhythm that have been part of rock music since its inception. It’s also pretentious and at multiple points seems to dare you to skip to the next song, especially with Geordie Greep’s weird intonations and sudden dives into extreme-metal screaming. The album doesn’t include their strong lead-up singles “Talking Heads” or “Crow’s Perch,” which would actually be its most accessible songs if they’d made the record. “Reggae” was my compromise choice for the playlist, because it shows off their tonal oddities and still adheres a little to some rock conventions. The closer “Ducter” has some of the album’s highest points, as does the eight-minute “Western,” but they are endurance tests as well. “Near DT, MI” is a two-minute burst of ideas, but you have to get past Greep screaming at you – and his lyrics typically make little sense. “Speedway” could be a better introduction to what black midi, named after an obscure form of music that can only be played by computers because there are so many notes that sheet music for the songs would appear smudged with black ink, are trying to express through dissonant chords and polyrhythmic drumming. It’s the most interesting and bold album of the year.

2. Michael Kiwanuka – KIWANUKA. The Guardian called this one of the best albums of the decade; I might not quite go that far, but it’s tremendous and grows on me the more I listen to it. His previous album, 2016’s Love and Hate, was nominated for the Mercury Prize and got some airplay here on “adult alternative” stations, which … okay I have no idea what that means or why he’d fit there. There are elements of funk, classic soul, even some psychedelic rock, and his voice sounds a bit like Jimi Hendrix’s in pitch but with more depth. Standout tracks include “Rolling,” “You Ain’t The Problem,” “Hero,” and “Final Days.”

1. Ceremony – In the Spirit World Now. The best new wave album in 35 years, Ceremony’s latest perfectly spans the gap between the most iconic post-punk albums (Gang of Four’s Entertainment!, Wire’s Chairs Missing) and the initial influx of new wave bands that introduced more synthesizers into their sound, like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division. You can hear Ceremony’s punk roots throughout the album, but this is an overtly accessible album, full of tracks that would have been mainstays on college radio in 1981. The title track, “Turn Away the Bad Thing,” the rousing “Further I Was,” “Say Goodbye to Them,” the almost-punk “We Can Be Free,” the guitar-driven “Years of Love” are all worthy, and other than “Presaging the End” there isn’t a letdown on the 11-song, 32-minute album.

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→ December 4, 2019
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Music update, November 2019.

I’ve kept this playlist and post a bit short since I’m about a week-plus from doing my year-end top 100, after which I’ll do my top 100 songs of the entire decade, on top of all of the other stuff I’m planning to do between now and the holidays. Stay tuned. As always, if you can’t see the widget below you can access the playlist here.

FKA twigs – sad day. FKA twigs’ second album, MAGDALENA, is definitely more mature and polished, and a better showcase for her incredible voice. While there are some ups and downs there are multiple memorable tracks here, including this, “cellophane,” and “mirrored heart.”

Jake Bugg – Kiss Like the Sun. I loved Bugg’s first album and the lead single from his second record, “What Doesn’t Kill You,” but he kind of lost his sense of melody after that; this is his best track since then.

White Reaper – Raw. White Reaper’s brand of punk-pop is nothing novel, but it is really right in my wheelhouse.

The Mysterines – Who’s Ur Girl. I don’t really do breakout columns for music, especially since it’s often unclear when any specific artist is going to release a full-length album, but if I did such a thing for 2020 I’d have this Liverpool trio on it. Their output to date has such a promising combination of raw energy, seething vocals, and dark melodies under the hard-rock surface that I feel like they should be everywhere a year from now.

Rina Sawayama – STFU! The song itself is good, although there are indeed a lot of F-bombs within it, but it’s the cringey-funny video that takes the song to the next level.

BONES UK – Pretty Waste. I don’t pay much attention to the Grammy nominations – they’re for someone else’s taste in music, just not mine – but I did notice that one of the five nominees for Best Rock Performance was this song, by an artist I’d never heard of before. BONES UK comprise two women and a drummer (known simply as “Heavy”) who produce harsh noise-rock with dance elements and lyrics about feminism and toxic masculinity. Speaking of the Grammys, Candlemass and Tony Iommi are going to win the Metal award (for “Astorolus”) because Iommi’s the same age as the voters, right?

Grimes – So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth. I want to reserve judgment on some of the Grimes tracks until the entire album is out, since she’s pitching as a concept record, but on their own they’ve been pretty uneven and generally lacked the accessibility of Art Angels, with a lot of the little-girl voice she used on Visions.

Wye Oak – Fortune. I assume this is the lead single from a forthcoming album from the indie-rock duo, whose 2018 album The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs had some incredible high points and was a promising return to form after the previous record Tween.

James BKS, Q-Tip, Idris Elba, & Little Simz – New Breed. They had me at Q-Tip, and kept me at Idris Elba, but this second track from James BKS, signed to Elba’s new label 7Wallace, is a solid enough song even if you don’t grant bonus points for the name value of the guest stars … and it led me back to James BKS’s 2018 single “Kwele,” which is even better.

Beck – See Through. I prefer Beck’s more innovative, layered, uptempo stuff, including his last album Colors, to the more subdued and restrained style he shows on his newest record, Hyperspace. This and “Stratosphere” are probably my favorite tracks from the new album.

Inhaler – My Honest Face. Inhaler has a bit of a leg up as they start their careers, since their frontman is Elijah Hewson, whose father you may know as Bono. This track seems like it could have appeared on War or October, but they’ve earned some plaudits from Noel Gallagher and opened for his High Flying Birds this fall.

Greg Dulli – Pantomima. Dulli, the lead singer of the Afghan Whigs, is about to release a solo album, the first original material to appear under his own name since 2005’s Amber Headlights (a Twilight Singers project he abandoned and then finished on his own). I enjoyed the Whigs’ 2017 comeback album In Spades and find this driving track a promising look at Dulli’s new album.

…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead – Don’t Look Down. This almost seems a bit mellow for the post-hardcore pioneers, who will release their tenth album, their first in six years, in January.

Alcest – Le Miroir. Yeah, this is my favorite metal album of the year, and I don’t think it’s close. This is atmospheric, ambitious metal that I could listen to for hours.

Kvelertak – Bråtebrann. I’d never heard of this Norwegian band before finding them on a Spotify playlist, but this feels like vintage Entombed with vocals that are just yelled rather than growled – death’n’roll for the masses. Well, except for the lyrics, which are all in Norwegian, but that doesn’t bother me.

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→ November 1, 2019
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Music update, October 2019.

October may have been a weak month for new music, but it’s also quite possible I was too busy with finishing up the first draft of The Inside Game, going to the Arizona Fall League, and watching the playoffs to find new tracks as often as I usually do. I’m definitely behind on some promising albums that came out in the last few weeks, but here’s my list of the best new songs I heard this past month. If you can’t see the Spotify widget, you can access the playlist here.

Sleater-Kinney – ANIMAL. A non-album track from the now-duo, who I saw this past week in Philadelphia. They were great live, and rocked a lot harder than I expected given their sound on records.

Michael Kiwanuka – Rolling. The Guardian named KIWANUKA, the third album from this English singer/songwriter, one of the best albums of the decade, which got my attention. If you played me this soul/rock/funk song cold, I’d guess it was from 1972, and I’d wonder why I’d never heard it before given how fucking great it is.

Mourn – Jumping Someone Else’s Train. This Barcelona trio released Mixtape, an EP of covers from indie-rock artists who recorded before these women were born, including tracks by Come, dEUS, Chris Bell (of Big Star), and this song by the Cure.

White Reaper – Hard Luck. The world’s greatest American band released their third album, You Deserve Love, a week ago, but I haven’t had time to get into it yet. I’ve liked the songs I’ve heard so far, which very much follow the same punk-influenced, upbeat alt-rock pattern of their first two albums.

LIFE – Niceties. Tough name in the Google era, but LIFE are Brighton punks who are appropriately angry at the world, and who just released their second album A Picture of Good Health, which has a lot of songs that push the boundary into outright abrasiveness (or push right through it). This and “Hollow Thing” are the standout tracks.

CHVRCHES – Death Stranding. The Scottish trio’s contribution to the soundtrack of the video game Death Stranding is better than anything off their last album.

MisterWives – the end. MisterWives, which is really a vehicle for charismatic lead singer Mandy Lee, are really a pop band who’ve been mislabeled an alternative act because they haven’t broken through yet. I thought “Machine” might do the trick a few years ago. Maybe this very catchy, poppy track will be their breakthrough.

Foals – Like Lightning. I think my ultimate verdict on Foals’ two albums this year, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Parts 1 and 2, will be that they had enough material for one incredible album but spread the best tracks across two uneven LPs instead.

Great Grandpa – Bloom. My favorite track from the quintet’s new album Four of Arrows, “Bloom” has a little of all of the sounds Great Grandpa usually incorporates, but doesn’t skimp on the main hook or let the tempo flag (as on “Digger”).

Maisie Peters – Look At Me Now. By my count, the now 19-year-old Peters has released 17 songs across two EPs, including the new It’s Your Bed Babe, It’s Your Funeral, over the last three calendar years, although she’s received virtually no press or airplay in the U.S., which I think is a damn shame. This track, from the new EP, is a good example of her style, although it’s not quite as immediate as “Place We Were Made” or “Best I’ll Ever Sing.”

Tei Shi feat. Blood Orange – Even If It Hurts. I’m just so-so on the song as a whole, but good luck getting this chorus out of your head.

Floating Points – Anasickmodular. It was tough to pass up on “Bias,” also from Floating Points’ new album Crush, but I think this is a better track from neuroscientist Sam Shepherd’s latest album of electronica.

Longwave – If We Ever Live Forever. Longwave returned from a decade-long hiatus with last year’s “Stay With Me,” and they’re now back with a new album, with this as the title track. It’s more guitar-driven than last year’s song, but still has some of the bass/synth underpinnings that recall ’80s new wave and alternative.

Potty Mouth – Favorite Food. A battle with an intransigent record label forced Potty Mouth to go six years between its first and second albums, with the latter, SNAFU, dropping this past March, but they’re already back with another punk-pop single that just came out this morning.

Highly Suspect – Canals. The Grammy-nominated trio have just enough of a blues rock/metal foundation to keep pulling me in even when they seem to be actively trying to piss their listeners off. I love the guitar work in this one, which reminds me a lot of Royal Blood.

Alcest – Les jardins de minuit. This two-man French “blackgaze” (what a dumb term) metal project is back with Spiritual Instinct, a harder album than 2016’s superb Kodama and I think their heaviest since Écailles de Lune in 2010. There’s some blast-beat silliness on here, but the soundscapes Alcest creates through the rest of the track are immersive with brief moments of brooding heaviness.

Wilderun – O Resolution! This is some Blackwater Park-level shit, right down to the superfluous death growls, but I am totally here for it. I’m even getting a little Candlemass out of the backing vocals.

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→ October 2, 2019
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Music update, September 2019.

I’m still catching up on some albums from the last month, although I did listen to the Vivian Girls’ latest (nothing new to include) and still need to finish listening to Chelsea Wolfe’s challenging Birth of Violence. As always, if you can’t see the widget below you can access the Spotify playlist here.

Temples – Holy Horses. The best track on their very good new album Hot Motion features what might be my favorite guitar riff of the year. The album features a lot of throwback psychedelic rock but manages to still sound fresh, with this, the title track, “Context,” “You’re Either On Something,” and “Step Down” the strongest songs on the record.

Oh Wonder – Hallelujah. Earworm of the month, and one of the catchiest songs this duo has ever done, whether you like it or not.

Supergrass – Next to You. These ’90s Britpop stalwarts are back after a nine-year breakup with a greatest-hits record that includes this cover of the first track on Outlandos d’Amour, the first album by the Police.

The New Pornographers – Colossus Of Rhodes. I feel like I underappreciate the New Pornographers because they’re so consistent. This new album doesn’t quite have the highs of Brill Bruisers or the critical acclaim of Twin Cinema but still has several solid singles.

TVAM – No Silver Bird. This two-minute track was originally released for Record Store Day and just appeared online last month. It’s a cover of this track by a band of which I’d never heard until TVAM covered it.

Foals – The Runner. I’m very much here for Foals’ big guitar-laden lead singles from upcoming albums. Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2, their second LP this year, drops on October 18th.

Lower Dens – Hand of God. This Baltimore-based band released its fourth album The Competition on September 6th; it’s somewhere between a meditation and a polemic on late-stage capitalism, led by the 2016 single “The Real Thing.” “Hand of God” has that new wave-y vibe for which I shall always remain a complete sucker.

Bombay Bicycle Club – Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You). They may never come close to 2011’s “Shuffle,” which will certainly appear on my top songs of this decade list (planning that for December), but this lead single from their upcoming LP Everything Else Has Gone Wrong, due out in January, is my favorite track of theirs since their big hit.

She Drew The Gun – Trouble Every Day. I assume this third single from the political post-punk Wirral group just this year presages an upcoming album

Night Dreamer – Another Life. Night Dreamer comprises the Smashing Pumpkins’ guitarist Jeff Schroeder and keyboardist/singer Mindy Song of Wam Dingis, with a clear late-90s indie-rock sound beneath lyrics that at least try to get philosophical, although I don’t know if they quite hit the intended target.

Bat For Lashes – Desert Man. Natasha Khan’s fifth album, Lost Girls, is more accessible than 2016’s The Bride, although like most of her work I’ve found it improves on multiple listens.

FKA Twigs featuring Future – holy terrain. It’s been five years since FKA Twigs’ debut album, with just two original songs in the interim, but this collaboration with Future marks the second single in advance of the October 25th release of MAGDALENE.

Corinne Bailey Rae – Jersey Girl. Another cover, this one of a Tom Waits song that was also covered previously by Bruce Springsteen. CBR’s voice is still mesmerizing and beautiful 13 years after “Put Your Records On.”

Grimes featuring i_o – Violence. Grimes’ Art Angels was my #1 album of 2015, but her last single “We Appreciate Power” felt like a huge regression; this new track, possibly from her upcoming album Miss_Anthr0pocene, starts slow with Boucher overusing that childlike vocal from “Oblivion” but rallies quickly with a hypnotic beat from i_o. The video is interesting but feels like it’s a chapter of a longer book.

Danny Brown – Best Life. Here because it’s produced by Q-Tip, although I don’t get the sense The Abstract appears on the record itself.

That Dog – If You Just Didn’t Do It. That Dog had a moment in 1997 with “Never Say Never,” not to be confused with the bigger Romeo Void hit of the same name; I don’t remember this band at all from their first iteration, but they’ve been back together for a few years now, and will release their first album in 22 years, Old LP, on Friday.

The Mysterines – Bet Your Pretty Face. I included “Gasoline” on a playlist this summer; both tracks come from the Wirral punk-rock trio’s four-song EP Take Control, released in August – and yes, that’s two bands on this list from Wirral, which was not intentional.

Just Mustard – Seven. Full-on throwback shoegaze from this Irish quintet who would could have opened for Ride in 1992 with this sound.

Alcest – Sapphire. I prefer this to Alcest’s previous single, “Protection,” as it’s closer to the shoegaze/extreme metal blend they showcased on 2016’s Kodama, without the black metal trappings of their early work.

Syberia – Empire of Oppression. These Spanish prog-metal instrumentalists are new to me, but they’re about to release their second album, Seeds of Change, on October 4th. There’s a lot packed into this six-minute track, with tonal and temporal shifts that alternate intense bursts of swirling guitars with moments of relative quiet, ramping up the pace for a big finish.

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→ August 5, 2019
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Music update, July 2019.

I always feel a bit disappointed when my monthly playlists are on the short side, like this one is, as if I didn’t look hard enough for good songs. There is so much music released each month that it seems like even a “bad” month should still have at least twenty or so great songs, right? I did look, though, and stalled out with this list, which probably includes a song or two I might have omitted had the list been longer (including a cover and an unreleased track from the 1980s). Anyway, as always, you can access the Spotify playlist directly if you can’t see the widget below.

Prince – Holly Rock. Prince wrote and produced the original “Holly Rock” for Sheila E., whose version appeared on the Krush Groove soundtrack, but this is the first time that his own recording of the song – which is more polished than the demos his estate has been releasing this year – has appeared in official form. It’s vintage Prince with a heavy funk influence and Sheila E.’s ornate percussion work.

Ride – Repetition. I wonder if it’s even fair to call them shoegazers any more; their sound across two albums and a few singles since their return from a 17-year hiatus has been far more upbeat and accessible. It’s a positive evolution, though; I liked their early stuff but have connected more with their post-hiatus output.

Lauren Ruth Ward and Desi Valentine – Same Soul. A very bluesy duet from one of my new favorite singers in Ward and a classic R&B singer in Valentine, who had a modest hit in 2016 with “Fate Don’t Know You.”

Of Monsters and Men – Róróró. The Icelandic band’s third album Fever Dream dropped two Fridays ago, and it’s a definite shift in their sound, with more electronic elements, a mixed bag of a handful of tracks that showcase Nanna Hilmarsdóttir’s voice and others that lose her amidst generic drum machine sounds and weak melodies. This, “Alligator,” and “Wild Roses” are among the highlights.

Frank Turner – The Death of Dora Hand. Turner’s new EP No Man’s Land has three very intimate acoustic tracks that almost feel like Americana (interesting, since he’s English) rather than his usual folk/punk style.

Ceremony – In the Spirit World Now. Ceremony’s transition from hardcore punk band to direct descendants of Joy Division continues with this title track from their forthcoming album, due out August 23rd.

White Reaper – Real Long Time. White Reaper’s punk-pop sound hasn’t failed me yet – they have a real knack for strong, new hooks that always sound just a little bit familiar to me.

DIIV – Skin Game. This is DIIV’s first new track since founder/singer Zachary Cole Smith spent six months in rehab for addiction.

Ben Gibbard – Keep Yourself Warm. This is easily my favorite track from Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’, a cover album in memory of the Scottish band’s lead singer Scott Hutchison, who took his own life in May of last year.

Floating Points – Coorabell. The B side to his single “LesAlpx” is also brilliant – another pulsing, driving electronic track that stays accessible despite its experimental leanings.

Just Mustard – October. Speaking of shoegaze, this Irish band’s music might have fit better in that early 1990s movement than it does today.

Vivian Girls – Sick. The Vivs are back together … okay, I didn’t really know their work prior to bassist Katy Goodman’s solo project La Sera, but they’ve now reunited after a five-year absence with their pre-hiatus lineup.

The Struts – Pegasus Seiya. This song doesn’t sound like anything the Struts, who are kind of a glam/pop band with hard rock trappings, have done before – it’s like a strange homage to Judas Priest-era British metal, and I can’t get the thing out of my head.

High on Fire – Bat Salad. This instrumental, part of a three-song EP that includes covers of Celtic Frost and Bad Brains, first appeared for record store day in April, and just hit digital last month. It’s outstanding, and a good track for folks who like heavy guitar riffing but can’t deal with Matt Pike’s yelling vocals.

Opeth – Heart in Hand. Maybe my favorite song of the month, “Heart in Hand” (also released in a version with lyrics in their native Swedish) is a nine-minute prog metal opus that seems to draw equally on the complex progressive styles of 1970s icons like King Crimson while providing more 1980s-level thrash and metal riffing than Opeth has given listeners in their last two albums.

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→ June 22, 2019
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Stick to baseball, 6/21/19.

No new ESPN+ content this week, although that will change next week after I get to a few more minor league games. I did hold a Klawchat on Friday.

On the board game front, I had two pieces up at Paste this week. One is a straight review of Corinth, a new roll-and-write game from Days of Wonder that is sort of Yspahan: the Dice Game, but with a new theme and much altered rules. The other recaps the day and a half I spent at the Origins Game Fair, running through all the new games I saw or played.

On July 8th, the night after the Futures Game, I’ll be at the Hudson Library and Historical Society in Hudson, Ohio, talking baseball, taking questions, and signing copies of my book Smart Baseball.

And now, the links…

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→ May 6, 2019
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Music update, April 2019.

I’m not sure why April was so light on new music, especially since I’ve already started a new playlist for May and have a half-dozen songs on it (including “Alligator,” the new single from Of Monsters & Men). April did bring the debut album from Jade Bird, whom I’ve featured on many past playlists. I figured it was better to just wrap this one up now and let the May playlist be longer. You can access the Spotify playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Hatchie – Stay With Me. The Australian singer-songwriter Hatchie, whose dreamy indie-pop songs have been all over my playlists for a year and a half now, will release her debut album Keepsake on June 21st.

Ten Fé – Waterfalls. Yep, it’s a cover of the TLC song, which I don’t even particularly like, but this version is another creature entirely.

Hot Chip – Hungry Child. The English electronic/indie stalwarts will put out their seventh album, A Bath Full of Ecstasy, on June 21st. It’s their first album produced entirely by people outside of the band members themselves.

Working Men’s Club – Bad Blood. If I played this for you and told you it was a lost British New Wave track from 1983, would you have any reason to doubt me?

Tame Impala – Borderline. This might be my favorite song by Kevin Parker since “Solitude is Bliss,” in part because it’s so different from the band’s signature sound, with a heavy ’70s soul vibe.

Broken Social Scene – Can’t Find My Heart. This song rocks much harder than most of the Broken Social Scene songs I’ve heard before – at least, it’s not the sound I expect from this eclectic Canadian outfit.

Pharlee – Darkest Hour. I’ve criticized the derivative sound of Greta van Fleet a few times here and on Twitter, but if you like their extremely Led Zeppelin thing, I have a few new songs to recommend, starting with this bluesy psychedelic rocker from a new San Diego group helmed by Macarena Rivera.

Feeder – Fear of Flying. Yes, the same Feeder who had a modest (and slightly annoying) hit in 1997 with “High,” now a duo who announced that their tenth album, Tallulah, will drop in August. There’s no resemblance to their big hit on this driving, melodic rocker.

Ride – Future Love. Shoegaze icons Ride, now fully embracing their comeback two decades after their brief heyday, have recorded … a Britpop song? This has to be the most upbeat track the Oxonians have ever released, the first single from their upcoming album This Is Not a Safe Place, which is due out on August 16th.

Port Noir – Champagne. Port Noir’s label calls them “post-metal” but I just think of them as melodic hard rock, not really metal, with some progressive elements as well.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – The Cruel Millennial. Another recommendation if you like Led Zeppelin or other blues-heavy classic rock acts; the prolific Australian band just released their fourteenth album in eight years (!), Fishing for Fishes, which is a little inconsistent but has a few real uptempo, blues/jam tracks like this one and “Boogieman Sam.”

Band Of Skulls – Gold. I was hoping for more rock sounds on Band of Skulls’ new album, Love Is All You Love, but it’s a generally downtempo, mellower album than my favorite of their records, 2014’s Himalayan, with the closer “Gold” one of the heavier tracks on the record.

Helms Alee – Spider Jar. The intro to this song reminds me so much of the start of “Prime Cut” from Prong’s 1990 record Beg to Differ, although this song veers in a more progressive direction rather than the lean post-hardcore style of that earlier song. The Seattle band’s latest album, released two weeks ago, is called Noctiluca, which also happens to be the name of the board game I’m reviewing this week for Paste.

Diamond Head – Death by Design. These NWOBHM icons will release their eighth studio album, their second with new lead singer Rasmus Bom Anderson, on May 24th, and their sound really doesn’t seem to have changed that substantially from their influential if still obscure debut album Lightning to the Nations.

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→ March 4, 2019
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Music update, February 2019.

February is short enough as it is, and I delivered my last music update a bit late due to the prospect rankings, so I held off on this one until we got one more spate of new releases on March 1st, so the post would at least get to an hour’s worth of new music (without counting the ten-minute track near the end, because that’s cheating). As always, you can access the Spotify playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

The Amazons – Mother. The Amazons’ self-titled debut album hit the British top ten in 2017; I thought “Black Magic” was outstanding, powered by a huge, muscular guitar riff, but the rest of the album was tepid by comparison and didn’t carry that sound forward. This new single is also driven by a rich, heavy guitar riff.

Foals – On the Luna. Foals put out two singles from their upcoming album, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1, in the last month; this one is tremendous, peak Foals, heavy and dark and still catchy and danceable, like the lead single “Exits,” although the third single “Sunday” is gloomier and slower, so not quite my cup of tea.

Ten Fé – Here Again. More melodic, ’70s-influenced, slightly soft rock from the London-based quintet, who’ll drop their second album, Future Perfect, Present Tense, this Friday.

Sundara Karma – Little Smart Houses. That little record-skip stop in the verses is … an acquired taste? Affected? The chorus is great, though, a great harbinger for the English art-rockers’ second album, Ulfilas’ Alphabet, which just came out on Friday.

Metric – Risk. I love Emily Haines’ voice, but Metric’s music as a whole has been a mixed bag for me, and some of their strongest melodies have paired with their weakest lyrics – and it seems like Haines’ voice is more natural when the vocals are more like another instrument as opposed to a way to tell a story or recite a poem to music. Perhaps that’s just me, but I’ll put “Risk” in the yes column.

Little Simz – Offence. Little Simz, a British rapper of Nigerian descent, just released her third album, GREY Area, her first new music since she toured with Gorillaz after their Humans album came out. “Offence” was the lead single and first appeared back in September, with “Boss” (not quite as good) and “Selfish” (good, but with some problematic lyrics) following as singles before the album dropped.

Hatchie – Without a Blush. Hatchie has barely missed since she started putting out singles late in 2017, and she just announced her debut album, Keepsake, will come out on June 21st. I keep seeing references to her as “dream pop” and to her speaking of Mazzy Star, the Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine as major influences, but she crafts stronger melodies than any of those three and I still hear reminders everywhere in her music of the earliest stuff from the Cranberries.

The Mowgli’s – Talk About It. This is the fourth song by this six-piece American alternative act that I’ve included on a monthly playlist, and definitely the best since the first single I heard by the group, 2013’s “San Francisco” – similarly upbeat and catchy and cute without being cloying.

Sunflower Bean – Fear City. I think I’ve now included all four songs from Sunflower Bean’s new EP King of the Dudes, since they’re all great. They’ve become one of my favorite bands going between this and last year’s album Twentytwo in Blue.

Man of Moon – Skin. Scottish duo who appear to have listened to every New Order song ever recorded have put out a song that sounds a lot like vintage New Order.

Reignwolf – Black and Red. I felt like Reignwolf was a ‘buzz’ band a few years ago, but had never panned out; they were indeed hyped by the music press around 2013-14, and are just now getting around to releasing an actual album, Hear Me Out, which came out on March 1st, six years after their first single appeared. Fronted by Canadian guitarist Jordan Cook, Reignwolf does blues-heavy rock, with dramatic tonal shifts throughout this slithering lead single.

Ex Hex – Rainbow Shiner. Ex Hex, led by former Helium founder Mary Timony, released their debut album Rips in 2014 but then largely vanished until they put out a few singles last fall and this winter, all ahead of their upcoming second album It’s Real, due out March 22nd.

Tim Bowness and Pete Hammill – It’s the World. That’s Pete Hammill of Van der Graaf Generator, a band formed six years before I was born, joining Bowness, an English experimental musician who has been part of the rather obscure, long-running duo No-Man. (They had a top 40 dance track in the U.S. in 1994, “Taking It Like a Man,” of which I have zero memory.) I’m mostly drawn to that doom-metal guitar riff that seems stylistically out of place but that perfectly fits the song’s atmosphere.

Wheel – Tyrant. Yes, the song is ten minutes long; the Finnish progressive quartet’s debut album, Moving Backwards, just dropped, and has seven songs running a total of 48 minutes, with three tracks clocking in at nine-plus.

Saint Vitus – 12 Years in the Tomb. Saint Vitus is one of the most influential bands in both American metal and within the doom metal subgenre, forming in 1979 and taking their name from a Black Sabbath song, but they were never terribly popular and haven’t released anything new since 2012, so this song’s appearance was a surprise. Even more surprising is the return of original lead singer Scott Reagers, whose last appearance on wax with Saint Vitus came in 1995.

Alexisonfire – Familiar Drugs. Presented more out of newsworthiness than any endorsement of the song, which I think is just fair. This is the Canadian post-hardcore/extreme metal band’s first release of any new material since 2010.

Children of Bodom – Platitudes and Barren Words. These Finnish melodic death metal stalwarts release their latest album, Hexed, this upcoming Friday, and continue to show they can still dance on the edge of mainstream rock without falling into the abyss (as with In Flames, whose latest album has a bunch of great riffs and embarrassing vocals and choruses).

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→ February 7, 2019
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Music update, January 2019.

Sorry this is a bit late, but I had to write a thing about some prospects. If you can’t see the Spotify widget you can access the playlist here.

White Lies – Tokyo. If this song doesn’t put you back in 1985, I’m guessing you weren’t old enough to listen to the radio back then.

Spielbergs – Distant Star. This Norwegian trio reminds me a lot of the Wombats, if the Wombats were more punk and skipped most production values on their records, and sure enough the Spielbergs recorded their debut album, This is Not the End, at the Oslo studio of the Wombats’ bassist. It’s pop-tinged punk with just the right hardness to its edge.

Potty Mouth – 22. Potty Mouth’s 2015 single, “Cherry Picking,” was followed by a five-song EP, one more single, and then three years of silence before this track appeared a few weeks ago. It’s very much in the same vein as “Cherry Picking,” power pop with heavier distortion on the rhythm guitar, and it comes with the delightful news that the band’s sophomore album, Snafu, will arrive on March 1st.

Thrice – Hold Up A Light (Edit). The album version of this track appeared on last year’s Palms, but I’m including it here since drummer Riley is a friend of the dish and I didn’t feature this song anywhere last year.

Satin Jackets with Panama – Automatic. Panama is Australian songwriter/producer Jarrah McCleary, who’s appeared on my lists a few times in the past, primarily with his 2013 standout track “Always.” This is his collaboration with German house/disco producer Tim Bernhardt, a.k.a. Satin Jackets, although if the vocals were McCleary’s I’d believe this was a Panama solo track.

Sunflower Bean – King Of The Dudes. The title track from Sunflower Bean’s four-song EP showcases Julia Cumming’s strutting, cocky vocals, just as its lead single “Come for Me” did last fall. There’s a moment in the second verse where she sounds like she’s channeling Haley Shea of Sløtface.

Jade Bird – I Get No Joy. Bird had my #3 song of 2018 with “Love Has All Been Done Before” and is back with this track, which isn’t quite as immediately catchy but still showcases her lyric writing and her Joplinesque vocals.

Swervedriver – Good Times Are So Hard To Follow. Swervedriver’s second album into their comeback, Future Ruins, dropped last month, with three or four solid singles and then a number of longer tracks, two clocking in over six minutes, that are solid but lack hooks – good songs in between the singles. This is one of the better singles on the record albeit not up to “Mary Winter” or “The Lonely Crowd Fades in the Air.”

Teeth Of The Sea – I’d Rather, Jack (Radio Edit). Teeth of the Sea’s Master was one of my top albums of 2013, but then they put out a short album in 2015 (Highly Deadly Black Tarantula, six songs, 37 minutes) that I completely missed. They returned with a seven-minute single last year, and now have put out this more easily digested four-minute track of experimental, instrumental music, which veers from movement to movement over a dark, brooding backdrop.

Big Boi – Doin’ It (feat. Sleepy Brown). I was pleasantly surprised by this Big Boi track, maybe my favorite thing he’s done in ten years, mostly because he sounds so good here.

Foals – Exits. Foals will release two albums this year, parts 1 and 2 of a record called Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, led off by this single, which is nearly six minutes on the album but 3:50 here. This is more “Inhaler” than “Mountain at My Gates.”

Voodoos – Natalie. These Glaswegian punk-popsters first debuted this track in 2017, but have since signed a record deal and re-recorded it; as much as I see Voodoos tabbed a punk band, this feels like it could have come from the mind of Alex Turner.

Beck – Tarantula. Beck reworked a forgettable 1982 electronica track by Colourbox (later covered and improved by This Mortal Coil) for a new album of songs “inspired” by the new film Roma, with vocal help here from Feist and Natasha Khan (a.k.a. Bat for Lashes).

Crows – Chain of Being. Signed to the new label helmed by IDLES lead singer Joe Talbot, Crows released this single of post-rock with a hint of shoegaze head of their debut album, Silver Tongues, due out later this year.

Wheel – Where the Pieces Lie. Wheel, a four-piece band based in Finland with an English lead singer, might hit the sweet spot for my taste in heavier music – the music is heavy, hard-edged, and challenging, all with clean vocals. I do have a soft spot for old-school thrash but the way Wheel’s tracks meander without abandoning their core heaviness, here most present in the chorus, is just spot on.

Astronoid – A New Color. The list gets a bit heavier the further I go; Astronoid’s music is spacier (appropriate), more psychedelic, but also bumps up against the edges of thrash or speed metal in the chorus.

Týr – Fire and Flame. Viking metal can be hit or miss, but Týr seem to get it just right – there’s something playful about their music that prevents me from feeling like we’re all taking this Viking shit a little too seriously.

Children Of Bodom – This Road. CoB might be my favorite melodic death metal band going right now; it’s difficult to create metal riffs that are catchy without sacrificing the sort of (drops voice two octaves) heaviness extreme metal fans want. There’s some pedal-point riffing in the chorus here too, punctuated by an arpeggio (maybe of artificial harmonics? I never could make those work on my guitar), that I’d like to bottle.

Dream Theater – Fall into the Light. Dream Theater are about to release their fourteenth studio album, Distance over Time, which will drop just 12 days before the thirtieth anniversary of the release of their debut record When Dream and Day Unite. This seven-minute opus, complete with acoustic interlude around the 3:20 mark, has a solid hook in the standard Dream Theater vein of progressive metal, but also reminded me of that brief halcyon moment when Metallica blew the doors off the confines of thrash and would put out songs like this, sometimes running nine minutes, with different movements and massive tempo shifts. And then they released the black album and were never heard from again. Anyway, this is a good track. Love the keyboard solo, too.

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