These lists just keep getting longer, and still I feel like I’m probably missing a lot of great tracks. June saw some outstanding new albums – Queens of the Stone Age, Godflesh, Django Django, Protomartyr, Portugal. the Man to name a few – but my favorite was Geese’s 3D Country, the sophomore record from the Brooklyn post-punk band whose Projector was such a surprise back in 2021. So this month’s playlist has 32 songs and runs over two hours, helped by two tracks that run over seven minutes each, but I just couldn’t bear to cut anything else. As always, here’s the link to the playlist.
Pip Blom & Alex Kapranos – Is This Love? I wasn’t familiar with Pip Blom, a Dutch indie-pop band named for its lead singer, before this track; Kapranos is, of course, Franz Ferdinand’s lead singer/guitarist. This collaboration might be the best pure pop song I’ve heard all year, and the chorus is very early FF.
Beck w/Phoenix – Odyssey. A one-off single ahead of the two artists’ joint tour this summer, representing Beck at his most pop and Phoenix continuing the same vibe as last year’s Alpha Zulu. It should be the feel-good hit of the summer.
Speedy Ortiz – You S02. Man I am glad to have Speedy Ortiz back. This is the second straight single that’s peak Speedy, and “Plus One,” which they just released on Friday, is too. Rabbit Rabbit, their first full-length LP in five years, is due out in September.
The Mysterines – Begin Again. I loved most of the Mysterines’ singles and EPs prior to the release of their debut album Reeling in March of 2022, but that record didn’t include any of their best songs to that point; the sound was there, but the hooks were a little lacking. This is the first single from their as-yet untitled and undated second LP, and I like the melody and the sultry vocals, even if it doesn’t quite rock out the way the band can.
Louise Post – What About. Sound familiar? I’ll give you a hint – the seether’s Louise. (One, two, three, four!) That is indeed Veruca Salt lead singer Louise Post, who just released her debut solo album, Sleepwalker, on June 2nd.
Queens of the Stone Age – Paper Machete. I’ll say two things about the new QotSA album, In Times New Roman: I hate all the punny song titles (“Carnavoyeur,” “Obscenery”), and I think it’s a good record that reflects Josh Homme’s age and increasing interest in melding more pop songs with the traditional QotSA crunch and even his stoner-metal roots.
Weird Nightmare – She’s the One. Alex Edkins (METZ) records as Weird Nightmare, and this latest track is more jangle-pop than his last album was, leaning even into late 60’s pop music.
Sprints – Adore Adore Adore. I love how the chorus here channels rage into a great earworm. No word on a new album from these Irish punks, although they’re touring with Suede later this year.
BLOXX – Runaway. The second single this year from this London punk-pop quartet, a step up from “Television Promises,” as we await word on a new album.
Tame Impala – Retina Show. The better of the two unreleased demo tracks from the Lonerism sessions, released now on that album’s tenth anniversary. The breakbeat here behind the music pairs so well with the psycheledia in the guitar and the overall production.
STONE – I Gotta Feeling. STONE put out their first EP Punkadonk in November and keep churning out high-energy singles, this time with spoken-word lyrics – not exactly rapped, thank goodness – in advance of their performance at Glastonbury last weekend.
Ghost of Vroom – Still Getting It Done. Mike Doughty’s new Soul Coughing-ish act has put out two new songs in 2023, this and “Pay the Man,” with this song better both musically and lyrically, with more of that drum-and-bass vibe from his original band.
Jungle feat. Channel Tres – I’ve Been in Love. The London-based neo-soul duo Jungle will release their fourth album, Volcano, on August 11th, with this the third single off the record, featuring guest vocals from American rapper Channel Tres.
Satin Jackets feat. Panama – Alive. I’m a Panama fan going way back to 2013’s “Always,” although now the Australian trio mostly collaborates with other artists, including several tracks with German producer Satin Jackets. This one sounds quite a bit like those early Panama tracks, all electronic pop with a great hook.
Cory Wong feat. Ben Rector – Ready. The ubertalented multi-instrumentalist Wong has lined up a huge collection of collaborators for his upcoming album The Lucky One, due out August 18th, including this soulful track with singer/songwriter Rector, with whom Wong has worked and toured before, as well as another track “Hiding on the Moon” with O.A.R.
Grian Chatten – The Score. Chatten is the lead singer/guitarist for the British punk act Fontaines D.C., but his solo debut Chaos For the Fly is a shocker, a lush, soft, acoustic-driven collection of subtle ballads and folk songs, led by this track, along with the previous singles “Fairlies” and “Last Time Every Time Forever.”
Slowdive – kisses. Slowdive returned in 2017 to release their first new music in 22 years, then went dark again, but they’re back with this new track and another album, Everything Is Alive, due out on September 1st. Slowdive have always found themselves lumped in the shoegaze movement, but at least since their return, they’ve been firmly planted in dream-pop, and this shimmering song is another example of how they create lush textures combining music and voice.
Geese – 3D Country. The title track from what might be my favorite album of the first half of 2023 comes from this group of NYC kids barely out of their teens, whose Projector was my #4 album of 2021. They’ve expanded their sound in myriad ways, maintaining their experimental leanings but incorporating classic rock, country, and jazz with their previous take on post-punk. I see a lot of comparisons to Squid, but Geese’s songs are tighter, still ambitious and even meandering (fitting with the album’s concept) but always with purpose.
Public Image Ltd. – Car Chase. Fresh off their fourth-place finish in Eurovision with their song “Hawaii,” a tribute to John Lydon’s wife, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease at the time and died in April, PiL have this new track that’s much more in line with their traditional sound. Their first new album in eight years, End of World, comes out on August 11th.
Protomartyr – For Tomorrow. I haven’t gotten through all of their newest album Formal Growth in the Desert, but I’ve liked several of the songs I’ve heard already, and the song “3800 Tigers” includes a reference to Lou Whitaker, so how can I not love it?
Portugal. the Man – Plastic Island. Chris Black Changed My Mind is a huge departure from Woodstock, way less poppy and less rock-oriented, this time with a wide array of guest musicians from different genres and even eras (Edgar Winter!). I think it’s going to disappoint a lot of people who only jumped on the band because of “Feel It Still” but it’s thematically in line with their two albums before that one – and I’d guess a little bit of a rejection of mainstream success and airplay too. There’s a lot to like but it’s just a less accessible album.
Christine and the Queens – Big Eye. Chris’s new album Paranoïa, Angels, True Love is a sprawling 20-track record loosely built around the story of the play Angels in America with guest appearances from Madonna on three of the songs, and it can’t help but be uneven in parts. It’s also a broad departure from his prior mature-pop style, meaning there aren’t the immediate ‘hits’ like “Tilted” or “5 dollars,” but the record has some huge, soaring moments where his music matches his ambitions, like this seven-minute track.
Romy – Loveher. Romy (of the xx) sounds incredible here on the latest single ahead of her long-delayed debut solo album, Mid Air, due out in September, although the music below the vocals is a little simple. Her voice just carries the day.
Django Django – Gazelle. The Djangos released an album in four “parts,” effectively EPs, called Off Planet in mid-June, to generally strong reviews that all seem to agree that it’s too long (by length, it’s a double album, although conceptually it’s not). I’ve stuck with the Djangos for a decade even though nothing they’ve done has had the commercial or critical success of “Default” and their Mercury-nominated eponymous debut album in 2012. I just like their general sound of psycheledic-tinged dance-pop, of which this is an especially good example.
D.A. Stern feat. Sarah Chernoff – Lovebird. Chernoff was the singer for the short-lived group Superhumanoids and I’ve followed her solo career since they disbanded because I think she’s one of the best vocalists I’ve ever heard. Here she provides guest vocals for the LA-based songwriter/producer Stern, finding her in more of a rock vein than anything I think she’s done before.
Kyo feat. Coeur de Pirate – Dernière danse. Béatrice provides guest vocals on one verse of this track by French rock band Kyo, who’ve been around for a quarter century but of whom I hadn’t heard before this, probably because they sing in French, and we just don’t cotton to that sort of thing around here.
The Hives – Countdown to Shutdown. These Swedish rockers will release their first album in 11 years, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, on August 11th, and just like the first single from the record (“Bogus Operandi”) this one has a very simple, loud, catchy guitar riff powering the track forward.
Rival Sons – Mirrors. I admit that Rival Sons’ sound isn’t the most original, but they do come up with some great riffs that bridge the gap between 1970s rock like Led Zeppelin (their most obvious influence, I think) and the early 1980s metal bands that at least started out as Zep clones, even if they later asphyxiated on their own hairspray.
Post Animal – Aging Forest. Well this certainly isn’t going to slow the comparisons of Post Animal to Tame Impala. You can hear the Kevin Parker influence in the chorus, while the verses are more doom than psychedelica. As an aside, Stranger Things’ Joe Keery was in Post Animal when they recorded their first album, but left the band as the show took off.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Dragon. Yes, it’s nearly ten minutes long, although most of the songs on the new album, ridiculously titled PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, are on the longer side, as the band goes back to the heavier metal sounds of Infest the Rats’ Nest with a more open, jamband approach to the music.
Horrendous – Cult of Shaad’oah. Horrendous’ highly progessive death metal sound is still here, but the vocals are actually more shouted than growled for large parts of this track, off their upcoming album Ontological Mysterium (August 18th).
Godflesh – LAND LORD. I include Godflesh here as much for their massive importance in the history of metal; they all but created the industrial metal subgenre, merging their now signature non-musical sounds with the detuned guitars and extreme riffing of the grindcore genre that was ascendant at the same time in the U.K. Streetcleaner was such a shock to the metal system, especially given the dominance of hair metal in 1989, and tracks like “Christbait Rising” and “Like Rats” still stand up exceptionally well. Their latest record, PURGE, is less overwhelming than their last two albums – both of which came after their breakup and re-formation – with a more open and, odd as it is to say, brighter sound, with the guitars up front and the bass & drum machine produced a little towards the rear. Highlights include this, “NERO,” and “ARMY OF NON,” which has a sample of a rapper saying “Check it out, y’all” that I think might be Slick Rick.
The title and refrain of the Protomartyr song is a reference to James Van Horn, an unhoused Tigers fan known for chanting “Eat ‘Em Up Tigers!” outside of the ballpark who was tragically killed in a hit and run.
With you on Chris Black Changed My Life. Like it more and more each time I listen and hoping they add an STL date to their tour after they finish going through Canada.
The new QOTSA is ok but man nothing touches “Like Clockwork”. That shit was *perfection*.
Keith, have you continued reading Pulitzer Prize winners since 2018. If so, have you updated your list, published in 2018? I’d be really curious where you rank the latest novels, in terms of your past list?
Anne @ My Head is Full of Books.