March 3, 2021  ·  3 comments

Music update, February 2021.

My first draft prospect ranking for 2021 is now up for The Athletic subscribers.

I didn’t post a playlist for January, as that month didn’t give me anywhere near enough new tracks even if I’d accepted that I’d have to make the playlist shorter than usual, but now, with two-plus months since my last music post, we’re back to normal again. Three great albums have helped kick off 2021, with a few stragglers from 2020, and a slew of singles heralding upcoming LPs from artists new and old. As usual, I’ve pushed the heavier material to the back of the list. You can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Kid Kapichi – Working Man’s Town. This Time Next Year, the debut record from this Hastings quartet, sounds like something Alex Turner might have cooked up if he wanted to do something grittier and more abrasive. The record is brilliant, witty, and surprisingly full of hooks, featuring this track, “Sardines,” and “Don’t Kiss Me (I’m Infected).”

Arlo Parks – Hope. Parks’ debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams dropped in January, featuring all of the great singles she’d released in the preceding eighteen months, including “Hurt,” “Green Eyes,” “Black Dog,” and “Caroline.” This track has more of her gorgeous vocals, sharp lyrics, and soulful, jazzy (but not jazz) backing music, making it the best of the new songs on the record.

Gum Country – Somewhere. As the year came to a merciful close, I found more and more best-of lists to peruse, including some great genre-specific ones over at Paste. Gum Country’s debut album Somewhere took the last spot (that is, #50) on Paste‘s top 50 albums of 2020 list, and it’s worthy of the praise, combining elements of power pop, indie rock, and psychedelia, like Velocity Girl met My Bloody Valentine by way of early Mercury Rev.

Black Honey – Believer. Black Honey have been among my favorite indie pop/rock bands for at least three years now, and they put out two songs since my last playlists went up, this straight-up pop track and the much harsher “Disinfect,” although even that song has an undeniable hook.

HAERTS – Shivering. HAERTS’ third album Dream Nation will be out on March 12th, and I can’t wait, even though I think you could argue their sound hasn’t really changed in the nine years since they first appeared.

The Lottery Winners feat. Frank Turner – Start Again. I missed the Lottery Winners’ self-titled debut album last March, but it’s fun, hooky indie-pop, and their sound works really well with Turner’s vocals here.

Royal Blood – Typhoons. I’m cautiously optimistic that Royal Blood are going to correct course a little bit and get closer to the heavy hooks of their debut album, although nothing will ever touch “Out of the Black.” This song really grooves with more bottom than a good splitter.

FRITZ – Jan 1. FRITZ’s sophomore album Pastel feels like something out of the mid-90s, kind of Lotion meets early Lush, fuzzy, reverbed-out, guitar-driven indie-pop with a coming-of-age theme to it.

Griff – Black Hole. This is Griff’s eleventh single, according to Wikipedia, although she has yet to release a full album, although I suppose we can forgive her since she just turned 20 in January. This was the first track of the pop singer/songwriter’s to cross my radar, but the hook in this chorus – “there’s a big black hole where my heart used to be” – is a hell of an earworm.

Allie X – GLAM! That intro sounds like I’m about to play a video game … 15-20 years ago, maybe? But then the singer/model Allie X starts with a whoa-oh-oh-oh that would have fit in on pop radio in 1985. I mean, listen to this chorus. How is this song not already an enormous hit?

Noname – Rainforest. I confess Noname’s laconic delivery has never done much for me, but the syncopated beat and her somewhat faster tempo here caught my ear in a way none of her previous tracks had.

Potty Mouth – Let Go. Speaking of Velocity Girl, I feel like this Massachusetts all-girl trio is sort of VG’s spiritual heirs with their sunny power-pop tracks, although I think their lyrics slipped a grade here.

Django Django feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg – Waking Up. The third new album of 2021 that’s likely to show up on my year-end list – although I’d rank it third of those three – is the Djangos’ fourth album Glowing in the Dark, which has this surprising collaboration with erstwhile Lars von Trier muse Gainsbourg.

YONAKA – Seize the Power. This Brighton quartet, led by the charismatic singer Theresa Jarvis, plan to release their sophomore album this year, with this first single a slight departure from the style of Don’t Wait Til Tomorrow.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – East West Link. This prolific Australian prog/psych rock band just released L.W., their 17th album in just eight and a half years. I assume the title refers to the vaguely “eastern” sounds – I’d say more south Asian, or even the southwestern part of Asia, but I’m no expert in music from either region – which sort of give this whole thing a Physical Graffiti vibe.

Greentea Peng – Nah It Ain’t the Same. Peng’s debut album MAN MADE is due out this summer, and I’m at least curious after this lead single, which has elements of hip-hop, soul, funk, andthe sort of Thai jazz brought to the mainstream by Khruangbin.

Freddie Gibbs – Winter in America. Gibbs is an unusual but inspired choice to cover Gil-Scott Heron and Brian Jackson’s 1975 track, which originally appeared on The First Minute of a New Day. This cover is part of a partnership between ESPN’s The Undefeated and Hollywood Records and appeared on an EP called Black History Always – Music For The Movement Vol. 2.

Iceage – Vendetta. This Danish post-post-punk band’s fifth album Seek Shelter is due out May 7th, with this tense, sludgy track the lead single.

Death from Above 1979 – One + One. Driven by a guitar riff to make Josh Homme blush, this song also has a real groove to it, like a lost track from the Mark Ronson-produced QotSA album.

Gojira – Born for One Thing. I think Gojira is the most interesting metal band going right now, as they’ve gotten more progressive and creative with each album, moving from straight death metal to more technical material to their current hybrid of thrash, prog, and even “groove” metal sounds. I never got into Pantera, but I can hear the influence of Diamond Darrell on the guitarwork here as I did on Magma.

Angelus Apatrida – Bleed the Crown. These Spanish thrash stalwarts released their self-titled seventh album late last year, showing a strong influence from both Bay Area thrash and the giants of Teutonic metal like Kreator and Destruction, although the vocals are mostly death growls and in many cases overtook the pleasure of the guitar riffs.

Memoriam – Failure to Comply. Memoriam are often tagged as straight death metal because of Karl Willetts’ (ex-Bolt Thrower) guttural vocals, but they have more in common with traditional thrash than current extreme metal. This track is directly inspired by the BLM protests that took place across most of last summer in the US, as Willetts has a friend who participated in and recorded one event, ending up in jail and receiving community service (in his telling) for protesting.

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December 6, 2020  ·  No comments yet

Music update, November 2020.

A quick playlist of new tracks from November, as we head into mid-December and time for my year-end lists of 2020’s best albums and singles, which I’m tentatively planning to run on December 21st and 22nd. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

James BKS feat. The New Breed Gang – No Unga Bunga. French producer and hip-hop artist JamesBKSwas the first signing to Idris Elba’s new record label, and this is now his fourth single for the imprint, following last year’s “New Breed,” with guest spots from Q-Tip, Little Simz, and Elba himself.  

Arlo Parks – Caroline. At this point, I might be looking forward to Parks’ debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, due out January 29th, more than any other album scheduled for next year. Her voice is stunning and I love the lush sound of just about everything she’s released so far.

Jade Bird – Headstart. The Welsh singer-songwriter Bird hasn’t announced a new album but this is her first new track in over a year, since her debut album dropped in May 2019.

HAERTS – It’s Too Late. The duo announced a release date for their third album, Dream Nation, of March 21, with this track and “For the Sky” to be included.

Mourn – Stay There. ThisBarcelona punk-rock trio seem to be getting more experimental as they get older – although they’re still all between 20 and 23 years old – with their fourth album, Self Worth, released on October 30th.

Khruangbin – Summer Madness. Khruangbin had already released one of the year’s best albums in Mordechai, and now they’ve put out a full album with 15 covers, including this reworking of a Kool & the Gang track from 1974.

Django Django – Glowing in the Dark. The title track from the Djangos’ fourth album, due out February 12th, is more of the same electronic rock we’ve gotten from the group since their more experimental first record, 2012’s self-titled debut.

Radkey – Seize. The Brothers Radke are at their best when they turn up the tempo, which they do here on this punk-infused track. Their newest album Green Room just came out on November 27th.

Record Heat – Nathan. Record Heat used to be called Spirit Animal, but they changed their name based on criticism of the possible cultural appropriation involved in the old moniker. I find their music a mixed bag – when they try to introduce anything resembling rap, it doesn’t work, but their straight rock tracks can be pretty strong.

Romero – Troublemaker. A new power-pop group from Melbourne, Romero just released this, their third single, in advance of a debut album coming out next year.

The Lounge Society – Burn the Heather. This West Yorkshire teenaged quartet have called themselves “the antidote to The 1975,” which is good enough for me, although I also dig the post-punk vibe on this, their second-ever single.

Pale Waves – Change. This is my favorite song to date from the Mancunian indie-rock band, whose second album, Who Am I?, is due out on February 12th.

Middle Kids – R U 4 Me? I never got this Sydney indie-pop act’s their 2016 hit “Edge of Town,” but this new track, their first since an EP came out last May, is pretty solid.

Zeal & Ardor – Wake of a Nation. The title track from this gospel-blues-metal band’s new EP, released October 23rd, has more of the same righteous anger in the lyrics and tones down the harshest elements (e.g., blast beats) of some of their earlier output.

Moonspell – The Greater Good. The Portuguese doom metal stalwarts announced their 12th album, Hermitage, will come out on February 26st; it’s their first since 2017’s concept album 1755.

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October 3, 2020  ·  5 comments

Music update, September 2020.

Whew, that was the most loaded month of the year for new music, perhaps as bands and labels have accepted that we’re not getting back to anything like “normal” until 2021, at the least. There’s over 90 minutes of new music here, including four metal tracks at the end (more than I usually have, but it was a better month on that front as well). If you can’t see the Spotify widget below you can access the playlist here.

SAULT – Free. Do we still not know who SAULT are? The just-released Untitled (Rise) is the band’s fourth album in thirteen months, and once again is full of funk and soul tracks laced with strongly political lyrics. They’ve put out so much music I have a hard time keeping up with specific tracks, but this track might be my favorite so far, and the album is their best yet.

Public Enemy featuring Nas, Rapsody, Black Thought, ?uestlove, YG, and Jahi – Fight the Power: Remix 2020. This should be terrible, but it’s not, probably because Chuck D wisely gives up the mic to several other MCs, most of them younger and better rappers than he is right now. The message is what you’d expect, but it hits harder because of the voices delivering it.

Prince – I Need a Man. Prince’s estate released this previously unheard song, which he wrote for the Hookers and later wanted to use for Vanity 6, as part of their mammoth remaster/reissue of Sign O’ The Times. Prince released very few tracks this good after his name change and the end of his contract with Warner Bros. I hope there’s more, since we all know Prince recorded about a billion songs he never released during his lifetime.

Ghost of Vroom 2 – Rona Pollona. That’s Mike Doughty, and this is the closest thing to a Soul Coughing song he’s made since that seminal quartet broke up after El Oso.

Arab Strap – The Turning of Our Bones. I thought Arab Strap was more of a quiet, indie-folk sort of band, but this new track, their first since their last album dropped in 2005, is dark, electronic, and, more in keeping with their prior output, about sex.

Zeal & Ardor – Vigil. Z&A put out two songs in early September, this and “I Can’t Breathe,” both directly aimed at the scourge of police killing unarmed Black Americans with stripped-down backing music with fewer metal elements to it.

Everything Everything – Big Climb. RE-ANIMATOR dropped on September 11th, although by that point I’d already heard half the album from various singles and early releases. This is the best of the remaining tracks, with their normal frenetic combination of fast-sung lyrics and heavy synth work.

Black Honey – Run For Cover. This is Black Honey’s second new single this year, after “Beaches,” so I assume there’s a new album coming soon. I loved their self-titled debut, which was full of great power-pop hooks.

Porridge Radio – 7 Seconds. This new-new-wave track has an intense feeling of desperation to it that elevates it to something more than just another very catchy rock song with a good synth line.

Sunflower Bean – Moment in the Sun. I’ve been on Sunflower Bean’s wavelength pretty much from the start and loved their 2019 EP King of the Dudes, so this one-off single, which has a summery vibe that feels like the soundtrack to a walk on the beach, is right in my wheelhouse.

Cut Copy – Like Breaking Glass. This track is very obviously Cut Copy, but also reminds me quite a bit of St. Lucia’s first album or his song “Dancing on Glass,” which I assume is some sort of subliminal connection in my brain because of their similar titles. Anyway, this is a perfectly adequate Cut Copy song, not “Need You Know” or “Black Rainbows” but good enough for my purposes.

Django Django – Spirals. The Djangos’ first new track since they released an album and an EP back in 2018 is more of the same, as “Spirals” could easily have fit on Marble Skies or Born Under Saturn as one of either album’s singles.

Of Monsters and Men – Visitor. Unlike most good OM&M songs, this one is driven more by its music than by Nana’s vocals, which are understated here.

Sprints – The Cheek. The driving bass line at the start of this track reminds me of Romeo Void’s “Never Say Never,” of early Killing Joke, even a bit of Joy Division, but with the strident vocals of Karla Chubb. The Dublin quartet have said contemporary Irish punk band Fontaines DC are an inspiration, and you can hear that influence here as well.

Bartees Strange – Mustang. A reader recommendation from last month, Bartees Strange is a Next Big Thing, a huge fan of the National who sounds quite a bit like the Hold Steady on this track from his debut album, Live Forever, which just came out on October 2.

The Aubreys – Smoke Bomb. That’s Finn Wolfhard’s new band, since Calpurnia broke up last November.

Courting – David Byrne’s Badside. This new Liverpudlian post-punk quartet look like they’re barely out of middle school, let alone old enough to know who David Byrne is, although the lyrics have nothing to do with him and are instead an indictment of what the band call “pub culture.”

Mourn – Men. As much press as the Spanish band Hinds gets, Mourn is just better. Both bands comprise only women, but Mourn’s three members are superior musicians and have shown musical and lyrical growth over their three albums. This is their second single of 2020, so I presume there’s another LP in the works.

LA WITCH – True Believers. This is a holdover from last month that I somehow forgot to put on the August playlist, but LA WITCH’s sophomore album Play With Fire would be in my top ten for the year so far.

Pallbearer – The Quicksand of Existing. Is this Pallbearer’s most uptempo song? The American doom stalwarts will release their newest album Forgotten Days on October 23rd, and this muscular track is dark and gothic but it’s got more in common with Kyuss/QotSA than true doom metal – and now it’s my favorite Pallbearer track.

Carcass – The Long and Winding Bier Road. Carcass’ new album has been pushed back, probably to 2021, so instead they’re releasing an EP, Despicable, of tracks that didn’t make the latest album.

Dark Tranquility – Phantom Days. One of the pioneers of the Gothenburg melodic death metal sound, Dark Tranquility will release their eleventh LP, Moment, in November. The guitar work and melody here are both superb if you can deal with the death growls.

Vio-Lence – California Über Alles. Yes, it’s a cover of the Dead Kennedys song, but also interesting that it’s the first new material Vio-Lence, one of the more significant Bay Area thrash acts of the late ’80s, have released since 1993.

Napalm Death – Amoral. I have talked about Napalm Death more than I’ve ever listened to their music, really, as their early stuff, which practically defined the genre of grindcore, was way too extreme for me. Their sound has evolved over the last thirty-plus years, and their sixteenth album, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism, sees them working across a range of metal genres and even going into no-wave/post-punk territory, although you’ll always have to deal with Barney Greenway’s vocals.

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September 2, 2020  ·  3 comments

Music update, August 2020.

August rallied late to produce enough good new tracks that I ended up cutting a few from the final playlist. There were also some fairly high-profile and/or well-reviewed albums, including the Killers’ Imploding the Mirage, Samia’s The Baby, Bully’s SUGAREGG, Young Jesus’ experimental jazz/rock Welcome to Conceptual Beach, Angel Olsen’s Whole New Mess, Bright Eyes’ oh I don’t care what it’s called. I liked the Killers album, and sort of like the Young Jesus album even if I don’t fully appreciate what they’re doing, and could do without the others. Anyway, here’s my playlist for August; you can access it here if you can’t see the Spotify widget below.

Anderson .Paak – Lockdown. Therehave beenway too many songs about the lockdown, and most of them suck. This one doesn’t.

clipping. – Say the Name. That’s Daveed Diggs of Hamilton and Blindspotting, along with a pair of producers, and I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I didn’t know of this trio’s existence until a few months ago. Diggs is a clever wordsmith whose laconic style calls back to Guru and Kool G Rap. clipping.’s fourth full-length album, Visions of Bodies Being Burned, which takes its title from the sample that opens this song, is due out on October 23rd.

Lupin – May. Lupin is Jake Luppen of the inoffensive alternative band Hippo Campus, but apparently he’s been hiding his inner Neon Indian, at least based on this single from his forthcoming debut solo album, which has an incredibly funky drum machine loop and a bass line to match. No word on whether he’ll hold any concerts during a full moon.

The Naked & Famous – Monument. TNAF’s new album Recover dropped on August 8th and it’s their best and most complete LP yet, with several standout tracks including this one (which showcases Alisa Xayalith’s vocals particularly well), “Death,” “Recover,” “Easy,” and “Sunseeker.”

Space Above featuring Alisa Xayalith – Stolen Days. Xayalith also lends her vocals to her former bandmate Aaron Short, who records as Space Above and just put out a new 7-song EP Glow the same day TNAF released their own record. Maddie North, who records as So Below and has recorded with Space Above, even put out a new single, “Fear,” that same week.

Arlo Parks – Hurt. Parks just turned 20 last month but she’s the most interesting, dynamic new voice I’ve heard all year. This new single combines distinct soul and funk elements with her hypnotic vocals, the gentle nature of which belies the depth of emotion beneath them.

Killers – Dying Breed. Brandon Flowers and company returned with Imploding the Mirage, which took me by surprise as someone who was never a huge fan of their work. The record doesn’t take any huge risks, but also has quite a few strong pop melodies and immaculate production, led by this, the fourth single off the record, as well as “Caution” (with a guitar solo from Lindsey Buckingham!) and “Blowback.”

Doves – Cathedrals of the Mind. A new Doves song is pretty much an automatic inclusion on my playlists, but this isn’t quite what I was hoping to hear from the trio for a single from their comeback album The Universal Want, due out on September 20th, lacking the immediacy or the strong melodies that marked their peak output.

London Grammar – Baby It’s You. I was reasonably sure I’d listed another London Grammar song on a past playlist, but I seem to have made that up. They’re quite popular in the UK, with a #1 album in 2017’s Truth is a Beautiful Thing; I’m surprised how often commercial or critical success in other Anglophone countries can fail to translate into any notice here in the U.S. We can be xenophobic in music, too.

Lucius – Man in My Radio. This Brooklyn indie quartet can be strange, and pretentious, but Lucius seems good for one absolute banger a year, and this one-off single definitely qualifies.

BLOXX – Coming Up Short. This Uxbridge quartet have toured with the Wombats and just released their debut album Lie Out Loud, featuring this very hooky indie-pop track.

Yard Act – Fixer Upper. These guys are post-punk in the Gang of Four/Wire sense, and take it a step further with spoken-word lyrics about suburban real estate. I swear it’s not deliberate that this month’s playlist skews so heavily towards the UK.

Fontaines D.C. – I Was Not Born. These heralded Irish punks made my top 100 of last year with “Too Real,” but their singles prior to this one had missed that song’s hook, lacking something to counter the abrasiveness of their music. They’ve found the balance again here with a more melodic guitar line without sacrificing any of their signature sneering.

Ihsahn & Einar Solberg – Manhattan Skyline. So, this is the lead singer/guitarist of the infamous black metal band Emperor, perhaps better known for their support of arsons of old churches in Norway in the 1990s and their drummer’s conviction for murdering a gay man who he thought made a pass at him than for their actual music; and the lead singer and keyboardist for Norwegian prog metal band Leprous. And they’re covering a minor single from a-ha’s second album.

Gojira – Another World. This French heavy metal outfit’s 2016 release Magma was named the best metal album of the decade in a poll of musicians by MetalSucks.net and even earned two Grammy nominations. They’re often called “death metal” but they don’t have that genre’s blast beats, and the vocals here are more shouted than growled or screamed, although if you think this is a distinction without a difference I won’t press the point. Anyway, the guitar riff here is outstanding, rivaling the riff that opens “Stranded” from Magma.

Carcass – The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue. The greatest death-metal band in history will release an EP of new material, Despicable, on October 30th, featuring this brutal six-minute track that goes through what feels like a half-dozen different movements, some of which I could do without but others feature some of the incredible guitar work that has made me a fan of theirs since Heartwork.

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August 9, 2020  ·  No comments yet

Music update, July 2020.

It seems like new music releases might be slowing down now, perhaps a lagged effect of the pandemic, although I still see a half-dozen or more albums coming out in the rest of 2020 that I’m excited to hear. As always, you can listen to the playlist here if you can’t see the Spotify widget below.

The Beths – Dying to Believe. The praise for the Beths’ new album Jump Rope Gazers is a bit ahead of my opinion of the album, which I liked, but wouldn’t say I loved it; they’re so much better when they use their energy and go uptempo.

Doves – Prisoners. That’s two strong tracks of the three singles they’ve released so far off their comeback album, The Universal Want, due out on September 20th.

Space Above featuring Boyboy – Movements. Aaron Short, who records as Space Above, may sound more like early The Naked and Famous, the band Short left, than TNAF does today – and I’m here for it.

The Naked and Famous – Everybody Knows. And here’s the remaining duo, with one of their most melodic songs since their debut album in 2010. Their latest album Recover, features this, last year’s “Sunseeker,” “Death,” and “Bury Us.”

Everything Everything – Violent Sun. This latest single from these British avant-garde rockers definitely grew on me over multiple listens, further reason to be eager for their fifth album, Re-Animator, which drops on September 11th.

Nation of Language – The Wall & I. Nation of Language’s latest album Introduction, Presence came out on May 24th, and closes out with this track, which feels heavily influenced by peak New Order.

Jorja Smith – By Any Means. This was the singer/songwriter’s first single on her own since last year’s hit “Be Honest,” and I hope it signals her sophomore album will come soon.

Black Honey – Beaches. More indie-pop goodness from one of my favorite bands of 2018.

San Cisco – Messages. Scarlett Stevens takes on lead vocals on this very sunny pop track, although I think her lack of vocal depth shows here when she doesn’t have Jordi Davieson to share singing duties.

PAINT – Strange World. This really sounds like a lost Badly Drawn Boy track from 2000. PAINT is Pedrum Siadatian, formerly of the Allah-Las; this is the best track from his first album under the name, Spiritual Vegas.

Inhaler – Fade Into You. It’s tough to cover a song like Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You,” but Inhaler, led by Elijah Hewson (son of Bono), does a very credible job here.

Hinds – Spanish Bombs. A bit of a different sound for the Spanish quartet, maybe a little more polished than their previous output, although that’s kind of a low bar.

Glass Animals – It’s All So Incredibly Loud. This song is wonderfully weird, and has Glass Animals’ trademark use of unusual percussion sounds, and the more I listen to it the more I like it. The synth lines here are relentless.

Serpiko – Sleep State. Nobody seems to know who Serpiko is, but his debut EP, also called Sleep State, has garnered some positive press for its unusual blend of electronic, funk, and jazz elements. This title track is by far the best on the record, meandering in a purposeful way thanks to a persistent percussion line.

The Go-Go’s – Club Zero. Showtime has a new documentary out on the pioneering all-girl pop/rock group, and the quintet recorded this new track to go along with it … and it’s great. Other than Belinda Carlisle’s vocals, you might guess this was something from their peak years.

Ihsahn – Spectre at the Feast. Ihsahn is one of the founding members of the Norwegian black metal band Emperor, probably as well remembered for their involvement in church burnings and for their drummer’s conviction of the murder of a man who solicited him for sex than for their four albums, the last of which came out in 2001. That’s a long way of saying that this track is nothing like Emperor’s music – it’s progressive rock, not really even metal, with clean vocals and some intriguing guitar work.

Pallbearer – Forgotten Days. The champions of American doom metal are back with this title track from their new album, due out October 23rd. This track was labeled (Edit) so I presume a longer version will appear on the full-length LP.

Ensiferum – The Defence of the Sampo. I really enjoy Ensiferum when they stick to the thrash elements more common in Viking metal and go light on the death growls; it’s like listening to strange Norse metal drinking songs.

Mastodon – Fallen Torches. This is on the heavier side for Mastodon, a previously unreleased track that will appear on the band’s forthcoming B-sides and miscellany collection Medium Rarities, which will also include the band’s cover of Metallica’s “Orion.”

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July 2, 2020  ·  5 comments

Music update, June 2020.

June started out very slow for new music but finished with a bang, enough that I ended up culling some songs before posting this playlist, which runs the gamut of genres and features a couple of tracks from some of the best albums of the year so far. As always, if you can’t see the widget below you can access the playlist here.

Khruangbin – Pelota. The Thai funk/jazz/rock trio’s third album, Mordechai, is among the year’s best new records, and it’s their first with significant vocals, which should allow them to make real inroads on the commercial side. I’ll do a list of my favorite albums of the first half of 2020 shortly, but Mordechai is on it.

Doves – Carousels. Doves have reunited and released their first new music since 2009’s Kingdom of Rust. The time off has done them some good, as this sounds like peak Doves around the time of The Last Broadcast.

Bananagun – The Master. This weird Australian funk/alternative group sound a bit like someone smashed together folk rock sensibilities with late ’70s funk-rock or early ’80s new wave on their debut album The True Story of Bananagun. It’s very strange, but it works quite well even at different speeds.

Sad13 – Sooo Bad. Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz is set to release her second solo album as Sad13, with three new singles in the last few weeks, headlined by this track. All three songs are poppier than Speedy Ortiz’s music, but still have her offbeat lyrics and signature use of unexpected transitions.

Frank Turner – Bob. Turner and NOFX recorded covers of five of the other’s songs; I’m not a NOFX guy (although their desire to offend is admirable in a quirky way), but this reworking of a snotty track from their debut album into an acoustic ballad that sounds like Turner could have written it himself is impressive.

The Lazy Eyes – Tangerine. This Sydney quartet just released their first EP, cleverly titled EP1, showcasing a psychedelic rock sound that appears to owe a small debt to their countrymate Tame Impala.

Glass Animals – Heat Waves. I tend to like Glass Animals more when they’re a bit restrained, which they are here, as opposed to songs where it feels like they’re trying to be strange or eccentric.

Arlo Parks – Black Dog. Not a Led Zeppelin cover, as it turns out, although Parks did record an acoustic cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” as the B-side to this love song to a partner (or friend?) suffering from the black dog of depression.

Shamir – On My Own. If you know Shamir, it might be from his 2014 song “On the Regular,” which featured him rapping at a pitch that convinced a lot of people – me included – that the vocalist was a woman. He’s honed his sound in the intervening years to create an expansive mash-up that spans indie rock to classic soul to house and beyond, but I’ve been waiting for years for him to write another great hook. This song has it, along with a mid-80s Prince vibe to the music.

Tricky – Fall Please. Adrian Thaws is still at it at age 52, and still capable of producing a banger like this one, which features vocals from Polish singer Marta Z?akowska. It’s just short (2:27) for a song with such a great groove.

Freddie Gibbs & the Alchemist – Look at Me. Gibbs is probably the best MC working today, and continues to challenge himself musically, although I have a hard time buying in fully given how he speaks about women in his lyrics.

Dirty Streets – Can’t Go Back. Bluesy hard rock from a fairly new Memphis trio whose music I first heard while watching Netflix’s Sex Education. This is one of three tracks from their upcoming fifth album Rough and Tumble.

Muzz – Knuckleduster. Muzz is Paul Banks of Interpol, Matt Barrick of the Walkmen, and producer Josh Kaufman; they released their self-titled debut album in early June. It’s a mixed bag, often too lugubrious, but generally lush and often harking back to early shoegaze with more pronounced vocals.

Coach Party – Bleach. A new indie rock quartet from the Isle of Wight, with this song reminding me a bit of their labelmates Wolf Alice (at least from the latter’s first album).

The Beths – Out of Sight. This New Zealand indie group made a small splash in 2018 with their album Future Me Hates Me, with “You Wouldn’t Like Me” appearing on my top 100 for that year; their second album, Jump Rope Gazers, drops on July 10th.

Everything Everything – Planets. E2 will release RE-ANIMATOR, their fifth album, on August 21st; given the first three singles it seems like it might be their weirdest record yet.

Hinds – Take Me Back. I was into this all-female quartet’s earlier work but sort of assumed they’d get more proficient as musicians over time, so the charm of their first two records has started to wear off a bit now that it’s clear that there isn’t another level coming.

Medium – Life After Death. This isn’t the ’90s Minneapolis band Medium, but a project from musician Cotter Phinney, a big Ariel Pink fan who also professes to be into classic metal solos, with the former more evident on this track.

Protomartyr – Michigan Hammers. If there was a moment in some alternate universe when post-punk started to morph into metal – instead of the two strains descending from different ancestors – the result would have probably sounded a lot like Protomartyr.

Mekong Delta – Mental Entropy. I had no idea Mekong Delta, a minor band from the halcyon days of German thrash metal, even still existed, but they sound like they’re still recording in 1989 and I’m here for it.

Ensiferum – Andromeda. This Finnish folk/death metal act show off some great technical guitar work and strong melodic riffs, but the accessibility of their music varies from song to song – “Rum, Women, and Victory,” their previous single, was way more on the death metal side of things, while this has just a little of that and is more traditional metal, which is still my preference.

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June 11, 2020  ·  No comments yet

Music update, May 2020.

This month’s playlist is as long as usual, but the writeup is shorter because of the draft. I thought it was a pretty solid month for new music though, including several tracks I think will end up near the top of my year-end ranking. If you can’t see the widget below you can access the playlist here.

The Eddy featuring Jorja Smith – Kiss Me in the Morning. I haven’t seen The Eddy, the jazz-themed Netflix show from Damien Chazelle, but this song features the Grammy-nominated Jorja Smith, whose Lost & Found was one of my favorite albums of 2018.

Khruangbin – So We Won’t Forget. I have loved both singles from their forthcoming album Mordechai, due out on June 26th, as they seem like the trio are approaching their artistic peak.

Oasis – Don’t Stop (Demo). It feels like this track, a previously unreleased demo recently rediscovered by Noel Gallagher, first resurfaced six months ago, rather than about six weeks ago. It’s very vintage Oasis, which is a good thing in my book.

Fontaines D.C. – A Hero’s Death. There’s something about the line “Life ain’t always empty,” which these retro-punks repeat throughout the song, during this of all seasons.

Little Simz – might bang, might not. I was a little let down by Little Simz’ EP Drop 6, given how great her 2019 GREY Area was, but she’s still a great rapper and rises above the less interesting music on the new record.

Everything Everything – Arch Enemy. This lead single from their upcoming album Re-Animator – due out in August – is very E2, soaring, ambitious, and slightly manic in its instrumentation.

Maisie Peters – The List. I’m still waiting for the world to catch on to Peters, who just turned 20 in May and already has several incredible pop songs to her credit. This isn’t quite at the heights of “The Best I’ll Ever Sing,” but it’s close.

Ten Fé – Nothing Breaks Like a Heart. I didn’t even realize this was a cover of the Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus song because they’ve so completely changed the song, turning into a haunting acoustic number that’s almost dirge-like with its funereal vibe.

San Cisco – On the Line. Even San Cisco’s lesser singles still have great hooks, like this one, which, like most of their best songs, has Scarlett Stevens sharing some of the vocal duties.

LA Priest – Beginnings. When I first heard this track, I was sure it was something from the former lead singer of Wild Beasts,but it’s actually Sam Dust, whose second album Gene just dropped last week.

Spielbergs – Go! This track, part of Adult Swim’s singles series, captures this Norwegian band at their frenetic best.

The Mysterines – I Win Every Time. The Mysterines should be stars by now, with great rock hooks and Lia Metcalfe’s snarling, riveting vocals.

The Naked and Famous – Death. I mean, maybe now wasn’t the right time to release a song so explicitly about confronting our mortality?

Disclosure – ENERGY. Disclosure burst on the scene with 2013’s “When a Fire Starts to Burn,” which featured a sample of preacher and motivational speaker Eric Thomas; they went back to the well for this title track from their upcoming album, using more of Thomas’ words as the vocals above music that absolutely lives up to the title.

Black Orchid Empire – Natural Selection. I wasn’t familiar with BOE before, but this is my kind of metal, with big, muscular riffs, and a real melody in the vocals.

Caligula’s Horse – Valkyrie. Progressive metal from the Australian band’s newest album, Rise Radiant, released on May 22nd.

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April 3, 2020  ·  No comments yet

Music update, April 2020.

Well, we’re all home now – or ought to be – so let’s listen to some new music, nineteen songs this month, most of which just appeared in March. If you can’t see the widget below you can access the playlist directly here.

Moses Boyd featuring Poppy Ajudha – Shades of You. Boyd’s new album, Dark Matter, is the most interesting record I’ve heard since black midi’s Schlagenheim came out last June, and a lot more accessible at that, often evoking the same hypnotic, avant-garde vibe that Radiohead approached on Kid A and Amnesiac. A jazz drummer and producer, Boyd mixes pulsating instrumentals with tracks that feature guest vocalists, including this song, the album’s best thanks to searing vocal work from the south London singer Ajudha.

Waxahatchee – Can’t Do Much. Katie Crutchfield’s latest album, Saint Cloud, dropped last Friday, and is her most complete work yet, with “Lilacs” and this song the two standouts for me so far.

MID CITY – Forget It. An energetic power-pop track about gaslighting from a Melbourne quartet, with a strong flavor of the Killers circa Hot Fuss.

Artificial Pleasure – Lose Myself Again. I’m not sure exactly what it is about Artificial Pleasure that makes me think I’m listening to Heaven 17 sent forward forty years through a time machine, but I’m here for it.

Purity Ring – peacefall. Purity Ring’s latest album, WOMB, just came out this morning, including this single and February’s “stardew.”

Myrkur – House Carpenter. Myrkur, the nom de chanson of Danish musician Amalie Bruun, started out as a bizarre hybrid of dark folk music and extreme metal, but her latest album, Folkesange (Folk Songs), dispenses with blast beats and heavy guitar work in favor of traditional sounds that wouldn’t be out of place on an album from the Chieftains.

ARCADES featuring Prides – Stars. ARCADES have written numerous hits for K-Pop acts BTS and TXT, with just a few singles they’ve recorded themselves; this latest hit my radar because of the presence of the Scottish duo Prides, whose indie-pop sound blends quite well with ARCADES’ songwriting here.

Phantom Planet – Time Moves On. I remain pleasantly surprised by the return of Phantom Planet, and the fact that their new singles have been pretty good, although I think last year’s “BALISONG” is the best of the lot so far.

Catholic Action – Another Name for Loneliness. Catholic Action’s Celebrated by Strangers has earned some rave reviews from independent music press on both sides of the Atlantic, although I found the album a little light on hooks overall; this is my favorite track from the record, reminding me a bit of “Love Vigilantes” due to the main guitar riff.

Allie X – Sarah Come Home. The singer/model Alexandra Hughes released her second full-length album, a concept work called Cape God, in late February; it’s uneven, as her first album CollXtion II was, with this song the best on the album, an upbeat dance-pop track that contrasts with the darker tones on the record as a whole.

Adam Snow, Freddie Gibbs, Tedy Andreas – 9 to 5. Producer Snow’s name comes first, but Gibbs is the star here; the moment Houston rapper Andreas shows up he sucks most of the energy right out of the track, although I enjoyed his name-check of my former colleague Dan Le Batard.

Alkaline Trio – Minds like Minefields. Alkaline Trio released a three-song EP in March just called E.P. after their spring tour was cancelled, with this anthemic punk-pop track released as a single.

The Wants – Motor. This NYC trio show some heavy post-punk influence, unsurprising as lead singer/guitarist Madison Velding-VanDam has spoken about his love of Gang of Four. “Motor” was originally an instrumental track, but the spoken-word vocals that appear about halfway through definitely add to the song’s appeal by breaking what might have been a bit of a monotonous guitar riff otherwise.

Fake Names – Brick. Fake Names is a punk supergroup with members of Refused, Bad Religion, Minor Threat, and other bands. This lead single from their upcoming, self-titled album isn’t even two minutes long but is definitely a throwback to the heyday of melodic hardcore acts like BR and the Descendents.

Poppy – Concrete. I have no idea what to make of Poppy, a singer and Youtube personality who blends bubblegum and J-Pop elements with brief bursts of highly polished heavy metal. She has a fan base that’s independent of her music, based on her videos, her graphic novels, and I think her overall persona; I obviously am not in tune with any of that, but this song is weirdly catchy even though it feels like two completely disconnected tracks that have been smushed together in post-production.

Moon Destroys featuring Paul Masvidal – Stormbringer. Moon Destroys are a new progressive metal project with former members of Royal Thunder and Torche, with a new sound that blends prog and stoner/sludge metal sounds. Their first single featured Troy Sanders of Mastodon, while this has Paul Masvidal of Cynic on vocals … speaking of which, I just learned that former Cynic and Death drummer Sean Reinert died in January at age 48, which is awful news.

Wolf – Feeding the Machine. The title track from Wolf’s first album in six years shows that not much has changed for these guys, who seem firmly stuck in the late 1980s musically, with classic thrash sounds that would have fit well in the San Francisco sounds of that era.

Kreator – 666 – World Divided. Mille Petrozza’s voice has taken a beating – he sounds older than 52 on this track – but these guys can still bang out thrash riffs with the best of them.

Testament – Children of the Next Level. Testament just released their 13th studio album, Titans of Creation, this morning; I feel about this record as I have about most of their music in the last decade, that guitarist Alex Skolnick is still an iconic author of thrash riffs, and a tremendous shredder, but the songs all leave me a little short of compelling hooks. I like Testament, but I don’t attach to their songs the way I have with many of the other pioneers of thrash.

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March 6, 2020  ·  2 comments

Music update, February 2020.

February was absolutely loaded with great new music, including two albums that I think will end up on a lot of best-of-2020 lists and a bunch of new singles from artists I really like, including one I haven’t even thought about in 20 years. This post is a bit short because I have some non-work things to deal with today/this weekend but the playlist (here on Spotify) is 90 minutes and 23 songs long.

Grimes – Delete Forever. Grimes – or c, or whatever name Elon Musk told her to use this week – may be a bit out there at the moment, but Miss Anthopocene, her first album since 2015’s stellar Art Angels, is ambitious and smart and manages to be compelling even with a lot of tonal shifts from her prior work.

Waxahatchee – Lilacs. This is about as close to country music as I ever get. Katie Crutchfield’s upcoming album Saint Cloud is apparently about her decision to get sober. This is one of the best songs she’s ever done.

Tame Impala – Breathe Deeper. I need to listen to it some more but I think Slow Rush might be my favorite Tame Impala album. Kevin Parker really can’t help himself with the six-minute songs, though.

Soul Asylum – Got It Pretty Good. I really liked Soul Asylum up to and including Grave Dancers Union, but they went off the rails right after “Runaway Train” (which I never liked) became a hit. It’s been 28 years since that album came out, Dave Pirner is about to turn 56, and this song absolutely rocks.

The Mysterines – Love’s Not Enough. This Wirral, England rock trio is my sleeper pick for 2020, almost entirely because of Lia Metcalfe’s vocals.

San Cisco – Reasons. I was wondering just a few weeks ago if we were going to hear from this Australian indie-pop trio, and here they are with a great track that would fit right in on pop radio in just about any of the last four decades.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Be Afraid. Is this Isbell’s first appearance on my playlists? I believe it is.

Lauren Ruth Ward – Water Sign. There’s something vaguely menacing about Ward’s vocals on many of her songs, but it plays up even more over the doom-like guitars here.

Wild Nothing – The World is a Hungry Place. This is the best song they’ve done since 2012’s Nocturne, and also a return to the mood of that album.

Chromatics – TOY. This was a surprise single, since Chromatics just released their first album in seven years back in October, and this track wasn’t on it. There’s a serious MGMT vibe to the music under Ruth Radelet’s typical whispery vocals.

Working Men’s Club – White Rooms and People. The vocals here are definitely an acquired taste, but the build from the funk guitar work in the verse to the synth-heavy new-wavey chorus is intoxicating.

Talk Show – Stress. The London post-punk quartet’s debut EP, These People, is due out at the end of this month.

Purity Ring – stardew. The Canadian duo’s first new song in three years has a more upbeat melody than much of their music, which I think better suits Megan James’ often childlike vocal style.

Disclosure feat. Eko Roosevelt – Tondo. It’s a new song from the Grammy-winning duo, but it’s barely more than a remix of Cameroonian musician Roosevelt’s “Tondoho Mba,” which was released last year on a compilation by the French DJ Guts.

Christine and the Queens – I disappear in your arms. Less than two years after her acclaimed album Chris, Christine put out an unexpected five-song EP, La Vita Nuova, featuring this track, yet another pop banger with a sinister keyboard line behind a great vocal melody.

Jackie Venson – Make Me Feel. I found it impossible not to compare this song to the Janelle Monáe track of the same name, and think how Venson shows the musical ambition I wanted Monáe to bring to her last record. I will say the whispered “walk with him” part at the end is kind of creepy, though.

Glass Animals – Your Love (Déjà Vu). I either love Glass Animals tracks (“Life Itself”) or hate them (“Gooey”), but their percussion sounds are always interesting. This track is in the former category.

MICH – Ceiling Duty. I know next to nothing about this band other than that they’re from Amsterdam, there are four of them, and this song sounds like shoegaze meets jangly college rock from the early 1990s.

Do Nothing – Fits. They’re not quite punk, not really post-punk, definitely sneering, yet still give us a nod to melody in the chorus.

Sløtface – Passport. Sorry for the late reply is a bit more uneven than their debut but still has a few pop-punk standout tracks like this one.

Throwing Muses – Dark Blue. A bit of an obligatory inclusion, although I’m impressed that Kristen Hersh is still churning out music this dark nearly 40 years into her career.

Aktor – Bad Mirror. Very New Wave of British Heavy Metal here, although the rest of the album (Placebo) can veer into harsher territory.

Toundra – VI. Akt. Toundra’s instrumental, progressive metal is usually interesting but they’re asking a lot with their new album, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, a series of six ten-minute tracks that often slow the tempo down well beyond what we expect of this style of music.

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February 7, 2020  ·  No comments yet

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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