→ June 11, 2020
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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
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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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→ 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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→ 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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→ September 3, 2019
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Music update, August 2019.

Some of it might be the presence of five Fridays in the month, but August was exceptionally strong for new music – I had over 30 tracks on the first draft of this list and ended up with 25 songs on a playlist that runs over 90 minutes. As always, if you can’t see the widget below, you can access the playlist directly here.

Ceremony – Further I Was. The punk-turned-new wave band’s latest album, In the Spirit World Now, dropped this month and is one of my top ten albums of the year, with this, the title track, and “Presaging the End” among the standout tracks.

The New Pornographers – The Surprise Knock. Two good new songs from TNP, with this and “Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile,” ahead of their upcoming album In the Morse Code of Brake Lights, due out September 27th.

Ride – Jump Jet. The shoegaze pioneers’ second album in three years, This is Not a Safe Place, also came out last month, with this, “Future Love,” and “Repetition my favorite tracks from a solid if somewhat inconsistent record

Good Fuck – Flow Flow. If the goal was to create a band name that was both ungoogleable and something you couldn’t say on the radio, well, this is it … but damn is this song, a rec from reader and musician Andrew M., catchy as hell, between the guitar riff and the pulsing beat.

Vivian Girls – Something to Do. I never got into the Vivs or even heard much of their music before their breakup, but I’m enjoying their reunion so far, with loud and fast guitar tracks like this.

Artificial Pleasure/JYLDA – Boys Grow Up. An homage to classic New Wave with a strong dash of Britpop, here boosted by backup vocals by JYLDA. They’re quickly becoming one of my favorite bands.

Dry Cleaning – Magic of Meghan. I can’t decide if this band name is ridiculous, funny, obnoxious, or some combination thereof. Their sing-talking style is not really my thing, but this was the one track on their Sweet Princess EP that muted that aspect and let the music come through.

Declan McKenna – British Bombs. I did not like “Brazil” but I’m into this angry protest track over the UK’s role in the ongoing genocide in the Yemen.

Miss June – Anomaly. Power-pop from New Zealand who made a modest splash with “Best Girl” earlier this year and have followed it with Bad Luck Party, including this very mid-90s alternative radio kind of track.

Death Cab for Cutie – To the Ground. A slow-building, tense track from DCFC ahead of the release of The Blue EP on Saturday.

Sleater-Kinney – LOVE. Sleater-Kinney came back from a lengthy hiatus in 2015 with No Cities to Love, a rock album that was more polished than their previous efforts but still clearly their sound. Their new record The Center Won’t Hold was produced by St. Vincent, and it’s a departure, particularly in their use of electronic elements for the percussion; I’m not surprised Janet Weiss decided to leave the band after their “new direction.” Weiss was in a serious car accident in early August; fans donated over $60,000 to a GoFundMe to help pay her medical bills.

Two Door Cinema Club – Once. This might be my favorite 2DCC track ever; it certainly is the most immediately catchy of theirs.

John Coltrane – Blue World. This is the title track from a lost Coltrane album, recorded in 1964 for a French art film. I’m not a jazz aficionado by any means but if you asked me to put on a jazz album, it’d be Giant Steps.

Jorja Smith feat. Burna Boy – Be Honest. Smith’s Lost and Found was one of my favorite albums last year; this single, featuring the Nigerian rapper Burna Boy, might be a one-off but has already hit the top 20 in the UK, once again showing off the R&B singer’s strong, highly expressive voice.

Mike Epps with Big Boi and Sleepy Brown – We Goin’ Out. I only knew of Mike Epps as a comedian, but he’s released a few singles and even an album of rap songs; this song is just fun, bouncy like some mid-80s funk tracks, with the always-worthwhile Big Boi contributing a verse.

BROCKHAMPTON – BOY BYE. I haven’t checked out the whole album, Ginger, yet, but I’ve liked the two singles I’ve heard so far.

Floating Points – Last Bloom. More compelling, hypnotic, intelligent instrumental EDM from Floating Points ahead of his second album, Crush, due out in October.

Sleeper – More than I Do. I liked Sleeper quite a bit during their Britpop heyday, especially “Nice Guy Eddie” and “Statuesque,” and included the lead single from this album on my January playlist, but missed their comeback album The Modern Age, their first in 22 years. This track and that prior single both sound shockingly like their old stuff – amazing after a hiatus of that length.

Bat for Lashes – Jasmine. The always-compelling Natasha Khan releases her new album Lost Girls on September 6th.

Chelsea Wolfe – Be All Things. Wolfe’s weird blend of folk and metal caught my attention a few years ago with Hiss Spun, but the two lead singles ahead of Birth of Violence, due out September 13th, have eschewed the extreme metal aspects in favor of highly atmospheric vocals and slow-picked guitars.

Here Lies Man – Long Legs (Look Away). I generally like HLM’s style of blues-rock anyway, but this is very funky to the point that it feels like a dance track.

Sacred Reich – Salvation. Sacred Reich were always in the second tier of American thrash acts, never breaking through even to the extent of a Testament or Vio-lence. They reunited a few years ago, but their just-released Awakening is their first new album in 23 years, and first since the death of founding guitarist Jeff Martinek. It also won’t include their other founding guitarist Jason Rainey, who stepped down due to health reasons in February.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Mars for the Rich. King Gizzard just released their second album of the year, this one full of old-school metal tracks ranging from bluesy, tracks like this to some outright thrash paeans.

Alcest – Protection. Alcest’s Kodama was my top metal album of 2016 for its blend of death metal and shoegaze; this first track from the French duo’s upcoming LP seems to drift further back into the metal direction after they veered harder into shoegaze with their previous two releases.

Insomnium – Valediction. The Finnish melodic death metallers return with a track that is highly melodic, almost catchy, while also bringing their trademark melancholic lyrics and strong guitar work.

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→ July 3, 2019
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Music update, June 2019.

Solid month in June for new music from some old favorites, plus three singles here from albums released before June that I’ve especially enjoyed (whenyoung, YONAKA, the Amazons). The first song here gets the closest thing I’ve done to a full album review in many years, but it deserved the time. As always, if you can’t see the Spotify widget below you can access the playlist here.

black midi – Reggae. black midi are the critical flavor of the month after their debut album, Schlagenheim, appeared in June, to effusive acclaim … and it’s true, the album 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. I don’t think it’s my favorite album of 2019, but it is the most interesting by far.

Sløtface – Telepathetic. These Norwegian punk-popsters are back with yet another frenetic, extremely catchy song with quirky lyrics.

YONAKA – Rockstar. YONAKA’s debut full-length Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow is full of catchy songs with smart lyrics about toxic masculinity and modern culture, but this is a diversion, a lighter song with great hooks.

whenyoung – A Labour of Love. The Irish trio whenyoung’s debut album Reasons to Dream is probably my favorite album of the year. I can’t escape the automatic comparison in my head to the first Cranberries album – Aoife Power’s accent evokes Dolores O’Riordan – but there’s more depth here, including tempo shifts and rapid jumps from low to high as you’ll find in this song.

Phantogram – Into Happiness. This is the first Phantogram song I’ve liked where Josh Carter sings; any other song by them that I’ve ever included on a playlist had Sarah Barthel singing alone. I assume this is a precursor to a new album, which would be their first since 2016.

The Regrettes – I Dare You. Critics seem to tag The Regrettes, led by 18-year-old singer/guitarist Lydia Night, as a punk band, but this song could just as easily have come from The Strokes’ catalog.

Metronomy – Salted Caramel Ice Cream. So I thought this was a different band, then pulled up the song on Spotify and realized I had the wrong group but really liked the track. It’s kind of wonderfully silly, and the electronic trappings mask the fact that it’s a basic 12-bar blues pattern.

Temples – Hot Motion. Temples has made my year-end top 100s twice before, with 2013’s “Colours to Life” and 2017’s “Certainty,” although if you know anything by them it’s probably their first hit, “Shelter Song.” The sound here is similarly retro, with a strong dose of psychedelia, with a jangly guitar riff driving the song.

Belle & Sebastian – Sister Buddha. This is the first single from B&S’s upcoming soundtrack to the film Days of the Bagnold Summer, a comedy due out in September from actor Simon Bird.

Floating Points – LesAlpx. Floating Points is neuroscientist and electronic musician Sam Shepherd, whose 2015 album Elaenia was a masterful work of experimental, sparse electronica. This new single seems more accessible and more in line with current trends in EDM, but it’s no less compelling.

Goodie Mob feat. Organized Noise – No Rain No Rainbow. Goodie Mob aren’t just founders of the Dirty South scene, they made the term mainstream in their 1995 song of that name. They’ve only released one album in the 15 years since Cee-Lo first departed the group (he returned in 2011), and this single appeared without any announcement of a forthcoming record. It’s pretty strong for a group that’s barely put out any music in two decades, although I can’t include them without at least acknowledging Cee-Lo’s problematic history: a woman accused him of slipping a drug into her drink and raping her, which led to him pleading no contest to charges of supplying her with ecstasy (but no charges for rape).

Spoon – No Bullets Spent. A solid album track from Spoon from their upcoming Everything Hits at Once: The Best of Spoon.

The Wants – Clearly a Crisis. A new Brooklyn alternative-rock trio, the Wants deliver a funk-tinged slice of post-punk on their newest single, like something captured in the fleeting moments before post-punk decayed fully into new wave.

LIFE – Hollow Thing. We’re really just calling everyone a punk band now, aren’t we? There’s a punk influence here, but this Hull-based quartet, who toured with actual punk band IDLES, are definitely more in the “snotty English rock band” vein – and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Thrice – A Better Bridge. Thrice’s A Deeper Wells EP includes cuts from the Palms sessions that didn’t make the album, but if anything I think I like several tracks from the EP more than the songs that likely took their place.

The Amazons – Dark Visions. Future Dust, the Amazons’ second full-length album, dropped in May, and it’s a big move forward from their debut, as the great guitar work from their 2017 single “Black Magic” is all over this new record.

Lightning Born – Renegade. Lightning Born features Corrosion of Conformity bassist Mike Dean, but this is more vocalist Brenna Leath and guitarist Erik Sugg’s show, with a clear ’70s classic metal influence all over this two-and-a-half minute track.

Pallbearer – Atlantis. American doom stalwarts Pallbearer haven’t announced plans for a new album yet, but they released this one-off track as part of the Sub Pop Singles series.

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→ June 2, 2019
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Music update, May 2019.

Huge month for new music, boosted by the presence of five Fridays (the day most new music appears online now). I’ve tried to organize the playlist a little by genre, so the two rap songs and five metal songs are towards the end if you don’t share my interest in those styles. If you can’t access the playlist widget below you can go directly to the Spotify link.

Of Monsters and Men – Alligator. The Icelandic stars will release their third album, Fever Dream, on July 26th, their first new album since 2015. This song seems to signal a more rock-oriented and lusher sound, which would be a welcome shift after their last album, Beneath the Skin, which was very good but more sedate.

WOOZE – I’ll Have What She’s Having. So I added this track to my running playlist before realizing that WOOZE is half of the band Screaming Peaches, previously known as Movie, who appeared at #31 on my top 100 songs of 2014 with “Mr. Fist.” This song and WOOZE’s entire EP is more bouncy, flamboyant, faintly ridiculous pop goodness.

The Ninth Wave – First Encounters. A Glaswegian quartet with members who sound like they came straight out of the same post-punk, synth-heavy new wave movement that gave us Joy Division, The Cure, or Heaven 17.

whenyoung – The Others. This Irish trio’s debut album, Reasons to Dream, dropped on May 24th, featuring this track and the single “Future,” albeit none of the tracks from their 2018 EP. I really like Aiofe Power’s voice (and accent) regardless of song style or tempo, but they’re never getting away from Cranberries comparisons with her singing.

The Mysterines – Gasoline. This new post-punk trio is led by singer-guitarist Lia Metcalfe, whose voice is snarling and captivating, especially on the earworm chorus “I just love to hate you.”

Johnny Hostile feat. Jehnny Beth – Let It Out. Johnny Hostile is a music producer who produced the Savages’ two albums to date; Savages singer Jehnny Beth is Hostile’s partner, and the two collaborated to score an upcoming documentary on Chelsea Manning called Chelsea XY. This is the lead single from the soundtrack, a dark atmospheric number that also shows another side of Beth’s vocals.

Holly Herndon – Frontier. Herndon is a musician and “sound artist” who co-created an AI program called Spawn to help write and record her new album Proto. Her statement on the record said that she “assembled a contemporary ensemble of vocalists, developers and an inhuman intelligence housed in a DIY souped-up gaming PC to create a record that encompasses live vocal processing and timeless folk singing, and places an emphasis on alien song craft and new forms of communion.” You go parse that sentence while I move on to the next track.

black midi – Talking Heads. Black MIDI is a weird subgenre of online music where the MIDI files in question contain so many notes that, if you displayed it on sheet music it would be almost solid black, meaning it’s impossible for a human to play. The band black midi don’t go to those extreme, but these four British lads – they look like teenagers – have turned out some fascinating, difficult, experimental music that seems to draw upon math rock as well as art-punk icons like Television and Suicide.

Phantom Planet – BALISONG. They’re back, sans Jason Silverman, although I don’t think their sound has changed all that much even with the hiatus.

Cœur De Pirate – Ne m’appelle pas. It’s been less than a year since her last album, but Béatrice Martin just dropped the very Europop-style new single, along with an inventive video that also shows a more playful side of her than her prior musical output ever suggested.

Charly Bliss – Young Enough. I don’t do a lot of straight pop on these playlists, but the title track from this Brooklyn band’s second album is a strong, smart, and unusually long pop song that I think is a harbinger that they’re going to break out this summer.

Hatchie – Obsessed. More dream-pop goodness from Hatchie, whose debut album Keepsake comes out on June 21st.

Joy Williams – When Creation Was Young. Williams’ second solo album since the end of The Civil Wars, Front Porch, came out on May 3rd. “Canary” remains my top track from this album, although this is a solid second.

The National – Rylan. The National’s latest album, I Am Easy to Find, feels like a huge stylistic departure for the band – you can certainly hear singer Matt Berninger better than before, but he’s also no longer the gravitational singularity at the heart of every song. This is one of the more conventional tracks on the record, but I think it takes the kind of melody the National have done and pairs it with vocals that no longer detract from the music.

The Raconteurs – Help Me Stranger. Jack White’s side projects, at their best, serve as reminders of what a magnetic guitarist he can be.

YONAKA – Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow. I’ve had a handful of YONAKA songs on playlists the last few years, with “Creature” and “Teach Me to Fight” on my top 100 songs of 2018 and “Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya” on my top 100 of 2017, but their debut album, Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow, just came out on Friday, with this title track and “Creature” both on the record. Their sound has matured even over the two years since I first heard of them, although lead singer Theresa Jarvis’ strong vocals are still the centerpiece.

Imperial Teen – We Do What We Do Best. I had no idea Imperial Teen, which features Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum on lead vocals and guitar, was still active after its brief ’90s peak with “You’re One” and “Yoo Hoo,” but they have a new single out, their first since 2012, and it sounds like it could have come from 1996’s Seasick.

Sleater-Kinney – Hurry On Home. We’re just not going to talk about the cover photo.

Safer – Good Things. Mattie Safer, a founding member of The Rapture who left that group in 2009, has a new band under his surname, with this first single more rock-tinged but still in the dance/funk vein that his other projects have also incorporated.

Lower Dens – Young Republicans. The Baltimore indie-pop duo are back with a rather unsubtle commentary on modern American politics.

The Amazons – End Of Wonder. The British quartet’s latest album, Future Dust, came out on May 24th, and features more of the muscular guitar-driven sound that they had on previous singles like “Black Magic” but didn’t hold through entire albums.

White Reaper – Might Be Right. White Reaper just signed to Elektra Records and released this new single. There’s no word of a new album, although with a heavy summer touring schedule, there’s probably one coming.

The Hives – I’m Alive. The Hives have released just one album in the last dozen years, 2012’s Lex Hives, but they’re back together – without longtime bassist Dr. Matt Destruction – with this new single. It’s not “Hate to Say I Told You So” or even “Walk Idiot Walk,” but it’s promising.

Wu-Tang Clan – Seen a Lot of Things (feat. Ghostface Killah, Raekwon & Harley). The Killer Bees released an EP to go along with the four-part Showtime documentary on the group, Of Mics and Men; this is the strongest track on the record.

Flying Lotus feat. Anderson .Paak – More. Flying Lotus isn’t really my jam, but I do like Anderson .Paak’s voice, and this is the best track from either of their new albums, which both came out within the last eight weeks.

Sky Valley Mistress – You Got Nothin’. This new British group headed by Kayley Davies gets comps to Led Zeppelin, but I don’t think that’s apt for this song, which is bluesy but in more of a bar-band sense than Zeppelin’s progressive reworking of blues classics.

Black Mountain – Licensed to Drive. Black Mountain go a little heavier than their normal psychedelic-rock here with a dark, metal riff driving (pun intended) this intricate track from their latest album, Destroyer, which came out on May 24th.

Paladin – Awakening. A new band from Atlanta who are producing unapologetically old sounds – this is dead-on 1980s classic thrash in the vein of Flotsam and Jetsam, Vio-lence, or early Testament.

Death Angel – The Pack. Speaking of which, these Bay Area thrash icons seem utterly unapologetic that their sound hasn’t changed in thirty years, and I’m here for it. Humanicide, their ninth full-length, dropped on Friday.

Sabaton – Fields of Verdun. I do like the song, but there’s no way I can hear this chorus as anything other than “feels overdone.”

Destruction – Born To Perish. One of the leaders of the Teutonic thrash scene, Destruction have been at it since 1982, but this song sounds remarkably fresh – it’d fit right in with their ’80s peak, or with the best stuff from their German compatriots Kreator.

Memoriam – Undefeated. I thought this was going to be a one-off project – the band’s name was a tribute to Martin Kearns, the late drummer of British death metal icons Bolt Thrower – but they’re about to release their third album in as many years. Karl Willets (also of Bolt Thrower) has a difficult vocal style to take, but I’m into the heavy riffing behind his growls, darker than thrash but not impenetrable like Bolt Thrower’s grindcore origins.

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→ April 2, 2019
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Music update, March 2019.

March was a big month for new albums, but I’d say just average for new singles. I had included a bunch of other tracks by groups like Hotel Lux and FEET and Sad Planets and Blood Cultures but decided to move the bar up a little bit and keep this playlist tighter. As always, if you can’t see the widget below you can access the Spotify playlist directly here.

Dinosaur Pile-Up – Thrash Metal Cassette. Dinosaur Pile-Up made has one appearance on my monthly playlists, landing at #28 on my top 100 songs of 2016 with “Nothing Personal,” a hard-rocker that reminded me of peak Nirvana. This song is catcher and much snottier, and I love it, even the screaming in the chorus, because it seems to perfectly capture a mood and a moment that I remember but I can’t believe these English lads – all a good bit younger than I am – actually do.

Crows – Wednesday’s Child. I’ve gotten halfway through Crows’ new album, Silver Tongues, and so far it’s really strong, best categorized as post-hardcore but with some wiggle room in that label. The title track is also strong.

Foals – In Degrees. Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost is shaping up to be my favorite Foals album ever

Talk Show – Fast and Loud. This is not the Stone Temple Pilots side project of the same name, but a new quartet from London’s Peckham district with members who seem too young to be producing music that would fit alongside early post-punk icons like Gang of Four (who appear below) and Wire.

Big Thief – UFOF. These folk-rockers were critical darlings in 2016 around the release of their debut album Masterpiece, but I found the songs off that album and its followup Capacity too tame and uninspiring. This title track from their forthcoming third album is my favorite song by the group so far.

Anteros – Let It Out. Anteros’ singles so far have mostly been power-pop gems, but this is a slow burn of a track with backing strings, a huge crescendo, and a showcase for singer Laura Hayden.

The Faint – Source of the Sun. I’ve heard a lot of songs over the last fifteen years from The Faint, but I’ve found their music more interesting than memorable; other than “Southern Belles in London Sing” I don’t think I would recognize any song you played for me from the band. They’ve also turned to a completely different sound with this new album, Egowork, or at least I never thought of them as this sort of indie-electronic outfit. The droning hook in the chorus puts this one over the line for me, and I appreciate the dark, almost gothic feel to the sparse backing music.

Two Door Cinema Club – Talk. 2DCC can be too poppy for me, but this is just the right amount of poppy.

Ten Fé – Coasting. Ten Fé’s second album in two years, Future Perfect, Present Tense, 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.”

Modest Mouse – Poison the Well. I have a very clear line when it comes to Modest Mouse songs – I like them or I can’t stand them. I like this one.

Honeyblood – Glimmer. I didn’t realize until I wrote up this post that Honeyblood is a solo project – it’s guitarist/singer Stina Tweeddale, who parted ways with her drummer Cat Myers in February and decided to continue on her own. The indie-rocker, who writes with a strong sense of melody, will release her third album under the Honeyblood name, In Plain Sight, in May.

Gang Of Four – Change The Locks. If you’d told me after 2011’s Content that Gang of Four would continue without singer Jon King, I would probably have said thanks, I’m good, but new singer John Sterry has filled in admirably and guitarist Andy Gill has managed to keep enough of the band’s signature song while also evolving so they don’t sound dated. None of this will make you forget Entertainment! but this is another very credible, catchy single from the band, this one ahead of their crowdfunded album Happy for Now.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Boogieman Sam. If you’re one of those people who told me I was wrong to denigrate Greta Van Fleet as a Kingdom Come cover band, well, I was right, but also, here’s proof I don’t mind bands that quaffed deeply of the blues-rock icons of the 1960s and 1970s – but King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard do so without sounding so derivative.

Freddie Gibbs with Madlib & Agent Sasco – Bandana. Gibbs is one of the best MCs I’ve heard in contemporary American rap, both for flow and lyrical content (warning, this ain’t for the kids), although some of his more adventurous projects since Pinata haven’t hit my ears the same way. “Bandana,” however, is scorching. Agent Sasco is the Jamaican DJ formerly known as Assassin. Yes, I had to look that up.

Jafaris – Stride. Ever heard an Irish rapper before? Jafaris is indeed from Dublin, a person of color from a country with a population that’s just 1% black, although I’d never guess his Irish roots from his flow. His debut album, also called Stride, just dropped last week.

Skryptor – Raga. Progressive, instrumental metal from three industry veterans, whose debut album Luminous Volumes has seven songs ranging in length from 58 seconds to over 9 minutes.

Diamond Head – Belly of the Beast. I had no idea these NWOBHM stalwarts had a new lead singer and released an album in 2016, but they did, and now they’re back with this lead single from what will be their eighth studio album in forty years, going back to 1980’s seminal Lightning to the Nations, which gave us “Am I Evil?” and “The Prince.”

Fury – Angels Over Berlin. This relatively new hardcore act from Orange County just put out this two-sided single, with this the B side but more accessible than the more grating A-side “Vacation.”

Amon Amarth – Raven’s Flight. Amon Amarth do very competent, safe – I know it’s odd to use that term in this context – melodic death metal with Viking lyrical themes. I tend to like just about all of their riffing, but would probably put them in the second tier, not up with groups like Tribulation, Children of Bodom, and At the Gates.

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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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