On paper, one of my worst music-listening habits is my tendency to play the same thing on repeat for days a time. I get clocked for it by observant friends who follow my Spotify and anyone who might ask what I’ve been listening to lately. In my defense, when a song or an album is good/inspiring/impactful enough, why not immerse yourself? However, it does come at the expense of keeping up with new releases. So, this (hopefully) monthly playlist is an intentional step towards actually listening to new music and piecing together the past 30 days with the songs I had on heavy rotation.
Liner Notes:
- Lucy Dacus, Historian
- Her voice is sort of unassuming because of its sleepiness. Somehow, it’s powerful at the same time. And she’s so YOUNG.
- Labelmates and friends with Julien Baker. Hot take: I prefer Lucy.
- The Voidz, Virtue
- Their debut album came out at a time in my life where Julian Casablancas was basically my sun. Things have cooled off since then, but know that this is still coming from the heart.
- It’s such an ideal progression from debut to sophomore albums. It’s more accessible and way more polished than Tyranny, but it stays sonically diverse and experimental enough to maintain the spirit of the Voidz project.
- Pink Ocean!! We’re Where We Were!! More standout tracks.
- Young Fathers, Cocoa Sugar
- Today, genre lines matter less and less, but after listening to the Scottish “experimental hip-hop” group’s new album, all those labels are blown out of the water.
- Really good rhythms and unconventional song structures make it an album you want to pay attention to.
- “Don’t you turn my brown eyes blue” is a really good line.
- Vince Staples
- Noteworthy for his Twitter presence alone.
- GUM and Barbagallo
- I spent the summer of 2013 exhausting all YouTube had to offer on Perth rock band Tame Impala, side and solo projects included. Know that this is also coming from the heart.
- Both of these songs are good updates to their previous releases. Jay Watson embracing heavier funkier sounds with the psychedelic thing he’s always had.
- AHJ, Francis Trouble
- Delivers emotion, urgency, and action on a track like “Muted Beatings.”
- A lot of satisfying, vaguely classical-sounding melodies on songs like “Set to Attack” and “Tea for Two.”
- He puts on a such good live show. It’s energetic on stage and in the audience. It almost feels wrong to refer to him as “one of the guitarists from the Strokes” while he’s putting out such good work.
- The Garden, Mirror Might Steal Your Charm
- The music that the Shears twins have been putting out for the past few years has been varied. This album manages to capture a good range of it, including tracks that highlight their homemade beats and tracks that are just bass and drums, calling back to the first music of theirs that I stumbled on.
- Good album title.
- serpentwithfeet, “bless ur heart”
- Pay attention.
- Yaeji, “Passionfruit”
- Every cover of Passionfruit that I’ve heard is better than the original. Why would Yaeji be an exception?
- PC Music
- I listened to a lot more PC Music than the three songs I’ve included here, but I’ll spare you the headache. This is a promising future for pop music.
- MGMT
- I’ve tried to get down with the self-titled album, but I think I’ll always write it off as a musical exercise for MGMT. Especially after listening to LDA, which is such a well-crafted, cohesive work that still maintains MGMT humor and fantasy. It feels like Oracular Spectacular grew up and I love it.
- Speaking of growing up, I saw them live and witnessed the cultural powerhouse that is “Electric Feel.” Unprecedented.
- Sixteen Jackies
- I first saw them live in February, when they were opening for Ceramic Animal. For a band that I’d never heard of, their set was electrifying. Plus they’re from Philly, which I can always get behind.
- Shameless promo but we had them in the live room at the end of March! Listen to the set here. They’re worth it.
- The Marias
- I saw them open for AHJ, they made First Unitarian feel a lot sexier than a literal church basement.
- The vintage-smoky-velvet-70s description of their music would make me want to cringe, but it’s so spot on that I can’t complain. Their EP sounds like it’s out of a dream.
