Lil Nas and Big Noise
Before The Music
So, it's once again New Music Friday and I'm sitting here trying to figure out what my goal is this week. Do I want to keep writing about everything that's on here or do I want to just pick a few highlights? I've heard some people say that they like hearing my thoughts on each track and I've heard others say that although they like the idea of it, it's often too much for them to actually make time for. Let me know your thoughts. I want to keep this approachable, so I'm experimenting with paring it down a little this week.
Featured Album
I didn't have time to listen to any of these records in full before getting rolling today, so there's no featured album this week. If there was going to be one, though, it'd probably be the slow build of Iowa based emo band Bouquet's debut EP. You'll find them towards the end of the playlist, and as a baby band fronted by Nick Booth of AVOID., I'd personally love it if y'all gave the full EP a run. They deserve the world.
What We've Got In Store
I'm really jazzed about this playlist. It's safer than a lot of what I've featured in the past, but does hold a few surprises for those of you who want something that sits a bit closer to left field. Specifically, I think Xeno & Oaklander will be a fun treat for a bunch of you. There's a lot of loud music this week, too. Feel free to skip around if you hear something that's clearly not for you, but I've tried to present primarily stuff that has some element of interest besides being a standard-issue release in their respective genres. Keep an eye out for Hawthorne Heights reimagining their post-hardcore classic Ohio Is For Lovers with the help of emo hyperpop artist Siiickbrain.
Of course, we've also got Lil Nas X, St. Vincent, Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, and a track from... Dear Evan Hansen. Yeah. I know. Oh, and I close it on Taylor Swift, so that you chumps will stick around until the end.
Let's stop dawdling. In the words of the great(?) Steven Curtis Chapman: I'm diving in.
The Playlist - Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp
I don't need to say much about Lil Nas X, except to remind you that the record is finally out and there's a lot of shit on YouTube to keep you busy with this one. Your Broken Hero is the new emo project from ex-It Boys member Matt Cutshall, and this track features Spencer Chamberlain from Underoath with a massive vocal delivery that feels like it's straight off They're Only Chasing Safety in all the best ways. And then we've got Foster The People with a piano-heavy track from the ten-year anniversary deluxe re-release of Torches, which honestly threw me for a loop, since it does not sound like what I think of when I think of that record. This record came out when I was a cishet dude in bible college. Bury me now.
This paragraph is a trio of loud shit. Silent Planet is back with another single from their upcoming full length, where they play with ambient pads going into a giant fucking wall of sound reminiscent of their forefathers in Underoath and contemporaries in Caspian. Next is Thrice with a bass guitar heavy track from their full LP Horizons / East, which I talked about in some length last week Stick around for the vocally layered ending. And then Bring Me The Horizon is here to once again bring us digital and electronic shit while Oli sings sweetly, making us forget even more solidly about their deathcore roots. Sike. Just kidding, we get a good scream or two here, though I do long for either more infectious choruses or bigger breakdowns. I'll check myself into the home, it's fine.
If you don't like the harsh stuff, you can tune back in now, as I bring you Dolly Parton and José Feliciano redoing Dolly's classic Eagle When She Flies. You just can't hate this shit. Things that you might hate, though, include St. Vincent's new mockumentary The Nowhere Inn made with Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia, Sleater Kinney). Here's the slightly disjointed title track, which I personally like even less than Daddy's Home. I try to not get negative on here, but I just don't understand what she's doing anymore. And then Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett are back doing that crooner shit again, which I'm a goddamn sucker for.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit has a very soft place in my heart, and today's cover of R.E.M.'s Driver 8 is no exception, as they team up with ex-The Civil Wars member John Paul White for the first single off Isbell's upcoming Georgia covers album, which he promised to do if Georgia went blue in 2020. Very excited for this full length in October. To get a little more jaunty, we've got Ed Sheeran (shut up) with a bouncy lil' dance-pop thingy that I uh... love? Surely I'll earn your respect back with the next track on the playlist, which is... ah, goddamit... The Jonas Brothers. You see, I'm a girl now, which means I'm allowed to like these cuties unashamedly, so fuck off with your cynical bullshit and dance, you mean-ass bitches.
We're going scattershot on genres again, so buckle up, lest you get whiplash. Banoffee put out a record last year that I adored, but it seems like nobody really found it. So, of course I'm excited to share today's track, which brings Postal Service instrumentals to a Charli XCX-esque vocal performance, with lyrics that are longing, sex starved, and borderline tear-inducing. Then we've got Real Friends new LP, which is just generic white-boy pop punk for the dumbshits like me who are still complete suckers for that. Oh, and we've got a slightly unsettling one from Open Mike Eagle and Armand Hammer as they collaborate on a track produced by Quelle Chris, so if you know, you know to tune in on this one immediately.
I'm not even going to write about the live track from Green Day. Fuck.
However, I guess we do need to talk about Dear Evan Hansen. Listen, we all know the story is shit and that the movie's going to be the disaster of the year, but the music still kinda slaps? Sam Smith and Summer Walker got together to do You Will Be Found and I gotta say, I don't hate it nearly as much as I want to. Sam's voice just doesn't hit the same as Ben Platt's, though. The overperformed theater kid vibe really is what sold the original cast album for me in the first place.
Lesbian icon Kelhani is here with a vibey little R&B/pop track that really shows off what she can do vocally while touching on a queer sense of longing that feels both intimate and like it's reaching for something that no longer exists. Ozuna brings us a light Brazilian funk-pop track to remind us that he's still got a music career even after appearing in F9. I kinda feel like I need a cocktail that's more fruit than booze after this one. I wasn't going to feature James Blake again until the full record drops next week, but the synths on this single are so engaging and blend so well with Blake's haunting vocal delivery that I couldn't help but push this one on y'all.
The TikTok teens* reign supreme in music these days, as we see duo Magdalena Bay bring us indie-pop that's influenced by the video games that raised us. I think this is hyperpop? It's certainly adjacent. Nevertheless, let's try the new track from indie pop-rock outfit carwash, who is incredibly difficult to search for online. To me, the lyrics of this feel like a puffed up chest as a kid on the playground declares "I'm super tough." Snail Mail is back with a new track that's shockingly dark, feeling like an ominous warning to young women in music. It's not undeserved, and very appropriately matches the wall of sound that comes in at the chorus.
James Vincent McMorrow first caught my ear when he popped up on a playlist that my wife was using as driving music a few years back. His track Get Low showcased a strong penchant for production trickery while still being a catchy songwritery pop track. That's a bit more of what we get here today, as he dwells on the question of "are there too many planes in the sky?' The full LP is out today and I look forward to digging into this one.
How to describe Sleep Token. They're a rock collective of masked, anonymous musicians who are best known for writing big tracks that landed them a slot at Knotfest 2020, if COVID hadn't caused that to get shuttered. Today, though, we get a delicate, vocal-forward electronic track that leaves me with more questions than answers. Aida Victoria hits us with her signature gothic blues style on her third full-length record. This one's entrancing with a big sexy guitar solo and if you ever get a chance to see her live, I think this track will convince you that you absolutely must do so.
FUZZ POP TIME. Bad Bad Hats finally dropped their third record, which we get to visit with a Presidents Of The United States-esque tracks that will make you wish you still had a college radio station to listen to at 3AM. Rock outfit The War On Drugs brings us the title track of their upcoming album, featuring Lucius. It's a nostalgic sounding piece, reminiscent of Tears For Fears, all the way down to the reverb soaked lead guitar and massively processed drums. The vocals call back to '70s American rock, pulling from John Cougar Mellencamp and Tom Petty in ways that I'm too young to fully appreciate.
Bitch has announced her new record on Kill Rock Stars, her first new release after an eight year hiatus, and has given us a cover of Melissa Etheridge's Come To My Window as a teaser. If you don't already know Bitch, she's a part of queer music history and you'd do well to jump through her catalog to ensure you're not missing something great. If you don't know Hand Habits, perhaps you'll recognize her solo name: Meg Duffy. They've got a new record coming out on Saddle Creek next month. If you need encouragement to give her a shot, here's a recent tweet of hers that spoke to me.
i love being homosexual i love being trans i love being gay as hell i love gay people that is all
@hand_habits
Swedish punk outfit Habibi just signed to Kill Rock Stars and are celebrating with a cover of Kleenex/LiLiPUT. It's garage punk for garage punk kids. Oh, and it's in Farsi, which I think is a new language for this newsletter. Speaking of Sweden, here's a track from Swedish post-punk band Makthaverskan. It's a gorgeous and infectious track that'd piqued my interest for their full length November 12th. (I'll be out that day, btw, so mark this on your calendars.)
Now we're in Weird Shit Corner for a few minutes. I teased this at the top, and now you get to hear Xeno & Oaklander in all their analog synth-pop/cold wave glory. Of course, where there's one weird track, there's more, so let's look at Machinedrum's new EP, with Chrome Sparks appearing on this weird electronic track that kinda demands your full attention. To close out the weird trio, here's PC Music's Namasenda, teaming up with Joey LaBeija for a hyperpop song that is fun for all ages except kids or the elderly.
Suntitle is an emo band from New Jersey that brings us some fuzzy joy that's weirdly similar to Soundgarden in a lot of ways. If that's not enough for you, today's single is called "Burning Down A Denny's", which really does just tell you all you need to know. Barrie's got a dreamy little indie/pop/rock track that you could just drift away to. Hell, maybe I will.
Okay, it's gonna get a little loud again, cause we've got a RIPPER from post-hardcore act Eidola with a feature from Dance Gavin Dance's Jon Mess off their fourth studio record, out today. Holy Figures brings us the fear of death in a post-rock track inspired by vocalist Owen Smith's loss of his grandmother from COVID, who died alone in the hospital due to visitation restrictions. Christ, that's bleak. Finally, we have Vile Creature, a doom metal band whom I found via trans Twitter, covering nu-metal icons Kittie. Here's their pinned tweet:
It's metal as fuck to foster a community built on compassion and understanding. It's metal as fuck to fight against injustice, both interpersonal & systematic. It is metal as fuck to protect one another and fight for those you cherish. It is metal as fuck to care.
@vilecreature666
LURK is a new one to me, but after about 15 seconds of this Pure Noise artist's unique take on garage punk, I was more than sold. We already talked about Hawthorne Heights and Siiickbrain up top, which leaves us with Bouquet's debut EP, which I also mentioned up top. So, I guess we're gonna have to talk about the screamo-fuled nervous breakdown that Supine dropped today with their new LP. Goddamn.
Two left, so lets get these out of the way and then remember to clock out at exactly 40 hours this week, yeah?
We've got Run For Cover artist Mini Trees doing some nice, breezy indie pop that feels like a well worn vinyl record as she contemplates growing old with a lover. It's cute. To close us out, we have Taylor Swift's re-recorded version of Wildest Dreams, as she keeps moving through her discography, reclaiming it for herself. What a massive fucking project to undertake.
In Summary
We've had fun today. We've gotten out our anger, we've cried, we've laughed. Hell, we even rocked and rolled all nite. Let me know what you thought of the format this week. I attempted to make it shorter, but only moderately succeeded, but I think it mostly flows nicely.
So long, don't forget that we've been asked to stop buying Oreos by striking workers, so it's back to Hydrox for us all!