May The Lower Class Remember This
The State Of The Me-nion
Em's Fresh Fridays: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp
I'm currently two days into a headache that has apparently decided that I don't need to get anything meaningful done this week. It's fine. I'll try not to let that cloud my judgement as I walk you through everything new this week, but honestly... I'm not going to look as hard today. I'll find what I find and not do a super deep dive. It looks like a slow week anyway, so this might just be pretty short.
The Apartment Is A Messy Place & I Am Frankly Afraid To Live
Realistically, instead of writing a newsletter today, I should be cleaning the apartment. It's a goddamn disaster on account of my non-stop job anxiety and the consequent headache that's been plaguing me. However, instead I'm sitting here listening to The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die's new record that just finally came out. I've been pretty hotly anticipating this one, and it hasn't disappointed. I've been on the edge as to which track belongs on the playlist. The record ends on two tracks that run 15 and 20 minutes. My gut instinct is to force one of those on you, but I think I'm going to go with the other one that really grabbed me on this first listen-thru: Blank // Worker. I'll just leave you with a selection of lyrics from that one and see if it's enough to pull you in for the full ride.
A private firm of equity dealt cancer into my family.
I saw there was a shadow bank.
The landlord pleased, the economy tanked.
May the lower class remember this and every rich man get what’s his.
Blame It On This Southern Space Cowboy
I have so many thoughts about the new single from trans-fronted mathcore group SeeYouSpaceCowboy. I honestly wasn't going to feature this band again until the record came out, but when they put Aaron Gillespie on a new track, I can't help but have some things to say.
Here's some background for those of you who haven't been entrenched in the world of Christian metalcore, alt-rock or worship music. Aaron Gillespie is perhaps best known for being the drummer and a lead vocalist for formerly Christian metalcore band Underoath. (As a group, they shed the Christian label a few years back, as it no longer reflected every member of the band in the way that it used to.)
After leaving Underoath shortly before the band would break up, Aaron moved to an alt-rock project called The Almost. This was where we got to hear him reinvent Amazing Grace and really sit on his personal interactions with Christianity. It's Christian rock in all the best ways and it reflects a thoughtful and engaged person who is struggling to find his individualism and humanity while in a religion that doesn't always sync up with the world he lives in.
He put out a few records with The Almost and then started releasing solo music under his own name. This primarily came in the form of worship music. Songs meant to be sung communally in praise and reverence of an all-powerful God. This specific music is basically impossible for me to listen to at this point. I adore Aaron as a songwriter and performer, but there's something about the genre of worship music that feels sinister to me.
And then in 2018, Underoath got back together and Aaron was back in the mix. At this point, the band has shed any pretense of Christianity and is just making music that reflects where lead vocalist Spencer Chamberlain is in his life. Aaron still sings in a secondary lead role.
Given all of this spiritual baggage, I'm honestly a little surprised to see Aaron on a song by a band that is so explicitly queer in nature. I've never gotten the vibe from Aaron that he's against queerness. I wouldn't be shocked to hear that he's spoken up for queer rights in the past. But as someone who has so closely tied themselves to the Christian music industry, it's a little surprising to see him do a move in his career that explicitly partners him with queerness in such a visible way. I'm happy to see it and hope we get to see more collaborations like this.
Playlist Perusal
Okay, I guess I should see what else came out today. I don't really feel like writing about many of these, since I still have a headache and I've already written a lot about Relient K (in another forum) and now that whole long spiel about Aaron Gillespie. I'm running out of words.
There is some really interesting stuff this week. Birdtalker's new album is finally here, along with records from Natalie Hemby, Atmosphere, and Paris Texas. I guarantee that if you like the tracks that I feature from any of these, you'll love the full records that they came off of. Don't miss Atmosphere's collab with Aesop Rock and MF DOOM. BADBADNOTGOOD also finally released their new record, which is just a solid experimental jazz record from a group of overly talented musicians. If you like this, you'll probably love this.
There are some interesting singles that I want to note, starting with Manchester Orchestra as they give us a wonderfully chaotic remix by Dirty Projectors, which challenges you to disregard everything you've already thought you knew Manchester Orchestra for. It weirdly works. Willie Jones is one of my favorite country artists working right now, as he expands the genre while staying solidly and unmistakably country. Today's single gives us a solid dose of that once again, which just makes me happy.
Foo Fighters is apparently reimagining songs with the help of Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which is pretty interesting. Also, we've got We Are The Union (Skatune Network) collabing with Eve 6 on a cover of an Operation Ivy track. Oh, and Tears For Fears just announced a new record for some reason and there's a single out now. You still with me?
You already know this, but Mitski is back with a new one, and we've got Anaïs Mitchell giving us new music again on the heels of her massive success on Broadway with Hadestown. And we have Dan Andriano & The Bygones (Alkaline Trio) with a really fun new single that I've been playing nonstop since the video came out earlier this week. Oh, and I must have missed the first single when it dropped, but Soft Cell just put out a second single from their... new record?
Another Playlist, By Popular Demand
Em's Fresh Christmas: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp [N/A this week]
Okay, today's also the start of a new playlist that most of you will hate. Em's Fresh Christmas is here and being christened by Amanda Shires and The McCrary Sisters. Yes, I know it's barely even October, but I don't decide on release schedules and that's how this shit works.
Don't Forget To Like, Share, and Subscribe
See ya next week. Tell me what you liked or hated today. Let me know what I missed. Don't forget to sub to the new playlist if you like Christmas music.