april 2023
Spotify
Apple Music
I don't usually include traditional Irish folk ballads in these, but this one objectively slaps your mama harder than a bad boyfriend named Chad.
When French indie band Phoenix landed big hits with "1901" and "Lizstomania" in 2009, they'd already been around for a decade. It's 'cause they keep making records that are catchy as shit, like this one is.
You got the Jerry Garcia guitar licks, the Bruce Hornsby piano fills, the arpeggiated synth sound from "Six Months On a Leaky Boat"... To me this is primo street candy.
Brent's band! The whole EP sounds really good, but I particularly like how this track turned out, and I'm tickled that I helped arrange it.
I keep getting floored by Andy Shauf's records. Listen with headphones on. Spacious, measured, delicate. Flawless.
A stripped-down and heartfelt cover of the very last song off the very last Bowie album.
Karen Carpenter made cotton candy songs sound somehow desperately sad. Natalie Laura Mering does something similar, only she sings cheerful-sounding songs about how the pandemic has fucked us all up.
Whatever, I'm a sucker for Bobcaygeon covers.
A palette cleanser. A little record with surprising depth of sound. There's a faint little hiss in the background that comes and goes, like cicadas through closed windows.
At first this one was a little Boots and Hearts for my tastes, but give it a shot, it's a pristine record. I especially like how the snare comes in a couple of bars before the "Doo doo da doo" chorus.
I'm kind of enamored of boygenius. Three absurd talents grooving together to write fucking good songs and make fucking great records. (Plus I'm a sucker for
songs about Emily's).
It's so funny to me that this nagging mom's idea of a good son is a guy who gets a job, wins a medal, gets a degree, likes football, and likes reggae.
Like everyone else, I appreciate Charlotte Cornfield's wry sensibility and sharp eye for revealing details. But listen to the end of this one. It's the sweetest thing you'll ever hear.