Friday Playlist
Happy Friday the 13th! Once again the new music has flowed freely this week. Amongst it are two new songs from two of my current favorite bands. A lot of music from Australia. An out-of-nowhere collection of demos by one of my all time favorite bands that arrived last Friday. A modern classic that hasn’t been available on streaming services for far too long but returns today. Plus a lot of other good shit.
“big freak” - Middle Kids. It feels like it’s been longer than two years but MK are back with new music. No word on an album, but given they dropped this single with a statement about how they are leaning into who they really are, embarrassing bits and all, implies a full-length release is just over the horizon.
“Benny’s Video” - Gang of Youths. About an hour after I stumbled across the new Middle Kids video, this, from my other favorite Aussie band of the moment, popped into my feed. The second advance single from the upcoming GoY album, which will be released on March 12. Good grief! March!
“Off It” - The Chats. Might as well keep it going with another band from Down Under. The intro is pure AC/DC. When the vocals kick in, there is a healthy dose of 1977 London.
“Skyworks” - Pond. OK, one more Aussie act. Apparently I’ve been sitting on this one since July. Sometimes I’m kind of a dumbass. This is a powerful exploration of the complicated feelings the band has about Australia Day, which celebrates the birth of the modern nation while ignoring how the folks who were there first have been treated. Midnight Oil would be proud.
“Something Wicked” - Kiwi jr. NOT from Australia! Or New Zealand either, for that matter. Kiwi jr. released this song last week. Seems like they should have dropped it the week before Halloween, not after. Also it’s pretty jangly, and more suited for summer than fall. They should ask me about timing things better.
“Bond Girl” - John Glacier. Amazon sure is taking its time picking a new James Bond. Maybe John Glacier should get the nod. She seems more motivated than they do.
“In My Veins” - Kora Puckett. A woman named John followed by a man named Kora. A lot of conservatives will flip their lids over that! Puckett is originally from Goshen, IN. Same hometown as Timothy Showalter of Strand of Oaks. There are definitely some similarities to their sounds.
“Valery (please don’t be mad at me)” - Caroline Rose. If you just listen to the music and general tone here, you would never guess it is about two of Rose’s friends who succumbed to heroin addiction.
“Here’s The Rub” - Andrew Bird & Ted Poor. For some reason it is hard to find much information about this track. The tone fits the times, both in terms of seasons with the days getting darker and colder, and society in general with Bird’s repeated calls to resist.
“Couldn’t Know (Demo)” - PAW. About a month ago my buddy O-Dog in the Nati sent me a screenshot of a track that popped into his Spotify feed, a demo of a late-era PAW song. He asked if it was new. I told him the song came out on their 1998 EP, but after looking up the version he came across, noticed an album of PAW demos was coming out in November. Which was super random. I doubt millions of people were clamoring for that.
I listened to the collection once. The tracks are all pretty raw, and it is kind of cool to hear how songs that became classics (to a few of us) started out. Here’s my favorite song of their entire catalog, sounding pretty good before the producers shined it up for its final LP version.
“Portland, Oregon” - Loretta Lynn. One of the most stunning, out-of-nowhere, hits I can recall. Jack White helped Loretta Lynn not only revive her career in 2004, but did so in a way that brought her music to a whole swath of the country that never would have listened to her music without his presence. His blend of White Stripes power and Nashville twang was brilliant. My #5 song of 2004, and #7 song of the 2000s. Today it is back on streaming services after a long, long time away.
“Out Of Touch” - Daryl Hall & John Oates. If I hear this song this time of year, I always think back to the late fall of 1984 when it was climbing the charts and eventually landed at #1. Dance on your knees!