An extra-stuffed playlist this week. There’s been a good run of new music, plus a lot of Other Stuff that deserves inclusion.

“Blue Skies” – Finnoguns Wake
The best piece of music I’ve heard so far this year is Finnoguns Wake’s four-song EP. Every song is a ripper.

“Lose” – Boeckner
Daniel Boeckner has been in several bands over the years, most notably Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, and Divine Fits. This is his first solo single. It sounds exactly what I would expect it to sound like.

“What’s Love” – Empress Of featuring MUNA
This is a real, real good song.

“Revelator” – Phosphorescent
Matthew Houck has had mixed levels of success since his amazing 2013 album Muchacho, which featured the legendary “Song For Zula.” Which is understandable. It’s hard to follow up moments like that. For the first time I can recall since then, this song has grabbed my full interest. Probably because it lands in a similar sonic space to “Song For Zula.”

“Solace of You” – Living Colour
In the past couple weeks I’ve run across a couple things – one a podcast, the other a chapter within a music book – that referenced Living Colour. Which led to me listening to their first two albums this week. This remains my favorite of their songs.

“The Rat” – The Walkmen
Last week marked the 20th anniversary of The Walkmen’s Bows + Arrows album. It was a giant of its era and is one of the albums that helped me find a new musical home as sounds were changing in the early 2000s. Back in those days I would occasionally make mix CDs for friends. This song was a staple on them. It qualifies as a dreaded Blessing/Curse record. It is one of the greatest songs of its era. Which also made it impossible to ever match, pressure the band struggled with until they broke up. When they re-formed last year, this song sounded as good as ever.

“Punk Rock Girl” – The Dead Milkmen
Cult artist Mojo Nixon died this week. I don’t know that I ever listened to a Mojo Nixon song. Like I’m guessing 99% of my generation, this song is the only reason I had any idea who he was.

“Kick Out The Jams” – MC5
Also passing this week was Wayne Kramer, guitarist for MC5, one of the most important bands in American rock history. If you know an MC5 song, this is it.

“Footloose” – Kenny Loggins
The Footloose soundtrack was one of the biggest albums in one of the biggest years in music history. It spent nearly two months in the top spot on the Billboard album chart. It ended the year as the ninth biggest selling album, and highest selling soundtrack, of the Billboard year. Part of that was thanks to a fun movie, of course. And to six Top 40 singles, three of which cracked the top ten and two of which hit #1. This is the song that started it all. It debuted in the Top 40 at #36 the week of February 11. Two months later it would spend three weeks at #1. It is probably the reason that Kenny Loggins was included in the USA For Africa lineup. If you have Netflix you may have seen him in the new documentary about “We Are the World.” Oh, and that Ren McCormack had some moves.