Friday Playlist

A lot of really good music this week, including TWO videos!

“w-w-w-w-w” – hemlocke springs
This is the latest in a new year I’ve ever gone without creating my working list of favorite songs released since January 1. This is the remarkable song that finally prompted it. I knew nothing about hemlocke springs before I heard this jam, but apparently she’s been getting buzz for some time and has already opened for Chappell Roan. Stereogum described has as a “Gen Z Cyndi Lauper,” which is spot on. Four minutes of super-charged Eighties nostalgia, while still sounding new and vital.

“Heat” – Station Model Violence
It doesn’t matter that I don’t know any of the bands this super group pulls members from, since they are all Australian I had to check them out. This song was inspired by one of the members watching a BBC documentary about Krautrock. You certainly hear that influence in this track.

“Penny In The Lake” – Ratboys
Their new album is finally out today. We’ve heard roughly half of it by now, so I’m not sure there will be many surprises. I’m still looking forward to giving it a spin later today.

“The Shooter” – Institute
Not news that the NRA sucks, but the last couple weeks have highlighted that fact.

“Site Unseen” – Courtney Barnett featuring Waxahatchee
HOLY CROSSING OF STREAMS!!!! Courtney and Katie sound so good together.

“I Did This To Myself” – Thundercat & Lil Yachty
After watching that Yacht Rock doc in December I made a note to listen to more Thundercat. He obliged by putting out a new song. I love the melding of different genres here.

“Pieces” – SPRINTS
This band never disappoints. As I type this it is snowing/sleeting unexpectedly hard. I’m pretty sure if I played this on a loop I wouldn’t have to go out and clear the sidewalk later, the music would melt it off for me.

“After The Rain” – Mirah
An utterly gorgeous song and perfect palate cleanser after the previous track.

“I Ran (So Far Away)” – The Beaches covering A Flock of Seagulls
Amazingly I can’t find that there has ever been an official cover of this Eighties classic. Which makes sense, because it was so sui generis that it was difficult to cover and have any chance of separating the new from the original. My gals in The Beaches take a pretty good crack at it here. They seem like the perfect band to do it, with their sound being an updated take on classic Eighties pop. I’m amused that there are probably a lot of Olds who hated the original but will now get bent out of shape that someone decided to cover it.

“Spirit Of The Radio”
I found this on YouTube a few weeks back and forgot to share it. The lead singer is ok, but that band? Those kids can freaking play!

From this video I went down a rabbit hole of watching various Rush performances. I was never a huge Rush fan, they were generally too proggy for me. But they had some hits, and all those hits were all very good to great. And then you watch their live performances and see how locked in they were. Great band. Might as well go with their best song to round out the week.