Over halfway through the year; that’s kind of nutty! Be looking for my annual bonus playlist on Monday.
“Rubberneckers” – Christian Lee Hutson
A perfect mid-summer song in tone, this is about how many people you run across in LA who have made messes of their lives. It doesn’t take much to extrapolate that to our entire country right now. Add this to Phoebe Bridgers’ quiver of excellent music she has a hand in, too. She produced Hutson’s latest album and, I believe, provides backup vocals here.
“Up to My Elbows” – The Stroppies
Nearly ideal Aussie jangle pop.
“Silenced” – The Brian Jonestown Massacre
I watched Roadrunner, the film about Antony Bourdain’s life, a couple weeks back. In it there’s a moment when one of his friends mentions that his favorite song was “Anemone” by The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and made a comment about what that indicated about Bourdain’s state of mind late in his life. I listened to “Anemone” later and saw TBJM had just released a new album. I checked it out and while their heavy, psychedelic sound can be a bit much (apparently if you are using, or have ever used, heroin it makes a lot more sense) a few songs, including this one, sounded pretty good to me. I think the key with TBJM is not to take them too seriously, or listen to them too much, and then their heaviness can’t get you down.
“Vision Boards” – Good Looks
Steven Hyden listed Good Looks’ album as one of his favorites of the first half 2022. I had never heard of them and gave it a listen. It fits in an odd space in the music world, not really indie, not really alt-country, not really heartland rock, but with enough elements of each of those genres that you could make a case for any of them. I like this track’s slightly messy sound, which again defies categorization but, to me, has some classic Rolling Stones in it.
“Last Day of June” – The Finn Brothers
OK, a day late, but still relevant.
“Summer’s Cold” – PHONY
Holy late ’90s sound, Batman!