Once again we are brushing up against a slowing stream of new music, so this week’s playlist is a little more eclectic, at least in terms of date of recording.
“At Attention” – Northern Portrait
You cannot convince me these kids aren’t actually from the industrial north of England. Sure, their bio says they are from Denmark, but I’m not buying that for one minute.
“Zenosyne” – Caroline Loveglow
What a gorgeous song! She kind of has a Hatchie-adjacent sound, and there’s nothing wrong with that. This is nearly a year old and I’m mad it took me until recently to come across it. Also, you cannot convince me that her last name is really Loveglow. I do kind of love it, though.
“Oceans of Darkness” – The War on Drugs
TWOD just released the expanded edition of I Don’t Live Here Anymore, including two bonus tracks. This one is really good. I would have preferred it to one or two songs that made the original album track list.
“Vow” – Garbage
I’ve been working through probably the best indie playlist ever over the past couple weeks and came across a Garbage song the other day. That got me digging into their catalog, reading about them, etc. No doubt they were one of the best and most important bands of the middle-grunge era, for lack of a better term. They’ve come back at least once with really good music, something you can’t say of many of their contemporaries. Anyway, I don’t know that this is their best song, but it was their first big single here in the States, and has always been my favorite.
“Raised On the Radio” – The Ravyns
Continuing my recent run through cool songs from early 1980’s teen movies, this was one of the true New Wave songs that was both used in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and on the movie’s soundtrack. It was used in the scene when Brad Hamilton is washing his car. A really solid tune. More semi-obscure music from ’80s movies in a moment…
“Gangsta’s Paradise” – Coolio featuring L.V.
Damn, pour one out for one of the better dudes in 1990s hip hop. Look up his story about resolving his beef with Weird Al. More people in the public eye should have his ability to look at themselves and realize when they have fucked up and an apology is in order. RIP.
“Beat City” – The Flowerpot Men
In Steven Hyden’s piece about the music of The Bear, he highlights this song. If you are a child of the ’80s I guarantee you will remember it about 10 seconds in, and immediately think of a specific scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This is not on any streaming services, as far as I can find. That is a gigantic bummer because it is amazing!