“Stuck” – Soft Science
There’s been an influx of modern shoegaze in my playlists lately, and I am not complaining about it.
“Your Day” – Pastel
A buddy of mine who is super into all things Manchester described this as sounding like Liam Gallagher and Johnny Marr made a record together. I’m down with that.
“Up and Comer” – Sprints
Insert GIF of Beavis and Butthead banging their heads and screaming “YES! YES!”
“Western Cum” – Cory Hanson
I know. I know. Believe me, I know. Hanson named an entire album Western Cum then had the nerve to hold the title track off to share as a bonus album later. Yes, it’s a fucking terrible title. But his music? It’s a crazy combination of humongous, classic rock riffs and solos with very early 1970s vocals along with some of the most absurd lyrics I’ve ever heard. The entire album is a trip. I’m not sure if it would work without all the mega-cool guitar work that carries most of the tracks. I’m laughing imagining if this song had appeared 40 years ago, cracked American Top 40, and poor Casey Kasem had to say its title.
“She’s On My Mind” – Romy
“She’s on my mind, but I wish she was under me.” Oh hell yes.
“Next Year” – Foo Fighters
You know that feeling of satisfaction and relief when you’ve scratched an itch – literal or metaphorical – that has been driving you crazy for ages and ages? Well, my friends, my heart has been very full this week as I have indeed been scratching an extremely long-term itch. I’ll write a lot of words about it in the next week or so. For my more observant readers this song should serve as a hint as to what that reveal will contain.
“The Sound of Settling” – Death Cab for Cutie
Last week was the 20th anniversary of the release of Death Cab’s mainstream breakthrough album Transatlanticism. That was a big album in my life, although I think it was probably nearly a year after its release before I got into it. It, along with Arcade Fire’s Funeral, were key transitional albums for me in several ways. First, they opened my ears to the indie rock world. I had dabbled in that genre for a few years, but it was really in 2003-04 when my listening tastes shifted hard in that direction. They were also two of the first albums that I first discovered via singles posted on the MP3 blogs that were so popular at the time. Finally, they were two of the first albums I purchased from the iTunes Music Store. $9.99, bitches. Those files, or at least most of them, are still on the hard drive plugged into the Mac Mini in our basement.
Anyway, this is one of my favorite songs off of a terrific album. Bop-ba, bop-baaaaaaaa.