My Top 3 Songs of the Week (2024 Week 21):
https://youtu.be/Tk-fCCJs4FU
1. Father Arcadia – "Dark Star". Not the Grateful Dead concert staple, this is Sheffield indie rock, anthemic yet moody, a bit like Editors' "Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors". #music

My best of 2024 (so far) playlist is updated regularly and can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDJeO4dNUaIn2mN9hFpBK1szGAA07d8pq&si=ZVqklnxTIwkgAQKq
#music

https://youtu.be/3qJeQpcHDGE
5. Armlock – "Ice Cold". Evokes '90s indie rock (in particular, slowcore) with its slacker, stoned-sounding drum and guitar playing and aching vocals. #music

https://youtu.be/KFwVIkSf7mk
4. cumgirl8 – "Quite Like Love". Self-described Manhattan "sex-positive alien amoeba entity" score here with a banger that sounds like it was made by a whacked-out Tom Tom Club. #music

https://youtu.be/22ZegppjB5c
3. Chief Keef – "1, 2, 3". Chicago drill rap pioneer meets 1960s soul via ear-catching samples of Bobby Womack and Wilson Pickett. #music

https://youtu.be/JvSPp-4LBeA
2. Treanne – "Sharing My Body". A spare, raw slowburner that captures all the trepidation of the morning after using little more than piano, bass and a vocal. #music

My Top 5 Songs of the Week (2024 Week 20):
https://youtu.be/T0Se1-n_hdI
1. Jake Bugg – "Zombieland". A Britpop-adjacent rocker from Nottingham singer-songwriter Bugg that hurtles along for nigh on 3 breathless minutes. #music

@JolieSaboteuse This EP was my first Jam purchase, at age 15. I loove it. Shortly after I bought it, I read that they had broken up.

https://www.scribd.com/document/720424944/BlazeVOX24-Spring24#from_embed
Since the beginning of this year the amazing Chris Stroffolino and I have been writing poems on our relationship to music, both in dialogue and collaboratively. Nine of the pieces from this project appear in the Spring 2024 issue of BlazeVOX launched today. Follow the link and click on Chris's name to read four of his response poems, plus one that we wrote together. Click on my name to see four of my responses (plus one, "Future Futures", that's unrelated). #poetry

My best of 2024 (so far) playlist is updated regularly and can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDJeO4dNUaIn2mN9hFpBK1szGAA07d8pq&si=ZVqklnxTIwkgAQKq
#music

https://youtu.be/iybZTElHqIM
5. Angus and Julia Stone – "Down to the Sea". Australian siblings hypnotize with this tense indie folk gem. "They tell you you're forgiven, but you're not". Perfectly written, arranged, played, sung, and recorded. #music

https://youtu.be/lUnpIO-OTx0
4. Fcukers – "Bon Bon". Meanwhile, in another corner of '90s rock, New York's Fcukers spin up this laid-back electronic shuffle pitched somewhere between Deee-Lite and early Daft Punk. Dig that sine-wave bass. #music

https://youtu.be/-DmixSHLIn0
3. Beabadoobee – "Take a Bite". Bea's back with another '90s-indie-rock inspired confessional, this time recorded with producer/guru Rick Rubin. #music

https://youtu.be/o5I1wz1j64k
2. Hinds featuring Beck – "Boom Boom Back". That's what Spanish garage-rock duo Hinds are bringing in this strutting single from their fourth album, with help from Beck (who's seemingly become everyone's go-to collaborator lately, with a high banger ratio.) #music

My Top 5 Songs of the Week (2024 Week 19):
https://youtu.be/rnUnuCqqEUg
1. Johnny Hunter – "Frustration". You'd be forgiven for writing this Australian quintet off as a Sisters of Mercy clone on hearing this track, but the dramatic postpunk intensity and cinematic goth-rock excitement quickly won me over and they might do you as well. #music

My best of 2024 (so far) playlist is updated regularly and can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDJeO4dNUaIn2mN9hFpBK1szGAA07d8pq&si=ZVqklnxTIwkgAQKq
#music

https://youtu.be/YwdVlUUa7xU
5. The Decemberists – Much of the mythohistorical weirdness of the band's early output has fallen away, leaving just their unique sense of arrangement and Meloy's distinctive phrasing to adorn this lovely song. #music

https://youtu.be/b_ahoz_pwtI
4. Bat for Lashes – "Home". Slowburner whose tenderness is given a dimension of heartache and longing by distortion on the bass and vocals. #music

https://youtu.be/PdQpQFvdIp8
3. Amadou & Mariam – "Mogolu". Mali's first couple of music is back with a new tune that's got their familiar swing. #music

https://youtu.be/_EzFiRyiij8
2. DIIV – "Frog in Boiling Water". More woozy, whammy-bar dreaminess from the album of the same name by Brooklyn's DIIV. Strong followup to week 13 top 5 pick "Everyone Out". #music