I had a much larger blurb planned about my kid’s first birthday today and what a year with him has done to my relationship to music, but he decided to wake up and kick off the day HARD at 3:30A so I’m light on prose today.
That said, he finally found his first favorite song – we caught him dancing/clapping to Herb Alpert’s “A Taste of Honey” at the high chair, thrilled at the song’s 1-2-3-4 kick.
Anyways – here are the Good Links of the week!
Pitchfork Jr. – Sam Hockley-Smith tried to teach a class of kindergarteners what writing about music means, to start them off on that high-earning career path early, and wrote about what makes the Reds, Pinks, and Purples so special in 2024.
REM-embering – I’m not even a huge fan, but I found this 40+ minute interview with R.E.M. really compelling as they reflected on their process and the different ways their songs took shape.
It Wasn’t-AH-AH-AH-AH – This “What if Disturbed wrote ‘It Wasn’t Me’” TikTok is…something
Speakin’ Bespoke – Friend-of-the-Unskippables and Intramural shop founder Bijan Shivali talks with sprezza about taste, something he has in droves
Brat Discourse Roundup! Brat as brand playbook; did Taylor intentionally keep Charli off the #1 UK spot with another deluxe edition?; “brat is gay yeezus”
Also if you’re looking for something to do Thursday, I’ll be playing guitar behind Vampireluvr at Bowery Electric at 11p!
As always, you can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!
Burial – Phoneglow
Every Burial track, no matter how minor, feels like a gift. Even now, when the producer has become less of an anomaly with a steady drip of singles – three this year! "Phoneglow" is a particularly strong offering, a UK garage track flipped inside out, like the robotic skeleton of Tickle Me Elmo singing a forgotten Y2K R&B classic in lingering club fog. The song is hardly a dancefloor filler, closing out with a scattershot, almost Aphex Twin-esque destruction in its last three minutes.
NxWorries feat. Thundercat – KeepHer
The 2nd LP from Knxwledge and Anderson .Paak as NxWorries is the closest we’ll get to a big neo-soul record in 2024. Knxwledge’s deep pocket and excellent ear for samples balance .Paak’s whole thing well – he may still get a knowing wink and smirk in here and there, but the album’s dusty grooves and Dilla-esque swing feel far more Voodoo than Silk Sonic. Occasionally the tracks slip a little too far into vibes/lo-fi chill territory, but .Paak’s strong personality mostly keep the album in clear focus.
Don Toliver – GLOCK
“GLOCK” is tucked away alongside serviceable album tracks on Don Toliver’s four-disc(?!) HARDSTONE PSYCHO, but the chipmunk soul vocal sample that ladles “shoop shoop” sweetness over “GLOCK”’s lurching bass is a something special amidst the album’s guest features and bleating 808s.
Vitesse X – way i luv
Like Doss, Vitesse X successfully mixes euphoric electronica with gauze-covered woozy dream-pop gauze, resulting in irresistible, shimmering ASMR electropo. The main guitar motif is pulled straight out of early Cure records, but there's no nostalgia to be found here – everything radiates with a searching, earnest forward-looking energy.
Jamie XX feat. Robyn – Life
I’m reticent to place tracks from an upcoming record back to back, but…Robyn! Her full vocal entrance at 1:30 is everything you’d hope it be.
James Blake – Foreign
James Blake’s surprise CMYK002 EP is what I hoped 2023’s Playing Robots Into Heaven would be – an actually strange return to his original experimental club music roots. Some of the tracks show his age – “Let Her Know” sounds plucked straight out of 2009 – but EP closer “Foreign” is ugly, stuttering techno that lumbers around a bleating backbeat. I'm here for hearing a lot more of Blake's rough edges, especially if they’re this menacing and physical.
Cola – Down To Size
"Down To Size" manages to bring the shaky house party shimmy of Cola's debut to their sophomore LP The Gloss, which generally moves at a breezy saunter compared to their nervy, motorik-powered debut. The track, along with the uneasy punch of “Pallor Tricks,” provide a nice jolt of adrenaline to the band’s increasingly hard-to-define guitar pop.
thrrr r ow bbback
Anita Kerr – Happiness
"Happiness" was released in 1968, collected in 2004's A Whole Lot of Rainbows soft pop Nuggest compilation, and sent to me by Greenpoint's best bassist Matt Morello over text last week. The song, like most of the compilation, is budget Pet Sounds-meets-Partridge Family L.A. pop that pours on the psychedelic signifiers but retains the uncanny uplifting melodicism of a toothpaste jingle. The star here is the "Hey Jude" trumpet and the super weird 2nd verse lyric – "Hot dogs and sun and mustard all over your face!”