belated heaters
joe goddard, jeanines, sofia d'angelo and more!
Hellloooo it’s been a few weeks? How are we doing? Pretty bad??? Ok!
Sorry for the delay, it’s been a busy few weeks of family visits, playing the Twin Cities and releasing Italian rollerdisco music. As penance, you’ll get an extra dose of the best new music below, as well as many many Good Links
Ever wanted to tell someone their band sucks? Well this person got Jon Breaks Bad News to do it for them
Gotta ask Frankie Sharp of Sharp Records – Pal Nick Sylvester ponders what the point of an independent label is in 2025
Ask me about my pastels – In defense of temporary obsessions
DJ GPT – French streamer Deezer reports that 18% of uploads to their service are AI generated. 20k tracks per day!!!
Mount Wut-enberg Orca – Anna Weiner profiles the genuinely strange and still restlessly creative Dave Longstreth for the New Yorker, and the quotes about his…difficulty…as a bandmate, partner, and client have been echoed by every publicist I’ve ever known to work with him. Weirdo ripper, but as a diagnosis.
Anyways here’s the best of the week. As always, you can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update (usually) every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!
Joe Goddard feat. SUKU and Dynamite MC – Image and Style
With UK Garage enjoying a sonic renaissance, Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard indulges the classic sounds and form for “Image And Style” off his upcoming club-focused EP Kinetic. All the sonics are spot-on to the 2000’s Nokia phone era, and the verses from SUKU and Dynamite MC manage to feel like time-warp while remaining fresh and lots of fun. Bonus beats: Bluedollarbillz on Twitter has been sharing cool old garage tracks, like this 2003 heater from Da Phuture.
Casper Skulls – Roddy Piper
I found Casper Skulls' 2nd LP Kit-Cat via Josh Terry’s always-excellent No Expectations newsletter, where he correctly called out the album’s range of indie touchpoints and killer songwriting – “you’ll hear Pavement, R.E.M., and Superchunk in these songs, and it broadcasts the lived-in chemistry between songwriters and singers Melanie St. Pierre and Neil Bednis.” I particularly loved the noisy, sprawling, almost Sonic Youth-y “Roddy Piper” the most, but there are tons of charming, ramshackle tracks to love on the record.
Jeanines – On and On
NYC’s Jeanines deliver maximum hooks in minimal time on “On And On,” which doesn’t bother with a bridge or a break from chiming perfection. Singer Alicia Jeanine’s bright voice jumps out of the speaker, but the band’s restless propulsion is the real powerplant as the song hops into a layered jangling chorus.
Sufjan Stevens – Mystery of Love (demo)
Sufjan dropped the demo of “Mystery of Love” as part of a 10 year(?!!) anniversary edition of Carrie & Lowell, and it doesn’t deviate from the final release too much structurally, but the bare-bones arrangement adds a fresh sheen of heartache to the classic Oscar-nominated track.
Sofia D’Angelo – Think Too Hard
Effortless, 90s radio-esque pop from friend/collaborator Sofia D’Angelo. I’ve had the good fortune to hear Sofia’s stashed catalog of unreleased tracks, and I can guarantee you’ll be seeing her in your playlists and the press this year.
Avalon Emerson – Treat Mode
Couldn’t miss the delightful one-off single from Avalon Emerson, who created the bouncing Italo-meets-burbling techno “Treat Mode” specifically for her DJ sets. The track lives up to its name as it finds new melodic layers but never deviates from body-focused arps perfect for a mid-set peak.
throwback
Tevin Campbell – Strawberry Letter 23
How do I call this a 90’s “New Jack 90’s abomination of a cover” with all the love I want it to express? This is a terrifyingly slick cover of the Shuggie Otis/Brothers Johnson funk staple, complete with bridge rap, boom-bap pocket and DX7 string stabs. It’s fresh from the uncanny valley, in a good way.