gen z steely dan, sped-up lana, and a long-lost 7" found!
YEAH ITS A LOT
Well, with the DNC in full swing reactivating sleeper cell cringe-lib millennials – and Lil Jon?? – it's timely that Vulture dropped the definitive list of Obamacore media. Skimming through, it's a little too on the nose, especially for those of us who were in the digital media trenches trading in lukewarm Girls takes and trying to keep up with “Shit X Says” Twitter accounts, but it's worth a read especially if you are in need of a healthy dose of cynicism amidst the 2024 campaign hype.
A few other Good Links:
More like the makes you think pony club – Kelsey McKinney’s essay on fandom and Chappell Roan’s recent viral TikTok plea for space is a banger – especially for the kicker – “If you want to consume a person fully, there will be nothing left at all.”
More More Eaze please – I’ve been a big fan of More Eaze’s output over the last years, ever since her 2021 collaboration with Claire Rousay an afternoon whine, so I was stoked to see this career-spanning discussion drop on the Quietus.
Do yee even haw? Matthew Perpetua put together this playlist of artists doing one-off country songs, if you’re curious what a chicken pickin’ Beastie Boys track sounds like!
As always, you can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!
Geordie Greep – Holy, Holy
“Holy Holy” is simultaneously the funeral song for Black MIDI and the kickoff for a new solo project from frontman Geordie Greep. The track is a frenetic almost-prog mini epic, that borrows a heavy dose of Donald Fagen-isms but with a first thought/best thought energy that feels raw and unbridled, like the Nightfly on too much Celsius. The song strangely opens on the same rhythm as “Let’s Groove,” but the song’s moves are all FM rock and AOR prog – by the time the vamping finale comes through, it feels like you've been through multiple tracks but the restlessness of the track never fades.
Friday Man – Freight Culture
I'm biased because this record was finished in a studio I share with the men of Friday Man, but I really love Takes an Interest in His Surroundings, their debut record out this week. All-hardware electronic music can often feel narrow-focused and flat, but the group finds fun colors across their tracks, making the most of their four-member all-machine band formation. “Freight Culture” in particular feels playful and open, buidling around an almost italo-style baseline before diving into a clutter of 909 percussion and skittering synth leads, eventually turning into a chaotic acid workout.
Kurt Weisman – The Horrors of the Sacrifice
I saw this tweet from NYC artist Clarke about a long-lost 7” finally online, and I had to listen. Luckily, Kurt Weisman’s More Is More feels like a delightful gem, even if you hadn’t waited on it for years. The DIY twee feels like a spiritual cousin of Chad Vangaalen, but the mix of homespun instrumentation and precious vocal performances give it a timelessness that would haunt me as well if I never got to hear it again.
Addison Rae – Diet Pepsi
This song feels bonkers because it’s like a Lana Del Rey ballad at 1.5x speed, like she’s doing a speedrun in the tunnel under Ocean Boulevard. Something about the sped-up melancholy makes her stacked, airy vocal fit right in, trading in Lana-style syrup for, appropriately, pop aspartame.
Real Young Prodigys – Where My Bus At
Look, you may roll your eyes at the phrase “educationally-charged hip hop collective,” but YOU try writing a song about reduced bus service in your city and see if it slaps this hard?? Get these kids some buses!
throwback
Frank Stallone – A Father’s Gift
There’s been a lot of “Gen Z don’t know about the computer room” discourse on Twitter this week, so it’s only appropriate to bring back this absolute HEATER about the power of the 90s computer room.