Hello friends. I started this newsletter to get back in the habit of finding and celebrating amazing new songs that thrill me deeply.
But if I’m truly honest, deep in my heart, I love hating things. And I’m here to say that hating stuff is still really important - great music is rare and precious, and letting mid shit slide doesn’t do anyone any favors and in fact means you have to have an opinion on more mediocre bullshit.
So in that spirit, I was struck by Jeff Weiss’ longread on Coachella at the Ringer, and his Directioner Has No Clothes take on Harry Styles’ stylish but vacant musical presence was a ripper:
As a child, Styles learned to make music by singing karaoke covers, and never learned how to stop. There is no such thing as a Harry Styles song. There are Hall & Oates songs, David Bowie songs, Pink Floyd songs, Elton John songs, Queen songs, and Fleetwood Mac songs, which Harry Styles and his producers and songwriters rejigger into new alignments like a Web3 reboot of Glam Rock Scrabble.
And that’s only like one of maybe a dozen incredible burns! That all fully land! It was thrilling to read, if only because taking on stuff that is popular but meaningless seems less and less interesting to pop critics. It was the same reason Jon Caramanica’s devastating Dua Lipa live review felt so relevatory - great performances and charm are rare and hard to find! It’s important to separate the popular from the thrilling!
However, even critical praise can awaken the inner hater in me, and thrill his gremlin-y, haterade chugging self: Chris Deville wrote an early review of the new Arcade Fire album “WE,” and I had to re-read this graf several times before realizing it was a positive review:
Some litmus tests: Does the thought of Butler solemnly declaring, “I unsubscribe” — over piano that evokes “Imagine” and The Sophtware Slump, on a nine-minute multi-movement saga called “End Of The Empire I-IV” that also recalls David Bowie, Bright Eyes, and Queen — make you cackle dismissively or laugh giddily in the knowledge that Arcade Fire are back in their bag? … What about the part of the pulsing strobe-lit dance-rock track “Age Of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)” where he utters, “Born into the abyss/ New phone who’s this?”
Jesus. This sounds like a deeply wack and terrible time, and honestly the feelings that fluttered through my cold, dead heart were a delight: this shit sounds so, so awful and I cannot wait to listen to it.
So - before we get to celebrating the week’s best, it’s always worth saying that there’s value and joy in hating on stuff. Great criticism and hate-listens are important parts of having actual taste, so go out there and get hating.
Anyways, here are this week’s Good Links
Cringe Your Way To Stardom - Tobias Hess on TikTok label feuds via Dirt
Podcast Babe (Winter Version) - Stephen Malkmus and Spiral Stairs go long (like, really long!) on 30 years of Slanted and Enchanted via Matador’s Revisionist History podcast. It’s not hip, but I really enjoyed them going deep on gear, tuning, and the influence of New Jersey.
It’s Your Cousin!! Marvin Berry??? - Derek Thompson talks about Stanford psychologist Justin Berg’s research about one hit wonders and how useful it is to sound new.
And now, on to the tracks and a fountain of positivity. You can follow along on our playlist on Spotify and Apple Music, which update every Tuesday along with the newsletter.
UNSKIPPABLES #33
Peggy Gou - I Go (DJ Koze Remix)
DJ Koze’s remix of Peggy Gou’s “I Go” is an under-the-radar contender for the year’s best remix. Koze’s minimal arrangement allows their crisp, cartoonish synth motif to render in bright 3D alongside Gou’s lowkey vocal, with a smattering of hi hats and claps popping up a minute and a half in. The remix feels like a classic house track in its intent, and a future-facing minimal gem in execution — and it’s maybe the most addictive electronic music you’ll hear this year.
Hot Chip - Down
Hot Chip are the century’s most reliable electronic group, and no one talks about this enough. The band announced their eighth album, Freakout/Release, with the advance single “Down,” built around a sample from Universal Togetherness Band’s “More Than Enough.” The drop from the sample to the song’s rubbery groove would be an achievement for any other group, but for Hot Chip, it’s just par for the course.
Pusha T - Just So You Remember
If you told me that Kanye would deliver all of the best beats on Pusha T’s new LP after his last four unlistenable LPs I would have called you crazy. And yet, despite going up against multiple Neptunes/Pusha reunions across It’s Almost Dry, Ye’s beats are the true stunners on the album, especially the skeletal funk of “Just So You Remember.” Pharrell’s “Call My Bluff” comes close, but the smeary bass and dinky congas of “Remember” provide just a whiff of danger underneath Pusha’s verses about being the Genesis in the Book of Coke (Amen).
Σtella - Up and Away
Yearning indie pop from Athens, Greece-based singer and songwriter Σtella’s upcoming Sub Pop album of the same name. Think Peter, Bjorn and John fleeing local police in a small Greek town and you’re close to the vibe of this effortlessly cool track. The song is charming, urbane and propulsive while maintaining a cool loungey pocket.
Flume feat. Damon Albarn - Palaces
Maybe it’s the psychedelic video, but this track absolutely sounds like finding a tiny Damon Albarn at the center of a giant technicolor solar system made of bass synth. Where some of Albarn’s solo work can rely on the power of his iconic croon as to distract from middling hooks, Flume wisely uses Albarn as a familiar and human payoff to “Palaces’s” rising wave of synth distortion and bass.
THROWBACK CORNER
Alyans - На заре (At Dawn)
This Russian synthpop video evidently went viral in 2019, and it’s easy to see why - every single person onstage is rocking a ~lewk~ that is beyond parody. It’s easy to be obsessed with the synth player in a faux-Geordi LaForge visor, but everyone rocks their vibe to the fullest. As a bonus? The song is great! It’s like if A-Ha and Bauhaus had a terrifying baby that recruited their entire band from the IT department.
That’s all for this week - thanks as always for reading, and if you haven’t please subscribe. I swear my writing is *even better* when it’s in your inbox.