sad dog jams

with SIX of the best new songs thanks to a camila/playboi drop

I’ve been convinced over the last few weeks that my dog is depressed, even though he’s acted pretty much the exact same as he always has – which is to say, has been a bad dog. We’re relatively certain it’s because the baby is newly mobile, and his house is now taken over by a tiny screaming lump invading his space. I’ve mostly responded by giving him way more random food scraps, though I also started Googling “how to run with your dog,” as if he and I might benefit from trying to do something very difficult together.

I hope you, too, are grappling with how to care for the things in your life you love – and I’m sure all our dogs are doing okay.

The only really Good Link of the week unrelated to marry an older rich guy is Ex Research’s "Where Is Culture Headed?” which doesn’t have many easy answers but is more hopeful than I expected.

On to the new tracks! You can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!

Camila Cabello feat. Playboi Carti – I LUV IT

This tweet, but as a compliment

Adrianne Lenker – Sadness As A Gift

I have never been a Big Thief fan, but Adrianne Lenker’s Bright Future just hit me straight in the gut last weekend. The first song, in fact, is too sad for me to listen to for casual backround playing because of Lenker’s skill at weaving Mount Eerie-level devastating detail into her tracks. “Sadness As A Gift” feels like a lost country standard, almost on the level of a Townes Van Zandt classic, partially due to the record’s talented backing band staying in close harmony but also again, due to Lenker’s incredible skill at making a complex story feel obvious.

Future, Metro Boomin & Travis Scott – Cinderella

WE DON’T TRUST YOU is a sorta-event record that unfolds at its own leisurely pace, as if knowing how much attention it would get when it landed last Friday. The quiet luxury of two superstars unconcerned with Spotify plays or chart placement is evident on so many of the album’s mid-song beat shifts, which are fun and playful, especially on “Type Shit” and “Don Magic Juan.” The Kendrick verse on “Like That,” though spiritually in the right place by dunking on Drake, felt like a very 2016 buzz moment amidst a record that’s more interested in searching for what’s next.

Halo Maud – Terres Infinities

Greg Saunier produced the second LP from Halo Maud aka Maud Nadal, better known as the guitarist for Melody’s Echo Chamber, and it sounds exactly what you’d expect it to: bombastic psych-Francopop with explosive beats and shimmering, neon-lit melodies.

Sam Evian – Rollin’ In

Upstate ELO? Big jeans Harry Nilsson? Plunge is a warm, familiar guitar pop record that I can already tell I’ll be playing all spring and summer – gentle and tuneful like a warm AOR bath.

Olivia Rodrigo – Obsessed

She has the juice, that’s all. This song overdelivers for a “deluxe edition” release of GUTS, thanks partially to an Annie Clark co-write and Rodrigo’s usual pitch-perfect blend of humor and pathos. The Billie Eilish-esque quiet fakeout in the first chorus is a stellar move as well.

throwback

Julie Doiron – The Songwriter

This is a new-to-me Julie Doiron song from a 2002 collaborative LP with Okkervil Record. Like Doiron’s best songs, the sound of the room around her expands and embraces her singing, the wood of the room seemingly sighing in agreement.