shredding supergroups and a borrowed britney chorus?
the best of the week from the hard quartet, halsey, shutups, alien d, robber robber and more!!
Hello! Welcome to the Unskippables where we’re glad no one is asking us about Taylor Swift.
Keeping it short this week due to my kid getting hand foot mouth, my new #1 enemy. I thought I knew about gross stuff before I was a parent. I thought I understood crumbs, I thought I understood sickness – but truly, I understood nothing.
Anyways, some good links before the new music:
If John Maus Did Branded Content – I wasn’t ready to do a full writeup for “I Live Behind The Ross,” but imagine a JM song about Ross and yeah, you’re close. It will get stuck in your head.
SO LET GO YEAH LET GO JUST GET IN – Matthew Jacobs put together an oral history of the Garden State soundtrack, twenty years later.
All My Homies Hate DSPs, Con’t – Another artist eschews the DSP rollout strategy, with Yacht releasing a physical-first version of their aptly titled New Release, with digital treats/keys to exclusive content that turn on when the album gets released digitally.
As always, you can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!
The Hard Quartet – Earth Hater
An honest-to-goodness supergroup?? The Hard Quartet is the new band from Stephen Malkmus, Chavez’s Matt Sweeney, Jim White, and Emmett Kelly. The song's fuzzy stomp is (delightfully) exactly what you'd hope from this group of indie rock vets, leaning hard especially on Malkmus' knack for playful melody and insouciant guitar hooks.
Halsey – Lucky
Halsey's latest interpolates both Britney's "Lucky" and Monica's "Angel Of Mine," and I have to admit I was initially resistant, partially having lived through peak Girl Talk era mashups in 2008. However, her strength as a main character on the mic make the references feel natural and playful, pitting strong verses against the crushed-MP3 backing tracks. Nostalgia is only a crutch if you use it as a shield – Halsey smartly uses it as a counterpoint to the pained autobiography in the song’s lyrics.
Alien D – World Impact
Alien D is New York’s Daniel Creahan, who co-runs Sweat Equity but also has made time for unrelenting, crispy club tunes under this alias since 2022. “World Impact” builds off a chopped up breakbeat and slowly morphs into a bouncing club banger, pairing crunched transients with an unstoppable, sweaty bassline.
Robber Robber – Sea or War
I found Robber Robber's new LP Wild Guess thanks to the excellent folks at Bandcamp Daily, who praised the post-punk group's blend of crusty angularity and cool, glossy vocals from singer Nina Cates. "Sea or War" in particular gleams thanks to the contrast of the band's tight groove and Cate's melody, sounding like a lost incredible Blonde Redhead song that springs into a tightly wound guitar break. Few bands that can flex this much muscle have this much tunefulness, and Robber Robber's new album showcases both in spades.
Shutups – Perfect Hair Perfect Teeth
I will always rep an Oakland band – anyone who's had to play Stork Club on a weeknight will 100% get a listen from me. This time, it helps that Shutups hit perfect Saddle Creek-adjacent emo-rock notes, with a dash of the chorus genius of Get Up Kids . I'd love to see this band at a bar with a semi-working pinball machine and a terrible bathroom (compliment).
throwback
Dee-Lite live on Arsenio Hall (1990)
I put this on as a lark while cruising YouTube, and I was honestly blown away by the whole performance. The outfits, the hair, the Q-Tip guest appearance, the simple yet effective chorus choreography – there’s so much texture to the live performance. I’m not one to get all “well in the good old days…” but it’s hard not to look at some of the live performances in NYC and thirst for campy, strange fun like this.