No predictions, just bangers here from the Unskippables!
That said, I spent a long time this week listening to tracks on the verge of virality care of Rachel Brodsky’s second This Week In Pop column on Stereogum.
These are all songs and artists popping off on TikTok poised to cross over to the charts - and I was immediately struck by their absolute safeness.
Maybe the theater kid vibes dripping off these tracks reflects their audience and our Extremely Online way of processing new music. It’s a reflection of a reality where new songs connect with users best through shared sounds, easy memes, and lipsyncs.
So in that sense, relatability over innovation makes sense - you optimize for connection via participation, not stop-the-radio-dial shock and surprise.
That said, I was bummed to hear so many new artists tread safely in the Taylor-via-Post Malone singsong territory, or map to established sounds - there’s a Dua Lipa soundalike, another pop punk track, etc.
With a limited set of major artists in their Imperial stage or moving major units, there’s such clear room for something…new? It’s mostly just disappointing to not hear someone take on the opportunity - or not be incentivized to.
ANYWAY here are the year’s first batch of hot reads and links:
It Takes A Village, People - come for the A+ disco pun and stick around for the work documenting San Francisco’s gay disco history
Larry Fitzmaurice goes deep on his relationship to LCD Soundsystem as a critic and white guy in the tri-state
This Instagram post about the pressure to “go viral” for artists has been making rounds
Another Pavement reissue! With a new b-side “Be The Hook” alongside 28(!) unheard tracks
Now for the tracks - you can follow along on our playlist on Spotify and Apple Music, which will update every week along with the newsletter.
THE UNSKIPPABLES #20
QRTR - Want Me 2
This was a find from records I missed in 2021, QRTR’s infina ad nausea, which originally came out in August of last year. It was re-released with a remix in December, and I was surprised that I missed this hazy yet sleek track when it initially dropped. Somewhere between the shoegaze by way of NTS pop from Doss, and the early 00s UK house nostalgia of Pinkpantheress sits “Want Me 2,” an effortless and bubbling track built on an R&B-inflected refrain. Her whole album was on rotation over the holiday, and is worth a spin if you also missed it.
The Weeknd - Sacrifice
Though it feels a bit odd to recommend a massive single from a massive pop record, “Sacrifice” is such a fun and effective groove I had to include it after endless listens when it dropped. Like the other Dawn FM highlight, “Out Of Time,” which basically lifts this city pop song note for note (TY Ross Scarano for the tip), “Sacrifice” pulls heavily from another track, Alicia Myers’ “I Want To Thank You.” It still gets points from reworking blog house into something that fits into the album’s eerie pop, and making co-producers Swedish House Mafia…cool?
Tomato Flower - Red Machine
This song is the color of suburban golden hour, somehow sounding both like peak late 90’s indie and melancholy AOR Carpenters-core. A sneaky cowbell drives the track forward, but the big dream pop organs deliver the nostalgic Big Sad. Bandcamp editors put it best - the song immediately “conjures up feelings of riding a bicycle through a blissful utopian cityscape.”
Jesse Adelman - Is This Real?
If you like the War On Drugs but find their “let’s get lost, babe” lyrics a little lacking, Jesse Adelman’s Strangers might be up your alley. Released on Christmas Eve, Strangers balances heart-torn Americana and big, achey choruses.
Spiritualized - Crazy
There’s just no reason for J Spaceman to deliver a song this good 32 years into Spiritualized’s existence. The single is from their upcoming record out this year, Everything Was Beautiful, and the song’s woozy country sadness is a perfect accompaniment to a confusing and cold January in New York.
THE THROWBACK
Kings of Leon - California Waiting
I was a prime target for the “garage revival” in the early 2000s, an awkward teen who felt left out of nu-metal’s chest thumping and armed with just enough allowance to buy CD’s at Target. And the Kings of Leon were built for me to consume, complete with a Southern fried narrative and maybe the most unforgivable haircuts of the early aughts.
And perhaps I revisited this record to see how it still worked, and it was surprising how much it landed while travelling for the holidays? It kind of rips!
Especially in light of their later arena rock ick, it’s cool hearing a band succeed on the terms of being a very good bar band. It’s scuzzy road trip music, where every part of the song had to be a hook and it barely mattered what you actually said as long as it felt cool. It’s not essential but it’s worth a relisten, especially if you need some audio sunlight for your winter.
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading!