Burn Your Hits

GLW 016: Drew Ginther

GLW 017: Mike Brand

GLW 018: Carl Anderson

GLW 019: LUCAS RICHARD-POSADA

***

No matter the time of year, if I hear a good Latin song, it takes me back to summer days in Colombia sipping some strong cocktail by the beach. I get this sudden urge to dance, like a drum beat inside me that I must follow along. I’m never happier than when I’m listening and dancing to a good Latin song with friends at a bar or house party. Lucky for me, LatinX music is taking over the world and I can indulge in my vice often. "Despacito" by Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi might not be the greatest song ever created but it brought a much-needed genre of music into the mainstream. From superb collaborations over the years (Justin Bieber, Beyonce, Madonna) to Flamenco crossover, LatinX music is here to stay.

As many other lists from people with much better music knowledge and taste than me have already been published, I decided I’d spare Aaron from more Dua Lipa song entries and bring some cultural diversity to the blog by focusing my list exclusively on LatinX music. Below is a list of songs from 2019 that made me dance, put me in a great mood, sing aloud (despite my terrible voice) and overall make me feel like I can take over the world. Numbered in no particular order.

Rosalia, J Balvin – Con Altura
Maluma, Ricky Martin – No Se Me Quita
Lunay, Daddy Yankee & Bad Bunny – Soltera Remix
Rosalia, Ozuna – Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi
Reik – Raptame
Pedro Capo & Farruko – Calma Remix
Sebastián Yatra, Reik – Un Año
Anitta, Becky G – Banana
Sebastian Yatra, Daddy Yankee, Jonas Brothers & Natti Natasha – Runaway
DJ Snake, J Balvin, Tyga – Loco Contigo
Bad Bunny, J Balvin – La Cancion
Play-N-Skillz, Luis Coronel – Que Bomba
Juanes, Alessia Cara – Querer Mejor

Honorable Mentions:

Madonna, Maluma – Medellin. Not a great song but how can I not highlight a song from a music icon singing about how great my home city is.

Maan de Steenwinkel, Bizzey, Tabitha, Kris Kross Amsterdam – Hij Is Van Mij. Thought it’s not technically a LatinX song, it sure sounds like one. The first time I heard this Dutch hit at Taboo, I was captivated by how much it resembles a reggaetón song; the beat, the rhythm, that drum inside me. I was hooked.

Friday, January 3, 2020

GLW 018: Carl Anderson

GUEST LIST WEEK

GLW 016: Drew Ginther

GLW 017: Mike Brand

GLW 018: CARL ANDERSON

***

This year I got back to listening to a lot of new music. Good job, me! And a lot of it is really good. Good job, bands!

1. Julia Jacklin - “Pressure To Party”

I got so much pleasure from this perfect song this year. The first time I heard it I got hooked by the end of the first verse. I know where you live / I used to live there too. Bang. That’s how you make folks sit up and listen. There’s something Lennon-McCartney about this song. Maybe several things. A great middle eight, pushing right to the peak emotion: God how it hurts.

Pressure to act the right way around him
We're both in the crowd with people surrounding
Us, what do I do? Don't know how it works

Pressure to not let the inside of my mind
Spill onto the floor for our friends to find
It, oh, what do I do? 'Cause God how it hurts

That little guitar riff after each of these verses, it’s all you need. The guitars, bass, drums, all playing rhythm. A final verse and then it’s just rocking so hard you can’t help but “ahhhahhha” and then wrap it up at 2:59. Wow.

A premise of indie rock is that if you can write good songs, you don’t need virtuoso technique or novel production tricks. Technically speaking, everything you need was well in hand by 1970. You just need the songs. Like this one.

2. Frances Quinlan - “Rare Thing”

This is the most beautiful track of the year, and the most unexpected to me. No phrase cools my enthusiasm as consistently as “solo project.” As in “Mick Jagger solo project.” Ugh. You already know it won’t work, and everybody knows exactly why it won’t work. Even Spotify lists this track as “Frances Quinlan, Hop Along” as if it can’t bear to admit it. So you can imagine my pleasure finding that this track is effing great. “I know there is love that doesn't have to do with taking something from somebody.” My entire worldview is shook. Let’s hope the album delivers on this promise!

3. Tacocat - “Hologram”

Tacocat’s new album definitely sounds like another step away from the garage, which is risky. But it worked. And it seems like everyone in the band stepped up. Is that gated reverb on the drums? “Sounds like Phil Collins” is not a phrase you would expect to see applied to Tacocat, at least not as a compliment.

4. Beach Bunny - “Dream Boy”

Very high expectations satisfied. I thought last year’s “Prom Queen” was good but not exceptional. (Now it has 33 million listens on Spotify. How does that happen? Not sure they can sell 100 tickets in San Francisco. Not sure I even know anyone else who listens to them—Aaron?). Well “Dream Boy” is exceptional, so don’t be surprised if you hear a lot more from this band.

5. illuminati hotties - “I Wanna Keep Yr Dog”

Tenderpunk pioneer Sarah Tudzin delivers again. Everyone who has ever dated someone with a dog can relate—how has this not been done before?

You're alright but I wanna
Keep your dog
This is the last night unless you let me
Keep your dog
I know you want me close
But when you're gone it's her I miss the most
I'd rather keep your dog

Maybe this is one of those things that in retrospect seems like a totally obvious topic to write a song about, but if you approached it from a blank page it could seem an impossible challenge. That could be right. Tudzin can do amazing things.

6. Ra Ra Riot - “Bad To Worse”

Turning back to surprises, I would not have guessed that I would even listen to Ra Ra Riot this year. I have a vague recollection of 2010-era singles from them. Come to find out they’ve kept on making albums for the last nine years and I’ve ignored them. Are any of those tracks this good? This song deserves some kind of best-achievement-in-storytelling award.

7. Woahnows - “Skin Peels”

There are three people in this band. There are four in Martha. So on a per person basis, these are the best songwriters in the UK this year. Is anyone in the US listening? Thank you Aaron for working to right this small injustice.

8. Martha - “Heart Is Healing”

I listened to this track the most this year because it is the first on the new album that I started listening to like 100 times. Debatable whether there are one or two songs better than this one, but why would anyone fight over that, they are all great.

9. Better Oblivion Community Center - “Dylan Thomas”

We should all be grateful for how well this combination works. I felt trepidation. Bridgers is coming straight off one great solo album and one great supergroup album; Oberst peaked for me many years ago, and seems to form a band every few months. Also, I wondered about Bridgers’ choices. I mean, going from “You were in a band when I was born” to “you were in a band when I was four” did not seem promising. Well I was wrong. On this track together they manage to sound exactly like the best possible version of themselves.

10. Vampire Weekend - “This Life”

If not for being fully gobsmacked by the Ra Ra Riot album, I’d probably call this the comeback of the year. This album sounds great, find a way to listen to it loud.

11. Jenny Lewis - “On The Line”

In my world, Lewis has grown from not-even-the-best-thing-about-Rilo-Kiley, to a you-really-should-listen-to-this artist, to pop royalty. Long may she reign.

12. Sharon Van Etten - “Seventeen”

There has been plenty written about this song. I’ll just agree it is a highlight of the year. It even made Barack Obama’s list. Put on your dad jeans and rock.

13. Wallows - “Remember When”

Another first album here, this one pretty solid, but only this track stood out for me. Looks like it will not be released as a single. In fact, this might be the best thing the band has done despite releasing almost everything else as a single. Maybe there is something embarrassing about this track I’m missing.

14. MEMBA - “Schools Out”

This track was my electronic jam and played throughout my summer the way Purity Ring (R.I.P.) used to.

15. Mura Masa, Clairo - “I Don’t Think I Can Do This Again”

The lo-fi, dreamy lounge stylings of Clairo with a crazy drop. I lose focus if I try to listen to Clairo for more than a minute, but just putting a giant EDM drop in the middle turns out to break up the plainness very nicely.

16. Sir Babygirl - “Pink Lite”

No idea what this song is about. Don’t even get what “pink lite” is. Gotta respect taking a handful of lines that only sometimes even make sense and turning them into this rager.

17. Better Oblivion Community Center - “Little Trouble”

This is another summer tune I played a lot. Is there a coherent theme behind the catchy verses and couplets? Some of them seem to be just clever updates on “get off my lawn.” Come on, Gen Z is too easy a target right now; we should be punching up, not down. I wish I could find more to approve of, ‘cause I like listening to this track a lot.

18. Alex Lahey - “Don’t Be so Hard on Yourself”

Best song on her sophomore album, you could do worse.

19. Nilüfer Yanya - “In Your Head”

My brother-in-law and I were sitting around playing “you should listen to this” and when I pulled up this track, after 10 seconds he said “No, no, absolutely not.” I was like, WTF, you’ve only heard the intro, not even the song. Fortunately I am very good at ignoring what he thinks. This rocks.

20. Martha - “Love Keeps Kicking”

You read this blog, and you can’t expect me to say anything more about Martha than what you’ve already read.

21. Sports Team - “Fishing”

Easy to imagine this middle England band is the social opposite of Martha. In any event, they are nearly as conventional as Martha is radical, and that’s OK because they seem to own it.

One of my favorite band names of the year (slightly trailing pronoun in late polling).

22. Mannequin Pussy - “Drunk II”

This is not tender punk. Is it even punk? I remember Philly from the 80s as a classic rock town, where WYSP ruled and WXPN was for college nerds. Now WYSP is long gone, and WXPN is a powerhouse in Alternative Rock (or whatever). I don’t know Mannequin Pussy but imagine they grew up listening to hard rock canon. Certainly this rocks the way you would expect. “I still love you, you stupid fuck.” I would hold up a lighter for that.

23. Jenny Lewis - “Red Bull & Hennessey”

Jenny Lewis can put together a jam band, and a damn good one.

24. Hand Habits - “placeholder”

A wise man predicted this would show up. Easy to make it happen.

25. Slaughter Beach, Dog - “Tangerine”

Philadelphia continues to represent in the alternative universe too. I heard of this project because of Nick Harris on guitar (from All Dogs, listen to "That Kind of Girl" please). Now I hear it is also a guy from Modern Baseball. That’s the kind of happy thing happens when a scene is so full of talent.

There’s a Hawthorne Boulevard in Portland, I don’t know if this song references that one, but if so it fits.

26. The Regrettes - “I Dare You”

File under: catchy LA garage pop.

27. Alex Cameron - “Divorce”

Cameron is a strong songwriter and gifted mimic, who usually adopted in his stories the perspective of the kind of guy we don’t really feel any need to hear from right now. Maybe those stories of failure and frustration weren’t meant as grievance, maybe irony is not dead, let’s not fight about all that. Here’s my pitch: when he sings “I got friends in Kansas City with a motherfucking futon couch / If that's how you want to play it”—that’s pathos. Hear the desperation and fear in the delivery of those lines. “All you gotta do is say it: divorce.” Or if you don’t hear it, move on, sorry to waste your time.

28. Maggie Rogers - “Light On”

Another summer favorite artist of Barack Obama (but it was for “Burning”). I heard this playing in the mall and my mind went back to this Twitter moment.

Heart warming and stomach turning at the same time.

29. Andrew Bird - “Olympians”

Andrew Bird packs more musical ideas into one song than anyone else on this list. Listening to this album puts more demands on the ear than I’m used to, and sure that impacts how much and how often I enjoy it. But if that sounds like more of a feature than a bug, this is a must listen. Plenty of other high points on this album.

30. Twin Shadow - “Truly”

Another year, another hit from Twin Shadow. One of these days he has to get huge.

31. Faye Webster - “Room Temperature”

Granted this song is about three minutes of her chanting “I should get out more,” but it really does make me think that I should get out more.

32. Rosie Tucker - “Lauren”

This is a very sad song that doesn’t exactly sound sad and I find it hard to say why that is.

33. Beach Bunny - “Ms. California”

I heard this song about three days before I made this list, so not sure how it will last. It does seem like a fine expression of a certain role California plays in the American imagination, and therefore in our pop music. Definitely better than Katy Perry’s song in any event.

34. Vampire Weekend - “Harmony Hall”

To repeat: this is a great album and several other tracks could easily be on anyone’s list.

35. Aldous Harding - “The Barrel”

Her voice is so smooth, and this is a beautifully played track. Another song I have no comprehension of at all: “It's already dead / I know you have the dove / I'm not getting wet / Looks like a date is set / Show the ferret to the egg / I'm not getting led along.”

Show the ferret to the egg?

36. Frankie Cosmos - “Windows”

The story so far: I listened to this album and liked it. This seemed like a good track (also listen to the album please, it’s 17 tracks and not really singles). Then today I found out who her parents are and not quite sure how that is going to play out. On the one hand, Frankie Cosmos is about the most dumb-obvious stage name, so it seems a bit lame-ironic to use it. Would it really matter if you went by Greta Kline, which is a perfectly fine indie singer-songwriter name? Greta Kline from the upper east side – why yes, her dad is the actor. Boy, I hope she doesn’t have some terrible relationship with her dad driving this. Then I would feel really bad. She picked a stage name and that’s cool, not like she needs any special permission to do that. But the fact that she can talk to any creative person in New York with a phone call from dad is just weird to me, really weird for someone whose ambition is to sign with Polyvinyl Records or to open for Mitski (at least that’s what I imagine from this album).

37. Bibio - “Old Graffiti”

If you like to chill to somewhat ambient electronica that still sounds like pop music, this was a standout track this year.

38. Sambassadeur - “Foot of Afrikka”

While I personally was very excited about the return of Sambassadeur, they didn’t make that much of an impact. Maybe their sound no longer strikes folks as current (fair enough) but I can’t help but think this track would have killed about four years ago.

39. Julia Jacklin - “Don't Know How To Keep Loving You”

Let’s have Julia play us out with a slow burn, it was her year.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

GLW 017: Mike Brand

GUEST LIST WEEK

GLW 016: Drew Ginther

GLW 017: MIKE BRAND

GLW 018: Carl Anderson

***

Choosing the best former Fifth Harmony member who had a great duet and single this year was a challenge. Normani’s hit, "Motivation" is a perfect throwback and her duet with Sam Smith was also v good. On the other hand Camila’s duet with Shawn Mendes, "Senorita," was the most streamed song of the summer, but her solo work has struggled ("Cry For Me" is great tho). Normani takes the crown this year.

Another general winner this year? Spooky music. Across Billie Eilish, Kim Petras, 5 Seconds of Summer, Bishop Briggs, and Hayley Kiyoko we had a surprising variety of halloween appropriate bops.

However, as a whole, there is one clear winner for the year. 2019 was the year of Ariana Grande. "thank u, next" at the end of 2018 set her up, and then with "7 rings" and her album she solidified her place in the pop pantheon. Closing out the year with her live album was her victory lap.

Some other gentler narratives:

For the second time Katy Perry has released an amazing lead single off a new album, and then fumbled it with the follow ups.
Dua Lipa still feels like she could really hit but hasn’t quite made it to the top tier of divas yet.
Self Love is also having a moment with MUNA’s "Number One Fan" and Lizzo’s "Soulmate"

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

GLW 016: Drew Ginther

GUEST LIST WEEK

GLW 016: DREW GINTHER

GLW 017: Mike Brand

GLW 018: Carl Anderson

***

You have a better chance of getting cutting edge, new music from the Billboard Top 40 than you do from me. I listened to 64,000 minutes in 2019 (thanks Spotify), but that was probably dispersed amongst 50 songs. If I find a song I like, I’ll play it on repeat until I can’t stand it. Also, I don’t listen to lyrics I just need to hear a voice I like and a beat that puts me in a decent mood. So ENJOY. (Not sure why I was asked to be a contributor to a music blog). I’ve no clue if these songs are all from 2019, but they’re 2019 for me.

Sunday Mornings Artist: Artist that makes my EXCLUSIVE Sunday Mornings Artist which I play ... every Sunday when I’m hungover.

1. P!nk - "I Am Here"

We saw her in Köln this summer and this song was great. I didn’t really know it at this point and it brought a lot of energy. Also, it turns me on that P!nk could kick my ass on any given day.

2. Lizzo - "Good As Hell"

Ilana tried to convince me to go to Lizzo’s first show in Amsterdam early 2019 in Paradiso Noord, but I wasn’t convinced yet. After more convincing, I bought a ticket for the show at AFAS Live and wow ... I definitely felt good as hell after this. I won’t miss another Lizzo show when I’m in the same city.

3. Sam Smith - "How Do You Sleep?"

Love SS. I can listen to their music in any mood. Sunday Mornings Artist.

4. Kygo, Whitney - "Higher Love"

If you can release music from the bottom of a bathtub, I’ll listen. But really, this song was my pre-drinks go-to song for most of the year.

5. Dennis Lloyd - "GFY"

I played this song during every summer commute when I was sweating and hungover. GFY, line 54 naar Gein.

6. Sampha - "Blood on Me"

This was the album I probably listened to the most this year. From top to bottom, Sampha nailed it ... for me. Sunday Mornings Artist.

7. Avicii, Aloe Blacc - "SOS"

Although I disagreed with exploiting Avicii even further, I couldn’t help but love this song with Aloe Blacc. Love his voice.

8. Paola Pellegrino, Susan Tyler "‘74-‘75" (Radio Edit)

This song had summer all over it for me. I’ve never heard of either of the people, nor have I listened to anything else from them but this song gave me some sun in cloudy Amsterdam.

9. Cosmo’s Midnight, Winston Surfshirt - "Get To Know"

Same with the one above and the one below, I know nothing about these artists but these songs were all on repeat at the same time and it took longer than the normal two weeks for me to play them into the ground.

10. Roman Müller, Gina Livia - "Easy Life"

See the above two descriptions.

11. Emeli Sande - "Sparrow Concert"

1 of 2 where it was all British housewives, Aaron and I. I love her voice. Sunday Mornings Artist.

12. James Morrison, Joss Stone - "My Love Goes On"

Roomie and I have been listening to James Morrison since we got together 12 years ago and we finally saw him live. Concert 2 of 2 with the British housewives. Sunday Mornings Artist.

13. Loboda - SuperSTAR

Song 1 of 2 that we heard in every bar in Saint Petersburg. These two made it to my top 20 songs and all I know is that Russian pop is where it’s at. Also, it was cool when after this song the Russian drag queen said she wanted to do the splits on my face.

14. Artik & Asti feat. Артем Качер - "Грустный Дэнс"

See above. 2 of 2 Of Russian pop songs.

15. Haim - "Summer Girl"

Aren’t we all just summer girls?

16. Florence + The Machine - "Hunger"

Florence is weird as fuck but she didn’t disappoint this year at her show in Bologna. Sunday Mornings Artist.

17. Charlie XCX, Christine and the Queens - "Gone"

This has Club G written all over it. 🌸

18. Lost Frequencies, Aloe Blacc - "Truth Never Lies"

This album by Lost Frequencies was one I played on repeat for quite some time. One of many great songs on the album.

19. Tom Walker, Zara Larsson - "Now You’re Gone"

Not sure why, but this song is still playing after months.

20. Sigala, Becky Hill - "Wish You Well (Acoustic)"

Her voice is on the verge of annoying, but with the song above I am still listening after months.

21. Bon Iver - "Hey, Ma"

I just really like this song and Bon Iver is always easy to listen to.

22. John Newman - "Feelings"

John Newman’s voice is probably annoying to many, but I love it. I’ll listen to all of his music.

Monday, December 30, 2019

GLW 015: Ryan Joyce

GUEST LIST WEEK