Monthly Mix: March 2023

 

(1) 100 gecs - "Dumbest Girl Alive"

We are now a gecs household. Please update your records accordingly. If you’re on the fence, I highly recommend their Switched On Pop episode. 

(2) boygenius - "Satanist"

If you had to assign Satanist, Anarchist, and Nihilist to Julien, Phoebe, and Lucy, would you have put them in that order?

(3) Ratboys - "Black Earth, WI"

The rare eight-and-a-half minute song that could honestly be even longer. This song is a whole world.

(4) The Hold Steady - "Carlos Is Crying"

I know Craig Finn isn’t supposed to be the protagonist of every Hold Steady song told in the first person, but I do think he’d be really good at talking you through a mental breakdown in a dive bar.

(5) Bully - "Days Move Slow"

Fully on board with Alicia Bognanno’s pop turn.

(6) The Beths - "Watching The Credits"

Imagine having b-sides this good. Just imagine what that would feel like, writing a song like this and deciding that it just doesn’t fit on your album. If I wrote a song this good I would be kidnapping strangers and forcing them to listen to it. 

(7) Wednesday - "TV In The Gas Pump"

Rat Saw God comes out tomorrow. Brace yourselves.

(8) Worriers - "Never Quite Kicks In"

Lauren has made it clear that the lyrics here are meant to be read sarcastically as a diatribe against toxic positivity, but I still think “quiet quit your way to finding peace” is pretty good advice.

(9) Trust Fund - "Animals In War" (feat. Ex-Void)

Achingly beautiful collaboration from two members of the Friends of Martha Extended Universe.

(10) saturdays at your place - "it's always cloudy in kalamazoo"

I DON'T WANNA GO HOME YET! I DON'T WANNA GO HOME!!! When done properly, there's just nothing more euphoric than gang vocals.

(11) The Menzingers - "Bad Actors"

See The Beths, above. Just a song they had sitting around. Not even a part of their live show. And it rules.

(12) Taking Meds - "Memory Lane"

This has nothing to do with anything, but Taking Meds is going on tour this spring and their Bay Area date is somehow X Bar in Cupertino? What even is that?

(13) Indigo De Souza - "Smog"

Dutch physicist Niels Bohr famously said that the opposite of a great truth is another truth, and I assume he was talking about pop music, because “Smog” could not be more different than De Souza’s first single (“Younger & Dumber”) and yet they’re both great.

(14) Kara Jackson - "pawnshop"

Kara Jackson is a poet first, songwriter second, and it results in these phrasings and cadences that make no sense the first time you hear them and then sound absolutely perfect the second time.

(15) Christine and the Queens - "To be honest"

It turns out that this song is actually in English and I have not, in fact, subconsciously learned French since their last single.

(16) Meet Me @ The Altar - "T.M.I"

Past // Present // Future is a fun record but listen: If you are a young pop-punk band looking to be taken seriously, you just can't work with a producer who has previously worked with the Jonas Brothers. That fact will show up in every single review.

(17) Alex Lahey - "They Wouldn't Let Me In"

Upbeat indie rock as a means of processing childhood trauma.

(18) The Japanese House - "Boyhood"

Wistful dream pop as a means of processing childhood trauma.

(19) Shit Present - "Voice In Your Head"

Just constantly blown away by how many different accents England has. This one, apparently, is Exeter.

(20) Georgia - "It's Euphoric"

Georgia + Rostam is just a weird combination. Love them both individually, but I don't know if this works.

(21) Pip Blom - "Tiger"

Kicking off year five of trying to talk myself into the few Dutch indie bands out there.

(22) Generationals - "Dirt Diamond"

Still going strong while their “Fans Also Like” page is basically a graveyard of all my old favorite blog-rock bands: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Free Energy, Ra Ra Riot, Architecture in Helsinki, Tanlines … I am five thousand years old.

(23) Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - "Middle of the Morning"

I still don’t really know how to relate to pandemic-related art. On the one hand, this song perfectly captures the isolation and hopelessness of that time. So, as an artistic achievement, that’s great. On the other hand … this song perfectly captures the isolation and hopelessness of that time. So, why would I ever want to listen to that?

(24) Jenny Lewis - "Psychos"

Holding out hope for June’s Joy’All, but the singles haven’t been great.

(25) Miley Cyrus - "Thousand Miles" (feat. Brandi Carlile)

Gotta admit, I was a little underwhelmed by Endless Summer Vacation. A Miley/Brandi collaboration sounds like a great idea, but somehow it just doesn’t totally work for me. Then again, sometimes you just need a twenty-fifth song for your monthly mix, so here we are.