summer twenty three tracks: part one
“I’m almost 40” is a sentence I have never willed into existence, but there you go. And with age, I’ve struggled to keep up with whatever The Kids are listening to these days — I go to fewer shows, fewer friends are in active bands, etc., etc. This is my attempt to stay relevant.
Besides my ongoing struggle against cultural obsolescence, I also tortured myself on how to develop a format for a post about new music. Therapy has helped me try to keep it simple and straightforward. There is no scientific method at play here: I started trying to track down new music to listen to that came out as of May or so, dumping them into a single playlist that I’ve been playing on Random for a few weeks. What follows is just a selection of five songs that I keep going back to and have enjoyed.
More TK.
“Deadbeat” from Pardoner’s Peace Loving People
“Deadbeat" has the lyrical charm of an alt-90s song with the creative musicality of whatever is cool these days. The song is structured artfully — the noisy and grimy intro seamlessly transitions to a delightful indie medley that’s contrasted with charming, self-deprecating lyrics that call back to something Cobain-ish. The rhyming of “forward-thinking utopian” with “where the crotch blew open” was enough to sell me in the track’s first verse.
“Hush (feat. J Mascis)” from Man on Man’s Provincetown
While I can’t say that I’ve ever been a Dinosaur Jr. diehard, I will never deny them the flowers they deserve, particularly for their ability to balance the soft with the hard — fast and loud, with moments of distorted fuzz. J Masicis plays an undeniable role in that sound, bringing the best of it to this song from Man on Man. The droning guitar and the breathy, sing-song vocals matched with Mascis’ naturally lead you to a meditative moment where you close your eyes and shake your to the layers of sound on the track.
“IdgaF” from Audrey Nuna
This was a random find via iTunes, but I’ve heard it on repeat more times than I’m ready to admit. At the risk of sounding dated and disconnected, this single from Audrey Nuna gave me “A Milli” energy that I deeply appreciated as a geriatric millennial. That, along with the middle finger lyrics ("I don't give a fuck 'bout no lease on your Lambo/I don't give a fuck, AOC, duck a scandal") that felt perfectly Gen Z made this track an addictive addition to the playlist.
“Bigfoot” from Big Freedia’s Central City
I will always make room for Big Freedia. Lest we forget that, almost a decade ago, she came to New York and broke the Guinness World Record for Most People Simultaneously Twerking in Herald Square, which led to one of my favorite pictures of an NYC moment. Of course, that record would be broken the following year… by Big Freedia, appropriately in her hometown of New Orleans. “Bigfoot” was the first single off her latest album, and it is absolutely representative of what makes Freedia the Queen Diva: brassy beats with sassy lines, the track is unapologetically bayou and bounce. (Bonus points for the “Iko Iko” callback on “Big Tyme.”)
"Tres Blancos En El Ojo" from Miss España’s Niebla Mental
At the risk of indulging in derivative descriptions, Miss España gives me X-Ray Spex power that I didn’t know I needed. It’d be more straightforward to compare them with another punk trio like Le Tigre, but there’s something about Miss España that feels less experimental and more classically and riotously punk. Or postpunk, as is the case with "Tres Blancos En El Ojo,” with its pulsing bassline and prototypically punk vocals that easily nudges into the surfer music chorus that does whatever genre you think this is proud.
