It’s not quite spring, but it’s not not spring, all false starts and blue skies that belie a cutting wind. It’s been a slog, is what I’m saying. But here we are, friends. Let’s talk through a whole mess of highlights from the last few months, which has been so bountiful in new music that the only way to share it is in a way that makes me feel like I’m using Wordpress again and this is the early/mid ‘10s. Simpler times. Let’s go.
Tigers Blood - Waxahatchee
I have become very much not an album person the last few years, the combination of no commute, inconsistent childcare, and life life-ing like life does. But whew, boy, this new Waxahatchee album has broken through. It’s lovely for all the reasons a Katie Crutchfield record is lovely, for all the reasons Saint Cloud was such a fountain of warth during those early pandemic months, which is to say, plainly, that I find a deep, unmatched comfort in the cadence that Ms. Crutchfield sings with and the way she works through describing her life and feelings and relationships. So anyways, this record has been in constant rotation in the week it’s been out, soundtracking trips to the store and walks with our dog and the hours spent in my little office working. It’s tremendous. It’s what I was hoping for. It’s what I needed.
…and now, let’s figure out how to share like 20 tunes without you clicking out of this email because I talk too much. I promise it’s worth it, but still: it’s an impossible goal. Here goes, though.
“Rosemary” - Donovan Woods
Man, we are 15+ years into Donovan Woods’ career and I think this might be the finest song he’s written? Somehow? I dunno. You know I only have one good ear. But goodness, this is A Tune. The way it opens up for a stare into the middle distance at the exact right moment? That’s the stuff, friends.
“I Guess” - Lizzy McAlpine
I was not familiar with Lizzy McAlpine’s game, I must say, before recently. Sure, there was that better-than-the-original cover of “A Little Bit of Everything” last year. But good lord, where to even start with this tune? Just hiding punch after well-timed punch in the strings and hushed vocals. And then… it just breaks open with warmth. More, please.
“Vampire Empire” - Adrianne Lenker
This is a safe space, right? Cool, because I need to say it: I do not, generally, understand the fuss about Big Thief. It’s not for me, and that’s fine. However, this urgent, ramshackle, solo-ish re-recording of a single they released last year is absolutely for me. It’s stunning and engrossing and I can’t get enough.
“Me Before You” - Bleachers
Don’t close the safe space down just yet. Bleachers: also part of that group of artists a lot of people whose opinion I like absolutely love but that I am generally, aside from like a handful of tunes, agnostic about. But goodness, there’s something about the swirling anxiousness of this tune that I can’t shake.
“Field Recordings” - Restorations
I am happy to say that the new Restorations album kicks an immense amount of ass and will very likely fill the Album Much Younger Adam Would Have Been Obsessed With mantle this year. Nice to get that out of the way early. This is about as good of an opening track as we are going to get this year.
“New Short Haircut” - Farseek
I did not know I needed twangy emo in my life, but I absolutely did, friend. Also: my wife has had short hair for the majority of the time we’ve been together and in the alternate timeline where we met when she first got that haircut and I was dating her I would absolutely make her a mix with this song on it and hope that she commented on it. Because I am exactly that cheesy and obvious.
“How” - Sinai Vessel
There’s some Photo Album/Transatlanticism-era Death Cab For Cutie vibe to this here song and I, for one, am very into the idea of that whole vibe coming back in this, the year of our lord, 2024. The world needs more tunes that twinkle and crash in equal measure.
“Tejano Blue” - Cigarettes After Sex
Listen, man, yes, every word sung in this song makes the Midwest in me very uncomfortable. And yet I cannot get enough of the way this one floats and meanders. I contain multitudes. I’m 40, but I just want to say- Mom, skip this one. Thanks.
“Sweet Dream” - Tommy Newport
One of the catchiest, struttiest tunes of the year. I appreciate when a song can pack this much fun into two and a half minutes, but I would have taken another two and a half. For struttings sake. For the kids.
“Cinderella” - Remi Wolf
Same goes for this one, which quickly followed the above jam thanks to shuffle, and which absolutely almost broke my I Am Taking The Dog On A Walk And This Is Serious Business, Goddamnit outward appearance. It was not serious business. It was party time. But we walked, instead. Because we are professionals.
“Light On” - Dehd
Would appreciate the temperature rising so I could make good use of this song, which deserves open windows and a drive where you manage to inadvertently speed.
“Cutting Thru the Country” - Medium Build
I am nothing if not an enormous sucker for a pained, passionate cadence in a slow burner. It’s the stuff.
“Atom Bomb” - Bully
Bully is another of those acts that’s never fully clicked, but whewwwwwwwwww boy, this one. Take that pained, passionate cadence mentioned above and put it over a piano and strings and that, friends, is very much my shit.
“All In Good Time” - Iron & Wine with Fiona Apple
Was not expecting this to work like it did, but this is so impossibly beautiful and good. Two well-worn voices joining up and complimenting each other and making something deeply wonderful. You truly love to see it.
“May It Be on Offer” - Rosali
The new Rosali album is real good, friends, and while this particular tune doesn’t fit it, talking about the album does allow me to share a new theory I’m cooking up in my head thanks to listening to music from the 90s a lot more than I’d care to admit, but anyways, here it is: we have all underestimated the impact Natalie Merchant had. Not a slight in any way, just noticing it more and more. ANYHOW. This is such a perfect closing track to a really solid record. Love that for us.
“Americandream” - Lily Krenshaw / “American Dreaming” - Sierra Ferrell
I am nothing if not a cliche, which is to say: a white, Midwest dad, which is to say: wholly a sucker for any and all songs about/critiquing/navigating the ‘American Dream.” We all have our things. Both of these are tremendous and bittersweet and pointed in their own ways.
“Sondico Cosmico” and “Low Sun” - Hermanos Gutierrez
Have you ever wanted your little daily tasks and such to sound so much more interesting, tense, and/or sepia/neon-toned than you ever imagined? Buddy, you’re not gonna believe this, but I have fucking got you. (These are so wonderful and I’m so excited for the new album.)
Wow. You made it to the end. I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have. It was too long. But you did. Because you’re not a quitter.
Anyhow, be well. Hope the weather warms up around you. And hope it’s not all too disorienting as you continue to navigate the portion of the calendar that only serves as a reminder that the world changed 4 years ago and none of us have properly processed it yet and really have no chance to, ever, if we are being honest.
Sorry. Whoops. Too much. Um. Spring! Almost! Happy Opening Day!
Be well.