The New New

Despite my immense solipsism, I have still managed to listen to a few new tunes by people other than me since last time. Got some good ones, too. 

Of course, when I say "new" I don't always mean "new". I have one candidate running in the background now. It's from 1989. Mind you, it sounds like a ton of stuff I heard last year that was supposedly new-new so go check the dictionary, I guess.

Not going to start with that one, though. More of a mid-programmer. Always an idea to open hard, I think. 

Have you made playlists? I bet you have. Everyone makes playlists now. It's difficult, isn't it? Gives you some respect for people who have to do that kind of thing for a living, although I suppose it gets easier with practice, like everything else.

Anyway, There are a couple of obvious candidates jostling for the job of opening the post this time. Guess I could flip a coin. I have a stack of them on the desk in front of me. It's between Fcukers and Punchbag, neither new to this space... 

Heads Fcukers, Tails Punchbag...

 Play Me - Fcukers

The winner! How do you say their name, do you think? I'm assuming it's "Fuckers" and they spell it that way to be clever but maybe it's as it looks. Like, Ferkukkers. 

I mean someone thought it was a good idea to call a band !!! and then tell everyone it was pronounced Chkk! Chkk! Chkk! so frankly it's anyone's guess. Unsurprisingly, I haven't heard anyone say their name on the radio yet...

I Love This! - Punchbag

Yeah. Should have gone with that one, shouldn't I? Can't go against the coin, though. The coin decides.

That's a great chorus. Reminds me of something but I can't think what. I find that happens a lot these days.
 

Chains And Whips 

 Clipse, Kendrick Lamar, Pusha T, Malice

I'm thinking it's probably as well I don't have a video for this one. There might be one. I haven't looked.

Clipse was all over my feeds this week, as if everyone knew who they were and were just waiting for them to drop something new. Which, since they date back to 1994, I guess people might have been.

I never heard of them until a few days ago. How does that happen? I mean, I read a freaking book on the history of hip-hop last year or the year before. Were they in it? Can't recall but I don't believe so.

Good though, aren't they? Also, since Clipse is made up of Pusha T (Who I have heard of...) and Malice, it seems a bit weird to have them both also listed as if they were featured artists on their own song... but that's how they have it on their official channel so I'm just gonna go with it...

 Goldie Montana - Goldie Boutlier

This could not be fresher. It dropped yesterday and I literally only spotted it a few minutes ago, in the recommends next to one of the tunes above as I was pulling the link from YouTube. Why it hasn't appeared in any of my feeds is almost certainly because no-one's really pushing Goldie hard enough. There's a lot of new music being made and it's not just luck when you get to hear about it.

Puzzling title for a puzzling song. Sometimes having the lyrics in front of you really doesn't help as much as you'd think it might. It seems like it's about a gold-digger's wedding. I can parse it all except 

"You’ll get the estate"

What d'you make of that? Some quirk of the law I don't know about? Explanations welcome in the comments and not just from lawyers.

 Look At That Woman

 Suki Waterhouse  (Role Model cover)

Welcome to the rock section of our program. Cover of a song I never heard before so new to me twice. I did do due diligence and listen to the original and I did not enjoy it. I like Suki's cover though. It's very, very seventies, isn't it? That's not as common as it used to be. It's all nineties and noughties now.

 New Year's At The Airport - Yawn Mower

Case in point. This lot either have a good publicist or a knack for doing it themselves. Unlike Goldie, everything they do pops up in my feeds, even though I'm not convinced anyone cares. After week on YT and with links on major music websites, which is how I found it, it has 555 views. Their channel has 95 subscribers. 

I'm wondering if that terrible dad pun name is the key to their unsuccessful success so far? It certainly was what got me to click through the first time I saw it, mostly because I couldn't believe anyone would actually call themselves that. And what's with releasing a song about New Year in July? And with a video memed on The Big Lebowski? I can't help but wonder if at least one of them doesn't have a day job in marketing somewhere.

I don't even like the song much, either. I just wanted to write about it. See? That's how they get you.

Pillman's Got A Gun - Jobber

If we're going to have 90s slacker rock, which by all means lets, I'd much rather it sounded like this. One for the wrestling fans among you. Great title for anyone, though and a really nice video. 

Musically, it reminds me of a whole lot of 90s bands I liked in the way the sweet, tuneful vocals fight their way out of the guitar storm once in a while before being dragged back under. This is one where having the lyrics in the description really would help. So of course there aren't any.

 Fanciable Headcase - King of the Slums

If we're talking great titles, this one has two of them. The same clip taken from 80s/90s BBC show SnubTV, is also on YouTube under the equally great title Vicious British Boyfriend. Not sure which is the official version or which I prefer.

I vaguely remember this lot but by name only. Not sure if I ever heard them when they were around. This is from 1989 but they were going through the 90s, I think. There was a lot of this around back then but not with violin like that, more's the pity. Trumpet and electric violin ought to be the first two instruments in any rock band after guitar, bass and drums. Certainly way before any kind of keyboards or someone jigging about behind a set of conga drums.

Pick Up That Knife - Wednesday

We conclude our brief visit to the Land of Rock with yet another great title and a typically gorgeous number from critical darlings Wednesday, a band never short of column inches in all the usual journals. And deserving of the attention, too.

It's her voice, isn't it? Aimee Mann meets Patti Smith. What's not to love in that? I should play more Wednesday.

Speaking of, did you see Netflix are claiming there could be seven seasons of (the other) Wednesday? We haven't even had the second yet and how long has that been? Two years? At that rate, five more will take us into the mid-2030s and Jenna Ortega will be in her mid-30s too. I hope Wednesday'll at least be in post-grad studies by then.

Still, when did Netflix ever make seven seasons of anything?

Doom Bikini - james K

Not sure if Doom Bikini' qualifies as great title but it did get me to click through, so...

Come for the title, stay for that synthesizer wheeee-oooh-wheeee. I am a total sucker for that thing. It's one of the reasons Venice Bitch is my favorite of all Lana's songs. I'd love to know exactly what makes it and how and then I'd like to be able to make it myself. 

 The Daylight - Robin Kester

In this one it's that bass tone. Also very familiar. Can't help but love it whenever I hear it. Certain sounds just do something, don't they? This one's full of 'em, actually. That processed guitar too, although I could do with it not playing those exact notes. The whole production here, in fact. 

One of those songs that's exactly the sum of its parts, I think, which is not a bad thing at all.

Let in the Night - R. Missing

Always leave 'em wanting more. And everyone wants more R. Missing, amiright? Well, rest easy. More R. Missing guaranteed. Just keep coming back.

Also I just noticed that's daylight followed by night. I could maybe get the hang of this programming thing one day, if I keep at it.