We Play All The Hits

There was always going to be a music post today. It's a Friday and Fridays or Saturdays are the best days for writing about music, not least because Mrs Bhagpuss is at work so I can crank the volume and sing along. I could do that anyway, but I might have to explain my choices, not to mention my interpretation. 

If it wasn't going to be a music post, it'd have been something about Neverness To Everness. Again. I probably ought to pace myself a bit there. And it's been three weeks since the last What I've been Listening To so we're about due.

But then a couple of things happened. Yesterday, a game called Mixtape launched. Anyone who's either in Wilhelm's Fantasy Critic League or has been reading his posts about it might have spotted that after five months I still haven't seen a single game I've picked go live. Mixtape is the first and as you might guess from the title it's all about music.

It's so much all about music, in fact, that the launch picked up mentions on several music sites I follow, including NME and Stereogum. As both of them note, it has one hell of a soundtrack, including favorites of mine like Iggy, the Jesus and Marychain, the Cure and Roxy Music, not to mention one of my favorites from my schooldays, Have You Seen Her? by the Chi-Lites.

I won't say anything about how well the game is doing for me in the League. I'll leave that to Wilhelm. It did seem like it might be an idea to do a whole post based on the tracklist, though, so I was still mulling that over this morning, when I saw there was a new post from Amy Rigby on her blog, Diary of Amy Rigby, which I only now realize I don't have in my blog roll. Corrected!

The post isn't about music at all. It's about wardrobes. But it mentions in passing a band called Lassie that Amy's husband, Wreckless Eric, is working with at his and Amy's home studio. Out of curiosity, I went to look for them on YouTube, where I didn't find them. 

(I found them later, another way. This is them, covering a Porter Wagoner/Dolly Parton number - for about thirty seconds. By co-incidence or maybe not really, this morning I was also listening to an interview Eric and Amy did with KSQD in Santa Cruz, where Amy asked for some Porter Wagoner and they played his "Cold Hard Facts of Life", which it turns out is also a cover as well as a hell of a song...)

What I did get when I searched YouTube for Lassie was a whole lot of results featuring bands or songs named after the famous dog and her movies. I had no idea it was a such a thing! That inevitably gave me the idea of putting a whole "Lassie" post together and I got as far as bookmarking four or five possible choices before I realized I was going to run out of good ones long before I had enough. 

So here we are, back where we began, with a What I've Been Listening To post. And it's almost themed, too, although not through any calculation or plan of mine. It's just that I seem to have been listening to a lot of new songs by really quite famous people for a change, instead of the usual run of obscurities.

Enough. Let's rock!

Rock Music - Charli xcx

How is it I've only just noticed the xcx is lower case? Or is that new? 

When I saw Charli saying her next project was going to be a rock album, this isn't exactly what I was expecting. It seems it's more an album about rock music than one made of it. If it's all like this it's gonna rock anyway!

I have some notes on the video but I'll save them for later. Might be a post in there, somewhere.

In The Stars - The Rolling Stones

I dunno. I'd have said they ought to stop but then they do something like this. They sound better in their 80s than they did in the 90s, that's for sure. That chorus...

Jeep - Kim Petras

I've been dimly aware of Kim Petras for years. She's a big star but I never felt the need to find out what she sounded like until she started recording with Frost Children. I liked that but I love this. It's got the bittersweet sweep of Americana and the swagger and sass of (hyper)pop fitted tight into one another like they shouldn't but they do. 

Really great lyrics, too. I'm just gonna say it. Doesn't sound like Lana musically but it sounds like Lana lyrically.

She did it live on Jimmy Fallon last night and fucking killed it! I was wondering what the weird double mic was and then it turns out to be a torch. Did not see that coming. The YouTube clip is really quiet, unfortunately. Turn it right up.

Gonna be watching out for the album now.

 drop dead - Olivia Rodrigo

All the stars are out tonight! Real crowd-pleasing set I got going here. Actually, this was meant to be in the last post but I couldn't squeeze it in. Gotta find space for it somewhere or it won't be eligible for the Best of the Year post and that would be a travesty.

Know what Olivia and the Rolling Stones have in common? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Robert Smith is on both their new albums, that's what. He's putting himself about, isn't he? He even gets a name check in this one.  Also, that thing Olivia does quite a lot, where she talks in that bouncing rhythm? Always reminds me of 88 Lines About 44 Women by the Nails. And something by the Student Teachers from the same era that I can't put a name to. Olivia would have fit right into that post-no-wave NY scene...

I Feel So Free - Madonna

Oh my god! Will no-one think about the children? How are they going to get famous if all these old people won't stop making good new records?!

Did you see Madge on stage with Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella?  I did. They stream the whole thing live now, all stages, both weekends, then repeat it the next day. 

I don't like festivals in general and Coachella is a particularly egregious example of one of the reasons why, namely performers playing to audiences who aren't all that interested, especially in the daytime slots. I wasn't much taken with the Coachella bill this year either. The only band I really wanted to see was Blondshell. 

I missed them the first weekend but I caught about five songs of the repeat of their set the next weekend before Mrs Bhagpuss came in to tell me tea was ready and by the time I came back to watch the rest of it they'd stopped the repeat and moved on to the live stream. So that sucked, especially since I was going to film the whole thing on my phone, seeing as how you can't download livestreams even when they're on playback.

But on the plus side, I did manage to see all of Madonna and Sabrina doing Like A Prayer, Vogue and Bring Your Love. You can, too, if you click this link although I only really recommend it out of historical interest. I'd suggest watching the other Sabrina doing Kiss City instead. Not only is it wonderful, the way she sings almost entirely on one note all the way through, but it also shows you just how demoralizing it has to be, playing these stupid beanos. At least it sounds like a few people enjoyed it.

Have I run out of famous people yet? Hmm. Maybe. 

 Switch Up - Mike D

Nah, we're good still. The Beastie Boys count.

On first hearing I thought this might be thirty seconds too long but I revise that opinion. If anything, it might not be long enough!

Midnight Sun - Zara Larsson

Reminds me of something but I can't figure out what it is. Then again, doesn't everything?

Don't think I ever shared the collab she did with PinkPantheress, did I?  Pantheress is so all over everything these days I keep missing stuff. Who'd ever have thought she'd turn out to be such a huge influence? 

Also, I only just realized, when I was searching my own blog to egoboo myself about how early I picked up on her (2021 in case you were counting. I was. I always do. Don't sadface me.) and it didn't find some posts I knew were there that I realized she runs both names together, as in PinkPantheress. I know that but apparently I keep forgetting because most of the posts with her in have her as Pink Pantheress. Typography is a real bear these days.

Oh, wait, this is a Zara Larsson song. Pantheress isn't even on it...

Forget I said anything.

 Boys In Blue - Nia Archives

And with that I think we're out of megastars. Not that Nia Archives isn't a big name but it's more cult big than just plain big. Also her first appearance here I think although I always enjoy her stuff when I hear it. This is the first that really caught my ear though. 

Very 'seventies football chant, which is always nice to hear. In a pop song, that is. Not so much coming up the road behind you on a Saturday afternoon. Been there, done that. Not feeling the nostalgia for it, if I'm honest.

And with that, I think we really are done with anyone you could call famous. And yet somehow we're not done altogether.

 Internet Fantasy - Spacemoth

That reminds me. Jane Weaver hasn't had anything new out for a while, has she?

Boat Garage - hey, nothing

You know how they say "Write what you know"? This is literally about the day the house next door to where the band live burned down, apparently. As it says in the song "They left the embers in the boat garage After the birthday party!"

Which is all very well but what the hell is a boat garage?

And finally, the pick of the Lassie litter. Maybe I'll share the rest another time. I'll have to see if there any other songs or bands named for famous dogs first...

Lassie - Doc Holliday Takes The Shotgun

I think he's singing about all the dogs he's buried but it's hard to concentrate on the lyrics when he's lunging and leering at the camera like that. Great bass sound anyway. I do love me some dirty bass.