The template for the Monthly Playlist picture that goes at the top of these blog posts is saved on my work computer, and I started to compile this playlist on my home laptop, so there's a different picture up there than there usually is. This is the least important part about the blog post, I'm just saying.
The most important part is the music. You can find twelve songs I kinda liked in the past month listed out below for you, in a playlist for you to enjoy as you hit the weekend.
February 2025
1. "I Am a Liar" by Sheena Ringo — I need to do a better job at remember where I get recommendations. I'm fine when it's a friend who gives me the rec. I can remember the friend. It's those internet strangers that I struggle with. Where in the world did I hear about Sheena Ringo, who is Japan's answer to Alanis Morissette? I have no idea! It showed up on my list at some point, and then I listened, and liked it, and now one of her songs is on a playlist. These things are a mystery to me.
2. "Rocky Trail" by Kings of Convenience — Consider this a closing statement. Kings of Convenience seem cool. I totally get why Pam was into them back in the day—this music has the same gentleness and charm that Jens Lekman regularly exudes. It must be a Scandinavian thing.
3. "I Don't Wanna Know" by Phil Collins — I have no idea how Phil Collins managed to slip past Year of Blind Spots for the past half a decade, but I appreciate Batts making the correction and adding a song to MMM a couple weeks ago. The entirety of No Jackets Required is '80s banger after '80s banger. I could've chosen anything for this space. But I chose "I Don't Wanna Know," the song that made me understand where Kid Chameleon sprang from.
4. "Ohio" by Caamp — Jelly Roll kinda sucked, but man, that "Stomp and Holler" genre tag intrigued the hell out of me. And it brought me to Caamp, the #1-rated Stomp and Holler album of all time, according to RYM. Caamp is so goddamn good that it makes me want to murder Zach Bryan with a pickup truck. Kinda goes to show that you can't judge an album based on its assumed genre.
5. "King Kunta" by Kendrick Lamar — The Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show was the best one I've seen in my lifetime. That's not because it had the best songs or the wildest performances; I can name previous performers who did more. I think it was mainly just because Lamar did something that pretty much no other major star has ever done for the Halftime Show—he didn't treat it like a greatest hits parade. He played his most recent music, and he indulged in deep cuts. Maybe someone with only a cursory understanding of Kendrick's music would hate the setlist. I liked GNX a lot, and have listened to it a lot over the past four months, and was glad to hear the good stuff on TV's biggest stage. Should he have played "King Kunta"? Nah, he made the right decision.
6. "Teenage Wildfire" by David Bowie — I have a new theory on David Bowie, after hearing about "David Bowie Week" for about five weeks straight on WXPN and hearing the same four fucking songs that entire time. My theory is that David Bowie has maybe, at most, two albums that are good front-to-back, but the sporadic hits are so good and popular that they have convinced most people that every Bowie album is a front-to-back classic. This is not true. I am not giving up on David Bowie's music. I checked out Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) recently, and it's more of the same. A couple surprising deep cuts, and way too much filler. Bowie was not that great, and his catalogue is incredibly shallow. We don't need to talk about him for the entire fucking month of January. But we should cherish the good deep cuts, when they randomly appear.
7. "Blanket and Crib" by Okkervil River — Sometimes it takes me like 20 years to finally check out an album. I like Okkervil a lot, and I'm not sure why it took me till now to complete their discography on my iPod. Down the River of Golden Dreams is clearly a lesser release from the band, a sophomore album from before they really, truly nailed their sound and made it soar. Still pretty good, though. Good albums from great bands are fine sometimes.
8. "Throughout Your Years" by Kurtis Blow — I have no idea if I'm supposed to be taking Kurtis Blow seriously. He just has one of those voices, where even the most serious sentiments are delivered with a noticeable grin. You tell me—is this a song I'm supposed to take seriously? Or is Blow fucking with me? I sincerely can't tell. The fact that his self-titled debut album ends with a terrible karaoke-style version of "Takin' Care of Business" certainly makes me lean in one particular direction in this argument.
9. "Ophelia" by the Band — I was gifted Levon Helm's biography about his life and the Band for Christmas. Then the Band's last remaining member, Garth Hudson, passed away, and I figured I should perform my usual obituary-inspired ritual and download an album I'd never heard before. Northern Lights - Southern Cross is pretty good. I'm not up to the part in the book where they made this album, but I'll let you know if I learn anything cool about "Ophelia."
10. "DENIAL IS A RIVER" by Doechii — In the week since Doechii's RC week ended, I've heard one of her songs at 1:30 AM at a bar, and I've heard her voice narrating a Super Bowl ad. She's about to become unescapable. Also in the week since her RC week ended, I've heard "DENIAL IS A RIVER" in my head basically every spare minute of every day. My self-esteem is at an all-time low, I guess.
11. "Light Pollution" by Bright Eyes — I recently, on this very blog, wrote something along the lines of "I should check out that electronica album from Bright Eyes soon." I forget where I wrote this, but it's not important. In the time in between writing that and writing this, Digital Ash in a Digital Urn celebrated its 20th anniversary (along with its fraternal twin, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning). So here we are. And here is the proof: even after now officially being familiar with every Bright Eyes album, I can still say that I've never not loved anything that Conor Oberst has ever done.
12. "Above the Bodega (Local Business)" by Titus Andronicus — Oh shit, that Titus / Eve 6 concert is next week! Who's excited? I figured I should throw a deep cut +@ song on at the end of this playlist, half as an official guess as to which random song Stickles is gonna bust out live, and half just to prove that it doesn't matter what songs they bust out, even the weirdest off-brand tangents, it's still gonna be a good time.
No comments:
Post a Comment