I found myself in a funk last week. The kind where I needed an hour just to walk around a thrift store to remind myself I didn't need to buy anything and should go home to my family. The kind where I'm asking Goddess cards to sort through my chaotic thoughts. It's a dark, probably hormonal, and empty mental space, dealing with some current family health stuff. My motivation to do much was fleeting—even the Dollar General and Target brought me little joy. Not a lotion or mascara in the land could bring me back.
Then I got my reminder email from Joe about the Strokes' Reality Awaits, and I was immediately "oh, no, I'm going to fail at this, and I'm going to forget, and I'm going to hate it, and it's just one more thing I can't figure out..." Spiral, spiral, little star, how I wonder, where you are. For some reason, out of the spiral, I started to listen to this album.
After "Going Shopping," I fell in like with this album, so I started writing this review. The Strokes have always been on the periphery of my listening ("Last Nite" right?), and I'm sure I've heard their other hits, but this album did something good, if only for the words and sounds I needed to hear in that moment. It wasn't loud, and it wasn't punk, and it wasn't something abrasive. So, for me in that headspace, it was a balm for the soul.
On a relisten, the album is just okay (what is happening with that auto-tuned vocal stuff?), but I am still grateful for the space it gave me to climb out of that other mental hole. When I think about the books I like, as someone who frequently discusses language and writing style, sometimes the vibes just vibe for me. I don't want to over-explore the minutiae (I can do that later), but I just want to exist with the book and how it makes me feel. While I don't know that I would call this an amazing album, for me, in that moment, it was.
Simon & Garfunkel's Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was not my plan for this evening. I've got a good book to finish, goddamnit. I'm writing this review purely because my husband hated it so much. So when I put the album on, I was STUNNED by his hatred. My love for this album purely comes from my father's love for this album. I know for a fact he still has the actual record. This album is true nostalgia for me. Is it weird that they sing so much about the Lord in "You Can Tell the World"? Maybe, but I did the musical Godspell, so I'm not going to pooh-pooh this.
Their harmonies are so soothing and weird to me. "Bleecker Street" is a lullaby, and it's the sound I think of most when I hear Simon & Garfunkel.
Let's not pretend "Sound of Silence" isn't the most beautifully tragic song of all time. Sure, The Graduate of it all is important, but it's much more for me. My dad had been drafted (kicking and screaming) to the Army during the Vietnam war. This song was a reminder of his loneliness and fear—although he has never phrased it in that way. He was an un-athletic South Philly kid off to bootcamp in the South, and Simon & Garfunkel sang that into meaning for him.
"Peggy-O" is silly lyrically, but again we have that classic vocal and guitar sound that for me is legendary.
On a giant aside, the other day my kids were fighting about some stupid songs they wanted to hear, and I yelled "SIRI PLAY 'THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN'' BY BOB DYLAN ON SPOTIFY”... the children were silent as Bob warbled on. I digress, except to say kids can drive you to '60s rebellion music. This S&G version doesn't have the same spark as Dylan's, but it's still so good.
"Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.," and a lot of this album, feels transcendent. Am I at the Renn Faire or is it 1965?
My husband is wrong. This album is great, and weird, and folk, and harmonic, and all over the place, but still grounded in their sound. Are there better Simon & Garfunkel albums, yes, but I will still give this one a thumbs up.
I didn't think the actual book Wuthering Heights would color my listening to this album, but, alas, it has.
I read the book ahead of the film coming out because I was intrigued, and it felt like a good time to read a classic. The book is wild in an awful way. Heathcliff and Catherine, from the points of view we're given, are awful, toxic, monsters.
When the film somehow glorifies these two, I'm pretty disinterested. I thought maybe, just maybe, this album would do something to inspire my appreciation for this whole thing, but it sounds just as pretentious as the film and the Catherine of the book.
I can't separate the three, and I guess that's the point. Some of these songs sound like a former Gregorian monk took some of their greatest jams and added synths. I like a few songs, for sure, and I was able to step back from the brooding Jacobi Elordi and goth Margot Robbie of it all.
Overall, meh. I feel like I need to be in a dark place to really dig this, and I'm just not.
Sunny Daze for President is fun. Warbly voices, and warbly guitars. I feel like I only jump back into RC when the album has retro vintage vibes, and this album is definitely a play at "how '60s can you get?" I liked the "Sun God" interludes. I appreciate the brightness and energy of this album. I don't have too much else to say about it, but nice work, Pennsylvanians!
The music from the TV show Girls is always a great place to start when thinking of coffee shop music. It's not all cafe music, but it certainly has some gems. This is a song that always comes to mind when I think of songs I want to hear there. It has a certain grace to it which just works in the soft light of a cafe. —Zach
"Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones
from Come Away with Me, 2002
Norah Jones has that quintessential 2000s coffee shop energy. This was one of the first songs that I learned how to waltz to. I was thinking about that because I was waltzing in the kitchen of a South Philly row home last week. The woman I was dancing with was previously a ballroom dancing instructor and a much better dancer than I am, but she still asked if I could lead. And it felt nice to lead. Just like it felt nice that she put the peonies from my garden in a vase on her windowsill. —Gloria
"So Easy (to Fall in Love)" by Olivia Dean
from The Art of Loving, 2025
Her vocals are smooth, dreamy, and steamy. This song makes me want a latte, some pretentious journal, and a good pen to pretend my poetry is important. This song leaves me nostalgic for the loneliness of a coffee shop, and a girl with no responsibilities beyond being selfish. The hard wood of a pompous chair—a piece sourced by the wealthy owner. This song is a cold Sunday, a crumbly scone, and the reminiscence of a jazz band on the corner. ☕️☕️☕️ —Melissa
"August 10" by Khruangbin
from Con Todo el Mundo, 2018
I will confess to you here that I would've had no fucking idea what to choose for this mixtape without help from outside sources. There are a few reasons for that, but it all boils down to the unshakeable fact that I do not spend much time in coffee shops, and don't know what the modus operandi is in your typical coffee house re: music. I have assumptions, yes, but I'm not helping to build a mixtape on top of useless fucking assumptions, ya know? Like, if I'm assuming that coffee shops just play slow, boring music all the time, then how would I be able to contribute to such a mixtape in good faith? I googled around, and found a lot of help on various threads from a barista subreddit, including full-on playlists that some barista's posted as their go-to coffee shop playlist. So I used all these as guidance for what to pick. All six artists I used today for my weekly half-dozen are artists that I knew of already and also saw posted by a barista. I saw a bunch of Khruangbin on the one Spotify playlist, which... I guess confirms my original assumptions about coffee shop music. But what can ya do!!!!! —Joe
"Leaf Off / The Cave" by José González
from Vestiges & Claws, 2015
José González is always a cafe favorite for me. I blast it in the morning, when I'm opening up the coffee station and putting out the baked goods. Just me and a dark coffee shop and the morning, ah the morning. There is nothing like sipping coffee in the morning in a coffee shop—it really is such a treat, such a simple thing in life that is so fun. I can write at home, but when I write at a coffee shop, it just goes better. As do most things in life. —Zach
"Eres" by Café Tacuba
from Cuatro Caminos, 2003
This was the coolest band that I heard playing in a coffee shop this month. I had to ask the barista who it was, and he wrote it down on a Post-it for me. I took a picture of the post-it because I knew I'd lose it before checking them out. They are a Mexican band that has been around since 1992, so maybe I'm late to the game with Café Tacuba, but I'm glad they are on my listening rotation now. —Gloria
Probably the most significant coffee shop-related moment in MMM so far has been when Gloria and Sam realized in the comments that they were MMMing from the same coffee shop, right? That was pretty fun. I know Sam has had a long, arduous, debilitating addiction to coffee, but what about Gloria? Not being a coffee-drinker myself, I guess I'm realizing that I'm not really talking to people about their coffee intake too often. But based on the music that I see on these baristas' playlists, I'm going to go out on a long limb and state that Gloria probably hangs out in coffee shops a lot. There is a Venn diagram, hypothetically, where one side is "music that is played in coffee shops according to baristas on reddit" and another side is "music for which Gloria read my album review of said music and got pissed off because the review was, uh, less than glowing," and the fact that the overlapping section of that Venn diagram is really fucking thick makes me know for sure that Gloria is a coffee fiend. —Joe
"Same Mistakes" by the Echo Friendly
a single, 2011
Near the end of March, I wrote the following poem in my planner while sitting in a coffee shop after therapy. "My lip is bitten raw / My lip is bitten red / How will I get this color without your teeth?" I don't know whether these words should be part of something larger or if they're enough on their own. —Gloria
"Flake" by Jack Johnson
from Brushfire Fairytales, 2001
Go and sit by the beach and order a cold coffee. The surfers will walk by as you dig into your omelette with tahini and roasted red pepper on the side. Yes, this is Hawaii or some other tropical kind of location, and this is Jack Johnson's world. We're all just living in it. —Zach
"Nobody" by Mac Demarco
from Here Comes the Cowboy, 2019
The problem, I think, is that I just simply would play whatever I wanted on the speakers, if I owned a place of business. Like if I owned a coffee shop, I would just hit play on shuffle, and let the 35,000 songs on my iPod shuffle through the Hold Steady and Slayyyter and Tierra Whack and Mac Demarco and Thursday and Marva Whitney and Cannonball Adderley and the Brave Little Abacus. Even though that wouldn't make sense in your typical coffee shop. You know what also wouldn't make sense? Me owning a coffee shop. No, if anything, I might have found myself working in one at some point. And had I been working one in 2012 and found myself listening to the same eleven songs as chosen by Pandora, I would've probably learned to hate music. For so many reasons, it's good that I have stayed away from coffee in my life. —Joe
"Lebanese Blonde" by Thievery Corporation
from The Mirror Conspiracy, 2000
There is a coffee shop that I go to in recurring dreams. I definitely work there in my dreams, and I sometimes get the impression that I am in charge. I have never been to a coffee shop like this. I don't know if it is a real coffee shop. It is someplace that's always warm and dry, and the cafe opens onto a seating area on the sidewalk. These are big windows. It's shades of pale orange, yellow, mauve, and white. I don't know if the cafe is painted these colors or if it is just always sunrise / golden hour in the dreams. I think it is just the sun reflecting these colors. It's a little chaotic, but it's very comforting. I tried to draw it the other day in waking life, but it's so hard to draw interiors from a dream memory. It's been a year since I wrapped up my 80-day dream tracking project, and I am just starting to sort through all the data of my dreams. I don't really know what to do with it. Or if it's even worth it to write something about it. —Gloria
"Babylon" by David Gray
from White Ladder, 1998
This is a song not for the hipsters but for the average people. A Starbucks in Paoli, PA, where people come in during the morning to talk with fellow parents. Others grab seven coffees for the office. Everything comes out fast and smooth. David Gray plays on the loudspeakers, and the fantasy of the 2010s continues. —Zach
"Midnight Marauders" by Fat Freddy's Drop
a single, 2002
When I say that I've "heard of all six artists from my choices today," I am speaking the truth, but only barely. I am typing this blurb now, having only heard of Fat Freddy's Drop maybe 45 minutes ago, when I was typing the Midnight Marauders Sunday write-up and trying to google "midnight marauders live" and started wondering who the fuck Fat Freddy's Drop were and why the fuck every google search result was this random fucking band and not A Tribe Called Quest. But then I was scrolling through r/barista and saw one person say that their coffee shop plays all Fat Freddy's Drop every Friday. Too much of a coincidence not to note here, on this MMM. I haven't listened to "Midnight Marauders" by Fat Freddy's Drop as of this blurb-writing. Probably won't listen until I press play on the mixtape. My apologies in advance if that one barista was full of shit or being ironic. —Joe
"Heavy Water / I'd Rather Be Sleeping" by Grouper
from Dragging a Dead Deer up a Hill, 2008
This is a good song for a coffee shop on a day when you have to force yourself to get out of the house and see people. I recently ran into my high school biology teacher in a coffee shop in my neighborhood on a day like that, and she was so jazzed to see me. It totally turned around my day. I haven't seen her in maybe fifteen years, but we send each other cards around the holidays every year, so I knew her kids live close to me. She has my number now, so we can get coffee together next time she's in my neighborhood. —Gloria
"Money Trees" by Kendrick Lamar ft. Jay Rock
from good kid, m.A.A.d city, 2012
Oh, and you need a song for closing too. To blast even louder as you're washing the dishes and mopping the floor. This is one of many possibilities, but it's a damn good one. The coffee from the morning has worn off, but this song gives you that extra jolt of energy you need to complete the endless amount of tasks that go along with closing a coffee shop. And then you're done, and you forget everything from the day, because even though the angry manager felt important at the time, it never really mattered. —Zach
"Skin Is, My" by Andrew Bird
from Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs, 2005
Another barista on those reddit threads said that Andrew Bird is their go-to coffee shop artist, and that every time they play Bird, customers ask them "who is this?" I agree that that is actually a sincerely great barometer for how the common man thinks about artists you like. I also agree that Andrew Bird is the fucking man, and makes some excellent music. This album is really important to me, and is the rare sort of album I can look at the tracklist and hear each song playing in my head, which is helpful when you're trying to choose appropriate aesthetics for a hypothetical coffee shop. I didn't choose "Fake Palindromes," for instance, even though it's the best song on here and an important one to boot—when they pronounced us husband and wife, we walked back up the aisle to this song—because it's too up-tempo and celebratory. That's not coffee house shit, c'mon, I know that by now. —Joe
"Life Is" by Jessica Pratt
from Here in the Pitch, 2024
It's 4 AM, and I can't sleep, so I'm working on this mixtape submission. And it's a night when I haven't fallen asleep yet, not a night that I woke up early. I got in bed about 1 AM, but I'm so bad at sleeping sometimes. And tomorrow I have so much to do, I'm scheduled from 10 AM until 10:30 PM. Then I'll take the train home, so there's no way I'll be back until after 11 PM. And some of its fun stuff, but still, it's a long time to be active, as it's very back-to-back. And that's adding to the pressure of falling asleep, so it's also making it harder to fall asleep. Sometimes, when I can't sleep, I look at the "World Clock" locations I have saved on my iPhone and wonder if I can call anyone. But I end up deciding against it almost every time. I used to go to a 24-hour Dunkin' Donuts when I couldn't sleep and get a small coffee and read, which may have been counterintuitive to sleeping well. Hindsight is 20/20. I'm just going to do Duolingo lessons until I tire out my brain and sleep, or until it's a reasonable time to start the day. Bonne nuit ou bonjour? शुभ रात्रि या सुप्रभात? ? לילה טוב או בוקר טוב —Gloria
"Veinte años" by Buena Vista Social Club
from Buena Vista Social Club, 1997
I know a lot about Zach but only what he chooses to write about here. Which thankfully is still a lot. I know that he is quitting soon or has quit his coffee house job already, to move on to the next opportunity. Felt like a good time to do this MMM, in honor of his time spent in there, listening to whatever bullshit music the owners of the shop try to lure in your Quentin Tarantino types with. I appreciate how our lives can be chronicled in distinct eras, and how these eras are sometimes marked by job transitions. I have a feeling that Zach is the same way, and that he will remember, fondly or not, the "coffee shop era" of his life.
I also know a little bit about Zach from others. Only a little bit. But a little birdie whispered in my ear recently that there may or may not be a completed novel in draft form floating around out there in Zach's immediate orbit, and I'm counting the days till I get a chance to read it. I'm sure it will be more compelling than the blurbs I've written for this coffee house mixtape, in any case. —Joe
"Cherry Wine" by Hozier
from Hozier, 2014
(only available as live version on Spotify)
This is my last week working at the cafe. It kind of makes me sad. Maybe I should stay? Now I have to confront what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life. Or at least for now. Did I do enough this year? Did I accomplish enough, did I follow my dreams enough? I did a lot. I worked in the cafe, which was a goal. I wrote the draft of a novel. I did lots of hiking. I went to India and the U.S. I led a trip for adults on the spectrum. I started teaching Torah classes for a post-high school program And still I feel like I watched too much YouTube, didn't use my time wisely enough. I feel sad to be leaving the cafe, even though I know it's right, because working there just delays the inevitable. But I will definitely miss it. What's next? What will happen for the rest of my days? I can't just nap forever. I'm scared. Help. Push me to do things, the things I want to do. Don't let the anxiety take over. Please. Be happy. Be happy. —Zach
"Rajamanta" by Café del Mar
from the Volume 9 compilation, 2002
Café del Mar is almost a cliché to include on this playlist, but I don't know, I already put Norah Jones on here, so maybe it's okay to lean into the clichés. Sometimes a cliché earns its place by doing a good job, and they genuinely do a great job in bringing that calming energy. We would be remiss not to include a song with their signature Balearic, chill-out vibe for a true coffee shop feel. —Gloria
"Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!" by Sufjan Stevens
from Illinois, 2005
I wasn't a great barista. I never really learned how to make a good cappuccino. I forget orders and I consistently ask people to repeat them. I'm not the fastest mover. Today I broke the glass cover to the cookie jar and we had to throw out all the cookies for fear of glass pieces being in them. My boss yells at me. I also didn't pick the right cafe to work at—I don't get to chat with customers as often as I might want to, because it's just too fast-paced and the managers put too much pressure on us. But I do like the other workers, for the most part, and it's fun to turn your mind off for a while and let your body do the talking. Another thing I learned: War makes people crazy for sugar, because when the bombs started falling, people started buying, big time. And now I can add "barista" to my list of life skills. In the end, I fulfilled a dream, and that's awesome. —Zach
NEXT WEEK: "Vow of Silence" — Lyric-less songs (mumbles and screams are okay, I guess) (chosen by Sunny)
WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA is a burn-it-all-down, do-what-you-want, electro-pop dance album that I really enjoyed. I am currently reading a college hockey romance series, and "DANCE..." would absolutely be on a playlist for the TV series adaptation. This has all the fun of a 2000s pop album, with all the glorious synth and discordant sound moments I can dig. We in the club.
Remember J.Lo's "Waiting for Tonight"? She set my standard for "get me to the dance floor" excitement. That anticipation of going to a middle school dance was so strong, but the reality so lacking. J.Lo was not talking about a bunch of tween boys eating Cool Ranch Doritos as girls sprayed more Bath and Bodyworks Raspberry body splash (or a Cucumber Melon if you were that girly) all over themselves. "You seem miserable / it doesn't matter / let me dance." I've been this girl and I have no regrets.
By "CANNIBALISM!" I am digging Slayyyter. I like her voice—Gwen Stefani meets Kesha. "OLD TECHNOLOGY" is a moment. "You copy paste the vibes," ROASTED. "I'm taking drugs tonight / not the ones I'm prescribed" is the lyrical phrase I didn't know I needed. Poetry paired with a sick beat.
"BRITTANY MURPHY." was a bop. I love the reference to that tragic, large-eyed star. This whole album feels like a party girl's dream, and a reflection on the dangers—but in a way maybe only an old lady like myself can see—of retrospection that come with age, and hangovers, and lost jackets at a bar.
I have absolutely no time to write this album review, but I must. I MUST.
"Galway Girl" is a bop. It is a delight. Say nothing crass or rude about it, because it is joy in a song. Who is this girl, and how can I be more like her? A fiddler in an Irish band? Sign me up.
"Perfect" (the duet with Beyoncé version) was our wedding song, so, duh, this holds a place in my heart. "I found a love / for me" is such an iconic phrase. It may seem obvious, but this love isn't for anyone else. "I never knew you were the someone waitin' for me" felt very real when I met Gary, and we both had waited for the right moment and life ahead. I loved having Beyoncé show up on the track. One confused wedding goer asked if it was me singing, and that is the legacy of this album for me.
"Supermarket Flowers" is beautiful. Eddie Sheer-Sheer, how dare you?
When you realize that "Shape of You" was written for Rihanna, you also realize that Ed Sheeran can somehow do it all. Or is he doing too much? I like this album; I like Ed Sheeran as a lyricist and songwriter, and I'm emotionally attached to its songs; yet, I see some chaos in the album as a whole. He proves he can master almost any genre he touches, but when does that veer into musical chaos? Ultimately, I don't care. I love most of these songs and would get married to at least one of them.
"Kill Bill" was my first introduction to SZA, and it still stands out as a winner on this album—an album that sort of confuses me. IMO, SZA's SOS is all over the place. The first few songs I was worried I'd made a terrible mistake listening to the opinions of teenagers. Then, "F2F" brought me back to liking SZA. The lyrics are so cheap, but they work. The sounds of this are so different from the other songs on here, I'm having SZA whiplash trying to define her style, and maybe that's her point. "Nobody Gets Me" is also in my "Oh, I like SZA" category. It reaches all the notes of a '90s love song, and I'm into it. A lot of the slower, ballad-styled songs were more of what I liked.
"Conceited" changed my mind a little too. "I don't like nobody, I don't feel guilty about it" struck a chord with me immediately because sometimes I'd like to be this blunt. Just so brash and to the point. "I got no reason to depend on you / No reason to make friends, I'm cool" is such a flex. Good on SZA.
It seems the back half of this album has caught my attention in a more positive way. "Special" is beautiful and heartbreaking. That feeling of losing your "special" to someone resonates in the softness of her voice, the light snapping, and each lyric.
Overall, I will not listen to teenagers ever again, and this was too long and all over the place.
I am told that gift themes for a seventh anniversary should include either copper or wood. I was looking it up because Record Club is celebrating its seventh anniversary this week! I sent out the first email Facebook message on February 3, 2019. Crazy how time flies. Drop your seven favorite Record Club memories in the comments, and then create some new memories by checking out the album for this week!
MELISSA'S PITCH: "I chose SOS by SZA because I hear a lot about her when my students do their album reviews in the fall. I wanted an excuse to listen to her music, and thought she might interest some Record Club friends who might not normally write. Also, now you all have to learn how to say the name SZA, which Nana-Melissa over here took far too long to get."
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ALBUM DETAILS
GENRE: Contemporary R&B, alternative R&B, pop rap, trap, neo-soul, alt-pop, trap soul
RELEASED: December 9, 2022
LENGTH: 67:51
TRACKLIST:
SOS
Kill Bill
Seek & Destroy
Low
Love Language
Blind
Used (ft. Don Toliver)
Snooze
Notice Me
Gone Girl
Smoking on My Ex Pack
Ghost in the Machine (ft. Phoebe Bridgers)
F2F
Nobody Gets Me
Conceited
Special
Too Late
Far
Shirt
Open Arms (ft. Travis Scott)
I Hate U
Good Days
Forgiveless (ft. Ol' Dirty Bastard)
LYRICS: Genius.com, with ample notations from SZA herself!
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ARTIST DETAILS
NAME: The S stands for savior or sovereign. The Z stands for zig-zag. The A stands for Allah. Her name is pronounced "SIZ-uh," or like "scissor" with an "a" instead of an "or."
PRONOUNS: she/her/hers
ABOUT: Solána Imani Rowe was born on November 8, 1989, in St. Louis, Missouri, but grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey. She is known professionally as SZA, a name she took after being inspired by GZA and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan. She attended Delaware State University to study marine biology, but dropped out to focus on her music career. She signed to Top Dawg Entertainment in 2013, before making her studio album debut in 2017. SZA has earned five Grammys and was nominated for an Academy Award. SZA keeps her private life private, e.g. she was dating an unknown fashion designer for eleven years, and their breakup inspired many of the songs on this album, even though no one knows who the mystery partner was. SZA is one of the leading artists in the still-emerging alt-R&B movement.
DISCOGRAPHY: SZA officially has two studio albums, with SOS being her most recent, and 2017's Ctrl being the first. However, in 2024, she released a "deluxe version" of SOS called SOS Deluxe: Lana, which is basically an entirely new album. She also released three EPs before her studio debut.
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ADDITIONAL INFO
READING SOME SHIT: RC alumna Chappell Roan interviewed SZA last summer
RECORD CLUB CONNECTIONS: We've heard SZA before in Record Club! She was featured on Post Malone's Hollywood's Bleeding. This makes her the FIFTH featured artist from that album to become an RC alum in their own right, after Future, Halsey, Young Thug, and Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne.
You may have recently heard SZA all over the radio with her feature on the #1 hit "Luther," a song by RC alumnus Kendrick Lamar off of GNX. These two, along with Lady Gaga ("Die with a Smile") and Taylor Swift ("The Fate of Ophelia") made sure that RC alumni were at #1 for more than half of 2025 (27 weeks total).
SOS was nominated for some Grammys, including Best Album. It lost to RC album Midnights by the aforementioned Swift, and it lost alongside output from Janelle Monáe, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, and boygenius. Oh, right, boygenius' Phoebe Bridgers is on this album. SZA and Bridgers' "Ghost in the Machine" won for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance that year.
"Ghost in the Machine" is also the name of the famous season 4 Degrassi episode in which Paige Michalchuk's rape case finally goes to trial. That episode takes its name from the Police song, though. Did you know SZA dated Degrassi actor Drake? I'm trying desperately here to connect this album to Degrassi and Record Club at the same time. How can I do it? Let's see, let's see... Paige was a main character in the 2009 Degrassi movie Degrassi Goes Hollywood, a movie that features cameos by RC alumni Kelly Clarkson and Pete Wentz (of Fall Out Boy) playing themselves? But SZA's ex Drake wasn't in that movie. Hmmmm... let's come back to this eventually.
MENTIONS ON THE BLOG: Three SZA songs were chosen for Yearlong Song Challenge, but none of them were from this album: "Saturn" for Sara YSC Day 66, "Garden (Say It like Dat)" for Sara YSC Day 111, and "Drew Barrymore" for Maeve YSC Day 138. "Garden (Say It like Dat)" was also chosen by Sara for MMM 009.
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COUNTDOWN:
69 Weeks Until Week 420
We are tracking and counting down every week from here on out till Record Club Week 420. We started this countdown 69 weeks out. During Record Club Week 420, we will be covering Donny Most by the esteemed Happy Days virgin Donny Most. The goal for Week 420 of Record Club is that it will feature 69 reviews from 69 different people.
My dad had a ton of records he kept in crates in our basement. The covers were usually bizarre, abstract, too sexy, or too cool for what I thought of my dad. I'm sure he still has them, and they still smell like papery mold. I'm sure they authentically crackle as the pin drops onto their scratched surfaces, and some organ whines as we skip the light fandango.
Slow Burn could slip right into the collection of music that made up my dad's 20s, but this album feels forced to me. I just don't want to be bothered with some of the choices being made. I find the vintage stylization of it to be tiring rather than clever. I'm spending a lot of my time trying to like this, and wondering why I don't. I'm trying to get into it, but my head and heart don't love the sounds entering my ears. When we get to "It's Alright," I am more of the mind that her voice isn't my favorite, because I like what's happening musically, just not her voice.
I'm sure this is cool, edgy, and jazzy to others. I'm sure this checks off boxes musically, stylistically, and emotionally for others. I just find it a bit too cool for me.
"Beer for My Horses" by Toby Keith ft. Willie Nelson
from Unleashed, 2002
Sorry, but your resident closeted (not closeted, let's be honest) country fan is never gonna pass up the dangling carrot here. This playlist is begging for country songs. "We'll raise up our glasses against evil forces." I just know TK is talking about ICE!!! There is no way he'd be talkin 'bout a thin blue line or sum shit. —Sara
"The Horse" by Cliff Nobles and Company
b-side of "Love Is All Right," 1968
A return, a return... return to the old arena, which is no more, it's changed, but I return to it in my mind, my mind's eye sees the rickety wooden flap steps that fold up against the wall, feel the creak in each step as I carry a large bass drum up to the top step, where there's a landing, large enough for the drum kit, bleachers surrounding me where woodwinds and brass set their cases down and lift delicate instruments and hold them aloft and play some random-ass number-two smash hit from the late-'60s, a song that no one in the band knows apart from pep band charts, a song that was added to the fraying collection of pep band charts before anyone in pep band was even alive, played for dwindling crowds, no one in the stadium thinking that the basketball team has a whiff of a shot against this opponent, no one in the stands knowing that the song that's playing is about a horse. —Joe
"Daddy Lessons" by Beyoncé
from Lemonade, 2016
Pre-COWBOY CARTER, Beyoncé had me rope-tied with this song. The rhythm feels like the slow movement of a horse and its rider as they enter a town with only one sheriff and a lot of tumbleweeds. I played "Kissing" Kate Barlow in the play adaptation of the book Holes. Kate goes from a lovable school teacher to an outlaw in a matter of seconds onstage. On my way to the theater, I would listen to this song to dig into some outlawishness. Both the woman in the song and Kissing Kate have to make changes (violent and outside their identities) to save themselves from men. As with most badass women, I imagine their best companions were horses. —Melissa
"Chips Ahoy!" by the Hold Steady
from Boys and Girls in America, 2006
There was some mutual regret, last time, a real O. Henry Gift of the Magi situation, in which the two Joes with mutual Joe-like appreciation for the great Hold Steady song about horse track betting was not chosen for the promptabout horses, since each thought that the other was going to pull the trigger, neither wanting to be so obvious as to choose a same-day repeat, even if it was a good song. I guess the general thought that hangs over the proceedings like a puffy nimbus cloud is that no one needs a blog to listen to a song this good, because it's already on repeat elsewhere. Today, though, I'm gonna give it to you. One of the best to ever do it, singing their song about a girl who knows which horse is gonna finish first, pure, fresh, right from the blog. —Joe
"Horse Pills" by the Dandy Warhols
from Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, 2000
I saw (a headline, didn't care to read too much into it) that the Dandy Warhols rock doc was getting some extended deluxe release or some nonsense, I dunno. You ever see this thing? Dig!? Formative for all the young dude and dudettes attempting to cut their indie rock teeth on something sharp in their adolescent, something to feel cool about, watching a documentary about a band you may have heard of as they hover slightly above an otherwise compact heap of the indie rock landfill, and about another band that you would never have heard of if you hadn't watched this wild documentary about them. My theory is that the Dandy Warhols just had the presence of mind to do all their heroin off screen. Maybe an extended version, complete with extra heroin, is not what the world needs right now. —Joe
"The Horse" by Supermilk
from High Precision Ghosts, 2024
About the song: Not the best Supermilk has to offer. That would either be "Pelican Pete" or "Sweat," two rock songs that have only grown in estimation with time.
About the band: British solo project from some fellah what used to be in some Britpop band of little-to-no renown in American (and possibly also not in the UK neither). Has a sort of brainy Wire / XTC / Dogs Die in Hot Cars / Futureheads thing going on. Lots of harmonizing, lots of slightly-off time signatures, nothing quite in 4/4 but nothing so far out of pocket to cross the dreaded math-rock parallel. Lead fellah in the band was recently diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease and might no longer be with us at time of writing. Sad stuff. Good band.
About horses: I am afraid of them. —Nate
"Up on Cripple Creek" by the Band
from The Band, 1969
I try to mix it up when choosing these songs. Some off the top of my head, some from a keyword search on the iPod, some from light googling on the subject. The internet is absolutely stuffed with near-useless forums where anonymous members of said forums ask broad questions in like 2006 and are answered over the course of years, all of it stacked up like wet cardboard on the front lawn on recycling day, there for you to pick apart and use as you see fit, if you see fit. If I had sat in deep thought I would've eventually come to one of my favorite songs on one of my favorite albums and remembered that the protagonist bets on one horse to win and bets on another to show, but I don't have time to sit in deep thought and think about anything much these days, let alone the Monday Morning Mixtape. And so I google around, and find something like this, the answer all along, covered shadow in sand, a search engine handing me the shovel and instructing me to dig, but not for all that long. —Joe
Not sure what it is about horses, but kids really fall in love with them quick. So much so that my YouTube search history is "horse videos" and "horse ambiance." Just a way to put on calming music and an hour of b-roll footage of horses running. Sure, whatever works! —Sara
"The Men Are Called Horsemen There" by Sunset Rubdown
from Shut Up I Am Dreaming, 2006
I forget sometimes that there is weird music that I listen to, and that weird music eventually doesn't sound weird, but that takes time. I've had eighteen years with this Sunset Rubdown album and I don't remember thinking it sounded weird, but I guess it must have, at least for the first few go-arounds. And if this is your first go-around and you're hearing Spencer Krug's voice for the first time, yelping (there's no other word for it, sorry Mr. Thesaurus) about how the men are called horsemen there and clarifying that there are no horses, just horsemen, well, then I'd want to say that you are in for a treat, but I'm weary that maybe it's all just a little too weird. IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T HEARD, SPENCER KRUG SINGS ON A ROCK SONG BY HIS OTHER BAND WOLF PARADE, AND THAT SONG WENT VIRAL ON THE ZEITGEIST'S NEWEST STREAMING HIT, THE GAY HOCKEY DRAMA LIMITED SERIES, THAT VOICE IS SPENCER KRUG, HE IS NOT WEIRD, THIS IS NOT WEIRD, YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YELLOWSTONE SPINOFF IS GOING TO FEATURE SUNSET RUBDOWN SOME DAY, YOU JUST DON'T, GET USED TO IT NOW, SPEND EIGHTEEN YEARS LISTENING TO SPENCER KRUG, IT IS NOT WEIRD, YOU ARE, YOU ARE, YOU ARE THE WEIRD ONE, NOT ME, I AM NOT WEIRD, I AM NOT— —Joe
"Judy and the Dream of Horses" by Belle and Sebastian
from If You're Feeling Sinister, 1996
The first morning I woke up at my new house and I didn't know where I was but then I did and then I did some puttering around and I suppose we had breakfast and people came in and out and furniture was reassembled and at a certain point I brought a single beer out onto the back porch/patio and came face to face with a horse. Surreal. Very surreal. But it's not surreal anymore. That was exactly 1900 days ago. I've lived next to horses this entire time. There are full weeks when I don't even think about it. About them. I don't dream about them. I don't dream about anything anymore. —Joe
"High Horse (Part 1)" by Quiet Storm
rereleased on the Virtue Recording Studios compilation in 2017
There was a comment on my favorite non-PoYB website (Stereogum) recently under an article about some new-ish all-girl hardcore band's new album and the commentor was like "this was covered on Pitchfork too, I wish y'all websites would do a better job at distinguishing your voices instead of all covering the same shit," which seems like maybe a discussion that's worthy of happening but maybe not for this particular band? Like, a hardcore band with 544 monthly listeners on the evil streaming site, maybe it's just good and two websites are allowed to talk about the same good band and attempt to get the word out on a good band that most people would have no idea about otherwise? I can see maybe the argument being cut and pasted underneath an article about Grimes or some shit, ya know? I like hearing about new, exciting music (not Grimes, but you get what I'm saying). Not even just new music, more, like, music that I would have no other reason of knowing. I would never in a million years have the capacity to seek out the all-girl hardcore band Slut Intent with their new album Slutworld and their breakout single "Peppa Pig." It's cool knowing them now, and that's because of this website I visit sometimes. I don't remember where I heard about the compilation that "High Horse (Part 1)" is on. I think I wrote about it before? I forget. Maybe hey, maybe this is your website for music! Right here on Puke! And you're discovering something right now! Because of us! Do you think I give a FUCK if Pitchfork also covers the compilation of songs from the old Philly institution Virtue Studios? Just take the recommendation. Just bask in the glory of connecting to something that you never in a million years would've connected to without the dumb stupid internet website. —Joe
NEXT WEEK: "That's Don't Impress Me Much" — Your favorite songs that you are almost certain that no one else on this blog is already familiar with (chosen by Joe)
Fragile as Humans by Emily Barker is the vibe I need right now. Barker provides soft tunes to soothe my overstimulated brain. I delight in her light-touch of a voice and poetic lyrics.
"Take note, take heart, with small we start
To rewire, rethink, step back from the brink
Take hold, tear old, worn habits apart
Go steady, go, with small we start."
These words resonate eight days into the New Year. How many years have I taken on too many resolutions? One's too grand for my nervous system? Too many years to even think about. So, this year, maybe "with small we start" to "rewire" and "rethink." I love a violin moment, so "Loneliness" hit me in the violin feels. Plus, paired with the stark hollow quality of her voice, this song got me.
This album is ambient, and that's just the mood I find myself in as we enter 2026. I just want to snuggle into a giant blanket and let the cold of winter settle around me like magical dust. Barker helped take me on that little whimsical escape.
I saved this album for a hall duty where my job is to watch students swipe in and then out of a bathroom. Gross, right?
Fall is a time to return to the harsh reality of daily work for me. I love fall nonetheless. I was once in a club called the "Fall Fanatics" with one of PoYB's contributors ('sup Pammy). Fall is a time when I am no longer covered in my snuggly children (take this visual as you will), stuck on a couch watching KPop Demon Hunters (though I do miss this a little), or sweating at some event I think will enrich said children's lives.
Fall makes me a new woman, and so I gave Kassa Overall's CREAM album a chance, and liked it a lot. It felt like I was a new character of the Peanuts gang in a scene with Charlie Brown walking down a road, but somehow that light jazz in the background is also Biggie Smalls, and wait, is that Busta Rhymes? I know nothing about jazz, except that it feels masterful. And, hey, science agrees with me!
fMRI machines have been used in jazz research to observe brain activity during improvisation, revealing that improvisation leads to a "flow" state where areas of the brain associated with self-censoring and inhibition are deactivated, allowing for spontaneous creativity. Conversely, areas involved in self-expression and creativity show increased activity, suggesting that jazz musicians turn off conscious control to let more automatic processes guide their performance.
In this album, we hear the distinct sounds of our hip-hop influencers, but we also catch the waves of deactivated inhibition that define this work. Watch a video of their performances if you can—you can physically see them existing in the same plane of existence with their music. As each student swiped in and out, I was inspired by this music. How can I avoid creative staleness?
Outside of the obvious song choices, I think about how Goodfellas influenced a great deal of Mob-related material in the '90s. My favorite, and everyone else's, The Sopranos, was a product of this. Even the cast had so many crossovers: Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, and Frank Vincent. Google AI says 27 actors crossed over, but I am in no mood to do accurate research for you all. It feels right? Tony sings this song before getting into one of many car accidents that should have killed him. We are lucky to have mob crime to entertain us! —Sara
"St. Jimmy" by Green Day
from American Idiot, 2004
The first scene I ever saw from Goodfellas was a fan-edited video in 2009. My pal Dave sent it to me. Ray Liotta is in the shower yelling about Jimmy, except in the edit, the radio program he's listening to is Jimmy Rollins hitting a walk-off double in Game 4 of the NLCS. I knew who Ray Liotta was at the time, but I had never seen Goodfellas. I suppose Dave assumed that I had. It was a fun video, just because some guy was yelling about Jimmy Rollins in the shower, I don't fucking know, man. Why is this a thing, where we assume everyone has seen certain movies? It's especially egregious for the prototypical MALE movies. The phrase "you've never seen it?!" has haunted me for decades at this point.
For the record, I've since seen Goodfellas. It was fine. I don't really remember much from it. Most of what I now remember comes from Batts talking about the movie during the Wise Guys Zoom. —Joe
"Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" by Dean Martin
a single, 1960
There is a bar/venue in my hometown named Goodfellas. I think John Gosslin of Jon & Kate Plus 8 fame DJs there sometime. I'm going to simply copy/paste a Yelp review to give you the general vibe; it's better than anything I could have written.
So, without further ado: "If you're not an 'insider' at this place, prepare to feel completely awkward. The owner insulted my hair upon arrival after asking which one of the guys I had arrived with I was 'whacking.' Not that I can't take a good joke, but that kind of joking is reserved to friends or people I've known for a while. The haze of smoke is heavy and doesn't appear to be any sort of ventilation trying to resolve that problem. Half of the bar is a mishmash of broken machinery and other things. Will try to avoid this place at all costs. To be fair, I don't know what their concert venue is like, but out of principle I won't go to any there." —Gloria
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones
a single, 1965
With songs featuring in many of his films, the Rolling Stones notably happen to be one of director Martin Scorsese's favorite bands. While I've seen many of Scorsese's narrative films, I have not seen many of his documentaries, which includes the concert film Shine a Light. Even if the big names involved were around 60 years old, it still must have been cool for Scorsese to get the chance to work directly with his musical idols. —Batts
"Killer Bee" by Ben Kweller ft. the Flaming Lips
from Cover the Mirrors, 2025
Beyond watching Goodfellas again, there are really only a few keywords that I can use to gather some good songs. Otherwise, I'm just guessing here. I think there were a bunch of deaths, right? I mean, that's the whole thing with the mob in popular culture. They kill other people, they kill each other, they occasionally kill themselves. I think I'm past the point where I have anything interesting to say about glorifying violence in film. Should we be concerned that most of the MALE films that I'm expected to watch all have violence in them? I have no idea, and I'm tired of caring. —Joe
"Killer Joe" by the Kingsmen
a single, 1966
Fuck, this is a better "killer" song, because of "Joe" in the title, a.k.a. Joe Pesci. Did you know that, the week after Sinéad O'Connor tore up a picture of the pope on SNL to protest the (very real!) sex abuse allegations in the Catholic Church, Joe Pesci hosted, and said in his monologue that if he had been there the previous Saturday night, he would have smacked Sinéad O'Connor in the face? Let's not concern ourselves with violence in fictional films. Let us instead concern ourselves with violence on the despicable "comedy" program known as SNL. —Joe
"Lay It Down Clown" by the Replacements
from Tim, 1985
The ironic part about the famous quote about "Do I amuse you?" is that, like, yeah, it is actually amusing. Joe Pesci is a funny guy. He makes me laugh. I forget what caused his character to go into a fit of rage about being laughed at, but I assume that whatever the other character laughed at was legitimately funny and probably should have elicited laughter. I know, I know, this is just a tough-guy thing where they are afraid of getting laughed at and can't ever assume that someone is just laughing with them. Which is a problem. You heard it here first, folks! The biggest problem with the Italian mobsters is that they were too sensitive!!! —Joe
"Layla" by Derek and the Dominos
from Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, 1970
Shortly after graduating from college, I edited a few video montages of still images for my parents and their friends for notable birthdays. It was a fairly easy, if time consuming, process that involved scanning dozens of old photographs and using my edition of Adobe Premiere to use a Ken Burns effect over the images. "Layla" was a good song to use because it kind of feels like two-songs-in-one, with the rock-n-roll first half giving a different tone from the somber, wistful piano-driven second half. This was the one song I remember reusing between montages, just because I felt like it fit so nicely over a video photo album. —Batts
"Love Your Shotgun" by Be Your Own Pet
from Be Your Own Pet, 2006
Seemed like my best bet for this week's Be Your Own Pet pick, even though I had to stupidly google "do they ever use a shotgun in goodfellas," and had to sit there and watch as that evil little punk-ass AI machine on that website tells me that, yes, Henry Hill used a sawed-off shotgun to kill so-and-so. How many times am I going to complain about AI in these blurbs? As many times as I need to. For some reason, I always think about Shia LaBeouf's character in I, Robot when I think about AI. Wasn't there a scene where he kills a robot with a baseball bat? I might be misremembering, but that's what I picture myself doing to google's AI machine. Who needs violence in mob movies when you can daydream about enacting violence against robots in real life? —Joe
"Mambo Italiano" by Rosemary Clooney and the Mellomen
a single, 1954
Goodfellas is one of those movies that haunted my childhood. As an Italian-American with parents who owned video rental stores, I was constantly exposed to mob films. They scared the hell out of me. It was as if these stories were meant to help me understand our heritage, but the reality was very violent and toxic. I'm not sure what they thought I was learning, but they added a new fear to my list: mobsters. Like ghosts, vampires, and things that go bump in the night, I believed the mob was everywhere. I thought my brother might become a mobster. I panicked, fearing he, too, could end up swimming with the fishes. Of course, my father also found the classic CD Mob Hits as another way to honor our roots. With that album, I had both a filmography and a soundtrack for our people.
As I grew older, I listened to that CD almost ironically, but with a bit of pride. My grandfather was a trombone player in big bands around Philly, so some of these hits meant more nostalgia than mobster to me. I would have named our daughter Angelina, thanks to the Louis Prima hit, had Gary liked the name (he doesn't get us Guidos).
The top of my list from Mob Hits was "Mambo Italiano" by Rosemary Clooney. When my Sweet 16 was in full swing, I blasted her anthem. I loved the Italian spattered into this song, Clooney's sultry voice, and the bizarre reference to "fish a baccalà." So much happens in this song: insults, mozzarella, accents, and dancing all in one absolute rump-shaker. This song is the original "Shake It Off" when she sings "Shake, baby, shake 'cause I love a-when you take-a me / Mama say you stop-a or I'm gonna tell your papa." Shake your pinched fingers in my face. This is an ultimate Mob anthem. —Melissa
"Möbius Chicken Strip" by Origami Angel
from GAMI GANG, 2021
Before I ever saw Goodfellas, I saw the parody of Goodfellas on the Season 1 episode of Community. It's the one where Abed is the Henry Hill character, and instead of money (or drugs? I forget everything about Goodfellas, apparently), Abed is running chicken tenders. For my money, the Community episode is better than Goodfellas, but that's just me. Community hit me during my formative years, and Goodfellas did so right outside of them, so it was Community, not Goodfellas, that I was cringily posting multiple Facebook statuses a week about, imploring people to please watch it, or else it was gonna get cancelled. The comparison doesn't make sense, because you can't cancel Goodfellas. At least not in the same way you can cancel a TV show. You can't cancel Goodfellas in the other sense either. JOE PESCI WOULD NOT ALLOW IT. JOE PESCI IS TIRED OF THIS WOKE CANCEL CULTURE BULLSHIT. And the next woke yute that he sees, he's gonna smack 'em in the face on live television, this Saturday night. —Joe
"Mrs. Robinson" by the Lemonheads
from It's a Shame About Ray, 1992
When I checked the Wikipedia page for The Wolf of Wall Street, I was a little surprised to see more than a few sections devoted to controversies that the movie has been involved in. The most obvious talking point has been the view that the movie "glorifies" its real-life protagonist's decadent life style. I would argue that the movie is showing what is appealing about such a way of life without trying to morally judge it. However, I was reminded of the strange news items surrounding the movie's Malaysian financial backers and how the movie may have inadvertently been involved in an international money laundering scheme. I can't tell if that is ironic. —Batts
"New Jack Biddy" by Cool Calm Pete ft. Jaymanila and Jungle Mike
from Lost, 2005
I wanted a song about Dr. Melfi, who plays the mob wife part in Goodfellas. In fact, didn't I see somewhere at some point that Lorraine Bracco auditioned for Carmella Soprano but instead wanted to challenge herself by playing the non-mob role on The Sopranos? I could be making that up. This song, one that I've certainly never heard of before today, and may never hear it again after today, fits well. It actually carries twice the workload, because instead of the line being "Melfi and Tony," it's "Melfi and the sad clown," with "clown" of course applying to the Joe Pesci quote lampooned in the name of this Mixtape. Wait, was Tony Soprano a sad clown? I guess that is a direct reference to a plotline in a Sopranos episode. It's been more recent that I've rewatched Sopranos than watching Goodfellas, but I'm still pretty forgetful when it comes to this kinda of shit. —Joe
"Trouble Man" by Marvin Gaye
from Trouble Man, 1972
I know the general vibe and plot from it being in pop culture, but I've actually never seen Goodfellas. Therefore, my approach to this was to look up the actual soundtrack and pick songs that fit that vibe. Hopefully, that was a good approach. "Trouble Man" was written for the soundtrack of a blaxploitation film of the same name. Marvin Gaye actually did the whole soundtrack for the film Trouble Man. It follows a super cool, private investigator named Mr. T (it's a different Mr. T) who hangs out in a pool hall and handles jobs that the police can't or won't. I think it kind of fits with that theme of operating outside the law and navigating a dangerous world of the mafia as well. As I type this, I'm realizing that we had a playlist earlier this year called "Troubleman," and trying to remember if I submitted this song then as well, but if I can't remember, then you probably don’t either, so I'm not going to worry about it. —Gloria
"Velvet Casino" by Civic
from Future Forecast, 2021
I'm generally aware that people like to snarkily point out that Goodfellas and Casino are similar movies. I've seen both, and I agree, though I don't remember much of either. I also don't remember The Irishman all too well, but I think I recall formulating a theory that this was Scorsese's attempt at distancing himself from the idea that his movies glorify the mob? Like, that The Irishman was specifically designed to rebuke the reputation of Goodfellas? I don't mind any of this, by the way. I actually think that Scorsese should lean into it, make the same movie yet again. In fact, go crazy with it. Make Goodfellas 2. I forget if Henry Hill dies in the first one. Honestly, that's not really an issue. Liotta himself is dead too? Not an issue either. There are enough archival recordings of Liotta, especially from Bee Movie, that you could cobble something together. If there's any man that can do it, it's the genius Martin Scorsese. —Joe
NEXT WEEK: "You Think This Blog Is Still Funny? Still Funny How? Funny like a Clown, Again? Does This Blog Continue to Amuse You? Or Are You Over It? Is Joe Pesci Overrated?" — Sequel songs (i.e. songs that act as "sequels," however you choose to interpret that) to honor Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas 2, celebrating its 85th anniversary this Friday (chosen by Joe)
A column about music, and about how the music informs our lives. Today's author is Joe. See the previous songs HERE.
"Floating Features"
La Luz
from Floating Features
2018
By my count—though I probably missed some, so help me out in the comments!—there are 73 regular blog columns on Puke on Your Birthday or in its immediate orbit. The vast majority of them are not updated regularly. Some have never even shown up on PoYB proper. Some are hypothetical, in that only one entry has been written, or zero entries, even (so far).
This is a list of all 73 blog columns, presented alphabetically. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list. I will give a description of each column, as briefly as possible. If it's updated regularly, I'll tell you what the next entry will be. If it's not updated regularly, I'll tell you what the next entry could be.
This album, as the title and cover suggest, is a Picasso painting of music. When I look at a Picasso, I never appreciate it at first; I have to think, step back, and then give in to whatever bizarre imagery he has captured. The same is true for Mac Miller's Balloonerism. I had to step back.
On the first listen, I was skeptical. I felt annoyed and hungry for answers, yet I was left with only literal feedback and hallucinatory dreams. Then, the Picasso of it all unfolded. An eager fan encouraged me to try again, so I did. They guided me, the docent to my Mac Miller experience, to learn more about the tragedy in his morbid and prophetic words.
Much like a Picasso, the curves of the songs make sense alongside the cubes and distorted faces of their forms. Traditional hip hop, rap, duets, noises, beats, and singing all converge into one distorted expression of substance abuse, purpose, and self-discovery.
Substance abuse distorts perspective, presenting the substance as helpful, enjoyable, and an escape we all need. This album captures that struggle for connection with the substance. The Picasso character appears unreal, or is juxtaposed against another Picasso character who feels equally absent. They are all lost to the cycle Mac Miller so deeply laments.
Here are some of the pieces of the "Balloon" that stood out to me:
"B Flat," chords play. "F," chords play. Back and forth to introduce this album.
"When you smell like your car / When you've been driving for days." As someone who has driven too far for various reasons (love, family, things that weren't good for me), this sensory moment hit me hard.
"I gave my life to this sh*t, already killed myself / Need to let the drugs go, tryna find heaven, I get high but never come close."
"Where are you going?"
"A middle finger to the cyber god."
"The pressure is building like buildings you jumped from / Wishing that wishing could lift this conundrum / The streets that you walk on are shallow / But do you feel as big as your shadow?" This one returns to our balloonist ways. Heavy, shallow, light, but dragging and elusive as the shadow; these are all the things that haunt us, both burden and somehow perceived gifts.
The hallucinatory interludes scan me like a produce item, moving through all the radio stations to find the best one, rewinding a movie, or reversing the noise, fluctuating in and out, and still hyperventilating some more as we wait for the internet to connect—"You've Got Mail." This album was white noise, over-stimulation, and beautiful. It was heavy, shallow, shadowy, and puppetry. It represented the art of being a fully formed balloon filled with lead air. This was the ongoing discussion of life, death, and substance abuse, but framed by new shapes and colors.
I don't hate this. I don't love it. I'd rather be reading my book (The Lost Bookshop, for anyone curious), but this has a nice blend of emo beats and hits the right notes. I did get into the breakups and reunions that happened with this band. What a dramatic little group!
The quality of these songs makes me feel like I'm in a basement in the '90s listening to my friends jam. I can get behind "Red Elephant"—it feels like an early Guster jam, and Guster will forever hold my heart. "J'Nuh" made me want to scream, but maybe that's just end-of-school-year vibes. Listening to "Friday" on a Friday felt meta, but here we are.
All in all, this was okay with me. "Not Everyone Is for You" is the quote that resonates with me most lately, and pairs well with this album. This album was a window for me to peek through, but not one where I am ready to own the house, rent the house, or even stay over for the evening. It was just a glimpse into the window of Sunny Day Real Estate—time to body-roll my way back to my mansion of Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Beyoncé.
It's Britney, Bitch. Iconic opening. The first words on this album, and truly the excuse for everything else that happens on this album. Whatever you think of Blackout, doesn't matter because it's Britney, Bitch—deal with it.
I think I've always been a little stupid to how sexual Britney Spears, her songs, and her performances, were. Maybe now I'm just a prude Grandma, but dang, this album was sexual (sung in my head by Nick Carter on the song "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)"). There are so many innuendos and then just straight-up "let's bang" moments ("Get Naked" is pretty clearly titled).
So much breathing. So much electronic noise. Then more breathing. I don't hate it because, you know what? It's Britney, Bitch.
There is some depth in here too! We get a lot of the pressures she was feeling especially in "Piece of Me." She found a way to maintain that classic Britney, Bitch energy, while also giving a middle finger to the industry. Remember when XTina went dirty? This album is Britney's grimy underbelly.
I love how Britney started to play with enunciation and slant rhyme in this album. "On ma ra-der" took me a minute to mentally hear. Oh ma reader? Onmarater? Whatever, it's Britney, bitch.
Britney hasn't changed much. Hear me out! Back then, she was spinning in her underwear, hair extensions a little worse for wear, and dancing provocatively. Today, she's still spinning in her underwear, her hair extensions an incredible mess, and dancing provocatively. Her Instagram posts are their own piece of performance art. Is it madness or something more? Either way, gimme gimme more Britney posts.
Overall, this album has its hits and then it has other songs that exist, and it's Britney, Bitch, so 10 out of 10!
