We’re coming up on the midpoint of the year, and The Playlists are hovering around 50 songs apiece. And if all goes well, I’ll have at least one more installment before the end of June. But I’ve made promises like that before.
Local Picks
Doug Collins and the Receptionists, “She Loves Lyin’”
There are plenty of fine country and country-adjacent musicians 'round these parts, but few have Doug Collins's deep appreciation—and affinity—for the wordplay of Music Row songwriting. Collins's new album, Lonely Memories, leads off with this prime exemplar of his talents. Kicker to the title pun’s set-up: "Next to someone who's not me."
Do I listen to the music that people email me? Indeed I do, and here’s proof. On ROOMERS, which is sadly billed as “their first and final album,” these women sound a little bit like a band that’d call itself Egg Girl and a lot like a band that’d call itself Egg Girl Girl. And for someone (me) who’s had issues filling a prescription this week (thanks, Cub!), the line “I had to drive from the Walmart to the Walgreens/And I cried the whole time” hits home.
I’m cheating again with my definition of “local” maybe, just a tiny bit. This L.A.-based Minnesotan’s consistently wonderful work continues to blur the edges of acoustic/electronic, developing patterns that branch out as much as they repeat. And the lead track from his new EP, Slow Nova, tells its whole story in under two minutes—partly because that story is about fragmentation.
This laidback singsong wordslinger’s flow remains his own, and the soft burble of electronics that accompanies him expertly complements his vibe, as does the playful, listless video.
Jeremy Ylvisaker, “Ghost American”
The versatile sideman is best known for his work on other people’s albums, and on this stand-out track from his own release, Nights for All Time, he’s assisted by a passel of singers: Keith Secola, Julius Collins, Aida Shahghasemi, and Annie Humphrey. They combine for pow-wow-like chants that echo his fuzzy melody before the song distorts into glorious atmospherics.
Non-Local Picks
Sabrina Teitelbaum has lousy taste in men, and she knows it. “Two Times” is one of several songs on her latest album, If You Asked for a Picture, about how that self-knowledge avails her not. “I'm not good at songs/When you're around/Cuz I love you,” she tells a keeper who actually cares for her. Let’s hope she eventually discovers that’s not necessarily so.
And speaking of bad taste in men… Here comes this winky lil pop darlin’ boasting/lamenting “I like my men all incompetent” as Jack Antonoff’s keyboards plink somewhere between “What a Fool Believes” and the theme to The Greatest American Hero. There’s even a little countryish guitar lick that doesn’t sound at all out of place. I wonder if Sabrina knows Julie Brown’s “I Like ‘Em Big and Stupid.” Bet she’d love it.
Megan Moroney, “Six Months Later”
And, well, still speaking of bad taste in men… This is the sunnier flip side of “No Caller ID,” in which Meg knows better than to give the jerk who got away a second chance. Punchline: “What doesn’t kill you calls you six months later.”
I’ve always rooted for Nash, a surface normie who’s mildly daring underneath, and this chatty anti-TERF number, loaded with plenty of useful stats, takes way more chances politically than most of her supposedly edgy peers ever do. This is a public service announcement—with synthesizers!
Alternately flirty and moody, these Norwegian smarty party gals capture all the emotional twists and turns of a night at the club with wit and remorse, and of course they end up feeling “confused and alone.” If this tickles you, try “You Got Time and I Got Money,” which (to summon up a comparison that will mean approximately nothing to approximately no one) kinds reminds me of Black Box Recorder.
Worst New Song
The Black Keys, “Man on a Mission”
I can’t get too mad that these moderately catchy blues-rock minimalists shilled for crypto to cover their losses after a misguided arena tour tanked, not when actual billionaires are out here stumping for credit cards. Still, I never really got the point of a duo whose songwriting somehow only got more generic as it improved, a band whose great sin was never a willingness to license their copyrights for commercials but that their best songs sounded like ad jingles to begin with. And I still don’t.
Wanna get a local song considered for the playlist? To make things easy on both of us, email keith@racketmn.com with RACKET PLAYLIST in the subject header. (Don’t, as in do NOT, DM or text: If I’m in a good mood, I’ll just ask you to send an email; if I’m in a bad mood I’ll just ignore it.)
