I don't know if making these playlists is my favorite part of my job exactly—there's a lot of grunt work that goes into sorting through the music that doesn't make it here. But sharing the playlists? That's definitely a highlight of the gig.
Local Picks
French created the entirety of SOVEREIGN: ALIGNED The MixTape during a December 2024 residency, and she’ll release the whole shebang on Valentine’s Day. Our first taste of the project is a spiffy vocal showcase, with jazzy runs over spare instrumentation.
The standout track from the five-cut EP Spirea, released last week by Alana Christen’s band/alter ego, has the perfect shoegazey title. Cause isn’t the genre all about making you scout around for that delicate little voice shrouded beneath the mammoth guitar?
Mike the Martyr feat. Big Zach, “We Just Love What Your On”
Maybe I’m just showing my antiquated tastes in hip-hop, but I love the way Big Jess flips that accelerated old soul sample and the way these two local rap veterans join in for a great chorus hook.
Products Band, “You Bend the Light”
Postpunk with an urgency that doesn’t undercut its complexity, and vice versa.
I'm not really a flute guy, but I do dig the way Desmond Teague locks in melodically with Jovon Williams's sax and Eli Awada's keys, as well as the way the rhythm section (drummer RAWTWHYLAH, bassist Wormdove, and Evan Espinoza on additional percussion) comments on the goings on as well as keeping the beat. They're one of First Ave's "best new bands" this year, so you can check 'em out on Friday.
Non-Local Picks
The most level-headed of the Boygenii is also, in her quiet way, the most romantic, and with the aid of some lovely staccato strings, Dacus doesn’t so much balance out her two sides here as embrace their contradictions. She wants rowdy sex at night, then tea and help with the crossword the next morning. Why shouldn’t she? Why shouldn’t any of us?
Jason Isbell, “Bury Me”
This slight drifter’s acoustic melody is mostly an excuse for Isbell to show off his tenor, but hey, the feller sure can damn sing. He can play too. And yes, he can write: The bit about “bars of steel,” “bars to sing,” and “bars with swinging doors” is quite nice.
Jeffrey Lewis, “Sometimes Life Hits You”
Over a flat, piano-anchored V.U. groove, the empathetic Lower East Side wiseguy lists a bunch of potential privileges, a la “Gotta Serve Somebody,” but then tells you what happens when things go wrong: “You say ‘Ow! Fuck! That hurt!’”
Shygirl (feat. PinkPantheress & Isabella Lovestory), “True Religion”
Not to slight FKA Twigs, whose mystically subby new Eusexua is slight enough as it is, but these three mini-voiced yet assertive femmes are more in line with my predilections.
The son of Congolese soukous titan Rochereau, long ensconced in France, has been kicking around for years, and at 45, on his new album Amour Supreme, he sounds plenty fiery. Borrowing a title from an MC Solaar album, he raps strictly en francais so I can’t nail down all the specifics about “de gros scandales” he laments, but I can tell that the Kwame Nkrumah shoutout is favorable and the Macron callout is not, and that he’s unequivocal about “l'État palestinien.” Tying the track together is a hook borrowed from his namesake, Mr. N’Dour of Dakar.
Worst New Song
Sexyy Red & Bruno Mars, “Fat Juicy & Wet”
Cowpoke movie tie-in power ballad with Gaga? That’s just showbiz. Cheer-pop fluff with Rosé? Could be worse. But a man’s gotta draw the line someplace and Bruno singing about "good kitty kitty" and "pretty pussy" like he's telling you about how far he got with his girlfriend you don't know because she goes to another school—that's where I dig in my heels. Sexxy's schtick is solid, but set her beside this strutting personification of a Grammy and she's cornball by association. Oh yeah, Bruno sure does deserve something fat, juicy, and wet in his face all right.
Wanna get a local song considered for the playlist? To make things easy on both of us, email keith@racketmn.com with MONDAY 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.)
