Local Picks
A lil programming note: I try to not include artists on these playlists more than once. For local musicians, I want to spread my coverage as far as I can rather than playing favorites. And same goes for non-local acts, which means you’ll have to discover new tracks by A. Savage, Mountain Goats, Mitski, Victoria Monét, and plenty more on your own. (Though, psst, they all put out great new songs this week.)
“Do you/Do you really want to be here?/Do you/Do you really want to know?” asks a voice that justifies its straining weirdness while an insistent rhythm section builds the tension. And stick around for the disorienting guitar-and-more break. There’s a release show for the band's EP, The Ritual, on Thursday at the newly reopened Acadia.
Haag has already released two singles from his EP, Sport, which you can hear and buy now though it’s not officially out till Thursday. But I slightly prefer the EP’s lead track to either. “Headed west on 55,” Haag eventually arrives at the old dirt roads where he “used to smoke and think up names for a pop punk band,” and there’s a terrific fiddle break waiting there for him too.
Mati, “Life Notes”
This south Minneapolis rapper, born in Ethiopia, released Thoughts in Cursive at the end of July, and he’s finally playing a release show for that album at the Entry on Friday. As you might expect from the title, this song has a free association quality to it, but Mati never rambles; both his internal rhymes and his thoughtfulness attest to his maturity.
Prince and the New Power Generation, “Alice Through the Looking Glass”
I’m not as excited as some to hear 47 outtakes from the Diamonds and Pearls era. I'm sure there are several, er, gems among those vault exhumations, but I prefer someone to pick them out for me. This first teaser from that hoard, though, is a keeper. Woulda been a much better D&P track than "Jughead.”
Thank You, I’m Sorry, “Autonomy Shop”
The newest single from TYIS's upcoming album Growing In Strange Places tinkers with pop punk norms without breaking them, showcasing a flurry of fun guitar effects from Abe Anderson and singer Colleen Dow's bored indignance.
Non-Local Picks
Aespa, “Better Things”
When it comes to KPop, I’m not even sure I’ve earned the right to even call myself a dilettante. But I do try to key in to whatever drifts my way—and "drift" this track certainly does, with a busy little beat underneath airy vocals and production.
A whisker away from twee, Corook is just an oddball romantic who wants a little something permanent in her life. “I’m not lookin’ for a girlfriend," she sings, "I’m lookin’ for a wife,” as an AM Gold woodwind sweetens her search.
Musically, Gomez has always been more of an interesting pop star than, say, Miley Cyrus, whose heavy-duty pipes overawe too many. Gomez has less vocal personality, relying on the kind of filtered murmur that popophobes deem soulless, but that just means she adapts to the track at hand. Her more aggressive peers would have turned this breakup musing into a battle stomp, but Gomez gently flexes her potential independence.
Mannequin Pussy, “I Got Heaven”
Missy Dabice asks the important musical question that centuries of theological debate have somehow passed over: “What if Jesus himself ate my fucking snatch?” The verses are angry and ranty, the chorus floats above it all. What a killer band.
Shabazz Palaces (feat. Royce the Choice), “Binoculars”
Ishmael Butler makes the best sort of trippy rap, the kind that doesn’t get distracted by intricate rhythmic curlicues but floats along on its interstellar cadence. “All I wanna do is feel free in my mind,” he tells us. Who could deny him?
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.)
