I know it’s mid-July, but I’m still catching up with the first six months of 2024 (what’s the rush?), adding these 10 local and 10 non-local tracks to the playlists before starting some new playlists for the second half of the year next week.
As you arithmetic fans out there may have already determined, that makes for 90 songs in total on each playlist (give or take a few tracks that aren't on Spotify). Give a listen if you haven't already!
Local Picks
Another Heaven, “Genius?”
Shoegaze has become the subgenre of choice for local rockers in recent years, but these fellas were way ahead of the curve, and they’re not just dreamy— there’s a winning alt-rock sweep to their guitars as well.
Bakarii, “Suffocate”
A particularly ingratiating Afrobeats track from yet another member of the scene-setting crew Ozone Creations, with a soprano sax wheedling in the background to set a seductive mood.
Faith Boblett, “Never Right”
“The trouble’s with your follow-through,” Boblett sings with less bitterness than regret to an almost-was of a man, her voice enveloped in a booming production highlighted by a terrific Isaac Levy guitar part.
Nat Harvie feat. Alan Sparhawk, “Red”
At once danceable and brooding, the lead single from Harvie’s New Virginity is a real team effort, with Duluth elder Sparhawk’s guitars, producer Andrew Broder’s synths, and experimentalist Cole Pulice’s sax adding textures as Harvie remains the central focus.
Huhroon, “TOOMUCHVNECK”
Huhroon’s latest builds and crests and ebbs unexpectedly but coherently, driven by an insistent rhythm guitar track and festooned with all sorts of electronic adornments. Mesmerizing stuff.
Luverne feat. Griswald and Delon Smith, “Pal”
An ideal summery track, with sunny melody, a light funk beat, some fluttery la-la-las, extravagant strings, and some of those confusing romantic feelings that arise when the weather gets warm.
Malamiko, “Butterflies”
This powerful single is also the lead track from Malamiko’s debut album, All Pleasant Dreams, with a heavy wash of guitar and a lighter chime up front, leading to a chorus of “Ripping wings off butterflies” (hey, we all have our hobbies).
The Shackletons, “Patsy Cline”
I slept on their June album Formerly the Albatross, but these fellers are good, their pace somewhere between a stagger and a shuffle, their guitars emotive and loose but not sloppy, their lyrics typified by the phrase “Caught me out with my rattlesnake mouth.”
Spit Takes, “Gold Star”
“I might like girls, I realized/About the same age that Jesus Christ died,” singer VansAnn confesses, en route to proclaiming “I’m just not a gold star gay” on this anthem for late bloomers, introduced by a nifty drum pattern and underlined by a great single-note guitar line.
Whim County feat. QT? And Deo, “LAZERS”
A funky R&B pickup jam, direct without being crass, synthy without being schlocky, and letting the beat seal the deal.
Tracks not on Spotify: Bushido.Chop, “CRASH DUMMY”; Faux Jean, “There’s a Hole in Your Soul.”
Non-Local Picks
Denzel Curry feat. That Mexican OT, “Black Flag Freestyle”
A killer twosome, with Denzel denying accusations of emo rapperdom and That Mexican OT repping Texas, with 808 fills aggressive enough to match their rhymes.
Ashley Monroe, “I Like Trains”
The purtiest-singin’ third of the Pistol Annies slow-burns the sort of acoustic ballad that country radio wouldn’t play even if it was a kinder berth for women. Their loss.
Kehlani, “After Hours”
I’m a little disappointed in Kehlani’s latest full-length, Crash, but this frisky standalone captures her open-hearted sexiness and her love of melody, putting a sample from Nina Sky’s “Move Ya Body” to good use.
Pernice Brothers, “Who Will You Believe”
Joe Pernice has always had one of the loveliest male voices in Americana, with the delicate, expansive jangle to match, and that combination hits just right here.
Pet Shop Boys, “A New Bohemia”
A PSB title if ever I heard one, from an album chock full of ‘em. (Try “The Schlager Hit Parade” next.) Neil Tennant pursues the fading trail of his wary romanticism, sighing “I wish I lived my life free and easier,” aware that nothing can be more doomed than self-conscious nostalgia for an avant-garde.
Twen, “Stunts”
I’m a little suspicious of this kind of wry, twee-adjacent indie, but this Nashville duo pulls it off here, complete with (simulated) steel drum, sound effects, and musings that “By motorbike or plane/You need extreme motion/To get through these days.”
Tyla, “Truth or Dare”
South Africa’s finest current pop export will never top “Water” because she’s not foolish enough to stray too far from its indelible rhythmic template. But that doesn’t mean she can’t work insinuating variations on that musical theme, creating wonderful moments like the chorus’s playfully extension of “dare” to “day-er.”
Bryson TIllier feat. Victoria Monét, “Persuasion”
I usually don’t have much time for TIllier, but Monet makes this worthwhile. Just guess which naughty words “pu-rsuasion” “di-cision” “a-bsolutely” and “fuh-cilitate” are meant to stand in for.
Linda Thompson/Teddy Thompson, “Those Damn Roches”
Robbed of her voice by spasmodic dysphonia, Linda T. entrusted a wonderful album called Proxy Music to some of her favorite singers. On this highlight, handled by son Teddy, one dysfunctional musical family celebrates its artistic kinship with three other interrelated clans—the Roches, the Wainwrights, and the McGarrigles.
Morgan Wade, “Moth to a Flame”
Does anyone in contemporary country do genuinely sexy (as opposed to merely dirty or heavy-breathing) as well as Wade? This starts “Turn down the music/All I want to hear is you say my name” and soon moves on to “Take off your clothes, babe/I just want to feel your skin” with such commitment I’ll even forgive her the humdrum metaphor.
Tracks not on Spotify: Playboi Carti feat. Travis Scott, “BACKR00MS”; JID, “30 Freestyle": Chance the Rapper, “I Will Be Your (Black Star Line Freestyle)”; King Willonious, “BBL Drizzy”; Macklemore, “Hind’s Hall.”
Worst New Song
Eminem, “Houdini”
Damn, this is some sad shit. There’s worse on The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) (the far from timely anti-Christopher Reeve dance track is like a deliberate bid to prove Em’s irrelevance) but this single, leaning all too heavily on the chorus of Steve Miller’s “Abracadabra,” really captures how far the guy has fallen. Lyrics are about as hard-hitting as a Babylon Bee tweet (participation trophy jokes? “My transgender cat's Siamese/Identifies as black, but acts Chinese”?) when he’s not trying way too hard (“If I was to ask for Megan Thee Stallion if she would collab with me/Would I really have a shot at a feat?”). This is what it sounds like when you’re no longer an enfant and just terrible, the desperate bleat of another washed middle-aged comic pandering to his dumbest fans while begging for a reaction, any reaction. Could you please be offended now? Please?
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.)
