Just a lil reminder about these playlists: Not all local musicians put their music up on Spotify. Can’t say I blame ’em, what with the streamer’s shitty pay rates. But because that app remains a guilty convenience I rely on here, un-Spotified picks won't show up on the playlists. I want to make sure you don't miss any of them, so click on the links and let Bandcamp do the rest.
Local Picks
Despondent — “Front Lawn”
The first track on this quartet’s three-song EP Unsee is the best—always a good plan. Guitars are a little jangly, singer Nora Button’s vocals a little chirpy—always a good pairing. And the song gets its work done in a brisk 2:19.Â
Fruitpunchloverboy — “Fancy Coat”
Squelchy bass, skittish funk, filtered vocals, juicy guitar break, bona fide hooks—what is not to love?
killusonline — “Dysphoria”Â
At the risk of scarin’ the hoes, killusonline prefer to call their rap-rock “chaotic-death-grind-rap-core.” Their new EP, None Like Home, marshals heavy funk to battle somewhat indiscriminate targets—on this track, for instance, frontman Mory rages against “the industry.” MVP: Max Folina and his pinched siren of a guitar.
Leslie Rich — “Heck&Away”
"Holding hands is a bittersweet/Way of keeping me at arms reach," Rich's footloose younger self decides, convinced that love is too much work (at least for the time being). Rich is playing a release show for his new EP, Jumpstart, at Icehouse on May 21. Â
SYM1 — “Meet Me Online (MMO)”Â
“It's about being a slut online,” Ms. 1 explains, simply, about her new single, available in three mixes on a new EP. But you’d hafta be p. slow on the uptake not to figure that out yourself. Nevermind the forward “I require/Your desire”— even the beat can’t keep it in its pants.
National Picks
Tony Allen & Adrian Younge – “Don’t Believe The Dancers”
Fela’s drummer, an Afrobeat architect in his own right, died three years ago at 79, but he left plenty of recordings in the can. Among them is a full album with jazz-minded hip-hop producer Younge called Tony Allen JID018, and its first single is an instrumental that, while unduly flutey at times, suggests prodigious polyrhythms are in store.
Amaraae was raised in Accra and Atlanta, and musically the West African predominates here, with a frisky, airy beat and is-that-a-kora? accompaniment. Lyrically, she puzzles over your zodiac sign, but she’s so flirty and playful about it that even this vulgar materialist Capricorn is charmed.
Four Swedes, not all of them girls, and none of them particularly monstrous, though singer Emma Jansson avers otherwise. She’s just a little mixed up about love is all, a state that's matched perfectly by the sometimes loud, rarely noisy, always catchy guitar pop that the band introduced on its EP, Real Life Human Garbage, earlier this year.
Megan Moroney — “I Sleep on My Side”
This Savannah gal’s got a good sense of humor: Her first single "Tennessee Orange" begged her folks back in Georgia not to disown her for dating a Vols fan, and her debut album, Lucky, only falters when it gets too introspective. Better than any of its terrific singles, though, is this dismissal of a fella who’s too much of an opposite to attract her, with a chorus punchline I won’t spoil for you here.
Palehound — “The Clutch”
El Kempner’s indie-as-classic-rock guitars rush and bend and plunge and spiral until an ambivalently apologetic lyric climaxes with countless “you didn’t need my help”s.Â
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.)
