Thanks to the holiday, last week did not produce an autumnal cornucopia of new music upon which to feast, but I found some tasty snacks for ya anyway.
Local Picks
One of those bands where all four members are credited with vocals—not because they’re up to some fancy harmony shit, but because a full-throated yowl of frustration needs the support of gang vocals to really get you riled up. The lead track their latest album, All You Can Do Is Laugh, catches them at their best.
D’Lakes, “Not So-So-So Anymore”
New wave with a homemade “let’s put on a show” vibe, and I get a sugar rush whenever the dayglo mix of guitar and synth pops in. They’ve got a release show for their new album Heaven Is a Silent Disco at Green Room on Thursday, and they're recommended even if a silent disco afterlife sounds to you purgatorial at best.
Lots of people I respect love this guy, but his studio-modulated folk is a smidgen too tasteful for my palate. Except when it isn’t—like here, where the chill of the performance is perfectly temperature-appropriate.
I don’t know much about this not especially Google-friendly young singer, but the way her flutey little voice rolls along with the beat here makes this go down easy. She's opening for Nina Luna at the Turf Club on Thursday.
Taylor Kraemer wants to hop on Pop. On this playfully nasty punky burst, she asks “Hey, is your dad single?,” threatens “I’ll make you my son,” and concludes “He does it better than you.” They’re headlining the Fine Line on Friday.
Non-Local Picks
Not a new song—Björk wrote this sometime around the turn of the millennium— but this string-driven and straightforwardly melodic track is a new collaboration between two generations of brilliant weirdos we should be happy are acquainted.
NYC indie-rap producer closes his new joint, The Aux, with a track that gives every MC listed a chance to flaunt their vastly different cadences, which don’t so much complement each other as combine into a heterogeneous bustle.
On this slow, post-holiday week for releases, we can be grateful that Canadians don’t have Thanksgiving. Nova Scotia wordslinger Buck 65 came out of semi-retirement over the past couple years with a pair of sharp albums (and a third I just found out existed). Here (and on the rest of this trio's new release, American Adonis) he's just goofin' with his boys, and ain't nothin' wrong with that.
Willi Carlisle, “When the Pills Wear Off”
"Oh father forgive me for what I have done/Drove 200 miles for six inches of love." So begins this tender but heartbreak song from Ozarks-based folkie Carlisle. How good is it? I even like the strings. "What I called a love affair/They say was a death of despair." So it ends.
Boldy James & Nicholas Craven, “Brand New Chanel Kicks”
The prolific Detroit rapper James cut this Craven-produced track in a neck brace and wheelchair—he was injured in a car accident earlier this year, and that's largely his lyrical subject here.
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.)
