I don’t even want to look back and see how long it’s been since I updated these playlists for you. It’s been a busy fall, that’s all I can say for myself. Hoping to have at least one more column for you by the end of the year, and any great songs I don't get to by then will get scooped up in my year-end playlists.
Local Picks
Basement Gang feat. JuneThaKid, Craishon, and $aiko, ”Solo”
“It’s exhausting these days” is how JuneThaKid kicks off this group effort, but he sounds less whooped than determined to execute a “million-dollar vision with a 9 to 5 budget”—and with QuasiUno’s production summoning horn samples from the distance, this crew does just that.
Mary Bue, “Right Now”
With as much urgency as its title demands, Bue reels off images mundane and transcendent (and some both), returning pointedly to “Right now a woman sits leaden with grief” and climaxing with a call to “stand alone amongst the tall pines.” Bue is currently Kickstartering an album, The Wildness of Living and Dying, and I certainly wouldn’t discourage you from supporting.
Cassieopia feat. Rozay Bella, Jada Brown, and The Lioness, “P.L.T. (Pretty Little Thing)”
Calling out “from the home of the Metrodome,” here’s a posse cut with a genuine communal vibe. “I’m tryna make sure that my people freak/Could care less who less”? That’s the spirit—though let’s spare some shine for the St. Paul DJ who gets lead credit here.
Taylor James Donskey, “Green Sweater”
Tough guy that I am, soft and sweet isn’t always my preference, but Donskey pulls it off here with a kind vocal and the sort of subtle arrangement where the strings sneak in behind his acoustic guitar so subtly you barely notice them at first. Dare I allow myself the hacky comparison, and say it's as cozy as its titular article of clothing?
Haley, “Not Gonna Love You”
A collection of outtakes from a songwriter who’s never exactly flooded the market with her music? Sure, why not. This track didn’t make Impossible Dream, maybe my personal Haley fave, and maybe it should have, though I can imagine an official version with a little more bite, rhythmically and vocally.
Lazy Scorsese, “Field Guide to Your Anxiety”
A burbling, even (yes) anxious groove, akin to Fear of Music-era Talking Heads, settling on an occasional plateau of relief as lyrics fulfill the title’s promise
Obi Original and the Black Atlantics, “Egwu Amala”
What I like about Obi Original’s Afrobeat is that rather than just working a variant on Fela-isms past, it’s a real fusion of West African styles, bringing his palm wine guitar up front.
OKNice, “Overdramatic”
The rapper is starting his life again on his new album, Talking to My Dogs, and on the lead track he takes the measure of how things are going over cheerful “la-la-la” voices.
Student 1, “Notes”
As offhand as its title suggests, the rapper’s melodic, Auto-Tuned versifying doesn’t so much flow as bob along to the high-register synth waves and cymbal titters provided by from longtime collaborator Letmode.
Shrimpnose, “The Skin of My Teeth”
I’d never call him pop, but this L.A.-relocated local’s skeletal acoustic guitar figures, spectral voices, and percussion stutters add up to something pretty and inviting rather than grim and forbidding. And I’d say the same for the rest of his excellent new album, The World Pushed Against You.
Non-Local Picks
Bad Moves, “Outta My Head”
There’s something a little too “all together now” about this D.C. crew’s group vocals, yes. But their lyrics capture the specificity of how frustration (personal, political, and otherwise) feels in 2024, in suitably broad strokes (ah the paradox). They shout “if there’s no one to blame then there’s nothing to shout about” and address “I can’t get the part where you fucked up outta my head” to whatever “you” you see fit.
Cheekface feat. Jeff Rosenstock, “Flies”
These L.A. jokesters continue to chart the absurdity of modern life, with a capable assist from rocker Rosenstock here, assembling the sort of lyrics that require extended quotes, e.g. “We love dust because it is so cool/So of course we can’t wait to be it/Dust, I mean, not cool.”
Ciara feat. Busta Rhymes, “Wassup”
If you’d told me this track was 20 years old, I’d have believed you at first, but on closer listening Ciara’s timbre sounds a bit less girlie than back then. And Ciara always bears closer listening—she takes such pure pleasure in her sound because she knows her sexiness is all about sensation.
Fousheé, “Rice & Peas”
Sighing about how the world isn’t fair, breathy singer-songwriter finds just the hook she needs to get over.
GloRilla, “Hollon”
“I got hands for a ho, I get bands for a show/He want chance after chance after chance, n—, no.”
Hard Quartet, “Rio’s Song”
It’s always cute when a few older fellas get together and start a band. This sets Emmett Kelly’s warble against Malkmus’s little guitar flurry, and it reveals just the nicest little chord change in the chorus. With middle-aged hobbyists like this, it’s all in the details.
HiTech, “Spank!”
I am convinced that a not-insignificant number of straight American guys, if given the choice of one or the other, would rather smack a woman’s ass than actually fuck. Do I have the numbers to back me up? Since when does that matter? Anyway, helluva track.
Kendrick Lamar, “Squabble Up”
In general, I think rich and famous rappers should find better ways to spend their time than whining about the competition. But rich and famous rappers rarely sound as energized by whining about the competition as Kendrick does on GNX. And I can’t resist that sample of Debbie Deb’s “When I Hear Music” or the way he says “fa-a-a-ace.”
Mustafa, “Old Life”
This murmury R&B fella stands out from the pack not just because he sounds genuinely concerned for others but because he doesn’t shy from specifics as he looks back at a past love. “I'm not yours/But there's a part of your life that is mine”—truer words, etc.
Pony, “Every Little Crumb”
Gotta love the persistence of alt-rock, that slightly nostalgic pleasure to be taken in what was once a commercial accommodation. Of course alt is girlier than it was in the ’90s, and poppier too, and freed to be both by the decreased burden to shift units.
Worst New Track
Dylan Marlowe feat. Riley Green, “Stick to My Guns”
When I’m panning for duds, I try to leave mainstream country alone because I figure a lot of my readers even hate the good stuff. But from “I’m sick and damn tired of the man on the TV telling me how to live” (exactly what channel is that, Dylan?) to “In a world that's changing I sure as hell ain't,” this whiny, reactionary self-absorption deserves a big ol' lip-fart. The good news? It's not a hit—and neither is Craig Campbell's “Stick to Our Guns,” whose singer (unlike Marlowe) at least has the guts to say he’ll be happy to shoot me.
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.)
