Something On

I don’t really mean for that sub-hed to be taken literary, or as a synonym for “coworker music.” If you’re checking out Fire-Toolz, you are dialed in enough to beat any Washed Allegations, but the fact is, they’re in their 40s and, even more damning, have engaged in Twitter convos with me about ‘90s emo. I think of this series covering the B-D slots of any given day, Metacritic 78-82s, the stuff that has some juice in the current day but won’t end up in a Kieran Press-Reynolds explainer.

J McClendon is never at a loss for words - she’ll just talk until she runs out. And after an exhaustive consideration of the relationship with her parents as an adult, the ska and chiptune of her youth, the irresistible pull of 2010s internet nostalgia and the burdens of being openly trans on Twitter, she reverts to a conclusive mantra for all subjects: it’s complicated.

See Part I for the first half of the mix…I prefer listening to this in one two-hour block, but it works just as well as a Disc 1 / Disc 2 - see below for a full Spotify playlist. Pinegrove - “Dotted Line” Rolling Stone called this album “like the Promise Ring gone country” (complimentary) and man…if only it sounded more like “Become One Everything One Time!” Or more like this song.

Been Stellar - Scream From New York, NY Look at my album cover, dawg - I’m going to Best Buy.

Before Steven Hyden and I reviewed and hashed out one of the biggest albums of all time at Book Soup this past week, we had a really productive heart-to-heart about our possible futures in Substacking. I gave him my usual shpiel about procrastination and perfectionism and how I end up writing 5000 words when 500 will do. To which he gave me the same advice he has ever since Substacking became a viable platform for people like us - post less words, more often.

Playing a dumb guy is hard work. There are hundreds of examples of this being true in film and TV, yet most people can recognize that the person they see on the screen isn’t the same person in real life. RxkNephew is not one of these people. Musicians aren’t always granted that same assumption of artistic license and so the first thing anyone has to do if they’re going to write a song from the perspective of a dumb guy is prove that they’re actually smart.

She couldn’t believe that I didn’t like James Blake. She also couldn’t believe I was damn near 45 years old, and thus, not a millennial.

Promise I’ll be back up and running in the near future - in the meantime, playing catchup with March and (hopefully sooner rather than later, April). Unfortunately, can’t do a Spotify list since a few songs aren’t on streaming. Hot Chip - “Out at the Pictures” Maybe next year, I’ll create a Screen Time widget that solely tracks how many hours I’ve dedicated to reading NFL Draft coverage.

[click here for part I, playlist at the bottom] Underworld - “Stick Man Test” How can I possibly stay mad at AI when it’s responsible for the single greatest piece of art in the 21st century? Anyways, the new Underworld album had its moments, even it’s not quite at the level of the previous one (or, as these things happen, maybe the moments are harder to find this time around because it’s over 70 minutes long).

A few weeks ago, I got caught submitting a Pitchfork invoice at my IRL day job. Or, more accurately, I guess I sorta kinda wanted to get caught.