We’re getting horror thriller heavy this week but is it all good? I took in M. Night Shyamalan’s new vision with Josh Hartnett, Trap, both Chloe and I give our thoughts on the strange new thriller Cuckoo with Hunter Schaffer and the always welcome Dan Stevens and I finally got my eyes on Ti West’s MaXXXine. The Umbrella Academy draws to a close on Netflix, Faye Dunaway gets a career spanning documentary and Natalie Portman is bringing the artfully driven mystery in a new series. All this and more on this new episode!
We are Kevin-less this week (he’s actually in the background, TRY AND SPOT HIM!!) but I’ve got my Deadpool & Wolverine thoughts and, don’t worry! I’ve kept them spoiler-free for those who haven’t seen it yet! Kneecap, a fantastic Irish hip-hop biopic hits theatres in limited release, I’m a big fan of the Lowe’s show Unstable, which gets its second season this week and I watched Purple Rain for the first time, one 4K, on the fortieth anniversary. Morris and Jerome forever.
Being a beginner to the real cohesion of playlists, doing them as a “day-by-day add to” list has sometimes worked out perfectly but other times, it has seemed like a mish-mash of crazy styles, tone shifts and jarring transitions. Well, this is probably a grouping of songs that belongs with the latter as I have shifts like Ladytron to Eyes Set To Kill, The Smiths to Stabbing Westward and The National to Taproot. I did try and sneak in my own music therapy to start getting myself over a total tragedy that has happened to one of my all time favorite duos.
Starting this playlist off with a proven hit generator in this Jacksonville, Florida rock band who have been putting out solid records since 2003 and I really only just got into them fully in the last decade. I definitely should have been into them earlier, as they did the theme song for WWE Monday Night RAW years ago, using their song Enemies, but their album Attention Attention really got my, well, attention. From there, I started backtracking and came across this track, the first single released from the 2015 album. That record was largely panned by critics but this song was celebrated and it still makes me bop whenever it comes on.
“Let me tell you: I’m vicious Not passive-aggressive I’ve got my finger on the pulse Starin’ straight into a hole, and I get it And I’m a savage; it’s automatic I got a way of makin’ noise The power to destroy with no static”
When it comes to this Fort Worth, Texas rock band that formed at the inception of the grunge era, Possum Kingdom is the song I feel like we know and love. It wasn’t until I dug into the album that track came off of that I realized it is such a treasure trove of great rock songs and this one is definitely my favorite. The song is named after a small town an hour and a half outside of Dallas, a place without much going on and the focus is on a sexual assault that happened in town. The point of view of the song is from the attacker and gets really dark but, damn, why did the Toadies have to make it all with a catchy sound around it? It makes me feel weird and now I pass that feeling on to you.
“We can drive To any place Day and night To cross this state”
No matter how weird Jared Leto comes across in real life and whether he really runs a cult or whatever rumors swirl around him, I still feel very drawn to his music and have since the release of their first album. With A Beautiful Lie, I feel they made a real landmark record and it was this song of it that I feel myself constantly drawn to. It has an echoey drive to it that resonates to my very musical core every time and it has a bridge in it that I belt out along with Jared and can’t get it out of my head for hours afterwards. This is a warning here, you haven’t seen the last of Jared, Shannon and company on these lists as I make them.
“I’m in the middle of nothing And it’s where I want to be I’m at the bottom of everything And I finally start to leave”
It’s really starting to feel like 2005 is the story of this playlist this time around as now we have two records in a row from the mid-aughts time. This electro-pop trio out of Liverpool, England made their first impression on me with this song off of their third album, and like most of my discoveries in that genre, I was hooked big time. The rising intensity of this song gets me grooving almost immediately and I saw it referred to as a “scorched earth banger” and I can’t think of a better way to describe it. The second single released off of Witching Hour, I really have to recommend the music video as well, an artful piece directed by Adam Bartley in his only time behind the camera.
“Everything you touch, you don’t feel Do not know what you steal Shakes your hand Takes your gun Walks you out of the sun What you touch, you don’t feel Do not know what you steal Destroy everything you touch today Please destroy me this way”
The Rodriguez sisters out of Tempe, Arizona make their second appearance on one of my playlists and this is kind of a big one as they kicked off this whole project as song one on playlist one and it was a song of this album too. I dig this track a lot, one that serves as the first of the last four songs on the record, and the emo drive of it really gets going as an earworm every time I hear it. The song feels like it speaks to themes of promises broken and extreme abandonment so, as far as an emo song goes, it kind of checks all the boxes. The difference is it has some good metal crunch to it. Seriously, if this band’s name is new to you, fix it with this album ASAP.
“All of the blood and all the shame Was it all for nothing? I swallowed my pride to be a slave Yeah, I took the beating There is no hope to hold onto No point in believing These letters to home Aren’t getting through”
Speaking of emo songs, it’s time to bring one of the all-time heavyweights in that genre to the playlists and, with how much I enjoy this group, I’m surprised it’s taken this long. Founded by brothers Gerard and Mikey Way in 2001 out of Newark, New Jersey, the lyrics automatically gripped my the first time I heard them and it was this song that started the ball rolling, which also happened to be the first single off their second record. The song is basically a plea for help from a girl being mentally abused by a partner using her own personal pictures against her. The song plays both angles through the central narrator, Gerard, to claim some sort of understanding. Emo songs can sometimes have ridiculous depth to them and these guys are the kings of that.
“Forget about the dirty looks The photographs your boyfriend took You said you read me like a book But the pages all are torn and frayed now”
I love bringing a band that isn’t widely known to this list and this rock band out of Boston, Massachusetts really deserves to have ears on them. Formed in 2013, it’s crazy to think that the band didn’t get their first full record released until after the beginning of the pandemic after the release of four EPs but here we are. A bunch of Berklee College of Music graduates, they wouldn’t have had musical exposure if it wasn’t for the love they experienced with Mexican fans through a music blog called Pepe Problemas. This is the first track I heard by them and it put me on the path of this full debut album as well as the follow-up Fission which was released at the very beginning of the year. These guys deserve to blow up big time and I hope the rock charts begin to realize that.
“Talk shit, bitch Say it like you wanna leave You love me like cocaine, yeah Don’t lie, get it right Need me every night You love me like, you love me like You love me like cocaine, yeah You love me like, I love you like”
Let’s get this opinion out of the way. Morrissey has made a career out of being a complete asshole, saying inflammatory things and giving his shitty thoughts on everything and cancelling shows over his own bloated ego. That said, Johnny Marr is a rock god without question and The Smiths hold an undeniable place in music history and were the inspiration for so many. This is a song I really felt like I needed on a bad Monday and it’s kind of cool that this was the first Smiths song to land on the playlist as I really thought it would be the more common How Soon Is Now that was first selected. This was the leading single off of this record and it is iconic, to say the least.
“And now I know how Joan of Arc felt Now I know how Joan of Arc felt As the flames rose to her Roman nose And her Walkman started to melt (Ah)”
It looks like this is the part of the playlist where we get even more classic and this band fits right in with bands like Nine Inch Nails and, what came from that band, Filter. An industrial rock quintet out of Macomb, Illinois, this was the record where I really started paying attention to them, even though the hit song “What Do I Have To Do?” lives in an industrial emo hall of fame in my opinion. I remember buying this album just based on that one track alone and was treated to a concept album of sorts too. This song is part of the second act which is about lust, hope, and longing in the aftermath of a breakup. If you were heartbroken in the late 90s, this should’ve been your go-to. It still could be.
“I know that you’ve been damaged Your soul has suffered such abuse But I am not your savior I am just as fucked as you (I am just as fucked as you)”
Yes, we’re getting back to that Smiths-ish style of a classic with a rock band that lives in a legend status, and that is Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and the rest of R.E.M. I’m definitely not over the moon about their entire discography but some songs poke through and this one is reminiscent of the music video era when it was really at it’s height in the mid-nineties. Furthermore, this track popping up made me re-examine this album as an adult and it improved immensely with my music maturity now. I can see why this record was so loved and I wish I wasn’t so jaded at the time and had the broader understanding of music that I do today. This song was also the tipping point into a rockier sound from R.E.M., a landmark track if you will.
“I’d studied your cartoons, radio, music, TV, movies, magazines Richard said, “Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy” A smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth You said that irony was the shackles of youth”
The second appearance of the closest voice we have to Michael Jackson at present date, The Weeknd also doubles as Canadian content on this playlist, the only one so far. This song is one that got caught in my head as it was used as the official theme song for Wrestlemania this year and as a regular viewer of their programming, I heard it over and over again. The basis of the song is Abel speaking about himself as a selfish lover whose only self-worth is derived from his partner. It fits in as the first real track on the, largely, concept record Dawn FM, as of now, the last one he’s put out. I think he said he was done too, so this weirdo record and The Idol will be the last “Weeknd” releases.
“It’s 5 AM my time again I’ve soaken up the moon, can’t sleep It’s 5 AM my time again I’m calling and you know it’s me I’m pushin’ myself further I’m just tryin’ to feel my heartbeat beat (Beat) I wrap my hands around your neck You love it when I always squeeze It’s 5 AM, I’m high again And you can see that I’m in pain (Ooh, ooh) I’ve fallen into emptiness I want you ’cause we’re both insane I’m staring into the abyss I’m lookin’ at myself again I’m dozing off to R.E.M. I’m trying not to lose my faith”
Given all the recent events surrounding The D and their apparent break up over a Donald Trump assassination attempt joke, when this song popped on I felt an initial sadness wash over me. The current filter of the year 2024 has a tainted taste on it but the original love I have for this album, all twenty-three years of it, won’t let me completely tarnish my comfort album, a record I know lyrically from front to back. I can’t let JB’s heinous decision-making skills rob me of the glory of this record and the memories I have attached to it! So, I offer a Tribute, if you will, to honor my deep feelings of love to a collection of songs that I’ve carried with me ever since they first hit my ears as well as a rock legend duo that called it quits for th stupidest of reasons.
“Ah-rah, dee Soo-guh-goo-gee-goo-gee Goo-guh fli-goo gee-goo Guh fli-goo, ga-goo-buh-dee Ooh, guh-goo-bee Ooh-guh-guh-bee-guh-guh-bee Fli-goo gee-goo A-fliguh woo-wa mama Lucifer!”
I guess I’ll come right out of the gate and address that I’m using the verion of this song from the second releasing of it rather than the one off of their third studio album and not the previously released EP from 2004. This band is one I found through the radio, on a great station called The Peak which showcased a different side of rock music but it was from their current album at the time, High Violent from 2010. Through that and the influence of my wife, I started to look through their earlier work, via the Blaylock playlists, and really fixated on this record a lot. I also really have love for a song that would contain the lyric “I’m a perfect piece of ass”. That’s so damn poetic, thank you Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner.
“I’m put together beautifully Big wet bottle in my fist Big wet rose in my teeth I’m a perfect piece of ass Like every Californian So tall I take over the street With high-beams shining up my back A wingspan unbelievable I’m a festival I’m a parade”
Wrapping this playlist up with a returning band and one of my favorites of all time, Ann Arbor, Michigan’s own Taproot, for have three immaculate records in a row, starting with their landmark debut, Gift. The second record clearly had a big effect on me as I have now brought a second track off of that album but this song in particular has a direct connection to the debut as it features a sample directly from the band’s first single, “Again & Again”. The bridge to the song also has such a good deep groove to it that /i have to crank the volume on it everytime. In a selfish move, I’m choosing to close this pretty all over the place playlist with a forever favorite of mine.
“Caressing gateways of the mind Over, enter through spaces time Heals wounds inspiring gifts of light Inside myself just need some time (Just need some time to myself) To figure it out cause I’ve got no doubt That when my dreams come true It’s because of you And the fact that I let you”
Chloe, Kevin and I have a big episode blowing in for you this week as Glen Powell is bringing all of his big-screen charm to Twisters, a legacy sequel that isn’t really a sequel. Ilana Glaser and Michelle Buteau make movie gold out of their long friendship, writer and director Francis Galluppi makes a memorable introduction and we give our farewells to The Acolyte, possibly, and Halo, definitely. All this and we’ll let you know WHO Kevin is within the first minute.
This week I took a chance on the new Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum rom-com over a Kevin Costner epic and I think it worked out pretty well. I dig into my Criterion Collection again for Lynne Ramsay’s debut and we go back into the water after the dryness of Boys On The Boat with a new biopic starring Daisy Ridley on Disney+. All this plus Chloe has TWO spider movies and thoughts on the bone-chilling Longlegs. Dig in, we’ve got lots to tell you!
I can not tell a lie about the latest playlist I’ve compiled over the last two weeks because the heaviness of it speaks for itself. I’ve got Aussie metalcore group Polaris and metal scene legends All That Remains in the first half and a pillar of heavy metal history to help close out the playlist. I’m also playing with some of the more eclectic side with some POORSTACY, Hurricane On Saturn and So Below and I balance it out with the incredibly likeable Wet Leg, BANNERS and the Bring Me The Horizon track that introduced me to YONAKA.
I have to credit my wife for showing me this duo of ladies out of Isle Of Wight, England and I fell in love with their debut album immediately. A great sound, poppy and catchy songwriting and a sort of drollness make Wet Leg one of the best new bands to hit the mainstream in my opinion and this track is a great indicator of all of those traits. The final single released off of the album, the song is decidedly surf rock and has songwriter Rhian Teasdale calling out an ex-lover and telling them to forget her entirely, punctuated by a primal scream that brings us out of the song. Some really great stuff here and I was happy to see that some of my friends picked up on it when I shared it.
“You said that you tried your best Why’s this such a fucking mess? You’re always so full of it Yeah, why don’t you just suck my dick? And when the lights go down on this fucking town I know it’s time to go And when you’re getting blazed, spooning mayonnaise Yeah, I know it’s time to go”
Thanks to bands like Eskimo Callboy, I have found myself quite interested in electronic metalcore bands and thighs adjacent to that. It’s not really a stretch as I loved techno, electro, electropop and dig metal, obviously, and bands like Rammstein so discovering this mask-wearing five-piece isn’t really a stretch for me. With a frenetic energy that mixes up the guttural vocals with the melodic here and there, this band is the closest this forty-something will ever get to the club or the art of clubbing but, with the vibe given, I can see the allure. This is definitely not for everyone but I feel like some people will really pick up on this song and I’m looking forward to it appearing on a full album.
“Running away from the sun and the flashlight The illusion your words can count something to me I’ll dodge all the shit coming out from your dull mouth I’m the fucked up hellion you don’t like but you need I claim I require I squeeze I desire Everything life can give To please all my greeds”
I’m excited to break this track out as it reminds me of a time when I used to show up to HMV, my local CD and DVD shop (remember those?!?), and buy a stack of brand-new metal discs on payday. This album was one of my blind buys back in the day, the third record from this Springfield, Massachusetts metalcore band, and I spun it over and over again, but this, the third single off of it, is probably my favorite. The sound of this album, produced by Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, really comes through on it and would be my go-to for showcasing this absolute ripper of a mid-2000s offering. Also, it is not a cover song of the classic Hollies song. Just felt I needed to say that.
“I have suffered defeat, pain, loss Still I push to the edge, never falter For this cements my beliefs (This cements my beliefs!) I’ll remain my own master I will not relent, no, no Never suffer defeat, never falter For this cements my beliefs (this cements my beliefs!) I will not choke on failure!”
I’m pretty sure I stated it before when I posted a classic Big Wreck single to an earlier playlist but I’m a massive fan of frontman Ian Thornley, a man I lovingly call the “Chris Cornell of Canada”. His debut as a solo artist is a treasure trove of great songs that I constantly vibe to but this song’s drive in particular always gets me. The final single off of the record, it has an opening worthy of the song title before heading into a a crunchy chorus that I always sing along with. The personnel on this record are a supergroup of sorts in Canada as well as it’s a combo of Art Of Dying, The Watchmen and Bedouin Soundclash, as well as Ian, a piece of one of my favorite homegrown bands of all time.
“Light my past on fire Spell it right in black and white A coward’s here for hire”
I really have Spotify Recommendations to thank for my immediate interest in this metalcore band but once I started hearing tracks off of their album, The Death Of Me, I was easily hooked. In my journey through their music, I focused on this record, their debut, and pulled so many tracks off it as newly liked songs and this one, the second single released, is one I go back to again and again. This song is a heavy cruncher and it seems that playlist number thirteen has that as its main feature and I’m actually surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. That said, this kick-ass five-piece from Sydney kicks some serious ass.
“Running circles, old habits die hard Each lesson learned never seemed to get too far Call me reckless, call me stuck in my ways I’m torn between the remedies for everything”
Even though I kicked off this playlist with some Wet Leg, this might be the poppiest thing I’ve put on this group of songs so far but there’s something in the tightness of this Jacksonville, Florida rock band that extends them beyond being a mere radio single generator from the mid-2000s. The best thing about bringing this song, my favorite of their entire discography, is that it wasn’t one of the three singles released off of this, their fourth record. The song has such a high-school heartbreak feel that pins the band exactly in that pop-punk arena between blink 182 and A Simple Plan, as they are most often described. Some may say that Yellowcard resides in the realm of guilty pleasures but I’m willing to throw them on this pretty metal-filled playlist as a sort of reprieve from the static.
“And I can feel you breathing And it’s keeping me awake Can you feel it beating? My heart’s sinking like a weight I can feel you breathing It’s keeping me awake Could you stop my heart? It’s always beating Sinking like a weight”
Track #7: POORSTACY – Hills Have Eyes – Hills Have Eyes (2020)
This is definitely a recommendation from Spotify that got this Palm Beach, Florida artist on my radar but the multi faceted style of POORSTACY is what made me do a deeper dive on his stuff. Classified in multiple genres, emo rap, post-punk, punk rock, punk rap and dance-punk, one of these aspects of his work really clicked with me and I found myself really vibing to the sounds he’s producing. This track is a really solid introduction to this artist who took his name from Lords Of Dogtown skateboarder Stacy Peralta who, according to POORSTACY, was not shown a lot of attention at the start, but he ended up being one of the biggest legends in skateboarding. With this song, he digs into the debauchery of Hollywood and California to the point of excess.
“People act strange in the Hollywood hills Living in fame, getting high on pills High price tag on a lotta cheap thrills Brand new bag, red bottom high heels High-waist shorts, can you show me how it feels? Cocaine, caviar, champagne, X pills Soft kisses on your neck, you like it when I give you chills Hollywood kills”
Let’s get some electro vibes back into this heavier playlist filled here and there with oddities. There isn’t a lot of information I can find on the producer of some really great grooves in this artist, So Below, but I have found that they are from Auckland, New Zealand and were very nice in reaching out to me on Instagram when I posted it. I think they were taken aback by this being the song that I posted as it is about crushing so intensely for someone who is already in a relationship and feeling the hurt of rejection that’s as painful as cutting “straight through the bone.” I think it was the darkness of the main thread in this song that spoke to me most but I’m weird like that.
“You think it’s easy for me Collapsing under my dreams Could shake it off but you don’t And it cuts straight through the bone Am I supposed to believe You’d ever give it up for me? It’s worse each time I let go And it cuts straight through the bone”
When I heard this song for the first time, I was already a pretty big fan of the work of Oli Sykes and Bring Me The Horizon, as evident from a track already appearing on one of my playlists but this was my introduction to the incredible sounds of YONAKA. Making their way from Brighton, East Sussex, the vocals of Theresa Jarvis hooked in my ear immediately and I did a deep dive on them very quickly but it was this ambient and quiet track that started the drive to listen to everything they’ve done. The beats and melody of this song make it one of my favorite collaborative pieces from Bring Me The Horizon and is my favorite piece off of this EP in particular. To be honest, this record in particular is one for the superfans as many of the tracks are close to ten minutes or over, except this one.
“Moments we shared I only ever see them in my nightmares Don’t wanna wake up We existed You gave me reason for our living You set me on fire You set me on fire”
It’s another return as a Brit rock band I’ve really been taken by gets their second entry on the playlists, another showcasing of the killer vocals from lead singer and guitarist Conor Mason. The song was the first single off of their second album, a record that started to explore the band’s sound a bit more. The song seems to explore the strvie versus drive mentality when it comes to going with the grain of modern society or rising above it but beyond that the melody is great and I really love that chorus. Nothing But Thieves is a definite new favorite and I have so many songs across their four albums on my liked songs list.
“People piss you off Some you say you love Those you call a friend Walking through a crowd Then you look around See there’s no one left”
What a great way to add one of my current favorite rock bands, with their first record and what I think is the first song of theirs I ever heard, which is fitting as it was the debut single. There’s so much to this song beyond it introducing us to a loud duo that kicks thorough ass on this record and every subsequent one. The alternate cut of the music video is really cool as it comes from the mind of the creator of Superjail, a weird acid trip of a cartoon on Adult Swim. This was the beginning of a real love affair with what I think is one of the best new bands of the 2010s.
“You made a fool out of me and took the skin off my back running So don’t breathe when I talk, ’cause you haven’t been spoken to I’ve got a gun for a mouth and a bullet with your name on it But a trigger for a heart bleeding blood from an empty pocket”
I feel like it’s been a really long time since I brought something that defines the term classic and I decided to reach back to one of the pillars of metal through the ages and evolutions. Fronted by possibly the hardest working frontmen STILL working in touring music, Maiden is a band that certainly has reverence with me even if I really only have a few songs in their discography that I actually revisit. That aside, there is no denying the awesomeness of this energy boost of a song that features a beautiful solo from guitarist Adrian Smith. To be cheesy, the solo soars like Bruce Dickinson as the pilot of their tour plane. I regretted that one as soon as I typed it.
“Kill for gain or shoot to maim But we don’t need a reason The Golden Goose is on the loose And never out of season Blackened pride still burns inside This shell of bloody treason Here’s my gun for a barrel of fun For the love of living death”
Track #13: BANNERS – Start A Riot – Banners (2016)
I know this one is a really weird fit based on all of the heavy and eclectic things I’ve put on list thirteen but we might as well manage to go out on something a little bit chill for the last two. Hailing from the birthplace of The Beatles, Liverpool, England, Michael Joseph Nelson, the singular man known as BANNERS, relocated to Canada in 2015, just before the release of this EP, so maybe we can claim him as our own. With a beautiful voice and an echoey sound that resonates to the sky, this song speaks of such a loving devotion and the command to go to the ends of the earth to defend that and, when I look at my loved ones, I definitely conquer that idea. In a year of great debuts, like Wolf Alice, Kaleo and weird shit like The Lennon Claypool Delerium, this was one of my favorites for sure.
“I will march down an empty street like a ship into the storm No surrender, no retreat I will tear down every wall Just to keep you warm Just to bring you home I will burn this city down for a diamond in the dust I will keep you safe and sound when there’s no one left to trust Will you take my hand? We can make our stand”
Well, it seems like I’m getting a bit selfish on my way out by putting a song that doesn’t really fit the video on the list but is a comfort song from a comfort album that I put on in its entirety pretty often. Pixies are a legendary Boston, Massachusets band that serves as the backbone of inspiration for so many other band that I listen to. This song in particular, off of their second studio album, was one of the two singles released, the other being the arguably more radio-friendly, Here Comes Your Man. I love that Black Francis is digging into an environmental stance in this song, a song device he rarely if ever again employs and the piece after the solo is one of my favorite moments of their entire discography. Doolittle is special to me but if it wasn’t for me finding this song for myself, the lifelong love affair never would’ve started.
“If Man is five, if Man is five If Man is five, then the Devil is six Then the Devil is six, then the Devil is six The Devil is six, and if the Devil is six Then God is seven! Then God is seven! Then God is seven!”
It’s a big episode this week as I was able to squeeze in another hotly anticipated new film alongside Jeff Nichols’s return after an eight-year absence with The Bikeriders, as I got to check out the new Oz Perkins flick, Longlegs, featuring, the GOAT, Nic Cage. There is some solid legacy enjoyment to talk about with the new Beverly Hills Cop movie, Fiala and Franz are back with their third film to continue their special brand of bleak and Chloe has some thoughts on the latest polarizing indie horror, In A Violent Nature. All this plus me digging into Chloe’s cinematic trauma of watching Skinamarink on Shudder!
Another big anticipated 2024 horror film hit theaters and both Chloe and I have our thoughts on it as Lupita N’yongo and Joseph Quinn find themselves in a new Quiet Place this week. I also have a couple of Criterion viewings to mention, a classic one in a brand new 4K as well as an Assayas film I had never seen before. I have big praise for the latest season of The Bear, Andrew McCarty’s film therapy really worked for me and we both give some love to an under-talked-about Bong Joon Ho film. All this and more on this new episode!
I have arrived at the dozen mark of playlists on my new journey and, aside from some melodic metal with beautiful vocals out of the Netherlands, I have none of those harsh guttural screams that can sometimes dispel the vibe. I have not one but two instrumental tracks on this, by two artists who specialize in mood setting grooves as well as four of my favorite current songwriters in Charli xcx, Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and the Söderberg sisters. I also get in real touch with my teens and early twenties with tracks that remind us of the Family Values tour and my goth times. I’m really proud of this list, enjoy!
Charli may be celebrating the release of her new album brat right now but this was the record that really got me interested in her work. Yes, I knew that she was the backing vocals on Iggy Azalea’s Fancy but the whole record took me by complete surprise and I had to pick it up on vinyl. When the song was being created, it was noted that it would be a great song for Halsey to perform but Charli was adamant that the song was hers and hers alone. I’m glad she made that choice because it is a phenomenal track off of an album full of them.
“Something ’bout the way you Hold my body tight even on my lowest nights Locked down by my side Even when I’m borderline Yeah, I don’t even know why I push you away It’s something ’bout the way you”
Thanks to my friend Drex, I was put on the path of Tycho, also known as Scott Hansen, a dance and electronic musician from Sacramento, California. Always chill vibes and a fantastic drive, Tycho is an artist I’ll put on for long drives or good smoke sessions on the patio, the perfect summer music in my opinion. Awake was the record that piqued my interest when I heard it and this is a buried little track that I think needs some good exposure, even ten years later.
This one is a little embarrassing for a guy who loves metal like I do because this Waddinxveen, South Holland, Netherlands band has been around since 1996 and I only started listening when Spotify suggested the lead single off of their 2023 record. Needless to say, I totally devoured the whole thing immediately and now it is one of my most listened-to new albums in 2024 without a doubt. No doubt, it is destined to be part of my Wrapped at the end of the year but the beauty of the melodic vocals and crashing guitars and drums in this track makes it a great choice for their first appearance on the playlist. There will be more.
“Let me feel it ’cause I don’t know, I can’t see All I feel’s I’m breaking up Oh, can’t you see it’s taking over, over me? Can’t you see? Yeah, you want me to fight it, and you want me to let go Yeah, you tell me to fight it, and you damn me if I don’t So let me bleed it out and purge me, I can’t see No, I can’t see, no, I can’t see”
I think it was through either the Jackass show or movie or the CKY videos but I was put on the path of how kick-ass this Germantown, Maryland is but it wasn’t until this single came onto my Spotify recommended list a few years back that I really started paying attention. This is undoubtedly a total drive song that keeps your head bopping throughout and it is born from being a road trippin’ song about a guy picking up a mysterious hitchhiker, something vocals, rhythm guitar and keyboard player Neil Fallon describes on a really solid commentary video that’s worth checking out on YouTube.
““Firebirds! Energy weapons! Both these things are interesting to me I don’t care how you get them I need them both, and I need them urgently””
My music god and favorite singer of all time makes his second appearance as the Mike Patton fronted Faith No More’s second single off of their sixth record is now a part of my playlists. It was the first album to feature the band’s current guitarist Jon Hudson, and was their last studio album before their eleven-year hiatus from 1998 to 2009. For me, this song feels like an early indicator of the style Patton would bring to his new band, Tomahawk, in 1999, although their debut record wouldn’t land until 2001. I really love that all the marketing and artwork around the single are fashioned like the Alfred Hitchcock film, Vertigo. Patton’s love and reverence for film is something I fanboy out for big time.
“Like a snake between two stones It itches in your bones Take a deep breath and swallow Your sorrow Tomorrow”
If there was a band that was at the top of the British indie rock sound of the mid 2000s, it was defintiely these guys, which is weird for me because I didn’t get into them until way later. For me, it wasn’t until the Guitar Hero and Rock Band era, where this song was a king for sure, but it was also before their signature sound would change for the AM record. This sound has since changed again but it is really awesome to go back to the style that put them on the map, for a fast and drive bop that really makes you want to dance or just shake your limbs around like a Muppet.
“Brian, top marks for not trying So kind of you to bless us with your effortlessness We’re grateful and so strangely comforted And I wonder, are you putting us under? ‘Cause we can’t take our eyes off the t-shirt and ties combination Well, see you later, innovator”
Here is a track that brings me back to the mammoth tour at the cusp and start of the millennium, which was the Family Values tour and one that even produced a record. I had a soft spot for this Los Angeles band, someone I always saw as the more electronic side of nu-metal that came through with Deftones, Korn and Limp Bizkit, something that vocalist Jay Gordon and guitarists Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck, the founding members of the group, call “death pop” which is sort of fitting. There is a real beauty to this, the first single off of their sophomore record and one that definitely got a lot of play on my CD player at the time. Remember those? It was also one of the over five hundred CDs that got stolen from my first apartment circa 2001. Yeah, it still hurts.
“And your pixel army can’t save you now My finger’s on the kill switch I remember I used to compose your dreams Control your dreams And don’t be afraid to expose yourself Before I shut you down You’ve made some changes Since the virus caught you sleeping”
The harmonies created by Svedmyra, Stockholm, Sweden-born sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg are of a quality that you don’t see very often and were an instant lure to a music lover like myself. I was obsessed when I heard their song Rebel Heart for the first time, a song that will most likely end up on a playlist here, but it was this track and the subsequent performance I saw on The Late Show and the Spotify Studio sessions that really caught my ear and I feel like I listened to Ruins on a loop for a couple weeks afterwards. The song was the second single off the album and is about big dreams that fell unrealized. Such a beautiful four minutes of music.
“Stood out on that beach in Chicago Woke up next to you on Silver Lake Avenue Wherever I went I always knew, always knew Till I didn’t know”
This playlist is already a bit of an anomaly as I have not one but two instrumental tracks on it. Actually, I’m a little surprised that nothing off of a movie score has made it here yet but this track from Eau Claire, Wisconsin artist Lucy In Disguise kind of forms its own chill landscape in your mind, which is fitting as they are categorized as future synth and chillwave. This song feels like a cool and breezy odyssey but it really hits its stride from about a minute thirty to forty five on and becomes a groove that you want to night drive to and feel the wind course over you. Such a damn good track and one I wouldn’t have known unless I got into Le Matos and their score for the Canadian sci-fi action flick, Turbo Kid.
To say that I liked or enjoyed Ville Vallo and his Helsinki, Finland gothic rock ban would be a massive understatement. The reality is that when I first heard their songs on Bam Margera’s CKY video, predating his Jackass work, I was so hooked, got the CDs, got the merch and was a die-hard H.I.M. guy through and through. This track is so beautiful in its pitch-black romance but encompasses exactly the sound that Ville loves to produce. Love, death, lust and need are all wrapped in a dark cloud of guitars and piano keys. It’s simply just awesome.
“This world is a cruel place And we’re here only to lose So, before life tears us apart Let death bless me with you”
The legendary group of Canadian minstrels out of Montreal, Quebec make their return to the playlist with a song that is probably one of their most widely known. The final single off of their debut album, a record that released a whopping five singles, this song is typically the one that they close all of their shows with and just the “sing to the sky” atmosphere of it all, I totally get it. The lyrics themselves describe the discontentment that comes with growing older, but also how we can overcome this ennui and live more of a laissez-faire attitude to deflate that crushing feeling. Being from Quebec, I thought using French terms would be appropriate.
“Children, wake up Hold your mistake up Before they turn the summer into dust If the children don’t grow up Our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up We’re just a million little gods causing rain storms Turning every good thing to rust I guess we’ll just have to adjust”
Two of my absolute favorites on the same track? Yes, please! Sadly, I’m barring them both from appearing on any playlist for the following few months but this son is so worth it, a showing of two of the greatest living songwriters coming together for a swirly and poignant track about the immediate love connection between two individuals. Going through this song and then the album again for the hundredth time afterward, I was easily reminded again that this might be my favorite of Taylor’s work. The difficult choice was whether to put the first version of the song on the playlist or to put the “More Lana” version on instead. It was a hard decision but I opted for the first one but both are insanely good.
“And it’s like snow at the beach Weird, but fuckin’ beautiful Flying in a dream Stars by the pocketful You wanting me Tonight feels impossible But it’s comin’ down No sound, it’s all around”
Everytime I think of this band these days, I have no choice but to yell out “Seven dollars of Hoobastank” which is a line that Jason Mantzoukas’s character Raffi, or Brollo El Comyado, on the comedy series, The League. That was a plug to a great series but I was actually on the Hooba train since the beginning and this might be the heaviest song that they produced. Great energy and a good drive, this is a song that will immediately get you grooving in my opinion. The track was the first song released off of the mega popular The Reason record and, unfortunately features back up vocals from the rightfully disgraced band Lost Prophets but it’s still a damn good song that holds up today.
“I may never know the answer To this endless mystery Where should I go? What should I do? I don’t understand what you want from me”
Being a huge fan of Norwood, Ontario band Three Days Grace since the first angle, I would follow establishing lead singer Adam Gontier to any project he does and when Spotify suggested this supergroup, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I loved this first track immediately and the darkness of it and pure Gontier flare and style on the track are exactly why. Saint Asonia is comprised of Gontier, his brother Cale on bass, Staind’s guitarist Mike Mishok and drummer Cody Watkins and their EP is one of my favorites in the last five years, all launched by this track. The only issue with it is now I’m waiting for a full album to be released as their page has gone silent with those updates for a long time now.
“It’s time to take a stand and save our lives Rise before we fall There’s no more second chance it’s do or die Rise above it all”
I go one-on-one with you, the audience, this week as I give my thoughts on a new and the first June Squibb-led revenge “thriller”, Russell Crowe doubles down on his Exorcist era and I also got the first piece watched of the new Alexandre Dumas adaptations. Jeff Nichols’s debut film makes the upgrade to Blu-ray, Jake Gyllenhaal goes head to head with his brother-in-law in a new AppleTV+ series and Jared Keeso out Canadians himself in the third season of his Letterkenny spin-off. All this and more in this new episode!
Steve Stebbing 