From Blown Speakers

Thursday, December 30, 2021
downtown hotspot halfway through this life

2017 - Miya Folick - Give it to Me

I've been embedding the actual music video to songs, if it exists (and if the recording isn't heavily edited), because that seems obvious. And some of them are good and most of them are middling and some of them are bad (which I guess is also obvious), but none of the videos fit the ups and downs (sorry) of the actual song as well as this one's does.

When I hear "it's like a rollercoaster" it always feels like there's an element of surprise there, so maybe this is like a rollercoaster that you've ridden a bunch of times, because it's calm at just the right times and explodes at just the right times.

I think the homer thing or me to say here is something about the Coaster, but I'm talking that gnarly double corkscrew joint at New York, New York in Las Vegas or Colossus at Six Flags.

A note on one of my other favourites of '16: even though "And Breeding" is on the main list down there, "Jj" is my absolute favourite Priests song, which is just kinda how it goes when you decide to do this stupid by year thing. For the record, I used to smoke Golds when I was in the States.

These were close: Priests - Jj, Waxahatchee - Silver, LCD Soundsystem - Oh Baby, St. Vincent - New York

2018 - Boygenius - Me & My Dog

I guess it's not appropriate to say "supergroup" to describe three people that were not that famous in the grand scheme of things (although Phoebe Bridgers is sure properly famous now). And maybe it's also inappropriate because most supergroups are a let down and this this one was anything but.

When they toured, seeing Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, and Phoebe Bridgers all in one evening was incredible, but it was even more incredible that their set together was the easy highlight of the show.

These were close: Hop Along - How Simple, Iceage feat. Sky Ferreira - Pain Killer, Swearin' - Untilted (LA), Pusha T - If You Know You Know, Laura Stevenson - The Mystic and the Master

2019 - Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen

As someone getting on in age, I can fully relate to thinking fondly about all of your old stomping grounds. Even specifically for this video, I wouldn't claim them as mine, but I've had very good times at Pianos and Cake Shop and Union Pool and Baby's Alright. But more importantly, this video and song make me think of Mesa Luna and the Emergency Room and Richard's and the Starfish Room and the Secret Space and the old Red Gate and the Royal Unicorn and a bunch of other places.

More importantly, this song just has this massive hook and also Sharon Van Etten's singing it.

These were close: Laura Stevenson - Living Room, NY, Sturgill Simpson - Make Art, Not Friends, Dreamville, JID, Earthgang, Buddy, Guapdad 4000 - Wells Fargo, Molly Sarlé - Human, Jai Paul - Str8 Outta Mumbai

2020 - Sun June -Karen O

Listen, there was no way I was going to not like a song called "Karen O" that opens with the lines, "I saw Karen O live in a basement in Brooklyn/had a dream that night that you came back to me".

The song itself is soft and beautiful and (maybe actual New Yorkers would disagree, but SJ is from Texas) captures some of those weird things that just seem to happen on the regular in NYC. And I can picture Laura Colwell stumbling up the steps of a brownstone at 4am.

These were close: Soccer Mommy - Circle the Drain, John K. Samson - Fantasy Baseball at the End of the World, Boldy James feat. Benny the Butcher and the Alchemist - Scrape the Bowl, Phoebe Bridgers - Garden Song

2021 - Lucy Dacus - Thumbs

Lucy Dacus has a knack for writing really heart wrenching songs, but I can't think of many tunes (hers or otherwise) that hit as hard and as beautiful as this one.

You should listen to the episode of Song Exploder about it.

These were close: Laura Stevenson - Continental Divide, Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen - Like I Used To, Faye Webster - I Know I'm Funny haha, Megan Thee Stallion - Thot Shit, Cassandra Jenkins - Michaelangelo

now playing: Hand Habits - Can't Calm Down

posted by Quinn @ 2:20 a.m. Comments:0

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