won't you sleep with me, every night for a week/won't you just let me pretend this is the love i need?

 

I'm going to Los Angeles for the first time in well over a decade next month. 

I fucking hate driving, so it's the last thing I want to do on vacation, which kinda bumps LA way down the list of places to visit, even though it checks off a lot of my other boxes.

But they've expanded the Metro so much and, well, Snocaps is only playing in three cities and Chicago's gonna be too cold. And both Chicago and NYC are going to be a little too expensive to fly in for just the weekend.

Over the last decade or so, the only act I've listened to more than Waxahatchee and Swearin' (plus all the related projects) is Laura Stevenson, so this one and done tour kinda ended up being a no brainer.

I've traveled for a ton of shows--I went to New York the last time the Crutchfield sisters toured together. And I've also traveled a fair amount by myself. But this one came up so quick that it's going to be the first time I've traveled for a show that I'm going to go to by myself.

I can't think of many other bands I'd do this for, but I wasn't going to miss this one. So here we go. 

Album of the week

Armand Hammer & the Alchemist - Mercy

The billy woods record from this spring is incredible, but for whatever reason, I didn't spin it as much as I thought I would. But this one? Even though I've mostly been on a diet of all Snocaps all the time, I've already played this one enough to wear out a cassette tape (if those were still a thing).

These are distinctly Alchemist beats, but they still feel different from the tracks on Haram. Alan's still himself, but he's also so much more dialed into where billy and Elucid are going. These songs are dark and dense and they've got instrumentals to match

Song of the week

The Abramson Singers - Spider on the Moon

After a couple decades of loving her music, I hear Leah's voice multi-tracked and I'm instantaneously all in.

Classic of the week

Waxahatchee - Swan Dive

I was mostly joking when I posted on Instagram that if they play this song at the Snocaps show and I'm not there to hear it, I will die. 

But also, Katie announcing via Substack that they'd be playing some Waxahatchee songs from the first four albums and none from the last 5-years on this tour, was one of the things that pushed me from "should I do this?" to "I should definitely do this."

I truly think the last two Waxahatchee records are the two best records she's ever put out. And all these old songs don't really fit in live with the tracks from Saint Cloud and Tiger's Blood, so it makes sense that they don't crack the setlist anymore. But that doesn't make me love them any less.

Maybe it won't be this one in particular. But maybe it'll be "Coast to Coast" or "Breathless" or "Air" or "Recite Remorse" or "Be Good." And I can't tell you how much I'd love to hear any of those live again.

More heat

Remember Sports - Bug

"Across the Line" sort of gave away that there was a new record coming, but now it's official: we're gonna get a new Remember Sports album the day before Valentine's. 

This one sticks to the pop-punk thing they do best, but it throws a noisy Built to Spill (and also kinda Swearin') solo into the mix.

now playing: Snocaps - Coast