Last week I got to talk to one of my favorite authors and music critics, Amanda Petrusich and why we love certain songs. I don’t think we came to any scientific conclusions but we agreed that some songs just grab you and won’t let you go. Every week we listen to tons and tons of music here at 88Nine, these are 5 songs that grabbed us and won’t let us go.
SBTRKT (ft. Ezra Koenig)- “New Dorp. New York.”
New Dorp. New York is a stumble around New York City during the deepest part of the night. It starts in the club. Thumping. Talking to a dancing partner. Feeling good. And then it falls out into the alley. Things are slowing down. Its vision moves to a steamed up fisheye lens. Someone is talking, but its not quite clear what it is saying. Something about gargoyles? Everything gets kind of scary for a second. It ducks into the next club. Goes to the basement. There is a bathroom. It looks into a mirror and hears the muffled bass coming from the floor above its head. It remembers why it was here in the first place. It goes upstairs. One more shot. Fade out.
SBTRKT’s new album, Wonder Where We Land, will be out on September 23 rd.
Listen if you like: really innovative beat patterns, Vampire Weekend vocals, cool sh*t
My Brightest Diamond- “Pressure”
Many musicians, at one point, were in high school marching band. It’s a rite of passage. Its where many musician learn basic techniques and music theory, weather they wanted to practice it or not. After high school, musicians tend to run away from that band geek identity, and the marching band sound that is tied to it. But Shara Worden has turned around and embraced the style. She has written a song that a high school marching band could play and sound undeniably cool. Pay attention band directors.
My Brightest Diamond’s new album, This Is My Hand, will be out on September 16 th.
Listen if you like: Marching Bands, Sufjan Stevens, tons of instruments
Aunts- “Stitches”
I think that a lot of the enjoyment I get out of listening to music comes from feeling empathy. Understanding someone. And I feel especially empathetic when an artist has a terrible voice. Because that’s something I can relate to. But instead of being like me, they had the courage to say what they wanted to say despite how it sounds. They aren’t singing because they are showing off a beautiful voice, they are singing because they have to express something inside them that is real, even if it's gonna make them sound bad. Even if it's going to make them vulnerable. Even if it might hurt them. And that, is something I can empathize with.
So stick with me through this song. It’s weird, I know. But it’s short, and it’s a really great song.
Aunts third EP titled Third EP was released via Bandcamp on July 21 st.
Listen if you like: Ezra Furman, Bright Eyes, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, The Unicorns
Amanda Petrusich’s pick: Sharon Van Etten- “Tarifa”
Amanda Petrusich is a music critic, Pitchfork contributor, and author. Her most recent book, Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records, was released in early July and I fell in love with it. I felt that I needed to talk to her about it. So I e-mailed her. And she e-mailed me back. And we talked. You can hear the full conversation here. We talked a lot about sad songs and why we love them. Naturally, she gave me a heartbreaker.
Sharon Van Etten’s new album, Are We There, is out now.
Listen if you like: sad songs, The Antlers, Cat Power
Chance the Rapper & The Social Experiment ( feat. Wyclef Jean, Jessie Ware, Elle Varner, Francis and the Lights, the O’my’s, Peter Cottontail, Eryn Allen Kane, and Donnie Trumpet)- “Wonderful Everyday- Arthur”
Chance the Rapper just released a cover of the theme song to 90’s, PBS, childrens show Arthur.
This is not just a 90’s kid being nostalgic about being a 90’s kid. It makes sense for Chance the Rapper to cover this theme song. For nostalgia, he could have covered Pokemon, Spongebob, or Rugrats, but he covered Arthur. Publicly Broadcasted, racially diverse, positive Arthur. That’s Chance. He was raised in public schools, in a diverse community, and has made his rise making positive music. Everyday can be wonderful. Everyone has an original point of view. Believe in yourself, for that’s the place to start. This song represents everything that Chance stands for, this is his theme song. This is our theme song.
I do not think that this is part of a larger release.
Listen if you like: The voice of a generation, the best rapper out there right now, feeling great