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1. Margaret Glaspy picks Elliott Smith – “Stupidity Tries”
Every week we ask one artist that we love to tell us about a song that they love. This week we catch up with Margaret Glaspy.
Justin: Margaret Glaspy, what is one song you can’t stop listening to?
Margaret: I can’t stop listening to Elliott Smith records. And often I listen to the song called, “Stupidity Tries” off of his record “Figure 8.”
Justin: And what do you like about Elliott smith?
Margaret: I’m obsessed with Elliott Smith, he’s got the best sense of harmony and his guitar playing is amazing. That record is a little more, I supposed, clean and produced in a certain way.
Justin: How did you get turned on to that record, when was the first time you heard it?
Margaret: My brother’s really into Elliott Smith, so he used to play his songs around the house all the time, and it got me hip to his records and I’ve been obsessed ever since.
- “Stupidity Tries” was released in 2000 on Smith’s album, “Figure 8.”
- Listen if you like: A little more upbeat Elliott Smith, but still sad, it’s Elliott Smith
2. Kevin Abstract – “Empty”
In the bridge of this song Kevin Abstract sings, “I love my mom. I hate my boyfriend”
It’s obvious that he doesn’t hate his boyfriend, he is just struggling with the whole thing right now. Which we all do. And makes the song relatable and likable.
But he does love his mom. And I love that he includes her in this song.
I remember when me and my first girlfriend broke up. I called my mom. Crying, I said, “It’s just so hard.” Sometimes In those times. Only mom helps. And I love that Kevin Abstract includes that in this song.
- Kevin Abstract’s new album, “American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story” does not have an official release date yet.
- Listen if you like: bouncy hip-hop, Raury, Frank Ocean
3. D.R.A.M. feat. Lil Yachty - “Broccoli”
Sometimes there are songs that just pass you up. I listen to hundreds of songs, I used to say that I listened to everything, but somehow songs somehow slip through the cracks. That is what happened with this song with D.R.A.M. and Lil Yachty. I know D.R.A.M., I know Lil Yachty, but I had never heard this song until I saw an article online that said it went certified double platinum.
It’s a banger, it’s super fun, right now it has 38 million plays on YouTube, so maybe you’ve heard it, but it’s new to me, and that’s the best thing about music: it doesn’t matter when it was released, when it’s from, if it’s new to you, it’s new to you.
- “Broccoli” doesn’t seem to be part of a larger project. Just a single.
- Listen if you like: super fun top-40 hip-hop, a turn up song, getting down
3. Adia Victoria picks “Dollars and Cents” by Radiohead
This week we have TWO of our favorite artists telling us about music they love. Here we ask Adia Victoria.
Justin Barney: Adia Victoria, what is one song you can’t stop listening to?
Adia Vicoria: I am a huge Radiohead fan and I’ve gone back and listened to “Amnesiac” and the one song I really can’t stop listening to is “Dollars and Cents.”
Justin Barney: Why that song?
Adia Victoria: I think just getting into the music industry. Monetizing your art can have really harrowing effects on the artist. Unless it’s just your thing. But I feel like it’s a really cautionary tale by Thom Yorke about “Hey man! This stuff is real!” So he’s like my big brother.
Justin Barney: What are some difficulties you’ve had with that?
Adia Victoria: I mean, as a woman people think they can take the liberty of telling you like, “Hey you should look this way. You should wear this or wear that. And I had some issues with a certain person on my team, who is no longer on my team, who thought that they had the right to tell me what to wear on stage. And I was like, “We now have a huge problem between us.” So I think for me any time someone comes and tells me how to appeal to more people I’m just like, “Ya gotta get out of here. You gotta go.”
Justin Barney: Yeah, because we want you. I feel like that never works when someone else comes in and tells you what works, because we want you as an artist and that’s what is going to come through.
Adia Victoria: Right, well you give up so much control when you allow people to start playing those games with you because your sense of value and worth is predicated upon other people approving of you. So that’s a very dangerous game for me personally and I can’t do it. I will refuse. If it comes down to that I will just go back to my regular life in Nashville and “This was fun, okay bye.”
- “Dollars and Cents” was released in 2001 on the album, “Amnesiac.”
- Listen if you like: not-selling out, staying true, Adia Victoria
4. Tennessee Ernie Ford - “Sixteen Tons”
Justin: I’m here with our very own Kat. What is one song you can’t stop listening to.
Kat: I’m gonna talk about sixteen tons and whattya get, another day older, deeper in debt. Tennessee Ernie Ford, “Sixteen Tons”, recorded in 1955.
Justin: And what about this song and why do you like this song?
Kat: Well, it’s a song about the dead of coal miners working in company towns, but I’m thinkin’ of drawing this parallel to modern day student debt.
Justin: I heard this song for the first time yesterday. It was during a movie at the film festival and they had Tennessee Ernie Ford singing this song. I recognized him, he has that resonant deep voice, and I was like, I need to look up this song as soon as I get out of here. It’s weird that you picked this song.
Kat: It’s been one of my favorites for a long time. My brother always sings it karaoke. That’s his go to karaoke song. I can understand owing your soul to the company store as I think about the weight that so many people carry of student debt, which is why I just really want to encourage youth to consider the trades.
Justin: Tennessee Ernie Ford, “Sixteen Tons”.
- “Sixteen Tons” was released in 1955.
- Listen if you like: the deep and resonant voice of Tennessee Ernie Ford, the plight of coal miners in pre-WWII America, the eternal struggle of the working man and woman
5. Alex Izenberg – “To Move On”
I love when songs reference other songs. It plays into this idea that I have that all music is connected.
Like, I was already loving this song by Alex Izenberg right when it started. Simple piano chords. A sound familiar but new. I was grooving. And then this part came. Where he sings, “She started dancing to that fine fine music.” And in my head a nerd light bulb turned on. I’ve heard this part before, but what was it. I listened to it three more times and then it hit me! Velvet Underground, “Rock N Roll.”
And I love that little reference, it’s like a wink. If you don’t get it, the song is still good. But if you if get it, you are on the inside. And now you’re on the inside too. And it makes the song all the better.
- Alex Izenberg's new album, "Harlequin" will be out on November 18th.
- Listen if you like: The Velvet Underground, piano chords, new music with a classic feel
5. Jonwayne – “Wonka”
Justin Barney: I’m here with our intern Eddie, AKA Fast Eddie. Eddie you have been haranguing me about playing one artist and a song in particular. Could you tell me what is the song and artist you can’t stop listening to?
Eddie: First of all the artist is Jonwayne. And the song that I really want to listen to is “Wonka”
Justin Barney: Why Wonka?
Eddie: So basically the little history is that Jonwayne was allegedly retired. He put out an album saying that Jonwayne is retired so he hadn’t talked to anyone in like two years, and then all of a sudden he comes out of nowhere at the beginning of the summer with “Wonka” which is the single. And “Wonka” is basically an ode to the new Jonwayne, and kind of a scathing review of everyone who doubted him. It’s like a diss-track but in like a really powerful way.
Justin Barney: Like an affirmative diss-track?
Eddie: It’s an affirmative diss-track, but in his own manner. He did an interview right before he dipped out on the public and he was like, “I hate rap. I hate hip-hop. I’m not rap. I’m not hip-hop. I’m my own person. I’m a musician and I don’t care about what you want to say about me. I’m here doing this self-gratifying level of music, and if you’re gonna disrespect me for being a hip-hop artist I don’t care because I’m not a hip-hop artist. I’m a musician.”
And I love that.
- Jonwayne’s single “Wonka” is out now.
- Listen if you like: MF DOOM, dogma rap, affirmative diss-tracks
