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1. Beach House picks – “End of the Night” by The Doors
Every week we ask one artist that we love to talk about one song that they love. Here we catch up with Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand, AKA Beach House.
Justin Barney: What is one song that you can’t stop listening to or one song that you recently love?
Alex Scally: I recently re-fell-in-love-with the first Doors record. And I’ve taken a very pro-Doors stance. I loved The Doors when I was young, but I recently realized that they’re completely amazing still.
I think there is this thing that happens with everybody with The Doors where they first hear The Doors and they are turned on by how freaky and exciting and subversive it feels, and then they go back on themselves as they get older and they say, “That’s cheesy poetry. These guys are amateur jazz musicians. This is just a bunch of garbage.”
But then you realize again later that it is really subversive and really strange and it’s not about their musicianship it’s about this crazy energy field that they created. And I actually love the poetry. And it is really freaky, and dark and the recordings are impeccable and they are actually a really cool band.
- “End of the Night” was released on The Doors debut LP, “The Doors” in 1967.
- Listen if you like: subversion, crazy energy fields, trusting your music taste
2. Soul Low- “Hard to Gage”
Milwaukee band Soul Low’s second LP, “Nosebleeds” is an album of transition. They’ve lost the self-deprecation and have gone into self-loathing.
When they released their last album, The Sweet Pea – EP they were in college and it was fun, they were singing about STD’s and it was goofy. It was very clear that they were having fun. There is a weightlessness to it.
In Nosebleeds that weight has set in. This is a hard look at reality. In songs like “Be Like You” where it says, seemingly to a parent, “I’m so sad to find out that I’m really like you.” This is really a song that is coming to terms with burgeoning adulthood. The song Frenimies is similar, it’s a coming-of-age where they were all friends, and everything was great, but now they are getting older and they are getting sick of each other. And that is a theme of the album, we were having fun, but now life isn’t as much fun. I think that that is a brave thing to say, cause it’s the truth. I think that is Art. And I think this is a great piece of Art.
It's kind of a dark album, however, it does end on this sweet little note that is silly, tender, and a reminder that it’s not all bad and life can still be fun.
- Soul Low’s new album, “Nosebleeds” is out now.
- Listen if you like: subtle masturbation references, growing up, Milwaukee music
3. Thee Oh Sees – “Plastic Plant”
Thee Oh Sees are a rock band from San Francisco known for their prodigious output. “A Weird Exits” this current album will the band’s eleventh album in eight years. This is a band that doesn’t slow down, doesn’t look back, doesn’t wait for anyone. And I think that that attitude is showing up in the music. This song is a ripper. There are two drummers on this song. It is rock with a capital R. Psychic sludge acid bath double bass euphoria. Swim in the sludge. This is THEE OH SEES.
- Thee Oh Sees new album, “A Weird Exits” is out now.
- Listen if you like: Ty Segall, psych, TWO DRUMMERS
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. Frank Ocean – “White Ferrari”
Justin Barney: I’m here with Tarik Moody. So Tarik, so this week, on Monday it was like no one talked about anything or listened to anything but Frank Ocean. The whole week has been Frank Ocean week. What do you think about this album?
Tarik: It was, I don’t know how to put it… different. There was expectations. Especially when you follow an album like “Channel Orange” which sonically was much different.
So that kind of threw me at first. So I probably listened to it 20 times over the weekend, completely back to back. It just grew and grew into a musical journal, lyrically and sonically. It felt very personal. I really got into it mentally. He’s an artist. There is a popstar and an artist and Frank Ocean has transcended into an artist.
Justin: Well let’s go with a song that really showcases that. Let’s listen to “White Ferrari”
- Frank Ocean’s new album, Blonde, is out now.
- Listen if you like: the genius of Frank Ocean, low key r&b, journal entires
4. LVL Up – “Pain”
What is the guitar solo in 2016? I think that guitar solos can be cheesy and self-gratifying. I’ve never really been into them, until recently. I’ve found myself loving them. I think it’s because guitars are no longer ubiquitous and guitar solos aren’t the end-all-be-all in music. Nor are they shows of technical perfection. Pay attention to the guitar solos in this song. They are super loose and kind of lazy. It’s a comma, not an exclamation point. They are there to remind you that they are fun and they add to the understanding of the message of the song.
- LVL UP’s new album, “Return to Love” will be out on September 23rd.
- Listen if you like: great guitar solos, classic indie stuff, fuzzy guitars and distortion
5. Julia Jacklin – “Leadlight”
I am a complete and total sucker for this kind of song. It’s sweet and romantic, with a tinge of sadness. It’s the kind of song that could have been in the jukebox forever, and while you were flipping bet Roy Orbison and Patsy Cline you accidentally a wrong number and this song came on, but instead of being upset, you grabbed your partner, held them closer, looked into their eyes, gave them a kiss, and continued to dance.
- Julia Jacklin’s new album, “Don’t Let The Kids Win” will be out on October 7th.
- Listen if you like: Angel Olsen, Jenny Lewis, jukebox joints
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