Funnest Summer Ever: Jenny Lewis, Nourished by Time, Feeble Little Horse + more
School's Out (emotionally)
Once Memorial Day hits and the sun stays out past dinnertime it feels like time begins to speed up. It feels like when you put your Sims to bed and the clock twists around, making the hours pass until morning in a blink. It’s all been good, a blurry mirage of sunsets into sunrises out dancing and at shows. There’s a sort of creeping melancholy that comes into the brief moments of stillness in seasons like these, though, the moments where the sun in shining outside and it feels essential to make every moment stretch into infinity while everything is as good as it can ever possibly get. I haven’t had much time to sit with that feeling, which is for the best because nothing good comes from it and all there is to do is continue taking the sun soaked hours as they come. This is all to say, guys let’s make this the funnest summer in world history if we get everyone on board we can make it happen.
Aunt Jenny
A few months ago I looked around at the circle of middle aged people in the music industry I see out with at shows and realized they’re almost entirely men. I work with plenty of incredible women on a professional level but when it comes to the people I know socially, the ones out drinking one too many Miller High Lifes on weeknights and lamenting about failed relationships, there’s a marked absence in my life. I’ve spent some time wondering where the women are. Do they grow out of the rowdy fun I’ve built my life around? Are they occupied with responsibilities bigger than making it to the next set from tomorrow’s greatest band? Are they standing somewhere in the same rooms but not get pulled in by the magnetism of a 25 year our girl the way men of any age, no matter how innocently, always will? No matter what it is, I’m always looking for ways to bridge the gap between who I am and who I can see myself evolving into and hearing Jenny Lewis sing “My 40s are kicking my ass” on “Puppy and A Truck” fills me with a wave of comfort. It feels like such a rare gift to have someone with such a clever outlook pen a sort of encyclopedia for growing up and into new selves throughout decades. Jenny’s always honest songwriting and plainspoken ability to convey the ever shifting list of joys in life is at it's best here, and along with an often 70s country style production feels like reaching forward into a life that I wrap my head around filled with more heartbreaks, hard lessons, and ice cold Modelos.
Nourished by Music
I’ve lamented here before how rare it is to find music in the experimental practice that actually experiments and Nourished by Time’s Erotic Probiotic too is a perfect example of something that finds a way to sound completely new. Producer Marcus Brown chops up and distorts a palette of familiar sounds and samples and stitches them into a dream like quilt that at once feels entirely like home and fresh at once. The way he is able to launch into a chorus like “Shed That Fear” that feels like it could be pulled from a Reading Rainbow credits secret into “Daddy,” a haunting dance track that shifts directions with every chapter, is refreshing and bright. One of my favorite listens in some time. Thanks to my friend Alex for the “Maddie-Core” rec.
The Tiniest Smallest Horse
Feeble Little Horse have been a hot topic of conversation since Saddle Creek signed the band and reissued their 2021 debut album last fall. Girl wish Fish jumps around playful and noisy bite sized songs in a way that feels both true to the band’s DIY ethos and rising status as one of the leaders of the growing sound. Singsong vocals on songs like “Freak” (which very charmingly taunts at a sort of cheerleader/football player dynamic to open the record) float above distorted guitars for a laidback but heavily textured sonic world that’s as inviting as it is fascinating.
And Don’t Forget About
The world of British post-punk experimentalists generously keeps us well fed across the pond and Squid is one of my favorites in the scene. Last year I saw them right around the time they released a vinyl exclusive covers album for Rough Trade that included, unexpectedly, a Steve Reich track, and it became clear that for as remarkable as their debut album was right out of the gate there’s only room for them to keep getting better as they embrace abstraction alongside their snarling hooks. O Monolith not only finds the band leaning into their more left field influences but also incorporating more spirited and melodic riffs than ever before.
Fellow favorite releases from the past few weeks include the striking collection of ballads from Gia Margaret, the latest from the prolific RXKNephew and the phenomenal Matador debut from the always epic Water From Your Eyes!
There’s so much more to say but I need to go make a sandwich and hit another live music double header so TTFN!