#whoever said they have big divorced energy how does it feel to be a genius

[kellymvrietran]

"Oh, so of course we're going to go and fetch Hober Mallow, our future's already been dictated!"

[grimelords]

My September playlist is finished and it’s complete from A (ABBA) to B (bossa nova and The Big Bopper), so let’s get into it, 4 hours of hits.

Warpless Run - Tera Melos Tera Melos have always been the world’s most out of control band but it seems like they somehow pushed themselves to a whole new level on this song. I really love the middle section that just ties itself in knots over and over and over before the big release at the end. Dark Matter - Jlin and Zora Jones I love collaborations like this where you can try to pick who’s responsible for each part, and this is a great example because it feels like they literally split the song down the middle and Jlin’s manic beats give way to a relaxed hip hop vibe near the end that still compliments the ridiculous ululating vocal sample phenomenally. Kites - Bicep I’ve never been one for a lot of just straight up house but Just by Bicep is such a good song that I thought I would give their album a go and I was not disappointed. It’s so good front to back and this song is a highlight. The snare rushes are what really put it over the top. Connect - Drake I admit that I thought of this song because that vine of the AIs learning to walk while this song plays popped into my head randomly while I was driving one day and I nearly died laughing. The beauty of Drake is that he can really make you relate and feel something deep with incredibly bogus lines like ‘She just wanna run over my feelings like she drinking and driving an 18 wheeler, and I’ll allow her. Talk about pussy power’. This song is chock-full of Drake-ism like ‘you can be whoever you want, even yourself’ and I absolutely fall for it every time, eyes closed just swangin. Mayday - Thingy Listening to the new Tera Melos I thought 'man this sounds like Pinback!’ and it turns out it’s because Rob Crowe guests on a song and I felt like a genius. I’ve never been massive on Pinback but I am however fanatical about this Pinback side project Thingy that is an album I cannot recommend enough. It is world class songwriting in mostly sub-2 minute songs that is just incredible. Switch Lanes - Tkay Maidza The first of two songs on this list that feature a thumb piano heavily. Tkay Maidza is so great and I am holding my breath waiting for her to a make a song this good again. Ketchup Sandwich - Thingy Another Thingy song, this one about having 0 money. I love the two verses at once right from the start and how the background vocals move to the front at the end, I love the intro section where he says 'living on top ramen and popcorn’ where there’s almost not enough room for it. Durag vs. Headband (feat. Big Body Bes) - Action Bronson This is my favourite Action Bronson song in a while. He’s always been good at off the wall imagery but there’s some absolute pearlers in this. 'in the club with a condom on, all Under Armour on’ straight into the hook of 'when I die, make sure you spread my blood on a BMW’. Also, 'albanian style, I want to die by machine gun’. It’s pure power. Wildest Moments - Jessie Ware Can you believe this song came out like a year BEFORE Royals? the proto-Royals? I  really love this song and this whole album is just beautiful right through, but I feel like this  song especially should have been an absolute worldwide hit. FF Bada - Battles Every morning I wake up and sign a document certifying that Battles are the best band in the world and then I mail it directly to God and he throws it straight in the bin. The way every element of this song build and binds together in the climax before pulling right back down to the one little beepy guitar line and building up from there is so magical. Also the very last part of where it sounds like he is somehow playing guitar backwards just sounds so good I don’t even care how he’s doing it. Just Waitin’ - John Prine A song to watch the grass grow. John Prine’s been making country music for about a million years and hes gotten very good at it in that time. This is a perfect old fashioned country song about sitting quietly and watching the entirety of life pass you by while you think about your wife. Kanye West (feat Wyclef Jean) - Young Thug I cannot believe how good the sound collage chorus of this song is that’s three Young Thug’s saying wet wet wamp wamp wamp. It is downright hypnotizing. And it starts tomake sense when Wyclef says 'dolphins hear the signal’. Like Wolves On The Fold - Colin Stetson The clunk at about a minute in when this song really shifts into gear is so satisfying. It’s hard to talk about Colin Stetson’s music specifically because you have to talk about groans and clunks and honks very earnestly, but god this song has got some good clunks and groans and honks in it. And Still They Move/With The Dark Hug Of Time - Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld Another selection that’s on my rapidly growing playlist of music for a hypothetical RTS game. In two parts, I love how this song goes from an ambient sea in And Still They Move where the parts move together almost indistinguishably and then With The Dark Hug Of Time restates the lulling theme before immediately separating out as wide as possible. The saxophone moved to earthshaking bass and the violin disappears into the stratosphere. ilanders - Autechre Autechre good. It’s hard to explain but this song is literally just waves of dark energy crashing over each other and it sounds amazing. Hard Times - Gillian Welch I couple of years ago I made a playlist of the songs that I sing to myself when I’m at work or whatever and realised that a good 80% of them had 'hard times’ or 'blues’ or both in the title (Hard Times Killing Floor Blues) and this was one of them. A nice song promising that things will get better. The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness - The National Someone had a tweet a couple of weeks ago that was like 'The guy from The National sounds like he’s perpetually getting divorced’ and they’re right. Their new album didn’t really click with me like their others have, but this song really sticks with me, especially the little guitar bit which feels so out of place in a National sound but sounds so good. OMG (feat. will.i.am) - Usher Honey got some boobies like wow, oh wow. This song is an underappreciated classic, even if will.i.am does deliver the worst verse in history on it. Harambe - Young Thug This song deserves the grammy for best vocal performance because Thugger is rapping like he is chained up in a dungeon and transforming into a werewolf. Youme & Meyou - Einsturzende Neubauten I’ve never really listened to Einsturzende Neubauten, and I’m scared to because they seem like one of those bands that people devote their entire lives to and get tattoos of and I don’t know if I have time for that. I found this song just because some guy on twitter said 'this is a great song’ and what’s better than contextless music? It is a great song, too. It’s forboding and sad and possibly makes more sense in German. The perfect combo. Marilyn (feat. Micachu) - Mount Kimbie The second thumb piano song on this list. The new Mount Kimbie is so great, and they’ve somehow evolved their sound again to the point of sounding like a full band somehow. It’s amazing and I love this song. I’ve been singing it to myself all month and as an added bonus I didn’t realise for a while that Micachu is the very same Mica Levi that wrote the amazing soundtrack to Jackie that got nominated for an oscar last year. On Hold (Jamie xx Remix) - The xx I love Jamie xx’s thing of remixing xx songs into dancefloor hits, and when you do it to a song that was already as danceable as as On Hold the results are really something special. 6 In The Morning - Wiley The best grime beats have a maximum of maybe 6 melody notes in them. That’s the secret to grime, you just find a little triad and hammer is as hard as you can for 3 minutes while Wiley assures you that it’s 6 in the bloodclart morning and he’s not having it. Fear And Trembling - Gang Of Youths As much as a love Gang Of Youths, it’s never a good idea to defend yourself from accusations of pretentiousness in a song that only a couple of lines ago was quoting Macbeth but that’s kind of what I love about them. They unashamedly believe in what they’re doing, and that it’s incredibly important, and if you can get into it’s very easy to get swept away with them and believe it too. Earth Intruders - Bjork I woke up one morning this month with this Bjork song I hadn’t heard in a decade stuck in my head and upon listening again I remembered why I liked it so much: it ends with a full minute of foghorn field recordings. What a song. Believe Me Natalie - The Killers It’s crazy that I can listen to an album like Hot Fuss probably a million times in my life and still hear something new. This song really struck me and I listened to it three times over and it was like I was hearing it for the first time again. The drums are phenomenal, the horns and the way it builds and builds and then just stays at a fever pitch for most of the song. Amazing. Preachin’ Blues - Son House I love the way Son House plays guitar like he’s viciously tearing it apart looking for gold hidden inside, and I love the idea of this song. Becoming a preacher for the sole purpose of mooching off the pope is absolutely the life for me. Corcovado - Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto and Astrid Gilberto This is the start of my big Bossa Nova obsession this month that mostly centred on Sergio Mendes but this is a perfect place to start. Bossa Nova is a great genre because it’s almost equal parts very cool and very funny because it’s so 60s cool. The Girl From Ipanema - Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto and Astrid Gilberto That idea is probably best exemplified in Bossa Nova’s biggest hit, The Girl From Ipanema. This song was the definition of a smash hit and it’s very funny to imagine Americans absolutely losing their shit over such a nice, relaxed song. I mean, I get it. I’ve been singing it all month, but still. Constant Rain - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 I can’t recommend this album, Equinox, enough. This song is another good example of the incongruous comedy of bossa nova, singing about endless pain in such a beautiful, laid back 'sha be shoo va’ way. I love this song and it’s probably the song on this list I’ve listened to the most this month. I just cannot get enough of that sweet sweet sound. Canto de Ossanha - Toquinho I found this song randomly via spotify radio and the playing shocked me. Of course when I looked him up it turned out Toquinho is a massive star in latin america and it makes sense that he plays like a maniac, I’ve just never heard of him before. This is niche but the voicing in this is so nice, it’s just perfect. Ring, Ring (Swedish Version) - ABBA I played this assuming it was the English version and I thought I was having a stroke. I almost prefer this version now though, it’s mixed a lot louder for some reason and so the prechorus where it’s just the drums and vocals sounds phenomenal. Ring Ring, bara du slog en signal. Mamma Mia - ABBA The instrumentation in this is so amazing. From the offbeat xylophone to the big 70s guitar that just hangs around in the background, to the strings doing the accents. The accapella with xylophone chorus. Amazing. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) - ABBA A great song about having a bad case of the night hornys. I love the duelling disco basslines of the bass and synth in the breakdown. I love the little ominous intro before it hooks into that great synth riff. Particle - Hundred Waters This song feels like if it was anyone but Nicole Miglis singing it would be a massive straight-ahead EDM hit but instead it’s this delicate, layered complex thing that I can’t get enough of. Chantilly Lace - The Big Bopper I listened to a whole Big Bopper compilation and no joke he says 'HELLO BAAAABBY’ or 'YOU KNOW WHAT I LIKE’ on like 80% of his songs so now I’ve started saying it too. This song is so dumb but I can’t stop listening to it. Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor - The Big Bopper Now THIS song is dumb. This song is like the 50s version of those Gangnam Style Call Of Duty In Minecraft?? videos and it’s slightly comforting to know that things have always been like this. Purple People Eater, Witch Doctor, Johnny B Goode, chipmunks vocals, this song has it all and I’m just gonna say it: The Big Bopper deserved to die for making a song like this. Rodent - Burial Hey Burial’s making bangers again. After the last single was such a snooze I love this song, it’s so refreshing to hear him doing upbeat Archangel type things again, as much as I love his more ambient stuff like Paradise Circus. You Said (feat. Quavo) - Young Thug God I love this song about holding someone accountable for all the wild shit they said while sexting. Here’s a list of everything I love about this song 1) the incredible harpsichord/guitar melody 2) the way he says 'freaky deaky!’ right at the start 3) you said you gone kiss from my neck to my chest to my navel then dick and nuts 4) I bite on that butt and I suck on those toes and her soul go out of here 5) how insanely long this horny song is because of the great Quavo verse that go added late 6) the way he saws 'make her squirt on that couch ew!’ 7) the way he says 'raw dog’ 8) how no joke romantic this song is 9) how unashamedly horny this song is, god. Wichita Lineman - Kool & The Gang Did you know that before Kool & The Gang were disco funk superstars they were a very cool jazz band who released this album called Live At The Sex Machine and for some reason did a very beautiful cover of Wichita Lineman. Another interesting piece of trivia is that i’m the woman on this recording who just screams at the top of her lungs as soon as the melody comes in. Open Sesame (Original 12" Extended Version) - Kool & The Gang This song has already been on a playlist but I truly cannot get over it. What an absolute jam of a lifetime. This song sounds like the intro to a cartoon called Get Down With The Genie except the intro goes for 9 minutes so the actual episode is only 7 seconds long. Hatshepsut - Jlin Imagine if marching bands were good. That’s the fantastical futuristic world that Jlin imagines for us on Hatshepsut. A far off planet where marching bands are good and there’s one guy in the band whose job it is to just blast on a synth. Watch What Happens - Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 Another bossa nova hit that almost sounds like something from a musical. I love the harmonies in this and the rhythm of the vocals where it feels like the melody’s been adapted to a whole new set of lyrics. I almost wish this didn’t fade out because I love how almost scary that very last part is. Me Or Us - Young Thug Imagine having the gall to sample the guitar from First Day Of My Life and build a whole new song around it. A truly incredible move and a very nice song. Hunter - Have A Nice Life A thought I had while I was listening to this song in an extremely dark mood was that one day I will be 50 and there will still be days when all you can do is lay on the floor and listen to Have A Nice Life. A grim vision but at least I’ll always have songs like this to do it to. Hammond Song - The Roches My girlfriend showed me this song and I love it, I love the close harmonies, the female bass, the theremin sounding guitar in the middle. *italian chef kissing fingers* Gambling - Mia Dyson Mia Dyson sounds like The War On Drugs now and I love it. I love how much space this song has, I think she’s finally given up on trying to make hits and crack the American market or whatever and is instead just making great music again and god bless. Continental Breakfast - Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile Another great song from Kurt & Courtney about how Kurt & Courtney are friends and how it’s nice to have friends. This song is like the audio equivalent of that dumb smile Kurt Vile always has on his face. 1 Thing - Amerie 1 Thing may be the best song ever written. The bareness of the production that’s just drums and guitar stabs most of the time really highlights her voice and the agility of the melody. Also the part where she says 'memories just keep ringing bells’ and then goes 'ding ding ding ding’ in the background is really funny and perfect.

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