Welcome back to Melissa Recommends Music! After I sent out the last newsletter I realized with some sheepishness that the new Good Morning album I mentioned had already been out for weeks(!); plus, the new Vampire Weekend album came out only a couple days after my dispatch. Imagine my shock — nay, dismay — at not having included those two very important facts in my writeup… needless to say I will be doing my due diligence going forward.
On that note—
This is how I felt last week when I stumbled across “Gates of Heaven / Snake Eyes (again)” on Spotify. Not that I’m THAT familiar with Horse Jumper of Love, but I like them enough to care about keeping up with them.
Anyways, read on for another Latest Roundup, one of my favorites to date!
Track Listing
“Tendency Right Foot Forward” - Kleenex Girl Wonder
“R&B” - MIKE, Tony Seltzer
“Hand On Me” - Nourished by Time
“Pair A Dice” - Discovery Zone
“From a Motel 6 - Remix” - Yo La Tengo
“Space and Time” - Emma Russack
“Turn Around” - Charlie Megira, The Bet She’an Valley Hillbillies
“Lucky Cloud” - Arthur Russell
“Boys” - Amen Dunes
“Silver Thread Golden Needle” - A.G. Cook
This was one of those playlists that came together really easily. I sometimes labor over the track listing, but this one just fell into place. The last time this happened was with LR4, which I also consider to be one of my favorite MRM playlists.
We start off with an upbeat track from Kleenex Girl Wonder, a band primarily driven by prolific songwriter Graham Smith. Next is a song off of MIKE’s latest album, Pinball, featuring production from Tony Seltzer. Keeping the vibes up is “Hand On Me” from Nourished by Time, AKA producer/singer Marcus Brown. It’s the first single off his latest EP, Catching Chickens, following his well-received album Erotic Probiotic 2.
“Pair A Dice” comes off Discovery Zone’s album Quantum Web, which she released last month. I got to see her perform live at TV Eye in Ridgewood a few weeks back, and she put on a great show complete with mesmerizing graphics, a live saxophonist (whose name I unfortunately did not catch), and a mini theremin expertly played by herself — my first time seeing a theremin live, and it was very impressive. The girlies and femmes made up the front row at this show, which I loved, and really brought the energy.
“From a Motel 6 (Remix)” by Yo La Tengo is next, an alternate to the album version featured on Painful. It looks like both versions were released in tandem as singles leading up to the album’s release in 1993, and in my opinion this is the superior version. It’s a little cleaner and it foregrounds the guitars, which are a standout element of the track. Shoutout to Raquel for showing me this version.
I found the next song, “Space and Time” by Australian singer/songwriter Emma Russack, on the Spotify radio for “Spring Is Coming With a Strawberry in the Mouth.” (Caroline Polachek recently covered this song for the deluxe version of Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, but the original is a 1986 recording from an Irish theatre company and later proto-synth band called Operating Theatre.)
Next is a sleepy, dreamy track from surf rock mysterio Charlie Megira and his backing duo, The Bet She’an Valley Hillbillies. His music has been slowly making its way out of obscurity for a few years now (I first came into contact with it when a friend played “Tomorrow’s Gone” on our college radio show), but I heard this track while getting a tattoo from Kyle England in LA. Dude had a fire playlist on (theme was “heavenly”) and we had an interesting conversation about music. Thanks Kyle.
Following Charlie Megira is “Lucky Cloud” by my fave Arthur Russell, featuring typically endearing lyrics and delicate instrumentals. This one is off his seminal 1986 album, World of Echo.
𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘ “Lucky cloud in your sky / A little rain / A lot of fun / One kiss and I go overboard…” 𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘
Now we come to my favorite track on the playlist, “Boys” by Amen Dunes. I know I recommended an Amen Dunes song on the last playlist, but he is killing it right now. “Boys” is his second single in anticipation of Death Jokes (out May 10th) and it was one of those songs that immediately convinced me. Within the first five seconds, I knew it was a winner. “Still out on a Sundaaaayyyy” makes me feel so alive. The cheeky guitar, thumping beat, layered vocals… then the tone shift to something a little more thoughtful right after the one-minute mark, with the synthetic horns (?) and the question: “Do you really want it?” So fresh, so clean, original and inventive — I can’t wait for the album.
Closing us out is a track that some may find difficult to get through… while others may find to be right up their alley. This is a ten-minute long track from A.G. Cook, the producer and DJ behind glitchcore label/collective PC Music. Since 2014 he’s been putting out his own music as well as collaborating on experimental pop and club releases from Caroline Polachek, Charli XCX, Hannah Diamond, and the like. “Silver Thread Golden Needle,” which came out earlier this year and has nothing to do with the country standard, “Silver Thread & Golden Needle” (lol) is a great example of the kind of innovation he’s known for. What impressed me about it was his ability to do so much for so long at the same BPM (the mark of a truly great DJ) — he moves through a variety of soundscapes while remaining cohesive, introducing new elements, circling back to old ones, and creating something fresh with every minute that goes by. The pacing is near-perfect, so while the song does feel the whole ten minutes long, I never really get bored because I know there’s something interesting around the corner.
Thanks for reading today’s newsletter! As always, if you care to share your thoughts, reactions, suggestions, etc. I’d love to hear from you in the comments. The next newsletter will be out in a hopefully reasonable amount of time.
Great spring vibes! Especially the Kleenex girl wonder song
The discovery zone song reminds me of daft punks discovery!!!🤔🤔🤔