January 2023 Top 13 + Hatchie Interview
Plus my Bandcamp Friday picks!
Hey everybody & welcome to my island Substack! Much like the “Carefully Curated.” show, I’ve debated making one of these for some time but I kept putting it off. I always thought “I’m not much of a writer & who would ever want to read what I have to say?” Well, I’m doing it!
This will hopefully become the space to let everyone know about some music I’m digging, along with playlist updates & new episode alerts. If that sounds cool to you, then you’re in the right place.
Top 13 - January 2023
Let’s start this thing by sharing a new playlist I launched a few days ago called “Top 13”. Super basic title but hopefully super self explanatory. And if not, let me explain. This playlist will feature my Top 13 songs from the previous month, which means I will update it monthly.
.January 2023 saw the welcome return of M83, boygenius, Arlo Parks, Frankie Rose & The National, all of which announced albums coming out this year. The most surprising return came from Everything But The Girl who hasn’t released new music in 20 years!! If you’re unfamiliar, their biggest hit “Missing” is on my 💯 favorite songs from the 90s playlist.
I was unfamiliar with Lil Yachty until he released Let’s Start Here. last week. I could hear about 5 different Pink Floyd songs in “the BLACK seminole.” so it instantly made the list.
One other note: as a casual Tennis fan, I think they’re about to release my favorite album of theirs. I caught them at Shaky Knees a few years back, and they were great live. But now I’m interested to hear songs like “Let’s Make A Mistake Tonight” which has a great music video. And I saw that this gif below was trending on GIPHY:
My favorite album released last month comes from White Reaper who released their 4th studio album “Asking For A Ride”. This album is full of rippers. I included “Fog Machine” in my 💯 favorite songs from 2022 playlist when it was released back in December because it hits you with some welcome Thin Lizzy vibes. The song “Getting into Trouble w/ the Boss” is a standout right now. White Reaper was the last band I saw in concert before covid, and they blew me away. They’re about to tour this record, so if you’re digging this one like I am & want to see them, I can’t recommend it enough! Tour Dates
I was debating doing a podcast version of Top 13 where I play each song & chat about them,, but I don’t know how fun that would be by myself. Let me know if that’s something that might interest you!
New Episode - Hatchie
Last fall I launched the “Carefully Curated.” show & it has been so much fun to talk with artists I admire. The first 6 episodes featured talker, Tyler Asay (The Tisburys), Stephen Stallings (Plot Points), Dave Holmes, Sulene & Kamtin Mohager (The Chain Gang of 1974 / Heavenward.
I’ve recorded a few more episodes that I’ll be releasing this month. The first one was released a few days ago with Harriette Pilbeam, also known as Hatchie. We talked about her incredible 2022 album “Giving The World Away”. We also talked playlists, touring last year with Alex G & more.
Click here to listen to my episode with Hatchie
If you haven’t listened yet, please do & let me know what you think! Those of you who have already listened & reached out, it really means a lot. That encourages me to keep doing this.
More episodes are coming soon featuring Tyler Lyle from The Midnight & Kate Meizner from Jobber.
Bandcamp Friday
Today is Bandcamp Friday! I know, I’m barely getting this newsletter out in time.
What is Bandcamp Friday? It’s when Bandcamp waives their fees & gives all the money directly to artists who have music on their site. And this occurs on the first Friday of a given month. That’s today. So I thought I’d recommend a few things!
Field Mouse have released another great covers album featuring fantastic renditions of songs by The Killers, Kate Bush, Tears for Fears, that dog., Ivy & more. They also cover the Back to the Future & Jurassic Park themes, to name a few! They’ve started writing a new album (!) and proceeds from this go directly to funding studio time. Their last record, Meaning, was one of my favorites of 2019. They also have a super rad Patreon page if you’d like to support them that way. Bandcamp
Favorite Tracks (so far): When You Were Young, Back To The Future
Speaking of 2019, another one of my favorite albums from that year was Night Pass by Pure Bathing Culture. If you’re a fan of Tango in the Night era Fleetwood Mac, you’ll dig this. Bandcamp
Favorite tracks: Black Starling, All Night & Violet A Voyager
If you want to up your cassette game & support the next guest on “Carefully Curated.” then Jobber’s excellent 2022 EP Hell In A Cell might be for you! It rips. Also, that is my cassette! Bandcamp
Favorite tracks: Entrance Theme, No Holds Barred
That’s all I got!