There are weeks where not much is going on and it’d be fine to skip the newsletter. But then there are weeks like this one, where there’s simply too much to post, so the show must go on. And thus, resuming my role as the one who made sure we continued our podcast for far, far too long, I’m going to make all of the picks in this week’s newsletter. And most of them are going to be mgk adjacent.
Here’s what I’ve been listening to this week, that Sam will comment on.
mgk “El Pistolero”
Jos: It’s a really good time to be an mgk fan, as evidenced by this incredible rap and country video. He recently celebrated an anniversary for his mostly awful Hotel Diablo album and shared another song called “El Pisolero,” which I can’t really tell if it’s from those sessions or a new addition. I don’t really care. But I can tell from his tattoos in this video that this is a new music video. Either for an old song or a new song that was made for an old era. The video’s not great but honestly mgk is pretty good at rapping. And he’s also the coolest guy on earth.
Sam: Knowing I was devolving into a stress case Josiah very generously let me know he had more than enough to fill up the newsletter himself, but I’m wondering if this was really a favour. I wonder what I’d think about mgk (had to correct my initial spelling in all caps, respecting house style which is respecting mgk) if I never knew Josiah. What would any of us think. I mean I knew mgk before the pod, I interviewed him and sometimes I think about which hard drive in my basement it could possibly be on and whether it would be worth the effort to excavate it, and I’m sure I’d still be aware of all the pop-punk stuff. But mgk and Josiah are so linked in my mind that I wonder how deep the bond goes – like, if mgk died, would Josiah die? I hope not, and I hope we don’t find any out anytime soon.
Jelly Roll “Time of Day” (ft mgk)
Jos: It’s been a while since I challenged myself to listen to a full album, so yesterday during work I took the plunge and listened to the entire new Jelly Roll album. But I didn’t notice it was 28 songs until I kicked off. Anyway, in addition to their excellent “Lonely Road” collab, there’s also this weepy closing credits ballad “Time of Day.” And my boy Colson sounds sooo good on the track, especially in-situ after having heard like 2 dozen of the same nu country song. Kelly Roll is everything, y’all.
Sam: I love that the only people who seem to like Jelly Roll are awards show producers and Josiah. Josiah, how do you feel about H.E.R.? I imagine this might hit harder if I slugged it through the preceding 27 tracks alongside these warriors of song, like skipping right to the end of A Walk To Remember and assuming the (spoiler alert) death of Mandy Moore to move you the same way it would it you had spent 90 minutes caught up in the whirlwind romance of her and Darby Crash.
Jelly Roll “What’s Wrong with Me”
Jos: While I was listening to the Jelly Roll album, I was faving songs that I kinda liked. Then I realized it was most of them. That’s because it’s kind of a perfectly mid background music country album. You barely even notice the lyrics, the compositions are all just like plain background tracks. It’s like post-Adele pseudo Rick Rubin-core country music. And I kinda like it. I was reading Jelly Roll’s wiki and I guess he used to be a terrible UGK-style rapper (he has a slur-laden mgk diss track from before they were besties), but now he just makes Target music that isn’t even funny it’s just kind of nice. I included this song because it’s been a while since someone has made a Toy Story/Macy Gray/Gnarls Barkley-wave song.
Sam: Dude I swear I was like “this sounds like it’s from Toy Story” before I got to your paragraph. Beautiful minds. You know Pixar is rushing to the stu to get to work on the next Woody and Buzz adventure now that they’ve got the perfect soundtrack. The toys have just had a blow up fight about how to rescue the kidnapped Mr. Spell and Slinky Dog (RIP) is staring longingly out a window as his tail slowly stops wagging and dips low. Woody is doing that thing where he looks like maybe he’s got the plan, but he realizes it won’t work and he shakes his head and cast his head down. Buzz is making grunting sounds. Adults are weeping.
The Offspring “Make It All Right”
Jos: Of course, doing a “challenge” that is just listening to an album is something I hold near to my heart ever since we did the #BadTimesChallenge on the pod. I haven’t listened to the new Offspring SUPERCHARGED yet, but I thought I better check out the lead single. Musically, it’s shockingly better than I expected. It really sounds almost exactly like Simple Plan, albeit with the deadened spoken word sample that they need. I’m not sure if this is just a low-budget video, or a tie-in with a Teletoon cartoon that only plays in dentist’s offices, but it certainly is making me miss when they took John Stamos and some monkeys to a strip club.
Sam: The newsletter is officially late now because I had to do actual work for a few hours and thought “I can get through one more song” but I saw that Josiah wasn’t even close to finished with me. I actually put this album on yesterday out of morbid curiosity and turned it off within seconds. I recall the opener being a embarrassing nasty rocker, but this is positively francophone. I don’t hate it? Okay I went over to Genius to see who wrote it and the annotations have informed me this song is ABOUT the Offspring being nice friends?? Dexter quote: “Years ago when we were angry kids I would’ve never been vulnerable to say, ‘You know what? You are special to me, and you helped me make things all right.’” Noodles quote: “We’ve been hugging more and more lately. I love it.” You know who else loves it? Me!
Fennesz “Heliconia”
Jos: Need a quick palette cleanse from all that crap. Da scritchy scratchy guitar goat Christian Fennesz is gonna drop a new album called Mosaic in December, and the opening track is definitely the exact kind of shit I need to be listening to at all times instead of Jelly Roll or the Offspring. Apparently he set a 9-to-5 schedule for two years to come up with these compositions. I’m salivating. Gimme more of this now. Unless mgk does something.
Sam: Real whiplash this week. Pixar couldn’t do anything with this. Do you think Christian cherishes his homies the way Dexter and Noodles do? I can’t stop thinking about the w-slur monkey fucker band writing a song about how they appreciate each other’s friendship and love to hug. This is good but it feels less vital now by comparison.
sparkling Caleb Third thing album
Jos: I always assumed I’d end up starting a record label when I became as anciently old as I am now, and honestly, if Caleb didn’t already have Podunk Label, then 0 Plays records would fully be a thing to release this. Somehow his second LP (and overall third thing) of 2024, he has already expanded on his sound and created some truly timeless yet uncanny indie rock. The whole thing is so good but “Seagulls” is the one that’s gonna make you cry.
Sam: Fantastic. Haven’t been able to parse the lyrics to see which songs are about overpowering affection for your pals, but I am going to guess it’s all of them. Really beautiful music that consistently avoids easy or obvious melodies in favour of something richer and more interesting, and subsequently even more powerful. mgk feature when.
I think from now on we will put this pic at the end of the newsletter so you know it’s done.