Music for devs who have a hard time reading social cues
This week, Americans are giving thanks. Meanwhile in Canada, we’re still saying sorry! Just a little joke I’m trying to get off the ground. It’s the only one I can think of.
Here’s some other stuff we’re thinking about this week.
Footballhead “Habits”
Sam: Big Shiny Tunes-ass band. Like the most recent Taking Meds album, this has the feeling of punk guys embracing the ceaseless pull of Third Eye Blind that I will personally never tire of. I strongly suspect none of these Americans have ever listened to Salmonblaster, but they should because my very sincerely held opinion is that Canadian bands were the actual best at this thing everyone is doing now. Miller Stain Limit! Sandbox! Jale! I could do this all day and I’d love every second of it!
Jos: I wonder why I have hesitance to embrace this current moment Sam is talking about. It’s probably half that I feel like I was into this stuff 10 years ago, and half that I’m just a prick. I do love the Homer Simpson plushie in this vid, and the song’s pretty cool too, even if it sounds like the stuff every Calgary record store employee was rockin’ in 2014. It is funny how a band called Footballhead seems cool because they’re from America, but then this same music is called Salmonblaster in Canada. We just can’t do anything right.
OZIGIRI “Party People Must Die”
Sam: Josiah can probably picture the face I was making when this song truly lifted off. Will this gabber-ass nu metal work its magic on him as well? In this moment (9:30am in my kitchen, dog sleeping beside me, exact setting this music is intended for) I am pretty sure this is the best thing I’ve ever heard. I’m going to play this later when Ashley and I are making dinner and she’s going to divorce me. Despite being a cauldron of 2,000 sound effects this is an actually good and cohesive song that I would like to listen to until the sun consumes me.
Jos: Hahaha yeah I kinda like this. I feel like I could send this to one of the devs at my work who has dreadlocks and more Funkos than me behind him in meetings and he’d love it too much and start punishing me about Soulfly and GWAR and things that sound like Soulfly and GWAR but are more, like, Cirque du Soleil-ish. This is music for devs who have a hard time reading social cues, even online. This morning one of the devs shared a comedy video where it was like an Australian teen telling his dad he was watching gay porn because he didn’t want to admit he was watching Rian Johnson’s Star Wars sequel. There are no reactions on the post.
Ruth Radelet “Shoot Me Down”
Jos: On one of my piracy sites that I check, I saw that some new Johnny Jewel soundtrack was out, and as a big-time IDIB household I checked it out, but it’s kinda just the same bullshit he’s been doing for a while. There’s definitely a bad vibe surrounding him post-Chromatics breakup, but I love that band sooo much so I started poking around to see what the other members have been doing. Ruth Radelet has the most timeless voice, so I’m glad she’s still making music. And I’m especially glad she made “Shoot Me Down,” an uplifting, sprightly dream pop tune that adds some much-needed cheese to the deadened Chromatics vibe. There’s a very healthy dose of U2 in this song, and I can’t stop listening to it.
Sam: Wow I love this. Never got into Chromatics and couldn’t really tell you if they were different from the band with the two guys and the legs piano but this has the soft corny energy I am constantly craving. Why don’t more people use that guitar sound? One guy shouldn’t be allowed to own a whole nifty guitar sound, no matter how effectively he’s used it in the past. Maybe this should be the cause I dedicate myself to? Not much else happening in the world.
Ssaliva “Cherry Stem”
Jos: I’m finally allowing my stubborn ass to keep listening to music once whatever album I’m listening to ends and Spotify shows me something else. And it turns out, everyone was right — allowing your computer to spy on you results in some great recs. The first Ssaliva song I heard was this delicious little guitar noodler, and there’s even a collab with Sam’s fav Bladee. But the new album sector6park/counterfeit is a great introduction. It’s all slightly scary, slightly melodic guitar and computer compositions that remind me a little bit of early Clams Casino and guitarists like Dustin Wong, although with more melody. This song basically has the “Float On” riff buried in it. Guitar is so good.
Sam: Yo I have also started letting the algo take the wheel more and more and it honestly rocks but it’s very funny thinking about just how different the stuff I get served is. This feels like some song in the middle of Disintegration that I don’t know that well but it’s working on me at the tail end of this extremely grey November week. I truly feel like I am the number one beneficiary of this newsletter because every week Josiah shares something I’d never find myself but immediately fits into my listening habits at whatever moment he’s writing about it, but also I never know what to say about things that are so chill and nice and good. “Sick!”
Nettspend “We Not Like You”
Jos: Adding a third because this one is too fascinating not to post. I’m definitely deep into the age where I don’t know what anyone’s talking about anymore, so when I saw people complaining about a rapper that looks like a background actor from Pen15, I had to dig in. Turns out his name is Nettspend, he’s 16 from Richmond, Virginia. And he looks like a little pipsqueak that was doing Fortnite dances at the self-checkout area of a Walmart not 6 months ago. But he also hilariously sounds like Chief Keef. This is definitely one of the worst things ever, but I love it. And I’m pretty sure someone’s putting money behind it, too, because the comments on this video are all from accounts that were just started, saying stuff like “Wow, I thought Nettspend was just a gimmick but it’s so good.” Look, if we occasionally help propagate some stupid industry plant music, that’s okay.
Sam: “Watch nettspend do a MAJOR genre shift in the future” thanks I will! Amazing song, amazing comments, amazing artist. Nettspend is such an incredible name, too. Sounds like a Shopify competitor. Every time Josiah writes about a third thing I think “this better be worth it” and it always is. I love that teens trying to make it used to sound like Rebecca Black and now they sound like this.
