Another week where Sam hasn’t written the intro. In fact he almost didn’t write the newsletter until I gently pinged him, and he quickly sprung to action. Somehow this is Sam’s project to kickstart each week, and that gives it a really interesting dynamic because he secretly doesn’t want to flake on it in order to try to prove something. That’s all any of this has been, the two of us trying to prove things to one another, but what? And why?
Here’s some stuff we’re listening to this week.
Fire-Toolz “RE: Official Request For Reciprocal Indwelling Procedure”
Sam: Every time I post a This Exists video I am filled with anxiety because I know something about the episode will make me immediately unhappy once people have seen it. In the case of the recent hit episode about cybergrind, which mostly is perfect, I became very bummed that I hadn’t just listed every cybergrind artist that I like because some people felt a little slighted by their exclusion, which is fair! Thankfully there is a new Fire-Toolz for me to write about here so I can say that Fire-Toolz has probably my favourite clearly-defined aesthetic universe across all of their releases, but most importantly how fucking sick is this song. Immaculate chugging. Immaculate usage of that echo-y “bong” sound, whatever it’s called. Pummelling! Cannot wait for this album!
Jos: The first three seconds of that This Exists video are on another plane. Sam really is living his best (worst?) life now that he’s free from the surveillance of my constantly bullying gaze. Have you noticed he keeps posting on social media, too? He was like sharing pics from some sort of joggers with dogs club. I actually saw this song posted earlier today when I was researching the newsletter that Sam was trying to back out of doing, and it did make me think of him. Love the glitchy electronic stuff at the start. There’s some cool metal parts in here too. I’m not sure though, some of these extreme randomness is starting to make me feel a little bit tired. It reminds me of when I saw this poster and just felt a tinge of sadness.
Wishy “Love on the Outside”
Sam: It’s possible I’m scooping Josiah here, as Wishy are his hoosier state brethren. But because I always start the newsletter, eat shit and check out this truly transcendent new Wishy track that I’M writing about you fuck! Because they are god’s own power pop band, this first single for their new record is, unsurprisingly, a “perfect slice of ‘90s nostalgia” (what I’d write if I was a HACK) and a “total earworm” that will “chew your brain into pieces” (what I’d write if I was being COOL). When the coda hits and it does that “wee ooh wee ooh wee ooh wee ooh” part you realize this is the best song you’ve ever heard.
Jos: You are scooping me you piece of shit!! And you didn’t even include the music video, although I’m realizing that it’s a bit of a distraction from the “perfect slice of ‘90s nostalgia” that you so aptly described. You should really work in music, bro. Also, we both say “realize” so often and Google Docs underlines it as a misspelling, but I don’t think it is? Anyway, Wishy is soooo much better than all the other bands doing this kinda stuff. It’s the little things, like the gently warbled guitars and that one-word falsetto that hits in the verses. Oof that falsetto hits so hard. I’m really excited for this album. I think I love Indiana.
Nap Eyes “Feline Wave Race”
Jos: It’s weird and frankly pretty nasty when people refer to a band as being “the homies,” but if I were that kind of a guy I might find myself tempted to refer to Nap Eyes by that nomenclature. But then, again if I were that kind of guy, I might then get caught up in an internal guilt loop about whether or not it’s even true. Sure, Nigel is someone I’ve enjoyed talking to both online and on pod, and I’ve had two nice hangs (the kind of guy who says “the homies” also says “hangs”) with Josh. But I’m pretty sure I’ve also walked by these guys in Montreal before and never felt compelled to have a stop ‘n’ chat, another thing that activates my internal overthinking mechanisms. So maybe Nap Eyes is not quite the homies but in fact a great and extremely tasteful Canadian indie rock band, which is all too rare. And this song, which is about Wave Race, is so smooth and hits so nice.
Sam: I’m listening to this song exactly as the homies intended — with one AirPod in because I’m at the airport waiting for food and a guy keeps talking to me and I’m torn between knowing I need to finish the newsletter and not wanting to seem like I’m being a prick to this guy. This song is definitely countering the extremely chaotic vibe in the terminal which I imagine I would appreciate a lot more if I wasn’t fully immersed in it instead of disrespecting it and creating this anxious situation for myself. It’s almost working, though. Nap Eyes are so cool this song is really good.
|||||||||||||||||||| “Serenade”
Jos: If Sam’s version of annoying music is “people who were raised by vaporwave and applied that kind of logic to metal,” mine is stuff like this: an artist named ||||||||||||||||||||, which you’re supposed to pronounce as “barcode,” who just releases like two minutes of minimalist dub-laden IDM once a month, each tiny tune with art work that is just a single colour. It’s just such bullshit, but it also sounds really nice. And I’m very obsessed with drums right now, so this new one particularly hits.
Sam: This one is much harder to parse in fake-mono. They’re piping what feels like a live mix of disco classics into this part of a the terminal, which was easy to ignore when Nap Eyes was playing but now feels like part of the herky jerky experience of “barcode.” Maybe this is how exactly what they wanted — Chic banging in the background, a guy ordering way too many vodka crans and standing too close to everyone, little blippy bloopy beats in one ear of a guy waiting for pizza (the salad guy “didn’t show up today” and this was somehow my second choice, I already regret it, getting on a red eye and about to have dumpy pizza belly all night).
The Chainsmokers “No Shade at Pitti”
Jos: Gonna be honest, I haven’t been having a great month. I mean it’s definitely not bad, particularly compared to just about anyone else’s on earth, but it feels like the earth is just committing microaggressions towards me: I’m dropping things, I’m not sleeping well, every meal I cook is just not working out. Things are feeling so bland that I even watched the entire new Chainsmokers music video and didn’t crack a smile. Well, until I looked up Bar Pitti, the New York tourist trap that is the namesake for this shitty song. And now that I’ve read the reviews, I think this summery trust-funder moving to NYC for a crypto internship chune is a nice little banger.
Sam: This is music built to sound good through your phone, your laptop, and one AirPod while you wait regretfully for your airport pizza. I’m happy that Josiah found something to lift his bad dinner spirits but I have to admit, the ‘smokers have lost their touch??? But the reviews ARE good. I love how often people bring someone’s race or accent into a bad review. “Our waiter - who was GREEK CYPRIOT - was NOT KIND to my DOG.” Oh man, I’ve been away from home for three days and I miss my dog. Coopie I’m coming home.
