The funnier a poster is the more likely they are to listen to garbage like the Armed

This week from Sam and Josiah.

We had lunch!

I’m in Vancouver right now for Primetime69’s wedding, and we just got back from brunch. Talking about music is already so embarrassing, but hearing people talk about music out loud in Vancouver is a whole other level, because they were all raised on Shambhala and early Diplo and Mark Ronson radio shows, and they’re all loudly talking about their endless pursuit of a good tunes playlist in their funny little Vancouver accents. We were just getting breakfast sandwiches and the spot was playing some generic world music vibes stuff, and a guy with the Vancouver-via-SoCal surfer bro accent was like, “Hey man, have you heard ____… it’s like, beachy, Mexican vibes.” And the guy working there was like, “Hold on let me download it, which one should I get?” IDK it was really adorable I guess but also mortifying. Just like us.

Here’s some stuff we’re thinking about this week.

Teenage Halloween “Supertrans / Takeaway”

Sam: With all the youths busy making “cybergrind” and “ska” and “emo” it’s a delight to hear a band that is just playing what we all know is orgcore. Incredible Long Island vibes. It feels like Sunday at Fest and I’m beyond haggard but 1982 is popping and I’m stoked. Plus any song with that octave chord hit pattern of ONE-and-a-TWO-and-a-THREE-and-a-FOUR is already good. Someone in the YouTube comments for this music video says this sounds like Pup which feels like the kind of thing you say when you’ve only heard one band with guitars, but it did make me wonder if it sounded like Pup and I was just listening through Latterman-coloured glasses. But I’m not. I’m never wrong (except when I’m misspelling band names in the newsletter). 

Jos: I avoid all of the stuff Sam’s talking about like the plague, and even I know this doesn’t sound like Pup. It definitely does sound exactly like it was made for him though. I’m actually lowkey jealous that there’s so many things in this world that were made just for Sam, and he gets to get all stoked about them all the time, and my default thing is to just be grumpy. But knowing there’s a venue called “1982” and Sam’s just talking about it as if we all know about it is already making me not want to cross that threshold.

The Callous Daoboys “Waco Jesus”

Sam: Hahaha this is so fucking good. The clean vocals with the harmonies simply rock. The main riff is tremendously sick. When it really opens up it reminds of Dillinger’s “Black Bubblegum,” but specifically the feeling of watching Greg crawl all over the Conan audience. The Callous Daoboys are in the sweet spot that Code Orange fully skipped over where they have balanced their more esoteric mathcore tendencies (okay Code Orange didn’t have that but you get it) with a real talent for capturing the theatrical grandiosity of the best nu metal and it’s so nice. 

Jos: One time I flew from Calgary to Atlanta for 48 hours to do some kind of morally dubious Netflix press junket where they paid for my hotel and room service at the Buckhead InterContinental and let me fill up on craft services on set in exchange for some kind words about the TV show Ozark. My one day was spent waiting around for Jason Bateman for many, many hours before he gave me a bad interview and didn’t make eye contact. But I spent my night wandering around the city, trying to take it all in in case I never went back to Atlanta. When I wasn’t like peering into the closed Ponce City Market alone at night, I got some extremely kind messages from the Callous Daoboys’ Carson, who was then just a fledgling pod and This Exists fan. Carson was going to drive me to see Snail Mail in Athens but I was way too tired. Anyway, it’s always cool to see pod people thrive.  

Marnie Stern “Plain Speak”

Jos: It’s really funny that 2009 as an idea seems to be back in the air. Marnie Stern, now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. Basically, it seems like Seth Meyers put a modest salary under a basket and set a trap for some of these old-timer indie rockers, and they’ve been hidden away playing commercial break music for the better part of a decade. This sounds dated as hell, and the art is hilariously guitar tech, but it also sounds good to my old ass. Honestly, I think everyone should be sloppily noodling at all times.

Sam: WOW yes sick earlier this year I started popping “Year of the Glad” on some playlists because WOW that song rocks and this rocks too! Also I didn’t know she was doing the late night bandleader thing, that’s cool. I’m glad people are making a living. I only saw Marnie Stern live once and it was a horribly late SXSW show many lifetimes ago and she was incredibly good so I hope she tours and I can go be old at a new show.

Yung Lean x bladee “Victorious” 

Bladee & Yung Lean “Bullets”

Jos: It’s funny how this tweet from Patrick really tapped into a well of self-awareness. Is Yung Lean and Bladee really just for old guys? I know it’s not true, because I’ve seen young drainers IRL, walking around dressed like they were clothed by accident during a hurricane in a strip-mall consignment store. But my old ass still starts soyfacing when these two come back, and I’m even more soyed up because they’re together. “Victorious” is the better tune, but there’s something so funny about the way Yung Lean goes into old head mode, rapping about the past and gesturing in his hands in a way that hints at a dangerous amount of Def Jux despite his unimpeachable and seemingly invincible swag. I love being old AF!

Sam: I’m already looking ahead and amazed that despite this being the last week of summer - a notoriously quiet week! - and Josiah being out of town at his brother’s wedding - a notoriously important wedding! - he somehow managed to share four songs. I only know Yung Lean and Bladee from people like Josiah and Patrick posting about them semi-ironically. I think I googled Bladee once to try to get it but I quickly realized I was fine not knowing and nothing has really changed. Didn’t notice the music had ended but YouTube just started a King Krule live video? Algorithm rude. 

Oneohtrix Point Never “A Barely Lit Path”

Jos: FFS, I wasn’t even going to click this one because I didn’t fuck with the last OPN album and he’s kinda giving D*mes Sq*are vibes lately, but I’m glad I did. This shit is so beautiful! Oof! I can be pandered to after all! This is my shiiiiit.

Sam: Obviously sick. But unfortunately when it comes to this vibe I will always prefer the less subtle works of artists who use the same fonts and stock retro images to let me know that their music sounds like a video game adaptation of a John Carpenter film. Oneohtrix Point Never is objectively good and also too Josiah 4 me. 

20 Songs

Jos: Okay as a bonus, I also did that stupid 20 songs tweet bait thing. If you didn’t see it, some guy said this shit and it somehow transcended even my bullshit filter, and everyone was just sharing songs and playlists constantly this week (I’ve cropped his name because he ain’t Eric Alper, and fuck the fakers):

It was weirdly really fun to see everyone share 20-track playlists, both confirming my suspicions that the funnier a poster is the more likely they are to listen to garbage like the Armed, but also revealing the nuances of people’s taste and starting a bunch of earnest conversations that were strangely endearing, not annoying. I decided to make my own list, and then I decided to make another list because it can be more than 20 songs. It made me realize that I haven’t had enough new stuff make it into the Jos canon, but I’ve also been listening to music more than I have in years since doing this, like a piece of myself is healing and returning to my 16-yr-old state. Anyway, here’s my list and bonus list. 

Sam: What the fuck you made two lists?? Fuck. I want to make two lists now. I haven’t posted in a long time and the impulse has almost entirely left my body but I did find this to be a charming bit of throwback internet bullshit that used to make hanging out online actually fun. So I made my own list with no intention of sharing it, but because I thought it was a charming exercise distinct from some tired “top five” shit and I wanted to see if I could be honest with myself without thinking too much about how it would confirm or disconfirm the public version of myself I have been performing on podcasts and YouTubes for a decade. Yes, I’m a simple man, but I also want to be seen as the coolest possible version of myself. Anyway here it is.