Top8 - 09/16/24 - WTSQ 88.1 FM

September 15, 2024 - 09:53 PM

We are halfway through September and still trying to escape from the tyranny of summer. 85F is hot to me. 90-something can go straight to hell. I haven't wanted to leave the apartment in months. This time of year is so depressing to me. Even at night, it's humid and hateful. It's hard for me to imagine that people crossed the landbridge into Alaska, came down into this continent, went east, and stopped here. In this valley. And stayed. Maybe they knew we'd have an Aldi one day. God knows. Send your theories to wtsq.org/contact.

At least WTSQ is giving you the coolest music in history to compensate. Let's get into some new stuff.

Ethel Cain - For Sure (American Football Cover)

I'll be honest, when American Football was big I wasn't listening. I spent some time with the poppier Hot Topic emo of bands like Dashboard Confessional or AFI. I was into Embrace and Sunny Day Real Estate, and to a lesser extent The Get Up Kids, and Cursive, but I had missed American Football entirely. I think I had some lingering distaste for the emo kids who I thought fetishized being sad. How dare they do exactly what I was doing listening to Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails.

All this is to say, I probably didn't hear American Football's self-titled 1999 album until about a decade or so later. Add that to the fact that I actively push myself to listen to mostly new music, and I just didn't spend that much time with it – even though I actually thought it was a strikingly original and immersive effort. This is an album that you can just fall into and live in for a season of your life. Music is a place you can exist.

Which brings us to 2024 (I regret to inform anyone who remembers 1999 that 2024 is twenty-five years later) when a tribute to this classic is being released. A generation or so has passed since the original, and people who listened to it as young, impressionable kids have grown into their own musical beings now. The album will contain Iron & Wine, Blondshell, and a lot of other cool people. I am looking forward to it all. But I doubt any of it will hit me like Ethel Cain's cover of "For Sure".

An artist covering a song has a relatively simple task. Perform something resembling the tune and lyrics of the original. Many choose to cleave to the original's sound in a sort of pantomime. Others may completely change the song, creating a new thing that sounds nothing like the original, but shares its lyrics. Cain has found a third way. "For Sure" leaves an echo of the original's midwest emo guitar sound to flitter around the edges, but completely changes the envelope that it's all delivered in. All of the DNA of the original, the melody, the instrumental flourishes, the emotion are here. The timbre is also an evocation of American Football's tonal color. That said, this is something new. Cain provides a layered, slow burn build with a shoegaze crush to fulfill the longing always present in the song.

This is one of my favorite songs of the year, and one of the best covers I have ever heard. I have no notes. This is perfect.

Midwife - Autoluminescent (Rowland S. Howard Cover)

The modern musical vocabulary of rock music would be unrecognizable without Rowland S. Howard. Spend some time with his music as a solo artist or as part of bands with Nick Cave or These Immortal Souls, and you will quickly pick up on the progenitors of modern dark, atmospheric guitar sounds like those found in Fontaines D.C. or The Murder Capital. This isn't new. Johnny Marr is indebted to Rowland as is Jonny Greenwood. U2's The Edge rips Howard off shamelessly. Yet, there's a good chance that you don't know him by name. This is a shame, and hopefully, with the help of excellent covers like this one by Midwife, that might change a little.

Midwife is the music project of Madeline Johnston. This cover of Howard's "Autoluminescent" is squarely in her style. She creates a reverby, minimalist version of the song with a moderately processed vocal. Howard's lyrics are dark and moody and handled well by Johnston. This is a late night alone, David Lynch soundtrack, deserted road kind of song. And I love it.

Kaeto - Distance

Kaeto's Spotify bio calls her "not the new anyone". Damn straight. I love that attitude. We are often overly reverent of previous generations, and should focus more on what's right in front of us. That said, there's a lot of triphop, Bjork, Suzanne Vega's "Blood Makes Noise", or even Billie Eilish present here. Which is not to say that "Distance" is extremely derivative. The song is a very well executed example of the sort of depression dance party vibe that I love; something that we might have played on The Dark Room. Kaeto is probably best listened to in an album format though. She's got a lot to check out online, and also a new release coming out later this month.

Julie - Catalogue

Julie is one of the best bands going right now. I am kinda surprised that I haven't talked about them here yet (at least I don't think I have… I did check). Julie brings a noisy, shoegazey, grungy vibe to songs that are catchy and cathartic. The new album is called "my anti-aircraft friend" and we are looking at "Catalogue" here. The song is filled with explosive drums and guitar feedback. They say no one cares about bands or guitars anymore. Maybe most people don't. But we do. And Julie fits in pretty well alongside some of my current favorites like Feeble Little Horse and TAGABOW.

Girl Cologne - Keys

There is very little that makes me happier than seeing a young band figuring out their sound and finding their fans. I wrote about Girl Cologne earlier this year when I first got into them after a chance encounter at a cool little bar in Cleveland. This is the kind of music I want to see. You can keep your $1500 Oasis reunion tickets. I'll squeeze into a packed room and dance with fans of a band who love them enough to scream along to every word of songs that aren't even released yet and jump around with them in front of the stage. It's been really cool to follow along on Instagram as Girl Cologne play bigger shows at Cleveland Pride and the like.

Their first full length is now out and it's called "Say Hello", and I am featuring "Keys" here. This is a band who can definitely get a lot more punk, but here they keep it hooky and heartfelt. The song is a plea for someone to take the next step in a relationship, and when vocalist Jenna Seeman sings "Take my hand and run toward the sunset" it will make you think of everytime someone either did or didn't take yours.

The whole album is fantastic and sure to make my best of list for this year. Don't sleep on Girl Cologne.

Laura Jane Grace - M*A*S*H

When you're a queer person sometimes you don't know how to inhabit your authentic self until you see someone else inhabiting a similarly queer self. Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but the fact is that we all need role models. And Laura Jane Grace was one for me. Laura showed me that a person could be queer, and trans, and a punk rocker, and a depressed mess, and a bad bitch. And so here I am.

Laura got started in Against Me! and has since moved into various projects and solo works. This current thing is called Laura Jane Grace and the Mississippi Medicals. Their new EP is called "Give an Inch". Laura is joined here by her partner Paris Campbell Grace, Matt Patton from Drive-by Truckers, and Mikey from the Ergs. The song "M*A*S*H" is a bit of a lark; an intentionally silly romp through suicidal ideation. Maybe if you're doing just fine, this isn't the song for you, but the gallows humor suits some of us pretty well.

Mother of Earl - Extinction Burst

These guys sent me an email recently promoting a single they put out. Because I can't focus on anything, I forgot to do more than follow them. A few weeks go by and I see "Extinction Burst" pop up. Thankfully I listened this time.

Mother of Earl is Alex Nanni and Ross Weidman, both WV natives. The band formed while both were up at WVU, although since then both have had the good sense to move elsewhere.

"Extinction Burst" starts as an expansive, Laurel Canyon type-song. As it ambles along, slowly building a head of steam, the band finally find themselves in the middle of an Avett Brothers-style moment where the stage lights flash in time with the drum hits and everyone cheers. I am guessing that this hasn't quite happened for Mother of Earl yet, but it's not because of a lack of quality. The band has put together a pretty impressive series of releases since 2020, including an EP and a whole other album.

Spring Silver - The Well Mother

Spring Silver are a DC area band. "The Well Mother" is a song from their new album, "Don't You Think it's Strange". This is rock guitar music and its queer music. Oddly enough, it feels to me like the band are defiant and noisy about being rock music, but feel queer almost as a biographical detail. There is a ton of energy here. Put this on in the car and drum along on the dash. The song is a rush of dynamics and blistering drums.

I really value a band that gives me a WTF moment, and Spring Silver has created a few on this album. They seem to have no interest or use for the notions of genre, song structure, or fulfilled expectations. You will pick up on influences, but you generally won't find them used how you anticipate. I hear a lot of Built to Spill but there's also everything from Radiohead to Bloc Party and even a little EDM on this album. Check out the whole thing.

And this week's extra innings. I usually put random things I have been listening to here, but I am using this space here to highlight some of the references I listed in this blog. So, more of a works cited page.

Suzanne Vega - Blood Makes Noise