1.12, 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 1.17, 1.18

(y)it's been...

Hello, humans! I cannot believe an entire week has flown by! It was a very busy one, and I am so so so sorry that I didn’t get to at least upload some songs for you all! Never fret though, because I have a whole batch of songs for you in this entry! I’m going to maybe do something a little different and not embed all 7 of the song previews for you, that way it feels (hopefully) a little less overstimulating. In no real order, the songs I’ve been listening to lately this last week have been:

• I recently discovered the band Joseph, and I really love their song Mountain Air, which makes me want to drive down the coast and forget about anything that is stressing me out

• We now take a really sharp turn to…The Alan Parson’s Project of all things! I’m surprised more people didn’t mention their 1976 album Tales of Mystery and Imagination, when Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher came out! The album turns several fames Poe works into sonic goodness. Can you believe that this was their debut album?? I of course selected the song named after my favorite Poe story, The Cask of Amontillado. I would also be remiss if I didn’t include this little gem for you all.

• I am really digging Lime Garden, and they just released Love Song a couple of weeks ago; it’s the perfect little dancey beat with some snide lyrics!

• Alex Walton is a newer find to me, and I am really digging their song Girlfriend Song, and one of the things I really love is that you’re not quite sure where the song is going. It’s a little cabaret-feeling, a little pop, a little synthy, and a lot of fun! I also really enjoyed reading this interview with them from last year!

• I ride really hard for Black Country, New Road—this seven-member band from the UK is one of my favorite contemporary post-punk bands that have cropped up in the last decade! For me, Chaos Space Marine is the perfect song to introduce you to their infectious energy.

• I am a huge fan of The Replacements, and Within Your Reach has always been a favorite ever since I first heard it on the soundtrack to Say Anything. Say Anything is one of my favorite movie soundtracks of all time and it’s part of my holy trinity of John Cusack movie soundtracks (the other two being Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity, natch). And! And! The soundtrack to Say Anything was reissued on vinyl a few years ago with some extra songs!

• And now for today’s song! I want to leave you with another favorite find of mine—Kate Fagan! Fagan was once part of Chicago ska band Heavy Manners, and then she went solo. It’s very hard for me to not add every song of her to my Liked songs. For today, I picked the first song of hers I heard, which is I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool. I think what I love about this song and her others is that they definitely don’t betray the fact that it’s the pinnacles of 80’s sound, and yet, it feels like something fresh and recent? I hope you love it as much as I do too!

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday! And remember, all songs shared can be found here!