Do you think that we could hack it?

Crit List 13 is the strongest one yet. If we share even some music taste in general you’re going to find something here for you. Not to sound like a lawyer on TV or whatever: I guarantee it! This one’s been brewing for awhile. It’s stuff released this year plus a few from 2021.

Here are some lyrics from these songs that I wrote out: (#analogemo)

Let’s dance about some architecture, baby.

Momma - “Speeding 72”I feel like this band could be The Next Big Indie Band. Like the new HAIM but better, or something. A catchy tune about cruising around listening to Pavement. Yes please. They’ve dropped three songs from their record that comes out this summer. Get on board now. The 90s are alive and well.

Signals Midwest - “BLIND CONTOUR”This band. Just so damn good and consistent. DENT is a hell of a record.

Palette Knife - “Ponderosa Snake House”Here’s a band from Ohio with those good guitars we all love and a lot of really good, catchy tunes. They should be huge. If you stopped reading this to go listen to their record plus the other great song they put out last year, I wouldn’t blame you. Don’t tell me you like emo and then sleep on this.

Carly Cosgrove - “Sit ‘n’ Bounce”Did you know this band (and their songs) are references to iCarly? Well now you do because you just read that sentence. We love a theme, especially when it’s comes with great songs.

Scarlet Street - “I Don’t Want to Work I Just Want to Bang on This Mug All Day”A band from Cincinnati, an American city in the state of Ohio, that I enjoy. The city, I mean. Well, the band too. This song wouldn’t sound out of place on Your Favorite Weapon. It’s got that energy. They’ve only released four songs, but they’re all good.

Short Fictions - “Heather”I don’t know exactly how or why, but probably 40% of the time when I’m working out I’m listening to their 2019 record Fates Worse Than Death. This song is insanely catchy and and uses the word “homies” in the chorus. What more do you need?

Big Nothing - “A Lot of Finding Out”Just a great song. Something a little bit different from the rest of the list.

Pet Fox - “Checked Out”Great local band. They just shot a video (for a different song) at the Coolidge Corner Theater. Cool.

Football, Etc. - “Vision”Their new EP is just so good. Four songs, four jams. But no Four Loko.

Anxious - “Growing Up Song”I think I put one of their songs on an older Crit List? Idk I don’t wanna look it up either, so we’ll just go with that. I like this record.

Camp Cope - “Running With the Hurricane”The great Aussies do it again on this song/record.

Blushing - “Sour Punch”Letting Up Despite Great Faults - “She Spins”Here we have a double shot of shoegaze from Texas. These two bands were just on tour together and I wish it had come up to the northeast. Blushing features a pair of husband/wife pairs, which is pretty cool. Letting Up Despite Great Faults is just a great band name, and the vibes here are like if Ben Gibbard got really into shoegaze after Give Up and then made another Postal Service record.

Bartees Strange - “Heavy Heart”Bartees is just so cool. Other people I have recently said this about: Donald Glover, Bobby Berk, Natasha Lyonne, Bill Hader, and Kyle Schwarber.

Dashboard Confessional - “Southbound and Sinking”I didn’t love the new record but this is about as close as we’re going to get to “Saints and Sailors” in 2022 and sounds like it could have been from 2001.

Lucy Dacus - “Kissing Lessons”Lucy has written so many incredible songs, so this next statement means a lot: this is one of the very best songs of hers.

The Beths - “A Real Thing”Camp Cope represents Australia, and The Beths are here to rep New Zealand, a place that anytime you hear someone talk about it or you see photos of it, you can’t help but think it’s actually a made up place and you’re just not in on that secret yet.

Citizen - “Bash Out”This song is catchy. Whenever I hear this band, I think ‘hey I should listen to these guys more often’ but then I just don’t. Life is weird, idk.

Glacier Veins - “Autonomy”Dream-pop from the desert. Here’s a song off their second solid record in a row. They should be bigger.

Sadurn - “snake”Why do I feel like this band should be from Boston? Not sure that even makes sense. Great lyric: “I am not afraid, I’ve heard we’re all gonna die / In a cascade of system failure or in the blink of an eye.”

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Okay that’s all bye.