Now the floodgates are open

Coming up today: a playlist that whips ass. I really love the phrase whips ass. It’s stupid but it sounds so good? I don’t know. It whips ass.

Also whipping ass:

The new season of Fargo. Just three episodes in, Noah Hawley has found his groove once again: long, tense scenes that wouldn’t be out of place in a horror film; hyperviolence; a character named Old Munch; a Home Alone homage; Jon Hamm with pierced nipples; and Juno Temple acting the heck out of every scene.

Mario Wonder. Mario has always been a mushroom guy but it turns out he was just microdosing all these years. With this game he has decided to really get into psychedelics and the result is so much fun. Wonder is the perfect name for it. Mario is also a confirmed Pavement fan, yelling “WOWEE ZOWEE” when he turns into an elephant.

Stephen A. Smith yelling about Lightning McQueen. This feels staged but I don’t care, it’s still absolutely incredible, right up to the end. “You’re not a little kid!”

Free Palestine yesterday. That would whip the most ass.

Anyway, here’s Wonderwall. [link to ass-whippin’ playlist]

We’re going down under to kick things off with some dreamy shoegaze out of Australia, “Underwater” by Sunsick Daisy. That opening riff grabs you and doesn’t let go just like a big wave. This song is the highlight of their new EP.

“Can We Just Get High?” by Carpool is up next. This feels like a band turning it up to 11 and just rocking the fuck out. It’s probably dangerous to play this song in public, because a pit might just break out on the spot. Their new record will be out in March and if it sounds anything like this, it’s gonna be huge.

Gladie put out one of the best records of 2022 (Don’t Know What You’re In Until You’re Out) and just dropped an acoustic EP called Purple Year with four of the best songs from that record. “Born Yesterday” is my favorite of the bunch.

Phoneswithchords teaming up with Ben Sooy (A Place For Owls) is the duo we didn’t knew we needed but I’m glad they made this record. The two made phoneswithBen by sending voice memos and lyric ideas back and forth over the summer. The result is a thoughtful, tender, contemplative exploration of the everyday moments of our shared humanity.

“Gwent Stefani” by Avec Plaisir (“with pleasure” in French) and “Clean” by Gulfer (“Gulfer” in French) are two catchy songs with great guitars that feel like a warm, familiar blanket in the best way.

“Dead Daddog 20/20” by summerbruise has to be the best song this year that opens with a wrestling clip, right? This song is from a cool split they just did with saturdays at your place and Shoplifter.Diva Bleach describe themselves as “sparkly pop rock” — those three words in that order excite me, and so does this song. “Out Of My Head” is a jam from this Phoenix band.

hey i’m outside is a band from just outside Boston. I like the lo-fi bedroom pop 90s alt vibe of “Racecar” and their Smile EP from earlier this year. Fans of everyone from Pavement to Slaughter Beach, Dog will be into this.

I love ending playlists with covers, so here is one of Boston’s finest (ONEFALL) putting their brand of melodic punk rock on a classic song (“Born to Run”) from The Boss.

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Spotify Wrapped is great, and I will have a year end post soon. My record of the year wasn’t even on my Wrapped! This year, Spotify decided paying artists next to nothing was actually too much and has moved to pay less artists less money. It’s fucked. Buy a ticket to a gig. Buy a record. Buy a shirt. I know most of the people reading this already know all of this. But it really matters.