What if at the center I am just more of the same?

Here’s a playlist of the music I’ve been listening to so far this calendar year. That’s 2023 by the way, somehow, even though I just checked and last week was 2021. Crazy.

Here are a few highlights on there:

Josaleigh Pollett - In the Garden, By the WeedsEven if you don’t read another word of this newsletter, go listen to this now. This is a real special one. The roots of this garden are firm and deep, the weeds have been pulled, and the resulting growth is gorgeous.

Jess Williamson - Time Ain’t AccidentalIf these first three tracks were Taylor Swift songs, they’d be enormous hits and there would be stadiums full of people singing every word.

Pacing - “Bite Me”In a short amount of time, Pacing has become one of my favorite artists. This song is great, as I have come to expect from her. The only thing surprising about this song is that despite the name “Bite Me” it’s not about snakes or on her Snake Facts EP.

Broken Record - Nothing Moves MeThis is just solid rock and roll. There’s a lot going on, and it all plays well together. There’s something for the emos, there are fuzzy shoegaze-y guitars, there are riffs, and everything is played with a dynamic spirit. The Denver music scene is poppin’ lately.

Nick Webber - All the Nothing I KnowI talked a bit about this already here. One of the best this year.

The Tubs - Dead MeatBig 80s/90s UK post-punk indie-pop vibes. This is exactly the sound I would want to hear if I walked into a pub in London and wanted to really feel like I was in London.

Thank You, I’m Sorry - the first three songs released off Growing in Strange Places, due out out September 29.

Orson Wilds - This Burning House (We All Fell Asleep In) EPThis one just came out but it has grabbed me right away. It’s big, it’s rocky, it’s folky, it’s catchy. This is the sound of a band coming into their own, expanding on their previous work and maximizing their sound. It was produced by Mike Sapone.

It was so much harder than I thought it would be, and even though I told myself I’d just do it without thinking too hard, I thought too hard about the 20 songs that make you happy thing. Editing it down past 30 was physically painful and then I stopped cutting at 25. Here’s what I came up with and yeah of course I had to make a graphic for it.

A few songs that alllllmost made it:

Brand New - “Logan to Government Center”Built to Spill - “Car”Cartel - “Luckie St.”Hot Rod Circuit - “Irish Car Bomb”Japandroids - “No Known Drink or Drug”Joanna Newsom - “Peach, Plum, Pear”Joyce Manor - “Constant Headache”Knapsack - “Arrows to the Action”The National - “Pink Rabbits”New Found Glory - “Ballad For the Lost Romantics” REM - “Nightswimming”Saves The Day - “All-Star Me”The Smiths - “There is a Light That Never Goes Out”

This story has really stuck with me and been deeply upsetting. This person wasn’t even queer. They were murdered just for supporting queer folks. Someone was mad enough about queer people existing that they killed someone just for showing support by flying a flag outside their store to say “I support queer people and think they should be treated just like everyone else.” Now they’re dead. And their non-queerness doesn’t even matter to those who just can’t stand the idea that everyone should be welcome in society. Imagine if that had been a MAGA flag and a queer leftist murdered them. All the same people who made this false moral panic up out of nothing would be going wall to wall bonkers all day every day about the scourge of leftist queer murderers who should be thrown into the Mariana Trench immediately. This is terrorism. Full stop. So many people bear responsibility here, and L*bs of Tiktok is right near the top of that list. Evil, evil people.

How To With John Wilson (watch it on Max)

This show is like nothing else on TV. John Wilson roams New York City shooting anything and everything and composes the most disparate and humorous shots into something so poignant and profound it shouldn’t make sense, but everywhere he goes his lens finds brilliance around the next corner. His particular and wide eyed view take him into the most unexpected places, and whether it’s scripted or not is beside the point, as I think he showed with a certain car in a certain parking lot. He meets the most interesting and strangest and downright weirdest (all compliments) people and while his camera can linger on them uncomfortably long, neither he nor the camera ever passes judgment on these subjects. He is earnestly curious, and people are shockingly open and honest with him. Whether it was the Avatar fan group last season or the vacuum enthusiasts this season, his questions lead him to these specific groups of people who are simply living their lives, passionate about their interests. They may not be your interests or my interests, but that’s not the point. It would be easy to mock them, but as it turns out it’s even easier to listen and empathize. This show is funny and meant to be funny, but not at the expense of the people he meets. Life is about laughing, but life is not about tearing others down. Life is about finding your people and building those relationships and strengthening those communities. The 99.9% of us have so much more in common than we think. I will miss this show.

The show’s ethos in nine words: Be kind. Be curious. There’s a place for everyone.

The Bear (watch it on FX/Hulu)

Yo cousin. This show had a great first season, and despite how great it was, the last episode packed an overwhelming emotional punch and set the bar high for what would come next. That’s a lot to live up to, and yet season two built on everything from season one and somehow got even better. I wish this show had been a weekly show rather than a dump-it-all-at-once. The conversations around these truly great episodes would have been a fun experience for ten weeks. The deep, rich character work from the writers and the actors was really something special. And as much as some creators play the “it’s a 10 hour movie” card, television is and has always meant to be episodic. There’s a rhythm and a feel to an episode of television. This show gets it. This show understands its characters and drew intimate, expansive, empathetic portraits of them and invited us in to breathe their breath, to feel their anxiety, their discomfort, their stress, and sometimes, their successes. Masterful stuff.

I saw Death Cab play Transatlanticism and The Postal Service play Give Up the other night and it was just a lovely evening. Two perfect records. 21 songs, great song after great song. They’d finish one song, I would exhale and try to compose myself, and then the next song started like another uppercut to the jaw. I know the order of those songs like the back of my hand and yet I found myself caught off guard time and time again. I was a boxer who just never had a chance to steady myself and kept taking blows. I’m a big strong brave boi and somehow stayed upright for the evening though, no big deal. One person writing those two records in one year is an all-time achievement. Jenny Lewis, I love you.

My friend Spencer asked me to be a part of his Wonder Years Greatest Generation zine and I was excited to be asked and then scared to actually write it, but I am proud of what came out. I picked “Dismantling Summer” and used that song to write about what the Wonder Years have always been best at capturing: that visceral suburban malaise. Click the link to his blog and you can get one a copy for yourself. It looks like this, and here’s my piece.

Some other things:

Is anyone else obsessed with the New York Times game Connections? I look forward to it every day. I failed for the first time the other day and I’m still mad about it.

I don’t know anything about the “friends and family” show that Jesse Lacey played last week. I still just don’t think Brand New is ever coming back. I also happen to think that’s just fine. A Jesse solo project seems more likely, but I get the feeling he doesn’t have any interest in the spotlight again and I can’t blame him for that.

Olivia Rodrigo discourse is kinda boring. She’s got good songs and she’s going to be a gateway for a lot of kids to get into some better music. That’s a net positive. My thoughts are thus:1. As Tall As Lions mentioned!2. If her fans ever heard Charly Bliss, their heads would explode. (compliment)

Red Sox chat time! I don’t love Chaim Bloom but if John Henry is going to be a borderline absentee owner and/or not spend money, Chaim might just be the best person for this job. They asked him to do everything everywhere all at once and he did some things sometimes occasionally (for example: failing to execute a deadline trade) and for that he’s gone. Is that fair? Mostly no! And now the team is set up pretty well for the next few years and if they do well, it will be in large part due to Chaim but most people won’t even remember that. Henry need to remember they’re the Freakin’ Boston Red Sox and spend some money to go along with your bright young stars in your suddenly loaded farm system. We all want great, exciting, talented players on the teams we root for. It’s that simple. We should still be watching Mookie Betts be one of the top 3 players (and cool as hell) in the league every single day. Triston Casas AL MVP 2024, let’s go.

I really enjoy Ed Zitron’s newsletter. It’s nice to see some honest critiques of Elon Musk (et al) from people who don’t hold back. As he said recently, Musk is a danger to society. Not enough people are calling that spade a spade.

I enjoyed (maybe that’s not the right word) this episode of Chris Hayes’ WITH? podcast with a climate expert. I know most of my peers understand that the climate is changing fast but this was still an eye-opening listen. It is the single biggest issue in the world and I’m worried for our futures that it keeps getting pushed to the back burner (yeah I said it) for a variety of reasons and it feels like we’re just not going to solve it or fix it. I don’t know how people can walk around and not think about this. I wish the country has the desire to go after climate criminals and to make meaningful changes. These people are committing global arson and not only are they going to get away with it, they’re going to be fine as things get worse because they can afford it.

I loved the Melanie Speaks episode of the Sounds Gay Podcast. Just a really fascinating story.

Eventually I have to stop editing this and just post it, so I think I’ll do that now. Hi! Bye!