New(ish) music - June 2022

For the past few years, I and a group of friends have been using Spotify to turn each other on to new music. Each month we upload two songs each to create a playlist; we chat about the songs on WhatsApp, and at the end of each month we try to get together to review our picks.

On those occasions where I haven't been able to make our video chats, I've written short reviews of each song. Here is what I thought of June 2022's picks!

June 2022

And so we come onto the second most significant event of June 2022 - the summing up of a month’s listening on TFJ. I’ll refrain from any encomia about seeing you all at the weekend, because that’s pretty much a given - besides, I know you’re eager to see if the Sword of Damacles hovers over your selections, so without further ado, let’s begin.

JC, you’re a fine fellow and I admire your questing nature where song selections are concerned. I like the fact that you tend to push the envelope somewhat, guiding us into the darkest realms of the 6Music playlist. Yet this Kendrick Lamar and Taylour Paige collaboration has little aside from its sheer vehemence to commend it. I’m in that uncomfortable place of condemning something that’s quite worthy, namely a depiction of domestic abuse; but I can’t look past the execution, which at turns I find irksome, gratuitous and dull.

The other track that wore on me - only a little - was JS’s Garbage selection. A little surprising, as I’ve listened to Garbage lately due to the album review thing I do with my Stateside pals and dug it. My only real explanation is that it feels quite dated, its loud, shiny late-90s production ageing the track prematurely.

Happily, I had a few surprises in store, not least the Bouncing Souls. As one of the few pop-punk bands I’ve actually seen live I was expecting them to coast by on nostalgia fumes, but their knucklehead charm did a number on me. Even more eyebrow-raising was the offering from Minor Threat. Given their reputation I’d imagined their music to be near-unlistenable but ‘Salad Days’ is vying for my favourite track this month; bells, acoustic flourishes and a peculiarly ruminative air to proceedings hit the mark for me. Fantastic.

What of those that ever so slightly missed the mark? As in, joints that were good without knocking my socks off? ‘Cure for Pain’ by Morphine is one, and probably ‘This Much Is True’ by Rob Eckland and Brendan Reilly fall into this category. On the former, I really like the lugubrious saxophone and hangdog vocals; it’s certainly thick with atmosphere. The latter is an interesting one, because I dig a good pop song - and here one can draw a straight line between Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars to this; I feel it scrapes the firmament but doesn’t quite burst through the clouds. It’s missing one little signature or quirky factor to push it into the stratosphere. 

Sticking with pop music (after a fashion), how about that Ink Spots number? What a beautiful facility with a melody they demonstrate. This has been the chorus I find myself singing in the shower. JC, you’ve reached into the past before with cowboy music and early British blues before and uncovered the odd gem or two, and the same applies here.

MM, I’m going to take yours together because I appreciated them both in different ways. I have heard the name Neko Case before, but was unfamiliar with the music. The first twenty seconds made my heart sink; I thought we were in for another outing of a female singer trying to sound like Feist, which we were plagued with about ten years ago. Well, this was much, much better - a belter of a voice, no? And another sticky chorus. The one that really grabbed me, though, was the Mermen; listen, psychedelic surf guitar will always be fucking cool, no matter what other twists and turns the vagaries of popular music has for us. This is the kind of thing I pay £6 a ticket to see in small venues around Brighton, and I invariably have the best time. My ticket often costs less than my pint! Funny!

So, now we’re onto a trio that really broke through. I spoke with James about the Brant Bjork (the only Bjork I give a fig about) at the weekend, how he is essentially a Zelig figure in the desert rock scene ‘n’ all that. Now, I think the riffs and changes in ‘Chocolatize’ can be seen a mile away - in terms of groove, tempo and composition it’s as predictable as it gets - so why does it scratch the itch? Attitude, swagger, delivery, a kind of dusty, sleazy B-movie redolence? Is it just that indefinable quality of ‘cool’? Interested to hear what others think.

Next up is Steve Earle, who I’ve been tempted to put on TFJ for a while now. OH beat me to the punch! (Though that hasn’t stopped months with two Steely Dan tracks or, more peculiarly, two Dr Octagon tracks in the past.) Probably my favourite contemporary country musician, and you’re reading the words of a guy who’s very recently purchased a banjo. Earle namechecks Doc Watson in the intro, which gave me an insta-boner. Await the day I trade in my MG for a pickup.

Which leaves my clear favourite - HAZEY’s absolutely bonkers ‘Packs and Potions’. Without wishing to over-elaborate, everything works - the twisty waterslide rhymes delivered in thick demotic, the surreal references to footballers and the sparse musical backing, which almost acts as punctuation at times. Again, a surprise, a big surprise…but that’s TFJ, baby!