Art School Girlfriend – My (life in) music lists

Playlist: New tunes from 2023, part three

Ok. Fine. I’m really late with this one. I typically try to post my quarterly updates to my ongoing playlist featuring new tunes of the year within a couple of weeks of the end of the quarter. We’re getting near the middle of November and it’s already starting to feel like winter. Summer would normally be a distant memory… except…

Except it was an excellent summer.

I started off July at Ottawa’s Bluesfest and saw some excellent sets of music over the course of its just over a week and a half duration. Then, a road trip at the end of that month brought new experiences, beaches, a hike on a mountain ridge, great food, and craft beer. In August, there was a hiking trip in Algonquin park and in September, a quick getaway to squeeze in the last dregs of summer. Definitely one to remember, especially with all the other craziness going on in the world.

Musically, there wasn’t a lot of new music that came across my desk that caught my ears and attentions. However, and as you will see below, what there was was all very excellent and in fact, many of the albums in which these songs appear will likely find their way on my on to my year end best albums list*.

If you want, you can check parts one and two of the playlist before you peruse further or you can just skip to the new songs below. If you’re one of those that find twenty-five tracks overwhelming and you just want some highlights, you could do worse than start with these:

- - Canadian singer/songwriter, Colter Wall, and his deep, deep voice are back with a new album and “Corralling the blues” is just a tumbleweed blowing across the deserted highway
  - “The narcissist” by one of my all-time favourite bands, Blur, spearheads a surprising new twist and turn for the band on its latest reunion album
- - Speaking of returns of favourite bands, the eight and half minutes of “Fables of the silverlink” shouts The Clientele from far and away and allows the echoes and reverb speak for themselves
- - Drab Majesty recently toured with Slowdive while supporting their new EP of dark and shadowy dream pop, of which “The skin and the glove” is the most upbeat and accessible
- - “Simmering” by Pale Blue Eyes is anything but – boiling over is more like it and like it a lot I do
  - Canadian indie pop quartet The Beaches invoke a lot of memories and laughs with “Shower beer”, just one of the many fun tracks on their latest
  - Soccer Mommy has released an EP of great covers by bands like R.E.M. and Slowdive but I am really digging her version of Sheryl Crow’s “Soak up the sun”

Here is the entire playlist as I’ve created it:

1. “Portrait of a clear day” Julie Byrne (from the album The greater wings)

2. “Independence day” Palehound (from the album Eye on the bat)

3. “Corralling the blues” Colter Wall (from the album Little songs.)

4. “The narcissist” Blur (from the album The ballad of Darren)

5. “Fables of the silverlink” The Clientele (from the album I am not there anymore)

6. “Close to the clouds” Art School Girlfriend (from the album Soft landing)

7. “Jaws” Dizzy (from the album Dizzy)

8. “Too far gone” Islands (from the album And that’s why dolphins lost their legs)

9. “The skin and the glove” Drab Majesty (from the EP An object in motion)

10. “Home” Hannah Georgas (from the album I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care)

11. “Morning zoo” Ratboys (from the album The window)

12. “Kisses” Slowdive (from the album Everything is alive)

13. “Simmering” Pale Blue Eyes (from the album This house)

14. “What’s the point in life” Coach Party (from the album Killjoy)

15. “Weak in your light” Nation Of Language (from the album Strange disciple)

16. “Between the past” Woods (from the album Perennial)

17. “Shower beer” The Beaches (from the album Blame my ex)

18. “Bug like an angel” Mitski (from the album The land is inhospitable and so are we)

19. “Stop talking” Will Butler + Sister Squares (from the album Will Butler + Sister Squares)

20. “Soak up the sun” Soccer Mommy (from the EP Karaoke night)

21. “Foreign land” Teenage Fanclub (from the album Nothing lasts forever)

22. “Dead man” Postdata (from the album Run wild)

23. “Everything at once” Bleach Lab (from the album Lost in a rush of emptiness)

24. “Cramps” Slow Pulp (from the album Yard)

25. “Snowman” Blonde Redhead (from the album Sit down for dinner)

Apple initiates can click here to sample the above tracks as a whole playlist.

And as always, wherever you are in the world, I hope you continue to be well. Above all, enjoy the tunes.

*If I ever get it pulled together and drafted…

If you’re interested in checking out any of the other playlists I’ve created and shared on these pages, you can peruse them here.

Playlist: New tunes from 2021, part three

Things have been quieter around these parts over the last couple of months. I went from posting to these pages two or three times a week back in August to averaging just a couple of posts each for the months of September and October. It’s been a rough year all around and my wife and I took a look around mid-August and realized that the summer was almost over. We decided to spend as much time outside as we could and tried to do things that would make things feel like normalcy was returning. All that being said, we’ve had a good couple of months and now, I feel like I’m ready to start picking up the proverbial pen with more regularity again, though nothing like the pace at which I had going prior to my unexpected mini hiatus.

I should point out now that just because I’ve been quiet here, that this doesn’t mean I haven’t been listening to music. Far from it. I’ve continued to spin records whenever I get the chance and I am often streaming new music on the Spotify while doing chores or while working away at the computer. And yeah, there’s been lots of new music released over the last few months, more than I expected to find in coffers when I sat down to try to put together this third part of my New tunes of 2021 series of playlists.

“Third part?”, you might be asking.

Why, yes. This is part three. In fact, this is my third year running, doing these multi-part playlists. Typically, each part collects twenty-five or so songs, representing the musical output for a three month segment of the year. You can go back and have a peek at the songs that made my world turn for the first six months of 2021 here and here if you’d like.

Otherwise, I’ll stop my blathering and lead you off towards some of my songs of summer. Highlights include:

- Drug Store Romeos have more than a great name, “Frame of reference” off the group’s debut shows off some peppy synth dreams worth mooning over
- I’m not all that familiar with Australian indie rockers, Gang of Youths, and I only checked out their new EP to listen to a certain Elbow cover but instead, fell hard for “The angel of 8th Ave.”
- It was “Scratching at the lid”, this dreamy but rocking first track that I heard in advance of Piroshka’s second album that had me looking hard and finally succumbing to that album pre-order button
- Angel Olsen has some fun with an EP of reinterpreted 80s classics but this slowed down robotic take on Men Without Hats’ “Safety dance” takes the cake for me
- Toronto artist Josh Korody aka Breeze has put together an album that sounds so much like the music me and my friends grew up on, we almost jokingly convinced my friend Tim that “Come around” was a lost 90s nugget
- “Heart land”, an ear worm the likes of which I haven’t heard from The Vaccines since their blistering debut
- And closing things off is Kurt Vile’s rip-roaring rendition of “Run run run”, just one of a number of great covers on the new Velvet Underground* & Nico tribute album, “I’ll be your mirror”

For those who don’t use Spotify or if the embedded playlist below doesn’t work for you, here is the entire playlist as I’ve created it, complete with links to YouTube videos:

1. “Personality girlfriend” Desperate Journalist (from the album Maximum sorrow!)

2. “Who’s your money on? (Plastic house)” Inhaler (from the album It won’t always be like this)

3. “Frame of reference” Drug Store Romeos (from the album The world within our bedrooms)

4. “End of the night” A Place to Bury Strangers (from the EP Hologram)

5. “The angel of 8th ave.” Gang of Youths (from the EP Total serene)

6. “Scratching at the lid” Piroshka (from the album Love drips and gathers)

7. “Romantic images” Molly Burch (from the album Romantic images)

8. “Animal” Lump (from the album Animal)

9. “Don’t go puttin wishes in my head” Torres (from the album Thirstier)

10. “Lonely” The Umbrellas (from the album The Umbrellas)

11. “Time walk” Bnny (from the album Everything)

12. “Anyway” Swim School (from the EP Making sense of it all)

13. “Safety dance” Angel Olsen (from the EP Aisles)

14. “Midnight wine” Shannon & the Clams (from the album Year of the spider)

15. “How not to drown (feat. Robert Smith)” Chvrches (from the album Screen violence)

16. “Come around (feat. Cadence Weapon)” Breeze (from the album Only up)

17. “Real pain” Indigo De Souza (from the album Any shape you take)

18. “Magnolia” Big Red Machine (from the album How long do you think it’s gonna last)

19. “Heart land” The Vaccines (from the album Back in love city)

20. “An acre lost” Sleigh Bells (from the album Texis)

21. “Days like these” Low (from the album Hey what)

22. “Is it light where you are” Art School Girlfriend (from the album Is it light where you are)

23. “Don’t hold your breath for too long” We Were Promised Jetpacks (from the album Enjoy the view)

24. “Head on” José González (from the album Local valley)

25. “Run run run” Kurt Vile (from the album I’ll be your mirror: A tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico)

As always, wherever you are in the world, I hope you are safe, continue to be well, and well, enjoy the tunes.

*If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend checking out Todd Haynes’ Velvet Underground documentary. It is excellent.

If you’re interested in checking out any of the other playlists I’ve created and shared on these pages, you can peruse them here.