There is a Light That Never Goes Out
In which your friendly local new music curator (quickly) talks about old music for a change, runs through a mountain of August releases, and makes way too many Smiths references.
Happy Monday, kids! There’s yapping about old music ahead. Wanna get right down to business with the new music recs? Hop down to "Some August Albums" below.
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
I owe a lot of my music taste to one friend I had back in high school.
He was a few years ahead of me and went to one of the fancier schools out in the suburbs. He also drove a red Mustang. I felt smug as hell when he’d pick me up at my house to go for a drive.
The city where I grew up is pretty vibrant these days, but back in the early 2000s there wasn’t much to do if you weren’t twenty-one yet. CDs weren’t cheap, but gas sure was. We’d drive just to drive and to have an excuse to listen to music.
He knew I liked the Smiths (to be fair though, what sixteen-year-old doesn’t like the Smiths?), and he thought maybe I’d like a band called the Manic Street Preachers. “I just got their newest one,” he’d say. He always had the newest one, whatever it was.
I’d argue that the perfect conditions for new music discovery are being stuck inside a car with a friend and no other plans.
After that, I don’t think I went a full day in the entire two years before I left for college without playing “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next.” A song about the Spanish Civil War by a Welsh band whose guitarist had gone missing? I had never heard anything like it before. Don’t worry — it didn’t take me long to go back for The Holy Bible. It’s now one of my favorite records of all time.
Later, he introduced me to Belle and Sebastian on the same pretext: if I loved Morrissey I’d probably like them, too. He was right, but it was more than that. He didn’t know what he was handing me.
In that red Mustang, memorizing the words to “I Fought in a War,” I wasn’t thinking about genres or how bands developed their sound. I just liked what I was listening to.
A handful of years later, in 2005, I read an absolutely life-changing essay that introduced me to twee1, to jangle pop, and to the correlation between the two. Suddenly I had the vocabulary I needed to understand why my friend knew I’d like Belle and Sebastian just because I liked the Smiths, and I was starting to understand how influential they truly were.
What before had felt a little like coincidence, or maybe simple over-reliance on sardonic lyrics, now clicked into context. There was a direct line between Morrissey and Murdoch — one made of cardigans and horn-rimmed glasses.
That same year, I started writing music reviews in earnest.
Burn Down the Disco, Hang the Blessed (Spotify) DJ
I’m not exactly anti-algorithm, but I know nothing compares to the feeling of recognition that comes from an actual person — one you like, and who likes you back — putting a new record on and saying, “hey, I thought you might be into this.”
In fact, I’d argue that the perfect conditions for new music discovery are being stuck inside a car with a friend and no other plans. Talk about a captive audience.
But we aren’t high school kids with nothing to do on a weeknight except closing out the local National Record Mart, then spending the next few hours peeling cellophane and arguing over who gets to pick the next album.
No, we’re adults with jobs and mortgages and smartphone addictions. Even those of us who still have “that cool music friend” (or several) are often limited by time and distance. We don’t turn to pre-generated playlists because we crave human connection; we do it because it’s easier.
All that to say, I can’t recreate the red Mustang experience for you. I don’t have one, for one thing, and I don’t know most of you, so you probably shouldn’t get in a car with me anyway. Plus, if you knew how little physical media I owned, you’d have my license revoked.
What I can do, though, is tell you about some new music, right here. And if you keep scrolling, and you press “play” instead of skipping the songs, you can just imagine that I’m telling you:
”Hey — I thought you might be into this.”
Some August Albums
There have been an overwhelming amount of new releases in August… a month that I realize still has one more record release day in it.
I listened to many of those releases. Then I picked some out that I thought you might enjoy and that you may not have listened to yet (in case you’re wondering why Fontaines D.C., JPEGMAFIA, or Illuminati Hotties aren’t making an appearance).
They are numbered for your convenience only — I don’t do rankings here.
Let’s get into it.
1. Cowgirl - Cut Offs
Okay, we’re all in a jangle pop mood now. But what if that jangle leaned power pop, and then we added the fuzz and distortion from Psychocandy and the swagger from Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia? We’d get Cowgirl, one of my most fun recent discoveries. I’ll be genuinely annoyed if this band doesn’t get more exposure.
2. Hamish Hawk - A Firmer Hand
Last year, I think I offended my friend2
when I called Hamish Hawk “dad rock.” I’d now like to issue a formal apology. Last year’s Angel Numbers was an indie darling, but never grabbed me. I have a feeling that this new one isn’t going to get as much traction, but it’s far more interesting to my ears. This is the first of two albums I’ll be recommending in this post where I hear Morrissey’s influence quite strongly (but I did set the mood, didn’t I?), in the darkest, most baroque way. There’s something of Rufus Wainwright here, too.3. Fake Fruit - Mucho Mistrust
I have been eagerly waiting to feature Fake Fruit ever since seeing them open for Dry Cleaning on their 2022 tour. Not quite riot grrrl, not quite punk, and not quite post-punk either, their occasionally surreal sound evokes the Pixies a lot more than the Blondie-inspired album name would have you expect.
4. Brigitte Calls Me Baby - The Future is Our Way Out
I said I had two bands to recommend with a Morrissey influence — this is the second. Instead of dark and gritty like Hamish Hawk, though, I’ve been describing Brigitte Calls Me Baby as “Roy Orbison with an ‘80s jangle pop band.” Actually, the lead singer leans so heavily into the ‘80s-does-the-’50s trope that it would risk entering carnival cruise entertainment territory if it it weren’t so damn well executed.
5. Heems - Veena
In a year of innumerable large, heavy hip hop releases, I keep coming back to Heems. This is his second (!) release of the year, and though LAFANDAR was arguably stronger, I am delighted by his consistent ability to create an actual aural collage. Old school East Coast hip hop meets the South Asian immigrant experience.
6. GIFT - Illuminator
At some point last year, when I was recommending Dream Wife’s new album over on TikTok, I described the aesthetic they shared with their influences (like Garbage and Republica) as “a slutty Bladerunner vibe.” I think GIFT can be described the same way. At times electronic, at times shoegazey, at times straight pop, the band keeps a strong cyperpunk vein pumping throughout. I hear a lot of Massive Attack in this track in particular:
7. Cassyette - This World Fucking Sucks
Oh god, I’m so happy the 2000s revival is moving beyond indie sleaze. This record is an absolutely indulgent tumble through some of the greatest the alt scene had to offer during that era. In fact, imagine if the entire Suicide Girls website became a pop star. Take early Pink or Lady Gaga, but give them a nu metal or even techno spin. It might be ridiculous, but I have you admit that it’s entertaining.
8. Wishy - Triple Seven
I debated whether to include Wishy’s debut record, because I have a feeling you’ve already heard it. If you haven’t yet, I’d best describe it as a comfort blanket for the ‘90s music lover. Taking inspiration from shoegaze, slacker rock, dreampop, grunge, and Midwest emo, they blend catchy hooks with a lot of fuzz. I’m reminded a bit of last year’s release from Hotline TNT.
9. Charly Bliss - Forever
I used to recommend Charly Bliss in the same breath as Cherry Glazerr, Bully, and Speedy Ortiz. They were on the revolving roster of alt-girl bands that I knew would fill any Veruca Salt-shaped hole. But Forever is pure pop. It’s Carly Rae Jepsen does Kim Wilde. And it’s a very welcome evolution.
I’ll stop at lucky number nine, but it really has been an unusually rich month for great album releases.
Which of these picks are you most excited to dive into?
What albums have you been listening to this month?
Are there any records you think I overlooked?
Let me know! See you next week for another edition of Song Overflow.
I hesitated for a moment here, realizing I’d be inviting mockery on two separate topics: first, that I was admitting to finding a Pitchfork article life-changing, and second, that I didn’t learn about twee until 2005. If either of these things needs defending, I’m fully prepared. But this is also a great time to remind anyone who may have found themselves rolling their eyes at that sentence that my anti-gatekeeping policy runs both ways.
…and podcast co-host. And entire reason I was ever allowed to start writing about music.
Thank you for creating this Substack which speaks to me and me alone, I very much appreciate it. I dunno who these other folks are.
Oh, man! I grew up in the mix-tape era… friends (crushes) making tapes for each other…
The Smith were massive, but radio darlings REM, Yaz, et al were big too!
I also had a music mentor. That guy made a ‘zine, was an artists, and loved hard to access music. We both worked at a comic shop. Organizing comics one day, he put on a live Bad Brains album. I thought my world had been turned upside down in the most fantastic way possible.
At 14, I had the testosterone of a man and the pent up anger of a kid who had authoritarian parents. Bad Brains were the perfect antidote to my world of suppressed emotion. From there, I was breathing music through all the bronchioles, finding new ways to breathe going down the most minute passages.
So many bands, so many imagined lives…