Song Overflow #1 - July 2024

Scouring new releases is a messy process. I'm letting you inside the weigh station where all the songs I find hang out before they get sorted into "real" playlists. Please behave accordingly.

Just a very small bonus post & playlist today before the end of the month. Soon to come: an actual posting schedule (?!) feat. artist spotlights, regular playlists and discussions, and other topics on a somewhat more reliable basis.

When it comes to keeping up with new releases, I start out every year with good intentions. I have spreadsheets, scoring rubrics, and release calendars. All of the aggregators are in my bookmarks. Every Friday morning I fire up the ol’ music machine, ready to listen to five or fifteen brand new albums back to back with the unfettered zeal of a gaining blackjack player.

If it sounds kind of exhausting, that’s because it is. Sometimes I make it all the way through March without falling behind, but it’s already the end of July and I haven’t touched a spreadsheet for months.

Future me will have to worry about catching up on all of the unmissable new records — the end-of-year scramble is always the same — but for now, I have the Song Overflow.

Like a disorganized audio Pinterest board, the Song Overflow is where I tuck all the “definitely later”s that pique my interest but don’t immediately lend themselves to categorization into an existing playlist. It’s not that these are unknowns that haven’t been vetted yet (like my artist submissions playlist, which will always stay private), or that I haven’t decided how much I like them. It’s that I haven’t been able to devote enough time to the entire album (or EP, or compilation) that they come from.

I don’t have restrictions about artist size (Charli XCX was on this list for a while before I was sure that Von Dutch would end up on my Best Tracks of 2024 playlist) or category (I can’t always hear an older band’s influence!) or release date (as long as it’s from the 2020s, let’s say), which is why not everything here will end up landing on a New Bands for Old Heads playlist. But just because it’s not slated for a “Best Of…” or an “Inspired By…” doesn’t mean you won’t want to hear it.

Think of this as a pile of good first impressions that I’m letting you sift through before I curate it. As usual, I’m pulling out a few below for prior inspection.

Enjoy!

1. Housewife - Fuck Around Phase

For (former?) fans of: Figuring out that Alanis Morisette was singing “You Oughta Know” about Dave Coulier
Sounds kinda like: Liz Phair, if she were having a brat summer

2. King Isis - MONKI

For (former?) fans of: rock opera, Poe (the ‘90s grunge artist, not the poet)
Sounds kinda like: The unholy combination of Radiohead and Beyonce

3. Sofia Bolt - Milk

For (former?) fans of: Midcentury modern bar carts, Serge Gainsbourg, mellotrons
Sounds kinda like: The Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Just Like Honey,” if it were French pop

4. strongboi - fool around

For (former?) fans of: Stereolab, lava lamps, disco as something to lounge to
Sounds kinda like: Pearl & the Oysters

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This month’s overflow is all yours.