A day late, but not a song short. Difficult to fit everything in that I wanted to this edition. There’s a lot of excellent music coming out. New records from Blockhead, The Dandy Warhols, Steve Mason, Beirut, and Deer Tick, and new singles coming from Andrew Bird, Florence + The Machine, Lucy Dacus, and The Mountain Goats.
Andrew Bird has released the 2nd single now leading up to his upcoming release, and he’s sounding better than ever. Bird is the sort of artist that is so wildly multi-talented that it is almost infuriating for any amateur-musician-turned-amateur-blogger, but also you can’t help but admire him. I first came across his music about 10 years ago, but recently I realized just what a catalog he has amassed. his upcoming record, My Finest Work Yet, will be his 15th studio record. I see no reason yet to disbelieve the title.
There was one artist that I featured twice on the very first Fortnightly Playlist I made. It was early 2016, there were 10 songs, and 2 of them were from Lady Lamb’s album After. Well, Lady Lamb (Aly Spaltro) is back again releasing her first single since 2016’s Tender Warriors Club. True to form, the new single is exactly the things that made her stand out to me in the first place. Energy and honesty, unexpected turns and intricate weaving lines. I definitely look forward to more from her.
tracklist:
Junius Meyvant – Lay Your Head
Lady Lamb – Even In the Tremor
Florence & The Machine – Moderation
Haelos – Kyoto
Hembree – Culture
Blockhead – Slippery Slope
The Dandy Warhols – Thee Elegant Bum
Malibu Ken – Corn Maze
Death Valley Girls – Disaster (Is What We’re After)
Gary Clark Jr – I Walk Alone
Steve Gunn – Vagabond
Deer Tick – Run of the Mill
Bear’s Den – Fuel On The Fire
Steve Mason – Spanish Brigade
Beirut – Gallipoli
Ritual Howls – Alone Together
Lucy Dacus – La Vie En Rose
Andrew Bird – Sisyphus
The Mountain Goats – Younger
Ex Hex – Tough Enough
Mekons – Lawrence of California
Erika Wennerstrom – Twisted Highway
Jeff Johnson & Phil Keaggy – Cappadocia
The Fortnightly Playlist 
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Hip hop artists: 👎Everything else: 👍
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In general, or just in terms of the hip-hop songs I included here?
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I was only thinking of your playlist, but for me it’s true in general.
Funnily enough a prog rock blog site that I follow ran an article on hip hop songs that sampled prog rock music just a few days ago. The take home message was “don’t write off hip hop”. I tried but I still find the characteristic features of the genre so intensely irritating that I just can’t listen to it for more than a minute or so.
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I know people that do it with various kinds of music, and I understand some of it is just a matter of opinion. I just have a hard time with ruling out an entire genre as bad.
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