What I’ve been spinnin’ – March 24, 2024

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The Go-To Guy is taking a bit of a break at the moment, so, I figured I’d try my hand at a music piece, once again.

Much like hockey, I’m pretty much obsessed with music as a form of media. While some enjoy a book or a movie, my medium of choice when I need to wind down is music. There’s just so much to love about it: The sonic textures; the lyricism; the occasional, horribly bad song that gets recommended to you from the Spotify DJ feature; there’s just so many aspects of music that keeps me entertained.

In all seriousness, it’s incredibly easy to find new music in today’s world, which has it’s pros and cons. I have decided to be on the side of the pros today: So, I’m starting a new series for my catalogue.

This is mainly inspired by Anthony Fantano’s “Weekly Track Roundup” videos which he posts, typically, every Sunday night, highlighting the best and worst new tracks that he hears in a week. Instead of highlighting only new tracks, this series is just an avenue for me to express my love for any music that I am currently listening to, as well as sharing these tracks, albums and artists with you.

This is what I’ve been spinnin’ over the last week:

Cheerleader – Porter Robinson

I hadn’t heard any of Porter Robinson’s work prior to this song’s release, but I have been meaning to for a while, now.

To my understanding, this is the start of a new sound for Porter, just with many of his previous producing tendencies: Beautiful instrumental layering, electronic elements, and borderline abrasive sonic textures, with some Japanese-pop fused in to the mix.

I’m typically not a fan of these types of artists, but I just keep hearing amazing things about Porter’s work up until this point.

I absolutely love Cheerleader; an early song of the year candidate for me.

With a runtime of just under four minutes, Cheerleader kept me enthralled throughout its duration. The song mixes pop-rock, j-pop, and EDM for one of the best pop songs that I have heard this year.

The verses are so, so bubblegum pop, but they are wrapped up brilliantly with a pre-chorus buildup like you’d hear on a Blink-182 song from 1999. The choruses are stupidly catchy: It makes me feel like I’m in an Anime world, which I think (and hope) is a good thing? All I know is that it makes me want to dance like Uma Thurman, and I certainly can’t the melody out of my head.

The main hook has habilitated in my brain since I first heard it; it may as well set up shop and starting working from home because I sure as hell don’t think it’ll be out of there any time soon. It’s a serious earworm but in the best way possible and could very well end up being the catchiest hook I’ll hear all year. I don’t know if it has the power to take down last year’s “hook of the year” – Welcome To My Island by Caroline Polachek – but that song has maybe the best pop chorus I’ve ever heard.

Cheerleader‘s lyrics are all about Porter’s fans, specifically how some have become pretty parasocial – essentially obsessing over him. It’s an interesting topic, and a relevant one at that, and I think Porter nails it with his own interpretation; recognizing that he needs his fans more than they need him, even if they think otherwise.

This is a good one, man, and one I’ll keep in my back pocket for a potential year-end list.

Eternal Life – Jeff Buckley

A lot of incredible talents have to leave us too soon, and Jeff Buckley is a standout on a long list of greats.

Eternal Life is quite the change of pace from anything else on his incredible 1994 record: “Grace”, but it’s a welcomed one. Instead of the typical somber, lush balladry that consistently keeps the record afloat, Jeff is utterly revolted on this track; opting for an anti-bigotry rocker instead of the usual soft-rock stuff.

The vocals are one thing, of course, and they especially rock on this song. Jeff’s wailing roars are still so, incredibly lovely, especially at the end of the track where he lets out one of his greatest high note holds ever; but he brings some serious grit and attitude that typically isn’t there in his studio work.

The guitar tone on this one is to die for: Bluesy, rockin’, and matches beautifully with the driving bass and drums. Even with all of this hard-nosed stuff, we still get gorgeous string arrangements that contrast effortlessly with all of the loud business at the forefront of the song. The instrumental work on this record is some of the best of the 90s, and I think Eternal Life might be the most versatile track on the entire project.

Jeff Buckley was an absolute songwriting marvel, and it really is unfair that his life ended so abruptly. I don’t know enough about him as a person to form a well educated opinion on the guy, but what I do know is that he was an incredible talent who is impossible to replicate. In my mind, a generational caliber artist.

Also, give this live version a run. It’s fantastic.

Alright, let’s do a rapid fire section so I’m not only highlighting three songs in this article:

It’s Catching Up – Nomeansno

A quirky, heavy and rapid hardcore track from these Victoria, BC punks. If you’re at all into hardcore punk, these guys are incredible; and their 1989 record: “Wrong” is a masterpiece.

Obsession – Thornhill

The Melbourne boys are back at it with a Deftones inspired slow rocker. The vibes are vibin’; Jacob Charlton’s vocals are borderline seductive; and it’s just an overall solid song from Thornhill, as is customary.

A LA CARTE – Quadeca, brakence

This song is going to live in my head forever.

THE DEATH OF PIECE OF MIND – Bad Omens

There are only a select few metalcore bands that I enjoy these days, but Bad Omens remain among them. This song was my top song of 2022 and is now re-entering the rotation. I think I’m getting real close to considering this one as an “all-timer”.

And with that, the rapid fire section is done.

TEXAS BLUE – Quadeca, Kevin Abstract

If you read my “A glowing review of SCRAPYARD by Quadeca” piece, then you know just how much I love this song, but I wanted to give the song it’s own, individual moment in the sun.

Good lord, this song is stunning. Quadeca seriously destroyed sonic worlds with his SCRAPYARD mixtape; TEXAS BLUE being the perfect sendoff for a near-perfect record.

I think that the instrumental layering on this track is masterful and an actual triumph, as I still sit here and wonder how one can make a song that, sonically, sounds this pleasing to the ear.

Kevin Abstract (formerly in BROCKHAMPTON) makes an appearance on the song, and his presence is one of consistency. He is heard at least once in every section of the song and you won’t find me complaining about that at all: It’s a highlight of his career, in my eyes.

I suggest you read my article linked above and just listen to the entire record, as Quadeca came out with an album of the year frontrunner before anyone else could even get remotely going.

SCRAPYARD feels bigger than a traditional mixtape, and it’s songs like TEXAS BLUE which help propel it into a different stratosphere.

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