Greetings from a scattered and speedy summer! I’ve been bopping around — from Boston to NYC to Denver to Virginia and beyond — and it’s admittedly been hard to settle in and soundtrack the season properly. But through it all, I’ve found a few playlists and mid-year lists that have kept me energized and up-to-date on the best new sounds. As we hit July (!) I’ll share some here, with a few noteworthy tracks and artists called out. (And of course, added to the ongoing Hear Hear playlist.)
3 summer playlists for your BBQ
Summer Rotation 🌞 from Patrick Mahan, writer of Carefully Curated, is a shuffle-worthy 100-song mix full of gems from rising new bands. Highlights include the catchy new single from Ratboys, a Phoenix + Beck collab, and a magical slice of jangle-pop from Brooklyn-based Miracle Worker.
Summer of ‘23, curated by Maggie Rogers herself, serves as the companion playlist for her big ongoing tour. It’s a fun selection of tracks new and old — alongside a few standouts from her latest album — including Alvvays, Parcels, Soccer Mommy, The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, The Meters, and Sade.
Summer (Or What It Sounds Like) Vol. 14 is Taylor Johnston’s fourteenth annual mixtape, “full of effervescent, sunny new indie jams to blast loud while you're making all your summer memories.” It was the perfect road trip soundtrack for me yesterday, with great songs from Blondshell, Phoenix + Clairo, Caroline Polachek, Shalom, and White Reaper.
2 playlists to catch up with the Best of 2023 (so far)
Stereogum’s 50 Best Albums of 2023 So Far includes four of my favorites: the grungy twang of Wednesday, Indigo De Souza’s eclectic epic, boygenius’ instant classic, and Caroline Polachek’s electro-pop island. The rest of the list serves as a helpful, genre-hopping gateway to the year’s buzzy sounds. I’m listing a few highlights below, with descriptions pulled from Stereogum’s team of excellent writers.
Bully’s Lucky For You — “vein-popping grunge-pop” with “distortion-heavy hooks and total candor”
Paranoul’s After The Magic — “a maximalist shoegaze fever dream” from an anonymous South Korean artist
Superviolet’s Infinite Spring — “classic power-pop and peak aughts indie rock” from Steve Ciolek of The Sidekicks
Jessie Ware’s That! Feels! Good! — “lush, sexy, playful disco anthems”
JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown’s SCARING THE HOES — “dense, vivid hyper-rap”
feeble little horse’s Girl With Fish — “piled-on hooks and sardonic lyrics” from the Alex G “extended universe”
Paramore’s This Is Why — “adding a dance-punk edge to the new-wave tone they perfected on After Laughter”
DEBBY FRIDAY’s GOOD LUCK — “pulse-pounding jams and sticky synth quivers” with one of the year’s most hypnotizing songs
Josh Terry’s No Expectations newsletter has quickly become my go-to source for music discovery thanks to his keen ear for exciting new bands. His favorite tracks and albums of the year feature so many warm, delightful sounds — like Bonny Doon’s breezy Let There Be Music, Jess Williamson’s swooning Time Ain’t Accidental, Shalom’s vibey synth-pop, and a nice new solo project from Clay Frankel (of Twin Peaks and Grapetooth) called Hazel City.
1 of the year’s best songs, from Olivia Rodrigo
It almost defeats the purpose of having a discovery-focused music newsletter if I’m just sharing the new Olivia Rodrigo single — but wow, what a great song. The blistering “Vampire” has a sense of grandeur and big capital-M Moments (Pitchfork and NYT blurbs called out the song’s “theatrical flair” and “rock-operatic gear”) that I really appreciate amid the sea of recent uninspired, recycled pop.
Bonus playlist: My favorites!
If you’re interested, here’s where I’m tracking my personal top songs of the year on a rolling basis. You’ll notice a lot of overlap with the Hear Hear playlist, naturally, but these are my undeniable faves.
So…what am I missing? Drop a comment or shoot me a reply with your favorite song and album of the year so far! And enjoy the rest of the weekend. 🎆