| END 2022
The world's human population officially crossed the 8 billion threshold in November 2022, according to the United Nations
While the GOP does take a very narrow majority in the House, the "red wave" Trump supporters expected in the US elections not only doesn't happen but we thankfully see the defeat of just about every election denier. Long live democracy!
In September Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom dies at the age of 96 after reigning for 70 years, prompting the immediate accession of King Charles III
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Pro Teens
This is around the sixth or seventh album from the Phoenix, Arizona indie rock band. It’s a decent recording of pretty straight forward stuff: guitar, drums and bass with some understated vocals wafting through the mix. Solid indie rock songs with a hint of pop here and there. “Glitter Glutch” is definitely the best song here, with a very catchy guitar lick running throughout. (Nov '22)
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Modern Studies
Busy year for Modern Studies as they put out there second release of the year. Although they call it an EP, it has eight songs, so pretty LP like as far as we’re thinking. This one is pretty standard from the Scottish band – mellower indie rock that doesn’t stray too far off path. No synths, no programmed drumming, no horn section, no strings and orchestrations. There are some samples in the background for a bit of a moody ambience, otherwise it’s just guitar, bass, drums, guy-girl singing. The songs have a solid drone-like structure, but none of them are much over three and a half minutes, so we’re not post-rocking here. Nope, just good indie rock that break up solid drone verses with very beautiful girl-guy harmony led choruses. Good stuff. (Nov '22)
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Jockstrap
Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye met in 2016 when they shared a class at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama and found a common interest in the varied worlds of mainstream pop, EDM and post-dubstep. So they formed Jockstrap and made music. This is a solid album, but "Concrete Over Water" is really something else. It stands apart from 99.9% of the music out there. Innovative, explosive, gorgeous, exciting, mysterious, theatrical ... and something you want to actively lean in and listen to. But just to show they can also do a good old beautiful love song, the present "What's It All About." We're actually not sure it's a love song, but we'll take the album title as a hint that maybe it's related to that? (Sept '22)
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Stella Donnelly
This one was sort of a surpise for us. We had very low expectations going in. It was undescript in a pile of music we were listening to but it just wouldn't leave. We had the door open for it to go, we emptied all the other songs from that haul and back into the largely empty playlist and lo and behold, there's still a bunch of Stella Donnelly songs down there. What Donnelly really nails on this album is the twee, upbeat, optimistic external face vs. the unknown, scared, questioning voice that's kept hidden inside. "This Week" perfectly balances this. It's a beautiful song. (Nov '22)
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Weyes Blood
We're blown away right from the get go. "It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody" is flat out spectacular. We are completely mesmerized by Natalie Mering's vocals, danging on every little inflection and she covers a ton of ground, constantly changing notes throughout the entire songs. Then the fricken harp kicks in. Yeah, this is a great song, as is "Grapevine," "God Turn Me into a Flower," and "Worst is Done." (Nov '22)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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MID 2022
In June the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the nearly 50-year-old federal constitutional right to abortion, allowing individual states to implement strict bans or regulations
Argentina defeated France in the Men's World Cup Final in December, which marked the first time the tournament was hosted in the Middle East |
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Julia Jacklin
We’ve been fans of the Melbourne singer / songwriter since 2019’s release Crushing came out. This release follows in the same vein: singer with a beautiful, venerable voice over relatively simple acoustic songs. There’s not too much of the band thing, drums, bass, etc. going on here. Mostly Jacklin with some simple instrumentation. At her best, that simple formula is brilliant. Case in point: Good Guy off the Crushing album. That was so good, we made her a music video featuring the Big O (RIP). No song here gets to that high of a high, but “End Of A Friendship” is a good one. (26 Aug '22)
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C Duncan
We're blown away by this album. Full, beautiful, lush orchestration and lively score, this sounds like it's coming out of the orchestra pit at the Academy Awards. There's a little kitch, a harkening back to the big band eras in the mid 90s, grandeous sweeping songs ... and this is one dude making all of this music? WTF?! This would take a team of 50 people to do this back in the 40s. Although they'd have a tough time finding the distored guitar for some brief hot licks. C Duncon joins MF Tomlinson to kick off our newest playlist: the "Sensative Anglo Composers Who Go By Their Initials". Yeah, we know that needs some work. (May '25)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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Father John Misty
If you're on the Father John train, you'll enjoy this one. It may be a little more upbeat and perhaps a bit more expansive than some of the previous releases -- after all, there is some plucky harpischord roaming about in "Q4," a magnificant song that is bound to be a staple for that pick me up moment of Misty's live shows. "The Next 20th Century" is a classic the end-is-neigh-style Father John sermen. But "Goodbye Mr. Blue"? Oh boy, this just may just be the most sweet song Father John, or really anyone, has every wrote or sung. It brings a tear to our eye everything we hear it. (Apr '26)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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Start 2022
ChatGPT launches, kicking off the AI era. Shortly afterwardsm the US Copyright Office says works created entirely by AI without human creative input are not eligible for copyright protection.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, sparking the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II and triggering widespread international sanctions.
Most countries dropped strict lockdowns and international travel mandates (like mandatory quarantine), marking a broad return to global economic activity and in-person events. |
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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Aldous Harding
This one caught us a little off guard. This isn't open mic night coffee shop female singer-songwriter with some hearful strums. The songs are slightly strange and the tone and texture of Harding voice shifts all over the place between, and even within, songs. "Fever," "Warm Chris," "Passion Babe," and "Leathery Whip" made our heavy rotation. This is a great album. (Mar '22)
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Cate Le Bon
Le Bon has a very distinct style which resonates with us. You can hear it distinctively in the work with other artists where she gets producer credits and we love that. But here in her solo work it's full on 95 proof. Minimalist, aloof, elegant synth wave and Telecaster work. It's clean, tidy. If it were a sculpture,it'd be a Koons. Painting? Probably a Piet Mondrian, De Stiji piece. A house? Cameron's house in Ferris Bueller's Day Off ... but it would be located in Miami Beach, and it would have lots of pink throw pillows on the couches. So surprise us to find out Le Bon hails from rural West Wales. There is nothing dirty, sloppy and earthy about this music. We have "Moderation," "Harbour," and "Wheel" on heavy rotation. (Feb '26)
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Modern Studies
The sixth long play from this underrated Scottish band is very much like their previous releases. Although it isn’t as solid as 2018’s Welcome Strangers – which we think was a brilliant release – the mellow indie rock is very much in the swimlane of that, and their previous releases. Straight forward indie rock that borders on slowcore on one side, hints at drone space rock on the other side but never goes too far down either side. But, as always, the star here is the guy-girl harmonies as they tackle almost all songs together singing in almost a deadpan style but perfectly in synch. It’s Hush Kids-like, albeit with a more mopey song set, in how well the guy-girl harmonies work here. “Wild Ocean” is the best song here. (Feb '22)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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tbd
tbd ( '26)
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