What’s cooking? Welcome to UNSLUMP! The Music Recommendation substack. If you’re getting this email, that means you are finding yourself in a music SLUMP (bad), and I am here to give you some recommendations (good)!
Hi everyone!! April 2024 was chock-full of great music, lots of which is perfect to welcome Spring. I am welcoming Spring and I am welcoming you to Spring with a fun mix of upbeat jams! Keep on reading, pal.
UNSLUMP! can’t feature em’ all, but here’s this month’s top 7 for you to try!
Follow along on Spotify. (Sorry, Apple Music users).
7 - One Last Dance - Baby Rose, BADBADNOTGOOD (Slow Burn EP) [April 2024]
For fans of: Carole King, Brittany Howard, old school funk, black and white checkered kitchen tiles, Andre 3000’s New Blue Sun
This is one of those songs that makes you wiggle your whole body, and if you’re like me, you’re always looking for an excuse to wiggle your body. Baby Rose is a new find for me- she’s an independent artist from Washington D.C. (I miss you, D.C.!), but lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina! A bridging of two worlds (I’m from Raleigh, so it’s always cool to see a girl who can do both).
“One Last Dance” appears at first to be a song about romance, but dig deeper, and its an ode to lost friendship. I always love when a track surprises you like this- and this one feels timeless. Upon first listen, I thought I already knew this song, but I think it took root so quickly that by the final chorus, I really did!
Baby Rose has co-signed with SZA, Kehlani and J.Cole, + toured with Ari Lennox in 2019 (Her song also closed out Creed III…. we come to this place for magic!). This Slow Burn EP totally rocks and is very aptly titled. Filled with yearning, BADBADNOTGOOD’s production makes this album more of a GREATGREATNOTBAD situation - give me more!! Much better than the Turnstile collab (but we don’t talk about that one…). I hear some Nina Simone in her voice, she’s got such a unique sound. Also check out the track “Weekness” if you liked this one.
6 - Crowded Roomz - Nia Archives (Silence Is Loud) [April 2024]
For fans of: teen movies, long drives to the beach, “Jungle meets Britpop”, insane drum machines, “bedroom rave”
Nia Archives is one of my current favorite artists- this album was so freakin’ fun!!! Nia Archives is an English record producer, DJ, singer and songwriter deeply entrenched in the UK’s jungle scene. Jungle is a genre of electronic music developed out of the 90s UK rave scene- think rapid percussion, samples, and deep basslines and melodies typically found in reggae, dancehall and funk.
Nia Archives credits Britpop (Nia, are you team Oasis or team Blur??) as inspiration for Silence Is Loud, hearkening back to jungle pioneer Goldie’s ill-fated 1997 collaboration with Noel Gallagher, Temper Temper. While that project didn’t exactly flourish, Nia Archives leans into British iconography more than stark musicality. Silence Is Loud finds Nia Archives with a union jack grill on her teeth- and that’s about the extent of the Wonderwall that appears on the album… Thankfully?
Check out this album- you’ll like it!
I love Damon Albarn. If there’s anyone I would love to listen to the album, it would probably be him.
-Nia Archives
5 - In The Wawa (Convinced I Am God) - Lip Critic (Single) [April 2024]
For fans of: 100 Gecs, Mannequin Pussy, gitchcore, Death Grips, MSPAINT, early internet, the Speed Racer movie
Lip Critic is a new band for me, and one that fits nicely into the new era of hardcore, chronically online, glitchy, sweaty moshable music that seems to keep popping up. If you’ve ever been to a Wawa, perhaps you’ll relate to the aphorism of standing in one, convinced you are a God! For those who have never partaken: think of a Wawa as a juiced up gas station! I’m partial to Sheetz myself, but the message still applies. Everyone has their Wawa!
Lip Critic is goofy- they’re a band of boys! You know these types of boys. Maybe you are this type of boy! The group contains two drummers, one of my favorite tropes for a hardcore band. For their stage setup, the two drummers take opposite sides of the stage, with the other band members at sampler desks, Kraftwerk-style, in between.
“In the Wawa” is the final single off the album Hex Dealer, out May 17. The song begins simple enough, but the addition of the electronic drumkit makes it an instant playlist-maker, and come on, a lyric like this one….
“Standing in the Wawa/ Convinced I’m a god/ So I’m gonna get any sandwich I want.”
Check out their awesome website!
4 - The Racket - Lucy Rose (This Ain’t The Way You Go Out) [April 2024]
For fans of: HAIM, Weyes Blood, the new Challengers movie with Zendaya, time signature changes
Lucy Rose’s sixth album, This Ain’t The Way You Go Out was written after her struggle to be diagnosed with pregnancy-induced osteoporosis after the birth of her second child, where she fractured eight vertebrae. In the face of such a debilitating condition and frustrating experiences with medical professionals, Rose channels triumph, joy and optimism on this record, creating something totally upbeat and imbued with hope.
Rose’s career has been marked by collaborations with Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club, Logic (who she credits for helping her regain her confidence as a songwriter), and several features in television shows - Her music has been on The Vampire Diaries, Skins, Catfish, and Girls!
If you get to catch Lucy live, she sells her own blend of tea named “Builder Grey” at the merch stand. It’s a blend of English Breakfast and Earl Grey. Yum!
3 - Jump Cut - Corridor (Mimi) [April 2024]
For fans of: King Gizzard, Panda Bear, Westerns (movies), Gorillaz, psychedelia
Canadian indie-rock Sub Pop darlings Corridor are back with their fourth album. Featured song “Jump Cut” is Gizzard-esque psychedelic mushroom-induced bliss, but song to song, the album jumps from atmospheric rock to more experimental punk influences.
Mimi dances around the mundane aspects of growing older, the triviality of maturity and the passage of time. I like it!
2 - Passionate Sunday - DANCER (10 Songs I Hate About You) [April 2024]
For fans of: The Breeders, But I’m A Cheerleader, getting wine-drunk at the AMC movie theater, college rock, 125 Rue Montmarte, postcards, Life Without Buildings
I love a band that makes me feel nostalgic for a life I’ve never lived, and Glasglow-based DANCER makes me feel just that. Their debut album, 10 Songs I Hate About You, feels like an ode to classic rom-coms, summer days and listening to your college radio station.
Released by Spanish label Meritorio, the album swaps seamlessly between speak-singing, groovy basslines and good-old fashioned post-punk. The guitarist of the band, Chris Taylor, created a homemade keyboard-guitar contraption, which you can hear him use on the track “Change”. Check out this interview with Chris for more details on it!
The album is a quick and fun listen- make sure you check out “When I Was A Teenage Horse”. Relatable! Neigh!
1 - 1000 Times - Big Blood (First Aid Kit) [June 2023]
For fans of: Tsunami (Arlington), The Cranberries, Best Coast, freak folk, confetti streamers hanging from the ceiling of a corporate tiled ceiling
Dropping this track here as a bit of a mic drop moment this month, I simply cannot stop listening to it! The reissue of First Aid Kit came out June 2023, nearly a year ago, but I discovered it this month! Yippee!
Big Blood has been active since 2006, first as a couple, and then as a family band. Caleb Mulkerin and Colleen Kinsella first formed the band, and in 2017, their then 11-year old daughter, Quinnisa, joined. They’re like a modern Partridge Family! “She’s a pain in the ass …. Lots of practices end with [Quinnisa] being tossed from the band,” says Kinsella about the family dynamic. Still, it’s gotta be working, because this album hits and it hits hard. Quinnisa, who was 13 when First Aid Kit was recorded, improvised all of the lyrics on the album in the moment, while recording in the family home onto an eight-track tape. In fact, all of their songs come out of improvisation. (Musical improv is usually a tough sell, but somehow it’s finding me in all parts of life. Is your 20’s the time to get into improv? Someone help!)
“I think about Ursula Le Guinn and how she talks about everything she takes in becoming compost … It mixes together, and when it comes out there’s all that stuff in it, sometimes it's direct and sometimes not.”
Colleen Kinsella, Big Blood
I love this review from Outside Noise:
Just as in the case of a bizarre dream, First Aid Kit will haunt you throughout your entire day as your brain struggles to pull these catchy melodies apart from the bizarre soup that they’re slow-cooked in. This record sounds familiar yet alien, proving that even in our most established sounds there’s room for adventure.
One more thing before you go…
My friend Oliver and I created a zine all about the sonic landscape of Skopje, North Macedonia! Check out some sweet Macedonian artists, and read the zine here, digitally!
That wraps up Volume VI of UNSLUMP! Let me know what you thought of this month’s picks, I’d love to know your favorites!
Until May - Stay out of the slump!
Jess