Music Molly

songs from the mailbag and beyond (megamix 14)

stonks music

I usually advocate for choosing your own musical journey, rather than letting a machine choose it for you. But recently I caught myself slipping—sleep-deprived, dandling a fussy bébé, and in need of a quick audio solution, I typed "chill" into the Apple Music app on my television, and selected one of their curated "chill" playlists. I know, I know, but you can only play Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92 so many times before you have to crack the glass on something else.

At first the "chill" playlist appeared normal, and featured artists whose names I knew—Tame Impala, Four Tet, etc.. As the playlist went on, the names began to look a bit weird, like the off-kilter brand names of random Amazon products (here are three sample ones pulled from a recent search for, uh, maternity tank tops: CAKYE, Suekaphin, UHdod.) I do not yet accuse Apple of padding their mood playlists with AI music, but there's definitely some music on there that might as well be AI? One artist, trankilo, seemed so patently unreal that I looked them up and saw this graphic on their Instagram, which you must see. This is what you get when you mess with the algorithm 😔

One good thing about music...

I was thinking about the song "Trench Town Rock" by Bob Marley, and how it begins with the line "One good thing about music / When it hits you, you feel no pain." And then I was thinking that it would be funny if Bob had just kept going with a list of other good things about music. "Another good thing about music / It's great to play at parties." "And another good thing about music / You can blog about it online." Then I looked up the Genius page for "Trench Town Rock." How do people feel about Genius? A lot of times the 'interpretations' are quite out there, missing the mark by a little or a lot, but occasionally you end up with an unexpectedly delightful bit of music criticism...e.g..:

I Enjoy Remixes vol. 3!!!!

Don't miss this exciting new release from the I Enjoy Remixes series, an I Enjoy Music production. Los Angeles DJs Salgado and Vantin remixed each others' work, and when you listen to the remixes, you will board shuttle bus making multiple stops at clubs in the Berlin and Miami metro areas. In the announcement blog post, I recalled a failed club expedition, wherein a dark night of the soul came in the form of an aggressive drum machine-only set...

roll with the changes

My parents visited me and Chris a couple weekends ago and what with all the baby couch time, we watched a good deal of a recording of the broadcast for Live Aid. Nothing brings boomers and millennials together like watching a charity megaconcert from the decade in which they gave birth to us. REO Speedwagon hit the stage and my mom said, "REO Speedwagon was my favorite band in college." Somehow I, a music blogger, did not know that REO Speedwagon was my mom's favorite band at such a crucial time period. I don't know anything about this band other than they must be a proto version of LCD Soundsystem. Jk jk. Having three letters and then a three syllable word for your band name has a good amount of poetic value though. Good meter.

"Roll With The Changes" rips. I like the message, which is romantic within the context of the song, but can be applied to any situation in life: If you're tired of the same old story / Oh, baby, turn some pages / I'll be here when you are ready / To roll with the changes. Equanimity Rock, my favorite kind! ("Ready To Die" by Andrew WK being another example of Equanimity Rock, in that death is inevitable and you might as well prepare for it.)

I bought an MPEG-1 Audio Layer III player...

Music to trade stonks to aside, my efforts to unplug from stream-slop continue apace. Remembering / romanticizing when I used to carefully curate a music library with audio files of my very own to cherish, I got some product intel from REDDIT and picked up a "HiBy R1" - a teeny weeny mp3 player (don't worry it can handle a .flac, no problemo) for under a hundred smackers. When I tell you loading albums onto this bad boy gave me a kind of dopamine rush that THE ALGORITHM simply can't replicate...as the "praying in mp3" Lorde says, how's it feel being this alive??

Also not to be a jerk but I played Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet and heard some instruments I had not previously heard in the mix. Jack Antonoff you sly dog you.

do you have any favorite DJ mixes I should download and put on my mp3 player?? tell me!!

speaking of...the mailbox awaits...

I'm listening to some song recs from THE MAILBAG today. Send me songs and stories please, ienjoymusicblog at gmail dot com.

"TV (Medusa's Throw Back Chicago House Remix" - Pink Paint / Glitterfox

From Josh: "The track head fakes in a few directions in the first half, but around minute three, it settles into the simple pleasure of Solange Igoa's vocals in a quality house track. Her voice has a similar quality to Stevie Nicks. When chopped and processed on top of buzzing synths, slow washes, and four-to-the-floor kicks, it has everything you'd want for when the night has peaked but you're not ready to go home yet."

I was not in Chicago at the outset of house music (I was not yet born) but it just occurred to me that some of the house music would have been enjoyed in the wintertime...the brutal cold of a Chicago winter...is there some plain, logical utility to the style of Chicago house? The long and luxurious four on the floor tracks probably helped people stay warm, similar to how parents at a crisp autumn children's soccer game do an involuntary two-step on the sidelines...

"Moonage Daydream" - Milky Edwards & The Chamberlings

From Danielle: "Sometimes the YouTube algorithm reminds me of music I haven't thought about in over a decade. I remember hearing this funked-up gem of a Bowie cover and thinking, where the hell did this come from? A casual listener may be fooled into thinking it's some long-lost 70s rarity, unearthed by a dedicated digger. But the artist's name is a little too cute (Milky Edwards? Sure, Jan) and the intro a little too close to "You Can't Hurry Love" by the Supremes. But it sure does get you moving. Who knew "Moonage Daydream" was a dancefloor filler? Who cares if it's not a 1973 original? Time is a circle and it keeps on spinning."

The YouTube comments are full of people clamouring for more Milky Edwards & The Chamberlings! "Milky.. the world needs you now more than ever..." "Whoever you are, Milky, please record the rest of this album!" There are two other covers on Milky's channel, "Starman" and "Soul Love"; the three songs were posted within a week of each other in February 2012, which pre-dates the ability to generate this kind of cross-genre song via AI by over a decade...this might be a rabbit hole worth tunneling down...

"My Idol" - Jordana x Paul Cherry

From Charles: "It’s a perfect little pop gem about fading limerence."

The lyric that has stuck with me on this one is "In my dreams I never pictured me crying." This is so real to me, even as someone who loves to cry (Cancer moon). Romantic fantasies in general do not include the concept of tears, especially tears caused by the object of the fantasy. At the beginning of my current/ongoing romantic relationship, I remember thinking about crying, getting nervous about potentially having to do it— specifically I remember thinking I hope the first time I cry in front of him, it's not BECAUSE of him. "My Idol" is about what happens when the fantasy fails.

I listened to music because I saw people saying it was good

Let's Eavesdrop.

I listened to Petey USA's The Yips because he was featured in Human Pursuits. I listened to Joanne Robinson's Blurr because Ryley Walker said it was "Most ill guitar playing I’ve heard all year." I listened to some Star's Revenge because they were mentioned in the Geese GQ profile (Geese guitarist Emily Green is in the band). I listened to Sellout II by Jae Stephens on the sterling rec of Jasmine from Black Bubblegum. I listened to james K's Friend after reading her Resident Advisor profile written by friend of the blog Jacqueline Codiga. I listened to John Summit's "crystallized" featuring Inéz because my sister told me to—feels very 2012 meets 2025? I love the Summit. I revisited Skrillex's Bangarang EP after it was mentioned in Dia Lupo's interview in Health Gossip. And I listened to "What Are You (Wow)" by Fox Stevenson because someone had it on their mp3 player that I saw on the Digital Audio Player subreddit.

And how about some new music from past I Enjoy Music featurees?

Amelia Riggs is back with "T-Shirt Money," which blasts tokenism in the music industry in a rocking fashion ("You said good luck on your journey / Then you called me the wrong name"):

Craig from Miracle Sweepstakes is in a band called Hit and they have a deeply vibey song called "Pure Unreal" that sounds like it would be played on an American Bandstand in an alternate dimension: