Last Week's Releases Today: I Like Country Now

It's 00:19 on 7th January and fuck me if this goes live at any point over the next five days.

Update: This morning, 9th January, I woke up after recording the first episode of The Podcast last night like, fuck I haven't got time for all these things.

I'm genuinely embracing the New Year, new me for 2018. I have absolutely no idea why. I don't expect these posts to last very long because of my commitment to The Podcast, but you never know, do you?

However, I've cleared out my inbox, for real, and I've currently got a bit of time on my hands to listen to things multiple times in the space of one weekend to decide whether I actually like them or not. Everybody does these new music posts now, and the majority of humans write far better and with far more character than I do, so I won't bother discussing individual songs at length. I guess right now this is more a here are songs that are good that everybody else seems to have missed.

Also, playlists have changed a bit for 2018 because last year my Spotify profile turned into a hot mess and it was very confusing to navigate even for myself let alone for anybody else. So there is just this one playlist for singles throughout the entire year. No doubt I will take things out, move things about etc, and I'm thinking a quarterly (rather than monthly) library for albums/EPs. I'll deal with that when someone bothers releasing an album worth caring about. Afterthought: might actually put a note in about live shows in these. I go to a fair amount and never really talk about them. We'll think about it.

Let's go, let's go, let's go.

Video of the week (who the fuck do I think I am) is Don Broco's 'Come Out To LA'. Thank God it looks like somebody is finally pumping money into this band, good on you SharpTone Records. This is approximately the trillionth single to be take from Don Broco's forthcoming third album. I've wanted drummer Matt Donnelly to do lead vocals for a very long time but, as pointed out by Dan (from The aforementioned Podcast), on 'Come Out To LA' Donnelly almost mimics frontman Rob Damiani's vocals rather than using his own style. This is by no means the best song we've heard from Technology so far, but the final third of this track is excellent and for that I am pleased.

Oh, I mentioned I like country now, instant grat track 'Contact High' from "minnesota girl" Caitlyn Smith's new album Starfire is very good. It's a pop song really, it's actually very much in the vein of music that Taylor Swift probably should be making but isn't. If I remember I'll listen to this album in a fortnight's time and I'm sure you can't wait to hear my thoughts on it.

I've heard the odd track from Bay Area based Ieuan before but 'Honey Lavender' is the first one that I've instantly enjoyed. A good pop song. The artwork is also terribly aesthetically pleasing and compliments WIIHAMB's current colour scheme very nicely. The other very good "pop song" from last week is Lilly Ahlberg's 'Bad Boys' - an infectious little bop. This is only Ahlberg's second single (from what I can see on Spotify) and is quite the departure from piano ballad debut 'Love Is Like'.

Mila J (who I've never actually listened to before?) put out an honestly fairly bog standard EP of R&B songs but 'Coldest Shoulder In The West' is a true gem amongst the other tracks. The majority of the song is just vocal and a surprisingly pop feeling guitar line. This is definitely a song that I would normally brand something I'd hate but it's really good.

Finally, Farida's 'You' is very good. I have no idea what's going on at any point throughout Oskar Linnros' 'Wifi (Remix)', mostly because it's all in Swedish, but I'm enjoying it with every play regardless. Kendrick Lamar's collaboration with SZA on Black Panther soundtrack cut 'All The Stars' was the only major label release I really liked. And my unhealthy relationship with Jonny Craig continues as I pretend new single 'Patience Is The Virtue' from his latest project, Slaves, is far better than it is.

You can currently find all of these songs on my new 2018 playlist - yay! Linked back there, embedded just down here. Follow it if you feel that way inclined.