Song We Like: Hail Damage by Flight to Dubai

This is not background music. The singer hurls himself into your presence, whether you like it or not. If you’re playing this song in a car, anybody who is talking or thinking about something else will immediately come to attention and say ‘what is that?’ (It’s an interesting social experiment. Try it and see.) (Featured on our #35 podcast, Walt Whitman)

Song We Like: Dead Singers by Rebecca F

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I mean, she pretty much says what we were all thinking. Some singer who is disconnected to you, never met you, and is, moreover, dead, can be your soulmate and truly good friend. It is one of life’s great mysteries, and it’s something everyone has experienced. Way to exploit both profanity and metaphysics, Rebecca F! Good work. (Featured on our #35 podcast, Walt Whitman)

Song We Like: Kathy by Family Vacation

The lads from Chicago who make up Family Vacation are looking for America by writing an album inspired by the famous Simon and Garfunkel song of that name. Our favorite amongst these is “Kathy,” a song about the girl on the bus: she smoked the last cigarette an hour ago, and is a person worth considering in song. Again. (Featured on our #35 podcast, Walt Whitman)

Song We Like: Homme-Enfant by Annie More


This song comes from a deep rhythmic tradition of French pop music, in which muttering and song are woven together; it reminds me of an updating of “A Man and a Woman.” (Although, to be fair, I have no idea what the vocals mean, so he could be singing about anything. Don’t tell me — I like where it is in my imagination.) (Featured on our #35 podcast, Walt Whitman)