Ep 107 – `Quarantine 11: `Snorkel’ With music by: The Rip Ups, Babe Club, Shehehe, The Ghost Wolves, Wine Lips, Coriky, Anti-Social Club

Best of the underground, week of May 26, 2020: Hazmat, deepsea-diving, public-nudity plans for re-entering the world, if you’re going. But why go? It’s nice in here, and we have lots of music. (All podcasts and reviews are on www.hlycrp.com, and you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.)

This week we played:

    • Cadillac Maniac by The Rip Ups

    • Hate Myself by Babe Club
    • Sorry You Love Me by Shehehe

    • End of it All by The Ghost Wolves

    • Shark Eyes by Wine Lips

    • Too Many Husbands by Coriky

    • Empty by Anti-Social Club

Time Is Gonna Kill You by the Bungalow Bums

Time Is Gonna Kill You is a percussive, bombastic anthem. When I say percussive I’m not talking about just the drumming, I actually feel like everyone in the band is attacking their instrument like a percussionist. While one guitar bounces back and forth, another smooths the melody out over the top, weaving together with the bass, keys, and drums to make an intricate patchwork. Even the vocals match this rhythmic jungle of wildness.

This one never lets up, it is a just-under-four-minutes synopsis of all the rock n’ roll debauchery you can imagine.

Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #102 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Neon Kiss by Cold Choir

Cold Choir is an amazing duo. Their sound is dark, a sexy melancholy. Neon Kiss is synth-driven and powerful, haunting and romantic. The fun part about listening to Cold Choir (to me) is realizing that these sounds, these textures, these noises, everything… are all the realization of an idea that popped into their heads. These sounds do not exist in nature and are therefore crafted with care, specially for this piece of art. Its like when the master painters of previous eras had to make their own paint instead of buying it in a store. The guitar didn’t make this sound on its own, neither did that keyboard. Its an exercise in executing a vision from one’s mind. It is realization of the abstract.

Props to Cold Choir, they can pull this off live too. I know first-hand, I see them as often as they play.

Brain Kiss by Sang Sarah

I am friends with Jenna and Ian Duval. I like hanging out with them at bars, I love watching them perform, they are some of the easiest people to be around. And they also make THIS music. It is a massive music. The atmosphere and sounds create a universe filled with these ideas of legends and great stories. “Brain Kiss” – the Musicians for Overdose Prevention song of the week – begins to kill you the moment the first harmonies fly across the landscape. This is the greatest voice, seeped with emotion and heartbreak and doom. The song, the sonic voyage, is an entire cinematic event in three minutes. Jenna and Ian have walked out in the wilds and they have returned with treasure, this cursed gothic treasure. 

Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #102 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Hung The Moon by Grace Joyner

I always try to understand why a musician affects me this way. This magic, why this narrow band of artistic expression – words, melody, chords, rhythm – makes me feel. Much better than having a perfect voice is having a unique voice. And this sleepy, cool, understated singer always seems to be tugging me closer. This is a Tuesday afternoon at a bar storyteller, easy and sly. In terms of craft – the punches in this song start hitting in the pre-chorus, the slow build up of “I guess you never knew how to say it… somehow you always got that wrong…“ and then the knock-out hook-filled chorus leads to the final line “I thought you hung the moon.” This is magic. 

Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #102 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Into The Daylight by Tine Nymann

I adore a pop song – and this is a pop song at it’s finest. This is an updating of the Duran Duran sound – which is my highest praise – since I was raised on Duran Duran. Specifically “Into The Daylight” evokes the “Come Undone” chapter of DD, when they knew exactly who they were and no one else was more sophisticated. “Into The Daylight” has the same confident cool, and that Tine Nymann knows exactly what she is doing, both in the narrative and in ability to execute a beautiful pop song.

Want to hear us talk about this song? Check out episode #102 of our podcast at hlycrp.com.

Ep 106 – `Quarantine 10: `Reasons to Get Out of Bed’ With music by: Hex Girls, L’Resorts, 13agh3ad, Polly Panic, The Deathbots, Nocona, The Prostitutes

Best of the underground, week of May 19, 2020: At least six, possibly seven, reasons to get out of bed. PLUS, more plans for our post-post-capitalist society. Plus music. Lots of music. (All podcasts and reviews are on www.hlycrp.com, and you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.)

This week we played:

Cats with No Teeth by The Hex Girls (prerelease! real release is May 29!)

We Don’t Make Love by L’Resorts

Spinner by 13agh3ad

Annie by Polly Panic

Just Go by The Deathbots

Stabby Mike by Nocona

Shake Rattle Die by The Prostitutes

 

Ep 105 – `Quarantine 9: `How to Win Friends’ With music by: Subsonics, The Spits, The Duke of Suri, Slicksilver, Nathaniel Riley, Ameriglow

Best of the underground, week of May 12, 2020: John reveals all of his tricks – and these are tricks – for being popular, including a detailed break down of the art of butt kissing. Be sure to write all this down (All podcasts and reviews are on www.hlycrp.com, and you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.)

This week we played:

    • Flesh Colored Paint by Subsonics

    • Dropout by The Spits
    • Out of It by The Duke of Suri

    • Slick Hot by Slicksilver
    • Adora by Nathaniel Riley

    • Be Kind to Strangers by Ameriglow

`Quarantine 8: Defining the New Reality’ With music by: The Venomous Pinks, The Rizzos, Extradition Order, Derek Frye, Stevie and the Sleaze, Mary Ellen Bush, Toolbelt Sextoy


Best of the underground, week of May 5, 2020: The REAL reason why John can’t do guitar solos. Anarchists vs. New-Agey people. Who Dolly Parton should and should not be friends with. (All podcasts and reviews are on www.hlycrp.com, and you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.) 

This week we played:

Todos Unidos by The Venomous Pinks

Breslin by The Rizzos

Flattening the Curve by Extradition Order

Renegade by Derek Frye (hlycrp exclusive)

You Didn’t Tell Me About the Jones by Stevie and the Sleaze

Fuck You Corona by Dick Donuts (hlycrp exclusive)

Fuck You Corona by Mary Ellen Bush (hlycrp exclusive)

Fuck You Corona by Toolbelt Sextoy (hlycrp exclusive)

Fuck You Corona by Cinnamon Kennedy and the Lewd Dancers (hlycrp exclusive)