Echo Beach Radio 6

Music for Gettin' Along

Welcome back to Echo Beach radio. This month we have 15 whole songs, covering a bunch of different genres, mostly all new in the last month or so. New music seems arrive with a bit of an ebb and flow — sometimes we have months where pretty much everything new sounds old, derivative, irrelevant or samey. This isn’t really one of those months. So much great new music, and one or two oldies just to round it out.

As always three ways to consume. You can just listen on Spotify:

Or you can put on the Youtube Playlist, or just keep reading and clicking:

“Vertigo” by Beach Bunny

Chicago Young-Millenials Beach Bunny have been a fixture in indie-bedroom-pop since before the pandemic, but I think they’re really coming into their own in terms of songwriting. Haven’t seen them live, but I have a feeling they’re out their crushing the circuit. This one seemed like such a great kickoff mostly for these lines from the hook:

I thought when I was older, I would be on top
I thought the jealousy would drop
But it never stops

I've got a strange obsession
Of mixing love and loss, but at what cost?
I'm protecting myself from emotional healing

Talk about some hard truths of growing up…

“Just Like Sunday” by Wishy

There’s a LOT of Dreampop and Shoegaze coming out right now. Music for sitting in your car on a windy day at the ocean with the seats reclined all the way back feeling nostalgic, and all that. I found their earlier stuff from last year a little samey, but this track punches through for me … not in small part because of the surprisingly crunchy and interesting guitar solo.

“Black Book” by Stephen Malkmus

It’s weird putting in music from a dude who’s basically exactly my age, and honestly, doesn’t have a traditionally great singing voice. (pot, kettle, black) but damn if Malkmus hasn’t just continued to crank out amazing music, year after year after year, from Pavement on. This track surfaced listening to a recent Aquarium Drunkard show on SiriusXMU, and honestly, while it’s TWENTY THREE years old, it sounds like it was written today. So great. So grimy and vibey.

“All In My Head” by The Linda Lindas

“Wanna go see Green Day?” I asked my wife? We dated in the 1990s, so I knew the answer would be yes. So we went to Fenway Park to see green day.

I was there at 5PM, 3 hours before the headliner, to see the Linda Lindas as the first of three openners playing to maybe 500 early birds, and they did not disappoint. I honestly think they’re the most interesting band under the age of 25 right now (the Drummer is 13, the oldest guitar player is 19). This is their latest, and they’re really coming into their own, as writers and musicians.

“Central Park West” by Peel Dream Magazine

A little soft interlude, this feels like the laziest New York strolling song of all time. It’s quiet, it’s subtle, and it’s got real layers. Headphones recommended.

“Guitar Song” by Rex Orange County

Second in the chill-block here. Some bands, no matter how good they might be on paper, just don’t click for me because of the voice of the lead singer. Bands like Glass Animals and Smashing Pumpkins — objectively great bands. I just can’t sit and listen for an hour.

Rex Orange County has been a bit like that for me. Until this tune. Maybe it’s because everything is stripped down, and Alex O’Conner (the one-man-band here, for the most part), is letting the production stay simple for most of the song. In the end it’s a surprisingly upbeat while still being Nick Drakish song worth listening to.

“Hot Slow” by Berlioz

I don’t listen to a lot of modern jazz. Some of that is undoubtably because of my complicated relationship with my Father, who was a Jazz musician. But my son has grown up loving jazz from an early age and he insisted I should be listening to Berlioz, a slightly-house-inspired smooth jazz outfit, and he’s right. These guys know how to deliver their vibe, and it’s smooth and rich as butter.

“Takes One To Know One” by The Beaches

A little Millenial Canadian flavor to speed things back up. They had a bit of a breakout with the very hooky “Blame Brett” last year, but this is a lot more interesting. The lyrics crush, and the rhythmic choices are really interesting for indie-pop. “God you’re a piece of work … Lost boys in J Crew shirts …”. I’m here for it.

“Observational Eros” by Beeef

OK, this is why I love music, and why I love NEW music so much. I have NEVER heard of this band before until it showed up on a random playlist I follow on Spotify (not the algo, this dude). I love the mid-90’s vibe. I love the nasal vocals. I love the clever and smart lyrics.

And it turns out they’re from Massachusetts. So yes, I will be chasing them down for a local gig. “Observational Eros is gonna rob you blind” in-deed.

“Homie Don’t Shake” by Fcukers

Coming into the home stretch with an absolute BANGER of a club tune. Slinky, sleazy, grimy and full of beat. These guys have been getting some airplay for Bon Bon last year, but this is gonna be their breakout, I’m sure of it. They’re like the very very best of Die Antwoord and not just because there’s some similarity between Yolandi and Fcukers singer, Shanny.

“Big Black X” by X

My punk & goth days were a lot more dominated by Black Flag than X, but I can confidently say X-releases have been the soundtrack for countless car rides and gym sessions. They started rocking hard when I was 10 years old. They’re finally retiring and apparently they decided to drop a final album leaving us all wanting more. This whole album could have come from 1989 and I wouldn’t be surprised. Lots of autobiographical stuff, and tons of fun.

“MIND TRAIN” by Cornelius

OK, here’s where I’m gonna lose a few people, but experimental music is the bomb, especially when done, essentially, like a video installation. The first 10 seconds of this is, frankly, annoying, but by 20 seconds you should be settled in for a wonderful ride of prog-rock wild-sound imagineering.

“GRACE” by IDLES

A little sneaky, as this is from Tanq, the album they dropped in February. I’m including it 50% because Matt Ziegler said I needed some Idles to close out this month, but this is also feels so of the moment:

No God, No King
I said Love is the thing
No Crown, No Ring
I said Love is the thing

“Doblexxo” by J Balvin and Feid

To close it out, a genre I rarely put on spontaneously (Reggaeton) but this is WILD and WONDERFUL. The production is actually shockingly sparse, with really deliberate dynamic rance, tons of weird twists and samples, and just crushes. It’s always fantastic to reach outside my usual stream and find something awesome.

Thanks for listening! What have YOU been listening too lately?