Songs We Love: Pity Sex, ‘What Might Soothe You?’

Pity Sex's forthcoming album, <em>White Hot Moon</em>, comes out in Spring 2016.  (Joel Rakowski/Courtesy of the artist)
Pity Sex’s forthcoming album, White Hot Moon, comes out in Spring 2016. (Joel Rakowski/Courtesy of the artist)

One of my favorite go-to records the last couple years has been Pity Sex’s Feast Of Love, which combines shoegazey noise with sweet pop punk melodies — it’s all very ’90s sounding, but fresh all the same. It’s blistering and emotional at once, and even better live, where those songs can wash over you. So needless to say, I’m anxious for the band’s follow-up, White Hot Moon, which was just announced to be coming next spring.

I got the chance to debut and write about “What Might Soothe You?,” the first new song from that upcoming record, for NPR Music’s Songs We Love series. Can’t wait for this to come out.

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Songs We Love: Sports, ‘Get Bummed Out’

Sports' album, All Of Something, is out now. (Courtesy of the artist)
Sports’ album, All Of Something, is out now. (Courtesy of the artist)

I first came across Sports back in February on a great bill at Baby’s All Right in Williamsburg and fell in love with these impossibly catchy hooks and lyrics that capture the feeling of being young and in transition — be it the beginning or end of a relationship, or the looming real-life responsibilities after college is over and figuring out what to do and who to be. Those themes are all over Sports’ tremendous new album, All Of Something, and the song “Get Bummed Out,” which is a portrait of feeling the all consuming ache of love for someone but paralyzed by not being able to tell them. It’s so good, so I had to write about it for NPR Music’s Songs We Love series.

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Songs We Love; Air Waves, ‘Thunder’

Air Wave's new album, <em>Parting Glances</em>, is out now. (Ebru Yildiz/Courtesy of the artist)
Air Wave’s new album, Parting Glances, is out now. (Ebru Yildiz/Courtesy of the artist)

Here’s a piece I wrote for NPR Music’s Songs We Love series about the very cool New York band Air Waves, and its song “Thunder” which features Lower Dens’ Jana Hunter buried deep in the vocal mix. The whole album, Parting Glances, is really excellent and worth a listen!

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Youth Lagoon, ‘The Knower’

Youth Lagoon's Savage Hills Ballroom is out Sept. 25. (Ken Kaban/Courtesy of the artist)
Youth Lagoon’s Savage Hills Ballroom is out Sept. 25.(Ken Kaban/Courtesy of the artist)

I’ve been a fan of Youth Lagoon since his first record, and have written about him several times now. So I was pretty pumped to be able to write about Youth Lagoon’s brand new song “The Knower” from the upcoming album, Savage Hills Ballroom for All Songs Considered‘s blog and NPR Music’s Songs We Love series.

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Waxahatchee’s ‘Air’ Embraces Change And A Broader Palette

Waxahatchee's latest album, Ivy Tripp, is out April 7 via Merge.
Waxahatchee’s latest album, Ivy Tripp, is out April 7 via Merge.

I wrote a quick couple paragraphs about Waxahatchee’s amazing new song “Air” from her upcoming album Ivy Tripp. You can read that as part of NPR Music’s Songs We Love series.

You can also read a slightly different version that was used for NPR’s Heavy Rotation series.

Below, here’s a much longer, and unedited ramble about Katie Crutchfield’s music, about being in transition and embracing change, even when it’s hard.

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