I chose the cover image for this playlist because it reminded me of the “Be Sweet” music video that Japanese Breakfast just released. Michelle Zauner sports a spiral ray gun and a horrible haircut; she directs and stars in this psychedelic play on bumbling crime-fighting duos. This song is driven by its groovy bass line, like so much of pop music right now (I’m linking Dua Lipa’s Grammys performance of “Levitating” and “Don’t Start Now” for reference but also because, wow, Dua Lipa). Michelle wrote that her new record, Jubilee (slated May 2021), is “about joy.” I have already preordered the vinyl. I wept while reading Michelle’s article in the New Yorker, “Crying in H-Mart”, which was adapted into a memoir that I’m desperately trying to get my hands on. I’ve loved the more indie-rock j-brekkie, but I’m excited for this new era in her sound.
The Hold Steady song “Unpleasant Breakfast” got passed around from playlist to playlist; it didn’t quite fit my expectations and was difficult to categorize. I’ve long been a fan of Craig Finn, whose solo work is much more mellow but no less biting. His storytelling is unmatched, weaving in pop-culture references with seemingly personal experiences. In this song he writes,
All your stuff in the storage shed
Twisted sheets on the trundle bed
And the anti-psychosis meds
Made you feel all marooned
Finn writes long, meandering lines that come off as prose until the very last second, when he rhymes something unexpected and delightful, like “August” and “over cautious.” For me, this band is defined by Finn’s distinctive voice, which is cutting and sometimes drifts into a shout. He enunciates words in a way that’s rare for rock. That voice in conjunction with the intense, bleak lyrics create the arresting quality that makes this band so exciting.
I somehow missed this 2020 Tennis single, which again features a funky bass line. The married duo released their last record, Swimmer (2020) on Valentine’s Day of last year, and it was largely lost to the tumult of those early pandemic months. Their music is danceable and recalls a dim 80s music video, in which dancers wear neon leotards while multicolored strobe lights slash through the air. My favorite tracks include “Need Your Love”, “In the Morning I’ll Be Better”, and “No Exit.”
St. Vincent is also experimenting with soul. Her new single, “Pay Your Way in Pain”, is so intense in its seduction it’s writhing. People are comparing her to Bowie, and she’s referenced him as an explicit influence on her Daddy’s Home (slated May 2021) inspiration playlist. St. Vincent has always made sexy music, but this experimentation with the funk medium takes that top energy to another level, backed by crunchy synth bass and whispered vocals. The music video, which features St. Vincent in a suit, is trippy and has earned YouTube comments on her incredible ability to look good with any haircut.
Her shape-shifting has a queer sensibility to it. She rejects notions of genre and medium, inverts the traditional themes of music made by her predecessors, and straddles the divide between alien and attractive. She explores sexuality, eroticism, and gender identity. St. Vincent is an inventor and reinventor; she references strong foundations of prog-rock but wields the guitar as an experimental instrument, as capable of transformation as its player. This new single reveals her roots as well as her innovation; though the song starts with a honky-tonk piano intro, it ends with Clark screaming—in pain or pleasure, we can’t be sure.