Dissect - Our Favorite Music of 2025

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Dissect's Cole Cuchna is joined by friends Camden Ostrander and Margeaux Labat to discuss their favorite music of 2025, including... Favorite Musical Moments (04:09) Favorite "Underground" Albums (13:09) Favorite Albums of the Year (31:20) Favorite Songs of the Year (1:13:05) You can listen to a playlist of their picks ⁠here⁠. - Host: Cole Cuchna Guests: Camden Ostrander, Margeaux Labat Audio/Video Editor: Kevin Pooler Additional Production: Justin Sayles Theme Music: Birocratic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode of Dysect is presented by Amazon Prime. The holidays hit fast. One moment you're planning, the next, everything's out of sync. Luckily, Prime helps you catch the rhythm, with fast, free delivery that gets it there just in time. Prime's fast shipping is always there for you during the holidays, especially when it's last minute and it just can't wait. Hosting Essentials or the gift that hits the right note, it's on Prime. Head to Amazon.com slash Prime to shop now. Welcome everyone to a special episode of Dysect.

I'm your host, Cole Kushna. This is our fifth annual best of the year music podcast. Joining me as he always does every year is Camden Ostrander. It's been a while, Cam. How are you doing? I'm doing great, cool. Thank you for having me back. I'm excited.

I love doing this every year. And we also have a very special guest coming from the studios in New York City. Margo. Hi. Margo's been, hello. I've been a fan of your stuff for a couple years. I've been following on social media, your master music curator. Oh, that's so sweet.

We're here to expand our musical palette specifically. Sure. Yeah, thank you for joining the show. Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm really excited. Cool. Well, we're going to go through four categories this year. We are going to talk about our favorite, not our best.

I like to make the distinction that this is not trying to be, you know, claiming to be the best music of the year. It is just our personal favorites. And we have four categories that we're going to be talking about. We have our favorite musical moment. We have our favorite quote unquote underground album, which is just a release from a lesser known artist that we wanted to highlight.

And then the main categories are our three favorite albums of the year each and our three favorite songs at the year each. So we'll go through the categories. Here in a second, I guess I always try to open this conversation up with our general feeling about the music that came out this year,

the year in music in terms of quality and output and all of that. I feel like for me personally, it's been like an amazing year for music. and it's coming off the back of 2024, which was for me also very, very, very good year in music. There's, I feel like there was a good, diverse output of like from big artists,

releasing projects and a lot of like, I would say like kind of quote unquote middle class artists really releasing some great, great music. I don't know, I feel like it was overwhelming in some respects in terms of just, I feel like I'm just constantly catching up on what is great music all around. I don't know if you guys have similar feelings about that cam. I don't know.

I'm going to start with it. I mean, yeah, this year I really was able to unplug from a lot of stuff and kind of sit with a few works kind of deeply, which I really appreciated. But there was so much good, high quality stuff. I mean, at the end of last year, we had like chromocopia and GNX. So we kind of had like a big carryover from the year previous. But, I mean, I spent most of the year with like Dijon and Lord and just was able to sit with those projects for a long time.

And it was, I thought it was great. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Yeah. How about you? Yeah, I maybe feel differently than Cam, because I really wish that I was able to spend more, like, quality time with albums. I feel like I put a lot of pressure on myself, especially towards the end of the year, to listen to as many releases as possible. So I feel, I mean, I feel very similarly, like, overwhelmed. But I don't know. I guess, like, in, like, the last quarter of the year when I'm, like, putting a lot of pressure on myself to listen to all these releases and catch.

up to everything I didn't catch when they came out. I find myself, like, wanting to listen to other records that came out, like, at different times of the year. And that's when I know, like, those are the albums that are actually my favorite. So, yeah, looking forward to talking about them today, yeah. Yeah, I don't want to spoil too much pod, but there is one album that has taken over my life since it came out. Maybe somebody out of you can out there can guess what it is. I did an emergency the episode on it. I'll be talking a lot about it this episode, but before that, though, I was listening to a lot more.

But let's jump into the first category, which is favorite musical moment. So this is a music-adjacent experience that could be like a concert, it could be a release, like a moment when the album released and the things that happened around it. But not specifically a song or an album, but yeah,

just a music-related moment. I'll kick it off for us. I have three honorable mentions, before I get to my number one here. I'll go through these quickly, but the moment, well, I'm going to save one of my honor. I don't want to talk about Rosa.

Rob, but I'm going to talk about Rosalia. The first thing I say is about Rosalia. I'll refrain. Okay, I saw Clips in the clips, clips has one of my favorite release of the year. I'll talk more about later, but I saw them in a relatively small venue in San Francisco. There was their first tour in like 15, 20 years

or whatever it was. It was amazing. I really, really enjoyed it. Those guys are doing incredible things, which I'll talk more about later. But just seeing him in concert was really surreal. It's one of my childhood or my teenage favorite groups. And to see them still executing at this level

has just been really one of the highlights of the year for me. I took my daughter to see Lord in concert. The concert was amazing. Having my 10-year-old daughter there was even more amazing. We saw it at the Berkeley Greek Theater. which is my favorite venue. It's an outdoor venue, like a bull-shaped arena. You can overlook San Francisco.

Like, it's so beautiful. And the show was great. And having my daughter by my side, specifically at a Lord concert was like tears. But even that can't trump by number one, which is Kendrick Lamar performing at the Super Bowl. Oh, my God, that was this year. Maybe my daughter should have been number one.

I'm sorry, but. Historically, you know, you guys know, I love Kendrick Kumar. He's what I think is the greatest living artists that we have, especially operating at the scale that he's operating, doing the things artistically that he's doing at this scale is just phenomenal once in a lifetime artist. And to see him not playing his back catalog, playing like one, maybe two, like two hits, essentially,

and just putting on essentially an art performance, theater performance that was cinematic, you know, thematic, was just ingrained with so much meaning and history. And to have that like that compromise, that uncompromising vision at scale where everything, everyone's probably telling him, play the hits, play the hits, play the hits. He doesn't do that. He sticks to his artistic guns and put on a phenomenal,

probably what was very confusing performance for a lot of the people watching the Super Bowl specifically. But that is the shit I love. I mean, that, I mean, so lucky to be alive during it. That's where how special that thing is for me, just because of the scale of it. It's the most watched thing ever since the moon landing. It's like that crazy to me. And for it to be an artistic performance with that much history and meaning, I loved it. So that was my number one musical moment of the year.

Kendrick Amar at the Super Bowl. Cam, what do you got? Yeah, sure. I mean, look, I guess I'm not with Team Mabel. I'm with your daughter. My favorite musical moment of the year was seeing Lord on that ultrasound tour. I saw it with the dear friend. I saw it in D.C.

Particularly the moment for me was Man of the Year. The whole tour and performance, I thought the aesthetic design of the stage. I thought Lord's dancing throughout really add a lot to the album that I'm sure we're going to talk about later. But for those who didn't see it in Man of the Year, when she performed live, you see the duct tape, the major symbol of that song on her chest. Everything that that represented, like, I was floored. Like, I couldn't, like, breath taken away. I was just, the performance

was absolutely incredible. I can't believe that she was so raw on stage throughout the whole thing. But that's, like, such a truly special live performance that I saw this year that, like, has stayed with me ever since, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the way specifically the show

was influenced by the themes of the album. The way that that showed up was pretty phenomenal. Specifically, you're highlighting kind of the capstone of that performance and that idea of like the body image stuff, triumphing over the body image stuff and then putting your literal body out there for everyone to see is just like that. The symbolism of that is just so powerful.

And I feel like every piece of that concert was so thought out. Really well, she has an interview where she talks about the narrative of the performance and even all the way through to the end where she kind of goes to the back of the crowd and then leaves amongst the crowd like very Lord, very how she's always been her whole career and for the whole structure of that performance, I just thought it was perfect.

Yeah. Did you catch that show? Are you a fan of Lord? Margo? Me? Yeah, Lord is great. I feel like, I mean, I pretty much grew up with her music. I feel like we're the same age. Maybe she's like a year older than me.

I'm not too sure. But, yeah, I mean, just following her career from the very first. first record has been so cool to see. And I think she's one of the smartest songwriters active today, especially for her age. And just like, you know, similar to what you were talking about with Kendrick, I feel like both of them are just such true, like, uncompromising artists. So, yeah, Lord is awesome. Yeah. It's crazy that she's, because she's been in our lives for over a decade, it does feel like she's like mother or something, but she's like, she's daughter.

28. You know, she's like, it's like, and so like for me, it's like a lot of artists, like their career starts at 28 or whatever. I don't know exactly her age, but it's like we have decades of her left, you know. Like she might not even be in her prime yet. Yeah. Because I, we'll talk about her newest album later, but I, it's personally right up there with, you know, her first two albums. So very excited for Lord. We'll talk more about her later.

But what was your, Margot, your musical moment this year? Well, I should preface this by saying that I'm an Alex G super fan. He's like one of my favorite artists of all time. For those that are unfamiliar, Alex G is like king of indie rock. At least in my eyes and like in my like musical world that I exist in. Yeah. And he put out his 10th record this year called Headlights, which came out in mid-July. And the day before the album came out, he posted on his Instagram story that he was having a show. like, well, I think it was two days prior the next day, which is like the eve before the album came out. And it was, it took place at like this indoor soccer field. The album is called headlights, so, you know, kind of like sports

themes. And so the show happened at like this indoor soccer field in like Dime Square in like Lower Manhattan. And, you know, tickets were super limited. It's like a little field. So it was maybe like 150 tickets available. And I, you know, they sold out immediately. I was unable to

get it, but I was, I was able to finesse and, like, be able to get myself in. But yeah, so I was able to go to the show, and it was, I mean, you know, it's mid-July. It's, like, peak summer. This was the hottest show I think I've ever been to my life. Like, I've never been dripping sweat like I was at this show. And, you know, it was like 100, 150 people. Like, people had room to move around the room, but I was still just, like, I'm surprised people weren't passing out. They were, like, handing out, like, bottles of water, which is good. But, yeah, it was. It was pretty chill, given how hot it was. And then, yeah, Alex just performed the entire record.

It was just him, not his band. And it was just like a strip down, like just him and his guitar set. And he performed for, I want to say, like, over two hours. Just like, he performed the full record, which is, I want to say, definitely, like, under 45 minutes. And then he just ended up taking requests from the crowd. And, you know, people are just, like, right there. There's no, like, stage in this indoor soccer field. And so, yeah, his fans just, like, surrounding him.

And he's just like taking requests with something that he usually does and has done all throughout his career at his shows of various sizes. But yeah, he was taking requests like over an hour and he just played songs for, you know, he has over, well, he has 10 albums and that's like his officially released music. And he has a larger body of even more unreleased music. And these are like super fans that are in this room. So he was just taking so many requests. And yeah, I think it's one of the best shows of my life. As someone, you know, similarly with Lord, I've grown up with Alexi's music. I feel like I've come of age during his career.

And he's probably the most meaningful artists in my life, if not one of them, the most meaningful living artists in my life. And yeah, that was just like the best show I think I've ever been to. At least like the most meaningful show for me, you know. Very cool. Okay, so let's move on to the next category, which is favorite underground album. The only stipulation I put on this is like less than a million listeners on Spotify,

but essentially we're just trying to like highlight non-mainstream, put some people on to someone that maybe they haven't heard. And I can kick us off here. I have two honorable mentions that I want to just quickly highlight. One is Ben Riley, who just put out an album called Save. It just came out like a month ago. And I think if I had more time with it,

it might have taken the top spot. It's a really, really cool concept project. Ben Riley's a rapper. I would say he's in the school of Kendrick. I would say he's like a child of Kendrick Lamar in terms of his sound. and a lot of comparisons to baby Keem.

And he has, Ben Riley is, I believe, like a, the name of a Spider-Man alter ego or something in the Marvel world. And he's really, I guess he grew up like really passionate about comic books and that influences like his persona. He's like wearing a mask in the,

like, so he has this whole like comic book theme. And the story of the album, or at least what I could kind of pick up on with this much time. after its release is like a play on the hero's journey, a hero's journey, but it's like a superhero's journey. So he's like embodying this like superhero figure

that is a symbol of his like coming of age story essentially. And so heavy concept, there's a narration throughout it. The songs are great. The energy is great. The variety of sound is great. If you like Kendrick Amar, baby Keem,

I would definitely suggest checking out Ben Riley before he blows up. I feel like he's one of those artists that we'll be hearing a lot more about in the next couple years. Another, I would say, similar artists in terms of, you know, on the precipice of maybe blowing up a little bit is McKinley Dixon. He released an album called Magic Alive. It's hip hop with a live band and done really, really well.

Usually I'm a little bit like iffy on the live band, hip hop fusion. Like I'm open to it as an idea. Execution sometimes is not, you know, where I would personally like it to be. This one is great. Instruments are great. It's a really great album. But my favorite underground album of this year, I don't know, maybe it's borderline underground at this point because I feel like his name is getting bigger and bigger, but it's, is it quaddeca or kadeca? Cam, do you know this? I thought it was quaddeca.

Quadca, okay. I thought. I thought you know I'm going to where. Quadeca. It's like the first time I'm saying it out loud, I think. Quadeka, Vanisher, Horizon Scraper is a phenomenal project. It is high concept, fusion music, and turn. terms of like, fokey, electronic, orchestral, hip hop.

Like, it's very, very hard to describe without it sounding like, how could that possibly work? But it really does work. It's a high concept album. It's all about like a man at sea who's going on this nautical voyage toward the horizon, trying to, I believe, trying to reach the horizon, which is kind of this metaphor for chasing goals and, you know, and trying to reach the unattainable. and it follows this protagonist on this seafaring journey.

He said, I wanted to just read a quote because it's really good. He said why he set this album in the ocean. He said, quote, The ocean is very interesting as an idea because it's this thing that surrounds us. It's a permanent force. It's very musical. It's very rhythmic. In a lot of ways, it mimics the way life is.

You think you have control over your destiny and where you're moving, your sails, but ultimately you're at the whim of nature, which I thought is just like the person. metaphor for life and life's journey where some control but not all control and you know there's elements that are uncontrollable around you the song that I wanted to highlight from this is the great Bukonawa so this is toward the end of the album and again he's at sea and the Bukonawa apparently is a sea serpent in Filipino folklore and it lives deep in the ocean and it comes up out of the ocean and swallows the moon.

And folklore, that's what they say creates eclipse. Is this big giant sea serpent dragon thing that lives in the ocean. And so this is like the third to last song on the album is the climax of the album. It's when the Voyager at Sea meets this folklore fantastical figure. And if the song features Danny Brown and Danny Brown wraps from the perspective of the Seasperpunobu Koukanawa. Which is fucking incredible. He says lines like this. He says, trying to get you out your circle every day of the week,

circle being moon, a play on the moon, take you to them deep waters. No one wavy as me. I'm the beast of the night and I'm about to take flight. Take the light from the dark. Want to swim with the sharks. Trying to get you out your circle every day day to the week. Take it to them deep waters.

No one wavy as me. I'm the beast of the night. Ain't about to take flight. Take the light from the dark. Want to swim with the sharks. So he's playing this villain character. And I get a part of the folklore is that like they swallow, it swallows the moon and it threatens the world to cover the world with darkness.

So it, and it's a snake serpent creature. So there's biblical, you know, Adam and Eve kind of stuff going on here. But when I figured out that Danny Brown is rapping from the perspective of this Philippine folklore dragon, what are we talking about? It's like amazing. And then also just last thing I'll say, sorry, this long-winded, But just to show you how committed Quadeca was to the concept, he travels.

So the album supposedly takes place in the Philippine waters, in the Philippine Sea that surrounds the Philippines. He traveled to film the visual for the album at sea. He traveled to the Philippines and filmed it in the actual waters where the album takes place. Like, so cool. That's crazy. So if you haven't I checked out this album,

it is, I think, a masterpiece. It's fucking incredible. So that's my spiel. Are you guys, are anyone you guys familiar with it? No, I hadn't been previously. You hadn't heard. I had seen him open for Gene Dawson. And like, quite a his fans are like, they're very into him.

That's what I would say. When I saw him, I was like, wow, these people are. They really were into it. And I love how high concept he is. Yeah, every one of his projects apparently is like pretty conceptual in this way. Okay, Cam, I'm interested to hear your underground pick. Yeah, sure. I did want to shout out a couple. I didn't think she would qualify for this because I thought she was like, I don't know. I thought Jane Removers album Revenge Seekers was one of the best of the year. I have to shout her out at the front of this.

Her work with Danny Brown all year has been incredible and excellent. Like, she is so amazing. Margo, I know I saw you interview her and like that was a woman. I loved that. Oh, thanks so much. Yeah, she's so cool and such like a great musician and producer. Some of my favorite songs of this year she made for sure. Dancing with my eyes closed, is it called? I love that track. Yeah, so I love that project. I love everything about it.

I wanted to shout out the Babe Gabe's Honey Pop, which is kind of like, she was a part of Black Star Kids. It's a little hip-hop R&B. It has a track on that Riot Girl slash Drama Queen, which does the thing that Tyler does on like the ninth or tenth track where it's always like two. She does the same type of thing on hers,

and that song is just phenomenal. I'm sorry to interrupt because I forgot to say this we're going to have a playlist link in the description of all the songs we're talking about so people I forgot to say that up top

so there will be a playlist everything that we're mentioning will be on it awesome yeah and I can there's more honorable mentions and all that

but the one that I wanted to highlight as my favorite underground album of the year is from Backwash and the album is called Only Dust Remains I don't I mean, if you want to listen to a song, I think the most palatable entryway point is the song Wake Up.

I had that taste on a saw your weight on the shovel face in the part of the eye making. How long it appears this I fit my boss in the shins. Her many minds is it says. How many more will bring. Which is just a frenzied, chaotic, rap heavy, like aggressive, really hype up track. This album is like an incredible artistic piece. The Backwash is this Canadian. Canadian trans rapper.

She is so energetic. Her spirit is so high energy throughout the whole thing. Her previous projects have all been excellent, but I really love this one. There's this narrative of a Black Lazarus character, and she's exploring like this space that's like between birth and death. It's so frenzied. It's so aggressive.

The wrapping on it is incredible. And it's very high concept of themes. the religious themes, the death and rebirth, and the trans experience that's evocative throughout the whole project, it gripped me for like two months of this year. This was all that I was listening to. It's not like necessarily a happy listen, but like it's so powerful. And it has brought me to tears a lot. And I love that project.

Yeah, I remember listening to it. I can't remember when it came out exactly. But I heard good things about it. I checked it out then. And then when I saw it on your list, I revisit it. And I was like, yeah. is one of the best albums this year. It's really good. I need to spend more time with it, though. Yeah, I'm going to have to check it out myself. Wow. Sounds awesome. Marga, you want to go?

Yeah, sure. I'll just like do a quick fire of some honorable mentions. Lifetime by Erica DeCase is so amazing. James K. Friend, which I'll talk more about when I talk about my favorite songs of the year. Nourished by Time, the passionate ones was one of my favorite albums of the year, definitely in my top five. But my, and they're all, I guess, considered underground artists. I mean, I feel like that's, like, my whole world. I'm listening to a lot of smaller and up-and-coming artists. And, like, I'm in the indie zone, you know.

But, yeah, I guess the record that I really want to talk about is this album called Radio DDR. That's the letters D-D-R, all caps, by this artist named Sharp Pins. It's like Sharp Pins. It's the project of this guy. His name is Kai Slater. and he's in this band called Lifeguard. This is all connected to like the Chicago,

the current like Chicago indie rock scene. His band Lifeguard is on the label Matador. And they also released the record this year that I admittedly didn't check out. But the Sharpins record, I remember my friend just like, we were in a coffee shop and she was like, I feel like you'd really like this record by Sharppins.

He's like in the band Lifeguard. And yeah, it's just like really great like kind of sunshiny, jangle pop guitar songs. Like he's such like a great guitar, guitarist and like singer-songwriter. He is so strongly influenced by like the Beach Boys and the Beatles for sure. And like just like a lot of British invasion stuff from like the 60s, late 60s.

Um, the kinks and like I guess all of those bands as like disciples that were to follow, I guess like from the past 20 years or so. indie zone. Like I'm thinking of artists and projects and bands like cutworms and the Olivia Tremor Control and even like early beach fossils. I know I'm like saying a bunch of names, but this is just what came to mind when I was really getting into the record I want to say in the spring. And yeah, it's just like he's just like a great songwriter. And, you know, like because he's so heavily influenced by all of this stuff, it's like so like inherently derivative that it almost shouldn't work

because it just feels like it could easily just copy paste. But something about his songwriting and his melodies, he makes it seem like so fresh and uniquely his own despite being so strongly influenced by some of these great bands throughout history. And he's also so young. All of the bands in the Chicago indie rock scene are so young, like early 20s. I want to say like he's maybe like 22, 23. But he, like, you look at him and he looks like he could be like in the kinks,

Like they're all like kind of, they have like this like 70s shag. They run like blazers, like tweed blazers. Yeah, he's so cool. I look him up on Instagram because it's all your list before. He looks so young. No, he looks like a baby. Yeah, but I mean, he's such a good songwriter and has like a really promising future. Lots of like great indie stuff happening right now, especially with like really young musicians.

So it's a cool time to witness all this stuff. Yeah, me and Kim were talking a little bit before recording and I was saying like I feel like we might be on the precipice of like. a rock renaissance. It's insane. Oh my God. I feel like there's just, I keep hearing about all these, like even that scene that you just mentioned in Chicago. Like, I just keep hearing about things bubbling up and then we'll talk about geese later,

but I think they might be spearheading like what could be like the start of something. Well, let's save that conversation later. But yeah, I think that's a great pick. I really enjoyed the song that I listened to by him. So we'll have that on the playlist. But yeah, let's move in. to the main event, maybe, perhaps. We might call our three favorite albums.

Yeah, I'll start, but we'll go honorable mentions first. Just, you know, quick fire, some albums you just want to at least highlight and say their name. And we can put songs from these honorable mentions on the playlist too. The two that I wanted to highlight are J.I.D. God does like ugly.

I'm sure most people listening to this podcast are familiar with J.I.D. if not he's an Atlanta rapper, super phenomenal, technical craftsman. Makes really, I think, thematic and meaningful music. If God does like Ugly is a really, really great album. I think if the year wasn't so stacked, this probably would have made my top three, but it's been one of those years where it couldn't get in. Also, I'll say, J.I.D., I got to sit down with him a couple weeks ago.

That episode will be coming out, I guess, a week from this episode coming. out. So we'll have a full one-hour conversation with J.I.D. breaking down this album God does Like Ugly next week, which was really great. But I also wanted to highlight Ray Vaughns, the good, the bad, and the dollar menu. Ray Vaughan's on TD Records. I put out his debut project. I think he's calling it a mixtape. I think it's an album. It's an album quality mixtape, I'll say. I talked a lot about it in the mid-season or the mid-year music recommendation podcast that I did with Professor Sky. But it's just a really great phenomenal concept project,

really, really vulnerable by what I think is one of the best up-and-coming rappers that we have, that it's kind of continuing the more traditional lane of hip-hop in terms of being a student of Nause, being a student of the classic kind of emcees and kind of carrying on that tradition. So I guess I have another strong runner-up that I'm going to talk about next,

but I'll save that one. Cam, you want to give some. Quick shoutouts. Later on, I'm going to be able to talk more about Ash Tuesday's album, Aught, and Nina Girachi, I love my computer. The other one that I wanted to shout out right now is Danny Brown's Stardust. I love what he did on this, the amount of the producers, the collaborators he brought into this project, like, he's over 40 and he's doing this like, Danny Brown is having an incredible, he had an

incredible year, the Stardust concept and like the loose narrative of it. I think that he's just operating on an incredible level for all the work that he's doing right now. So I want to shut that out. I love that he just keeps going for it too. Like just not afraid to experiment. Yeah, I really like the project. I need to spend more time with it because it kind of feels like it just came out. It just, yeah, yeah.

I really liked the direction. I thought that was really left field and so cool. Margaret, you want to give some quick shoutouts for your albums of the year? Sure, yeah. I mean, thinking about my top 10. And, you know, I'm going to talk some about these. artists and bands later when I talk about songs, but I want to shout out this album called Caroline 2 by the band Caroline. They're this London-based, like, octet, and they're, like,

making, like, kind of experimental, deconstructed post-rock. But they've had their album this year, Caroline 2, which is the second album after their first self-titled record, Caroline. That album was really amazing. I'm, like, a huge fan of them. I also definitely want to shout out, OK, Lou's new album this year called Choke Enough. I think. I think she is so incredible. And she's always been on my radar for, like, the past couple of years. Like, I want to say, like, since her last record that came out during 2020. But, yeah, choke enough, I feel like is really putting her on everyone's radar.

And she has, like, such, like, a voracious fan base online. Yeah, really great. Just kind of, like, understated, kind of, like, retrofuturistic Y2K influenced pop, really. But it's super minimal. but her melodies are so strong but she has so many tracks and just have like no drums but it just still goes so hard

I don't know she's she's French I think she's based in Paris I'm not sure but I know she's French but yeah that album just like had me no pun intended but in a chokehold all year just I just kept thinking about it all year that one is really great so yeah those are two really good honorable mentions

from me okay cool okay so let's start with we're gonna go three, share our third favorite album of the year, we'll pass around, share our third, and then go second and third. I could start us off. So I have technically my number three is Cam's number two, so I'm not going to, we're going to save the conversation until then. So I'm going to, this is a strong runner up for number three that got bumped off last

minute because Rosalia's Lux came out and sorry. Sorry to Chance the Rapper's Starline. I just got my Spotify wrapped and this was actually my most listened to. this year was Chance the Rapper's Starline. Part of that is because I was prepping for my interview with him. But it's a phenomenal album. I think it's an incredible comeback for Chance.

I think it showed so much maturity. There's the themes and the things that you're talking about I feel like are so important and very traditional to the lineage of hip hop in terms of its function, societal function, and shining lights on stories and issues and environments and communities that, you know,

don't often get that kind of attention. I think there are some moments on this album that just moved me to tears. He's incredibly vulnerable. You could tell he did a lot of growing up in the five years that he was gone from his previous album. And I feel like he's starting, you know, this second act of this career where he was, you know, blew up early at a very young age, won the Grammy for coloring book. and seemed like he was just this phenom that was going to be the next Kanye or something. Obviously things kind of took a left turn,

but the way that I feel like he's now navigating out of it is really cool and like almost like returning to his independent roots and really leaning into just like community and building communities, uncompromising with his art, not trying to make these huge hit songs, but, you know, still, he's still, he just has a gift for melody and he knows what songs are,

He knows how to make catchy songs, but it never feels forced, especially on this album. I just feel like he's going to just be a really, really solid, independent artist that's going to have a really beautiful career, and I think is making some of the best hip-hop music to date at this time. So Starline, incredible album. If you haven't listened to my conversation with him, we dissect pretty much every song on the album. It was like a two-hour conversation that I feel like could have went four hours, and he was really gracious with this time and was incredibly passionate about music and art. It was a really,

really good conversation. So check that out if you had of it. But Chance of Rapper's Starline. Technically, my number four, we'll talk about my number three in a little bit. So, Cam, what's here, number three? This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. The holidays move fast, so stay in sync with Prime's fast-free delivery. Admittedly, I sometimes wait to the last minute to buy my gifts, and I've been saved by Prime more than a few times. That's because Prime's fast shipping is always there for you during the holidays, especially when it's last minute and can't wait. Need that final gift or holiday essential and a flash? It's on Prime. Head to Amazon.com slash Prime to shop now.

All right, so my number three album for this year is actually my most listened to as well, an album when Spotify rap came out. But that is Baby by Dijon. absolutely by Dijon is probably the best album of the century whatever but baby this year i thought was incredible i could not stop listening to it it is so messy and i love just the amount that went into it i just love how many different sounds there are and how he's uh performing over it i think that like de jean's portrayal of love is one of the closest like real honest portrayals of love nowadays there's so much going on there is so much that is so much that is is in each and all of us.

And he's like, he's showing how great that is, I think, in all of these tracks. He had, um, he had like a, like a rare tweet where he tried, where he like briefly explained some of it and he was like, uh, devotional tunes over lots of sounds. And I just think that like, I really find in his music a good understanding of contemporary romance. Um, and the songs bang, they're, they're great. I can't stop listening to the album. I love it.

Yeah. So Baby by Dijon. I feel like the sound, him and McGee are kind of spearheading. It's so interesting and so cool. We talked a little bit offline about, like, we are now living in the age of where Frank Ocean has children. Like, specifically, like, blonde has children. Blonde's going to be 10 years old next year, which is crazy. And I feel like Dijon is kind of, like, at the forefront of kind of

absolutely picking up what Frank was doing, especially on blonde, and just really creating like a very, very, very. unique but palatable, catchy sound that is like warm and romantic, but also like industrial and like harsh in time. It is harsh at times. Like his love he's showing is like real where it's messy and it's not nice all the time. And it's so actually honest and exciting. Like it's, I love how, yeah, I love how it comes through him. Sounds like you're a fan too, Mario. Yeah, I've been a fan of Dijon for since, yeah, since absolutely, well, even before then. But yeah, since around 20, I was actually like originally like a McGee fan first and then I saw that like McGee was like

collabing with Dijon and I was like oh my god they're like working together and just like seeing their like rise that's happening at the same time and then like feeding off of each other has been so cool but I actually have been putting off listening to the record the new record in full because I'm really hoping to witness it for the first time live because he's in he's playing in New York this this year I mean this this this week so like right now so I'm really really hoping that that I'm able to go. He's, you're trying. Cam.

He's, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he's supposed, I'm supposed, I'm supposed to see him on Friday and he canceled. Oh, oh, no. I saw him on the absolutely tour. Mm-hmm. And that's so amazing. So, amazing. Yeah. Like, he was in, like, a synagogue and it was, like, so in him.

Wow. That album is so special. So, so. Yeah. So, I mean, I mean, I hope it's amazing. Yeah. Yeah, I really hope I'm able to go. I would love to witness the music for the first time live. It's like something that I've been really into lately, just like going into concerts blind, and that'd be my first impression.

But yeah, my number three record of the year is this album called Bleeds by the band Wednesday. Wednesday is a band from North Carolina. And I guess they're like, I don't know, their sound combines alternative country with shoegaze, but they've been doing a lot more, like, heavier stuff. And the band is fronted by who I think is one of the greatest songwriters of my generation, hands down, Carly Hartzman.

Carly is, I could write a book about how much I love Carly, especially witnessing, like, the peak of her powers on this record. But, yeah, I don't know. I feel like she really, you know, she, the band loves North Carolina so much. like they're really like putting North Carolina on the map along with their studio guitarist, MJ Lunderman. But yeah, with this album bleeds, they really lean into their love for North Carolina and giving a voice, specifically through Carly's like vivid songwriting,

giving a voice to people that kind of like live on the fringes or people that like, you know, just like everyday people in your life that maybe you haven't thought about in a couple years and you're just like, but that are just still like, you know, existing and like living their lives. maybe like not really being exciting, but just like, you know, the lives like everyday people. But yeah, it's just like we're going with like a lot of heart and, you know, that in combination with the bands, like, just like tightness of musicality, especially like, you know, I've been a fan of them for so long. And I remember seeing them perform in like small venues and they had like a different lineup. But yeah, just like seeing them hone in on their skills and Carly also honing it on her

songwriting craft over the years and seeing them become who I think is one of the best indie rock bands active today and a lot of people would agree with me has just been so like personally rewarding because I've just believed in them from the very beginning and it just really blows me the way how how good they've been and this album is just so amazing I could gush about this record forever it's so incredible I'm so proud of them really all right cameron let's do do your number two so I can talk about my real number three. All right. We're going to talk about Lord.

We're going to talk about Virgin. Man, this album is so great. Look, solar power was awesome. I actually did. I know we both enjoyed solar power. But Virgin, this is Lord at peak form. I was blown away by how raw and honest. I was blown by the sound, the aesthetic of the whole thing.

I think it's like, it's unique. It's actually boundary pushing. This is, this is Lord doing like her best stuff. Man, this album is so special. I can't, I can't get over it. I don't think you can either. Like, this thing is, yeah. It's, it floored me.

You know, this was my favorite album of the year for a long time when it came out. And I'm surprised. Well, my number two, I listen to a lot too, but this one I listen to a ton. And yeah, it's so unique. it's like it's definitely like is more of that melodrama sound but I feel even like the it's it's definitely like a fresh

and like a reinvention of that lane. You know, it's closer to that sound than obviously solar power but it's it is unique and it's singular in terms of like the way she's approaching electronic music with the producer Jimmy Stack. It's like this so

it's like minimalist and raw and like it's like it reminds me for whatever reason of like brutalist architecture. Yeah. Wow. And I feel like that, but she kind of tapped into some of that with the visuals on the tour and like really gave you that like warehouse New York kind of scene, like that industrial

kind of vibe. And that seemed to just match the sonics of the album so well. Right. But yeah, I mean, we talked about a little bit before, but just the vulnerability, the way that she was able to use what are very, our very, our. are probably continuing very real struggles with very real issues. And the way she was able to transform those into art is just so inspiring and powerful.

It's so well-constructed of an album. Yeah. The more I listen to it, the more I dig into the lyrics and kind of like sit down with them. I'm like finding all these connections. I can share one now because I think we both had the same highlight song in ShapeShifter, which was my favorite song on the project. It probably still is, but I was going to talk more a little

bit more about David. Because it does kind of give you some insight into like the intention of the album. So David is the final song on the album. The name comes from Michelangelo's famous sculpture of David, which she went and saw and was really influenced and, you know, inspired by. And she said this about David. She said, Michelangelo carved David from age 26 to age 28. And he said that people when asked how he did it, he said he just carved away all that

not David. And so I thought about that a lot making the album. I just, it was just like carve away everything that isn't you, which makes so much sense when you know what she's talking about on the album and her coming, it's almost like feels like her coming of age record because she's coming off of this relationship that she had when she was really young, this long-term relationship that didn't sound like it was healthy with an older guy. And part of the reason why she called it David two, which was confirmed by her, was the story of David and Goliath. And like this underdog facing this bigger kind of nemesis, which I think is in part this man she was seeing.

She even kind of alludes to this in David lyric. She says, uppercut through the throat. I was off guard, pure heroin mistaken for a featherweight. So tying into this kind of battle imagery. But then you also realize the first song is called Hammer. And so this idea of a hammer and a chisel chiseling away everything that is not me. And her, you know, literally an x-ray photo of her, you know, private regions being the fucking album cover. Yeah.

Coming from a woman that has struggled with body issues that she talks very transparently about on the record is just like this is what art is meant for. Like this is an artist overcoming struggle through art or at least expressed in art that is. and then translated into like some of the most moving songs that I've heard in my lifetime, like shape chifter, David, like there's a handful of songs on glass and just broken glass. Yeah, just go down the list, man. It's like, it's such an incredible project. Sorry, I took over the conversation. Absolutely.

That's it. We know it. Yeah. Yeah. I think the whole thing is so special. It's also wonderful how it's like it is temporary and it is in progress. It's in construction. that's the thing that to me is so special

is like the construction is happening and you're seeing it go on you're seeing the process like she wasn't scared of showing herself in the middle of things I think a lot of times you want to be like a finished product we're not going to be a finished product

and she was so real about that process happening and being that in the music I thought it was yeah it's so special so inspiring her vulnerability is just like wow that's yeah just really I'm really inspired by

what you guys just said really. I'm just taking it in real time, you know. Yeah. Shout out Lord. Jamie, you have anything else? Do you want to highlight? I think, I mean, I also want to talk about like, I thought the ultrasound detail was really cool of the X-ray, the ultrasound tour.

First off, just ultrasound being the musical idea is sick. And it makes sense with everything that's going on. But also ultrasounds, I don't know, to me, it's usually thought about with pregnancy, womanhood, femininity, having a, like, and her stage in her life and what she is showing us, I thought that it's like her world building, not just the music, but the aesthetic drive of it,

like with her and her synesthesia and how she always does this stuff. It's endlessly inspiring. Yeah, it's one of those albums you can like picture. There's this certain album I talk about this a lot where it's like you can see the album in your head somehow because the world building of it has been so well executed. So it's like what I could picture this album

in the same way that I can picture. like, yeah, Frank Ocean's blonde or like, you know, name your classic album. I think the intention, like I talked about this album on the mid-year episode that we did and I highlighted something that she did

with the sound of the digital water sound essentially. So a lot of this album was created in New York. She would go to that. I forgot the fountain is called the famous fountain in New York City. She would go there every morning and like be writing some of the songs there. And she would go to

would sit at the fountain. So that, and obviously water has tons of symbolic weight in terms of rebirth and cleansing and transformation and all that. And so there's a digital sound of water that's represented in the start of the album and it returns on the end of the album on the song David. And I think the end of David is one of my favorite music moments of the year where she does that like the electronics like swell behind her and she lets out that huge belt where she says, What did she say? I made you God, again, probably talking about this figure, this David figure. I made you God because that was all that I knew how to do.

And then she screams, but I don't belong to anyone. That line is set up to be say, but I don't belong to anyone but you. But she omits but you and just screams, ooh, ooh, ooh, to make, symbolizing that she's now detached from this person. And I don't belong to anyone but myself. Wow. And at the climax of the album, when the digital sounds of the water can return, symbolizing transformation, rebirth, like, it's fucking perfect. But I don't belong to anyone. Anyone that hasn't listened to this album or hasn't listened to it enough, it's really, really, really good.

So we love Lord. Margo, you want to go number, your number, we're on number two now. my gosh. Okay, my number two record is this album called Big City Life by the Norwegian duo Smurz. That's S-M-E-R-Z. They are kind of back and forth between Oslo in Norway and Copenhagen. So they're kind of tied to like this like Copenhagen art pop scene that I'm probably the biggest fan of. I feel like anyone that is familiar with me online knows how much I root for those girlies making crazy experimental art pop in Copenhagen. But yeah, so Big City Life, the newest album from Smurz. I remember talking to another artist actually about this record. And he was like, yeah, I don't know. I just can't get into the Smur's album. I was telling my friend how I just can't really get into it. And then

she told me that it's just because I'm not a girly. Like I feel like this album is like, for the girlies, like, living a big city life, which is why I connect with it so deeply. I feel like it's for the girls that, like, yeah, are living this, like, metropolitan life, always on the go or people that, like, aspire to live this life and they can kind of escape into that through this record. It really just, like, it's so minimal in its production, but I don't know, I feel like whenever I listen to certain songs, I can just see, like, it in my mind's it relating to certain experiences I've had in my life. And that sounds like really deep, but that album is like not that deep.

I feel like it's just like a vibe and it's about like this like kind of like sultry, feminine atmosphere that it has me tap into personally. And I feel like a lot of fans of Smurs also tap into that when listening to this record. I really think about that when listening to my favorite track on the record called Feisty, which the lyrics are like pretty, I don't know, stream of consciousness. I feel like it's kind of painting these different vignettes of like a night out, like being in the bathroom and checking your makeup or like seeing a guy that you matched with on Tinder

and being like, oh, is that him? He looks kind of cute in person. And your friend being like, oh my God, he's walking over here. You should say something. Like I've had so many of these experiences with some of my best friends, like just like living in the city. And it's just like somewhat nostalgic but also just so inspiring and inspires me to like connect with my like inner utmost femininity and like like womanly power and just like be confident and sexy and I don't know even like when I'm not feeling that way like I listen to

this album and it just gets me that mindset I think it's so good the production is great the two women who make up smurs it's it's it's a duo between two women and like they're like girl girl vocals together. It's like, it's like the ultimate like feminine power to me. So I love that record. Yeah, this is all this, the, the music that you're recommending today, I listen to this album. It's probably my favorite of your, of your picks. Because I wasn't familiar with them. It's so cool. I really love the sound. I know exactly what you're talking about in terms of like, oh yeah, these are like the cool girls that I was scared to talk to when I was in, when I was going out to bars and stuff. Because they just have this, like, swagger to the...

I really like the song Roll the Dice. Oh, yeah. Like, all the songs are just, like, sassy and just, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. They just have, yeah, innate swag. Just, like, you described it perfectly just, like, the cool girls, like, in the corner at the bar that you're like, oh, my God, I'm terrified of them. Yeah. But, like, you're also, like, I want to hang with them, you know? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, it's a great pick. I'm really excited to listen to this album more because I wasn't familiar with it, but I really like their sound. It's really cool. They're awesome, yeah. Okay, so I didn't talk about my number two, actually, I realized. Because I was, I might have convinced myself that Lord is my number two, the way that I just talked about it. But my number two is Clips, Let God Sort Him Out.

It is a perfect hip-hoped to me. So clips to me and my, like, clips to me and my, like, young adulthood was like they were I mean they were kind of like the smurs of hip hop at the time they were like the cool guys wearing the cool fashionable babe when babe was coming like they were on you know they were fresh on everything first they were rapping in a way that no one else was over feral and you know Neptune's production that sounded like nothing you've ever heard especially in hip hop like this and they would always pick like the weirdest feral beats too it's like feral and the Neptunes had this more commercial glossy sound and but then they had this weird experimental sound that the clips would tap into. And so it just created this really unique dynamic of like these kind of street, swagger, tough guys rapping over this really odd instrumentation

that's just unlike anything we've heard in hip-hop. And so, you know, Malice left the group, Pesha T, went on of a very successful solo career, but then they have reunited this year to create this album and they've, I think they're rapping better than they ever have. Like they've not missed a step, they've only gotten better. Malice is my MVP of hip-hop this year. Every verse on this album by Malice specifically is just a masterpiece. It's like 52 or 53 just showing everyone what it looks like

to rap for what must be 30 years. And just like, you know, it's kind of old school and it's delivery in terms of just like very straightforward flows most of the time. But the rhyme schemes are so brilliant and technical. The wordplay is just phenomenal. It's a perfect hip-hop album to me. It's definitely one of my most listened to albums. There's not a slow spot. There's not a skippable track in it. I think it's among their best albums.

My favorite, probably Hell Hopinof Fury, but I think it's right there for me. And I think with age, it could very well be the best clips album when it's all set and done. So I was very excited. It's like, it's one of those things where it's like, you're kind of looking side-eye when, you know,

there's a reunion. especially when they're a little bit up there, getting up there in age, especially in like hip hop, you know, usually could be solid, but it's never like, rarely is it outstanding,

but I think we have got an outstanding project from a legendary hip-hop group that is showing no signs of slowing down either. I think they're going to create more music, and if it's at this level, I think a lot of us are going to be welcoming it with open arms. So I was very surprised, and I think a lot of us,

us that are, you know, very into hip-hop. This is kind of like the unanimous hip-hop album of the year. I'm curious to know if you guys are fans of clips at all. I haven't listened to that much clips. I mean, I actually saw them at a festival, like, during the summer. And, you know, I was unaware that they had dropped a new record. And I was like, wow, this is, they sound like, like they haven't aged at all. Like, it was pretty amazing. I mean, I've been familiar with them, but I just haven't tapped into the new record. But I'm, I want to now after hearing you, talk about it. Cam, you're a fan too, right?

This is probably rap release of the year. I think so, just like clearly. It's so incredible if they're doing this at their age. I thought, so be it is like, best songs. That's the best. That's the best one. Yeah. Yeah. If anyone missed it, I did a, I dissected the 10, or I thought

the 10 best lines on the album as its own episode a couple weeks ago. So if you're into some, you want to hear me geek out on wordplay and triple entendras and rhyme schemes, go listen to that episode for more on the clips let God sort them out but that's my number two we've all done our number two right so we're going on

to our album of the year yeah Cam let's start with you okay all right this is my favorite album of the year I also do I know we're doing favorite not best I do think that it is the best I do think this is a masterpiece like of a generation I think what I'm talking about is

bad bunny be to try more photos. This album blows me away. Every time I listen to it, I I'm not an expert on this album. I'm not going to sit here and say that I can do the dissect season right now, but I know that it should be done by somebody right now. Like this, it's been really special.

It's been out all year. It came out in January, so, like, we've had it all year. I've been able to talk about this with a friend for the whole year. and they speak Spanish so they're able to help me understand a lot of it. It's, I know, like, sonically, without understanding everything,

it's special. And then when, like, really breaking down the lyrics and you look at everything that he's saying, and he captures in this thing, I think Bad Bunny made a masterpiece. Like, this is, put it in a museum.

Like, this is forever. For what I understand, like, it's kind of like a love letter to Puerto Rico and, like, celebrating, like, the diverse, sounds from from his home.

Yeah, it's, it's, when you look at like, I think that it captures so much about today. It is definitely about Puerto Rican pride, him finding that he can express something about his culture. He talked in an interview about, like, when he became a big star and when around the world, like, he was, what he found is what he would talk to people and he'd be representing where he is from, when he would talk to people from different places. And so going back to PR, going back to being able to really mind that culture and represent it in the sound.

It's really special. Every song is like 50 songs. There's so much going on in each one. And he really does do a great job of capturing so many different musical stylings. I'm not going to sit here and say that I know all of them, but like you can tell and you can see everything that's going on is really great. And like he's doing the thing that we like to talk about a lot and dissect when like the song references like multiple generations of songs before it.

There's a bunch of moments throughout the album where it happens. But like in an interview, he said what he wants is for like a family to be able to listen to this and the parents to say, oh, that references this song. You don't know about that. This music is better than your young people music. And for the young people to then share theirs and the older people to share theirs. And just that idea of familial community is in every second. It's like baked into every bit of the.

album, ideas of community and family and like, it's the best. Yeah, I really, I really do. Yeah, you said you were going to talk about the title track at the end. Yeah, I want to save the title track for the song of the year. I want to say that. I can talk up, there's another moment I did want to talk about, which was, this is like a dissecting that we like to do. If you look at the song, well, Tita. There's a part of that where Bad Bunny, he quotes another song, a lot of Spanish speakers would be familiar with. It's called La Flaca by Harabe de Palo.

And that song is by a Spanish band. He says, For a Besso de la flaca, I'd do what he's like saying, like, if I could get a kiss from this girl, I'd do anything is the lyric that he's quoting. And it's quoting it from the song La Flaca. And then in La Flaca, they do the same thing.

They quote another song. They quote a song from Lalo Rodriguez, who is a famous Puerto Rican artist. That song, when he's talking about Puerto Rico and he's going through colonization and all the things that have happened, he's like baking it into the references. The opening sample on the whole album is a thing. about a Puerto Rican immigrant of New York, a song they made referencing that journey and everything like that. The references are there, the samples are there.

It's so heavily educated. It is incredible the amount of synthesis he's doing in every moment on the album. We'll play the clips for people that we'll play the reference clips too because that sounds really cool. And we love that here on Dysect, obviously, where it's like this intergenerational conversation

through the art that if you're, an active listener and interested it's a portal into history you know and it's like you follow the thread and you'll educate you so that sounds amazing and I know it's what's been for me this year which has been really special I'm actually rooting

for Bad Bunny at the Grammys I think if he could win at the Grammys perform at the Super Bowl I feel like especially with this album and everything that it's doing I feel like it could be such a moment yeah yeah Mark are you a fan of Bad Bunny

I am by proxy because one of my best friends is a super fan. So I feel like I just know so much about him and his music through her. I feel like even like my first exposure is to Bad Bunnyworth through her like years ago. So yeah, I love him largely because of her. But I mean, he is such like a trailblazing like original pop star of today that like you can't really ignore how great he is. Yeah. All right. Do you want to give us your album of the year?

Sure. Yeah. I'm like my heart is literally palpitating thinking about this record because it has actually consumed me. And the record I'm talking about is geese is getting killed, which is like a parasite in my life in the absolute best way. Like I feel like I'm not even a human anymore after listening to this record. I'm just like a host for this album, which sounds extreme, but that is just hinting at the, for a lack of better words. obsession that I have with this record. And, you know, if you're tapped into like the indie or rock sphere at all, you've probably heard of this band. And I was really resistant to the hype for a long time.

Also, you know, living in New York, they're a New York band. I've been aware of them for a really long time. And they were never really taken that seriously. But with this record and all the buzz that it's gotten, and I was like, what? Like this band? And people are like talking about it with such regard, like, there's no way. But after listening to the record and spending so much time with it, I am, like, fully converted, and I'm actually, like, a disciple of this record. I think, I mean, for one, like, they're all so young. They're, like, in their early 20s, and they're operating at such, like, a high level. I feel like, you know, when talking about geese, when people talk about geese and you look into the discourse around this record specifically, there's so many references

that people like to make. And I can definitely see those references, like the strokes or like, you know, whenever I listen to the record, I'm always thinking about Radiohead. But geese are doing like this thing that's just so originally their own, largely in part due to what I think is like the utter creative genius that is Cameron Winter's songwriting and vocal delivery in tandem. Like, I don't know, like the whole record is just like absolutely. no skips for me. The only record that I've listened to that's come out this year that I think is no

skips. It just flows perfectly. The sequencing is amazing. But yeah, Cameron Winter is such like a genius songwriter. And at the age of 23, it actually scares me for like his future and the future of the band. And I don't know. I mean, I could talk about so many tracks and so many moments from this record. But I think the one that really exemplifies their creative prowess and musical prowess is the title track getting killed. I feel like every single part of this song is just the epitome of what makes geese the most exciting band in rock right now to me.

Cameron's vocal delivery, Cameron's lead singer, is just so incredible and so varied all across this track. There's a line during, like... Also, the structure of the track is just like, there's no chorus. There's just like four different verses and I think like a refrain.

But during the second, verse, there's this line where Cameron says, I'm trying to talk over everybody in the world and how he sings this line. It's like his voice is bursting out of him. And it's like I just, I can't remember the last time I've seen or witnessed or heard like a vocal delivery like this in indie rock, especially from like a new band. That line is just always really gets me every time. And like during the refrain when he's singing this line that goes. goes, I'm getting killed by a pretty good life over and over. Like how he fries his voice is just, it really just packs a punch.

I don't know. I think his voice and how he sings in combination with his songwriting in combination with just like how great each one of the members are as musicians all combined together and like joining forces just makes for such like an exciting like, compulsive for me, like listening experience. And I feel like this album has consumed me. Like whenever I've been trying to listen to other records from this year that have come out, especially like since the Geese record has come out,

I cannot think about another album because I'm just thinking about the Geese album, really, which was proof that this album is just like my favorite album that has come out. Not only this year, maybe than like, this easily could become one of my favorite albums of all time. I think. I think a lot of people share that excitement. It's crazy. It's pretty incredible to see a band like this, especially because I'm older than you guys,

I kind of live through the tail end of rock music, you know, in terms of prominence and hip-hop rising and that, you know, the access graphs going, you know, hip-hop rise, rock decline, and now I feel like we're on the precipice of another rise in rock music, which I think...

Yeah. I think a lot of people will be accepting with open arms specifically because of like, you know, technology exhaustion and the onset of AI. And it's like, I think we're going to find real value in human beings getting together in person creating music. I think that's going to become valuable again, where I think we've kind of lost our way. Might have overdid it with the electronic stuff. And I'm kind of rooting for yeast to be spearheading what could be. a larger movement towards maybe not rock music but more like human people in a room together in a garage together again you know you just don't hear about that happening uh these days but that

was commonplace you know when i was growing up so yeah i think for also for geese like their sound is so interesting it took me like a few listens to like get accustomed to it because it's so odd in terms of like the way he sings is just so unique i get the radio at tom yorker perison because just the elongation of words that is just whenever it's just like, why would you ever sing it like that? Yeah. Why would you hold that word so long? But that's kind of Tom York's thing too, where it's a beautiful voice. And then even the way they develop songs is so interesting to me because the drums and the guitars are often like on different pages.

Like the guitar part doesn't quite match what the drums are doing. And then they'll come together certain moments and then fall apart, like fall apart in quotes, of course. And it's also, it's just also very interesting. and they're all like great musicians, so it all works, you know, but it's just like, it's one of those albums where it's like, it sounds simple because it's just, you know,

guitar-based drums, singing. But the way that they're using the instruments, it's like your mind still is working all the time, trying to figure out, like it's not copy-paste loops, you know, it's like everything's in the moment played throughout the whole song. They're not copy-pasting parts. They're not looping parts, you know?

So I'm really excited about, like, what they could potentially represent and to your point of them being so young, it's like, yeah, I can definitely see this becoming something larger, you know? Beautiful. I'm going to piggyback off of your point of being a host of an album that has become a parasite in your life. My number one album of the year is Rosalia's Lux.

It is my album of the decade. I'm going to say that strongly. It's only been like a month or something since it's, album came out, that is how I'm passionate. I thought like, okay, the album came out as like, instant masterpiece, instantly my favorite album of the year. Then I was like having second thoughts, like, did I go overboard on this thing? Was I just too excited at the moment? Was this too much of an album that just feels like it's specifically catered exactly to my specific tastes, which is like I have a classical music background. I love, I love the sound of orchestras and all that.

That might be true, but I still think it's a masterpiece and it's still, my personal favorite album of the decade. It is, it's hard to even know where to start. It is like, everything that I want art is in this album to me. And she is operating on a level. It's the thing that I always say on this show where it's like, Kendrick Gamar doesn't have to be as thematic and artistic as he is, operating at the scale he is.

And more often than not, when you get that big, you make artistic compromises to remain that big. Rosalia, her discography is so weird. You know, like flamenco album, hybrid flamenco album, electronic, regitone, you know, Monomami was a total left turn from everything else. And then now coming to this, so not only to pivot to Lux and the sound of it, but to execute it this well and be this ambitious, this young and only her fourth project and her first two projects were great in college, you know, like her second album was her college

thesis. So it's like, again, like this new generation is just like, man, what is coming? Because I feel like Rosalie has entered the space of Kendrick Lamar to me in terms of like importance artistically operating at scale. And Lux is just so ambitious, not only in like orchestration and musicality, but also in concept. And in like, obviously the, the biggest footnote of this album is that it's in 13 languages, which itself is just a feat and like shouldn't work but does. Like you don't ever feel like, oh, she's now singing in Japanese. Oh, now she's, you know, it's like, you never, it's so fluid and organic somehow. That is just, I, it's just boggling my mind how she created this thing.

It is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. We're going to, we're going to go into our, I'll save maybe my dissectable moment for my song of the year. But to be honest, I was like, we can segue into our songs of the year because legitimately, I, because I wanted variation, I didn't pick just all songs from luck. But literally, my favorite three songs of the year are on this album, like, legitimately. So I'm very excited. Okay, let me toss.

Am I just like, am I just like, am I too excited? Are you guys fans of this record too? Yes, for sure. She reminds me of like, yeah, I feel like she's like the Bjork of our generation. I mean, you know, Bjork is the generation, but Rosalie is like the predecessor or the successor. The record is so incredible. I was really nervous to listen to it for a long time because I just knew that it would be so artistically grand.

And I think, Cole, you're going to talk about this track eventually, but the track that you're going to mention is the track that really just had the album dawn on me being like, wow, this album is a masterpiece. She is operating at a level that no one else in her sphere of pop might ever do in the span of their career. So I'm right there with you. Yeah.

Yeah, me too. Yeah, absolutely. Like, I thought about this in my top three as well. And I think that it's just operating at such a high level. I do love that the musicality went in your direction. I know I like, I was like, damn, this is just made. When I listened to it for the first time, I was thinking, damn, okay, so this is cold bait. Like, this is just, this is made.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay, so let's transition into our songs of the year. I can kick us off I'll rattle off some honorable mentions just really quickly Funny Papers by Mac Miller Obviously it didn't come back

It wasn't written this year But came out early this year Beautiful beautiful song on a really great album And balloonerism Sugar on my tongue Tyler the Creator So fun The whole album was so fun But that song specifically

I'm glad it's getting radio play Because it's weird as fuck But like it's so Tyler and so catchy There's like four songs off of eclipse album, Chains and Whips, Spico, so be it, the birds don't sing. All incredible. Chances, no more old men. I talked a lot about that with Chance.

That's one of my favorite songs of the years. So powerful. But for variation's sake, I went for my number three. I went with Johnny Greenwood's theme for one battle after another, the title track. Have you guys seen this movie? Cam, I know you haven't. I haven't seen it, Margo. Oh, yeah, I'm a huge pizza.

T-A. Stan, I would say. You are in the right place. I saw it three times in the theater. Oh, my gosh. It is my favorite movie soundtrack since Phantom Thread. Yes, yes. We're on the same page. We're on the same page.

All time. But this, I mean, I love Johnny Green's approach to scoring, specifically as ear for orchestration and the way that he writes and arranges is just so unique. Classic, you know, 20, he's definitely a student of 20. century classical music, more avant-garde stuff, but the way he's able to create warm moments on a fandom thread, but also like the mood, you know, there's so many scenes in one battle after another that are literally carried by, I think, the soundtrack. You know, some of those scenes can't last as long as they do without the tension in the soundtrack. And specifically,

the one battle after another title track scene is the first thing we hear in the movie, or in the movie. And what I love about it is like, you know, my dissect brain. It's like he's doing this thing called pedal tone, which is a repeating single note. It's definitely, I think it was the first thing I thought about in the theater on my first watch. It was like, oh, that's intentional because it's called one battle after another. So it's one continuous note representing the connection between one battle up, you know, a continuous journey of battles, which is then represented in the final scene in the movie where they're on the rolling hill, one continuous road, the hills representing each battle.

It was just like, you know, so the nerd side of me really loves this piece, but also just sonically is so beautiful and so powerful. So I had to shout it out. So that's technically my number three. So Cam, what's your third song, favorite son of the year? All right, so I did take the opportunity. I was similar with thinking that, like, I might do three bad money songs. I took the opportunity, though, to like use the.

the songs as a way to talk about some of the albums I wasn't able to. And so the first song that I want to talk about is number three is All at Once by Nina Jirachi. Nina Jirachi, it's excellent. I got to shout out my sister. My sister was listening to Nina Jirachi like in 2018 or something. This has been like one of her favorite, like, artists. I don't know how she found her in the first place. But Nina Jirachi put out this album called I Love My Computer this year, which has just been endlessly fascinating.

So good, yeah. It's so, because we talk about, like, anxieties and fear about a lot of the development of technology. You know, Derauchi flipped it. And it's like, well, I love it. It has made me who I am. I grew up with all this stuff. What are you talking about? And I don't think that we get enough of that where we see the good parts of it and the optimistic parts of it.

All at once is the last song on the full album. I love this track. I love a lot of the songs on the album. But I think that all at once is an amazing job of bringing everything together. it does what it's saying. It brings the whole album. It is playing parts of it all at once. And like, this is a bop.

I love this song so much. I'm glad you highlight this song specifically because it's really good. I didn't, it's like, it's not the end of the album, so it's like it's easy to miss. But then being able to highlight it like this was a creative stroke. I appreciate it. So it's a really, that's a really good album. I really like this album a lot. Yeah.

I'm going to have to check it out. Oh, you haven't heard it? No, I haven't heard it. No, I have it. But I really can appreciate that ideology because, yeah, I mean, it's so easy to lean into how terrible technology has made our everyday lives. But also, like, technology is awesome and great. And, like, the power of the Internet has, like, wholly changed my life for the better. So I do love my computer and I do love the Internet.

So I'm going to have to check it out. What's your number three? Yeah, my number three really quickly, some honorable mentions. I want to shout out. 925 by Nourished by Time, who I kind of mentioned earlier with some underground albums. But yeah, that's one of my favorite tracks of the year. That whole album is really amazing called The Passionate Ones Once Again. Also, Relationships by Heim, I think, is one of the best pop songs of the decade. I love that track so much. I feel like I only love it more, the more times I listen into it.

And it took them like seven years to write. So I'm not like a huge Heim fan, but like I love that track so much and I like just respect them so much as artists. What else? This song by a really kind of like low-key artists or just like a smaller artist named Oparelli. It's a song called You Don't Have One Hope. She's like an LA based singer-songwriter with like a really great voice and knack for melody. So I love that track. But my number three track of the year is this song called Tell Me. I never knew that from an album I mentioned earlier called Caroline 2 by the London Octet Caroline. and the track features another Caroline in the indie zone, Caroline Polichick. She is like a melody genius.

Also, her vocal stylings are just so unique. She's, like, really known for doing, like, vocal flipping, and just, like, her range is so incredible. So them coming together and joining forces, like, this song was made for me. I remember listening to it before it came out. Someone sent it to me, like, their manager, and I was like, there's no way that this is Caroline Polichick on this song. And he was like, yeah, I was like freaking out at like 11 p.m.

I remember listening to it for the first time. Yeah, the song is really amazing, like how it combines like Caroline's like more avant-pop sensibilities and just like her vocal expertise with Caroline's kind of deconstructed sound. But my favorite part of the song is the very end when there, I don't even know who's singing. I feel like it's like one of the vocalists in the band whose name is Magda and she's kind of singing like this auto-tuned, repetitive line.

But it sounds like one line, but it's a series of different lines that kind of transform into each other and it's a combination of like, it always has been, it always will be. And like it always has been kind of morphs into it always happens, which morphs into this always happens.

And then the very end of the song is just like, it always will be, it always will be, it always will be, it always will be, it always will be. And it's almost like the more times that that line is repeated. It just carries more weight and meaning and resonance with the listener. So I'm a huge fan of Carolina. I have been for a long time, both Carolines, really.

So this track is like, it's, yeah, like it's how, like, Lux was coal bait. This track is like Margot bait, you know? So love both carolines. All right, perfect. Okay. All right. So my number two comes off of JID's God Does Like Ugly. It is the song Community featuring clips.

We don't barky. My ghetto's not your culture. Niggas really die here. So hard to say goodbye is the only lullaby here. Kilo's turning boys to men. Gotta pick a side here. This, we talked about it with Jid. So, you know, if you want to learn more about the song and his thoughts and dissections of it,

listen to our interview next week. But this to me is a perfect hip-hop song. I think it's probably the hip-hop song of the year. Ironically, it does feature clips, maybe unironically. It's, again, to go back into, like, you know, one of hip-hop's functions in terms of, like, giving a voice to the voiceless and stories you wouldn't otherwise hear, this song encapsulates all of that. It's called community.

It centers, like, this apartment complex used as a symbol of the history of this country and what led to creating places like this apartment complex. the projects and then all each of JID clips or malice and Pish-A-T all rapping from their experience growing up in places like this and it's just a flawless execution of like you have two elder statesman in rap pairing up with J-I-D who is this not an up-and-comer but you know of the younger generation and I love the generational kind of baton pass between J-I-D and Push-a-T it's just a really unique thing that J-D does at the end of his verse to link directly into Pusha T's verse because I grew up at similar parts of Virginia.

J.D. went to college and where Clips grew up. So he plays with that idea and then passes the mic to Push a T in this really creative way. And then Malice comes in at the end with a perfect, I'm saying, a perfect 16 bar rap verse. Like put it in a fucking textbook, study this. This is how you rap. This is how you execute theme and WordPress. and rhyme scheme, it is a perfect, perfect rap verse. Probably my, probably my verse of the year,

which is ironically, not on the clips album, but from Malice Still. So if you're not familiar with this song, listen to it, it's so good. I was floored when I first heard this song, and I continued to have it on repeat. So that's my number two, Cam, number two song of the year. All right, my number two song of the year is by an artist named Ash Tuesday, and the song is called Scab. It's off of her album ought.

She's like a singer-songwriter. Most notable, like popular contemporary, probably be like B-Badubi. It's kind of like heavier version of that. I got put on to Ash Tuesday by somebody who saw her open for Leith Ross. The album is incredible. It's very like post-burnt-out brain, like the fried brain synapses just kind of trudging along. The song Scab, I think it's, just goes really hard, but also, like, she is singing these stories that to me really capture

and reflect what it is like to be like a kid or young, like a teenager today in America. Like, I think that this song really capture something that, and I teach high school English, I see this a lot. Like, this is capturing something that I think a lot of children are experiencing today, which is terrible advice from parents to just, kind of keep trying to go along even when everything is not working and everything is burnt out and everything is wrong and just being like just like the advice seems to be just ignore it just kind of just keep going as we fail and mess up everything and got like it's it's not like the song is so

heavy about that I think the story is really evocative and really capture something beautifully but that's something that just I see I think this song is the best on the album the whole album does this but I think the song is the best on the album for doing that so it's really special to me yeah yeah I should say it's so cool sorry go ahead yeah oh no I was just said yeah I had not heard of her and I was just looking her up but she only has 11,000 months she's really small yeah but it feels like that might not be the case for soon because I hope not yeah yeah yeah yeah she's really great I remember discovering her on TikTok a couple years ago. I mean, yeah, I'm like her opening for Leith Ross, another kind of like prominent TikTok

indie singer-songwriter makes perfect sense. But yeah, I remember really being drawn to like how she plays guitar and the sound of her voice. Like she's super influenced by like 90s indie rock, but it's just still sounds so unique and fresh to me. I'm always rooting for her. She's so cool. Yeah. You want to go into your number three or number two, sorry? Sure. Yeah. My number two song. is by Alex G. who I talked about earlier with my favorite musical moment of the year, so I won't kind of repeat myself. But it's the song called Afterlife, which was the first single from his latest album, Headlights. I mean, yeah, I just, I love Alex so deeply. His music has had such a, like, I don't know, formative impression on my life. And I've probably listened to every single song he's

ever made. And this song, you know, he's so deep into his career as a musician. He feels like a veteran. I mean, you know, he's like, he's a dad now. Like, I've, I've, I've witnessed him kind of get older through his music, but still, like, just kind of hone in on his singular voice in the indie landscape, which makes him one of the greatest indie artists of our time. But this song, I mean, he's made so many songs, but this just still sounds. so fresh and it's so catchy. And in typical Alex stylings, you don't really know what he's singing about. I feel like the lyrics, like, aren't that much of a main thing that you focus on when it comes to Alex's music. The lyrics are like vague and pretty simple, but just like how he

constructs songs, after life being like such a prime example of this, but just like the melody and the guitar playing and just like the weird, like Alex idiosyncrasies are just so, present in this song. I feel like it has like every staple that makes Alex G. Alex G can be found in this song. Like there's a part in the chorus where he just like hits this like high pitched screech out of nowhere. And I feel like if any other artists were to do this, it would be pretty jarring. But it just like it's the part where like if he's playing it live, everyone like sings along to it, which I think something that is like so uniquely Alex that he can do. So just like a catchy song. It was like the song. It was like the song.

of this summer for me. I already have such fond memories to this song. So yeah, that's Afterlife by Alex G. Beautiful. Yeah, it's a really good song. I've likely turned me on to it. Oh, nice. Alex G. And I don't know if we said on this podcast, but he worked with Frank Ocean on Blonde. So if you're a fan

of Frank Ocean's Blonde, haven't checked out Alex G, definitely check out his solo stuff. I remember I saw Frank in 2017 when he was the very few shows that he did for Blonde. I like this music festival here in New York called Panorama, and I traveled to New York to see

this show, specifically like this, yeah, performance, the festival for sure, but that set for sure. And Alex was performing with him at this, like, for this set. I think I was like the only person in the crowd being like, Alex, Alex. I mean, you know, everyone was like crying over Frank and I mean, so was I,

but I didn't know Alex was going to be there too. So these two faves of mine coming together on stage, I was like fully blacking out. It was so amazing. Yeah. Okay, so So it's time for our number one songs of the year, our official songs of the year. Is this everyone's song of the year in terms of like you picked it off, even if it was on your favorite album, you picked your song of the year?

Yep. Okay, so I'll start, no surprises here. My song of the year is Rosalia's Mio Cristo Bianchi Diamante. The song, it could have very easily been Bergen, as well. Yeah. It's a close race. but I have to go with me of Christo. It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.

We say this stuff all the time. This is literally one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard in my life. Agreed. It brings me to tears. There's two parts that I bring me to tears. Every single time I listen to it, maybe not gushing tears,

but the welling of the eyes. It is so gorgeous. It's a hard, almost hard for me to talk about because I'm like starting to get choked up Just like thinking about it, it is one of those songs that have like, it is like in my blood somehow already. It is so beautiful.

It's like it took her a year to write. It's based on, it's her version of an aria from an opera. Just kind of taking what an aria is and kind of making her own version of it. It's written in Italian as a tribute to Italian opera. Like every song on the album, it's inspired by a different saint from history, Each song on the album is inspired by a different saint from history. This one is about two saints, St. Clair of Assisi and St. Francis of Assisi, which was a man and a woman who are not romantic, but were, you know, devotional to God and had this, like, beautiful friendship, I guess, throughout their entire life. That was platonic, but they were, like, you know, very supportive of each other during hardships and everything.

So she was kind of celebrating this friendship and immortalizing this friendship of these two Italian saints. And yeah, it's just, I guess the part I want to highlight is the refrain. So it's pretty interesting song in terms of like it's almost through composed, meaning like it kind of just keeps going and going without repeating parts. But the part that does repeat is the chorus or the refrain, Miochristo Pia John Diomante, which means My Christ cries diamonds. which is just, I can think about that line forever.

Like, what does it mean to cry diamonds? What does it mean for Christ to cry diamonds? There's like sacrifice and suffering and beauty, all encapsulated in that image that it's, like, supported by this history of these two saints that are devotional to God, but supportive of each other and uniting around this Christ figure, you know, uniting around God, this friendship.

And I would just say, like, the end of the song is just, it is my favorite musical moment of the year. She sings the refrain, the My Christ cries diamonds, and that transforms into, I'm not going to read the Italian, but the translation is,

I take you with me always. And she reached, like the end of the song comes to this huge climax. The music stops and is just her voice going high, it's a C to an F to a B flat. which if you're a music nerd, you know, is applying a 251 chord percussion. Essentially, she is resolving the song herself

just with her voice, but it is ascending. Each note is higher and higher to the next until she hits the B-flat, which is the resolving note of the song. It's reaching the highest registers of her voice. What she is saying, you know, I take you with me always.

I think she's talking about these saints, but also talking about God. And it's just like transcendent, chills, tears, everything. And then it's like, who does this? We get this beautiful thing happening. And then we hear her ad-libbing, essentially, like, her talking, like directing the orchestra,

saying that's going to be the energy and then done. We hear her say done, and then the orchestra set, like, does the done. She's essentially giving direction to the orchestra. It's like this bit of, like, realism. But it's like the contrast between this beautiful, just heart-wrenching moment and then this, like, thing that makes you laugh. It's like, so you have this cry and then you laugh immediately. So it's like this warm beauty and sadness. And like, it's just like, who's doing this?

Like, who leaves that in? Like, I don't know. It's just like, every time I hear that part, I'm just like, oh, yeah. Like, she, because I get so wrapped up in the beauty of it that it's like, you forget about this really cute, quirky moment at the end. That is so Rosalia. And like, I don't know. And then it goes. into Borgaine, it's like the perfect transition

into Borgian, like, uh, this song is just fucking incredible. I'm glad I'm alive. There's just songs like that, you know, music is my life. And so when songs like this come around, and it's been only a month since it's come out, like, yeah, I'm going to talk fucking big about this song because like, I've just, I love this the most. This is like, music is the highest form of art to me personally.

And so when a song like this comes around, I'm just like, I'm just, lucky to be alive in this moment. Yes, exactly. So that's my song at the year. Just, you know, just a little, just a little bitty. Yeah, that was the song that... Just one of the best songs you all over here.

That's definitely the song that, like, transformed, like, during, like, my first listening of the record, I was... That just really just, like, changed the game for me, especially that specific moment, Cole, so I totally relate. It's just, like, it kind of grounds you. Because, you know, you're so sucked up in, like,

the theatrics, and, just like the Marvel that is her voice. And then it just kind of pulls you back to reality when she, like, leaves that little part in about, like, directing the orchestra. And then, like, it finishes. I was like, wow, she is, she's that bitch. So it was just, I was like, wow.

Rosalie. I mean, I held that song. That's stretch from Porcelona, Miocrystal, Bergen, La Perla. Flawless. Fucking game over. And then the end of the album. Oh, my God.

Magnolia. And Magnolia's. Like, she's so good. Right. Like, it's so good. Yeah. Okay. Cam, the floor is yours.

What's your song of the year? All right. This is why I love having these conversations. God, that's awesome. My song of the year is the title track from Debiterar Mas Photos by Bad Bunny, but it's abbreviated to DTMF. I think that this song,

I almost wanted to pick the song that comes after it, which is the last song on the album, La Mudanza. But I think it's the title track is my favorite. of the year. There was a lot that I want to talk. I think that you could talk about this album forever. There's so much stuff I wanted to talk about with like how his Spanish can't be Google translated.

Like he's speaking his dialect, the point of he can dialect. That's why I like talking with my friend has been so educational about this because an in-person experience that you kind of need to have. And the one thing that I really want to highlight thematically is the multi-generational aspect of the album. The album title means. he should have, I should have taken more pictures, which is a regretful statement.

And it does, I think, capture something that I'm feeling right now about, like, humanity. Like we should have done a little bit more before we got where we are right now. We should have preserved a little bit of it and told a few more stories or had some more. But so on the song, it's a great song. And then it gets into this choral part where he just has a bunch of musicians and, like, people singing on the song. And he has like so many generations are contributing musically to every piece of the album. And on it, he's saying he hopes his people don't move and die. And he hopes that like if he gets a little too drunk or does a little bit too much that they help him and that people help him.

And that goes into the theme of partying on the album. When he's talking about drinking and parting, it's like celebration. And if he celebrates too much or just too much that they help, whatever. When he's talking about like the help and everything. And this becomes the chorus and the repetition. And it's like beautiful and so fun. I love it. And then at the end, there's a voice that cries out and kind of flips the line.

It's not me me yude. It's send me mas nudes, which is send me nude photos, which is hilarious. That, like, he's going to have this beautiful, heartfelt message. You know, people help me, like, help me, like, we love each other so much, and we're going to come together and help each other. And then one old guy yelling out, send me nudes, right? It's hilarious. I should have taken more photos.

I should take him more photos. And that's it. And that's the thing. Oh, my God. If the album's theme is that I should have taken more photos. It's not just some crazy old guy yelling the thing that a crazy old guy yells at a party where he's just saying something dirty to make everybody laugh. It is like, you should have shared more and done it. And I'm about to cry about a guy saying sending you new photos.

But I can't, like it does. Yeah. Hearing them all. Yeah. It's a lot. Well, then, yeah. Well, then they come in. Like, then you hear, like, the song transforms at the end.

And then you actually hear the people as if you're like on the street. Yeah. Like, it's so cool the way that song progresses. Yeah, that's such a, yeah. You just feel like you're in the party. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you, jam.

That's beautiful. That's awesome. Okay, so Margo. What is your song of the year? My Song of the Year is a track called Play by an artist named James K. Who's based in Ridgewood Queens here in New York. from her album that came out earlier this year called A Friend. James Kay is kind of like an underground experimental pop artist that is well known amongst, well known within like certain circles in New York and has been for a super long time.

But even like if you're like in the scene in New York, you might not have heard of James Kay. like she's like a super like underground artists but the people that i've known since since living here i feel like some people like know about james k she's like uh she's prominent in like the local underground scene but this album i feel like has kind of upped the echelon for like i don't know just like a recognition for her still like in those kind of like more underground tapped in circles but i i would consider this a breakthrough album for her i feel like it's got her more acclaim and attention than any of her previous releases, but like I said, everything is pretty relative. But this track specifically, well, the whole album is so amazing. And I feel like,

you know, we've talked about this when talking about a lot of other releases that we've discussed on this episode. But this album is just like a masterclass in world building for me. And I feel like this track specifically like exemplifies. It's like world building within world building. And so I feel like as soon as the track starts and there's like this like synthy like intro. I feel like that that's you like being immersed into her world. And then her voice comes in. And James Kay's voice is just so I'm weary of using this word because I feel like it's been overused, especially in recent years when it comes to me to journalism.

But it really is like so ethereal and dreamy. She really is reminiscent of like Liz Frazier of Cocktoe twins for me, which is one of my favorite bands. Yeah, the song is just, it incorporates so many different genres, like dream pop, and then it goes to this crazy, like, breakbeat section that makes you want to run at full speed, and then it goes, like, into, like, indie rock. But I don't know, this, when I think of this song, it just is so innately girly to me. Like, similar to what I was talking about with Smurs. I feel like it's, like, such, like a track that makes me tap into my innermost femininity, but it's, still like rocks and goes hard. I feel like it might be James K's most accessible song. So for people

that might not know her, I think this is the track to listen to if you're going to listen to one track by James K. But yeah, I feel like when I feel like a lot of people were telling me to listen to the album for a long time. And I was like, okay, okay, I'm going to listen to it like whenever I come around to it. But when I did, I just couldn't stop listening to the whole record. Like I feel like I had it on repeat for like days on end. But this track specifically, I feel like just had me in a chill cold. I think of like. like I was listening to it when I was flying a bunch like in early fall and I would always be listening to it like on red eye flights like on the plane. So it's like a super immersive track,

but still like very accessible and poppy in like a weird experimental way. Yeah, the drums on this song specifically are really cool the way they develop from like electronic to then like combine like I don't know if they do like electronic to reel and then combine them at the end. But it's something's going on like really cool over the cross the song with the drums. Yeah, it's a great track. I haven't listened to the full album yet, but I'm excited to. Yeah, she's really cool. I'm excited to see where her career goes next.

Yeah, all right. Well, I think that's the end of the program. I really appreciate you guys joining me. This is really fun. Again, for the listeners, we'll have all these songs that we mentioned in the playlist, in the link in the description, so you can check out all the tracks. Check next week I'll have the interview with JID, so check that out as well. But yeah, Cam, Margo, thank you.

This was beautiful. I really appreciate your guys this time. Thanks so much for having me. This was so fun. Yeah, and oh yeah, Margo, plug your social media. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm a music content creator and I interview a bunch of artists and bands about their favorite music.

And I also talk about my own music tastes as well. My social handles on both Instagram and TikTok is marg.morg.m.p3. That's M-A-R-G dot MP3. so yeah you can find me online there I guess yeah beautiful all right well thank you guys again thanks so much Cole