NPR Music - The Contenders, Vol. 13: The songs we can't stop playing this week

Episode Date: July 9, 2024

The latest update to our running list of the year's best songs includes new ones from Wilco and Omar Apollo, an ode to friendship from Charli XCX and Lorde and more.Featured songs and artists:1. Wilco: "Hot Sun," from 'Hot Sun Cool Shroud'2. Charli XCX and Lorde: "The girl, so confusing version with lorde" (single)3. Sondre Lerche: "You Are Impossible," from 'Two Way Monologue (20th Anniversary Edition)'4. Omar Apollo: "Plane Trees" (feat. Mustafa), from 'God Said No'5. Remy Bond: "Summer Song" (feat. Air) (single)6. Cassandra Jenkins: "Petco," from 'My Light, My Destroyer'Like the show? Tell a friend and leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.Questions, comments, suggestions or any other feedback always welcome: [e-mail] pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

A quick note before the show, this podcast contains explicit language. Stephen, I know you don't pay much attention to what's happening in the world of music. No. Why would I? But I don't know. Have you noticed how many veteran artists have come back with new music just this spring and early summer? Like artists who, if they put an album out, say, 15 or 20 years ago, like, you know, would have been a real stop the press's moment. Like, caribou.

has new music, Fantagram, Rayla Montane, Moby, Snow Patrol. But it even goes back farther than that. Like, I really loved this kind of 90s slowcore band called Idaho. And Idaho's like, here, have our first album in 13 or however many years. Right. The Dirty Three was one of my favorite bands of the 90s. They just put out an album. I just saw, oh, was it, the folk implosion, just put out their first album in 25 years.

And, like, look, I expected there to be a little bit of. of a floodgates situation in 2024. I think the Hollywood Writers' Strike, I think, pushed a lot of music that might have come out in 2023 into 2024 because a lot of artists were waiting to put out their records until they could promote it on TV shows. So we were always bound to have a little bit of a glut of music this year, but it has been remarkable, not only how many giant pop stars have put out records this year, but how many artists you maybe haven't thought of in a decade or two.

Well, I'm going to seize the moment. All right, do it. And play some stuff from some of the veteran artists who are back with new music. And they're not necessarily back after long breaks. They're just, they just have new music. And I'll start with Wilco. You know, they've got a new EP out right now called Hot Sun Cool Shroud. You know, I've loved them so much for so long that I honestly, I don't really know that there's that much I even need to say about them anymore other than just, you know, decades into their careers and lives of making music.

together, they still are just so inspired and as creative as ever. It's amazing to me. This cut I want to play, it's the opening cut to the EP and sort of a title cut. It's called Hot Sun and maybe just pay attention to what frontman Jeff Tweedy is doing with his vocals here. He's got this kind of detached dry delivery that I think is kind of unusual for him. A swing between the brighter moments when he's just sitting there with the glass of whatever he's drinking and then the more jagged, you know, raw moments in the song. It's so perfectly captures what life is kind of like right now for people who are like, you know, I'm really enjoying my life.

Oh, wait a minute. The world is burning. What do I do? It is a song that contains multitudes for a summer that contains multitudes. You know, there's such a, there's such a peaceful, vibey quality to that song early on. But the fact that it still gets weird and jagged the way that summer does. It's kind of like the beginning of that song is like, ah, it's May. Pretty sweet.

And by the end, it's like, oh, God, it's July. What is happening? Yeah, I mean, you know, otherwise, it's kind of classic Wilco. You know, there's a sense of sonic adventure, but still very catchy, if hooky, the lyrics are kind of cryptic, but, you know, all so restless and unsettled. And, you know, maybe like there's a sense that not all is right in the world, but you're not an entire. sure what it is and nobody's doing anything about whatever it is because nobody seems to understand. This song really is a metaphor for so much. So much. And then his vocals, like I said, you know, it's kind of a weariness in it or something, you know. It feels to me, you know, Wilco's been around

for so long and I think there have been a few records in recent years that for me felt a little mid, right? You know, they had just those those towering highs fairly early in their career with albums like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and even even like a more difficult record like a ghost is born you know those are now kind of considered classics and they've kept putting out records in that time and this is the first Wilco song I've heard in a while where I really like fully stood at attention and was like oh I'm I'm back in on this band I kind of disagree for the I mean for the most part I hear you but this is a band that has been so consistently great to me when I look back at their catalog, it spans, you know, it spans, you know, several decades now. And it's

kind of hard for me to find a real dud in the batch. I was not a big fan of Sky Blue Sky, but gosh, for the last 10 years between Jeff Tweedy's solo stuff and the band stuff, they've been putting something out just about an album a year for the last decade. And I don't know. I feel like they've been in a real inspired place. Well, and, you know, if nothing else, this for me feels like a reminder to maybe go back and spend more time with records of theirs where I was like, okay, I know what that is. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Well, you know, it's interesting. You kind of came to me with a little bit of an assignment for this show. Find good music. Find actually good music this time. I know it's not your specialty. You can do it. You can do it. I believe that even a broken clock, et cetera.

So you basically were saying, like, what are your favorite songs right now? And my favorite song right now, it's a remix of a song from an album that came out a few weeks ago. And I've been loving the album. The album is called Brat by Charlie X-CX. It is wall-to-wall pop bangers, kind of futuristic pop bangers.

And there's a track on this record called Girl So Confusing. And it's basically she's singing this song Pop Star to Pop Star. And she's saying, like, I thought we were close. I felt like we were close. But then we don't, maybe we don't have much in common. Maybe we've drifted apart.

Maybe you like me. Maybe you hate me. I don't know. It's so confusing. It's so hard. And she put out this song. The album came out June 7th. And immediately the internet started sleuthing.

Who's she talking about? And figured out pretty quickly, she must be talking about Lord. Because she refers to like, people say we have the same. same hair. People say we kind of sound similar. People say, you know, they have these things in common and I know they're friends and maybe they're estranged. And it turned out the internet sleuths were correct. And more recently, you know, within the last couple weeks, Charlie X-C-X released a remix of Girl So Confusing called The Girl So Confusing Version with Lord. So the song starts out the same way. It's Charlie X-C-X kind of laying out what is the status of this

friendship. And then, about midway through, turns the song over to a response from Lord. So this song is extremely empathetic and also empathy inducing in a way that I think is going to compel people to think about their own relationships a little bit differently. Girl. It's so confusing sometimes you be a girl. It's so confusing sometimes you be a girl. How do you feel being a girl? Yeah, I don't know if you like me.

Sometimes I think you might hate me. Sometimes I think I might hate you. Maybe you just want to be me. You always say let's go out. So we go eat at a restaurant. Sometimes it feels a bit awkward because we don't have much in common. People say we're alike.

They say we've got the same hair. We talk about making music, but I don't know if it's honest. Can't tell if you want to see me falling over and failing, and you can't tell what you're feeling. I think I know how you feel. It's so confusing sometimes you'd be a girl. Girl, girl, girl. It's so confusing sometimes you'd be your girl, girl.

It's when I woke up to your voice. Now you told me how you'd been feeling. I took it out on the remix. You always last minute. I was so lost in my head and scared to be in the pictures. Because for the last couple years, I've been at war in my body. I tried to starve myself in her, and then I gained all the way back. I was trapped in hatred, and your life seemed so awesome.

I never thought for a second. My voice was in your head. Gutsch when I was tense, someone said that, and it's just self-defense until you're building a weapon. So I believe my protection and now I like They say we've got the same hair It's you and street love to spend Crazy I'm glad I know how you feel

Because I ride for you, Charles Go So I didn't know that this whole relationship Between Charlie XX and Lord And that the internet was, you know, digging into all of this And I just, you know, came to it And listened to the words

And it did hit me hard And because of that empathy And it made me think so much about my daughter who just turned nine and how crushing it is to already see how cruel and mean kids can be, you know, at that age, you know, she'll come home from school or camp or whatever and report some awful thing that somebody said or did or, you know, I know, obviously the song speaks to a lot of that. Well, and it also speaks to a really important idea for anyone of any age to think about, which is sort of if you knew what was going on in the head of any person you encountered in your day-to-day life, you'd probably be horrified. Oh, my God. It's chaos up there. It's so true.

And it's hard to move through the world, especially for anyone who is kind of carrying the weight of an internal crisis. And I think this song really, really addresses that. And so one person is thinking about their relationship with another person, and they can only see what they can see. And so this song, to me, is just such a beautiful empathy exercise, kind of dropping in the middle of a year that has in many ways been defined by pop culture grievances. You know, whether we're talking about the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef. or we're talking about the Taylor Swift album that is like two hours of breakup songs or a Beyonce record that is inspired by a snub at an award ceremony and is kind of fueled by that. And I think having a song that is like, hey, we're all human.

Our heads are all messed up. Now that I know what's going on, I can find grace and space for you. I think is a really beautiful thing to drop in the middle of the summer. And I think this song is special. Yeah. I'm going to choose to focus on that little line towards the very end when she says, I'll ride for you too.

Sure. Which is because in that one little moment, you know, okay, you're not alone. They're not alone. They have each other. They got each other's back. You know, so maybe everything's going to be okay. That is a beautiful moment.

I also really have to point to the lyric, it's just self-defense until you're building a weapon. Wow. Which is a phenomenal. nominal observation about the way we kind of try to inoculate ourselves against conflict. And I think a lot of people are going to hear that line and talk about it with their therapist. I think that's a really good and healthy thing. Yeah. Wow. Great pick. We got to take a quick break, but we will have more music for you right after this. All right. Up next in my list of veteran artists who are back is Sandra Lerka. This is a a singer from Norway, and a consistent staple of the All Songs Considered Diet back in our, you know, our earliest days, you know, doing the show going all the way back to the very early 2000s. He is back with sort of new old music. Later this year, he's going to release a deluxe 20th anniversary edition of his album, two-way monologue.

And it's going to have some previously unreleased stuff along with some newly recorded stuff, stuff that, you know, he wrote back then, but never recorded. recorded a final version to put out. And one of those songs is this one that I want to play for you. It's called You Are Impossible. Again, this is a song he wrote for the two-way monologue sessions 20 years ago, but only just recorded. If I can appreciate what I have before it's gone, I'd rather stay. I'm thankful a flying thing, a wedding ring, and all symbol. of progress could put me on the spot that hits you in the heart but if I can appreciate what you are before you're none I'd rather stay unknowing an instant edge a snowball pill

me value you but I wouldn't want to see that and dream that I would sacrifice Now it's too hard to deny that it's impossible What's good if I can appreciate what I learned till I forget I'd rather skip the lesson you could say I can't be my new old way that's me Much like things I hear in fact I'd appreciate that And now it's so hard to deny that it's simple.

I may set through all the day, whereas time won't pass its way, is they wait, be it me or you or us speculate if you must. But it's impossible to know what's going. I love it when a song keeps giving you more, you know, even like in a great way, Like, you know, like the songs, we could end here, and it was a great song. But you know what? Here's a little bonus. It's a little bit more.

You've earned it. That last minute with those drum fills that span several bars and all the wild stuff going on, I love it so much. Yeah. And I'm really, I'm glad you picked this in part because it's part of the process of reissuing a really wonderful record. 2004's two-way monologue by Sandra Alarica was a huge record for me. And listening to this song, I had that my initial thought was, wow, you wrote this for this album and you didn't put this on this record? You didn't put this out.

This song is great. And then I started thinking about two-way monologue. And I'm like, that record is packed with great songs. Yeah. You know, I can see how there was too much of a good thing because Sunderlark is great. Yeah. And really has not gotten enough of his due. If you've ever seen the movie Dan in Real Life,

A very polarizing movie. I know people who love it. I know people who despise it. One thing that no one argues is that those songs that play throughout that movie that he wrote are just magnificent. Yeah. Apparently, not only did Sondra Lerka not record this for, you know, a final version or whatever for the album 20 years ago,

he also forgot it even existed. He was going through his archives and, you know, he found it on a disc, right? Oh, right, I did this thing. I had the same reaction, how could you not have put this on there? But, you know, lots of great stuff on that album, 2004. Again, a veteran artist who, you know, I say he's back, but he never went away. In fact, he released three albums just in the last two years.

Wow. You know, so he's still creating great work. But, yeah, when I think of those early days of all songs, he's all songs to say, he's someone who comes to mind. There's like a Mount Rushmore of, you know, Justin Vernon from Bonny Verre. Maybe Yens Lechman. Regina Specter. Well, Wilco. Radiohead, the Shins, Death Camp for Cutie,

Nora Jones, the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I mean, that was like... Glenn Hanser. Oh, gosh, yeah. That whole era of, I guess, call it indie rock. It was such a great time. I'm ready for more stuff from that era to be rediscovered. There's a singer named Adem, A-E-M.

Oh, I remember him. Oh, my God. Put out another record, dude. Where's my new music? Put the record out. Release the record. Yeah, so of course, I picked something that is completely new. I should have, I didn't realize the assignment was, was dredge up some of your favorite artists of 2004.

This is a great song. This is a great thing. But I do have something absolutely fantastic and pretty brand new. This record just came out within the last couple weeks. A singer-songwriter named Omar Apollo. And he put out a record called God Said No, which automatically has me on his side. You know what I'm thinking of. I know what you're thinking of.

If we're going to talk about the olden days, I'll talk about the 1998 onion article. God answers prayers of paralyzed little boy. And then the subhead is no, says God. No. My answer answer. No, says God. So I don't know if Omar Apollo was inspired by that Onion article, which probably came out around the time he was born. But Omar Apollo put out this fantastic record just a couple weeks ago.

He has been leveling up and leveling up as he. been exploring issues around heartbreak and queer identity and finding who he is and dealing with complicated relationships with his family. This record, I think, is just beautiful from start to finish, but there is one track that really jumps out at me as especially stunning, just a beautiful piece of headphone heartbreak. It's him singing with the singer Mustafa, who is also terrific. This song is called Plain Trees. Down underneath this street. Giving life to with a leaves so slow.

Maybe it's just the power of suggestion because you mentioned Boni Vara. Sure. Don't you hear it there? I did. I did throughout. And maybe that's part of why I love the song so much is I love Bonifera. I love that kind of raw emotionalism really stands out. And also just the way that as that song winds down,

it's almost like it's not so much ending as it's like dissipating. That's the thing. It doesn't resolve at the end, which is it's kind of a song about the circle of life, you know, and being aware of the people who came before you and appreciating life. Well, and the line that comes up again and again, our presence made the ground glow is a really beautiful way of processing a memory of a relationship, right? Like when you think back on what it was like to be with a person, it's almost like the air and space

and ground around you felt different. And that's just a, I think it's a beautiful way of looking back on a relationship. It's very sad because there's a sense of loss there. But it's also, it's romantic. It's beautiful. And I think the way their voices blend is so striking. Mustafa is a fantastic singer-songwriter, who I don't think has gotten enough attention,

has put out some terrific music of his own. But this Omar Apollo record, each time he puts out something new, it feels like he's accessing another level. And he, to me, is just a major, major talent. Yeah, I was really moved by this one, too. Just even from the opening piano chord, it hits so perfectly,

just the dynamics of it. The structure of the chord, like everything about it could not be more perfect. It's one of those things. Like, if you could bottle up just that one chord and trigger it, every time you need like a little shot of serenity, I mean, it was all in there. Serenity, but also infused with melancholy. Yeah, sure. Sure, that's all in there, too.

All right, we've still got a bit more music that we want to play for you, but first, we've got to take a quick break. It's All Songs Considered from In Pure Music. I'm Robin Hilton. I'm here with Stephen Thompson, and we're updating our running list of the year's best songs. I've got one more that is actually by a new artist, but she works with veteran artists from the early 2000s.

Her name is Remy Bond, and she's got this new single out that she did with the French electronic band, Air. And honestly, all the headlines that I've seen about this is, you know, air is back. Air returns. Air returns with its first new music in more than a decade, which I guess is technically true. But this is very much a Remy Bond song that they helped out with. It's called Summer Song. And for me, anyway, it's got the perfect summer vibe, which is that, you know, it's definitely light and breezy, but there's this really nice, moody undercurrent to it, courtesy of air. And again, it's called Summer Song. I mean, Lana Del Rey.

Yeah, for sure. Kind of got to get that name out there. Yeah, yeah. But like Lana Del Rey, I think Remy Bond clearly has a love of that sort of sun-bleached boulevard of parts of cities that, you know, their best days are behind them. They're kind of run down. And you can definitely hear air in this, you know, the keys, that wash of sound. But yeah, I really love this cut. Yeah, it's interesting.

I think this song is bound to be greeted with a certain amount of skepticism. She's 19 years old. And when I see, like, a 19-year-old say, you know, I wanted to go for a certain vibe. So I called up air. Yeah. I'm like, how? Yeah, it does raise a few questions. I don't really know much about her under that, you know, she is 19.

I know she's originally from New York and has done some acting, was on. Like little... She played Tina Faye's daughter on 30 Rock. She competed on Master Chef Jr. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. But, yeah, little things here and there. And yeah, only 19...

I know she's done some producing work lately, including a project she's working on with Bob Odenkirk. So she clearly has some connections and, you know, and I... Just knowing that she's done this much so far, and we're only just sort of starting to hear more about her, I think we're obviously going to be hearing... a whole lot more about her down the road.

Yeah, and I want to sort of dispense with the discourse, right? Like, there's going to be this conversation. I don't know who her parents are. I don't know if we're going to end up having this nepo baby conversation, which I am so, I bring it up, but I'm so tired of it. Same. Like, some nepo babies are super, super talented. I know.

Because they've spent their entire lives steeped in the industry that they are currently now entering. Right. This is clearly an artist who has spent years and years studying this material. One thing I really like about this song that I wanted to bring up about this song is that it is capturing the vibe. Certainly you mentioned Lana Del Rey. I would also mention Chapel Rhone, where the kind of gauzyer side of Chapel Rones sound that my partner so aptly described as hornwee, where it's lusty and bored at the same time. That's so funny.

And that's such a vibe. You hear it in Lana Del Rey's music. You hear it in some of Chapel Rhone's music. And you hear it throughout this song. Both Chapel Rhone and Remy Bond have a song that equates having sex in a car with real love. And I think like there's something very 19 years old about that that I really enjoy and appreciate. So Remy Bond, summer song, it is a single out right now. Hopefully we'll be getting more from her later this year.

All right, we've got one more we want to play, and Stephen, I'll throw it to you. So this last artist is someone who made a song that helped keep me alive during the pandemic. I've talked before on this show about how much I love Cassandra Jenkins, and specifically a song she put out a few years ago called Hard Drive, that if you have not heard this song, please stop listening to me speak and listen to it immediately, a beautiful, heartfelt song about kind of putting yourself back together. And now she's got a song

that is kind of a different side of that putting yourself back together coin. It is about wandering through a pet store and contemplating your place in the world, staring at the animals, finding that it helps but then doesn't. I think a lot of people are going to hear this song and hear a piece of themselves

and hear a piece of the way that they move through the world in search of connection. And when you feel lonely and lost, sometimes the best thing you can do is wander through a petco and have it not help. So this song by the wonderful, wonderful Cassandra Jenkins from an album that she has coming out called My Light, My Destroyer.

It's out July 12th. And this song is so fantastic. It's called Petco. Well, this song is a perfect example. Everything you were just saying is like, her superpower is the way that she seeks and finds and illuminates greater truths and mystery in the absolute smallest throwaway moments of your life. Love it. I've actually been on a Cassandra Jenkins listening jag ever since. You reminded me of hard drive this past spring or late

winter or so we played it on the show. Yeah, we played it earlier this year. I never pass up an opportunity to play that song. So we'll go out on this, Andrew Jenkins, Petco, from My Light, My Destroyer. All right, Stephen, you're welcome for being on the show. It really is my great, tremendous, just unspeakable honor. Well, thank you. It's great having you and just hanging out together to nerd out over some great tunes. And for Inferior music, I'm Robin Hilton.

It's All Songs Considered.