NPR Music - The Contenders, Vol. 15: The songs we can't stop playing this week

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

The latest update to our running list of the year's best songs includes tips for staying engaged, being happy and letting go from Arooj Aftab, Great Grandpa, Japandroids and more.Featured artists and songs:1. Arooj Aftab: "Raat Ki Rani," from Night Reign2. The Smile: "Don't Get Me Started" (Single)3. Japandroids: "D&T," from Fate & Alcohol4. Peter Cat Recording Co.: "I Deny Me," from Beta5. Great Grandpa: "Kid" (Single)6. Yasmin Williams: "Virga (feat. Darlingside)," from AcadiaLike the show? Tell a friend and leave us a review in Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. Questions, comments 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. You know, Stephen, the last time you were on the show, we were talking about all the legacy artists who were back this year. You remember all the albums and bands having big anniversaries and all that stuff? And like people putting out their first album in 15, 20 years. Right. I know you're a fan of the band stars. Did you see that the album set yourself on fire is 20 years old now? Oh.

I'm sorry. I just did that to me. Well, I just got a note that the band's going on tour for it this fall, which, I mean, I thought that was really cool. I mean, look, you got to strike while the iron is somewhat hot. You know, the people who fell in love with that record, like, as I did 20 years ago, we're not going to live forever. I even do it while our fans are still alive. I also got a note that it's the 20th anniversary for the Sam Phillips album A Boot in a Shoe. Do you remember that one?

Oh, yeah. That's a great record. I mean, these aren't massive albums, maybe, to a lot of people. but they really strike a chord with me, partly because they were just in, they were in heavy rotation in the early days of all songs considered. I so remember discovering them and playing them.

I guess it's got me all in my feels because I was thinking that, you know, whenever we kick a show off, I usually like to go big and loud, but I want to do the exact opposite for this one, and I know you have the perfect track for it. I really do.

And, you know, I've spent a lot of this summer on, kind of focused on, what is the song of the summer listening to a lot of big, beachy summer pop songs. And because of that, I kind of lost track of one of the albums I was most excited about in 2024. It's a record by the wonderful Pakistani singer Arujafth Tob, who made my favorite album of 2021, Vulture Prince, and came back. She put out a great record with a couple other jazz musicians in 2023.

but she's back with this solo record called Night Rain, R-E-I-G-N. And it's just beautiful. So let's kind of kick off the end of summer by revisiting a very autumnal record called Night Rain. Let's hear the song Ratt Kirani. That whole song is just six minutes of exhaling. Oh, totally. You know? Oh, yeah.

Every, and it's funny, like if you're, if you like me are kind of starting to make that slow transition from summer to fall, this is the song where you're just exhaling all those summer vibes and just like settling into an easy chair. We did our summer songs episode a few weeks ago and the thing that I talked about was, you know, this is the sound of summer to me because summer to me is a time for hibernation. I don't like summer. I like to hide. I come alive in autumn. Like, this is my jam, man. I'm like, this isn't the sound of, this is the sound of an awakening for me.

I love it. But, you know, broadly, though, summer out of the picture, regardless, her music, Aroche Offtaub's music, I think it is the sound of every bad thing in the world going away, right? It is such a disappearing act. It really is. And coming back to this record,

after an initial listen in the spring, and spending more time with it, It's really beautiful. It's a little more experimental. She's weaving in some poetry in ways where it's not necessarily as like consistent listen straight through. But it's just gorgeous. And she's such a phenomenal talent. I really love everything she touches.

So glad you picked it. And that song again was Rock King Ronnie from the album Night Rain from A Rouge Offtob. I've got something that I think pairs really nicely with it. It's got those nighttime vibes. Though maybe maybe a moonless night. A starless night, totally dark night. It's from The Smile. This is Tom York and Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead along with Tom Skinner.

And, you know, they had that full-length album that they put out earlier this year back in January called Wall of Eyes. Now they're back. They've got this new single. It's called Don't Get Me Started. And honestly, just the name alone feels very timely and relevant to me. Oh, my God, don't get me started. But I'm totally in love with all the grooves and just the vibe they strike on this cut. again it's called don't get me started

a lot of discussions on the show and on NPR wondering whether the smile is actually just radiohead at this point because the music on Wall of Eyes I mean it just sounded so much like a radiohead record more than I think any of their other stuff that they've done but I don't know on this single that they've done it it still has that radiohead kind of air of mystery to it you know there are a lot of sonic touchstones in it

that sound very familiar But to me, it kind of feels a little bit more like its own thing, a little more independent from Radiohead. Not a wild departure. But I didn't find myself thinking while I was listening to it, I'll just do a new Radiohead album already. Right. Yeah, I mean, it's so interesting just like what putting something out under a different name will do, even if all the principles were exactly the same, but you just put a different band name on it. It's somehow supposed to be different. And, like, if you love Radiohead and you're sleeping on the smile, you're making a huge mistake.

Yeah. I mean, is there a more consistently great chronicler of societal unraveling than Tom York? Oh, right. And the way he works with Johnny Greenwood. I mean, they're just so perfect together. He's just, you know, he's, obviously Radiohead's been around for 30 years now. And everything they've put out has felt appropriate. to the moment. And I think part of that is living in the world, you feel like everything is

always about to fall apart because it might. And I think that he has been, he just gives voice to that in a way that I'm not sure anybody else has quite so effectively. Yeah. This is one that they released as a 12-inch to record stores only, along with another new song called The Slip. That one isn't available digitally yet, but this one don't. get me started is. You know, it's funny, near the top of this segment, we talked about like 20th anniversaries, right? You know, these, these like musical milestones that seem engineered mostly to make

people feel old. For me, a similar milestone came with the announcement that there is a new and final album coming by the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Canadian duo Japanroids. I actually gasped when I saw. that it was going to be their last album. Couldn't believe it. It's going to be their last record. It's also their first record in six years.

Six years ago, they put out a record called Near to the Wild Heart of Life, which is phenomenal and gives you a sense of the kind of, that kind of raging uplift that Japan Droids creates. The album is going to be called Fate and Alcohol. It's coming out this fall. And I'm so glad to have them back, however, fleetingly. I wanted to play one of the singles from the record

that jumped out at me. It's called D&T, which is short for drinking and thinking. First of all, that song is so catchy. Oh, I mean, that's their whole thing. Yeah, second of all, like, they just really know how to inject momentum into their songs. Everything from letting the song stop and then slam back into fifth gear. Right. You know, the choruses that have that, whoa.

This is a band that understands that, as you get older, you still have big feelings. Oh, yeah. I don't know. It's one thing that I've thought about as I get older is I think about people I've known who reached a certain age and the light kind of started to extinguish behind their eyes a little bit. Like there is a way that some people get older and kind of lose touch with, I don't know, like the feelings that make you human.

And, like, there's no reason to let that happen. There's no reason to let life numb you. And I think Japan droids for me, and I think for a lot of people, are a band that really helps tap into that. You'd put this on in your car. And, like, suddenly you're 19. And that is such a public service. I am sad that this is going to be their last album. I hope those guys still find ways to make music that taps into that.

Because it's really a great thing. Yeah, I think one way to think of this or to put it is that as you get older, this happens to everyone if you're not careful and vigilant is you just get distracted. You just, you lose the threat of your own life in some ways. And this is the kind of music that yanks your attention back in a way. And I think they just have always had this perfect balance of that drive and that grit and that nudge. noise and that momentum you talk about, but just a little bit of playfulness, a little bit of wisdom, a dose of joy, you know, and plus a sense that they're, a sense of their own footing in the world, if that makes sense. I don't know, this feels like an appropriate song to share

when you're saying goodbye because it's kind of about the morning after, you know, which is one of the ripest times for reflection on all the things you swear you're never going to do again. Yep. And I love it when they say, you know, I started drinking and thinking about you because the first time they say it in the song, I immediately thought, oh, no, no, you don't want to do that. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's like very, it's a song about very fresh regret. It's like regretting what's happening as it's happening. Yeah, yeah. Well, I've got a band that's been a station favorite for a while.

a number of our partner stations have been playing this band for a while but I really only started listening to him when they dropped this latest album it's called Beta this is a group from India called the Peter Cat Recording Company Do you, are you familiar with them at all?

Not especially. No, no neither was I, but I heard this new record, Beta, and it really kind of blew me away. This is a band from Delhi. The song I want to play from Beta, it sounds sort of like kind of, it's pretty straightforward.

It's kind of a singer-songwriter strummy, folky kind of track. But really, the album overall is really all over the place in really wild ways. It opens up with this seven-minute long experimental track that has all these weird, wild sounds in it. You're not really sure what's going on. Then it goes to this six-and-a-half-minute dance pop funk thing. There's jazz and Prague Rock and disco and hip-hop. And then there's this strummy little cut that I want to play.

It's called I Deny Me. Somewhere deep in my mind you appear I could write all the poor rooms I hear And I'd love it if that got me by But if I don't ever try it I deny me I would love it if I got me by And if I don't ever try it, I deny

Somewhere deep in my mind you appear As I write all the music I hear I never wanted what I could deny But if I did have a chance I would take I never wanted what I could if I did have a chance So you decide Somewhere as I write

And I won't ever say Uncut Robin Corps Totally is Guilty 100%. The last time you and I sat down To do one of these contenders episodes You played a cut from Sondra Lerka

Yeah And this felt of a piece with that You know a lot of these like great singer-songwriters From 15, 20 years ago Like Sandra Lerka Like Jens Lechman You know That like

Swave, sophisticated quality to the sound, but also something very humane and straightforward. I don't know. It's a beautiful song. And like some of the experimentation you talked about does seep into the sound a little bit. There's a lot going on under the surface of that song. Oh, yeah. I mean, even as it is maybe one of the more straightforward cuts on the album, I mean,

there are a lot of little elements that come up throughout the Petercat recording company's music, or at least on this album, Beta, you know, playful melody. strum guitars, but some woodwinds, a little string flourish here and there, a little burst of guitar noise here and there. You really should just listen to the whole beta album, because it is such a trip. I read an interview with the band where they said that they hoped that people would listen to it and say, I don't really know what that is, and I will say, mission accomplished. Love it. Yeah, it is so good. I'm not really sure what this song is about. I think maybe it reflects a little bit on the ways that we self-sabotage. Did it happen to remind you at all of the Alex G song

Runner? Oh, interesting. Interesting. I kept hearing it in the chorus. I can hear that, especially as he said in the chorus. But I think you're right that it does tap into some of what Alex G does, of kind of a song that feels a little bit shambling, but actually has a huge amount of craft behind it. Yeah. It's all songs considered from NPR Music. I. I'm Robin Hilton. I'm here with Stephen Thompson, and we're doing an update to our running list of the year's best songs. Cuts that we love so much, they're contenders to be on our final best of 2024 lists. Yeah, and boy, Robin, when you give the assignment to come on this show and say, you bring three of the songs that you think are going to be on your year end list, for me this week,

it was like, well, obviously I'm going to bring that great grandpa song. Which I have to admit, I hadn't heard until you shared it. And it's amazing. This is a stunning song. Great Grandpa has been around for a few years. They put out a wonderful record in 2019 called Four of Arrows and had not put out anything as a full band since. They basically kind of scattered to the four wins during the pandemic,

put down some recordings together, most of which they scrapped. But the one song they kept is this absolute stunner called Kid. It's written by Pat and Carrie Goodwin, a couple within the band, who suffered a pregnancy loss and wrote this song called Kid about that. There's a hardened feel to your chest. That makes real what's only news. Just potential bound in mass fully come to. There's a water break in the main.

Heard it trash the interstate. I did pull off four stops prior to home. Took a route we never do. He said you're not. I did not have the context for the song that you had. I didn't know that's what this is about, but listening back to it again now, it's so obvious that they're addressing the child that they lost,

that they thought they'd have and didn't. They sing at one point, you know, drove by the lake. I thought that I might bring you here someday. Oh, it's devastating. It really is. It's so beautiful. It's a song that just unfurls in such a beautiful and patient and thoughtful way. There are multiple moments in the song where I just gasp listening to it. And sometimes it's a line.

Sometimes it's a turn of phrase like one that you mentioned. And sometimes it's just a piece of perfect pacing. I agree completely. It's, you know, I was thinking actually that if this were a pop song with like a much faster tempo and, you know, it was bigger and louder, we would be marveling at all the hairpin turns it makes. Right? Because there are so many incredible changeups throughout this song, but it just keeps evolving and giving. And it's kind of epic. The storytelling and reflections.

It's a lot to take in, but just incredible. I cannot wait to hear what this band does next. I know that a new album is planned. They signed to run for cover records, which put out this single and is promising to put out more great-grandpa music. I just, I don't want another five-year break from this band. I want to hear where they go from here, because this, to me, is clearly one of the best songs of 2024.

Well, I have something that I think maybe is the perfect song to end the show with because it feels to me like it thematically and sonically kind of ties everything together in a really beautiful way. And in a lot of ways, we're going to come back to where we started. It's a largely instrumental song by the guitarist, Yasmin Williams, and the song is called Verga. But one of the things that's interesting to me about it is that it's the name Virga is the name of this weather phenomenon. where it looks like there are these streaks of light or mists that are falling from the clouds. I used to see it growing up in rural Kansas. I don't know. Maybe you did in Wisconsin too.

Yeah, I probably just looked up and said, those are cool clouds. Cool clouds. Yeah. I didn't say, oh, that's a verga. Verga. I didn't know it was Virga either. But yeah, it looks like, it's almost like these tentacles from heaven are streaming down from the clouds to Earth. And Yasmin Williams says that she called this song Virga because she realized at some point.

that in order to thrive in this world and be happy, she needed to find a way to exist in a kind of suspended state, which is what Virga is. Because, you know, she can't really control the world. None of us can. And her feet never really feel fully on the ground. And this music seeks to sort of recreate that feeling, which I love.

I think she does it perfectly. Yeah, Yasmin Williams was one of my big favorite discoveries from like three years ago. she put out this gorgeous record called Urban Driftwood. But this record, this record feels it's more sonically ambitious. It's incorporating more sounds. This song, as you mentioned, does bring in some vocals. The group Darlingside provides these beautiful vocals.

She's just fantastic. And I agree with you. I love this song. So we'll go out on this. Again, it's called Virga. And it's from Yasmin Williams' new album called Acadia. All right, Stephen Thompson. Thanks as always for just hanging out and sharing some great music.

Thank you, Robin. This has been a pleasure. And for NPR music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's All Songs Considered.