February 2025 Recs
Horsegirl, Margaret Ross, etc.
Woot woot. Two months down. The sun is starting to come out. Lots of new and interesting music releases this month! Let’s get into it.
Favorite Album That Came Out This Month: “Phonetics On and On” by Horsegirl
Horsegirl released their much anticipated sophomore album on Valentine’s Day, quite fitting for a sweet little largely acoustic album about young love. I’ve heard the critiques by some on the huge shift in their sound - “boring” “repetitive” "childish” lol, but I stand by this band w my full chest. Besides being a big fan of the band, I’ve also been quite a big fan of their Horsegirl radio hours, and their ear for music/taste has influenced my own hugely. In their last one, they included the song “I’ll Break Records” by Brave Radar which I just fuckin loved, and which I can really see the influence of in this record. They’ve gone on to talk about how they were interested in playing with the sparseness of a trio rather trying to fill up the sonic landscape with noise in this LP, and I think that is vulnerable and cool, especially because distortion and big muff have become so trendy in the last few years. My anticipated AOTM, and has lived up to it.
Full review here.
Favorite Album That Didn’t Come Out This Month: “Allegory & Self” by Psychic TV
Earlier this month, I got to hang out with my friend Danny. Danny is a punk who lived through the Seattle rock scene of the 90’s. Danny showed me some of his record collection and recommended this album as well as The Kink’s “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.” I liked both but this one I probably listened to more. It’s awesome and the songs are catchy and fun and innovative and quite accessible. Have been playing it a lot. Thanks Danny.
Fav Live Performance I Saw This Month: MJ Lenderman at the Independent
Went to some great shows this month! Saw Guster with my parents at the Fox (as a gift to my dad), Greg Mendez/Tomberlin/Lomelda at Cafe Du Nord (i <3 greg), and Bella’s band played a fun house show as well. Nothing was ever going to live up to MJ at the Independent though. MJ booked two nights at the Independent before he really blew up, so this was sold out and I probably won’t get to see him at this small of a venue again. The Independent has also just become my favorite venue in the Bay because it is so small but the layout of the stage makes it feel like you’re so close to some real stars; they also do great booking and are 21+. Anyways, MJ shredded for 2+ hours, going over his time limit and just wrecking my brain. That man is so dang good at the guitar. Rachel Brown ten feet away watching was another plus.
Fav Book I Read This Month: Saturday by Margaret Ross
Margaret Ross was my Poetry I teacher at Stanford in 2018. In 2015 she released her first book “A Timeshare” with Omnidawn, and she released her second, Saturday last year with Song Cave. David has been absolutely raving about Saturday and Margaret’s new poems for the last year and a half, so I was excited when Paul asked me to go with them to a reading Margaret was doing this month at Cal. The reading was phenomenal. She fully memorizes all her poems and recites them from memory. I used to find this kind of freaky, but the new poems are so haunting performed this way. Probably my favorite reading in recent memory, and I got to talk to her afterwards, congratulate her, and buy the book. Syd loves the writing of another Song Cave cold white woman á la Emily Hunt? Unsurprising. But still so good.
Monthly Reviews Wrap Up
Playland 3, Playland (6/10), lofi/indie rock
1000 Variations on the Same Song, Frog (6/10), indie rock
Quiet Pleasures, Glixen (3/10), shoegaze
Water Season (EP), Hooky + Winter (6/10), lofi/art pop
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Sharon Van Etten (5/10), indie pop
Cryogeyser, Cryogeyser (7/10), indie rock
Lucre, Dean Blunt + Elias Rønnenfelt (6/10), indie pop
thirteen sense, Klein (7/10), experimental/electronic
Perfect Right Now: A Slumberland Collection 2008-2010, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (6/10), compilation
Choke Enough, Oklou (7/10), art pop/dance
Monthly Playlist!
Xoxo