Music League: Shut up and play
Instrumentals. Keine Worte.
- Taraf de Haïdouks: Turceasca
Every few years or so, I fall down a rabbit hole into one or another corner of eastern European folk music, and it’s the Romani gypsy traditions I seem to come back to most often. This song is an absolute barnburner, exemplifying one of the genre hallmarks I find most appealing: a manic energy that often feels like the players are all racing to see who can get to the finish first. - Man or Astro-Man?: A Simple Text File
I got to see Man or Astro-Man? perform this song live once, by which I mean they put down their instruments, brought out a Macintosh Classic and ImageWriter II dot matrix printer, did a ⌘P, and excitedly fist-banged along to the shredded rhythms of their titular SimpleText file. I’ve seen them play other times with a working Tesla coil onstage, but I have to say this was even more memorable.
13 posts in this series
Music League: Bangers
Songs you have to play loudly
- The Comet Is Coming: Space Carnival
I’ve scarcely seen a more apt song title. If Sun Ra had directed Star Wars, maybe the cantina band would have sounded like this. - Amyl and the Sniffers: Hertz
Amy Taylor’s furious joie de vivre is among my favorite punk rock paradoxes. My favorite Aussies are the real-life Mad Max freaks.
Music League: Heard in the delivery room
Songs from your birth year
- Can: I Want More
I’m not an authority on Can, but this might be the closest they ever came to an anthem? The whole thing is great: the underlying tremolo, the hushed vocal chants, those unassuming organ stabs in the verses, and that simple melody in the wordless chorus. - Parliament: Do That Stuff
Forever doomed to live in the shadow of “Give Up the Funk,” Parliament’s biggest hit, which was also released in 1976, I… See more →
Music League: New hotness
Songs released in 2025
- Marie Davidson: Fun Times
I didn’t think there was much modern EDM that really did it for me, but stumbling upon Marie Davidson this year is making me think again. It’s true that a lot of what I find appealing here reminds me of club styles (EBM, electro) from decades gone by, but rather than being a rehash, it feels like a fresh update of those sounds, with plenty of new ideas sprinkled in. - Ghost:… See more →
Music League: Driving songs
You’re driving down the road, arm hanging out the window. What’s on the radio?
- Jesu: Stanlow
When Jesu first popped up, a decade early to the shoegaze revival, I was surprised to learn the band was formed by Justin Broadrick, who made his name in the ’90s underground with the harsh industrial metal band Godflesh. While both bands share his leaden guitar tone, Jesu is a notable departure from its forebear in its indulgence of melody and sometimes even major keys, as heard here. For me, this song evokes… See more →
Music League: Covers better than the originals
It was sick but it got better
- Low: Surfer Girl
Alan and Mimi from Low used to sing their daughter to sleep with this before they started playing it live, and it’s such a perfect lullaby. Mimi’s been gone almost three years and her voice still puts a lump in my throat. - Devo: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
I dunno, “I can’t get no girl reaction” (or “girly action” in the Devo version) just seems more believable coming from the bespectacled guy… See more →
Music League: At bat
What song would you play while walking up to the plate?
- Black Sabbath: Supernaut
One riff to rule them all. Surges out of the gate exultant and invincible and never lets up, not even when there’s a little drum circle break for the hippies. And its fade-out ending, unlike most fade-outs, isn’t a cop-out; it sends its Supernaut marching off into the horizon, forging new frontiers and radiating wisdom and splendor to all in his path. (In my cursory research, it seems that Sabbath songs are… See more →
Music League: Shut up and play
Instrumentals. Keine Worte.
- Taraf de Haïdouks: Turceasca
Every few years or so, I fall down a rabbit hole into one or another corner of eastern European folk music, and it’s the Romani gypsy traditions I seem to come back to most often. This song is an absolute barnburner, exemplifying one of the genre hallmarks I find most appealing: a manic energy that often feels like the players are all racing to see who can get to the finish… See more →
Music League: Say my name
Songs with a name in the title
- Shake Chain: Mike
You’ll be hard-pressed to find another vocalist who’s leaving it all on the field in quite the same way Shake Chain’s Kate Mahony is. Her anguished yowling is sometimes unnerving, often hilarious, and always admirably obnoxious. - Morphine: Claire
The first Morphine album feels like you’ve stumbled upon an unassuming trio playing to no one under a street light on a desolate corner in the middle of the night, like you’re living in… See more →
Music League: Hit and miss
Deep cuts from one-hit wonders
- Faith No More: Let’s Lynch the Landlord
Faith No More had a strong cult following for many years before and after “Epic,” their surprise 1990 hit, including a long list of singles that got regular rotation on 120 Minutes and Headbangers Ball, but this cover of Dead Kennedys’ “Let’s Lynch the Landlord” is perhaps lesser known even among the band’s diehard fans. It was recorded for a compilation celebrating the 100th release from DK’s label,… See more →
Music League: Roller skating
Songs that rule the rink
- The Pazant Brothers & The Beaufort Express: A Gritty Nitty
It’s a testament to the amount of quality material produced in funk’s heyday that these guys are footnotes at best. I dare you to try sitting still while listening to this. - Shannon: Let the Music Play
“Let the Music Play” is the standard-bearer for freestyle, a genre I strongly associate with my early adolescent roller rink days in the late ’80s. I’m sure the DJ… See more →
Music League: Name-dropping
Songs from artists you know personally or have met
- Gillian Welch: Annabelle
My buddy’s sister is Gillian Welch’s lone full-time employee, handling merch and various other odds and ends. (She also plays drums in a ripping all-girl Rage Against the Machine tribute band in Nashville). I’ve been a casual fan since the ’90s, so when they came through NYC awhile back, I got to tag along and briefly meet Gillian and David Rawlings backstage before the show. We had great seats too! - Andrew W.K.:… See more →
Music League: The silver screen
Songs that are inseparable from movies
- Mazowsze: Dwa serduszka
Cold War, “a broken love story about broken people in a broken country,” is one of my favorite films of the last decade, and among all the great music it packs into its relatively short runtime, this mournful traditional Polish tune about a doomed love affair intentionally stands out. I’m partial to this choral version, but there’s also a great jazz version sung by Joanna Kulig later in the film. - Pat Benatar:… See more →
Music League: It’s not me, it’s you
Breakup songs (no moping)
- Anna von Hausswolff: Stardust
The Anna von Hausswolff that made me a fan wielded her pipe organ as a powerful agent of ambient, drone, and doom. On paper, the notion of her veering into pop territory would have been a no-go for me, but clearly my doubts were misplaced, as this has quickly become one of my favorite songs of the year so far. - That Dog: Ms. Wrong
I can’t believe this song is 30… See more →