I’ll send out a more thorough recap of this trip and all the brown sauce I consumed after I return next week but in the meantime here are five new(ish) songs I’m really liking right now:

lifepath99 - “Misfortune”

I wonder what it’s like to live my dream (American girl who has relocated to London and taken on a new identity in pursuit of artistic greatness)? lifepath99 is the nom de plume of Asheville, NC native Bex Vines (an already incredible name tbh) and it seems she has one single song out and it’s this one and it bangs. It’s sort of pop girl TAGABOW? She told Line of Best Fit: “‘Misfortune’ was born of a narrow path I had to walk down every day, and the fear that someone would be lurking there," Vines says of the song. "The broader reality is that many people carry this awareness with them every day, especially in the political climate today. Writing this song became a way to process this fear and take some of that power back; while I can’t change people’s behavior, I can decide how much psychological power I let their presence have over me.” Amen.

Truman Beck - “Baby Blue”

This song came out in 2025 and I honestly could not tell you how it came across my desk but I find it so beautiful, there’s something devastating about the guitar, the vocals are so quiet and the guitar is loud, it’s all perfect. It gives me the sense that I’m hearing something I’m not supposed to? Like I’m sitting on a creaky wooden floor and the music is coming from the apartment below. I’m charmed by the way it just sort of abruptly ends with him saying in his normal speaking voice “oh yeah okay.” I can’t find shit about Truman Beck on the internet besides his IG, the three songs he has up on Spotify, and his Soundcloud where this other beautiful song called “I don’t wanna die” from last year lives.

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Today we have Rohnert Park’s finest - American (punk/hardcore/secret third thing) rock band Ceremony. They recorded their first demo 22 years ago and put out their seventh album, Tell Me Your Dream, three weeks ago. I believe I referred to it then as a self-contained Eras tour of sorts, in which the band revisits all of the sonic styles that have made them so great over the last two decades, balancing the raw, direct hardcore that put them on the map with darker, more atmospheric stuff and jangly, angular post-punk moments. It’s a fantastic record. I have listened to the song “Dark Summer” a wellness-check number of times since it came out.

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I’m so excited to have three members of Ceremony - Anthony Anzaldo, Ross Farrar, and Andy Nelson - contribute to a mega Monday Mixtape:

Anthony Lynn Anzaldo
"My star sign is Cancer, but my big three is Prince - Depeche Mode - The Cure"
Los Angeles

How do you find/discover music?

The Great Plains and Vast Cosmos; both analog and digital.

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

Terror “What I Despise.”

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?

Erykah Badu “Next Lifetime.”

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

Nilüfer Yanya “Like I Say (I runaway).” Is that new enough? (ed note: yes. Also love Nilüfer)

A song off your workout playlist:

Kylie Minogue “Love At First Sight.”

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

David Bowie “Space Oddity.”

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

Prince “The Greatest Romance Ever Sold.”

What is a song that makes you feel pretty?

T. Rex “Children Of The Revolution.”

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

Does anyone not answer “Ramones”? (ed note: you’re the first babe)

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

Stevie Wonder “Blame It On The Sun.”

What song do you use to renew your spirit?

Joni Mitchell “California.”

What is your favorite cover song?

Sinead O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U” or This Mortal Coil “Song To The Siren.”

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

This Mortal Coil “Song To The Siren” or Sinead O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

Ross Farrar
Virgo, Pisces Moon
Bay Area

How do you find/discover music?

Record stores, friends, YouTube music discover, Shazam.

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

Vince and Bola

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?

The Incredible String Band “Job’s Tears.”

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

The Drin “Full Moon Natural Sickos.”

A song off your workout playlist:

Larry June “Organic Motion.”

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

? & The Mysterians “96 Tears.”

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

I was big into “underground” hip-hop then, so prolly anything off “Uptown Saturday Night” by Camp Lo (ed note: I added “Luchini” bc obvi). Also, The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony.”

What is a song that makes you feel pretty?

Lip Cream “VX-2”

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

RABIX “All I Feel is Hate”

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

I refuse to wallow.

What song do you use to renew your spirit?

Eddie Harris & Les McCann “Set Us Free.”

What is your favorite cover song?

Spiritualized “Any Way That You Want Me.”

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

Biff Rose “Fill Your Heart.”

Andy Nelson
Leo
Los Angeles, CA

How do you find/discover music?

I’m always looking in any conceivable place music can be found. But there’s still nothing that touches the most tried & true method: friends.

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

Young Marble Giants “Final Day”

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?

Tatsuro Yamashita “Ride On Time”

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

Eliana Glass “On The Way Down (E At Home Version)”

A song off your workout playlist:

Paperclip Minimiser “II A1”

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

David Bowie “Let’s Dance”

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

Beat Happening “Jamboree” (Ed note: omg same)

What is a song that makes you feel pretty?

I ever feel pretty, I’ll be in touch.

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

Brainbombs “It’s A Burning Hell”

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

Antony And The Johnsons “Hope There’s Someone”

What song do you use to renew your spirit?

Infest “Behind This Tongue”

What is your favorite cover song?

Grace Jones “Love Is The Drug”

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

Brian Eno “By This River”

Most of the songs on Ceremony’s Monday Mixtape are HERE

I can’t do a particularly well formatted version of this due to the circumstances but here’s a nonetheless meaty list of probably not accidentally free-wheeling, horizon-seeking new music I’m loving for the weekend, and a of course, a little playlist (sorry for the typos):

• I’ve had this song stuck in my head for a week. (I’m fine).

• New Fontaines D.C song “Marianne” is good! Bodes well for the forthcoming album.

• My friend Adrien put me on to this Atlanta band called Ricochet Star and when someone sends me something like this (gauzy, layered, dreamy) I feel seen and known. Their EP, Every Other Moon, came out in June.

• She was the subject of our last Monday Mixtape (“our” hallucinating collaborators now) and I said it then and I’ll say it again - Grace Cummings is the musical offspring of Nick Cave and PJ Harvey.

• WiFi went out and I fell asleep but I’m back.

• (I can’t explain it fully but these next few albums feel linked to the Traveling Wilburys music video I watched while sitting at “Rock and Brews” at LAX this morning):

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This week on Monday Mixtape, we've got our first Australian1 (I think?). Grace Cummings is a Melbourne-based singer-songwriter with an absolutely devastating pair of pipes and a spicy pen (My god is a devastating creep is just one of the fabulous lyrics off her new terrific new album Bloodhorse!). There’s a theatricality to her music that feels more Nick Cave than Glee (she was a former theater kid, more the kind who did Shakespeare monologues than Annie Get Your Gun) but it’s Cummings’ voice that is really the star of the show. She’s been compared to Nico and Nina Simone, amongst others. It’s throaty, commanding, somewhere between Dylan and a hymn. Listening to her music feels a little like going through an emotional exorcism (once again, I am FINE).

I’m thrilled to have her do a Monday Mixtape for us:

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Grace Cummings
Libra
Australia

How do you find/discover music?

The radio, talking to friends… Stumbling across people by chance at festivals. Recently discovered YHWH Nailgun ‘cause they were playing in a concrete pit in a park in London. That was the best way to find music.

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

Morphine “Bo’s Veranda”

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?

Serge Gainsbourg “Melody”

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

Alex Cameron “Jesus Never Had No Porno”

A song off your workout playlist:

….. ummmm. Hahaha. Don’t have one but I’d chuck George Michael “Freedom” on it probably.

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

Lots… I get stupid at karaoke and usually try to sing shit that I can’t come close to

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

Captain Beefheart “Ashtray Heart”

What song reminds you most of home?

The Beatles “Two of Us”

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

That is my literal worst nightmare.

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

Music is the opposite of wallowing, So if I wanted to indulge it would be nothing at all.

What song do you use to renew your spirit?

The Gloaming “Samhradh Samhradh”

What is your favorite cover song?

Hmmm I don’t know… Elvis Presley’s “Unchained Melody”

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

Everybody I love singing anything they want all together.

All of the song’s on Grace’s Monday Mixtape can be found HERE

Bandsplain is now on YouTube. It would mean a lot to me if you “liked and subscribed.” Right now there are like four episodes there, including the latest one, the Music Biopic Hall of Fame with Sean Fennessey, but all the back video episodes will eventually be up in there (including all six Madonna ones for those of you planning gay guy music video nights).

I’ll be in the UK later this month, in Edinburgh for a few days during Fringe (terrified of jugglers) and in London from August 25-31. This is primarily news for people who want to invite me to fun things or shower me in gifts or provide me a guest pass to their fancy gym. I’m also looking for a really great lymphatic massage. Email me! D’Souza and I might throw a casual little pub hang or we might not, follow us on IG to be informed about that. Speaking of, it was my honor and pleasure to be the first subject in Shaad’s new Shaad Magazine (my favorite publication) column about etiquette.

That’s all for housekeeping. Let’s get to sadness.

I’d been wanting to do something about sad songs ever since I went on Rob Harvilla’s fabulous 60 Songs podcast to talk about one of my ultimate and most enduring crying songs, “Glycerine” by Bush. I’ve kept lists of songs to cry to for as long as I can remember; in college I recall typing one out into a Word document as a guide for my Napster activities (I get misty-eyed just thinking about it, the desktop PC and the dial-up). “Lady In Red” by Chris de Burgh was on that list and you know what, it still goes. I am normal and fine.

It just happened to work out perfectly that the reigning queen of sad songs, Phoebe Bridgers (but Lana! you scream and to you I say: Lana is the queen of sad-horny songs, they are certainly both reigning, sadness-wise), put out her long-awaited new album Lost Weekend today. I've cried to many Phoebe Bridgers songs over the years, and as a former shower beer aficionado, I've always felt quite seen by her. I think she's a brilliant lyricist and a deceptively great songwriter. I wasn't over the moon for the "Lost Boys" single (I find the chorus trite), but when I listened to the album this morning I was blown away. People are making a lot of the sonic innovations or explorations or whatever (which are cool!), but I think I'm most into how, while of course she can still make music from a place of heartbreak/pain/grief (put it in my veins), but that she's also able to absolutely fuck my shit up with songs about being in (happy, healthy) love — for example the gorgeous, cathartic "Bobby" (featuring inspired guitar cameos from Mike Kinsella of American Football and Justin K. Broadrick of Godflesh), which made me quietly weep this morning while walking my dog (This could be the end of wanting? Bye!).

There are so many incredible lyrics because she's Phoebe Bridgers, but the one stuck in the craw of my brain is surviving my gift until I get shot. Bruh. It strikes me that it’s the kind of album you make after age thirty, when that bitch Saturn done returned, things are still painful and the horrors persist (your father dies, you call off a wedding, fame is a knife, your house burns down1), but not only do you know now that you can endure it, you also know all that fuckshit comes with a heaping side of beauty and joy (and love). This is banal to say, but it is also true. You won't have to open a heart that's broken / Water's gonna flow in either way.

Anyway August is really the Sunday afternoon of summer, an ideal time for bittersweet music. You still have the thing but it’s slipping away and maybe that’s all you can think about (see: what makes a perfect summer song). Here are three other albums that fit this particular mood:

Hovvdy Big World

Woozy, catchy, yearning, sometimes upbeat, but then not, what can I say - I love hushed-voiced men in pain strumming their little sad guitars.

Power Snatch EP2

I’m so into Power Snatch, Williams’ project with producer Daniel James. I kind of think she can do anything with those pipes, but this particular brand of mostly restrained, lightly menacing, occasionally trip-hop-adjacent indie rock just really tickles my fancy. I also love when Hayley pokes at spirituality and religion in her lyrics - there’s so much grist for the mill there I think for her in particular, and for me, a person preoccupied with God. There is certainly a through line of “r u ok” melancholy in this EP - What would I wear to my funeral? Saint Laurent from the thrift is a lyric from “NEW LEGS” - which qualifies it for this summertime sadness round up.

Oxis Oxis 9

I happened upon this album poking around my Spotify homepage this week (it came out in July) and it’s really hitting for me. Emotionally-bare indie-pop (is that a thing) with lots of guitar, glitchy beats, and really fucking cool vocals - it’s a yes from me dog. Also obsessed with her artwork which seems to be wholly preoccupied with fish and various marine life:

And last but not least, here is a 3 hour playlist of songs to cry to:

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Given the audience of this Substack I’m guessing for many of you the band Citizen needs no introduction, but I won’t lie to you - I personally was quite late to this band. In my defense I haven’t been to a Warped Tour since 1997 and spent the bulk of the mid-2000s in a time warp listening almost exclusively to Dipset mixtapes and The Smiths. However, Run For Cover is another of those record labels that has a 99% hit rate with me so it’s unsurprising that the band’s latest release, their fifth album Halcyon Blues, has been getting a lot of airtime on my (corded) headphones. The band has been somewhat quietly and stubbornly great for nearly two decades now, and crucially they have spent those seventeen years refusing to make the same record twice.

On his now-defunct personal website (I have the Wayback Machine babe) frontman Mat Kerekes “credits Third Eye Blind as having a big influence on his writing” and you already know how I feel about 3eb (as well as my theories around their self titled album being a seminal emo album, I said what I said). I’m also personally partial to the ineffable vibe siblings bring to a band, and we grabbed one of the brothers who make up the nucleus of Citizen, guitarist Nick Hamm, to give us his Monday Mixtape:

Nick Hamm
Capricorn
Toledo, Ohio

How do you find/discover music?

I try my best to keep my ear to the ground, but when that doesn’t work, my friends and girlfriend put me on!

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

Bob Dylan “Too Late”

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?

Gary Stewart “I See the Want to In Your Eyes”

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

Institute “The Shooter” (ed note: god tier band and song)

What’s a song that reminds you of where you come from?

Pat Dailey “Put In Bay”. Hyper regional Parrothead shit.

A song off your workout playlist:

Unified Right “So It Goes”…if I had a workout playlist…

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

Last time I did karaoke was “The Weight” by The Band and we got thru it.

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

Green Day “Having a Blast”

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

Bad Brains “Stay Close to Me”

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

Bill Fay “I Hear You Calling”

What song do you use to renew your spirit?

Webb Pierce “I Ain’t Never”

What is your favorite cover song?

Donny Hathaway “You’ve Got a Friend (Live)”

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

Chuck Jackson “Any Day Now”

All the songs on Nick’s Monday Mixtape can be found HERE

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Was really sad to hear about the passing of William Orbit, the man behind one of the greatest Madonna albums of all time, Ray of Light (as well as the god tier song “Beautiful Stranger”), plus a whole lot more incredible music (including a personal favorite of mine, the Blur song “Tender” that reduces me to tears every time I hear it). The Guardian did a nice write up of his musical legacy and some of this best tracks.

Last night I attended a rock n’ roll show at one of my favorite venues in Los Angeles, the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever (which is almost certainly haunted), to see one of my favorite bands, Iceage. Their electric new album For Love of Grace & the Hereafter came out at the end of May and I’ve been listening to it pretty much nonstop since. I think they’re one of the greatest bands of my lifetime?

The way they’ve continued to morph and expand their music since they were a volatile electrifying teenage band has been thrilling to watch, and following their trajectory over the past decade or so has been so gratifying. I have loved every album but they really got with me with 2021’s incredible Madchester-summoning and gospel-choir-laden Seek Shelter, produced by Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3. And then they hit me with this new one. I feel about For Grace the way everyone seemed to feel about Geese’s Getting Killed last year. I discover new things every time I listen. I’m so invigorated by it - it gives me at various points the same feelings I associate with listening to Pavement or The Replacements or even Neutral Milk Hotel. It’s romantic and violent and wild-eyed and, as the name implies, spiritual (it’s actually a nod to Hamlet1 - we stan a literate king).

is an incredible lyricist who only gets better as he goes - each line is more unexpected and beautiful than the last (like…With every new asphyxiation/Comes a greater gasp for air is crazy good). And to my eternal delight, he’s incapable of not using holy imagery throughout these songs, which while short, catchy, and fun are never saccharine or rote due in large part not only to the lyrics but Rønnenfelt’s delivery of them, which is ragged and immediate and somewhat menacing. It’s a magic trick to make songs that read as simple but contain within them universes. What a fucking album man.

A beautiful video I shot (PT Anderson over here) at the show last night

What else to listen to this weekend:

Ceremony Tell Me Your Dream

I got to hear this album a few months ago and I was blown away by how much range it contains. It’s like Ceremony is doing their own eras tour within one record, and since every era has been pretty fucking amazing, you can guess how good this album is. I’ve been posting ad nauseam about the catchy as hell “Dark Summer” and I’m really loving the groovy starkness of “10 Planets” but the standout for me might be album ender “Paradise” which is giving Ceremony-plays-the-Hacienda-in-1989.

god of war molly picture

I think this is sort of a supergroup made up of Douglas Dulgarian (They Are Gutting A Body Of Water), Scott Turner (Hooky), and Sam Silbert (Hooky, Circle of Fire)? I fucking love TAGABOW as you probably already know and I was super into that EP Hooky put out with Winter last year called Water Season. Julia’s War is one of those labels that has like a 99% hit rate with me. This record has a lot going on (acoustic guitar, vocals that sound like they were recorded underwater, tons of texture, sad clown pop vibes, gazing at shoes) and all of it is awesome.

School Fair Unexpected Violence

This album actually came out in May but it’s new to me so here it is. It’s so cool and weird and great - plucky yet vibey, kinda heady, great bass lines, cool vocals. I believe they’re from a place called Dunedin in New Zealand and are very spiritually in line with the 80s Flying Nun of it all that preceded them in that gorgeous country. Also this thought process gave me a great excuse to return to The Bats which is always a delight.

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Here’s a playlist of 20 or so newish (okay there’s one from 2025 SORRY) songs to cruise through Sunday with:

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Florence Shaw is primarily known as the vocalist and lyricist for the band Dry Cleaning, a band I was admittedly late to but now am low key a little obsessed with. She is also a visual artist, a fellow master’s degree holder (hers, much cooler than my MBA, is in visual communication), a former arts lecturer (this is me…reading Wikipedia), and as is truly fitting for someone whose birth name is Florence Cleopatra Shaw (nominative determinism), is a creative and fascinating person with really beautiful hair and exquisite taste (this is me…admiring from afar). Here is a post she did on Substack last year about her (glorious) sticker collection.

Dry Cleaning released their third full length album Secret Love earlier this year and it’s very good. Here is Florence’s Monday Mixtape:

Florence Cleopatra Shaw
Aries
London

How do you find/discover music?

I mostly discover music through recommendations from friends. Clotilde Bayle who manages Clarissa Connelly and Curbside Lambsear always knows new interesting music. Also my band mates ofc.

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

“Slippery People” by Talking heads. I saw David Byrne a few days ago and this song live is insane.

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?

I’m always, always listening to “Mother Nature’s Bitch” by Okay Kaya.

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

“Man The Door” by Curbside Lambsear.

A song off your work-out playlist:

Ok I don’t work out, but if I imagine someone working out it’s to The Knife, “Like a Pen” haha.

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

“The Power of Love” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. I just can’t believe how beautiful that song is. I like to watch people do power ballads or torch songs at karaoke, “I (Who Have Nothing)” by Shirley Bassey and things like that.

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

Definitely Placebo “You Don’t Care About Us”. Without You I’m Nothing is such a great album and it sums up a gothy and very exciting period of time for me. They were the first band I saw live.

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

“Lazy” by The Primitives. They did that song “Crash” that’s well known, but this tune is better!

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

“Agony” by Yung Lean. Music makes me incredibly emotional so I have to be careful what I put on, I can’t go full tilt with something like “Feela” by Lamb, which I honestly can’t get through without completely falling apart. (ed note: this song just ruined my life thanks a lot Florence). “Agony” is perfect for a quick wallow because for me it’s surreal and wistful and funny rather than devastating.

What is a song that reliably brings you emotional catharsis?

“Don’t Let This Feeling” by Vanessa Amara or “Six Months in a Leaky Boat” by Split Enz. Aotearoa, rugged individual, glisten like a pearl at the bottom of the world. I listened to it in the back of the van in New Zealand recently and it brought me to tears quick! Got to put “Is It Cold In The Water” by SOPHIE here too actually.

What song do you use to renew your spirit?

“I’m Not Sayin’” by Nico. Maybe it’s meant to be a fallible narrator kind of thing but I’ve always taken it at face value as a song about being carefree and untroubled by the expectations of others. Which is the goal. (ed note: amen sister).

What is your favorite cover song?

“Private Life” by Grace Jones1. Or Janet Kay’s cover of “Loving You” (the 1978 version!). Or Devo’s cover of “Satisfaction”. Or “Jambalaya” by The Residents2 ohhh my god that’s a good cover!!! The first three of those came out within two years of each other. Golden age of the cover!

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

Something ambient to be honest. This is a way pretentious answer probably but “#3” or “#19” by Aphex Twin. Genuinely if I’m going to die I want something that makes everything seem like it’s in its right place. I don’t want to be crying or raging, I want to be meditating and extremely relaxed. I’m not a go-out-with a bang type person I’m a dissolve-into-the-universe kind of person. That’s the plan!

All of the song on Florence’s Monday Mixtape can be found HERE

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We are gathered here today because I threw together a batch of recent music I think you guys might like. Most of the songs on this playlist came out in July, but there are a handful of tunes from May and June that I simply missed because [Hoobastank voice] etc. I would say 80% are newer bands, at least 50% artists I’ve never heard of, and at least 100% are good.

Link to the 37 song playlist is below the cut-off but here are two very very good songs for everyone:

enjoy xx

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I just spent a week in Kansas City (Kansas not Missouri) visiting my cousin Nikki and cosplaying as a denizen of the Midwest and it was honestly thrilling. Low-key fuck Europe, it’s all about a Midwestern summer. There is so much parking. The barbecue is transcendent. Every drink comes with ample ice, and in the case of Sonic, the best ice on the planet. (I did make my cousin take me to Sonic nearly every single day I was there and she kindly obliged).

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Issy Wood is a painter, musician, and vintage ceramic salt-and-pepper-shaker aficionado. She is known for her “perverted realism” (or so says Artforum), her “canny, sophisticated pop music” (so says Pitchfork), and her brave friendship (so says me, the person whomst she accompanied for a dip into the 4-degree-Celsius women’s bathing pond at Hampstead Heath on New Year’s Day this year). I love her sardonic, slyly vulnerable, almost violently honest lyrics (listen to last year’s “IHS”), her Instagram stories (she truly sees things differently, reminds me a bit of Jerry Hsu’s), and the fact that she regularly picks up my raw dog FaceTime calls (are you thinking wow you’re really making this about you? To you I say: this whole Substack is about me, honey). I’ve also never met a person who loves The Book of Mormon more than her - a truly charming trait.

She’s smart as hell, funny as shit, and has excellent taste which is why I am thrilled to have her contribute a Monday Mixtape for this little rag.

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Issy Wood
Capricorn
London

How do you find/discover music?

I was a very musically adventurous teen, but have become progressively lazier over the last decade and a half. Instead of going digging, I mostly wait for word-of-mouth prompts from trusted loved ones. Two things happened in the last year that changed the status quo, however. The first is that I began dating a music- and playlist-obsessed man with whom my tastes mostly align. He has introduced me to (and reminded me to revisit) so much. The second is that I have been spending a lot of time in Los Angeles, and can never get my phone to reliably connect to my rental car. This led me to Loyola Marymount’s college radio station KXLU. I love what they’re doing over there.

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

Shaad d’Souza asked me last night to name my “summer anthem” for his magazine1, so I listened to the two candidates (“2SIDED” by Arlo Parks and “Taxi” by Bryan Ferry) trying to decide which to pick. I let Shaad pick in the end.

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?

“The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)” by Flight of the Concords. I loved this show when it first aired. It satisfied my weakness for musical theatre while still being somewhat NME-friendly.

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

“MY NAME IS NIGHT” by Nirosta Steel (ed note: whole album so fucking good).

A song off your work out playlist:

“Rock Music” by Charli XCX, though it’s over too quickly to build any kind of muscle mass

What is a perfect London bike ride song?

I cannot publicly condone biking with headphones on. But : “Did You See” by J Hus. Wear a helmet!

Podcasts don’t exist anymore. Do you listen to music while you paint or total silence?

Currently, total silence. That’s how bad my podcast habit is.

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

“That Don’t Impress Me Much” by Shania Twain, but it’s in a surprisingly bad key for me.

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

“Naive” by the Kooks.

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

“Money Is Everything” by Addison Rae.

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

“Why I Cry” by the Magnetic Fields.

What song do you use to renew your spirit?

“Ice Melts” by Drake and Young Thug.

What is your favorite cover song?

There’s a live cover of D’Angelo doing Prince’s “She’s Always In My Hair” from 2015 I think about often.

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

“Angeles” by Elliott Smith

All the songs on Issy’s Monday Mixtape live HERE

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Heather Jewett is a musician, writer, comedienne (you heard me), podcaster, and soundboard auteur. Her podcast Planet Heather regularly makes me cramp up with laughter and I find myself reacting to real life situations with particular phrases from her incredibly rich and poignant sound board (what IS popping Dr. Phil?). She is a founding member of seminal electroclash (are we just saying “indie sleaze” now like that’s a thing because I give up) outfit Gravy Train!!! and recently debuted her new music project Heathers, including the god-tier disco-y earworm of a banger “Jealous”, which is definitely one of my songs of the summer even though I am of course not jealous of anyone as my spirit is tranquil and god fills my cup daily and I want for nothing (certainly not a new neck or pink satin Versace pumps or a single day without the wet cold blanket of existential dread draped over my shoulders).

You can catch Heather and her band the Hot Guys in Oakland opening for Josie Cotton this Friday, July 17th at Eli’s Mile High Club as part of the excellent Mosswood Meltdown Festival (hosted by John Waters!!). Get tickets here.

Heather has excellent, exquisite, and often surprising taste in music (I think she might be one of the world’s foremost Aerosmith lovers) so of course I had to ask her to contribute a Monday Mixtape:

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Heather Jewett
Pisces Sun, Taurus Moon, Capricorn Rising
Los Fefe, California

How do you find/discover music?

To quote Dan Allegretto, new music scares me. I tend to listen to the same songs from at least 14 years ago over and over. BUT I regret to inform you, lately I’ve been finding some bops via Instagram reels :( It’ll be a 12-year-old girl doing therapy-speak about “avoidant attachment styles” with 50k likes and in the background she’s bumping some compelling “new music” that I then somberly add to my Spotify favorites. :(

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

“White Freckles” by Ariel Pink. I can’t get enough — it’s both the most euphoric AND annoying song to have in your head all day. “FRECKLES, FRECKLES, WHERE’D YOU GET THOSE FRECKLES?!?!” is a lyric I long to have written.

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?

“Astronaut” by Versus, “Coffin Nails” by MF Doom, “Stratford-on-Guy” by Liz Phair, and a lot more Ariel Pink (lock me up) especially “Fright Night,” “Lipstick,” and “Beverly Kills.”

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

I love “What Love is 4” by my House of Feelings label mate, Pisha! It’s very Goldfrapp-coded. Also, a NOT recent song I’d love for everyone to discover is “Your Love Been So Good to Me” by Ruth Copeland. It’s the 70’s woman banger that should have been as big as “White Rabbit” or “Barracuda” but the good news is it’s finally available on streaming — RUN DON’T WALK.

A song off your workout playlist:

I have two workout playlists: “Stripper Metal Workout” and “Beastmode Workout Crusher.” A standout from the former is “Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)” by W.A.S.P., which I consider to be the greatest hair metal song of all time. A staple from the other playlist is “I Can’t Get No Sleep” by Masters at Work — slow burn house diva heaven with a big finish that will CRUSH your PR (that’s “personal record” folx, I’m a bit of an athlete)!!!!

Do you listen to a song before you go on stage to get in the zone? What song?

“I Love Sex (And Rock and Roll)” by The Plasmatics is so empowering in terms of stage presence. Also, at one of Gravy Train!!!’s reunion shows, Kate Mosher-Hall DJ’d “Tangerine Rose” by Angelyne right before we went onstage and it was so soothing, sensual and perfect… so that’s also on the playlist now!

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

Well I bodied “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith at Sam Buck’s local KFM Country Karaoke Night, which was a huge accomplishment because it’s SO hard. I practiced for weeks and flopped every time, but I didn’t miss any words when I actually got onstage. Is there a division of the Nobel Peace Prize or even just the MacArthur Genius Grant that awards this kind of thing??

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

Oh my God, well it was 1994, my PEAK year of music obsession and alt rock excellence, I mean Live Through This came out and sooo many others… but if I had to pick 3 (not what you asked) that really feel like time travel, I’ll say “Your Favorite Thing” by Sugar, “Interstate Love Song” by Stone Temple Pilots, and “Low” by Cracker (ed note: DEF had this cassingle and bumped the fuck out of it).

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

“Love Gun” by KISS or “Horny” by Hot n’ Juicy… any song about sex from a simple, dog-like perspective.

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

Gracie Abrams “That’s So True” lol, “Cherish” by the Association, “Little Earthquakes” by Tori Amos, and above all, “Recording 15” by Shannon Lay, who has been my dear friend for over a decade and is now playing bass in my live band, Heather and the Hot Guys… in which her backup vocals have ALSO made me cry. If you come see us, you better bring a damn hanky!!!

What song do you use to renew your spirit?

“Needle in the Camel’s Eye” by Brian Eno, “Cherub Rock” by Smashing Pumpkins (best alt rock song of the 90’s imho), “Head On” by Jesus and Mary Chain, “6’1”“ by Liz Phair, “Catch Me I’m Falling” by Pretty Poison, “Thunderkiss ‘65” by White Zombie (the OTHER best song of the 90’s… don’t @ me!!!)

What is your favorite cover song?

“Burnin’ Up” by Mike Watt/Sonic Youth or Ciccone Youth or whatever covering Madonna!!! It’s so raw, menacing, and sexual, but you can really hear the warm California sun in it too, San Pedro to be exact!! I keep waiting for another cover to eclipse this and it just hasn’t happened, BUT I also love “Nights in White Satin” by Giorgio Moroder (Moody Blues), The Gories “There But for the Grace of God Go I” (a primal, stripped down tin shack version of an obscure disco song by Machine), and “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” by Aerosmith (Shangri-La’s).

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

Carmina Burana “O Fortuna.” I’ve been stomping along to it on my little rage-walks around Los Fefe… really hits the spot when you’re craving drama and wanting to feel like your life is a movie. Since death is the ultimate main character moment, I think it would really help me go out with a bang!

All of the songs on Heather’s Monday Mixtape live HERE

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Speaking of summer - I wrote a short piece about my experience at Lollapalooza 1995 for the excellent The Print Edition (thank you !) and now I am somehow published in the same issue as Graydon Carter. I love physical media, I love print, I love collecting things to stack on tables in my home, and I love The Print Edition. Get the issue at their website or at select newsstands.

This morning the thought occurred to me in a particularly languid moment that cherries are certainly proof of god, and that’s when it hit me: it’s definitely summer now. Driving home from hot yoga I ate the complimentary electrolyte popsicle I was given (thank you Silver Springs) with the windows down, cranked the volume on the Subaru, and listened to what is revealing itself to be if not the song of the summer, certainly my song of the summer, “When I’m Not Around” by Deep Heaven, five times in a row. Yes this song did come out in the fall of 2025, thank you for asking. You gotta kill the cop within, babe.

The thing about a perfect summer song is that it needs to be buoyant and life-affirming but also have woven into it a thin, gossamer thread of sorrow, because this is also what makes summer so wonderful (and the bowl of cherries transcendent). It’s the knowledge that it will all soon enough be over. It will once again be dark at 5pm, the stone fruit will disappear from the farmers markets, and people will have to pack up their nap dresses and off-the-shoulder poplin peasant blouses and come back home.

Obviously the threat is less serious when you live in Los Angeles, but even though we don’t suffer from particularly punitive winters here (though I maintain that a cold January night in LA is somehow more bone-chilling than one in Minnesota, for example), it’s about the tenor of the season. The carefree mood will always give way to something heavier. And for my two cents, that impermanence needs to be hinted at in the music that carries you through the season, sun on your face, wind at your back while you bike a little drunk off white wine spritzes, or slip your bare arm out the car window and make little waves with your hand up against the thick air. There has to be a tiny bit of mourning undergirding the joy. Lana Del Rey obviously snapped with “Summertime Sadness,” a particularly overt example of this. “Pumped Up Kicks” is about a homicidal teenager! You see what I mean.

A few other songs of MY summer include:

• Fiddlehead “Baby I’ll Change”

• Heathers “Jealous”

• Nirosta Steel “BOSS TRIX”

• HEKT ft Smerz “Forever”

• "Rock Music” (I am the #1 “Rock Music” truther, I love it so much)

After the jump, I have for you a playlist of 40 gorgeous summer songs (contemporary). There’s like 25% overlap with my top songs of 2026 because I am HONEST and I like what I like. But most of it is new (to you, via me at least). There’s also an old playlist I made but never shared that I called “Goth at the Beach” for some reason (no Growlers). It’s 3 hours long and has songs from four decades and is kind of fab? Hope you like them both:

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Jess Cuevas is a wildly talented mixed media artist, creative director, and art director. He is the art director for Willy Chavarria (one of my absolute favorite contemporary designers) and has worked with Freshjive, Nike, Converse, and a little artist called Madonna, amongst others.

We first connected through Madonna fandom (in turns out when you make a 22 hour long podcast series about an incredibly beloved pop icon, you make a lot of amazing new friends) and Jess quickly revealed his excellent taste, not just for visuals but also in the breadth and depth of his musical taste. And you know what that means.

Here is Jess’ Monday Mixtape:

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Jess Cuevas
I am a deep Pisces. Moon in Scorpio. Rising in Virgo
City of Angels

How do you find/discover music?

I am constantly looking back to discover something new. I also have some amazing friends with impeccable taste that keep new music flowing to me.

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

When I woke up this morning I listened to Bjork’s “Venus as a Boy” and Flea, the track called “Frailed”.

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?

“One Step Away” by Madonna on Confessions 2 on major repeat. I mean the whole album honestly.

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

I really love Flea’s new jazz album and the track “Traffic Lights.” (ft Thom Yorke). It’s such a nice mellow vibe and so beautiful.

A song off your work-out playlist:

A song that makes me feel crazy psycho good and go hard at the gym is “Bring the Noise” by Public Enemy (ed note: this is also on my work-out playlist except it’s the Anthrax version). “Can’t Truss It” by Public Enemy and Eli Escobar’s “Something Inside Of Me.”

Is there particular music that you put on when you are looking to summon creativity?

When I want to get in the zone creatively I tend to listen to Massive Attack, Portishead, Mexican Bolero music, or deep 90’s house music. I guess it depends on what I am creating. My taste is all over the place.

Any song in particular that opens up your mind in that way?

Primal Scream “Higher than the Sun”. The lyrics to that track really move my mind.

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

I don’t do karaoke. It feels intimidating.

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

There are a lot, too hard to pick just one: Cypress Hill “Latin Lingo”, Deee-Lite, “Power of Love” (ed note: the fucking best), Stereo Mc’s “Connected”, Madonna “Justify My Love”, Nirvana “Come As you Are”, Neneh Cherry “Buffalo Stance”.

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

Mr. Fingers “Cerebral Hemisphere”.

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

Tricky “Hell Is Round The Corner”.

What song do you use to renew your spirit?

“I Want To Thank You” by Alicia Myers. If that doesn’t do the trick I don’t know what will.

What is your favorite cover song?

Kali Uchis “que te pedi//”. Her voice is like an angel’s.

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

Los Panchos, “Bésame Mucho.” The song is about someone asking their loved one to cherish the present moment with an intense kiss because they fear they may never be together again.

All of the songs on Jess’ Monday Mixtape live HERE

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I was sad when Bandsplain’s Madonna month was over but then I realized it’s kind of always Madonna month if you choose to be about that life (though I am still recovering from the fact that Garren laid his holy eyes upon a social clip in which I had my worst hair day in months).

Back to Confessions II - I cried more than once while listening to it today, moved not only by the incredibly personal, reflective lyrics, but also by the accomplishment of proving the relentless doubters wrong at an age where most women are barely allowed to publicly exist (the pink pussy hat is ON babe).

I think my favorite track right now is “School” but I’m losing it at so many others - “One Step Away”, “Love Without Words”, "The Test (ft. Lourdes Leon)” (when she calls Lourdes “Little Star”!!!2), and of course, her Lou Reed moment,“L.E.S. Girl”.3 I keep hearing new things on each listen through and will be spending a lot more time with it this weekend, contemplating whilst throwing ass (as we do).

and I are toying with the idea of maybe “going live” on Instagram on Sunday to discuss our thoughts on the album, will try to provide a reasonable heads up but also will maybe throw it up as a video, here or on IG. In the meantime, Shaad D’Souza’s review for Pitchfork is excellent.

Other fun Madonna stuff: Library180, a free (by appt only) vintage magazine reference library (aka heaven?) has recently acquired a massive collection of Madonna media and went to rifle through it and report back over at Neverworns, this oral history of Danceteria in Vanity Fair (ft. musings from Debi Mazar, Marc Almond of Soft Cell, Fab 5 Freddy, and more), and these gorgeous little images Willy Chavarria creative director Jess Cuevas made to celebrate the launch of the new album.

In other “women who shaped my life and entire personality” news, I interviewed Courtney Love about her film career for the Criterion Channel45, who currently has a curation of six of her movies available to stream on the site. It’s a great interview if I may say so myself: she speaks about her friendship with Joe Strummer, pushing for Paul Rudd to be cast in 200 Cigarettes, and the iconic music biopic role she turned down. Here are a few of my favorite bits that didn’t make it into the piece, on The Pogues, Peckinpaw, Kevin Bacon, the Atkins diet, and more.

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is an art and music critic who has recently entered my important gay guy canon™️ on the strength of his impeccable taste, fantastic writing, and also some well-timed (ie while I was luteal) flattering words pointed in my direction (it’s really that easy folks). Harry writes for Pitchfork, The Guardian, Paper, and more. He’s one of the few music writers who regularly puts me onto stuff I love (another of course being former Monday Mixtape subject Shaad D’Souza) and now that we regularly dm, he’s teaching me about the world. For example, the day before Madonna name- checked Raffaella Carrà1 in her interview with Mel Ottenberg for the Summer 2026 Interview Magazine, Harry was sending me videos of that queen and educating me about her game. Maybe I’ll finally learn something (anything) about “art” next.

A few things we agree on are: the band ear, the importance of Erotica, and that almost all men look amazing with dark-rooted bleached hair.

Here is Harry’s Monday Mixtape:

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Harry Tafoya
Pisces, which I’m told explains *Everything*
Scenic, Rustic Bushwick

How do you find/discover music?

Oh God... I sort of just let it waft over me... I have a lot of opinionated gay men in my life (many of whom identify as heterosexual) and they love to tell me what to listen to.

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

“Ef“ by Chanel Beads.

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?:

I’ve been playing John Errol’s forthcoming album obsessively, it is one of the most painfully beautiful records this year but ALSO “lao shi 老师“ by Helena Gao, who I’ve admired ever since she made Zara Larsson listenable to me / “soulless cycle” by L’Rain fucking RIPS, the most brilliant woman in New York / “LOVE + WAR” by B0YG1RL & NOVAGANG goes just as soft and hard as the title suggests.

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

I’m biased because I love him but I think Clarke Sondermann’s latest album as Pleasure Systems is so gorgeous, especially “Singing In My Sleep“ (Ed note: this song is so beautiful def cannot handle whilst luteal)

A song off your work-out playlist:

The Squire of Gothos - Forest Gateaux Mix - the profoundly stupid build and release of bass line makes it the perfect genre for cardio.

Do you listen to music when you go to view art? If so, what is a good art viewing song?

I do not, lamely I try to see it in the most neutral conditions possible. If anything, taking in too much art makes your brain explode, which requires a mental palette cleanser. After I haul my ass to galleries, I usually like to listen to the most stripped down folk or the most woozy tranq’d out ambient music possible. Lately Dagmar Zuniga hits that sweet spot.

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

I’m a karaoke performance artist - I need lighting, a fog machine, and multiple costume changes but I do not need a screen. My go-to is to perform in Spanish (namely this), but lately all I want to do is sing “Isolation“ by Joy Division.

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

“Hong Kong Garden (Marie Antoinette Strings Version)“ by Siouxsie Sioux, the first song I ever bought for my iPod (Ed note: had to put the regular one on the playlist sorry just imagine the strings version)

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

Either “Bad Song” by CFCF featuring Cecile Believe (the dumbest song this year) or “Train“ by Goldfrapp. There are many delicious flavors of pop stupidity, but few have channeled glam rock’s distinct lobotomy tang so perfectly.

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

The funny answer is “Child Psychology” by Black Box Recorder, the actual answer is “Marble Lions” by Saint Etienne.

What song do you use to renew your spirit?”

“Justified & Ancient” by The KLF :) (Ed note: hell yes brother)

What is your favorite cover song?

Right now it’s “Breathe Kullawada Caporal E DJ Edit” by Chuquimamani-Condori, which recasts Faith Hill as an ecstatic seeress on the cusp of revelation.

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

“Corporeal“/”You and Me In Time“/”Where Youth and Laughter Go“ by Broadcast, It’s almost a joke how obsessed I am with them but I’m endlessly fascinated by Trish Keenan and I can’t think of another band that so consistently captures the mystery, sadness, and weird beauty of whatever might be on the other side.

All of the songs on Harry’s Monday Mixtape live HERE

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• This Madonna interview/photo spread for the cover of Interview by the one and only Mel Ottenberg is phenomenal. Shot by Nadia Lee Cohen and styled by Mel, it’s such a nice reminder of Madonna’s incredible ability to inhabit new looks and hair styles (and characters, here she is as “Dee Dee”) after a currently press cycle of a lot of sameness. Of course she trusted Mel, because Mel’s an absolute artist. Also the fact that he learned all this information (such as the tidbit about Madonna plying Danceteria DJ Mark Kamins with cocaine to get him to play her first single “Everybody”) BEFORE appearing on episode 1 of Bandsplain’s Madonna series and did not mention any of it shows breathtaking restraint. His playlist of his top Madonna songs is also excellent. Mentally I’m still here.1

• Death Cab For Cutie covered one of my favorite Husker Dü songs “Green Eyes” (RIP Grant Hart) for Sirius XM.

• Olivia Rodrigo announced her Daisy Chain Fields festival which will take place in Irvine in August (it sold out in 30 minutes). It’s sort of a modern day Lilith Fair, with a line-up that includes Stevie Nicks, Chappell Roan, Garbage, Rodrigo herself, and the originator of Lilith, Sarah McLachlan, amongst others. It’s cute! I’m glad she’s directing her fans towards these acts and also using her power and platform to do something cool like this. I do however remain perplexed at her citing artists like The Breeders and Bikini Kill (both playing the festival), as well as Courtney Love and PJ Harvey, while making music that sounds like…that. Anyway you should watch last year’s excellent Lilith Fair doc on Hulu.

• posted another edition of his Substack magazines where he goes through an old magazine (or in this case, a 1992 Village Voice) and muses about journalism, culture, the past, the future, and more in his signature (Pulitzer Prize winning) voice. I love it so much.

• Mannequin Pussy and Wednesday announced their co-headline tour, the Bitch Cabal (perfect name, no notes) starting October 30th in Asheville, NC. I will be following them like people used to do The Grateful Dead.

• did his roundup of best songs of 2026 so far (it’s 288 songs, 16 hours long) and while we have some crossover a lot of it is very different and of course, very good.

• Also this is 300 years in advance but I will be in the UK from roughly mid October to mid November if you’d like to invite me to things/have me host something/have me screen a movie/take me to the pub/propose marriage to me.

And now here are my top 50 songs (if the release its on came out this year I counted it) of 2026 so far. Obviously this is bent around my personal tastes. Justice for “Rock Music” (the song and the genre). This post isn’t paywalled because I want more people to know about these artists and derive joy from these tunes.

In alphabetical order because I famously hate ranking things:

• Accessory — “Sunshine”

• Angel Du$t — “Pain Is A Must”

• Badvril — “Golden”

• Basement — “Time Waster”

• Basement — “The Way I Feel”

• Blondshell — “Heart Has To Work So Hard”

• Cardinals — “Masquerade”

• Charli xcx — “Rock Music”

• Cola — “Hedgesitting”

• Dari Bay — “We’re Gonna Be Okay”

• Dazy — “BIG Problem”

• Death Cab for Cutie — “I Built You A Tower (a)”

• ear — “Ne Plus Ultra”

• Fiddlehead — “Baby I’ll Change”

• Greg Mendez — “I Wanna Feel Pretty”

• Hekt — “Beautiful”

• horse — “gloss”

• Hovvdy — “Try Try Try”

• How Much Art — “XO”

• Iceage — “Star”

• Joshua Burnside — “It’s Not Going to be Okay”

• Joyce Manor — “Grey Guitar”

• Kelela — “linknb”

• Kurt Vile — “Zoom 97”

• Lambrini Girls — “Cult of Celebrity”

• Lifeguard — “Appetite”

• Lightris — “Up Down”

• Lime Garden — “Cross My Heart”

• Mackeeper — “Pieces Of Yours”

• Madonna — “I Feel So Free”

• Man/Woman/Chainsaw — “Nosedive”

• Midrift — “Reaching For You”

• Morgan Nagler — “Hurt”

• Nation of Language — “Tougher Than The Rest” (Bruce Springsteen cover)

• Nine Inch Nails, Boys Noize — “Me, I’m Not - Nine Inch Noize...”

• Nothing — “never come never morning”

• Porches — “SPRING”

• Real Lies — “A Land Beyond”

• Ringing — “incandescent”

• RIP Magic — “Screwdark”

• Rostam, Clairo — “Hardy (feat. Clairo)”

• Slayyyter — “CRANK”

• Slow Pulp — “Better Man”

• Station Model Violence — “Leisure”

• supermodel* — “blue monday”

• Tiberius b, Power Snatch, Hayley... — “Great”

• Tigers Jaw — “Head is Like a Sinking Stone”

• Turnover — “I See You And Realize”

• 2charm — “no pressure”

• underscores — “Tell Me (U Want It)”

And on a playlist for ease.

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Anyway let’s get into it:

ALBUM

This is a small preview of next week’s Bandsplain episode about our favorite music of Q2 (I have an MBA so I’m allowed to use that word) but an album I’ve been listening to nonstop is Forever by the Danish producer, DJ, and songwriter Hekt (real name: Jesper Nørbæk). Between this and the new Iceage album, I don’t know what the fuck they’re putting in the water in Denmark, but babe, it’s working.2

Forever is a big, beautiful, vibrant electronic dance record (I just learned what IDM means but I won’t be using that word). The exquisitely sequenced tracks move through a myriad of emotions (anticipation, yearning, romance, balls to the wall LFG, and more) and it all just makes me desperate to hop on a Lime bike3 and speed through the London night (this is not LA music) with it blaring in my corded headphones, a heat-seeking missile aimed toward what might be the best night of my life. (Inside me the wolf who goes to sleep at 9:30pm and wakes up with the sun to go to hot yoga is having its ass beat by the wolf who wants to slam a Celsius, put on a halter top4, and hit the fucking streets).

BOOK

sent me her new novel Lovers XXX a while ago but I was balls deep in Madonna month and precluded from reading anything that wasn’t work related but I’ve finally read it and it’s so engrossing and juicy and page-turny. It’s also largely set in 80s Los Angeles, and as a sort of LA native (famously from Torrance) I will read any book that deals with past (imo better) eras of the city5. The LA Times called it “the definitive literary Valley porn novel” I’m sorry but what more do you need to hear.

SHAMPOO

I’ve been on sort of an endless hair improvement journey since I was a teenager but it ramped up in intensity after I lost a bunch of hair after the fires (this probably calls for a larger violin but let’s keep moving). My hairdresser Rosie recommended this line Najeau - she mentioned another of her clients was using it and her hair was noticeably thicker. So of course I was like - say less babe. I went straight to the website and ordered…everything? The shampoo, the conditioner, the copper sequence scalp spray, the Sunday scalp mask, all of it.6 I’ve been using it all pretty religiously for a few weeks and besides the fact that the bottles are beautiful and the product, in particular the shampoo and conditioner, smell incredible (not not important), the quality of my hair after using all this stuff is noticeably better? My curls are naturally softened, my hair feels way less dry. I don’t know if new hair has magically popped up on my scalp but I’ll keep you posted, though to be honest it will be impossible to tell which intervention (the products, the HigherDose red light hat I use a few times a week, the Celluma Nova I use most nights, the DHT blocker pills I take, the stem call scalp micro needling I’m doing next week with the Beverly Hills Skincare Muse) will be the cause. I’m not a woman in STEM okay.

PODCAST EP

Remember I said I love fashion? Well if you love fashion you probably already listen to Lauren Sherman’s podcast Fashion People but in case you don’t, I can’t recommend the latest episode where she interviews legendary fashion photography duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. The talk is so rich with ideas about art, fashion, partnership, collaboration, as well as incredibly fascinating memories and details from their work with other fashion icons. I think anyone who makes any kind of art will find some stimulation/inspiration in here somewhere. I loved it so much I listened to it twice.

FURTHER READING/LISTENING/WATCHING

• posted her first Substack and of course it’s fabulous because she’s brilliant and funny and a true journalist. She teaches us how to make a perfect Negroni and shows us her RealReal searches, because she knows what the people want. (Maybe next week I too will divulge my RealReal searches or even, more hallowed, my Gem.app ones).

• did an incredibly fun and funny interview with John Early around his new film Maddie’s Secret, which I am dying to see.

• Everything writes makes me smarter, including but not limited to this essay about our modern society’s baffling addiction to being outraged.

  • “When someone disturbs, confuses, irritates, offends, or terrifies me—especially if they terrify me—it’s not my instinct to lash out or decry them. I look closer and ask why. I unfailingly find comedy in the experience. I love people who appear to operate much differently than I do. I love to scrutinize what drives them to have the ideas they have and behave the way they do. Sometimes I simply indulge in the spectacle.” He tore with this.

• Criterion has curated a collection of six movies starring Courtney Love that went up this month and will be up I believe through the summer. I was thrilled at the opportunity to rewatch 200 Cigarettes, the best New Year’s Eve movie of all time, and of course, Love’s brilliant performance in The People Vs. Larry Flynt, but it was Beat, which I had never seen, that I found most compelling. It’s not a great movie by any standard but it’s certainly interesting, especially because it centers Joan Vollmer (played by Love), a woman whose murder at 28 years old has been minimized by history to just a crucial plot point in William Burroughs’ artist development story. This is extra cool because…(spoiler) he killed her! Anyway she was actually a complicated and highly intelligent woman who inspired pretty much everyone around her and whose writing career was stupidly cut short (much like Courtney’s acting career tbh). Watch this space because maybe somebody interviewed somebody else for this and it will be up on the Criterion website soon…

• Speaking of Dobb Mobb, I went on The Big Picture podcast with and Amanda and Adam Nayman to talk about one of my greatest loves, the films of Mel Books.

• And finally, last week week we kicked off Bandsplain’s 80s Movie Soundtracks series with a 3 hour rumination on what is probably the greatest soundtrack of all time, Purple Rain.

See you next week xx

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I have to google this every single time

Jago Rackham is a London-based cook and writer, and also genuinely one of the funniest and most interesting people I’ve ever met. He recently wrote his first book, To Entertain: Instructions for a Dinner Party, which I believe (in the way you believe in god or aliens, sight unseen) is fabulous, though annoyingly it’s not yet available in America (something to do with Brexit probably? I don’t know a lot about international trade).

Even though I haven’t read the book per se, I HAVE attended dinner parties that Jago has helmed, eaten his incredibly delicious food (I’ve thought about this trifle he made for our friend Issy’s birthday every day for the last six months) and most crucially, spent time delighting in his warm, inviting presence and acerbic wit. When I was in London with my family over the holidays, he came over for Persian food and brought my mother some sort of artisanal preserves from his hometown of Cornwall (okay charm overload), and my brother still brings up a joke he made about how they don’t allow Northern people on TV (a testament to his delivery as obviously my brother does not actually understand centuries old regional British prejudice).

Anyway, one thing I actually didn’t know much about was his music taste, but you know what, I had faith, and it paid off.

Here is Jago’s Monday Mixtape:

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Jago Rackham
Gemini
London

How do you find/discover music?

What Spotify recommends...catchy Gen Z Instagram reels…occasionally a movie.

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

I listen to an audio book first thing, when I wash up, make coffee, feed and water my wife. Today it was the 14th John Rebus book1, but the first song I listened to today was “Tusi” by Judith. It’s very fun.

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?

“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stones.

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

“did i tell u that i miss u” by adore (ed note: okay I love this)

A song off your work-out playlist:

“Big Strong Boss” by Swans2

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

“Tequila” by The Champs

What’s a song you like to put on when you’re cooking?

I don’t like listening to music when I cook. I have to watch TV or listen to a podcast - I find cooking quite boring.

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

“Helena” by My Chemical Romance. I also associate it with being 32 (my current age)

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

“Starship Hyperdive White Noise” by Relaxing White Noise

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

“Organ Concerto in G Minor” by GF Handel

What song do you use to renew your spirit?

“Frog on the Floor” by 100 Gecs. It’s really sweet.

What is your favorite cover song?

There’s a cover song of “Brown Eyed Girl” by Green Day I must have downloaded from Limewire circa 2009, but I can’t seem to find it. (ed note: okay so actually as far as I can tell Green Day never covered “Brown Eyed Girl” but Lagwagon did in 1994 and I think people wrongly attributed it to Green Day during peak filesharing/mislabeling days)

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

“Overture to the Barber of Seville” by Rossini, obviously. (ed note: obviously)

All the songs on Jago’s Monday Mixtape live here

Because even though the doors are wide open, I cannot leave Madonna jail. Here for your pleasure, are my five favorite arcane little stories that emerged from my weeks and weeks of Madonna research:

1. Madonna (most likely) dated Michael Gira of Swans

And I’m going to prove it here! Let’s get into it:

Thurston More told The Guardian in 2018: “We were neighbours. We knew each other, by sight. She would say hi to me and I would say hi to her. She was dating a friend of mine for a millisecond, so we were introduced that way and then, through the years, when we’d cross paths on the street, we’d nod heads and smile.”

Per Thurston Moore in this article: Madonna was briefly in the Spinal Root Gang with Dan and Josh Braun who were in a band called Circus Mort with Michael Gira (Dan Braun would go on to play in Swans) “Nobody really knows about that part of her history; she was in a pre-Swans no wave band!”

“There was a building called the Music Building and our band Circus Mort rehearsed there…we were in 901 and the the band in 906 that moved in was called Emmy with a singer named Madonna. She came and knocked on our door one day…everyone immediately had a crush on her And she suddenly became a friend of ours…you know, another kindred spirit musician.”

He goes onto talk about how they realize after a bit that she is randomly living with his dad Saul Braun (at 270 Riverside Drive) in the room he and his twin brother grew up in. (Her manager at the time Camille Barbone knew Saul Braun and had put Madonna there).

The Spinal Root Gang was actually a Braun family band, in which Saul Braun played sax, and with Madonna now in their lives, he wanted to start it up again with her as the singer. Madonna and Dan Braun had written two songs together, and they recorded one as a demo while Saul was out of town.

The song "We Live in a House", written by Josh Braun, Janis Galloway and Madonna in 1982, was sent for US copyright registration (# PAu-1-843-482 if you need the receipts). That’s a misspelling of Janice Galloway, who was Madonna’s friend and maybe briefly her roommate? In Mary Gabriel’s book she is mentioned as the friend who Madonna arranged for her brother Christopher to stay with when he first came to NY. Anyway apparently Madonna had asked if Janice could be in the band too, hence the writing credit.

Sample lyric: "We live in a house, and people just don't care. We live in a house, they don't go anywhere." Madonna screams at one point: "You can't come into my house." This demo existed but is completely lost as far as I know. They never recorded the second song because Madonna got signed to Sire.

In 2018, Jonathan Tessler, percussionist for Swans in 1982, was interviewed for the book Sacrifice And Transcendence: The Oral History of Swans by Nick Soulsby, and he mentions Gira and Madonna’s relationship (as well as his insane-sounding apartment):

“Mike’s apartment had been a Spanish Iglesias, which the local Puerto Rican or Dominican immigrants used for Sunday services and Bible meetings… When Mike took it over it was stripped of furniture – the only things left were lighting, power sockets, then all four walls were covered in shipping blankets and large old commercial egg cartons for soundproofing… When he was dating Madonna I remember the two of them, for at least a couple of weeks, living in that part of the space – there was a bedroom alcove made by the addition of a hanging curtain.”

In 2019, Gira was interviewed and asked about Madonna:

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