june jukebox
mood: the karaoke scene in Crossroads when they perform “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”
one of my favorite simple pleasures in life is when it’s still light outside at 8:30 p.m. during the summer. i’ve been getting by on that notion, as well as choosing music to soundtrack my days. today, i’m back with another monthly roundup, featuring new subsections with similar (but slightly different) intents. this is a jam-packed edition, so i won’t belabor the intro any further. let’s get into it!
new releases
Mach-Hommy — #Richaxxhaitian
Arooj Aftab — Night Reign
Tanerélle — Electric Honey (EP)
Durand Bernarr — En Route (EP)
Bat For Lashes — The Dream of Delphi
Sango — North Vol. 2
musclecars — Sugar Honey Iced Tea!
Billie Eilish — HIT ME HARD AND SOFT
José James — 1978
L’Imperatrice — Pulsar
Alfie Templeman — Radiosoul
Gus Dapperton — Tunes for Late Spring (EP)
Vegyn — The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions
Oddisee — And Yet Still (EP)
BADBADNOTGOOD — Mid Spiral (Chaos, Order, Growth)
KAYTRANADA — TIMELESS
Sarina — What U Didn’t Know
Charli xcx — BRAT
James Blake — CMYK 002 (EP)
Cyndi Hounouvi — INNERSPACE (EP)
NxWorries — Why Lawd?
MASTER PEACE — HOW TO MAKE A MASTER PEACE
Nice Girl — Yummy
How to Dress Well — I am Toward You
Infinity Song — Metamorphosis Complete
Raveena — Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain
Cruza — Cruzafied
Deem Spencer — all these crying birds
Jelani Aryeh — The Sweater Club
Fana Hues — Moth
SAM MORTON — Daffodils & Dirt
Zsela — Big For You
TEMS — Born in the Wild
ESTA — Francis
Pond — Stung!
John Glacier —Duppy Gun (EP)
Nascent — DON’T GROW UP TOO SOON
Fatima —Love on Acid (EP)
Irini Arabatzi — Songs for Them (EP)
Unessential Oils — Unessential Oils
Kehlani — CRASH
Don’t Thank Me, Spank Me! — Don’t Thank Me, Spank Me!
Dianna Lopez — Sounds to Surrender To (EP)
Hana Vu — Romanticism
Nisa — Shapeshifting
Maeta — Endless Night
Hiatus Kaiyote — LOVE HEART CHEAT CODE
Channel Tres — HEAD RUSH
albums to look forward to
Kilo Kish — Homeschool (Anniversary Edition) (7/5)
Osees — SORCS 80 (8/9)
Foster the People — Paradise State of Mind (8/16)
Tinashe — QUANTUM BABY (8/16)
Spirit of the Beehive — YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE SOMETHING (8/23)
Kishi Bashi — Kantos (8/23)
Toro Y Moi — Hole Erth (9/6)
Okay Kaya — Oh My God, That’s So Me (9/6)
Nilüfer Yanya — My Method Actor (9/13)
Honeyglaze — Real Deal (9/20)
MICHELLE — Songs About You Specifically (9/27)
Gavin Turek — Diva of the People (TBA)
TSHA — Sad Girl (9/27)
Ezra Collective — Dance, No One’s Watching (9/27)
Thee Sacred Souls — Got A Story to Tell (10/4)
required listening to know me
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down — We Brave Bee Stings and All and Know Better Learn Faster
this band had quite an iconic run to put these two albums out one year after the other.1
Nick Hakim — Green Twins
you couldn’t separate me from this album in 2017.
Mk.gee — “Overtime Pt.1” and “Overtime Pt.2”
it’s that enthusiastic “YES!” that he does on Pt. 1 before giving us some of the most heartfelt harmonies. i love singing along to this song.2
let’s run that back
Mach-Hommy — “Cold Milk” ft. Tha God Fahim
you know the montage in films about music (especially biopics) where a young person reclines on their bedroom floor with their headphones, listening to a song that’ll change the trajectory of their life and the storyline? that’s how this song often makes me feel when listening, head bopping and all.
Jonti — Tokorats
an electronic fever dream!
Liss — “Without Me”
i loved playing this song on my radio show, and it breaks my heart that the singer is no longer here on this earthly plane. his voice remains so special.
‘Til Tuesday — “Voices Carry”
to quote Jemima Kirke (c/o of a screenshot i saw of an Instagram story Q&A) “my guilts are never pleasurable.” and i’d say conversely, my pleasures are not guilty.
tracking my listens (or other music musings)
Pale Jay — The Celestial Suite and Bewilderment
Jalen Ngonda — Come Around and Love Me
Turnstile & BADBADNOTGOOD — New Heart Designs
sights to see
i was scrolling through my TikTok FYP one day earlier this month when i really began to understand a certain sociological perspective of our current economic times in a very visceral way. a video regarding the historied resurgence of bohemian aesthetics during recessions was nestled in with many videos of people sporting natural Afros.
i had already been thinking to myself that this was the summer of the Afro, as i’ve been growing out my own hair and not twisting or braiding it as often as i used to, instead wearing a low-manipulation Afro.3 a photo of Willow Smith at the Bad Boys IV premiere (and her most recent album cover) further solidified this notion.
Saba & No ID — “head.rap” ft. Madison McFerrin, Ogi, and Jordan Ward
relevant.
Moses Sumney — “Vintage”
we are SO back.
Laila! — “Not My Problem” c/o On The Radar
one of the IG comments for this feature said she’d sound better once she got “real producers” and stopped making beats in her bedroom. i disagree. everything doesn’t need to sound super polished, and there’s an inherent charm to lo-fi production that some people just can’t understand.
to me, it’s not hard to imagine that some of the coolest music you’ve never heard sits on a demo tape in someone’s basement, waiting to be unearthed. also how you grown and hating on a teenager making music at home? personally, i find that a little corny!
Alyson Stoner and Monique Coleman interview each other for {THE AND}
there appears to be such vulnerability and radical witnessing of each other’s authentic selves within this relationship. i was nearly moved to tears.
Bobby Oroza — “Goddess”
whenever there’s new music from Bobby, i smile and say out loud, “dammit Bobby, you’ve done it again!”
Sunni Colón — “Dream About You All Through The Night.”
similar sentiment as above. like, i’m always ready to hear more from Sunni Colón.
Demae — “Go Your Own Way”
see the past two entries. also, the fashion and color play here are bordering on magical.
Ezra Collective — “God Gave Me Get For Dancing” ft. Yazmin Lacey
this song and video remind me of the serendipity of meet-cutes during long and late summer nights.
Queenie
i haven’t read the preceding book, so i may be missing some context. but am i correct in saying [SPOILER AHEAD] that so much of the narrative hinges on the character pursuing non-Black men exclusively because she fears the cycle of abuse that her mom experienced within a monoracial relationship? of course, the plot is a little more nuanced than that, but this was the obvious elephant in the room across the eight episodes.
BRATS
it would be untruthful to say that teen-centric films of the 1980s like The Breakfast Club didn’t have an impact on me. that and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off were among my favorite movies for YEARS until i grew up.
that being said, i think the documentary BRATS was beautifully directed, but somewhat limited in perspective. it was interesting to see Andrew McCarthy (the film’s director) grapple with the impact that the “Brat Pack” label supposedly had on his life and career. it was also inspiring to witness how other people who experienced the moment consistently challenged McCarthy’s ideas (but not in a malicious way, more so as a redirection). he legitimately took on that moniker as a badge of shame, as if we’re not still talking about the phenomenon 30+ years later. i guess it really is a BRAT summer, huh?
throughout the interviews, it seems that they were able to balance the pros and cons of such a defining phrase. and they made sure to address the topic of race (or lack thereof) in John Hughes’ films. as someone whose mother grew up in Chicago during the 1980s, i understand how segregated Chicago was (and still is). so it’s really not a stretch that Hughes would represent suburban Midwestern life in this seemingly whitewashed way.4 although Molly Ringwald only appeared in the documentary through copious name-drops and archival footage, she previously acknowledged elsewhere that the films lacked the perspective of engaging with race.
The Big Door Prize
a fantastical series that you really just have to experience for yourself.
june jukebox: the playlist
the notes: turning the dial, rose gold, tamarind, red ink, garnet, coral, new levels, same ol’ mistakes, flower picking, seeing faces amongst the clouds and trees.
(june jukebox on apple music)
liner notes (or P.S. by another name)
once i reminded myself that i’m the one who sets my own deadlines for this newsletter, i released the pressure to share my “favorites of 2024 so far” by a specific date. there’s a few albums that came out today that i want to listen to before making a definitive list. but i promise the list will appear in your inbox sooner than you know.
and if you were there in real time, you likely remember when the band was called Thao with the Get Down Stay Down. i’m showing my age again.
this song also reminds me of Christmas lights strung on the walls of the attic room i lived in during the lockdowns 🍄.
i’ve been playful and experimental with my hair since childhood, but after having locs, i became way less concerned with uniformity. i actually find my various curl patterns, or when my hair gets a little smushed in one section, endearing. sometimes, i look like i’m really good at playing Super Smash Bros., and i’ve accepted it (i’m not that good, but i have fun playing Bayonetta or King Dedede and that’s all that matters).
notice how there were so many more melanated people when Ferris Bueller and friends went to the parade in the city?