September 2024 Playlist: New Tunes, Old Loves & A Halloween Flashback
Get ready for fall vibes with a mix of Icelandic gems, classic covers, and a spooky pre Halloween treat.
In an unexpected course of events we find ourselves on the eve of October. I spent the weekend at my cabin in the woods, and the leaves are turning. How did this happen? It feels like this year has flown by even faster than last year when I probably said the exact same thing.
Oh well, you're here for the music, not for my rambling about time and space.
This month's mix is a mishmash of new tunes (at least to me) and old favorites I keep coming back to. Speaking of time going in all directions, there have been a ton of re-releases of albums from 10 or more years ago. Some of these even come with new tracks, like the Perfume Genius re-release with three new songs, one of which made it onto this mix.
Earlier this month, my buddy Hermigervill was in town from Iceland with some other Icelandic musicians playing a showcase sponsored by Iceland Air at Pianos in the Lower East Side. I hadn't seen him since 2016 when I was last in Iceland (seriously, how many times can I say 'Iceland' in one paragraph?) covering Iceland Airwaves. That trip was amazing, and I got to photograph and interview 30 Icelandic musicians for a zine I never published. Maybe I should publish that now, before the 10th anniversary of not publishing it.
Anyway, there were a few bands at the showcase, one of them was hilariously silly (in a good way) and had great banter. Their name is Superserious, and based on their performance and music videos, the name is a joke because they're anything but serious. I included one of my favorite songs from their set, which has a ridiculously interesting video you can check out here.
Manu Chao recently released a weird song with Willie Nelson of all people. I didn't include that one, but I did include “Promiscuity,” which is one of my favorites from him. I also included a pretty straightforward cover of The Violent Femmes’ “Gone Daddy Gone” by by Gnarls Barkley from 2006 that I somehow missed.
Other favorites include Steven Klavier's new project P3rf3ct Strang3rs which for better worse is not about Balki Bartokomous, a new Emiliana Torrini (another Icelander!) track, a rebooted version of Kavinsky's “Nightcall” produced for the Paris Olympics, and some weird tracks I Shazamed throughout the month from an artist named googly eyes (no caps and a lot easier to google than expected).
Next up are two tracks that feel like they are riding The Dare vibes wave (though I didn’t fact check when these were released, so they could actually predate The Dare’s rise): a bit of magic from Sugar Pit and a really weird song about putting ketamine on your junk by Partiboi69 and Juicy Romance . Yes, you read that right.
If you're still somehow reading, hit reply and tell me what you're thinking about wearing as your Halloween costume in 32 days or just say hello and tell me what you’ve been up to! This reminds me of an absolutely incredible party I threw with Télépopmusik headlining and Sexy Lazer (another Icelander!), Kurt Uenala (who isn’t Icelandic, but lives there now), All Dom Wrong, and Kasper Bjørke — which was Halloween 10 years ago — I’m gonna have to sneak Télépopmusik seminal track “Breathe” into this mix before I hit send.
Tracklist:
Tiger | Maximum Balloon, Aku | Maximum Balloon
London Honda Nasty Taxi | Thoom | London Honda Nasty Taxi
Deer Teeth | Sega Bodega | Dennis
Pang | Caroline Polachek | Pang
galore | Oklou | Galore
Story of Love - Bonus Track | Perfume Genius | Too Bright - 10th Anniversary
Dressed In Dresden | The Hundred In The Hands | The Hundred In The Hands
Slew Test 2 | Kid Koala | You Don't Know - Ninja Cuts
The Missionary | Brothers Martin | Brothers Martin
Gone Daddy Gone / I Just Want to Make Love to You | Gnarls Barkley | St. Elsewhere
Antitaxi | La Femme | Psycho Tropical Berlin
Amanaemonesia | Chairlift | Something
Races | Barrie | 5K
Let's consume | superserious | Seriously?
Default | Django Django | Django Django
Promiscuity | Manu Chao | Próxima Estación: Esperanza
Run Away! - Edit | P3r5t3ct Strang3rs, Pauvro, Steven K | Run Away!
The Geeks Were Right | The Faint | Fascinatiion
Waiting - PAL Remix | Alice Boman, PAL | Skisser / Remixed
Breathe | Télépopmusik, Angela McCluskey | Genetic World
Everybody Hurts | R.E.M. | Automatic for the People
Let’s Keep Dancing - ACIDTONE Remix | Emiliana Torrini, ACIDTONE | Let's Keep Dancing (Remix)
Don’t Give Up | Kónguló, RAKEL | Don't Give Up
Day of Conquest | Temples | Day of Conquest
Set to Attack | Albert Hammond Jr. | Francis Trouble
St. Justice | Albert Hammond Jr. | AHJ
Where’s My Brain??? | The Lazy Eyes | SongBook
Amelia | Smallpools | Ghost Town Road
Nightcall | Kavinsky, Angèle, Phoenix | Nightcall
Internet Star | googly eyes | Starlet
Magic | Sugar Pit | Magic
K On My D + C | Partiboi69, Juicy Romance | Mutual Pleasure 002
If you haven't listened to previous months:
P.S. Congrats on making it this far down the scrolly scroll zone! As a reward, enjoy this photo of me from halloween 2016:
