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| Mitski, "I Don't Like My Mind"
When I saw Mitski last year in a Broadway theater, she performed her album The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We in full. It was beautiful, but something special happened during an encore of classics from her discography — everyone, I mean everyone, sang along. Quietly at first, and then loudly, to “I Bet On Losing Dogs” and “Francis Forever.” I can’t fathom going to a contemporary Lilith Fair and not seeing her on stage, leading thousands in a sing-along to her hits. —Hazel Cills
Cleo Reed, "Problem Kid"
Sound designer, composer and multi-disciplinary artist Cleo Reed’s expansive and experiential soundscapes were made for Lilith Fair. With their band decked out in vintage clown costumes and aesthetics, Reed melds mediums of sound design and narrative-driven, self-directed performances of songs from their latest album Root Cause in an installation called the Black American Circus. I envision Cleo Reed and their crew performing the heavy drum and synth-based track “Problem Kid,” provoking hefty headbangs and sending the audience into blissful catharsis. —Ashley Pointer
Mannequin Pussy, "I Got Heaven"
Mannequin Pussy’s music is often grueling and gorgeous, swarming with punk snarl and shoegaze swoon. Marisa Dabice's lyrics play with themes of the pious and the perverse, knowing that they're often the same, in order to understand how we relate to each other in desperate times. In a live setting, Mannequin Pussy occupies that sonic space, but leans into the scream whether felt or exhumed. —Lars Gotrich
Madi Diaz, "God Person"
The women of Lilith Fair may have been expert at artfully exposing their feelings, but they weren't just confessionalists. Often, they were downright philosophical — think of Jewel chasing wandering souls, Sarah McLachlan building mysteries, Joan Osborne seeing God on a bus. Madi Diaz picks up this seeker's staff on her wholly remarkable album Weird Faith, in songs that zoom galaxy-wide even when they're about plain old heartache. "God Person" is one of the best, a chamber-pop meditation on tentative, hungry agnosticism that ends up in a place of grace that Diaz accepts but does not need to name. —Ann Powers
Lo Steele, “Another Life”
Portland-based songwriter Lo Steele recently debuted a beautiful ode to motherhood based on a tweet she read about a caring maternal role reversal: choosing to be your own mother’s mom and watch them grow. For her festival set, Steele would sing the track with her mom and during swells of its “choose you everytime” chorus, other artists who’ve recently became mamas or who have expressed a bond with their matriarchs — Kali Uchis, Cleo Sol, Victoria Monét, Jazmine Sullivan, Mereba — would harmonize as they join her on stage. —Sidney Madden
Say She She, “C’est Si Bon”
Say She She can light up any dancefloor. But beyond the anthemic opening chant and funky bass line of “C’est Si Bon,” the trio’s whimsical harmonies give way to a glittery celebration of girlhood — one that winks back at the past just as easily as it boogies into the future. —Isabella Gomez Sarmiento
Waxahatchee, “Bored”
In 2017 The New York Times published a piece titled “Rock’s Not Dead: It’s Ruled By Women,” citing Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield and her sister Allison as “crucial in helping to build this movement.” Waxahatchee has since gone through a bit of a revolution; her songs sound airy and fresh-yet-classic, free from any genre constraints. She said of her new single, “Bored”: “I hope you listen to it before you go quit your job, dump some jerk you’re dating, feel heinously, egregiously, unbelievably wronged or are genuinely so over a bad situation that you’ve grown bored of it. Turn it up loud, windows down, I would love to be your friend in that moment.” I get goosebumps just thinking of the catharsis of shouting along to “I get boooooored!” alongside a Lilith Fair crowd. —Elle Mannion
Gaby Moreno, “Solid Ground”
I have seen Gaby Moreno bring a rowdy crowd to pin-drop quiet with just an acoustic guitar and her voice, an instrument of extraordinary range. The bilingual Guatemalan singer-songwriter is a restless sound seeker, seamlessly working in bluesy rock, country, folk, traditional jazz and pop. As Alt.Latino host Felix Contreras sums up: “She has enormous musical depth,” and knows how to hush our unsettled hearts and rev our souls. —Lars Gotrich |
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Here are a few other things I’ve been thinking about this week: |
- The Cobain 50 has been a welcome distraction on my morning commute. The KEXP podcast, co-hosted by Dusty Henry and Martin Douglas, satisfies my need to nerd out to Kurt Cobain’s top 50 albums list, which has been endlessly republished, yet rarely dissected. I particularly like The Vaselines episode, which demonstrates the power of a well-considered list by someone with great taste.
- Africa's new wave of music is not a niche, fad or trend — it's a culture that's here to stay. My colleague Sidney Madden breaks down the Afrobeats breakthrough.
- A classical piece drawn from Black jazz traditions, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue challenged what American music could sound like. Tom Huizenga looks at the composition, celebrating 100 years, both in a reported story for Morning Edition and on New Music Friday.
- The first time I received feedback from a musician on something I’d written about them was in 1998: Unwed Sailor’s Firecracker EP. That review’s lost to dead links, but my relationship with the instrumental post-rock band remains firm decades later. Its new song, “Final Feather,” jangles and struts like The Cure on a chilly Sunday afternoon.
- I am not much of a Valentine’s Day celebrant, though my daughter did request a heart-shaped chocolate cake this week … who am I to deny?! But good love songs or love stories? I’m all in. All Songs Considered sourced mixtape staples intended for crushes and Code Switch played matchmaker with classifieds from 1937.
- Doom/drone lords Sunn O))) need this 80-inch gong, like, yesterday.
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