Deep Voices 134: April, May, June

Deep Voices 134: April on Spotify
Deep Voices 134: April on Apple Music

Deep Voices 134: May on Spotify
Deep Voices 134: May on Apple Music

Deep Voices 134 - June on Spotify
Deep Voices 134 - June on Apple Music

Hello! Happy summer. This edition of Deep Voices contains three playlists - one each for the best music of April, May, and June. April feels the gloomiest, a pensive month for music. May feels the indulgent music. And June is the loveliest, the most sweeping music. Were these actual trends or just a reflection of my moods, one man’s window to to the world rather than a grand vista of all music? Beats me.

I’m still working a full time job, attempting to raise a child and to live. I’ve paused payments on Deep Voices for a month, may do it for longer. I’ll keep you in the loop. But I haven’t checked in in awhile and wanted to do so. Here’s several hours of the best songs of the last few months. I waffled about whether or not to include Addison Rae’s “New York,” a perfect song, but I figured you could check that one out on your own. Otherwise, enjoy the music :)

A few highlights:

The singer James K., an artist I wrote about briefly in Deep Voices 128, has an album coming in September which I have happily preordered. The album’s single “Play” is a giddy dream. I suppose it’s pop music if you want to get loose with the term, which I do. That same phrase, loosened even further, might apply to Turnstile, a band I wrote about for the NY Times in May. Their album Never Enough cycles through genre, with a fundamental toehold in hardcore. My favorite song is the deceptively simple “Light Design” with its aching guitar and staccato vocals. It’s two minutes, in and out. I love effective music.

There’s a nice bit of vocal indulgence in Polygonia’s “Set Me Free,” a perfect techno request. Set me free, too, please! Jadelain indulges in the sweet spot between emo and techno, which it turns out is a finer line than I would have drawn it with. Hayden Pedigo plays perfect guitar, the kind of rambling you need if you have a wandering mind. Moin, who I wrote about last fall, return with an EP of what I assume are cuts from their LP. Just as good, maybe better. “See” is the song’s name and, yes, I do.

Car Culture, the psychedelic pseudonym of house music maestro Physical Therapy, has an excellent new EP. I’m particularly fond of “Coping Mechanism,” which feels like if DJ Screw had his way with Creedence. Kinda. More nonsensical stuff: “Think of You” by New York, which feels straight out of the electroclash era, but with better technology. Either that or Gen Z digital natives are just savvier. Maybe both. The savviest song in any this quarter year collection might be from Great Area, the lightly menacing indie project that sounds like a sharp update on Young Marble Giants.

Speaking of savvy people from Gen Z, my friend Cat recommended Elaine Howley’s “Hold Me In a New Way,” in which the singer asks to be held in a new way, which she defines “in the shape of love,” which I found to be a very heavy request. How many new ways are there to be held? I often wonder the same thing about music, in how many new ways can we do this, and then I discover over and over again that there are so many.