Bangers or ballads - what are we listening to this weekend?!?

That was quite a week, so let's recover by making a sweet playlist of old and new tunes to listen to together...

Hi.

A few nights back, I had a dream about this thing you’re reading right now. Instead of sending my lil’ newsletter out in its usual format – the no-fuss font Classic Serif – I’d managed to email it to everyone in my own ugly handwriting. It was messy AF, no one could read it, and the complaints flooded in, email after email all saying the exact same thing: “What the actual fuck are you trying to say?”

I woke up sweating after that total stress dream. So, clearly, I’m in desperate need of a weekend. Which is lucky, because we made it! So let’s get into it. It’s Saturday, we’re well into the New Year. What’s your vibe? What are you listening to? Which records are you pulling out of the sleeve? What playlists are you turning to? Which albums do you plan to stream? (Maybe don’t stream them?)

Let’s share notes! Because I have a few…

In just a couple of months, an artist responsible for one of the best albums of 2024 is gracing us with his presence for a short tour. The emotional heart-wrecker MJ Lenderman is only 25 years old, but Manning Fireworks sounds like the work of a jaded balladeer twice his age. It’s an album full of knowing winks and sly references delivered with half-closed eyelids.

He’s here for three shows (you should go) but it’s his last one at The Hollywood that I’m planning on attending. What will it be like? (Probably nothing like his performance with the country-grunge act Wednesday from this time last year?)

If you want a sneak peek, here’s Lenderman’s lovely Tiny Desk Concert that came out this week. Fun fact: his backing band The Wind is called The Breeze when they play acoustic shows like this…

Back in 2018, Bloc Party played a rare Aotearoa show at which they ran through their debut album Silent Alarm in full. At the time, I wrote that it was far too soon for the angular UK rockers to jump on the nostalgia train. They were ferocious that night, as they’ve been every single time I’ve seen them live, including their 2007 show in South Auckland, a performance that remains firmly in my all-time top five nights out.

So, it’s with some surprise that I discovered Silent Alarm turned 20 this week. Twenty years! Since ‘Banquet?’ And ‘Like Eating Glass?’ Really? Way to make me feel old, Kele Okereke. Stereogum has the write-up, and ‘Helicopter’ still slaps…

As good as Jamie xx’s comeback album In Waves was last year, I didn’t see it top anyone’s best-of list. That’s probably because his downbeat chill-house vibes were lacking in a little of the essential element – like, fun! – that informed his excellent first album In Colour and made it such a classic.

That changes on the expanded edition of In Waves that adds six new songs, including the incredibly funky jam ‘F.U.’ This features Erykah Badu chanting expletives in the most delightful way. Honestly this is the most pleasant “Fuck you!” I’ve ever heard …

I know Dave Grohl has made some terrible decisions lately, but whenever he steps behind a drum kit, I can’t help but smile at how content he seems. He hits those things so hard, he makes it seem so simple, and it’s so clearly his happy place. Maybe he should just stay there? (Still waiting for that Them Crooked Vultures reunion.)

Yes, Grohl playing skins for a Nirvana reunion at the FireAid benefit concert last night might seem like a rehab move for his reputation. Grohl, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic did four songs with St Vincent, Kim Gordon and Joan Jett stepping in for Kurt, but it was Grohl’s daughter Violet on ‘All Apologies’ when things got real. This gave me chills. That’s my favourite Nirvana song, and she’s incredible on it.

One wag called them ‘Girlvana’. Maybe they should tour?

When I first listened to Mogwai’s new album The Bad Fire, I was sinking my brain into a deep, dark news feature full of knots that needed untangling. It just annoyed me, but I should have known: the Scottish mood-rockers don’t make background music. They make music full of knots that need untangling too.

So, I’m going to take Chris Philpott’s recommendation – he calls this record “fucking beautiful” – and give it another spin this weekend, starting with the trippy instrumental, ‘Hi Chaos’. Can’t think of a better soundtrack for these end times.

The last time we heard from PinkPantheress, she’d cancelled her opening slot for Coldplay, saying she needed time to focus on her “physical health and overall wellbeing”. It was a bummer as she was literally the only reason I bought those tickets. And we all know now how I feel about that show.

No judgement here: if you need time out, you need time out, and I’m sure we’ll see plenty of her in the future. She’s too good. So it’s nice to see her return on ‘True Religion’, a futuristic dancehall jam with Shygirl that sounds like a song from M.I.A had she not disappeared down the rabbit hole and started selling tinfoil hats.

I love insular, minimalist headphone rap. Give me an album full of dusty beats, soul samples and gruff rhymes and I will show up every single time. If I was forced to listen to only one type of music, it would probably be that.

So Showbiz!, the new album from the New York rapper MIKE, has already had plenty of spins through my headphones, and it will likely get plenty more. Here’s the stand out ‘Pieces of a Dream,’ but it’s one of the album’s many great songs that I could have chosen…

Finally, if you’re loving Marlon William’s latest vibes, you’ll dig this version of his new song ‘Aua Atu Rā’ recorded live at Tōrerenuiārua, with his cousin Manaakiao playing in the background.

Pay careful attention to the lyrical translations, which are kind of brutal and at total odds with how Williams sings this stunningly beautiful song…

All that and: Mokotron is playing a free show out at Te Henga today as part of a showcase by his record label Sunreturn, a new album by The Weeknd dropped overnight, I still need to sink my teeth into Pink Siifu’s Black'!Antique and I managed to get my hands on a cheap copy of FKA Twigs’ Eusexua on vinyl that will be getting several spins as well.

OK, it’s your turn, don’t leave me hanging. Tell me what music you’re choosing to soundtrack your weekend with. I’d love to hear from you…

A few weeks back, Tiopira McDowell, the Aotearoa electronic artist also known as Mokotron, revealed why he felt compelled to make music. “Someone has to do it,” he told me. “I have to do it.” I feel the same way about music journalism, a dying art form that has so few of us left I can count them all on one hand. If you’d like to keep this dream alive, you can experience a warm fuzzy feeling by signing up to become a Boiler Room supporter. Thank you to all those that already do: it’s an honor and a privilege to do this for you…

Bonus beat.