Ever since my first activity at MTV working as a tune programmer, I can not prevent looking to suit human beings with music they may like. So, I wrote a e-book referred to as Record Collecting for Girls and commenced interviewing musicians. The Music Concierge is a column in which I proportion tune I’m listening to that you would possibly revel in, with a touch context. Get the entirety I’ve endorsed this yr on Spotify, follow me on Twitter or Facebook, and depart a comment beneath telling me what you are attentive to this week.
Brittany Howard Stay High
If you had been seeking out a operating-class hero, put down the Bruce Springsteen cassette tapes and, let’s speak, approximately Brittany Howard. The Alabama Shakes frontwoman is losing a solo album in September, and her video for “Stay High” is all approximately her father, who did shift work in a factory. The tiny moments Howard remembers of him. Terry Crews plays her dad in the video shot in her native land of Athens, AL, and features cameos of her circle of relatives and buddies. Please make no mistake: Howard is making Americana. However, it’s also rock music, soul track, and indie. Howard is one of those as soon as-in-a-technology artists who bend song to her will; she cannot be quantified as one issue or any other. This experience-good gem gets you through any tough times and slaps a smile back on your face.
The High women Redesigning Women
This is not music. This is not a supergroup. It’s a motherfucking motion. Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, and Natalie Hemby are the Highwomen (with a little help from producer Dave Cobb and Jason Isbell co-writing a few tracks). And they’re here to burn down the concept that girls stick out/do not suit in on united states radio. The music rings a bell in my memory of blistering ’90s usa hits like Mindy McCready’s “Guys Do It All the Time” and Deana Carter’s “Did I Shave My Legs For This?” and Shania Twain’s “Any Man of Mine.” The one difference is that the High women (a takeoff at the ’70s us of a supergroup, the Highway Men) are brazenly feminist, inclusionist, and about equality. There’s no conflict of the sexes here. It’s about letting ladies percentage their perspective and giving ladies a voice in a layout that continues shutting them down.
Hayley Kiyoko, I Wish
Ahhhhh, Hayley Kiyoko is the lower back, and her new video has a totally sturdy The Craft vibe. Do I have to inform you more than that to make you watch it? If so: it is approximately a love that’s not being back in pretty the incorrect manner, and that “I want, I want, I desire” that maintains repeating is putting it on course to be the tune you cannot prevent listening to for the relaxation of the summertime. In a fight with your S.O.? Just locating it hard to healthy with a person who is not an asshole on Bumble? Yeah, you want this tune.
Sarah Jaffe Lay Low (Take Care)
Look, going thru a breakup is hard. Going via existence is, from time to time, hard. Sarah Jaffe, who dropped two new EPs, nails the sensation with this pep speak masquerading as a tune. The Dallas local has created an anthem for all people who do not have their shit together, which is me, a long way extra often than I care to admit.