What I’m listening to the week of November 18, 2024. Listen along on Spotify.

1. When You Walk in the Room – The Searchers

I close my eyes for a second and pretend it’s me you want
Meanwhile I try to act so nonchalant
I see a summer’s night with a magic moon
Every time that you walk in the room

Sounds like watching the love of your life step into a crowded room and letting the rest of the world just fade away. So sweet it cracks me open.

2. Fear – The Delphines

I used to fear you as a child

I can’t find a ton of information about this band online, but I love their sound. Just well made fuzzy indie rock. I also love how their albums use screencaps from Panic At Needle Park, one of the all-time Al Pacino Boyfriend Experience movies.

3. Love Me Not – Ravyn Lenae

All this time I’m thinking we could never be a pair
Oh no I don’t need you, but I miss you, come here

One of the best songs released in 2024. Fits nicely into the lineage of acts like The Ronettes while adding a fresh energy. Lenae’s soulful vocals effortlessly sell heartbreak and desperation without weighing the track down. My younger brother (who mostly listens to country) texted me the other day asking if I’d heard this and I felt so proud of him.

4. There’s Your Trouble – The Chicks

Could’ve been true love, but it wasn’t
It should all add up, but it doesn’t

I shazamed this in a vegan coffee shop while my friend looked on in disbelief that I hadn’t heard it before. Now I can’t stop listening. Intoxicatingly catchy with a lethal fiddle.

5. Right Now – Angel Olsen

I ain’t the past coming back to haunt you

Beautiful, haunting, powerful song. I would personally never recover from Angel Olsen asking me why I had to go and make it weird.

I got into this song around the time I was going through a Fleetwood Mac phase, and I swear this song works as a mirror of Silver Springs. Both songs build up into a big folky climax, but Nicks takes on the role of the ghost (“I’ll follow you down til the sound of my voice will haunt you/you’ll never get away from the sound of the woman who loves you”) while Olsen plays the haunted ex-lover.

6. don’t rely on other men – JPEGMAFIA

I’m with my bi bitch, we being bipolar

That Succession sample. Sampling not only the dialogue, but the sound of a slamming door from the same episode, brings this to another level of genius.

7. Brand New City – Mitski

But if I gave up on being pretty
I wouldn’t know how to be alive
I should move to a brand new city
And teach myself how to die

I’ll follow Mitski on any musical journey because I firmly believe in her talent, but I can’t help but love her best when there’s an electric guitar in her arms. This early track cuts to the bone. Heavy and blistering, with shades of Veruca Salt and Courtney Love. Listening to this makes me feel like a trapped rat.

8. I’ve Seen Footage – Death Grips

Rewind that, is so cold
I seen footage, I stay noided

Atrocity footage anthem for our dark times.

9. Just What I Needed (Rehearsal Demo) – Weezer

It’s not the perfume that you wear
It’s not the ribbons in your hair

This isn’t the first time Weezer has covered The Cars, and they fit this classic love song over their Blue Album sound like a perfectly snug glove.

10. Somebody To Love – Jefferson Airship

When the truth is found to be lies
And all the joy within you dies

Used to brilliant effect in A Serious Man, one of my absolute favorite movies.