Spencer Griffin's New Music Mondays

 here they are: "After Midnight" by Phoenix (featuring Clairo): Phoenix have always been influenced by synthpop, but it's never been as obvious an influence on their music as it has with their latest song, "After Midnight" (not to be confused for the Eric Clapton song of the same name). Some of their later work uses a bit less guitar than their early stuff did, and this is no exception. Enlisting the help of fellow indie-pop sensation, Clairo, Phoenix churn out their most synthpop-y song yet with "After Midnight." Underneath this seemingly simple song, the phrase "Listen, it's illicit" is sung repeatedly, and so fast that it sound more like "listen, listen." "Classics" by Moon Taxi: So here's a song about...songs! The latest song from Moon Taxi starts out sounding like a children's toy piano version of John Lennon's "Imagine" before dissolving more into typical 2010's/'20s indie-pop a la C...

 here they are: "Angelica" by Wet Leg: Anyone who grew up during the '90s like I did probably thinks of the manipulative, pint-sized villainess from Rugrats  when they hear the name "Angelica," but I assure you that Nickelodeon was not on Wet Leg's mind when they did this song! The song is instead about an old friend of the lead singer. The song's Angelica is a villainess in her own right, but not one who picks on babies. This Angelica, instead, is one who wants to party all the time. Why is that bad, you may ask? Well, in this case, it's because the lead singer of Wet Leg didn't really want to be around someone like that. The song is basically a "diss track," but its bright, sunny, catchy sound hides that pretty well. "Character Development" by Allison Ponthier: "Character Development" sounds more like the name of a college course than it does a song title, yet here it is! The title refers to Allison herself and how...

 here they are: "Amnesia" by M83: Techno-influenced indie-pop group, M83, has been responsible for one major hit so far in the ever-expanding alt-rock pantheon, and that song is "Midnight City," which starts off with a rather eerie synth before morphing into a catchy pop song. "Midnight City" was a bit too synth-y for me to get into at the time it came out, which was a little over a decade ago, but with "Amnesia," I feel a bit more ready to dive into M83's music. It is mostly synth-dominated, like "Midnight City" was, but "Amnesia" has a bit more guitar backing it up, earning the song more than a few comparisons so far to groups like New Order. "Amnesia"'s shimmery guitar line does bear more than a passing resemblance to Bernard Sumner's guitar work. The song's ability to switch between a standard-sounding C major song and its more exotic descent into E flat major during the chorus parts is another no...