New songs for June 1st 2026

 here they are:


"Angoon" by Portugal. The Man:  I don't know who or what "Angoon" is, but this piece is the angriest one I've heard yet from the normally calmer PTM!! Even reading the lyrics, I could tell it was a tense song. It uses a Pixies-ish method of swinging between calm verses and angry choruses, but the ire in this song is present throughout. With such dark lyrics as "when you dance with the devil, all I see I defend, no surrender in the shadow of drones," "No ICE no borders enforcer, no owners, no new world order," and "I'll be burning in water while we're drowning in fire," this is PTM at their most apocalyptic! Hard to believe these were the same guys who did "Feel it Still." The song's piercing guitar solo and eerie synth drone in the middle make it clear that John Gourley and co are not going to give up without a fight!! And the ending lyrics where John repeats the phrase, "Feeling that I'm all alone"? Seems like pure paranoia! Both sad and scary to think we're living in a nightmare reality right now!


"Can't Be Wrong" by Low Cut Connie:  A refreshing and upbeat antidote to the previous song on this week's entry, "Can't Be Wrong" is a fun song that seems like an early E Street cover of "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" with slightly blues-ier guitar licks. This is a song that screams summer! From the song's swimsuit-centered video to the slightly risque but enjoyable "getting naked in the afternoon" lyric (as well as later lyrics referring to barbecues and pools, among other things), "Can't Be Wrong" is a song that helps to signal that Low Cut Connie know what season is coming up in just a matter of weeks! Summer is not my personal fave season, but this song perfectly captures the fun, carefree vibes of it!

"100,000" by Kevin Morby:  This fluid, chill, slacker-folk-rock tune is minimal in lyric but extensive in soloing (though never heavy). Supposedly, Kevin took inspiration from the late Tom Verlaine from Television in how he approached this song. Though it never reaches the punk influences or overt New York attitude of Verlaine, the loopy guitar noodling on the song still shows influence from his work. The lyrics are mostly abstract, but towards the end, Kevin has recurring lines that start with "100,000" followed by a noun or noun phrase. Eventually, that devolves into just singing the number itself, a total of 12 times. The guitars get a bit louder as this happens too, but never to the point of a "hard" rock sound. 

"The Payoff" by Father John Misty:  Perhaps the most ambitious entry of the week comes to us from Father John Misty. His nearly 6-minute song, "The Payoff," is something of a cross between prog-rock and synth-rock, almost resembling groups like King Crimson. There are some especially paranoid sounding off-kilter Fripp-esque guitars towards the third minute of the song!! The lyrics make it sound like a "dis track," though I'm not sure who (or what) FJM is dissing, if that's the case. Some of the lyrics that make me think this include "nobody gets ripped off when there's nothing to lose" and the sarcastic "You strike me as a realist/This'll be a breeze!" He also repeats "there's nothing you can do" 7 times at the end of the song. This madness mantra is in response to the lyric "Why bother getting p*ssed off when..." Despite the crude, salty nature of the lyrics, FJM does have a point! Why get mad when you're trapped? Right before he repeats this phrase 7 times is another Fripp-ish freakout on the guitar. What kind of world are we living in now?! My goodness!