February Playlist: What Kind of Monster

Another month, another month-end playlist. Here's what I spent my extra-long February listening to:

1. T.I.W.Y.G. - Savages

(from Adore Life)

Don't mess with love. Or Savages, for that matter. Click here to read my review of their new album, Adore Life.

2. Wut I Liek Abt U - JANK
(from Awkward Pop Songs)

JANK were a serendipitous Bandcamp discovery; their restless pop-punk will sound even better in the summertime, and to be fair it sounds pretty darn good right now.

3. Were We Once Lovers? - Tindersticks

(from The Waiting Room)

This track's butt-kickin' slap bass riff is one of the many sounds I didn't expect to hear on The Waiting Room, Tindersticks' rattlebaggy new LP. Read my thoughts on the whole splendid mess here.

4. Crying in Public - Chairlift

(from Moth)

Crying in Public represents a pivotal moment on Moth, Chairlift's third album; it's the point at which Caroline Polachek suddenly stops sounding tough and self-assured, and starts sounding like...y'know, a vulnerable, wibbly human being. Quite affecting.

5. She's The One - Bruce Springsteen
(from Born to Run)
That keyboard part just comes out of nowhere, doesn't it? February was the month I finally heard Born to Run in its entirety (read my thoughts here), and She's the One is one of several tracks that proved my previous assumption - that digging any deeper than Thunder Road and Born to Run itself would be a pointless endeavour - oh so sweetly wrong.


6. Reasons to Quit - Phosphorescent
(from To Willie)
What drove me back to Phosphorescent's Willie Nelson tribute album (originally released in 2009) last month? Goodness knows; this song is still stunning, though.

7. Swinging London - The Magnetic Fields

(from Holiday)
I only noticed last week that this song, which throbs desperately with wonderful, gooey synth melodies, kind of seems to be about the end of the world. "Sun explodes, all goes black..." I thought it was just about a nice trip to Britain in the '60s.

8. Julie Grave - Cherry Poppin' Daddies
(from Susquehanna)
Susquehanna was yet another old album I revisited in February. It's such a quintessentially summery album that I kind of felt like listening to it this early in the year was cheating in some way; still, there's no denying the evergreen catchiness of this little number.

9. You Could Have Both - The Long Blondes

(from Someone to Drive You Home)
I may need to update my Whatever Happened to The Long Blondes? blog soon, because singer Kate Jackson announced a release date for her solo album earlier this week. While May is a ways away yet, we've at least got the fabulous stuff she recorded with her former outfit to keep us going until then. This track in particular captures The Long Blondes at their Pulp-go-punk best.

10. Sing Another Song, Boys - Leonard Cohen

(from Songs of Love and Hate)
The yelling at the end of this song is brilliant, and stirring in a way I didn't think Leonard Cohen was capable of. As stated here, I still prefer his more recent work, but it's great to hear him singing his guts out like this after so many years of listening to his trademark old-man growl.

Hungry for more? Last month's playlist is here.