Freshly Spilt Milk: Serpico, Lucy Dacus, The Regrettes, and Lee "Scratch" Perry's Last Production

Tres Leches, by Jack Hanson

The new music we’re listening to this week include artists who show love for The Cure, Shania, Blink-182 and Neu!

“Freshly Spilt Milk” is our playlist of new music released in the last few weeks. We used to do it, but it was a casualty of time. This week, it returns with the songs that, when they showed up in my inbox, made me want to hear more. I’m not vouching for the artist, the album or whatever larger collection the song will appear in; I’m here for this track, at least for another few listens.

There are artists in here I’m going to keep watching (EXEK, Black Country New Road, Pershagen), some I hope will have more songs I like this much (Letting Up Despite Great Faults, Haiku Hands), and a lot that simply go into familiar places with the right combination of craft and nerve. Chief among those is The Linda Lindas’ “Growing Up,” which delivers all the sugary energy of the pop punk heyday.

We’ll have another playlist next Monday. Here’s who’s on deck this week:

1. “She Spins” - Letting Up Despite Great Faults: Someone mainlined Cure singles in the crib. I could stand stronger vocals, but this engages me enough to see if the singer has more in him.

2. “Share Your Tingle” - Eve’s Twin Lover: For those who need a leaner, less twee Belle & Sebastian.

3. “Canary” - Tuelo: This South African singer effortlessly crosses genres with more emphasis on rock and guitar than I expected.

4. “This Summer’s Day” - Sitting on Stacy: This makes pop sound so effortless that anybody could do it, even though evidence says otherwise.

5. “My Drama” - Megan Knight: Shania Twain’s records with Mutt Lange have been in the world long enough to become an influence on Nashville radio.

6. “Monday (the Wyze Remix)” - The Regrettes: I like this track better unremixed, but I’m there for someone who writes about “an existential crisis and it’s only Monday.” They’re going on tour nationally February 19 starting in Tulsa and will play New Orleans March 15 at the Toulouse Theatre.

7. “Neon Blue” - Joshua Hedley: When Americana doesn’t work for me, it sounds like people wishing the last 50 years of American music and history hadn’t happened. When it does, the artist plugs into another day with insight as to what made the touchstone records so special. Listen to the fluid motion from the lead guitar to the fiddle to Hedley’s voice and back. That motion pulls the listener along as hard as the rhythm section pushes.

8. “Touching the Oven at Work” - Owen FitzGerald: Naive-ish artists live on a song-to-song basis with me because at some point, I need to feel like the artist is in control of his or her work. Or at least that the artist has a quality control filter, and we usually see that’s not the case. For now I’m interested in a guy who can talk about feeling dead inside without being glum or mawkish, but as time goes on, I’ll need more to stay engaged.

9. “Sen Yen for 30 min of Violin” - EXEK: This isn’t one of the first two tracks from the new Advertise Here that the label and band are hyping. They draw attention the band’s love of dub reggae, and those songs show a rhythm section tough enough to pull it off. But you can hear some of that here too in the production of the drums and the drifting instrumentation, but it’s paired with an Eno-esque vocal and Neu! influences that show an ability construct songs in protracted, drone-friendly spaces. Self-consciously brainy and consistently engaging. I’ll spend time with this album this week.

10. “Fireworks” - Tres Leches: This track by the Seattle-based duo is another that makes you wonder why everything doesn’t sound like this. It’s effortlessly eclectic and reflects the breadth of musical genres and eras that are part of everybody’s listening. Because of that, “Fireworks” sounds like the natural product of being alive and listening to music in 2021.

11. “Fashion Model Art” - Haiku Hands featuring Sofi Tucker: This Australian all-woman dance music trio just released a new track, “Shoot the Shot,” and while I like it, this song better demonstrates what I like about them, and it’s on the limited-edition vinyl reissue of their 2020 debut album.

12. “It’s a Dream!” - Hembree: I’ll take a version of dance-oriented rock that could move an arena but isn’t designed specifically to be heard by 10,000 people at a time.

13. “Hot Tub” - Yung Gravy, Dillon Francis & T-Pain: a) I love how this flows out of “It’s a Dream!” almost seamlessly, and b) the upbeat, classic house track groove gives all the sexy talk a good-natured tint, aided by the hilarious admission, “I’m never getting out / I have no doubt / this is my life now.” Every picture I see of Yung Gravy makes me want to walk away & I probably will, after this song is over.

14. “Love Died in Our Arms” (Lee “Scratch” Perry Remix) - Dot Allison: I’ve included this because it was dub genius Lee “Scratch” Perry’s last production. The track is fine, but to really hear Perry, go back to The Upsetters’ Super Ape—his masterpiece—or the Arkology box set. Perry was so prodigious that one of the best remembered issues of the Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal magazine was the issue with a buyer’s guide to Perry. By the ‘90s, he had become a personality and vocalist on his records to such an extent that his productions could be overshadowed. Those earlier tracks give you a clearer idea of his significance and skills.

15. “Oldboy” - 1300: A Korean-Australian hip-hop collective bridging K-pop and Soundcloud rap. I’ll see what comes next.

16. “Chaos Space Marine” - Black Country, New Road: From the new Ants from Up There. I’m not sure who on this week’s playlist is taking a bigger swing than Black Country, New Road. The fussy opening horn line made me think we were headed in a black midi direction, but it becomes the song’s through-line, interrupted by a grand, linear, emotional middle section. I want to know more.

17. “Serpico” - Napoleon da Legend and Amerigo Gazaway: A Serpico clip. A cool, psychedelic soul groove. An emcee who shows he’s hard not by boasting but by showing a clear vision. I’ll take it.

18. “Solen är en trumma” - Pershagen: This Swedish band improvised this instrumental track, and in addition to its psychedelic, hazy vibe, I love that this made me think, Well of course a Swede could have a pedal steel guitar.

19. “Growing Up” - The Linda Lindas: An all-woman pop punk band that knows “All the Small Things” like mom and dad sang it to them while they were in the crib. Which they probably did.

20. “Call Me Home” - SASAMI: From the press release: SASAMI says “'Call Me Home' is dedicated to anyone who has blown up their life just to remember what it’s like to feel something. It’s about the darkness of feeling nothing and the creeping ache of apathy that can swallow you whole if you let it. It’s about skipping town, driving all night and knowing you’ll always have a home to come back to."

I don’t hear that, but the song is so lovely and engaging that I’ll go along for the ride.

21. “Moscow in the Spring” - Deau Eyes: I buy books based on first lines, and Richmond, Virginia’s Deau Eyes got me with, “He’s got a plan now for when he’s turning 35.” From the new album, Legacies.

22. “Kissing Lessons” - Lucy Dacus: I love the control in Dacus’ writing. This memory could have easily gone in any number of mawkish directions, but she walks the tightrope with unflinching assurance. Similarly, the uninflected, punkish guitars drive the track without overloading the emotions. As a result, you know by the end of the song less than two minutes after it started that you got exactly what she wanted you to get from the story.