Top8 - 03/17/25

Welcome back to Top8. Things are so bad in the world that I started playing video games again. Is anyone else playing Fallout 4? I just need to keep my head together enough to survive until I finish school and leave WV behind forever. I would like to leave the US to burn in the fire it started, but there's really not a lot of good options for that. The best a person my age can manage is to try to move to somewhere like Minnesota or Oregon and hope we get a few good years in before the cancer metastisizes. Hope is for cishet white people with money. The rest of us can play video games. 

Anyway, send your favorite Fo4 companions to wtsq.org/contact. 

Mei Semones - I Can Do What I Want

One of the magic things about music is that there will always be people who take the existing elements of the culture and synthesize it all into something that sounds warmly familiar and still, somehow, completely original. We are lucky to have a few of those bands in this week's Top8 and Mei Semones is one of them. Semones takes jazz, adds in some emo, some bedroom folk, a little chamber pop, and just a dash of 90s guitar and comes up with the most lush, interesting, catchy music anyone is making right now. Think peak Brian Wilson if he was a sane 2000's kid. Like Wilson, Semones manages to make music that sounds huge sometimes but remains personal. That's what she gives us on "I Can Do What I Want." This track has a gentle core that returns, like a breath, before exhaling gorgeous sections of strings and indie rock. There is a new album coming out soon. Tons of other singles. And honestly, they are all good, no skips.

You could really just skip Top8 and just listen to Mei Semones and Feeble Little Horse. It's a good time for music, and don't let anyone tell you different.

Feeble Little Horse - This is Real

Feeble Little Horse are one of the best bands going right now. They always have something new to show you and it always feels new even when you've heard it before. "This is Real" comes as a bit of a relief to some of us who loved the band. The word was that they were "on hiatus" following 2023's brilliant "Girl With Fish". A lot of bands never come back from hiatus. Thank god this one did. 

"This is Real" preserves the band's guitar and synth brand of modern shoegaze, while also offering some new textures and sounds. This is what I want from a band. Change things up but hold onto your identity. To my ears, there's quite a lot of Sonic Youth in Feeble Little Horse, and especially on this single. Much like that band, Feeble Little Horse seem to delight in occasionally mixing in chaotic elements into a song that, otherwise, might be a little less memorable. That is never a problem with tracks like this one though. There's some of the usual jangle and glitch here, but also a positively crushing slap of distorted guitars that sound like they were lifted straight out of Sleigh Bells (and yeah, it is kinda weird that I have talked about Sleigh Bells so much recently.) Something that I love about FLH is Lydia Slocum's vocals. No matter how far out the music gets, Slocum's half-spoken delivery always ties things together in a way that kinda makes sense. I am really into this band. You should be too.

Frank Futility - The Moon

Frank Futility is a great band name. Maybe we should pay more attention to great band names. Anyway, the song "The Moon" is also great. It starts out a little lazy before gathering quite a lot of turbulence and passion. The production really works for me here. It captures a band so dialed in on a specific sound that you really lose the instruments and just take the whole mix in. There's a bit of chaotic, irregular noise bouncing around. It's catchy and also just makes you feel like you'd like these guys. It's not a fun track per se, but the band gives off positive energy on this and the other tracks they have out.

Hurray for the Riff Raff - Pyramid Scheme

There's not a weak point for Hurray for the Riff Raff, but if I had to pick just one strong suit, I'd probably go with Alynda Segarra's lyrics. Segarra's songs are reminders of hard times and the people who survive them – even if only barely. The melancholy in their songs isn't cheap or mawkish; it's the earned and honest account of their life. That's why it's relatable. "Pyramid Scheme" sounds like Hurray for the Riff Riff from the jump. Segarra's rasp sings of longing and the emptiness of a scene that is really just there to advantage the people at the top of it.

Lael Neale - Tell Me How To Be Here

"Lael Neale" is a Virginia artist and has several tracks on streaming services with over a million spins. I am a little surprised that "Tell Me How To Be Here" is the first one I think I have heard. This is a very atmospheric track that has a dream-like quality. I swear I hear a tape hiss on the track right under her reverbed vocals. This is a song that plays in the second act of a movie you love when one of the characters is walking around the city looking at the river and wondering if so and so will ever really love them. There's a lot of Joanna Newsome energy here and I love it. 

Mhaol - DM:AM

In theory, I love that there are other languages and the infinite variety of expression that these afford their speakers. In practice, every time I read something in Welsh or Gaelic my heart just kinda sinks. Here's something else I will never say right. Dammit. Anyway, Mhaol is, apparently, pronounced "male". Although I also read that it's pronounced "whale". And given that the Irish "Saoirse" is approximately pronounced "Sersha" (but even that is not correct) I really have no idea. I wish that it was just a different alphabet. Then I wouldn't think I know how to say it and then be wrong. All of which is my problem, not the celts. And certainly not Mhaol.

This is good and proper post-punk. It's bass heavy and features mangled and stabby guitars over a snare drum. I have no notes here. This is brilliant stuff. Reminds me a lot of the late, great Savages. I could use a lot more of this, even if I have no idea how to pronounce it.

Colin Miller - Cadillac

The modern americana music movement has done to focus attention on how cool it is when a person writes and sings miserably sad music. Colin Miller understood the assignment. "Cadillac" feels like the saddest dance you've ever had across a deserted kitchen you shared with someone who doesn't love you anymore. Probably never did. It's also very much in the vein of recent MJ Lenderman tracks. If you're into stuff like Lenderman, Son Volt, or Uncle Tupelo, you'll find a lot to like here.

I'm With Her - Ancient Light

Supergroups don't always hit. Sometimes it's just a little too flashy and not enough substance. I'm With Her is one of the exceptions. The band is Sara Watkins (already famous for Nickel Creek), Sarah Jarosz (known for her own solo career and as part of the excellent Prairie Home Companion / Live From Here band) and Aoife O'Donovan (also known from Live from Here as well as Crooked Still and her solo work). Together they sound like a band that only does this one thing. The music is delicate and gorgeous, without being overly precious. This is solidly modern folk, complete with a healthy scoop of metaphysics. It works because it's executed perfectly. Their voices braid together perfectly. The instruments sparkle and shimmer. And the song is written well by three women who are each well accomplished as songwriters.

And this week's extra innings. Just a few other things I am listening to.

MJ Lenderman - Wristwatch

Lung - Rag Doll

They Are Gutting a Body of Water - 63 Skies

And a playlist of everything.

Thank you for reading and listening.

-emily