"Heavenbound" by Mt. Wolf
Maybe it was the vanilla coffee I was heavily under the influence of but I swear I saw Jesus in my red quinoa this week. I tried to grab the nearest person for confirmation. Unfortunately, that happened to be a priest, and things got way too convoluted between my mouth and his ears. It probably shouldn't come as a surprise that Jesus chose to show his face in the dark, rounded Peruvian grain that became a staple of my many varied vegan bowls this past hebdomad. I mean, I was doing a lot of soul searching, reflecting and meditating and most of the time there were some pseduocereals involved. Speaking of pseudocereals, Jesus and meditation, have you checked out "Heavenbound" by Mt. Wolf yet? This anthemic little single feels a bit like the National in terms of its melodic songcraft. Add in the sky-scraping atmospherics that have become sort of a Mt. Wolf trademark and you've got the type of thought-provoking single that men have hummed while walking through amaranth fields for centuries.
"Link in Bio" by Diet Cig
I'm in the store getting some avocados and broccoli, because what is a quinoa bowl without those two ingredients, and I see some old guy checking out. He's talking to the lady at the cash register. Well, probably it would be more accurate to say he was talking at her. Somewhere in the midst of his conversation he suggested that the lady should smile more because life isn't that awful. After that suggestion, I couldn't help but think about "Link in the Bio" by Diet Cig.
As Alex Luciano notes, "'Link In Bio' unpacks this idea that women + femmes should be any specific way and says uh NO. It's an extra special fuck you to the notion of a 'chill girl' that I swear was created by cis men to make women + femmes feel bad about voicing their feelings. It's me screaming that it's okay to be loud and bossy and sensitive and kind and weird and angry and ecstatic and literally any other emotion that you feel because YOU ARE A RADIANT AND NUANCED HUMAN BEING WHO IS GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD
Old man...if that lady behind the cash register wants to be pissed off because life recently took a shit on her, then she has that right. You don't get to decide how she should or should not feel.
"Man Up" by Everywhere featuring Rebecca Nohr
Along the same lines as Diet Cig and the old guy in the grocery store, "Man Up" by Everywhere explores themes of unfulfilled expectations, dominant partners and living up to an old fashioned idea of what it means to be a man.
I've done some being a man exploration this week, thanks in large part to a series of radio spots by a frozen cheesesteak company that I heard way too often. From these ads I discovered that "manning up" absolutely cannot take place on a vegan diet. Real men eat frozen cheesesteaks! Terrified that I wasn't a real man, I decided to enroll at The Real Man Institute hoping that I could be cured of my lack of manliness. The institutes gauge whether you have been cured of your non manliness is sort of rorschach test involving Everywhere's "Man Up." They play the line from the song,"You gotta man up, or I will eat you whole" and then ask you what you are thinking about. The first few times I told the institute's technician that it was avocados I was thinking about. He sighed and sent me back in for more "treatment." Finally I got wise and told him cheesesteak. I was thinking about cheesesteak. He gave me rubber stamp and an "I am a real man" sticker and sent me on my way.
In GQ terms (is that manly enough for ya?), "Man Up" is dressed in an electro-pop suit, sports funky basslines, analog synths, and features an appearance by Swedish singer/songwriter Rebecca Nohr. "Man Up" could be a part of Everywhere's album that they are currently working on. There is nothing set in stone yet but they hope to have it out this fall.
"Try to Fight" by Cathedrals
If the previous tracks were the veggies and quinoa in the bowl, "Try to Fight" by Cathedrals is the sauce that ties it all together. You want it sweet? Salty? A combination of the two? You want it hot? Spicy? Somewhere in the middle of it all? Those are the questions that "Try to Fight" sets out to answer. I interpreted "Try to Fight" as a vinegar, soy sauce, peanut butter and sweet chili paste combo. But, as the scorpion and the frog always say, you do you.
Videos:
"Heavenbound" by Mt. Wolf
The official music video for "Heavenbound" captures the essence of a man’s final minutes, projecting the sense that love will always be so much stronger than hate.
"Losing It. Finding It." by Empty Lungs
The video for "Losing It. Finding It." by Belfast's Empty Lungs is a sort of tour diary, filmed when the band was touring down the east coast last year on their way to FEST. Yes, that fest. The one in Gainesville. The band even played the pre-fest show that takes place in Ybor. Yes, that Ybor. The one right down the road. Why wasn't I there? Um, I stayed home to rinse my pseduocereals. In hopes that it makes me a little less lamer, I've regretted not going to New World Brewery every day since I've seen this video.
"After the Party" by The Menzingers
"After the Party" brought all those memories of brushing my teeth with my fingers outside of the Dairy Queen, laundromat fights, karate battling the ATM and dining and dashing back full force. It also reminded me that, after the party, it is just me and you (and a big bowl of quinoa, veggies and sauce). A sobering reality unless you like the one your with.
"Skin" by Rag'N'Bone Man
I usually avoid videos that have upward of 8 million views but sometimes there is power in numbers. It feels good to fight alongside 8 million of my friends for once.
"Scrambled Egg" by Eat Fast
I'm pretty sure I've made this video a thousand times before. The only difference is my eggs are usually called "egg like product." Egg like product really goes well with quinoa and veggies.
"If U C My Enemies" by Rubblebucket
The story behind the video for "If U C My Enemies" is that there is this kitchy haunted horror cabin where people go and just hang out on their cellphones. No chatting, just texting. A gender ambiguous fashion witch comes on the scene and takes the cabin crew hostage. This villain teaches her/his victims how to love and be present with each other (bloodily killing them is so 2010).
Get All of 2017's Click Tracks (when available) in One Spotify Playlist:
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