Well the dark days came

[Tim Wilson]

[Bob Zelin] “I thought that I was the only old bag that was keeping up with modern music.”

Please, Florence is old news. She hasn’t put out a record since 2018. LOL Of course, once she puts out a new one she’ll be news again. It’s Florence’s world. We’re fortunate that she lets us live in it.

Somewhat kidding, but my general rule of thumb is that I’m ONLY listening to new music. I’m still digging into my best of 2019 playlist on Spotify because 2020’s list is too short, and I invite you Spotifiers to check it out. It’s all women, not because I set out to create a playlist of the best new albums from women, but because women and women-led bands are pretty much the only ones getting it done for my money. I know that I haven’t heard every album I need to hear from 2019 yet, so this list may yet get a little longer, but this is pretty solid for now: Twitch, Cream, Trouble

Here’s the same playlist on YouTube, which includes some genuinely terrific music videos, which we can talk about another time. Twitch, Spit, Cream, Trouble

And ALL joking aside, Florence provided the title track to my best of 2018 list, and indeed, that was the first year that my best-of list was all women. Hunger.

Every year, there’s a song that makes me say, “Okay, time to start building the list”, and this year, it was the latest from GHUM, with a woman from Spain on lead vocals, one from Brazil on bass, and lead guitarist and drummer from London.

From The Guardian: The London-based post-punk quartet step out of Joy Division’s shadow with raw, thrilling affairs of the heart

This particular track is a little more explicitly retro than I usually look for (I don’t need retro — I was there the first time), but you could do worse than evoking a faster, harder Joy Division. Not a proper video, alas, but a tasty single to tide you over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vckW9PToOg

I’m also insane for this BBC performance clip of theirs from last summer. If you think modern rock sucks, and you’re talking about dudes, you’re right. Contemporary music dudes largely suck. These women are SLAYING.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2BY6SSguTk

PS. I was being oblique in my first post on this thread, but Aindreas was in fact talking about Brexit. He’d emailed me before I even saw his posts, and we spoke back and forth about it for a while before I made my way here and saw these posts.

We don’t typically allow political posts in the COW, but this one was so oblique that I opted to let it stand. I mean, is it really a political post if nobody knows it’s a political post? LOL

[Steve Connor]

[Tim Wilson] “Every year, there’s a song that makes me say, “Okay, time to start building the list”, and this year, it was the latest from GHUM, with a woman from Spain on lead vocals, one from Brazil on bass, and lead guitarist and drummer from London.
“

Thanks for sharing Tim, love finding new bands and this one are something special!

[Steve Connor]

[Bob Zelin] “Oh, I am SO depressed that old Mark Suszko knows who Florence and The Machine is !
I thought that I was the only old bag that was keeping up with modern music.
“

Florence at Glastonbury in 2015 was one of the greatest gigs I’ve ever been to!