Hello, and welcome back to the Rinse and the first Spins for the month of April. I hope that you are doing as well as you can in our current living hellscape. Because my hands are giving me some trouble, I’m going to get right into the heart of this dispatch.

Earning the Mononym

So, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking about a particular tradition that comes with being a major artist: becoming a mononym. Taylor Swift is now only Taylor; Kylie Minogue is only Kylie. Elvis Presley will eternally be Elvis (sorry, Elvis Costello and Elvis Stojko).

So, the question becomes who are other artists who have gained this royal distinction? Is Bruce Springsteen a mononym? Is Dua Lipa on her way or will she never get there because her whole name is fun to say? Who will win the mononym battle between Olivia Rodrigo and Olivia Dean?

On the flipside of this idea, if you start as a mononym, have you made it when we know your last name? For example, we all know Jay-Z is Shawn Carter. We know that Beyoncé’s last name is Knowles-Carter. We know that Madonna’s last name is Ciccone. Do you know what Lorde’s last name is? I don’t.

This is an ongoing thought, so feel free to comment below or shoot me an email with suggestions in either direction.

POMPEII // UTILITY

This is the new double album from Earl Sweatshirt and Mike that they did with Surf Gang, a somewhat nebulous collective based out of New York City. I put this in here rather than recommendations because while I think that Earl and Mike are actually quite good on this, the project is disappointing because the beats are lackluster. For me, the dilemma is that it is two rather drowsy, drawling emcees over beats that are soporific, making it difficult to keep focus. I think the reason I keep thinking about this is because it’s two emcees who clearly influence one another, and when they finally get together on a project (which the streets have wanted for a while), it is this album that is, low key, kind of a dud. I really wanted this to slap hard. If you are interested in either of these emcees, give this a listen and let me know how you feel. Lots of audience participation this week.

“The Crying Game”

This is not about the movie with Forrest Whittaker, a movie that I really liked when I watched it back in the 1990s and early 2000s but am unsure of how it would play today. This is about the song that was in a pivotal scene of that movie. It was covered by Still Corners, a synth-pop duo based out of Austin, Texas, following their relocation from Britain.

It has plenty of Twin Peaks energy, with Tessa Murphy bringing a detached, Julee Cruise-type emotion to the song along with the dreamy, darkly tinged guitars and electronics. I caught wind of this track by chance, and I think the whole thing works together well.

Aadam Jacobs Collection

If you have a bunch of spare time on your hands and would like to listen to some live recordings, I'll point you to the Aadam Jacobs Collection. Jacobs went to concerts multiple times a week for a few decades. When he went, he would record them. Word of his archive spread, and there is now an effort to digitize the 10,000-plus recordings that he made.

If you start searching through the link above, you’ll find stuff from local Chicago bands as well as recordings of Nirvana, Pavement, Hasil Adkins, Afghan Wigs, The Bangles, and many, many others. While I have not listened to all of it, the quality I have heard so far is quite good; they have done a good job with the conversion. This is just a very cool project, and it’s my job, as a person who writes a newsletter about music, to inform you of it.

Art School Girlfriend - Lean In

Polly Mackey has been recording music as Art School Girlfriend for a little while. Her music is always an intriguing balance between beautifully designed electronic instrumentation and direct lyrics that explore romance and emotions. While that might suggest that her music is for the club, it isn’t; her music is too atmospheric for that. It feels more like roaming through the world at night: delicate, open, and full of possibility. If you like this, I would encourage you to go through her back catalog, which delivers a similar level of quality.

Metropolis Ensemble, Erik Hall & Sandbox Percussion - Canto Obstinato

This is a recording of Simeon ten Holt’s Canto Obstinato, a piece of music written in 106 sections. It is composed in such a manner that the artists are free to choose which instruments they will use to perform the piece and how many times they repeat the sections. Performances of this piece can go for extended lengths, but this version clocks in at around an hour.

For this recording, there is a clarinet, two marimbas, a piano, a saxophone, two vibraphones, and six violins. If you were to listen to this piece uncritically, you might be inclined to call it minimal and, in fairness, it is. A more accurate word, however, would be meditative. Core motifs remain throughout the entire piece, but the changing elements give them new valences. It is moving to hear a piece of music stay static yet move in new ways. I actually cracked a smile at times while listening to this. Furthermore, the piece is not dissonant to listen to; everything exists in a state of harmony. A very intriguing piece of music.

Mclusky - i sure am getting sick of this bowling alley

After returning from a lengthy hiatus, the Scottish power rock group Mclusky is back at it again. In a brief 6-track, 13-minute mini-album, the band comes back with the snaking, noisy guitar work and heavy rhythms that they are known for as well as their deadpan comedy. When a band that you love from before comes back, you hope that they have something to add to the discussion, something that can improve their legacy rather than detract from it. Mclusky, with this album and their previous one, are certainly doing the former.

Sunday Mourners - A-Rhythm Absolute

While I did not think this was the most original of albums—you could hear their love of Television all over this album—I thought that they did enough to make it a good listen on its own terms. Sharp, angular guitars and solid rhythms are paired with direct lyrics, giving the music a bit of a Modern Lovers sheen as well. The band is very much in conversation with the current wave of razor-sharp post-punk being played right now by folks like Cola, Parquet Courts, and FACS. If you are into this sound, I think you’ll dig this album.

Memorials - All Clouds Bring Not Rain

Memorials follows up their 2024 album Memorial Waterslides with an album that builds on that album’s mix of library music, psychedelic rock, krautrock, film soundtracks, Broadcast, Stereolab, and the catalog of Too Pure records by adding some more emotions while making changes to the overall sound through both addition and subtraction. This new release shows another side of a band that is really firing on all cylinders.

Charif Megarbane & Ali - Tirakat

Another addition to the Habibi Funk catalog, this outing pairs guitarist Charif Megarbane with the Indonesian psych band Ali. The resulting album is just an excellent groove that fuses Ali’s Indonesian influences and Megarbane’s Middle East-rooted style. If you are familiar with Khruangbin, Mdou Moctar, and similar internationally minded outfits, you should know exactly what to expect here.

The Notwist - News from Planet Zombie

While I thought of The Notwist as a more electronically minded outfit due to their early work, this new album threw a curveball at me and I enjoyed it quite a bit. While there are synths and the like here, the album has live guitars and drums, giving it a more organic feeling. This also comes out through the lyrics, which are both melancholy and celebratory at the same time.

On the whole, the album alternates between a sophisticated indie pop like something you would hear from The Clientele and a more driving sound that references 2000s indie rock as well as the German band’s predecessors (e.g., Can, Neu!). I thought that the balance that they pulled between the two styles across the songs to be very effective, giving the album a nice momentum.

The Leaf Library - After The Rain, Strange Seeds

For me, this band sits at the intersection of Stereolab and Camera Obscura. It takes the repetition and boundary-expanding musical experimentation of the first band and the wistfulness of the second and blends it into something all its own. It is a lovely, dreamy album that I found to be quite engaging.

The Twilight Sad - IT’S THE LONG GOODBYE

I’ll forewarn you: This album is extremely sad. You shouldn’t be surprised given the band name. But even for them, this is sadder than usual. The reason for that is because songwriter James Graham was dealing with losing his mother to dementia, what the title is referencing. The album is Graham, with the help of the band, working through the trauma of his mother’s passing. The music reflects this turmoil, taking on a swirling, slightly disorienting feeling by incorporating throbbing electronic elements and the dark undercurrent at the heart of shoegaze. If you can handle sitting with a sadness akin to a Cure album, this is a phenomenal piece of music.

That’s it for the Spins this week. There are a couple of other albums that I was thinking about, but those will have to wait for another week. As always, take care of yourselves and each other. If you know someone who would be interested in this, please let them know and tell them to subscribe. Pet a dog or cat if they are cool with it. And as always, if they follow you, don’t look back like Dylan in the movies.