Hello, and welcome back to The Rinse for this week. As I noted at the end of last week’s dispatch, this is a special themed Spins for Women’s History Month. This is for two reasons. The first is that it is a nice refresh from the hours of minimalism that I listened to for last week’s dispatch. While pleasurable, it was nice to listen to music with lyrics and that ended in less than 60 minutes. To this end, I aimed to choose albums that were around 40 minutes in length. (One or two things I’ll talk about will run a minute or two over; I just wanted a goal length so I didn’t listen to overly long things.) The second is that it is Women’s History Month. While the last Spins was mostly women, I wanted to make sure that the women were completely at the forefront of this one.

With those as the guidelines, I’m also going to avoid going into my obsessions for this week. However, for those who are curious, they involve the Bree Sharp song “David Duchovny (Why Don’t You Love Me)” and the 30 Rock song “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah.” There was also the track from The Boondocks by Gangstalicious, “Homies Over Hos.” I’m not going to explain any of this. You can look into all of this on your own time. We’re going to start with some archival choices before getting into new things.

Black Tambourine, Black Tambourine

I’m not going to front: I came up with this entire concept to talk about this. When I wasn’t listening to Éliane Radigue last week, I was listening to this album. One of the great, short-lived bands from the Washington, D.C., underground, Black Tambourine were one of the first to bring a lot of noise into the indie pop scene, recalling British contemporaries The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Shop Assistants. Although they did not produce much, the material that they did make influenced many artists on the pop underground. Furthermore, it still sounds like nothing else from then or now.

Bratmobile, Pottymouth

While I love listening to Pussy Whipped, Pottymouth is the riot grrrl album that I return to the most. They still have the punk intensity and feminist edge of the movement, but you can hear some of the Beat Happening primitivism around the edges of their music. The combination of the two is really great, and I think that is what brings me back to this album again and again. If you don’t know about this album, please take some time to listen to it.

Slumber Party, Psychedelicate

If you ever asked for one of the origin texts for this newsletter (i.e., a formative album with regard to my taste), I would hand you a copy of this record. Released in 2001, meaning that this year is its 25th anniversary, it is 30-minute-or-so album of dreamy, psychedelic indie pop that is indebted to late Velvet Underground. All the predilections that this newsletter tends to chase can be heard on this album: quiet ladies singing solo and in harmony, guitars playing slightly off-kilter lines with tons of reverb, simple drum lines, cosmic vibes. This is obviously not the only source document, but it is definitely in that mix. While the video below is to “Bag of Spiders,” the lead track on this album, the more explanatory track for the origin of The Rinse is “I’m Not Sad.”

Nots, Cosmetic

I know that I have referenced this album on this newsletter before, but with it celebrating its 10th anniversary and it being an album that I return to frequently, it’s worthwhile to discuss it here. They describe themselves as “weird punk,” and I’m not going to disagree with that. It has the punk speed and snarl one would expect, but there is a bunch of synth skronk in the mix as well, making it feel way more menacing than if it was just guitars, bass, and drum. An album that doesn’t get quite the respect that it deserves, but when the future digs into the archives of Goner Records and realizes that there is nothing but heat in that catalog, the ladies of Nots will get their appropriate due.

Alright, with that trip through the past completed for the time being, lets move into some newer listening. That’s what you’re hear for after all, is it not? It can’t be just to listen to me rattle off albums that I have been listening to since I was in my 20s.

Ora Cogan, Hard Hearted Woman

I have said it once in this newsletter, and I will say it again: If Sacred Bones wants to just release women making weird, folk-adjacent music for the remainder of time, I’m OK with that. Ora Cogan’s music isn’t as spooky as Marisa Nadler or Hilary Woods. In fact, it takes more from the psychedelic wing of the label, in particular Psychic Ills and Amen Dunes. Over the course of its 38-minute run time, the album takes you on a real cosmic trip. When I listened to this album, I felt like I was floating on its grooves, and I really enjoyed that sensation.

Kim Gordon, Play Me

In 2024, Kim Gordon released The Collective, an album that only she could have pulled off. If anyone else tried that nonsense, it would have been How Do You Do, Fellow Kids. There is still a bit of that feeling on this album, but I will say that this album feels like a more natural fit than the previous album. The beats are less rage rap influenced; they are slowed down and pull from guitars and rock more, two things that Gordon knows a lot about. Her vocals fit into the mix unlike on the previous album, where she had real Vincent Adultman energy. Her insights are as sharp as ever. I enjoyed this one, which I was not expecting when I started it.

Xylitol, Blumenfantasie

I was previously familiar with the work of Xylitol from her first album, Anemones. Her mix of breakbeats, krautrock, and jungle stylings was a refreshing listen in a time when everything was dominated by 130-bpm house music. On her new album, she continues to play with fast-paced breakbeats and layers them with ethereal kosmiche-style samples. There are times when the rhythm takes over, and there are others where she lets the synths lead the proceedings. In both cases, you’re listening to a beautifully composed set of electronic music. As a side note, she’s signed to Planet Mu, which has been putting out some truly fascinating dance music for decades at this point. It’s well worth investigating if you are into this.

Dagmar Zuniga, in filth your mystery is kingdom/far smile peasant in yellow

While competing for the longest album title award, Dagmar Zuniga has turned out a small, stunning gem of a folk album. To call it just a folk album though is to miss out on all of the psychedelic touches that are all over this very brief album. Over the space of 14 tracks, Zuniga, with her collaborators, various instruments and effects, and a Tascam four-track recorder, creates an evocative world that becomes deeper with subsequent listens. Given that this album is only 29 minutes long, it is worth your time to sit and listen to this extremely intriguing album.

Avalon Emerson & the Charm, Written into Changes

Avalon Emerson has returned from the success of her previous album, & the Charm, with another melange of house and techno beats and sharp lyrics. Its instrumentals are strong enough for the club, but her lyrics bring everything back down a bit. It has excellent grooves, perfect for the spring, whether it is coming or already here (depending on your location in the world).

Robin, Sexistential

It’s a Robyn album. Do I need to really say more? I don’t, but I’ll say that if you listen to this album, you’ll hear a track where she is trying to pick up a guy while pregnant. If that doesn’t intrigue you, I don’t know what will. One of the globe’s truly great pop stars who only ever appears at the top of her game.

underscores, u

I listened to two albums that referenced the electroclash scene of the early 2000s. This album was the far superior of the two. This album is a hyperpop album in two different senses. The first is the generic sense. It’s fast, energetic, and has a copious amount of both auto-tune and beat drops. The second sense is in the fact that April Grey, the woman behind underscores, is pulling from so many different eras of pop music. You can hear her contemporaries as well as electroclash, 90s club pop, and radio pop of multiple decades. It is deeply reverent of pop music while actively trying to push it towards something greater and more profound. It’s a great listen that shows pop music a way forward.

Special Friend, Clipping

This is an album that shows how much you can do with just two people. Guillaume Siracusa and Erica Ashleson make songs that remind you that all indie rock isn’t just plain pastiche and chasing trends. It also isn’t overly intellectual, trying to make listening to music into homework. The album is full midtempo rockers that can either show their teeth or drift off into the ether. Each song here is instantly accessible and immediately pleasurable. In this way, it reminds me of something like You and Your Sister: It is not trying to reinvent the wheel, but it does everything with ease and style.

With that, Women’s History Month ends at The Rinse. I have no idea of what April holds for the newsletter. It will be something. What? Who knows. I’ve been playing around with the idea of doing a cheater’s guide to classical music, but if I were to do that, it’s not going to be first. I’ve got some time to think, so I will do that.

Until next week, please take care of yourselves and each other. If you know someone who would be into this, tell them to read and subscribe. Pet a dog or cat if they are cool with it. My shelter has a lot of blockheaded pit bulls right now, and they are the most fun to pet. Their heads are so big and fit in my hands so, so well. Plus, if you get them just right, they start drooling, which is fun.