my name is mwd

I’ve been making more of an effort to get some new music into my rotation. After years of avoiding them I’ve reluctantly taken up a subscription to Apple Music: whilst I still stand by my “buy albums over streaming” policy, I do need some way of discovering that new music to buy. As much as like bandcamp, their explore system has never worked for me, and so I was getting stagnated in my listening choices.

Mostly I’ve been trying to explore genres I don’t have much of in my collection to let me work out what I might like: I’ve been listening to a bunch of funk/jazz stuff like Herbie Hancock (some of which I’d picked up from my guitar teacher). A new discovery for me has been Chip Wickham who’s latest album Cloud 10 I’ve been enjoying a lot.

In terms of contemporary alt music I’ve been guided by what’s on in the workshop as my fellow workshop mates are more up to date than me. One band that’s been talked about a lot of late is Wet Leg, who’s album is catchy and reminds me of a more up tempo Placebo content wise (and feels a lot fresher than Placebo’s own latest release alas):

But my current favourite new band is DEADLETTER. Think of a mix of Franz Ferdinand tones and rhythms, but swap out the sultry lyrics for something more political and angry, and that’s kinda the vibe.

They seem to have very little online presence, and that live video isn’t quite a pacy as the final recording. My favourite at the moment is probably “Back to Work”, which feels politically like it’d have been a fit for Thatcher’s Britain as well as now; perhaps we’re seeing a musical reflection of those times as they are repeated more broadly.

If there’s something that’s been on your repeat list then I’d love to hear it.