February tracks

New tunes from the Foo Fighters, The Menzingers, Fred again.., and a lot of good ones too.

That’s me calling you.

Let’s see, what happened this month… Millennial Excellence talked to Wishy and Anamanaguchi (and Starbies Drink Ideas), and released a free bonus episode about all the original music on our show. I became obsessed with the AI slop phrase “caffeine and chaos.” And on here, I waded into the taste debate. But this one’s gonna be a good ol’ fashioned new music roundup — the kind us middle-aged music writers were born to write.

I started this newsletter because I realized that I have a sickness where I don’t listen to new music unless I plan to write about it, and this month was even worse: most of the time, while driving or working or doing other stuff, I didn’t listen to much music at all, instead zoning out in silence. I still made a nice lil pile of links — some that seemed good, some that seemed annoying — to check out at the end of the month. And now, much like paying rent, I’m due to cash out. Music’s a cruel landlord.

Hilary Duff “Growing Up”

Going to start with the one that everyone’s sending me. On her new album of Carly Rae Jepsen C-sides, Hilary Duff interpolated “Dammit” for a song called “Growing Up.” I don’t even really know what to think of it. It’s not bad or good, it’s not really anything. But it does confirm to me that blink-182 is no longer interesting or funny or even noteworthy, the beautiful orange-and-baby-blue colour scheme of Dude Ranch now faded into an Airbnb greige.

Knocked Loose “Hive Mind” (ft. Denzel Curry)

⚠️This is a coworker checkpoint. ⚠️ If you shared this with anyone, you’re a coworker. If they shared it with you, they’re the coworker. And if I’m sharing it with you for the first time, congratulations on being hired, we are now coworkers. Let’s book a 1:1 to sync about this quarter. I dunno what to say about Knocked Loose at this point it honestly just washes past me. Like I can barely grasp the song, it’s almost as boring as the Hilary Duff blink-182 song. I do like how whiny the singer’s voice is. The rap verse sounds kinda nice. But I still wish hardcore was a bunch of New England veterans with big calves bulging from their khaki shorts, writing squeaky clean Youth of Today riffs deep into their 50s. Just got to the breakdown and it’s certainly very heavy sounding. This seems like wrestling to me.

Bladee “Magic Mystery”

Bladee makes my pursuit of enjoying all music pretty easy because he’s constantly dropping variations of the same song. I love the melodramatic piano on this one. I definitely don’t remember any Bladee songs individually at this point, but this sounds like all of them and I like them all. It is funny when people think of Bladee as short hand for young people music because this definitely sounds closer to like a Cure song written with trap presets.

Frost Children and Ninajarichi “Sisters”

I keep trying to get into Frost Children because I think Porter Robinson is similar to mgk as a “so unspeakably bad and good at the same time” kind of pop artist, and had been following their collaborations. Last year’s Frost Children album still won’t connect for me, but this rework of one of their songs with the fantastic Ninajarichi is hitting hard. There’s something about the Elliott Smith style acoustic guitar that just sounds right with her vocals. There’s a subtlety that makes the payoff hit even harder at the end, and does help me understand Frost Children a little more: they’re hyperpop-coded but they’re truthfully just making giant EDM. It’s like slightly self-aware Rocket League music.

Florian Hecker “M 35 36”

I actually did listen to this whole thing while I was grinding on some late night work, and at one point I left to get a snack and Sara walked in to hear this scritchy soundscape playing to our bedroom. But this album is awesome. If your German electronic deconstructionist doesn’t look like they run a speed-dating service for full stack devs, find a new German electronic deconstructionist.

upsammy & Valentina Magaletti “Superimposed”

Imagine if I was still making my normie pop-punk friend listen to these songs… I could say “What’s upsammy?” to him. I guess I was digging into some high-brow crap earlier in the month. I forgot how to write about stuff without being disgusting because I keep wanting to call this yummy. I love the textures and tones, I love the messed-up bassline. It’s making me realize that I would love for “folktronica” to come back into style

Squarepusher “K2 Central”

This is the same kind of song, but approached from the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Squarepusher is a really funny IDM artist. Sure, he messes around with chopped up beats and stuff, but he’s also just hilariously corny. This basically sounds like Vulfpeck covering Floating Points, and I’m laughing while vibing with it hard.

Um, Jennifer? “Comedy 42”

Don’t know anything about this artist but I think the band name is cute and I like songs that are named after comedy or jokes or have like “hahaha” in the title. It definitely sounds like Silver Jews or maybe Gun Outfit, definitely some really nice laid back slacker alt-country vibes, but not quite as generic as the alt country that’s been dominating the Baggu stores these last few years. Really nice tune.

Gun Outfit “Unfelt Loss”

Speaking of Gun Outfit… shouts out to this band. When I was in my twenties I was soooo obsessed with No Age, and I remember punishing Dean Spunt soooo hard because I wanted him to release my band. Like I was brutally annoying, drunkenly cornering him at shows and stuff. Definitely a very bleak and embarrassing chapter of my life, of which there are many. Anyway, instead he started working with Gun Outfit, and he was right to do so. They’re sooo good at making these timeless, simple, beautiful indie rock songs that just feel like roadtrips. Haven’t listened to them in a long time, but this new world-weary song “Unfelt Loss” is making me want to dive back in.

Foo Fighters “Your Favorite Toy”

Man, this has gotta be one of my most hated bands in existence, so it’s fun to try and listen to it. I have a theory that everyone — punkers, indie rockers, new wave artists, etc. — eventually has a midlife or mid-career crisis where they’re like “fuck it, we need to go back to basics with some real Stooges rockin’!” and I think Dave Grohl has been having variations of that crisis for decades. This time it shows up with the awful vocal production and his sassy vocal delivery. I also hate the jaunty little drum beat and the stupid lyrics. Also why does the lyric video look like a Pitchfork “long read.” I could listen to it 10 more times and decide to like it if I wanted to. I just don’t want to.

Telehealth “Cool Job”

Man… what are we doing? Like as a society? We’re still gonna sign some discount-bin post-punk baristas to our biggest indie labels? And they’re gonna keep making herky-jerky B-52s post punk? Sorry if you are in the band Telehealth but I wish you would’ve done something a bit different than this 2019 core. I tried to like it but I couldn’t. But at least the A&R guys at the major indies still do.

Inner Magic “Underground” (ft. Ruth Radelet)

I’m endlessly charmed by the former Chromatics members and their ongoing flop era. Basically, Adam Miller and Ruth Radelet keep delivering ‘80s pop tunes via different monikers now that they’re under Johnny Jewel’s cruel thumb, and no one seems to care. But I’ll keep listening. Inner Magic is a new band by Miller and former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder, who delivers a really nice guitar solo here. It’s all probably too slight to have them performing at any fashion weeks any time soon, but I’m into it.

Gia Margaret “Everyone Around Me Dancing”

As someone who lightly stalks David Bazan, I’ve become aware of Gia Margaret via their collabs. I think I listened to a pretty good instrumental album by her. This song is another nice one. The music video is funny to me, it seems like a major label artist trying to be down-to-earth rather than a Jagjaguwar artist (which is an ever-so-slightly different kind of artist, but not by much). This song is nice tho, I love the sax and the sparseness of the production. There’s a lot going on, and it really opens up, but never at the expense of its softness.

Fred again.. & Jamie T “Lights Burn Dimmer”

Fred again.. is the Daft Punk of vibe coders. And like vibe coders themselves, he’s constantly putting in reps to SHIP like crazy. This man has so much shit coming out at all times. I do think his “songs” are a lot better when they have a vocalist, likely because it distracts from how little else is going on. But even then, “Lights Burn Dimmer” still sounds like an interlude. Every Fred Again.. song sounds like an interlude to me.

James Massiah & DJ GAWAD “Contact High”

Man, if you wanna hear a British guy over some dance music this is way better. James Massiah sounds cool on every single track, but “Contact High” is an especially strong vehicle. It’s just so smooth and expensive sounding, and once the 2 minutes are over I’m very tempted to start it again.

Jacques Greene “mixtape2 (100% new unreleased jg) Feb12 2026”

I’m no better than the vibe coders — I’m down to throw on some dance music that helps me lock in on the task at hand, and I threw on this Jacques Greene mixtape to do just that while I was doing some dishes. I think I love his music best in this format, just a blob of poppy dance tunes that I can get lost in. It’s also fitting that I was listening on YouTube without premium, so every 15 mins or so I’d be interrupted with audio of a Quebecois ad for “Canadjian Tayer” in the thickest Franglais accent.

Null Wave “Smash Hand”

One of my favourite things about listening to electronic music is that I know so little about it. I don’t know how it’s made, I don’t understand how to enjoy it live, and even though my first-ever paid writing work was for XLR8R I can’t really remember any of the subgenres. I think this is just some dubby IDM, but I don’t know if there are more rules than that. I do know that it sounds really eerie and huge, and I love the accompanying brutalist pixel art. It’s nice to not know stuff.

Sawna “Speed Runner”

Okay I know that this music is an homage to Belgian tekstyle and jumpstyle. But that’s only because I read the Bandcamp blurb. I was kinda hoping this one would massage my brain in a different way or get me feeling hyper before I go do more dishes, but I found it to be a little annoying. Oh well.

THOMAS BUSH “Excommunication”

In case you can’t tell I was poking around Resident Advisor to find more tracks to write about beyond just Stereogum indie. They should have a section for guys like me who don’t want to go out ever. This is sounding pretty awesome so far, and deeply pretentious in a nice way. It’s 9 minutes of reverb-drenched drum machines and this guy doing like borderline monastic singing. If you really need to mess around with post-punk type stuff, this is how you should be doing it. Oh baby, and the song has a “drop” (saying it this way because I’m sure it would gross the guy out). The drums eventually fuzz out, some piano flourishes sneak in, and it builds to a really nice climax without losing its jankiness. Siri, remind me to listen to this whole album.

PinkPantheress “Illegal” (Four Tet remix)

I guess I am still thankful to Fred again.. for keeping Four Tet on the payroll and allowing him to keep dropping tunes. Here, he’s taken on PinkPantheress’s hit “Illegal” with some warm ‘n’ warbly sounds. That said — and maybe it’s because I don’t go out or dance — it does feel like it doesn’t really go anywhere. And I’m sure that’s the point but I dunno, I prefer when he’s putting a bunch of tingly chimes and shit in his music.

Grace Ives “Stupid Bitches”

I don’t listen to Vampire Weekend anymore, and I haven’t been missing much, but I hit play on this and realized I had been missing Ariel Rechtshaid’s production. It helps that “Stupid Bitches” is a catchy song, but it sounds even better with his touch. He kinda makes every sound seem like it’s warbling out of a mellotron. Then the drums are huge, and there’s a bunch of crazy edits on the vocals. I can’t tell if I’m so out of touch that things are already looping around again, or if this feels a little bit out of style right now, but I’m still into this deeply 2010s sound.

Quiet Light “Berlin”

Some more nice pop music filtered through a bunch of production trickery that used to be associated with blog music. I love this, the pulsing synths and slightly warbly vocal production. The beat just came in and I can understand that it needed to… I was happier before it did, because the song was so amorphous, but I understand that this needed to happen. It needed to become a big pop song. I accept that.

2026 UNDERGROUND SOUND CYPHER

There was a time, many many moons ago, where I was listening to new rap mixtapes constantly, and I completely fell off. But I watched this whole cypher after I saw former music writers my own age doing discourse about 2slimey’s verse. I think if you’re an old white guy getting triggered by young people rap music you’re basically no better than the boomers getting tricked by AI dog videos on Facebook. But I digress. The whole thing was really fun — I enjoyed Raininglol and Matt Proxy the most. But 2slimey was certainly a highlight too. Listening to his beat feels like someone is zapping your brain with a livewire, and he sucks in a pretty fun and unique way. Also he has the same hair as Maya Erskine in PEN15. What a good time.

American Football “Bad Moons”

I’ve never really been into American Football because Tim is my favourite Kinsella by a long shot. He reminds me of Michael Showalter and he’s so weird and jarring and sloppy. As I suspected, this song is so cleancut. It sounds like Bon Iver or something. The production reminds me of Songs of Innocence (and I also didn’t listen to the new U2 EP since finding Bono mentioned in passing in the Epstein files…). “Surprise, I’ve been so many boys in this trench coat. Ask my ex-wife. She met Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.” Those are some of the worst lyrics I’ve heard in a minute for sure. Maybe they tug on your heart strings if you also have the right kind of emotional intelligence to be thrilled by the American Football memes. Last month I tried to make myself like every song I posted but I can’t this time. Okay I’m kinda enjoying the climax hahaha. But in a Snow Patrol way. Holy crap I just looked and the black-and-white footage turned colour when the song got “big.” This is lame ahahaha.

The Menzingers “Nobody’s Heroes”

This is another band I’ve always known I disliked, although I don’t know if I’ve ever even heard them? Some more emotive punk-adjacent music for deep thinkers and Sad Songs crewneck owners. The way the bass player is playing at the 0:59 second mark is the level of urgency we’re working with here. I dunno this isn’t offending me as much as I hoped, so now I have to contend with it. I mean it’s really funny how blah it is, but there’s so little happening. I first heard of this band when I worked in an office in like 2009 and the I.T. guy was wearing a shirt of them on casual Friday, and I could tell it was kind of a pop-punk style design. “Looking for your golf ball lost in the wood. Sometimes goodbye is goodbye for good” is a real lyric I just heard. It’s funny that this guy pushes his voice once every 10 bars or so. The top comment on this YouTube video says “what a gift it is that we get to get older together” and I feel like I’m reading something I’m not supposed to. I feel guilty now.

Terror “Still Suffer”

Now this is the gift of getting older together. No matter what happens, we can always rest assured that Scott Vogel and his crew are gonna rub their brain cells together to drop some awesome moronic hardcore songs about hardcore every couple of years. Why do all these 20-year-olds keep starting nü metal bands. You should be writing mouth-breather hardcore hits like Terror. And if you can’t do that, you should get a different hobby.

mgk “Starman”

As promised, if there’s a new mgk thing you’ll find it here. Apparently he’s about to drop a song with Limp Bizkit, but for now we’re still looking at the Lost Americana era. “Starman” is the much-maligned, secretly good Third Eye Blind interpolation, but they clearly couldn’t get Stephan Jenkins for the music video so instead it’s a bunch of footage from the Lost Americana tour. And I’m not complaining!