Slackie Brown’s Summer 2020 (Socially Distant) BBQ Playlist
With songs for your summer pool parties, barbecue’s and beyond, Slackie Brown has your portable bluetooth speakers covered…
Soccer Mommy – Circle the Drain
Sophie Allison — better known as her stage name, Soccer Mommy — is still very much early in her career, but her second album, the excellent Color Theory, is a mature step-up and promising follow-up to 2018’s Clean. The lead single “Circle the Drain” is the perfect example — with an brilliant contrast between music and lyrics. The mood and production are very reminiscent of the best late 90’s/early 2000’s radio rock, but the lyrics — while written well before the springtime pandemic lockdown — are rather despondent and appropriate for self-quarantine boredom. She even mentions “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia and Sheryl Crow’s “Soak Up the Sun” in yet another great episode of the Song Exploder podcast, and the vibe isn’t far off. However bleak the lyrics may be, the song is an filled with undeniably great melodies, unidentifiable crescendos, and a relatable sentiment for all of us.
Phoebe Bridgers – Kyoto
Phoebe Bridgers is back, releasing arguably the most anticipated album of the year among critics everywhere, with another emotional and understated journey in Punisher. “Kyoto” balances the devastating down-tempo songs Phoebe is all too good at, providing a boost of energy with horns (played by Bright Eyes’ Nathaniel Walcott), a 12-string guitar, and a driving rhythm section. It’s a welcome outlier on the album and proves Phoebe deserved all the attention she received with her first album, displaying her vocal prowess and maturity, changing the song’s vibe entirely after first writing it. Bridgers explained to Rolling Stone, “I wrote this one as a ballad first, but at that point I was so sick of recording slow songs, it turned into this.”
The Killers – Caution
The Killers are back on their bullshit with another great arena-rocker from their upcoming album Imploding the Mirage. With help from some of the industry’s top-tier talent, they get a performance from young producer/guitar-player-extraordinaire Blake Mills, a songwriting credit from friend and musician Alex Cameron, and a guitar solo by none other than ex-Fleetwood Mac member Lindsay Buckingham — all produced by the five-time Grammy award winning engineer/mixer/producer Shawn Everett. With a soaring hook accentuated by airy synthesizers and a strummed acoustic guitar (a la Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down A Dream”), and the lyric, “…she can go straight from zero, to the Fourth of July,” this one is destined to be on bluetooth speakers (that are dangerously close to bodies of water) everywhere.
The 1975 – If You’re Too Shy Let Me Know
Matty Healy and company are back with their most ambitious album yet — logging 22 songs and clocking in at over and hour and 20 minutes. The band has never been shy about leaning into the comparisons heaved at them by critics, and this song is certainly no exception. The verse soaks itself in 80’s production and monotoned melody that sounds more like something from a Tears For Fears album, which then — with no sense of shame or irony — gives way to a candy-sweet pop hook which is where the 1975 seem most comfortable.
Ray Lamontagne – Strong Enough
Ray Lamontagne’s eighth studio album is still fresh out of the oven, and it is somewhat of a return to his earlier work (and even the unreleased “Acre of Land” demos you can find on YouTube). The album was entirely written, recorded, produced and performed by Ray, which is a new venture for the veteran artist — one that he describes here as “a learning process, but it was challenging, enjoyable, all of it all at the same time.” However soothing or tender the album(s) may be, Lamontagne always seems to find room for at least one stomper — and “Strong Enough” is surely that tune on 2020’s Monovision. With a stripped-back approach, the song’s three-and-a-half minute run time breezes by as Ray’s smooth electric guitar licks over a straight-forward rock groove give way to a vocal performance we have been missing from his most recent albums. Ray Lamontagne’s simple songs usually end up being the best ones — and this one is no different.
Doja Cat – Say So
Released in late January as the second single from her second studio album Hot Pink, “Say So” was a summer jam from the start — solidifying Doja Cat’s ability as an artist and offering a more earnest take, compared to her viral breakthrough, “MOOO!” With a neo-disco vibe that feels like it would be right at home on Calvin Harris’s Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1, the singing voice contrasted against a Nikki Minaj-style rap verse help to display Doja Cat’s ambitions, and with a remix released on May 1st that adds a verse from — well — Nikki Minaj herself, the song was always well positioned to have a long run on summer playlists everywhere.
Waxahatchee – Lilacs
On her latest album, Saint Cloud, Katie Crutchfield reminds us that sometimes you have to stop and smell the “Lilacs” — then you go write a really good song about it. The tune is a straightforward rock song, but Crutchfield isn’t finished growing personally. The lyrics convey that very sentiment, offering an olive branch in it’s hook, but the song itself is also an example of that growth. As the final song written for the new album, Katie understands as well as anyone that a sentiment is often times better conveyed with a simple guitar lick, a vibrato Wurlitzer electric piano, a cross sticked drum beat in the verses which contrast nicely with the bounce-y half-time groove of the chorus, and — perhaps most importantly — great melodies and a simple repeated refrain to finish it all off.
Mac Miller – Blue World
It’s hard to believe its been almost two years since we lost the tremendously talented Mac Miller. His latest album Circles, released posthumously early this year, is full of genre-bending grooves and melodies, most of which were the result of Mac’s musical ability and hunger to create that even surprised Jon Brion, the brilliant, veteran composer/producer who was brought in to finish the album. In a Vulture article from around the time of the album’s release, Brion was quoted saying, “He’s even better than I thought! And I already thought the world of him.” There is “genre-bending” that, historically, ends up feeling forced or contrived, creating a fleeting and silly product. Then there is what Mac was doing — an almost blissful ignorance and lack of awareness which effortlessly creates a new and timeless result. Along with Brion, “Blue World” was produced by one half of the Disclosure duo, Guy Lawrence. Miller, Brion and Lawrence take a barbershop quartet-style tune by the Four Freshmen and turn it into a glitchy yet smooth mid-tempo hip hip joint where Mac tells us, “Fuck the bullshit, I’m here to make it all better with a little music for you.” For as much as Mac wore his heart on his sleeve, he was always willing to offer good vibes — and we can learn from the duality. Take the good with the bad, and in the meantime, be kind to yourself — and listen to the brilliant music he left for us.
Yebba – Distance
For your after-hours session — the “late-night, cooking in the kitchen” hours, perhaps? –consider “Distance” by newcomer Yebba. With her debut album due later this year, the voice of the young Arkansas-born singer/songwriter is one that is rivaled by very few these days. With plenty of featured appearances on other artist’s songs (perhaps most notably, Chance the Rapper’s SNL performance of “Same Drugs”), Yebba — real name Abbey Smith — sang lead on three of Mark Ronson’s tracks for his 2019 album Late Night Feelings, which made Ronson the logical choice to produce her debut. With a murderer’s row of musicians behind her (including the same rhythm section from the brilliant D’Angelo albums — Pino Palladino on bass and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson on drums), she is poised to make a big splash. If this tune is any indication of what we’re going to get — simply put — the sky is the limit. Her voice manipulation and control are among some of the best I’ve ever heard, and fit seamlessly into the soothing and tender vibe of “Distance”, and there isn’t a note here that is questionable. There are several notable vocal runs that stop you in your tracks when she executes them (at the 1:42 and 2:45 marks, how did she do that?!), particularly in the final minute or so of the track, where she leans into the emotion and expertly displays her talent. Do NOT miss this one.
For the full official SlackieBrown Summer 2020 Barbecue Playlist, click here.
Connor Noetzel is a New York-based musician and songwriter for the band Corsaire, and SlackieBrown’s own podcast producer and co-host, as well as a contributing writer for the website.