1. |
Milk Flud - Big Smile
03:32
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This is probably my favorite Milk Flud song. To me, it is the culmination of his production style, his lyrics, and his vocal delivery. It’s got the hook, it’s got the one liners, and it’s got the glacial cool that never seems to slip too far from Milk’s persona. A true legend in the flesh, we should all be grateful to walk planet Earth at the same time as Milk Flud. He’s got a new album coming out this year that made me go on a songwriting bender for seven days after I heard it for the first time, and never once did I come close to encapsulating the magic and mystic that Milk effortlessly plugs into all of his art.
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2. |
Jake Lee - Call Lean
02:39
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Jake Lee, FKA Bleeding Gums Murphy and the bassist of Walter Etc., was always known for infectious melodies, quality lyrics, and instant bangers. But narrative lyrics telling a story? This is new! Jake’s Group Picture addition tells the tale of his relationship with his 80 something salt-of-the-earth landlord in the Mission District of San Francisco. How could a song about your landlord be simultaneously interesting, endearing, and funny? It takes a certain amount of talent to accomplish that, and Jake has proved time and time again that he is as good, if not the best, songwriter of the MNE-verse.
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You kidding me, Jimmy? Somewhere in New Hampshire or Connecticut (or I don’t know I can never keep track of this dude) is a handsome genius patiently waiting to be our generation’s Paul Simon, Paul McCartney or Pauly Shore. Time will tell which one. Known for his tweets and booty shaking in Perspective a Lovely Hand To Hold, Jimmy aka James IRL, released an incredible record this year called Casual Use, and this song seems to pick up right where that record left off, maintaining all of it’s greatest qualities- sophisticated, soothing, and saucy.
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Santa Barbara porch rockers, Queentide, stole all our hearts with their songs about the beach, the brews, and the boys and now they are back with more relatable content- the rent is too damn high! This song is immediately so catchy- the harmonized vocals in the chorus make you feel like The Beach Boy’s girlfriends had a mutiny and started a band that was way better than The Beach Boys- and with the lo-fi demo quality production to boot? All hail Queentide!
Signed a lease today for a brand new house
its got big back yard and granite countertops
and its too damn nice for me and my friends
but I'd rather go broke than keep searching craigslist
Oh, what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
Oh, what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
Well I'm too broke to pay my rent
and I'm too damn young to move in with my man
it seems, I didn't pick the most lucrative dreams
My mind's a messy desk drawer of shit I don't need
and it didn't get better when I stopped smoking weed
I don't need a nice house or a 401K
Just a place to lay down at the end of the day
Oh, what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
Oh, what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
Looks like a bomb went off in the back of my car
left my passport in a jacket that I lost at a bar
there's a big black hole where my money should be
but hey, those granite countertops are pretty sweet
Oh, what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
Oh, what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
what have I done
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5. |
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We’ve been corresponding with the Poggioli Bros for about as long as MNE has existed. Always across the country in the Philly area, we’ve only interacted in short spurts at shows once a year or in brief DMs. Over the years, Milk and I noticed that our pals the Poggioli Bros were making their own music, and it was pretty good! Fast forward to the first time I heard “The Goodest Boys and Girls” and I was blown away by Michael’s talent. Then when he first showed me “Pomegranate”, I think my jaw literally dropped. It makes me wish I was depressed this winter and listening to this on repeat, but instead I am actually pretty happy because I get to say I knew Michael Poggioli before he was way too successful and busy for minuscule MNE.
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Vagrant Sabbatical, AKA IRL Dan Fullham, has carried the torch as MNE's Kerouac the past few years. He was constantly on the go all around the US (even Hawaii for a while?) until recently settling outside Mendocino, CA amongst the giant redwoods and ancient ferns. When we first met Dan on tour in Vermont (2014?) he sent us his novel he wrote. I read about 3/4ths of it on my iphone in the van and was in awe of this young dude's intellect and writing skills. Nowadays, Dan's perfected that writing skill to the point where I listen to his songs as more than songs- they are poetry and they are philosophy. As he's partially settled amongst the redwoods, I have a feeling he will be recording more Vagrant Sabbatical music, which is good in that I will have more of Dan's music in my life, but bad in that there will be further documentation of how far Dan's intellect has surpassed mine.
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7. |
Dry Goods - Untether
02:34
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There he is, Russell Park, the suburban cowboy of Dry Goods / Weston Bookhouse / Walter Mitty / Etc. has returned to GP this year with a beautiful, and quintessential Dry Goods track. Metaphors about nature? Check. Sound bites from a movie I don’t know? Check. Chill shaker and slide guitar? Of course. But this track has more that just “the DG works”. It has the stature of someone who is comfortable in their own shoes; someone who knows their style, has mastered it, and revels in their comfort of craft. Russell resides in Sacramento now and if the solitude of a new city means anything, it means new Dry Goods on the horizon (let us pray).
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Ripe out of the San Fernando Valley is our pals Banned From Japan. Holding it down for the “actual band” corner of the MNE-verse, BFJ could usually be counted on to add a 90’s skate punk aesthetic to our group picture, and while this year’s “23 Hr. Drive-Thru” is still within a stone’s throw of that, it feels more like the mid-tempo / cleaner tone song on a punk album that ages better than the rest. I’m bobbing my head while singer Matthew Earl sings “she’s no post-modern moral relativism / but sure she knows how to lie” and I’m like yes BFJ! We love the new vibe and can’t wait to see where they take their sound from here.
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9. |
Skate Stance - Gunner
03:49
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We have reached the era of Group Picture where the long-time-listener-first-time-callers have arrived to show us all that the old guard is fine, but there is a new crop that has talent and passion and something to say. Skate Stance, aka Josh Poggioli out of Washington DC, is exactly that new guard. Debuting on Group Picture with this catchy ethereal minimalist gold, Skate Stance makes me want to delete everything I’ve ever made and start from scratch, in hopes I can embody at least a morsel of the quality of “Gunner”.
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10. |
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Gracing us from the Great Northern Kingdom, AKA the Pacific Northwest, Ali Muhareb is a long time MNE comrade and a source of inspiration to its founding fathers. Ali has a knack for blending pleasant melodies and sincere noise into some truly unique productions. He shared with us that Covid “fucked me up creatively” but playing the baglama saz again has really helped him get out of his funk. This was his first song he wrote since Covid! Welcome back to the sad side, Ali.
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It seems in his recent move from Seattle to LA, Chase Hoyt aka Lunchtime :) has not lost a bit of his renowned icy synth psychedelia. In “Giving Up the Light” we are blessed with demonically melodic verses, a hook fit for both the bedroom headphones and the arena speakers, and a classic Lunchtime :) ripper of a guitar lead- but this time drenched in wah! There is a reason Hoyt and all his projects have been warmly welcome on GP year after year, and with his new life in the City of Adult Children, I think there is only good things to come from this demon.
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12. |
Trash Bike - IDKMe
04:20
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Um, excuse me God? Who is this angel that goes by Trash Bike? Somewhere up in the endless rain of Portland, OR this angel emerges every year caressing his guitar like it’s a golden harp and crooning so soft and melodic that it makes the hairs on your neck stand up. God, why does this angel only croon for Group Picture? I mean, we are honored, but can we get an EP of this shit? Oh wait this is Brennan Facchino of Blowout / Donkey Lips / Walter? That guy Bread?? Ummm, ok we’ll still take the EP. Thank you.
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Lil Sticc wowed us all on her Group Picture 9 debut with a song about her cat and a moth. It was such a simple concept, but so so catchy and memorable. She followed up even harder the next year with "Commocean Ave", a tune depicting the shenanigans around her neighborhood and her laissez-faire attitude toward it. Again, so simple, yet so memorable. This year, she has pulled off the unthinkable: a hat trick. This indie-pop-reggae tune about her new life as a dog owner has me tapping my toes, singing along, and contemplating- Is her Lisa Frank meets Snoop Dogg aesthetic tongue in cheek or sincere? I think it falls right in between. Not tongue in cheek; just tongue. A true meta-modern pioneer- we stan Lil Sticc.
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Somewhere in New Hampshire there is a tortured artist named Chet Wasted. Known as Jacob McCabe IRL, and usually found fronting the revered Perspective, A Lovely Hand To Hold, Chet seems anything but wasted in his solo music. Between his caressing croon and that sticky staccato piano, I feel like I am nodding off into the smoothest sleep of my winter. Also some of these chords and harmony layers make me wonder- is this guy classically trained? Is this too high brow for MNE? Welcome back to the comp, Chet. We need your tunes to keep raising the bar around here!
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15. |
Hooplah! - After Again
03:26
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Up in Oakland, CA resides Colin Frost, a longtime MNE comrade but only a recent GP staple. He caught our attention last year with his contagious “I can be a rock staaaar” hook (which still gets stuck in my head monthly) and has returned this year with the sneaky left hand hook of “After Again”. Between the cool production, the lovable vocals, and lines like “a rotten double helix twist” Hooplah has proved they are certainly not a GP one-hit-wonder!!!
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Dakota Loesch is a forever idol to us. Followers of the MNE-verse will know that Dakota's band Animal City originally stole our hearts and brains when Milk and I met them on our first full US tour in St. Louis in 2010. Since then, Dakota's music, lyrics, writing, videos, fashion, acting and general persona have been an endless well of inspiration for Milk and I. I admit I've shamelessly ripped off their ideas and words more times than I can remember. But nowadays, there is a higher source of inspiration that I take from Dakota. It's the fact that they never fucking stop. I saw Dakota a couple years ago at an immersive theatre performance they did in LA and we talked about collabing on some music. Before I even got back to Ventura they had emailed us like a dozen songs. I was so involved and slow at my own musical projects that I don't think I even emailed back! Always felt bad about that, but honestly that's what I mean- just can't keep up with them!!! While I try to finish one lousy song, Dakota has made like 4 movies, 3 EP's and a dozen new friends. All we can do is try our best to ride in their wake. Cheers to a legend.
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Coming straight out of the maternity ward (do husbands go to the maternity ward?), 10 year Group Pic alumni Humphrey Orlando hands over another piece of his soul this year. With an interesting call and response vocal production that mirrors the drunken voices in Humphrey’s head, Orlando’s snake charm voice and messy wisdom is on full display here. Congrats to Humphrey for being the first male to birth a daughter, Lottie Grace, and check out his album released on MNE last year - Margaret!
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18. |
Emo Dreamboat - Red Jeep
02:04
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IMHO, Emo Dreamboat is the epitome of a pure artist. The dude, AKA IRL Benjamin Ward, has been writing music since he was a teenager, contributing to the MNE-verse through projects such as Portland’s pop punk underdog, Hemingway, and now New York’s emo rap underdog, Emo Dreamboat. Yet, although fortune and fame has (I think?) eluded him, the dude continues to endlessly put out raw and thoughtful gems in all shapes and styles. Not only that, he even has zines of poetry and journalling that sit dusty on a shelf, and videos and narrative films that rot online with too few views. Does the guy care? Well, he has been dubbed the “Michael Jordan of burying emotions”, so who knows, but while the rest of us cry and whine for mass approval, Benny is silently dropping singles, month after month, as if the act of creating itself will always be enough to keep the Emo Dreamboat afloat.
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19. |
Walter X - Caterpillars
01:55
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The MNE-verse is so deep that we even have a Walter Mitty / Etc. melodic hardcore cover “band” that exists solely in the MNE-verse. The band is a one man show by Michael Mahaffie, a video editor by day and vigilante solo artist by night. Dwelling in the midst of the chaos that is Los Angeles, Michael is somehow always cool as a cucumber whenever I see him- quite the opposite of his chugging distorted cover of Caterpillars.
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20. |
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Toasty P doesn’t try to be mysterious, but for some reason he is. How does he write such memorable songs? How does he sing so deep, warm and smooth? How does he come up with these beautiful musical arrangements? We were wise to buy stock in Toast at a young age, and our investment continues to pay dividends as Toast has had a major influence in the production of MNE albums such as Always Leaving EP, Margaret, Pizza, and a handful of Group Picture bangers. Fingers crossed we can finally get a Toasty P solo album to grace the MNE catalogue this year!
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While MNE is often overflowing with solo bedroom recording artists, San Francisco’s Sure, Man carries the torch for actual get-in-the-basement-and-jam-it-out bands. This song “Oscillation Palace” is a great example. As frontman Alex Maddox put it to me “every song is a freestyle”, and in this iPhone demo you can hear the Sure, Man creative process in mid-swing. The band fluidly jams (and not just that elementary ~stick to one chord progression and beat~ jam) while Maddox rattles off this improvised story about a gender-fluid baker oscillating between gender identities, a subject matter he explores in real time without stumbling. The song has highs, lows, tangles and tangents and wraps itself up in a neat crescendo bow as if the spontaneity was planned all along. Cheers to Sure, Man for keeping the band alive.
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22. |
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Ya we all love the guy but damn wtf is this?!
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23. |
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Sour Guy, MNE’s musical genie Kris Schobert, is actually the Sweetest Guy IRL. Year after year he drops his quirky and heartfelt odes to family members, toothaches, his students and his past self. This year he comes to the party carrying a tune that empathizes with his Nepalese family friend in a time of medical and financial hardship in America. Kris, for all the positivity he radiates, is no stranger to hardship and tragedy in his own life; so when he sings lines like “health fractures families and costs you dreams” his perspective is direct and authentic. This song has some of the most beautiful lyrics any of us have ever written, and paired with Kris’ inability to write and sing anything without 100% raw heart… I am crying on Christmas morning.
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Making New Enemies California
www.makingnewenemies.org
Art Collective / Utopian Cult /
Soul Posse
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