Lazy Girl Does Her MOPOP Homework
"I am pleased to announce that I listened to 10ish WHOLE ALBUMS in preparation for MO POP Festival."
by Nadia Ayad
Published
Every time I get tickets to a show or festival I make a huge playlist to prepare then get busy/lazy and resort to my usual stuff, which lately has been a playlist of a few really inappropriate hip hop songs. While I still haven’t figured out where I’m going to sleep in Detroit tomorrow night, I did do a ton of preparation by checking out a bunch of new releases (and old releases I hadn’t listened to yet) by artists playing this weekend.
I am probably one of the only people in AROUSE who doesn’t always listen to albums in their entirety (and will publicly admit it). To anyone who’s offended by my heinous behavior, I am trying to change, I promise. If you’re pissed at me, don’t click a new page just yet—because I am pleased to announce that I listened to 10ish WHOLE ALBUMS in preparation for MO POP.
However, if you’re looking for written reviews of those albums, go ahead and visit a new page.
I will tell you about a few songs I loved from my extensive work.
I made a comprehensive playlist of favs, but here are my favorite favs.
Photo: Northern Transmissions
I’ve been a half-assed Wavves fan for a while now, mostly because they have a special place in my heart for exposing me to punky stuff before my palette was ready for it. Even if you’re not a huge Wavves fan, you can’t deny their Make-U-Wanna-Mosh hits like “Nine is God” or “King of the Beach”. Million Enemies is catchy as hell, and I really hope some movie doesn’t use it as its trailer’s theme song. The song would be perfect for that sort of thing, but then I would hate it.
The song starts with some screeching that’s reminiscent of Robert Plant, which immediately caught my attention. Then about halfway through—a terrifying woman’s voice starts mumbling possessed-sounding gargles. If you’re suuuuper on the fence about Alt-J, try this song. It’s perfectly Alt-J-weird but also really garagey and cool.
Foster The People does heavy bass? Harden the Paint sounds similar to stuff you’d hear from Phantogram and I am not mad. I would argue it’s the best song on Sacred Hearts Club, just because it’s not Foster The People’s usual sound, but it still really works.
I was super excited when I noticed Jay Som on the lineup, especially after reading this amazing article. “Rush” is simple, romantic, and totally infectious. It’s a dreamy song you want to listen to outside in the sun.
This might make me sound like an old person, but I had been seeing this name “Amine” around everywhere and have been curious (but lazy, so I never looked up what type of music he made). After listening to some of his stuff, I come across the 2016 single “Caroline”. I thought to myself, “wait, is this THAT Caroline? The ‘Gory like a Tarantino movie’ Caroline?”
My inner snob rolled her eyes, but then I remembered Caroline is low key a banger. You know what else is a banger? REDMERCEDES remix. I immediately played it super loud in the car with my little sister. She hated the song’s high pitch, repeated siren noise, and I hated her for trying to say this song was bad.
Photo: Spin Magazine
So I know Run the Jewels 3 is old news now, but TBH I never checked it out until a few days ago when my other sister’s boyfriend’s mom told me she loves “Ticketron” and I felt super not-hip. If you couldn’t guess by the title, this song is super spacey, robotic, and I can’t stop playing it. I bet that once you hear Killer Mike say, “I'm the shama lama doo ma lama danger dick'll do your mama”, you’ll be hooked too.
Stef’s charming, twangy, ambiguous lyrics paired with grungy but beachy guitar riffs captured my heart. I’m most excited to hear her play “Faded Heart”. TBH I really wish I had her entire album “Messes” in my repertoire sooner so I could play it all summer. 😦
I got lucky because Flower Boy came out during my super productive phase of music exploration. I was on another level on July 20th and listened to the whole thing, in order, within minutes of it being released. I really love this album. I Ain’t Got Time! was already out when I listened to the album, but it’s one of my favorite songs. I’m also a big sucker for any hip hop song that samples anything that sounds Arabic/Southeast Asian.
Nadia Ayad studies Industrial Design at Ohio State, and is host to The Study Session on AROUSE, and will be providing official coverage on the official AROUSE twitter.