Wednesday, March 25, 2020

BIG CHUNGUS 2019: The Big List

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| 100 - 81 || 80 - 61 || 60 - 41 || 40 - 21 || 20 - 1 |

| All 100 Songs |
We just noticed that we misspelled Chungus in the tag. Whoops.
[Edit: We fixed it.]

We're not sure if a big end-of-year list will happen here ever again. It's possible this was the last one. We've been wanting to wrap up this blog for a while. We'll continue the blog throughout 2020; if humanity still exists by the year's end, we'll strongly consider it.

We technically embedded to every possible Bandcamp link for every song, and we expect these artists to receive some serious ass cash flow. Support the artists! Buy all of their merch!!! Literally all of it!!!

With that said, please also follow the Spotify playlist. It sounds great at the gym:


100. Lil Nas X “Old Town Road” / Billie Eilish “Bad Guy”
99. Tool “Pneuma”
98. Otoboke Beaver “6 Day Working Week Is A Pain”
97. Palehound “Your Boyfriend’s Gun”
96. Zig Zags “Fallout”
95. 2 Player “Retro South”
94. Spice Boys “Dream Vendor” / Spice Boys f/ Boys “Think About You A Lot”
93. Slipknot “Unsainted”
92. Stephen Malkmus “Rushing The Acid Frat”
91. Saweetie “My Type” / Haroinfather f/ Savagegasp “Tunnel Of Love” / Willow "Wait A Minute"
90. Green Druid “The End of Men”
89. Ex Hex “Rainbow Shiner”
88. Neil Young + Crazy Horse “Help Me Lose My Mind”
87. Purple Mountains “Margaritas at the Mall”
86. Rammstein “Sex”
85. (Sandy) Alex G “Walk Away”
84. Denzel Curry f/ Rick Ross “Birdz”
83. Tropical Fuck Storm “Paradise”
82. Pendant “Through a Coil”
81. David Nance “Meanwhile”


80. Thee Oh Sees “Scutum & Scorpius”
79. Devil Master “Black Flame Candle”
78. YG “Bottle Service” / YG “In The Dark”
77. Sean Henry “Surf Song”
76. Big Bite “Blue Nine”
75. Georgia “Started Out”
74. Earl Sweatshirt “4N (Feat. Mach-Hommy)”
73. Lizzo f/ Missy Elliott “Tempo”
72. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib “Flat Tummy Tea”
71. Young Guv “Can I Luv U In My Own Way”
70. The Boyboy West Coast “U Was At The Club (Bottoms Up)”
69. Fuming Mouth “Visions of Purgatory”
68. Lil B “Task Force Let Us In”
67. Slipknot “Spiders”
66. Whitney “Valleys (My Love)”
65. (Sandy) Alex G “Hope”
64. Supermilk “Lycanthrope”
63. Glitterer “1001”
62. Wolf Whistle “Your Dog Lives (In Pomerania)”
61. Drake f/ Rick Ross “Money In The Grave”


60. Wicca Phase Springs Eternal “I Fell” / Code Orange “Let Me In”
59. Blood Incantation “Inner Paths (To Outer Space)”
58. Young Guv “Patterns Prevail”
57. Maren Morris “Girl”
56. Jute Gyte “Dissected Grace”
55. Ariana Grande f/ Social House “Boyfriend”
54. (Sandy) Alex G “Gretel”
53. Purple Mountains “All My Happiness Is Gone”
52. Carly Rae Jepsen “I’ll Be Your Girl”
51. CZ Wang and Neo Image f/ Separated At Birth “Just Off Wave”
50. MGMT “In The Afternoon”
49. Vertical Scratchers “Song of Earth”
48. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib “Crime Pays”
47. Nudie Mag “Please Be The One”
46. Palehound “Urban Drip”
45. Fury “Angels Over Berlin”
44. Desert Sessions “Something You Can’t See”
43. Maneka “Time In the Barrel”
42. DaBaby “BOP”
41. Hatchie “Without A Blush” / Hatchie “Unwanted Guest”


40. Spellling “Under The Sun”
39. Davila 666 “Huesos Viejos”
38. Curse Word “Pivot”
37. Carly Rae Jepsen “Automatically In Love”
36. Tyler The Creator “New Magic Wand”
35. Riot City “Livin’ Fast”
34. Kim Gordon "Air Bnb"
33. The Good Ones featuring Nels Cline "Where Did You Go Wrong, My Love"
32. Big Cheese “Write-Off”
31. Sikka Rymes "Shake Ya Body (Pumpy Riddim)"
30. Lil B “Get That Money Based Freestyle”
29. Cement Shoes “Unite the Right in Hell”
28. DaBaby “VIBEZ"
27. Wolf Whistle “Lawnmower Man”
26. ShittyBoyz “Game Breaker”
25. Grimes “My Name Is Dark (Art Mix)”
24. Steve Lacy "Playground"
23. Fury “Vacation”
22. Palehound “Bullshit”
21. Big Thief “Not”


20. Otoboke Beaver “Datsu. Hikage No Onna”
19. The Chats “Identity Theft”
18. Curse Word “Big Fingers”
17. Maneka “Never Nowhere”
16. Glitterer “Destiny”
15. DaBaby f/ Offset “Baby Sitter”
14. Three Knee Deep “Devil’s Playground”
13. Tyler The Creator “What’s Good”
12. Nilufer Yanya “In Your Head”
11. Nudie Mag “She’s A Star”
10. Holy Serpent “Marijuana Trench”
09. Hatchie “Obsessed”
08. Danny Brown “Combat”
07. Young Guv “Every Flower I See”
06. Denzel Curry “Ricky”
05. Big Thief “UFOF”
04. Sedona “More Love”
03. Kevin Krauter “Pretty Boy”
02. DaBaby “Suge”
01. Beak> “Life Goes On” / Beak> "We Can Go"


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Tuesday, March 24, 2020

BIG CHUNGUS 2019: #100 - 81


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100. Lil Nas X “Old Town Road” / Billie Eilish “Bad Guy”
We've been told that 2019 lists are meaningless boomer-fests without these two songs, so we tied them at #100. We've been waiting for the next MC Hammer for a while, and hey it finally happened. "Old Town Road" was the "U Can't Touch This" of 2019, and so that basically makes Billie Eilish the Sinead O'Connor of 2019; "Bad Guy" was her "Nothing Compares 2 U." "Panini" was basically "Pray" because it will be forgotten within 3 years even though it charted decently and scored some radio spins. (This is a stretch, but "Pray" and "Nothing Compares 2 U" share the Prince connection, while "Panini" and Eilish's aesthetic generated inadvertent Cobain comparisons.) To take it a step further, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was the I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got of 2019; both hit #1 for several weeks and received massive acclaim including Grammy recognition. Of course, this entails a strong contextual examination of label consolidation's affect on drastically shrunken rotation playlists and longevity of chart hits that don't receive radio spins; for example, "Bury A Friend" was a minor hit on modern rock stations, peaking at #26. Z100 didn't play it, nor did they play "The Emperor's New Clothes" back in 1990. Speaking of Grammys, "Old Town Road" and "U Can't Touch This" were both nominated for Record Of The Year. The main thread connecting all four artists is that they're all largely remembered for peaking with their immensely popular signature songs despite a multitude of false indications that these songs were about to spark much larger careers.



99. Tool “Pneuma”
I like to call this one "Me and the boys."



98. Otoboke Beaver “6 Day Working Week Is A Pain”


97. Palehound “Your Boyfriend’s Gun”



96. Zig Zags “Fallout”



95. 2 Player “Retro South”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4hptT0ihoE

94. Spice Boys “Dream Vendor” / Spice Boys f/ Boys “Think About You A Lot”



93. Slipknot “Unsainted”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpATBBRajP8

92. Stephen Malkmus “Rushing The Acid Frat”
Close enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDiqO5VhFPw

91. Saweetie “My Type” / Haroinfather f/ Savagegasp “Tunnel Of Love” / Willow "Wait A Minute"
It didn't take long for TikTok to start heading in the same direction as Facebook -- overtaken by moms and boomers and bad memes. But from January through August 2019, it almost felt like the second coming of Vine, combined with a new "alternative pop" radio format with several meme-ing hits that weren't really popular elsewhere. By the end of the year, "My Type" charted pretty well, but "Tunnel Of Love" never trended any higher than TikTok. The meme-ing deep cut from Willow's 2016 LP threw a serious curveball, although somehow not as leftfield as the slowed down Lana Del Rey cover. "Weird" as a brand could easily come back any time now.



90. Green Druid “The End of Men”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCO01p95ado

89. Ex Hex “Rainbow Shiner”


88. Neil Young + Crazy Horse “Help Me Lose My Mind”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmZvAbFtnwg

87. Purple Mountains “Margaritas at the Mall”


86. Rammstein “Sex”



85. Alex G “Walk Away”


84. Denzel Curry f/ Rick Ross “Birdz”



83. Tropical Fuck Storm “Paradise”



82. Pendant “Through a Coil”


81. David Nance “Meanwhile”



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BIG CHUNGUS 2019: #80 - 61

Show us all of the Big Chungus.

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80. Thee Oh Sees “Scutum & Scorpius”
Buttum and Borpius



79. Devil Master “Black Flame Candle”


78. YG “Bottle Service” / YG “In The Dark”



77. Sean Henry “Surf Song”


76. Big Bite “Blue Nine”



75. Georgia “Started Out”

No longer on Bandcamp. When will they learn?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFnnxmb7Z9g

74. Earl Sweatshirt “4N (Feat. Mach-Hommy)”


73. Lizzo f/ Missy Elliott “Tempo”

Oops wrong song lmao ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


72. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib “Flat Tummy Tea”



71. Young Guv “Can I Luv U In My Own Way”



70. The Boyboy West Coast “U Was At The Club (Bottoms Up)”
Anything we could possibly say about this is already in our review of the TikTok video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-l5Hn5hUuI

69. Fuming Mouth “Visions of Purgatory”


68. Lil B “Task Force Let Us In”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLhlWsHJmZY

67. Slipknot “Spiders”



66. Whitney “Valleys (My Love)”


65. (Sandy) Alex G “Hope”



64. Supermilk “Lycanthrope”
Bro knows Supermilk.



63. Glitterer “1001”
Zeros and ones never sounded so analog.


62. Wolf Whistle “Your Dog Lives (In Pomerania)”



61. Drake f/ Rick Ross “Money In The Grave”



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Monday, March 23, 2020

BIG CHUNGUS 2019: #60 - 41

Last page with blurbs. The other two are just memes and songs.

We don't remember how this was found but it's in reference to some other blog...

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60. Wicca Phase Springs Eternal “I Fell” / Code Orange “Let Me In”
As Bray Wyatt seized responsibility to turn up the horrorcore to 11 and usher his re-brand as The Fiend, he realized his previous entrance from The Jesus and Mary Chain would not be easy to follow. Wisely selected, Code Orange surpassed all expectations with bludgeoning grace. But our favorite between these two might be Darby Allin's "I Fell," arguably the best Marilyn Manson jam of the 2010s (fake Manson or otherwise). In the highly unlikely event of Darby and Fiend facing each other in the ring, we'd sadly place 4 to 5 odds in favor of The Fiend, although an upset would not disappoint.



59. Blood Incantation “Inner Paths (To Outer Space)”
Blood Incantation's "Great Gig In The Sky," the growing meditative mid-LP noise crusher. In Jayson Greene's review, he quotes the band saying it was “improvised 'on psychedelics over a period of several months' [evolving] entirely in unexpected leaps, dissolving into synthesizer washes and backmasked guitars and then plunging ahead, again, stirring up the primordial ooze."


58. Young Guv “Patterns Prevail”
Me and the boys.



57. Maren Morris “Girl”
Without hyperbole, our hopes for the Hero follow up were higher than Obama's cocaine blunts on a sunny Sunday 4:20. This means the hopes were very high. Criminally underrated (as was the case with far too many 2010s LPs), Hero is a rare "11 songs 11 singles" record that happened maybe once-per-year in the 2010s. In the meantime, we pretended "The Middle" didn't suck and maintained optimism. Now that she has an actual hit, this could potentially lead to huge crossover jams. We're gonna give Maren benefit of the doubt here. She's talented enough to write another Hero, so it must be the label's fault. "Can you make these songs suck more?" The power ballad title track sadly ended up as Girl's best song, eventually spinning on a 2-3 day loop in our brain-chemical-controlled playlist, so that should count for something. ("The Bones" is also fine and would have placed in the 101-200 range.)


56. Jute Gyte “Dissected Grace”



55. Ariana Grande f/ Social House “Boyfriend”
Time once again to reiterate how many years since summer radio drives didn't suck. Since we recall Summer 2013 so fondly, we're guessing it might have been the last decent summer for Top 40. It was the summer of "#Beautiful" and "The Way," Mariah Carey's final summer song and Ariana Grande's breakthrough single. We're guessing Mariah's diva/narcissist tendencies might prevent any officially cosigned "passing of the torch" moment, but Ariana Grande's singles have filled the void ever since, peaking in 2018 with "No Tears Left To Cry." Thank U Next dropped so quickly afterwards, leaving the summer radio landscape wide open. Social House saw their opportunity to capitalize with an obvious "Thank U Next" ripoff, and thank the good lord they did. We needed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SRxBTtspYM

54. (Sandy) Alex G “Gretel”


53. Purple Mountains “All My Happiness Is Gone”


52. Carly Rae Jepsen “I’ll Be Your Girl”
Hot challenge: Locate the true 3/4 waltzes of chart hits. Apparently, Ed Sheeran had a huge hit about two years ago with a song called "Perfect" that was the 15th biggest song of the decade. We love "Kiss From A Rose" and "Iris." We do not love Edwin McCain or Lifehouse. An old Paramore single called "The Only Exception" came up.

Question: What do all of these tracks have in common? The answer: Despite Google's insistence, none of these are true waltzes. They're all played in a slow 6/8 emphasizing kick on the 1 and snare on the 2 -- a less challenging time signature to market and sell to the shmaltz-core wedding-ballad demographic. Both a true waltz and decidedly non-shmaltz, "I'll Be Your Girl" uses the odd timing to hint an overtone of endearing awkwardness. A long time ago in the midst of Weezer's 6/8-heavy Pinkerton era, "No Other One" became their lone true waltz - equally endearing and awkward, but way clumsier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqBGjbpzpl4

51. CZ Wang and Neo Image f/ Separated At Birth “Just Off Wave”



50. MGMT “In The Afternoon”
Faint / Up against your way-hail / Through the thick and thayl / You will wait untay-hayl


49. Vertical Scratchers “Song of Earth”



48. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib “Crime Pays”



47. Nudie Mag “Please Be The One”



46. Palehound “Urban Drip”
Fun game: Sing Steve Lacy's "Playground" replacing the word "Playground" for "Palehound." Lemme tell ya somethin: this thing works. (Note: We have never tried this.)

Part of us is hoping that we never figure out the mysteriously specific but hard-to-place production reference in "Urban Drip." It's definitely from a singer-songwriter late-'60s or '70s, ie, Wings, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, etc. Whatever it is, we haven't heard any other band nail it with as much conviction in the past 3 or 4 decades of music. Serious skillz to pay the billz.


45. Fury “Angels Over Berlin”


44. Desert Sessions “Something You Can’t See”
Scissor Sisters dude sings this one. We forget which one he is. Pretty sure we liked this better than Like Clockwork or Villians. We're curious to know, what exactly are the 11 or 12 people involved in this project so busy with? What was preventing them from carving out an extra week or two so that the first Desert Sessions record since 2003 didn't have to be 7-and-a-half songs long? Where's the love? Can they do another one of these ASAP?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8XIOz5E5ug

43. Maneka “Time In the Barrel”
Maneka has played "Time In The Barrel" live only once, at their album release show last July. Can they bring it back? No one minds that the one little part sounds like "Drain You." In fact, the jam holds up, especially the free noise section in the middle. A Rick and Morty reference regarding cancel-culture may or may not have influenced the song title and lyrics, although we had trouble locating a more specific origin. No disrespect to Jim Croce. Meanwhile, Bojack (the character, not the show) got sentenced to some literal-ass barrel time, with Princess Carolyn erroneously theorizing that "people forget." [Kobe rant redacted.] Yeah anyway... Maneka! Great band! Serious bangers! Open up the pit!


42. DaBaby “BOP”



41. Hatchie “Without A Blush” / Hatchie “Unwanted Guest”




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Friday, March 20, 2020

BIG CHUNGUS 2019: #40 - 21


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There were once many fish in the sea of record labels. Between the early '60s and the early '00s, lots of hits charted year after year. Among the career artists, there were these things called "one hit wonders" where an artist or band would chart only once with their signature song. These existed alongside "one album wonders," a slightly longer event when an artist or band would ride a wave of chart-hit momentum that lasted roughly one-and-a-half album cycles. And throughout this span of history, one hit wonders and one album wonders could co-exist alongside career artists, generating an excitingly varied rotation of radio formats that prominently featured new music, i.e. Top 40, hiphop, and modern rock.

Today, the only remaining fish in the sea are Sony, Warner, and Universal. These are the big ones who consumed or crushed the smaller fishies. Consolidation has no use for "one hit" or "one album." Radio consolidation complies by staying in their lane, never deviating for sounds that veer outside the incessantly vanilla stream. This machine maintains 100% control over painfully slow moving chart rotation and rejection of anything even slightly edgy. It's this structure that purposely prevents another Beatles- or Nirvana-moment from happening ever again, in favor of Billboard's myriad record-breaking streaks that typically define eras with the least mainstream spontaneity or creativity.

The three labels also love that "OK boomer" can so effectively dismiss anyone questioning the status quo. Are you negatively critiquing something new? You must be old and out of touch.

Consider that fans of new music actually want to enjoy new stuff. No one becomes a hater by choice. Only a masochist would turn on the radio in hopes of discovering something they hate. Music fans crave new sounds. They want excitement and fun to return to the worlds of charting hiphop, R&B, pop, and rock music while patiently awaiting true curation alternatives beyond Pitchfork, Stereogum, Rolling Stone, SiriusXMU, All Songs Considered, or the myriad of Spotify playlists continuing to push capitalism-indie, market-tested millennial whoops, and boardroom-approved Arcade Fire derivatives.

A long time ago, we heard John Peel describe his radio show (paraphrased) as "a combination stuff you think people will like with stuff you know people will like." And we think that's a good philosophy for how to throw together the Big Chungas -- ordering the "best of 2019" in method that feels like the best possible recommendations for wide appeal. But aside from this, the mix intentionally ranges from artists with million dollar PR to self-funded unsigned Bandcamp releases, and everything in between. It seems like the most solid method for getting people to notice the lesser known artists in between the ones they already recognize. For whatever reason, this has remained our entirely arbitrary methodology since this blog's inception.

Today, we continue offering this alternative to anyone who wants it. We know you're out there.

Buy local. Support unsigned bands. Support independent music. Especially now!

Proudly presenting yet another 20 of the biggest of the big chungus of 2019. Two months late, as usual. Non-garbage edition:

40. Spellling “Under The Sun”


39. Davila 666 “Huesos Viejos”


38. Curse Word “Pivot”


37. Carly Rae Jepsen “Automatically In Love”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15n1DoNJMJU

36. Tyler The Creator “New Magic Wand”


35. Riot City “Livin’ Fast”



34. Kim Gordon "Air Bnb"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jhhzy7vr8A

33. The Good Ones featuring Nels Cline "Where Did You Go Wrong, My Love"


32. Big Cheese “Write-Off”



31. Sikka Rymes "Shake Ya Body (Pumpy Riddim)"


30. Lil B “Get That Money Based Freestyle”
2019 will be remembered as the only year when rap/country hybrids didn't make eardrums bleed. [The] latest and possibly final submission to this narrow 5-6 song canon arrived a few weeks ago from none other than Lil B The Based God, deep in his Hunchback of BasedGod mixtape.

Our prediction from last October seems solid; Lil B may have locked the thread, despite multiple headlines attempting to brand various garbage as The "Old Town Road of 2020" when they really should be searching for "Old Town Road's answer to Ice Ice Baby." It doesn't have to be good - just fun and wacky and catchy with cross-generation appeal. In this respect, "Get That Money Based Freestyle" is more like "Old Town Road's answer to Just A Friend."


29. Cement Shoes “Unite the Right in Hell”
Detonate the vest.



28. DaBaby “VIBEZ"
"My bad."



27. Wolf Whistle “Lawnmower Man”



26. ShittyBoyz “Game Breaker”

Pipe Bomb Annotated on RapGenius
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvSGfBKLbbg

25. Grimes “My Name Is Dark (Art Mix)”
The hot takes are in. Mostly plagiarized from the pod.
• "This is what it sounds like to have Elon Musk cum inside of you. BNM."
• Before tracking vocals, it's typically best practice to remove Kenny McCormick's jacket. Maybe she forgot.
• Self-described under the oddly apt "ethereal nu-metal" descriptor, it's not a huge stretch to imagine Grimes' vocals swapped for Jonathan Davis', complete with the breakbeat from "Make Me Bad" or "Falling Away From Me" layered with optional record scratching.
• Long removed from 4-band bills at Great Scott or Shea Stadium, her memories of these shows were surgically removed along with the area of her cornea that used to process the color blue.
• If she was striving for "apocalyptic," mission accomplished, and not a moment too soon. We don't really care about her earlier songs at all. Stick to nu-metal.


24. Steve Lacy "Playground"
This would've been a lock for Top 20 had Steve Lacy remembered to write and record an ending. The bridge builds some nice momentum, and then the song just ends? That's it? Anyway, let's talk about the positive side to crack. What about the good side? We're making this up as we go: The four points on the funk-spectrum are Cocaine, Weed, Satan, and Jesus. Wicked Witch is Satanik Cocaine Funk; Parliament Funkadelic is on the opposite end, the Jesus Weed Funk. We need to hear more of Steve Lacy's Grammy Nominated Apollo XXI (released in tandem with his 21st Apollo journey). If "Playground" is any indication, its x,y axis rests around 3,2 (or Weed,Neutral).


23. Fury “Vacation”
No big surprise: The #1 rock radio song of the 2010s was not by Imagine Dragons nor Portugal The Man, but in fact it was "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - a song from motherfucking nineteen-ninety-one. Loud rock bands like Fury and Windhand understand the power of that huge Jack Endino sound - the one that made Nevermind such a classic - and accordingly pulled him aboard to handle sound engineering duties. "Vacation" is right. We need a vacation from iHeart's glockenspiel-heavy version of "rock."

By the way, the top 5 rock radio songs of the 2010s also included "Man In A Box," "Come As You Are," "Plush" and "Even Flow." No glaring suggestions here. None at all, unless radio programmers and promoters want to continue ignoring how hard these statistics are screaming in their faces: Rock radio listeners want actual rock music. They crave a true alternative playlisting format pulling at least SOME of their rotation from labels like Run For Cover, Anti-, Relapse, Epitaph, Fat Possum, Triple B, Exploding In Sound, and the like. Substituting Spotify spins as market research is clearly not working. Bands as good as Fury should be fucking huge. How much longer will this era fuel Boomers and Gen X'ers complaints about how "rock is dead" while none of them have heard bands like Fury? Are they basing this entirely off the Andrew Bird soundalikes from the Target commercials?


22. Palehound “Bullshit”



21. Big Thief “Not”
We had a lot of fun this past Fall seeing so many "guitar solos are bad" poptimists publicly losing their shit over the long version of "Not." Now THAT'S how you play an anti-solo, arranged to arrive at the correct moment for the perfect length with all the dopeness one should expect from all those "wrong" notes. It's one of those infrequent moments from the past few years of music that zoomers and millennials didn't realize they wanted or needed, arguably expressing just as much without lyrics as Adrienne Lenker could gather throughout the song's first section, and securing a lock for the highest placement just outside our Top 20. (Yes, there's a 4-minute edit with no solo. Maybe their management suggested this to ensure more scrobbles, but otherwise it's unclear why this exists.)


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