There’s a common cliche that says every song is either about love or death. I think the worst thing about love is that it inspires people to want to make music and most people are terrible songwriters. I’ve noticed lately that a lot of people include Venmo links in their Instagram bios. I’m sure its tempting, but Stephanie has 300 followers and a profile whose content consists of like seven selfies posted over the course of four years. Who stumbles upon her page and feels the insatiable desire to wire her 20 bucks? Keep in mind I’m speaking specifically about Venmo, not something like Patreon [a subscription service that helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers Wikipedia). There are no feet pics locked behind a paywall in this scenario. Normally, I don’t give money to causes online. I’m pretty desensitized to caring about things in general. I have no intention of donating money to contribute to Brandon’s pay-my-rent kickstarter. I did, however, give $30 to the lady who started a GoFundMe trying to raise money to buy a bison skull so she could put a hex on Brett Kavanaugh. Watching the January 6th hearings, they showed segments of Rudy Giuliani’s deposition, and then Rachel Maddow debated with her guest pundits, speculating as to weather Giulliani had perjured himself. You idiots! Everyone knows the best way to get Rudy to tell the truth is to offer him $200 on Cameo, where you can get personalized videos from thousands of celebraties. Also, I find it incredibly convenient that the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe (and Clarence Thomas’ follow-up statement regarding contraception and LGBTQ rights) was coincidentally released in a manner that took attention away from the January 6th hearings, while the very same January 6 committee is currently investigating Clarence Thomas’s wife. I don’t have a joke for that, it’s just whack as heck. Last night I googled “why am I so lonely� and 20 minutes later an NSA agent showed up with flowers and chocolates. Long Distance Listening Party VOL. 12 This playlist is available on Spotify. Search “Long Distance Listening Party� or my username, Mileserickson-354. Ball of the Dead Rat. The Teeth Since You Were Not Mine, She Drew The Gun Ballrooms of Mars, T. Rex Magenta Mountain, King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard Midnight Surprise, Lightspeed Champion Girlie, Alexandra Savior It’s Gonna Be (Alright), Ween Mind Games, John Lennon Manhattan, Cat Power I always love me a good rock organ. The vocals remind me of a drunk guy trying to work out his post-breakup emotions through karaoke. I can appreciate that. The singing kind of has that “dad trying to sing the frozen sound track because his daughter asked him to and he’s trying his best but not totally nailing it� vibe. I’ve noticed that most of my favorite songs have these slight imperfections that give it character. Ween is a great example of this because most of their songs are a complete mess, even the good ones, and yet they’re one of my favorite bands. I appreciate the raw emotion. Magenta Mountain King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard. King Gizzard has appeared on this playlist three times now. They’re one of those bands that has just a ridiculously large discography featuring a wide variety of genres. They basically founded the Australian modern psychedelic rock scene. They rocked so Tame Impala could run (Sorry, that may well be the worst thing I’ve ever written). The minimalistic synth melody isn’t exactly an earworm but it’s definitely easy to listen to, and I’m sure King Gizzard feels like same way because they milk that melody for all its worth, structuring the entire song around it. This song is definitely a people pleaser, which is not the norm when compared to the rest of King Gizzard’s discography. Magenta Mountain dips its toes into the waters of popular music while still maintaining their psychedelic roots. Girlie, Alexandra Savior. In volume 11 I made pretty strong comparisons between Alexandra Savior and Lana Del Ray. I’m not totally walking that back but I would like to expand on it. Savior is clearly inspired by Del Ray, their voices are extremely similar, and aesthetically they are very much alike. Where Savior distinguishes herself is in the structure of her songs and in the way she takes a somewhat different disposition with her vocals. A lot of Del Ray’s music features these sort of marching-haunting and ghostly vocals (I say that in the objective sense, not sentimentality). Savior replicates this somewhat but her vocals are more on the Billie Eilish side of the moody teenage girl music scale. A lot of Del Ray’s music has very little structure, she sings in these long drawling verses in songs that often feature no chorus and feel somewhat improvisational. Savior’s music is structured in a way that is closer to your common sad, romantic pop song and is more comparable to artists like Fay Webster, or even Orion Sun. A lot of that is in the drumbeat, something Del Ray rarely uses. Instead, her vocals are often accompanied only by rhythmic pianos. Also, while doing research to back up some of the statements I’ve just made, I found out that Lana Del Ray’s Born to Die is ten years old. After reading this, I immediately grew a long, gray beard, looked up and realized that Sean Hannity was on my TV. I tried to scream but was unable to because my mouth was full of tapioca pudding because I am an old man now, apparently. A few years ago, I watched Lana preform at Hollywood Forever cemetery, I feel like the next time I see her there it’s going to be because we’re buried next to each other. Manhattan, Cat Power. “Manhattan� by Cat Power is one of those songs that has been considered for every volume of Long Distance Listening Party but cut at the last minute for something else. Another example of this would be “Talk Talk� by Talk Talk, which will almost certainly appear in an upcoming article when I need to fill out the song list. The minimalistic drums and rhythm piano, paired with jaded soft vocals, remind me a lot of Lorde. I think it would be fair to call Lorde a contemporary of artists like Cat Power. Cat Power is most well known for her covers of songs like “Sea of Love,� “Stay,� and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,� but she’s an extremely talented song writer and doesn’t get nearly enough credit for her non-cover songs. Miles Erickson is a recent graduate of CalArts, published author, and currently enrolled in a prestigious, four-year, student loan repayment program Long Distance Listening Party’s vague intention is to discuss topics framed in the context of what I’m currently listening to.