1) The music of Yeah Yeah Yeahs / Somehow I barely grazed the YYY boat on its first go-round, but the act of playlisting has brought me in contact with their greatest hits and deepest cuts, all coming together to form one of the smarter, more visceral, sexier catalogs I’ve known.
2) Ethel Cain, “Fuck Me Eyes” / This single from Cain’s forthcoming album is somehow a fresh bit of synth-pop with stadium-rock aspirations, a sprawling narrative laced with incisive commentary about sexuality, attention and perception blending into reality. Aka the sort of song only Cain could pull off this way.
3) The music of Moses Sumney / Revisiting Sumney’s songs after reading more about him in Adam Moss’ book “The Work of Art,” I experienced newfound (but not wholly new) appreciation for the textures his work creates and the way he delivers compelling emotional and melodic ideas across those textures.
4) Sharon Olds, “Stag’s Leap” / Diving into the catalog of one of my partner’s favorite poets, and this 2012 collection cuts a separation both ways. Olds’ embodied, empathetic, often darkly comic work shows us nearly every side of a divorce without truly taking sides. This book aches, but in the most wondrous way.
5) Keetje Kuipers, “Lonely Women Make Good Lovers” / I breezed through Kuipers’ latest collection—but not for lack of substance. These poems are inviting, layered calls to consider sex, gender, marriage and the other webbed relationships that make and unmake us.