Showcase features run every weekend, putting up & coming bands into the spotlight here on PropertyOfZack. We’re happy to present a series of Showcase Playlists, curated by the emerging artists themselves. Listen to Spillway’s Playlist on Spotify while reading their thoughts below.
"The Physical World" - Death From Above 1979
It’s the last song on the album of the same title but it starts my playlist because this song gets me pumped. That punk verse could make me start a mosh pit even if it was 4am and I was buried under a pile of snow. It makes me want to break things, be they rules or bones. The outro is probably the greatest thing DFA1979 has ever done. If you want to dismiss their reunion as a cash-in, maybe you’re right; I don’t know them, I have no idea. If you want to dismiss the final 1:47 of this song, you’re a fool. It sounds like Chopin rose from the dead and decided to play punk rock on bass guitar, like the Paris level of Twisted Metal 2, like God spent years burying the best music inside the hearts of two weirdo Canadians who had to write 30 some odd songs to discover it.
"Purgatory" - Sulene
Take note of the name Sulene. This girl won Bayside’s cover contest, is acting as lead guitarist for Candy Hearts on their UK tour, and is one of the most talented people I’ve ever met - plus, she makes my heart melt, as a genuine and beautiful person. While her debut EP as a solo artist is a set of *good* pop punk songs, I’m looking forward to whatever she does next because everything I hear from her now is *great*. I often walk around thinking that people will forget about me and in a few years say “I remember when I knew him.” Sulene’s practically the only person in my life I think I’ll say “I remember when I knew her.”
"Boy" - Alex G
We’re actually playing with Alex G in Connecticut on October 6 and I’m stoked. My friend, the wonderful writer Sasha Geffen, blogged about this idea of capital letter lyrics that boldly say things that are silently being screamed inside. Three of her four examples were Elvis Depressedly (“IF THERE’S A COOL SPOT IN HELL, I HOPE YOU GET IT”), Against Me (“IF YOUNG HEARTS SHOULD EXPLODE FROM ALL THE LIES THEY’VE BEEN TOLD”), and Julia Brown (“I’VE TRIED TO MAKE A DEAL WITH GOD, I JUST WANT A BETTER LIFE FOR MY MOM”). The last example was this song - “I AM NOT THE BOY YOU KNEW.” There’s something inside of Alex G that just needs to be ripped out and shared, and I feel it too. I am not the boy you knew.
"No One Asked Bazan to Dance" - Deerhoof & David Bazan
I missed this release when it came out; the b-side is David Bazan re-doing “Gas & Matches”, a song he wrote as the under-appreciated Headphones. Deerhoof did an instrumental album and redid their own songs with random songwriters including Kevin from Of Montreal - but for the past month, this has been my favorite Bazan song. It has that weird jazzy thing that few bands of any kind really tackle but Deerhoof nails, and the added lyrics over what was originally an instrumental from ‘Deerhoof vs Evil’ add an air to it- it’s an odd thing, but it’s brilliant. “Everything stayed the same, except my brain.”
