Back in May, I was hit by two new songs that were so fun and noisy, I fell in immediate love. Tegan & Sara’s Boyfriend (and really the whole album that it comes off of) is pure, unabashed pop perfection that had me bouncing up and down. It’s like a Patrick Nagel painting coming to life (for people who don’t know who that is, it’s like if Adult Swim’s Moonbeam City hadn’t been a disappointment.) On the flip side of that was Tyler Glen’s Trash, a middle-finger salute to the Mormon Church. While the song is dark and full of angst and reverb, it’s layering of sound hit me in the exact same way as Boyfriend — a bunch of noisy pieces that add up to a fun whole in a way that normal band instruments just can’t capture. After eating up all my phone’s data playing them on Youtube while I drove, I decided to capture this wall-of-noise sound I wanted for my noisy summer.

In that vein, I brought together this collection. Here you’ll find a harmonious cacophony of beeps, riffs, beats, and jangles of noisy, schizophrenic songs that somehow come together. Since I’m usually the old fart of the music team, I tried to keep all of these songs current. (Army of Lovers just released a greatest hits with Crucify on it… totally counts.) We have a mix of electronic pop, shoe-gazey goodness and other random mashings of genres to make a playlist you’ll want to blow your speakers out with. For traditional folks, I also brought in Michigan folksy-rock Frontier Ruckus, who have consistently shown a talent for incorporating old instruments that modern music discards and blending them seamlessly into their mix. Paul Simon also shows up to shake off his Graceland-era sound for a new generation. Here’s to hoping you have a noisy summer, too.

 

Note: I actually went to school with the lead singer/guitar player for Frontier Ruckus from kindergarten to senior year of high school. I haven’t spoken to him in like 12 years, though so I don’t think this counts as nepotism or anything. Just don’t want to be accused of violating the ethics of beer-journalism.

 

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