First HI 5 of the new year… and it’s gonna be a HI 10. Probably not gonna be a ton of these this year because, incoming baby. So, enjoy what you get I guess. Hold up both hands this time its….
June Henry “sega dreamcast” Jan 5
June Henry’s music carries a intimate lo-fi soul that reaches through the music. There’s a melancholy nostalgia to this track that feels appropriate to the ill-fated console it’s named after.
Amigo the Devil “The Mechanic” Jan 12
This song is fucking devastating. I know not everyone is a really listen to the lyrics person, but please do so for this song and then go cry a bit.
Tim Kish “Maybe” Jan 2
This song is a certified banger, I love the build, I love the melody, I love that it makes me shake my ass. Good indie pop is like candy. This is that.
Frontier Ruckus “I’m Not The Boy” Jan 31
I am the boy/man that really digs the extended soloing in this song. The acoustic guitar into banjo into horns into full is just *chefs kiss*
Chaepter “Post-Touch” Feb 2
You may have noticed, I really dig the Chicago scene (it’s gonna come up again in just a sec). Anyway, I love the noisy post-punk feel to this track. It’s got a really neat underlying angst, and a just as neat music video directed by Chaepter and Ayethaw Tun of other fantastic Chicago Band Red Scarves. P.S. makes me want to shout “Naked Era!” seems fun.
Project Gemini “Colours & Light” Jan 30
To be reductive, the perfect music for something like, I don’t know, writing a post for your music micro-blog.
Sick Day “Overexposure” Feb 5
Annd Chicago scene again. Sick Day is probably the band the started me really digging into the Chicago scene more (from the safety of my bedroom of course). Love the noisy direction for this song, it’s addictive and cathartic with just the right amount of angst. It manages all of this while being catchy as hell.
Julia Morrison “Dime Drop” Feb 4
I think this list is legitimately mostly Chicago scene, I’m sorry Michigan. I feel like this is folk punk, but absolutely nothing like what you think when you hear that term. It’s experimental, noisy, folk with punk rock attitude. I love it.
No Lonesome “Cool Waters” Feb 5
Speaking of noisy and catchy folk rock out of Chicago. This song is Twee as hell, and I mean that it the most positive way. It’s got a lo-fi coating to it that’s, quite delicous.
Impressionist “Yearn” Feb 8
And now for something completely different. There is something deeply nostalgic about metalcore to me, and even more nostalgic hearing it from someone I knew in highschool. It may not be a genre I frequent much anymore, but “Yearn” delivers the sweeping guitars and melodrama that always made it fun.
I did that thing again, where I add my own songs to this playlist. Namely “I Will Love You, Even When Your Hair’s A Mess” and “Preserved,” which you ought to listen to. I also recently announced my second book, so check that out.
Dirt Witch Records 
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