WILT // The Algorithm Doesn't Serve Us
Maybe the real recommendations are the friends we made along the way
Let’s get into it.
What I’m Listening To
“LIE DOWN..” & “10 WAYS (TO LOSE A CROWN)”, Saya Gray
This lady has really got the sauce. What the sauce is, I’m not sure. But I feel like Saya Gray really fits into my niche of weird-but-not-too-weird, great grooves, captivating melodies. When I discovered her new album I had to go back and listen to all her other stuff (which I will say is a little more out-there than this album, but still good). You can just really tell that she put a lot of thought into these songs. From the vulnerable lyrics, to the instrumentation, to the production, it goes all over the place but still feels like it has a common thread. These songs aren’t classic 3-minute songs, they really have room to breathe. There’s still something catchy about the writing, there’s just more instances of the song getting a full chance to wash over you.
“LIE DOWN..” I keep coming back to- it was the first song of hers I found. The slow, chugging rhythm sets the tone as she builds each vocal section, and about 2 1/2 minutes in they start overlapping in a really satisfying way. I’m a sucker for when an artist does that, it’s like they’re serving to themselves and then spiking it and doing a victory lap. I also love the lyric “I can make your dust turn to sparkle”- it keeps rattling around in my head. “10 WAYS (TO LOSE A CROWN)” is the other one from this album I keep coming back to. It’s a little more stripped-back both vocally and production-wise, but the way this chorus washes in with voice and guitar is satisfying each time it happens.
“Fable”, Gigi Perez
Speaking of voices, I cannot get enough of this woman’s voice. I believe Ms. Perez went viral with another song of hers, “Sailor Song”, but this one has a more interesting dynamism for me. Her voice pulls me in from the first line, and her lyrics are raw as hell. Also considering this song builds from just an acoustic guitar speaks to the power and pain that her voice itself has. The moments when everything cuts out except for her voice and then it all powers back in- come on. If you like folky indie pop at all, you’ll be headbanging.
“Know You Love Me”, Riva Starr & Flight Facilities
So begins the funky portion of our newsletter. This song reminds me of peak Disclosure. Funky synths, incredible vocalist, satisfying vocal chops, makes me want to shake my ass. What is it, 2013? This whole EP is similarly fun, but something about this one specifically really distills what I liked about all the songs as a whole. When a drop on a song is more groove-based than just raw bass, now that’s when I do my best work on the dancefloor.
“It Might Have To Be You”, Vulfmon & Evangeline
It’s a rare thing where I like a band’s solo projects just as much as their regular stuff, but somehow the members of Vulfpeck keep doing it. This song is a little bit more laid back, but the bass stays mobile throughout. And the vocals from Evangeline feel so familiar, the way she dances in and out with the rhythm section here scratches the right part of my brain. A simple little tune but an enjoyable one all the same.
“Born Again”, Lisa & Doja Cat & RAYE
This probably isn’t your introduction to any of these artists (or even this song), but I just wanted to give a shoutout to this song because of how much the bass is slapping in it. Obviously generally we love powerful pop ladies teaming up, and I’ve been a fan of both RAYE and Doja Cat for a minute now. But of the splintering of BLACKPINK, I may keep a special eye on LISA because clearly she’s got good taste if she’s hopping on this absolute slapper. There’s just something about the combo of the bass combined with the fun syncopated rhythms of the melodies that match it. Great work, ladies.
“BUSS AT YOU”, Saint Lamaar
Another artist discovery for me, and it wasn’t just the title that got my attention. As soon as this one starts, it feels like summer, and the playful adlibs add to the fun overall vibe here. Something about this feels like early 2000s R&B- I can’t tell if it’s the beat itself, the spoken offering to teach a dance, or the spanish-esque guitar weaving in and out of the beat. Whatever it is, this makes me want to dance in the street in 90 degree heat while the fire hydrants spray all around me.
“ON THE WAY”, Steven Joseph
Found this guy on Tiktok for his other song off this album, “RUN IT UP”. But the build of this song, the earnest tone combined with the confidence- it reminds me a lot of young Kanye (minus the megalomania that has since taken anti-semitic turns). His adlibs are also reminiscent of Kanye (“hah!”)- so basically what I’m saying is this album is great if you’re looking for a Ye replacement in your music, because let’s be honest Kanye also hasn’t really made much good music in years.
“She Wasn’t Crazy”, Grace Tyler
First appearance by a country artist on WILT? I promise I like country, I just don’t really keep up with the Nashville music scene, idk. And also the algorithm thinks I don’t like it, so it never recommends it to me (more on that below). Anyway, this soaring song about identifying with your soon-to-be-ex’s ex is my favorite country song I’ve heard in a minute. Got that perfect mixture of scorned country woman vibes, pop-country ballad melody, and production that includes piano fading into slide guitar fading into organ. What’s not to like?
“Take Your Aim”, Rocket
This is the most I’ve bobbed my head to a guitar-heavy song in a long time- and yet another artist discovery for me. This one by LA-based Rocket reminds me of the Brits in Wolf Alice, the last band to really make me go nuts for guitar like this. I always appreciate when a band writes catchy heavy rock and has a female vocalist to complement the vibe of the rest of the band as well as they do here. Probably the most satisfying guitar riffing I’ve heard in awhile plus a vocal tone that cuts through the fuzz, but in an appropriate way. Plug in, rock out.
“Cake”, Victoria Canal
Lastly, we have this mysterious song that feels like it belongs in a James Bond intro until it reveals a frantic electronic energy. And when it unfolds into the second chorus, all these elements come together in the most satisfying way. This whole recent album from Ms. Canal has a really interesting mix, bending genres based on the mood the song requires- I also especially like “California Sober”. But the energy in “Cake” specifically is intoxicating. And the lyric “Fuck the Cake, let’s go straight to the vodka” has been rattling around in my head non-stop since I first listened to it.
Once again here’s the link to the playlist with all of these together.
And now, for some quick thoughts…
Algorithms Are Destroying The Things I Love
Don’t get me wrong, I am indebted to Spotify for giving me the freedom to explore so much music at the touch of a button. But as someone who likes to explore music, I feel like I constantly find myself at the seams of what the Spotify algorithm has to offer. And like its parasitic counterpart, social media, Spotify’s algorithm has its own agendas to push. So what is a music explorer to do?
I have encountered this problem in the past with Spotify, but it’s come to the fore in recent years with the way that Spotify pigeonholes my music taste. I’m not sure if it’s just that their algorithm has changed (I’m sure it has in some way), or if this is just the latest iteration of my experience with this problem. But I’ve found that in trying to explore new music on Spotify, I mostly just get exposed to indie pop. Again, don’t get me wrong. I love indie pop. It is in fact probably my favorite genre, if I had to pick a favorite between all my beautiful children. But I contain multitudes. I don’t want to listen to ONLY indie pop!
A phrase I recently encountered while reading the book How To Do Nothing was about music that “sneaks up on you”. The author, Jenny Odell, in her musings on how to resist the pull of social media and other algorithms, talks about how her musician father says that the best songs are the kind that “sneak up on you”. Meaning, namely, that some of the best music is the kind that might not fit into whatever genre(s) you think you normally like. I felt very seen reading this, as I love the moment of discovering music that I wouldn’t normally listen to or encounter on one of the many Spotify mixes or playlists that get served to me. For example, I grew up with and love a lot of country music, but because I’m not as consistently tapping into the modern country music scene, Spotify segments me off from that portion of its algorithm and keeps me from discovering the many country songs that would sneak up on me and become favorites.
As far as why this happens, I know that to some degree the model behind Spotify means a back and forth with the music industry where labels want placement on playlists and in the algorithm. This means that certain artists and songs get boosted more than others, even within genres or niches. I actually I have less of a problem with this, since the necessary beast of music labels doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon, and placement on a playlist can be likened to trying to get radio play in previous eras. But the algorithmic nature of Spotify itself seems to fall short. There’s something ineffable about music that the automated nature and segmentation of streaming algorithms seems to not quite capture. Sure, I want to know what artists I listen to a lot are up to. And yes, there are genre-based aspects of songs or albums that can help people who only like certain kinds of music and want to stay there. But surely the beauty of music is the song that speaks to you in a way you can’t even express in words. That kind of feeling transcends genre, and are we really encountering music as we should if we only expose ourselves to music based on how Spotify defines a genre? To say nothing of the kinds of music that bend genre, certainly some of my favorite music.
Maybe I’m someone who wants to explore genres more than most, but I think I’m not alone in finding that Spotify or streaming services play a little bit too much of the same music back to me when I create a radio or shuffle their playlists. I’m not saying there aren’t solutions- short-term wise, I try to actively seek out playlists made by random people that match the mood I’m in, something about the true randomness of a user-generated playlist hopefully trains the algorithm a little bit differently each time I do it. But in the long term, I don’t think the solution is even necessarily to “make the algorithm better”. Something about that as a concept makes me sad, as it implies even less human connection over music. Some of the best ways that I’ve re-trained my personal algorithm is by a friend showing me a song that then “snuck up on me”. I hope that no matter how reliant we become on streaming services, we never stop showing each other music person to person. Post that song to your Instagram story. Make that year-end list to share with friends. Make your crush a personal playlist. Even for all the ills of social media, sharing music has been one solace to me for what it can provide. That’s also one of the many reasons why I started doing this music newsletter. Hopefully there’s something outside your streaming algorithm here.
That’s all- thanks for reading. See you next time!