I am chronically resistant to the idea of growing up. As it stands, this transformation requires us to trade playfulness for seriousness, wonder for rationality, and crudeness for clarity. This exchange is deeply unappealing to me, and in turn, I’ve doubled down on my childlike tendencies (playing with my food, public meltdowns, etc.). It’s time for me to take a long, hard look at my life, and grow the fuck up. But I’m not ready, and it seems like you aren’t either. Culturally, we are all in desperate need of regression, what with our newfound need to heal our inner child. People are finding that, in reality, we aren’t changing as much as we think we are, and are accepting that the things we liked when we were young are essential to our styles and tastes as adults. I’ve been transferring years of playlists over from Sp***fy to YouTube Music, chronicling the sonic development of my frontal lobe. This month’s playlist highlights some of my favorite mood swings from this time, along with contemporary artists who seem to suffer from my incurable disease (Peter Pan syndrome), with playful and toy-like tracks that resist conversion to the straight world. It’s playtime in the mind palace—enjoy the hour! —Addie
LA-based duo Lula Fortune explores the simplicity of our desires in their new track Chores. It's a collage of energy, with singer Kylie Obermeier's childlike vocals swirling against instrumentalist Jordan Korn's Gang of Four-esque guitar riffs and punchy bass lines. The lyrics, dealing in earnest similes ("I want who a love who grows the herbs for the tea/ someone who wants to mend their heart right on their sleeve"), juxtapose an angsty sonic backdrop, taunting and teasing the listener playfully. I love this track, recite it every day as a personal mantra for finding abundance in love, tenderness in friendship.
I’ve been a longtime follower of multidisciplinary artist Lealani ever since I saw them annihilate a sampler in a live session for Hurley six years ago. Their sound is dubstep meets Sylvan Esso—twee and hardcore, maximalist in every way. Their new self-produced record, Beep Bop Boop, is a lengthy and imaginative electronic album I’ve been thoroughly enjoying. The narrator seems to take on an alien perspective, experiencing the full range of human emotions—ecstasy, insecurity, joy, and pain. It’s a really fun album: playful, creative, and endlessly inventive.
Oakland based band Pateka share their single "Night Stairs;" a track I cannot stop listening to. It's hook is an undeniable ear worm, with lead singer Eli Knowles' hauntingly soulful vocals carry disjointed and brassy sax outbursts. Pateka allows every aspect of the song - from the instrumentation to the mix- disintegrate naturally, like waking up from a dream.
Harnessing groove feels like a dying art. To be so in the pocket with breaks, drums, and melody takes a true student of sound. 1oo1o masterfully creates tracks that swirl around oldskool vocal samples, acidy synths, classic house chord progressions, and salsa inspired drums. The result is something groovier than I knew possible. It's clean, tight, and at the same time chaotic and subversive and prodding. The oldskool vocal samples taunt "no one out there can fuck with me," while the track itself locks the listener in a chokehold of groove. Submit to it, if you wish. 1oo1o is based out of Mexico City.
LA based multi-instrumentalist Nico Leibman (Harmony Index) shares Winterbreaks, a hypnotic 4 track EP that twists and turns through glittering synths and juicy bass lines. It was all composed between December 2024 and February 2025, during which I had the pleasure of living with Nico, briefly. She had just returned from a long leg of tour playing bass for Jessica Pratt, and we bonded over practicing I Ching and being Capricorns, and the curse of perfectionism and sharing ones work. She told me her plans for this EP, that builds upon her typical sound (melodic ethereal rock) with break samples and a techno sensibility. Its nothing short of what I expected, a delightful and complex body of work. Winterbreaks releases a new iteration of Harmony Index into the world. It's an evolution in groove, imbued with passion and care from a truly top notch musician.
I fucking love Umbra. This month she shares her debut album Shadow Puppets, a deeply moving body of work that deals in the abject and insane. Its churning and pounding, with elements of jungle, baroque, theatre and glitched out breaks with remixes by Lauren Bousfield and Dalhaus. I have been seeing Umbra play renegades and parties across LA since 2022, where her cult following of LA club rats will literally climb mountains to get a taste of her intoxicating selections. With Shadow Puppets, she shares a sense of inner cleansing, the record itself being self-proclaimed "gunk" she is expelling, making room for new, giving space to what was already there. The album drips and oozes and decomposes, but also begrudgingly holds itself together, the club is packed, theres a show to put on. Umbra Abra is a producer / DJ based in LA and throws the party Extasy Overnight.
London-based musician and producer sunnbrella melds shoegaze with hyper-pop in this energetic and glittering new LP via Music Website (Vitesse X, Tapeworms). Electronically driven, with pulsing club beats and glitchy breaks, gutter angel overrides the pop narrative with earnest lyrics and composition based on the soft melodic riffs of shoegaze. The sonic world of sunnbrella feels cinematic, melody-heavy, and maintains an ambience of adolescence without sounding childish. Behind sunnbrella is David Zbirka, who pulls inspiration for his work from his fathers expansive record collection that exposed him to emo, hardcore and shoegaze. He draws on this inspiration and finds a place for these sounds in the electronic music renaissance, with sunnbrella garnering millions of streams and touring with Beach Fossils and Winter. This exciting new release is upbeat and emotional, evocative and pop-driven, chaotic and contained.
Generally, I feel like everyone should be keeping an eye on Danish label Escho, who is releasing some superb music as of late. Cohesive aesthetics and ultimate "cool" factors need not deter. I think there is something universally intriguing about the music coming from this label. We are seeing danish duo Smerz make waves in the algorithmic sea, with even casual listeners being lured by the siren call "Put your hands around my body / hold me tight and show it to me." Love songs are coming back in a big way, mark my words. I included most recent single from danish musician Fine in this episode, a sexy flirty track that adds to the escho roster.
Its been a minute since something has completely disarmed me, leaving me raw and emotionally battered. The shift from irony to sincerity has been in the cultural lexicon for quite some time, but I think we are seeing it play out in ways that might stick. Pirouette by Model/Actriz feels like a little revolution in this, like the cool guys at the party deciding to do an open mic reading of their diaries. And I love it. So much. "I've recognized the beauty in fragility, its true/ But I feel like a stranger to it now suddenly" In another world bands like Model/Actriz would be encouraged to continue down a cursed path of ultimate aloofness, maintenance of the cool factor by disassociation from the self. We see this every day with artists, and the ways in which universal platitudes get more streams than the soul-cutting depths of bearing ones soul. Pirouette is an aggressive reminder that the girls want you to be sincere. Moving forward, maybe we will be demanding it.