Hi friends! I’m Maddy (she/her) and I’m gonna be your General Manager this 2018-19 school year. I’m originally from Newburyport, MA, but this summer I’m living in Middlebury and leaning into my rural alter ego with a vengeance. By day I work at the station, where Noah Sauer and I can usually be found in the office chatting on the phone with music promoters and breaking decibel barriers with Danny L Harle’s FADER mix. By night I work in the kitchen at American Flatbread, where I’m typically wearing a lot of glitter on my face and garnishing everything in sight with little edible flowers. I’m so excited to be reunited with my long distance co-leader/radio lover Jeff Holland after a whole year apart and welcome new faces into our WRMC family at Gen Board meetings this Fall. Stay tuned for more “Meet the Exec Board” blog posts in the coming days and weeks.
Here are a few of my favorite tracks of 2018 thus far. Be sure to check out the playlist at the bottom if you want a more extensive rundown.
Little Dark Age – MGMT
This is the title track from an album that rocked my whole world!!! Originally preened as indie pop princes by Columbia Records in 2006, MGMT has experimented with a number of different musical styles throughout their career. Little Dark Age steers the duo of Wesleyan grads down a new direction towards dark synth pop. As far as I’m concerned, if death has a vape then I’m down.
Anything U Want – Porches
Porches’ January release, The House, also veers down a darker path than songwriter Aaron Maine’s previous work. Written in the twilight period before the end of his relationship with Frankie Cosmos frontwoman Greta Kline, The House examines themes of loss and introspection. The closing track on the album, “Anything U Want” is dusky and reflective, reminiscent of an early nightfall in winter and deriving power from its minimalism.
Lemon Glow – Beach House
Seven albums into their career, Beach House’s Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand have mastered their craft. Floating and ethereal, Lemon Glow’s dissonant synths thickly layer to create a song that drips like honey.
Need a Little Time – Courtney Barnett
File under: Songs That Make Maddy Cry
Your Dog – Soccer Mommy
Forehead kisses break my knees / And leave me crawling back to you.
Radical softness as a weapon!!! Song after song, Sophie Allison’s lyrics are vulnerable bedroom poetry.
Geyser – Mitski
A song with which to walk amongst flowering trees on a warm, rainy morning.
Hot Pink – Let’s Eat Grandma
With production by SOPHIE and Faris Badwan, this song is as hot as it is angry. Let’s Eat Grandma reminds us once again that gender is a construct and genre is too.
Ginger – Riton, Kah-Lo
BANGER ALERT!!! Calling it now, these two are gonna make it big. Following up their 2017 single, “Fake ID,” this dynamic pairing has collaborated once again to bestow us with another bouncy club track. Guaranteed to raise your pregame’s energy level by the metric equivalent of a round of tequila shots.
Mr. Tillman – Father John Misty
You can feel however you want about Josh Tillman but at the end of the day the man knows how to drag himself.
Pearly Gates – U.S. Girls
You ever listen to too much glam rock and get an unshakable urge to go get your palm read?
Want more? Here it is: