The kites can't jive playlist

“I like music” was a key part of my personality in my late teens and early twenties. I’m not proud of that but it’s true. I’ve grown out of a lot of the follies of my youth but one thing remains: I listen to a lot of music.

Here’s what I’m digging in 2023.

Here are some recaps from past years: 2020, 2021, 2022.

January

• Stained glass by Alien Nosejob. Alien Nosejob are a classic of the Melbourne punk scene I had, somehow, missed for years.
• Double tubble by Hot Tubs Time Machine. Absolutely filthy Melbourne rock that might be totally inscrutable to anyone who doesn’t live here. (One song is literally just a meditation on what it’d be like to work at an iconic bakery in Melbourne’s northen suburbs.)
• Electric party chrome girl by Gut Health. Post-punk but dancey and joyous. I’ve been singing “Inner norm” to myself all week. (February update: I’m still singing “Inner norm” to myself.)
• Boiler Room: Fred again by Fred again. I’m six months late to this but, goddamn, what an incredible set. (It’s actually a better watch than listen, which is rare for DJ sets.)

February

• Submersive behaviour by Tropical Fuck Storm. Thumping covers of some classic rock songs. Noisy, energetic and electric.
• Colours of air by Loscil and Lawrence English. The best ambient album I’ve listened to in a while (no surprise given the artists involved). Magical stuff.
• Sakura by Possums at Twilight. The exact kind of electronica you hear in a dark bar with soft, warm lighting that makes you feel impossibly cool until someone else impossibly cool looks at you and you remember that you exists in the world.
• I’m not sorry, I was just being me by King Hannah. A bit of stoner rock, a bit of Americana, a lot of breathy vocals and thick riffs.