"The Punisher" - Lucius

Lucius is one of the most critically acclaimed bands coming out of the indie music scene in New York and that is really saying a lot. This female-fronted group is amazingly talented producing some of the most interesting and pleasant to hear music that I'm even aware of. From what some of my friends told me they put on an amazing show and their fashion choices are always fascinating. They're kind of like the Lady Gaga(s) of the indie scene. They also performed the vocals on one of my absolute favorite songs from San Fermin

"Trying" - Bully

Alicia Bognanno's songs are all about catharsis. Screaming and yelling and blasting away on the guitar to relieve herself of the anxiety that she has experienced in her life. She got her start in the music industry on the other side of the soundboard as an audio engineer, before forming Bully in Nashville in 2011. This song is Alicia's attempt to stop being so hard on herself. To work on being less overly critical in all aspects of her life.

"The Mother We Share" - Chvrches

Women in music have always faced harassment from male figures both from audiences and people inside the music industry. Lauren Mayberry of Chvrches has made herself known as anti-harassment figure in the music industry. Fucking good for her. There need to be more people speaking out against all the douchebags out there that think it's okay to harass a female artist just because she happens to be in the limelight. That aside, Chvrches makes some amazing electronic music and absolutely everyone should be listening to them.

"Suicide Hotline" - The Prettiots

"I wrote this song to my therapist" Kay Kasparhauser says just before playing this song in her set at NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series. Fortunately, this song is about how Kay doesn't quite want to kill herself and maybe, please don't call the Suicide Hotline, because she's just really sad right now. I think this is the only group on my list that is entirely female, actually. They're all great and you should go listen to their album, Funs Cool right now.

"Dear Arkansas Daughter" - Lady Lamb

Aly Spaltro is Lady Lamb (formerly Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, she really should have kept that name. It's kind of amazing). She may also have some mutual friends with one of our lovely perverts. One thing that makes Aly's music stand out to me (aside from how generally amazing it is) is the way so many of her songs meander through themselves and tell these long drawn out stories. Often forgoing a chorus altogether instead opting to occasionally throw in a familiar riff in the song later down the road or just use a burst of nonsense singing to anchor the audience. Her songs are more like stories and collections of personal anecdotes set to music rather than songs with a traditional structure.

"You and I" - Margaret Glaspy

Margaret Glaspy is easily one of the most talented musicians that I've witnessed in the last 5 years. I got to see her live a couple of months ago and was absolutely blown away by her show. I highly recommend y'all check out her other music. Also, I do think it's hilarious that this song is about a dude in an FWB arrangement getting overly-attached, because society usually seems to think it will go the other way around. Though I would say they're both equally likely.

"Sprained Ankle" - Julien Baker

I think I've written about Julien Baker before. She's amazing in that she has this innate ability to command an audience so amazingly well. If you ever go to one of her shows, you'll notice that the crowd, even if it's packed to the walls will be dead silent. Waiting on every last note. I think most of this has to do with how deeply intimate these songs are. These songs are the result of Julien pouring her heart out and it paid dividends. people absolutely love her music and rightfully so, it's amazing!

"SGL" - Now, Now

I originally made this playlist three weeks ago and I was going to link the song, "Dead Oaks". Then I went and looked at Now, Now's page again and found that after a 5 year hiatus, she released a new single! I was really excited, so I made that the main song. It maintains some of the LoFi, acoustic-punk sound while underlaying some EDM elements. I certainly wasn't expecting those, but I was not upset by them either. I think the reason the hiatus took so long is because their second guitarist went off to form her solo project, Tancred.

"Tibetan Pop Stars" - Hop Along

Frances Quinlan has a great classic grunge voice even more so when live. Hop Along is also my mandatory inclusion from the Philly scene.

"Alaska" - Maggie Rogers

Maggie Rogers blew up in the last year or so after she blew Pharrell Williams away during a Master class that he was teaching at NYU. She still only has an EP under belt, but I'm anticipating a fantastic album sometime in before Summer 2018. Definitely keep a look out for her music in the future!

"Fear & Force" - Vagabon

I've also written about Vagabon before. An immigrant from Africa with an engineering degree who now makes her own music. It reads like deeply personal poetry and somehow it sounds that way too. Her album Infinite Worlds is pretty amazing and I suggest everyone go listen to it right now.

"Full Screen" - Adult Mom

This song talks about porn. I had to include it. This is a single from Adult Mom's upcoming album Soft Spots which comes out on Friday. You can go preorder it now on bandcamp if you want to.

"Hard Times" - Paramore

You know what? Fuck you. I do like Paramore. They've come a long way since Hayley's scene days (not that I don't still like their older stuff). Despite all the controversy and some of the mediocre albums that they put out, they hit their ~adult~ stride with their Self-titled album in 2013. This song comes from their new album After Laughter which is still kind of pop-punk, it's just the pop is very much 80's-colored. But with the 80's making a bit of a cultural come back in the last 5 years or so, that doesn't really surprise me.