The Sunday Supplement: #45

Post punk (and new country) on repeat, crossing the Place de la Concorde without getting hit, and what happens when you bring together people with weird laughs.

“Fruit Bowl, Book and Newspaper” (1916), Juan Gris

I do that thing – it’s stupid – where I discover a pop song, love a pop song, listen to it on repeat for hours at a time. And not just the new Plains record.

This week the song is “100% Endurance” by the British band Yard Act. Here’s the song’s Spotify link (there’s also an Elton John version), here’s the video:

The whole album’s good, it’s a little bit Parquet Courts, more guitar rock in the British post-punk, spoken-word-kinda style of (harder) Sleaford Mods, (softer) Courtney Barnett, (much softer) Kae Tempest, (poppier) The Ting Tings, (indier) Life Without Buildings, (weirder) Squid, and more.

Is there a name for the genre – just U.K. variations on post punk? I asked my friend Andrew, who knows a ton more about music. “I would add Dry Cleaning to that list and that they're all disciples of British post-punk via the Fall. Because they all sound like the Fall, and because British post-punk began around 1978/79. Also fwiw Courtney Barnett is Australian.”

Lol. Anyway, here are some songs I like from the tally: