Staff Picks and Good Shit for the Week of June 29

Welcome to the Noisey staff picks. We usually drop these on Fridays but decided to do this week’s on Monday instead, that way you have the chance to listen to this crap we’ve been digging and engage in meaningful discussions with us about it on the internet. If that’s your thing. Anyways, here’s some #MusicMondays for ya.

I never had a chance to meet my maternal grandfather because he died of AIDS before I was born. He died a week after my parents were married, and had promised my mom that he'd keep living to see her at the wedding. I only know him through the pictures we have of him strewn about our house, and the stories that my mom tells. For most of his life he was in the closet, and never remarried after the death of my grandmother. Growing up, it was never a question of whether or not same-sex marriage should be legalized and was just confusion of how others can operate thinking it's wrong. It's really weird being in a moment in time that you know is a day in history, trying not to cry of joy about how amazing this is. The idea that if I ever have children, they'll never know what it's like to live in a world where only heterosexual marriage is legal is one I can't wrap my head around. It's was a fucking incredible day last week, and I wish I could've seen it with my grandfather.

John Hill, Noisey News Editor
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This may not be the best song to come out of Toronto. It may not even be the best song about wrists to come out of 2015. But that doesn't mean that it's not fun as shit. The way FIJI makes his voice melodic while delivering threats about shooting cops and wearing expensive shoes. The fact that it's over a beat that sounds like it was ripped straight from a video game soundtrack makes it all the more fun. Life is trash, then you die. Which is why it's important that you have as much fun with your music choices as possible.

Slava Pastuk
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Saturnine combines most of my favorite things—doom, songs about bones, a nice deep lavender color scheme—into one convenient package. I've been listening to the Italian four-piece's new album, Mors Vocat, obsessively this week; it came out on Terror From Hell on May 18, and I was probably too pumped up about the imminent arrival of Maryland Deathfest 2015 to pay it much attention. More fool me, though, because this album is fucking phenomenal. It's hard to describe exactly why this particular collection of sludgy, cobwebby doom tracks hits me so hard; Saturnine's not breaking any new ground here (they're Fenriz-approved and are named after an Electric Wizard song, FFS) but what they've done is take an established sound, and do it really, really well. There's surely something to be said for that, but I'm too busy listening to this gem to think of a clever way to say it.

Kim Kelly, Contributing Editor
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Forever the jam.

Bryn Lovitt, Contributing Editor
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It's fucking cliche to say "wow someone finally wrote down everything I'm feeling!" about a song but, no, really, Kacey wrote down everything I've been feeling lately in this song. Why do we have to grow up? Why can't we be young forever? Why does adulthood have to be boring? We might die tomorrow! We should be having fun! Like Slava said, "Life is trash and then you die" so why waste it by "acting your age?" Forget the rules let's love hard, live fast, and die fun, baby!

Annalise Domenighini, Social Producer
Annalise on Twitter

What a week. There's so much incredible new music—Vince Staples, Miguel, Boogie, Kacey Musgraves, Thundercat, probably a lot more that I'm forgetting—that I'm still just trying to process all of it. Let's just be happy that it's here. Let's also be happy that a week in which we as a nation started out arguing over the Civil War ended with people finally figuring out that the Confederate flag is hateful and bad, with the Supreme Court finally accepting that Obamacare is good and here to stay, and with the country's laws about same sex marriage finally catching up to the country's people. Let's celebrate! It's the weekend! And we have the first new Janet Jackson song in nearly a decade! It is smooth and sexy and about having sex instead of sleeping. Cue up the party! We did it, America, and Janet, appropriately, is here to cheer us on.

Kyle Kramer, Editor
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If Dan Ozzi doesn't choose "Father of Mine" by Everclear for this column then he's a liar! This week I too only listened to Everclear because Noisey regular, Kat George and I went to see them in concert and got super depressed by the whole experience and wrote about it for "Between Two Nerds." That being said "Summerland" might be my favorite Everclear song because it smacks of sunny West Coast days, roadtrips, and teen angst. And fuck me, I do love a good minor chord progression. Totally underrated.

Kim Taylor Bennett, Style Editor
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For seemingly no reason other than that I sit in close proximity to Kim Taylor Bennett at the ol’ Noisey desk, I listened to Everclear’s “Father of Mine” last week at 9 AM. When it ended, I listened to it again. And again. Soon it was 11 AM and I wasn’t sick of it even a little bit. So I kept going. I listened to it through lunch and in the afternoon and I even listened to it when I got home. I don’t know why, but I listened to it all day, and nothing else. It’s a pretty good song.

Dan Ozzi, Editor
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