The songs that live rent-free in my brain like...
My inner monologue is usually a soundtrack. And sometimes it's got a British accent.
Arctic Monkeys
"Knee Socks"
Arctic Monkeys took me a beat to wrap my brain around, but when I connected with the visceral armor frontman Alex Turner lays out in prose, I found it deliciously maddening in the most intoxicating way possible. He's an enigma wrapped in an unabating, occasionally erratic cadence, his lyrics as infectious as the way he wields a guitar like an extension of his soul. There's something relentlessly honest in his lyrics, the reflection complex yet simple, everyday thoughts laced with a rare introspection. It propels Arctic Monkeys to the indie curia regis, a seemingly innocuous Lacoste shirt spun into something ethereal, complemented by armor-dropping knee socks. Throw in a beat that makes you want to sway with abandon, and you've got a perfect recipe for sitting in a curtain-drawn room, atop coats piled impossibly high.
Arctic Monkeys
"I Wanna Be Yours"
​
Naked and feral, if only in implication, “I Wanna Be Yours” plays the romantic catalyst, a song steeped in intimate, bruised, and electrically charged exchanges built on a tenuous relationship—unrequited or deeply, stirringly emotive. Nonetheless, the restless pulse refuses to follow the traditional love-song trajectory, a swirl of lyrics offering a desperate plea for attention—an ache, even—but in a way that makes you want to move with every word.
​
There's a depth to it—layer upon layer peeled back to reveal truths hiding in plain sight. It's not a love song, per se, but it lives in that gloam between infatuation and love, and the beauty of each line is that it's applicable across time and space. And it all started with “I Wanna Be Yours” by John Cooper Clarke—a poem Alex Turner didn’t just adapt, but transfigured into something that practically summons a spiritual awakening, if not at least a reason to drop to your knees. Turner took the exposed undercurrent of Clarke's words and injected a slow burn that's as sexual as it is euphoric in sound, a playful poem suddenly a lament into the underworld of love, possibly fractured and living in the shadows.
​​​
Kurt Cobain
"And I Love Her"
​
I could eat, sleep, and breathe Montage of Heck: The Home Recordings because of how completely earnest some tracks are. (Obviously not all. How else would we know that the landlord is a huge piece of shit from hell?) But when "And I Love Her" plays—Kurt's affecting rendition of The Beatles' title of the same name—it just stops me in my tracks. There was so much beauty in his voice, and this is arguably one of my favorite covers and Kurt offerings.
​
This is my 3 a.m. fixation, my middle-of-the-night internal rant when I want to be trapped in my own head, overthinking everything because it’s a day that ends in “Y.”
Napalm Beach
"Teen Dream"
​​
Arguably one of my favorite songs of all time. There isn’t much else to say except this track absolutely rocks, and I can (and totally do) listen to it on repeat. Chris Newman crushed it, and I’m so excited his wife released this album recently. You can check out the whole record here or support Napalm Beach by grabbing it on Bandcamp.