Welcome back to The A List! Youth Lagoon returns for a fifth week and Destroyer also returns. Many new artists join the A List this week, including Cincinnati-native Boy Bandicoot!
Make sure to stay up to date with the latest and greatest songs carefully curated by your fellow music aficionados and delivered to you directly by our very own music director, Nils Illokken. Join Nils every Friday from 3 - 7p EST to hear this list and so much more.
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10. "Keep Me Satisfied" - Jungle
Jungle earns spot #10 with "Keep Me Satisfied", released on January 15. This is the newest single to come out after "Let's Go Back" was released last September. Their latest album, Volcano, was released in August 2023.
Jungle (Josh Lloyd-Watson, Tom McFarland and Lydia Kitto) has various shows planned in North America and Europe. U.S. cities that are currently listed are: Vail, CO; San Luis Obispo, CA; and Las Vegas, NV. A complete list of tour dates can be found here.
9. "Gumshoe (Dracula From Arkansas)" - Youth Lagoon
Youth Lagoon returns for his fifth week in a row, but with the fourth track listing from his newest album, Rarely Do I Dream, which was released on February 21. "Gumshoe (Dracula From Arkansas)" is mellow and nostalgic, showing a mix of memories and current times in his music video.
Youth Lagoon (Trevor Powers) has many upcoming show dates for the Rarely Do I Dream tour, including a few in our general area! On May 4, he will be in Louisville at The Whirling Tiger and in Indianapolis on the 5th at HI-FI.
8. "Hydroplaning Off the Edge of the World" - Destroyer
Destroyer returns with "Hydroplaning Off the Edge of the World", released on February 5. "Bologna (feat. Fiver)" was featured on last week's A List at #7 and was released on January 8. Both songs will be featured on Destroyer's newest album, Dan's Boogie, scheduled to come out on March 28. Dan's Boogie will be the first album from Destroyer in almost 3 years after LABYRINTHITIS came out in March of 2022.
Destroyer (Dan Bejar) finished his U.S tour on March 3 and takes a few months off before playing shows in Europe for the month of June. More information can be found here.
7. "Ends Meet" - Panda Bear
Panda Bear joins the A List with a track from his newest album, Sinister Grift, which released last Friday on February 28. "Ends Meet" was the third single to release, with "Ferry Lady" coming out on January 6 and "Defense feat. Cindy Lee" last October.
Panda Bear (Noah Benjamin Lennox) has a few upcoming U.S. tour dates, specifically with Toro y Moi starting in May. A few cities included are: Phoenix, AZ; Austin, TX; and Denver, CO.
6."Like You Did Before" - Circa Waves
Circa Waves makes it to the A List at #6 with "Like You Did Before", released on December 8. This was the third and last single to release before their album Death & Love, Pt. 1 came out on January 31. Other singles include "American Dream" and "We Made It".
Circa Waves (Joe Falconer, Kieran Shudall, Colin Jones and Sam Rourke) start their North American tour in April and will play shows in Indianapolis on April 26 at HI-FI, Columbus on April 27 at Newport Music Hall and more!
5. "Freak Eyes" - Sextile
Sextile earns spot #5 with their upbeat, techno track "Freak Eyes", released on February 19. This is the first single to release from their upcoming album yes, please., which will come out on May 2. Their last album, Push" came out in September 2023.
Sextile (Melissa Scaduto and Brady Keehn) will finish their U.S. tour, which started in January, in Los Angeles tonight at Hollywood Palladium. They start their Europe tour at the end of May.
4. "Hinges" - Boy Bandicoot
Boy Bandicoot, a Cincinnati native, impresses us with "Hinges". Released on February 14, this is the second track to come out from Boy Bandicoot this year with "Delirious" coming out on January 3. "Protagonist" and "Torn Apart" have also been released in the last year, with "Torn Apart" being featured on the A List last April.
We spoke with Avery Benter (Boy Bandicoot) about his newest music and inspirations.
Inhailer Radio: Can you talk a little about how you came up with your track “Hinges”?
Avery Benter: It’s a bit of a long story, my partner and I moved from Cincinnati to Nashville in 2023 and just got hit with the worst string of out-of-our-control circumstances. A drunk driver totaling our parked car in the middle of the night, our dog needing emergency surgery, a tornado hitting our neighborhood and leaving our house as the last standing on our street and then to top it off, finding out that our house was infested with brown recluses.
It was very difficult to settle in and feel safe in our new city and our new home. we’d get comfortable and then something would rip the rug out from under us.
We were surrounded by loving and kind people which helped so much, but we both loved Cincinnati and knew we’d move back eventually. Through all of the chaos, it became clear that it would happen sooner than we originally expected.
In making that decision, it was hard to not feel like a failure. Although we had built friendships and made great memories, in making the decision to move back, it was difficult to know if we had given it enough time.
Hinges itself is about the push and pull of those decisions. Doing our best to know ourselves, what we needed and also how to be kind to ourselves when making decisions that I think, ultimately, move us toward a better quality of life. It’s also a reminder that going through those experiences, our time there was not a waste. We learned and grew from every unforeseen event, we felt love every time we would be surrounded by people showing up for us, and we would appreciate the simple friend hangs when life would slow down from time to time.
That’s an incredibly long winded answer, but Hinges epitomizes those thoughts. Our doors are never closed, they’re hanging off of the hinges, urging you to take steps to take care of yourself and those around you!
IR: What do you hope listeners can take away from your newest song and other recent releases?
AB: There are definitely some tonal shifts throughout my upcoming record and the singles that I’ve already released. They were all written in wildly shifting emotional circumstances. I like to write about heavy topics in sarcastic or fantastical ways. Rarely do I release a song that is “about” a single feeling or event, but I hope that fact is what helps people to find themselves throughout each song. A meaning that is deeper to them than anything I could have prescribed to them. I also just have so much fun while making these songs, and I hope that people have so much fun listening to them!
IR: Anything else you’d like to share?
AB: I’ll be playing the Midwest friends fest at Southgate house revival on may 31st which will be an awesome weekend of bands! Tickets for that are live now. And I’m working toward my first full length album release right now! I don’t have a strict release window just yet, but it’s in the mixing stages right now and I absolutely can’t wait to share it with everyone!
3. "Everything Is Peaceful Love" - Bon Iver
Bon Iver earns spot #3 with his newest track "Everything Is Peaceful Love", released on February 14. "Everything Is Peaceful Love" is the sixth track listing on his upcoming album SABLE, fABLE, coming out on April 11. Other new tracks from the album include "...", "THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS", and "AWARDS SEASON".
Bon Iver does not appear to have any upcoming tour dates, but be sure to check here for the latest updates.
2. "Switch Over" - Horsegirl
First released as a single on January 13, Horsegirl's "Switch Over" is the seventh track listing on their newest album Phonetics On and On. This track has the second highest amount of streams from the album on Spotify with "2468" leading the way. Their last album, Rough Trade Super-Disc, was released in November 2022.
Horsegirl (Gigi Reece, Nora Cheng, and Penelope Lowenstein) has quite a few upcoming shows. A few cities you can find them in are Raleigh, New York, Minneapolis and more!
1. "I Just Do!" - girlpuppy
Making it to #1 is "I Just Do!" by girlpuppy. Released on February 4, "I Just Do!" is the second track listing from her upcoming album Sweetness. Sweetness will release on March 28 and feature other new tracks such as "Champ", "Windows" and "Beaches".
Becca Harvey, also known as girlpuppy, has a few upcoming shows listed. She'll play shows in her native town of Atlanta, Brooklyn and Los Angeles before heading to the UK.
Same time next week? Thanks for joining us for this week's A List!