Every Wednesday, the ugly hug shares a playlist personally curated by an artist/band that we have been enjoying. This week, we have a collection of songs put together by Philly-based artist Peter Gill of 2nd Grade. 

Through the vast array of sounds and characters that have come out of the intimate Philly scene, 2nd grade has always been one to stand out with cult-like enjoyment. With several new singles of belt-busting hooks and chivalrous punk attitudes in their pockets, 2nd Grade is gearing up for their upcoming LP, Scheduled Explosions, as Gill and co. return as the indie pop super force they have proven to be time and time again.

Along with his playlist, Gill shared a blurb about its theme;

“My first concept for this playlist was “songs I would play in the getaway car during a bank robbery”, but the nervous energy of that playlist was a bit much. It started with Count Basie and quickly moved to Chavez and U.S. Maple. I decided to change tack and settled on “songs that constantly get stuck in my head”, which is dangerous in its own way. I start humming these songs, and suddenly I can’t remember the last five minutes and I’m taking wrong turns on the way to work. These are largely off-balance melodies full of interesting intervals and waterfalls of notes, and they all seem to express a fun fascination with the craft of pop melody. Weapons-grade stuff really, proceed with caution…”

Scheduled Explosions is set to be released October 25th via Double Double Whammy and you can preorder it here.