Written by Shea Roney | Photo by Olivia West at O’Brien’s Pub in Boston

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 Max Bottner, Henry Moskal, Will Carr, and Jason Shapiro of the Chicago-based band National Photo Committee. 

National Photo Committee has operated on the whim of hidden pieces and lucrative secrets for some time now, sharing a sparse catalog of demos and live recordings for public consumption. But if you are lucky enough to come into the crosshairs of one of their releases, a National Photo Committee song comes and goes like smoke through the nose and a mouth full of blood, pouring out with thick, scabbing melodies and burning dispositions of alt-country heat. Plastered with loose movements and sweaty arrangements, at the center are the bruised vocals of Max Bottner, whose stories hash both the sincerity and falter of folkloric aspirations and rock n’ roll holy prayers. As a project embedded with a type of veracity and charm, National Photo Committee are not ones to weigh the experience with the product, or even the means for that matter, but have been on the front lines of their own home-grown revolution from the beginning.

Listen to National Photo Committee’s Playlist HERE

About the playlist, the crew shared;

MAX’s PICKS:

1. “I Wanted To Be A Rock N Roll Star” – Willie Hutch: Epic track. I learned about this song from perusing Theo Parrish setlists from the early 2000s on Setlist.fm, something everyone should do if they’re interested in expanding their dance music knowledge.
2. “Feel The Strain Of Sorrow Never Ceasing” – Beck: Love his funky ass. This song is incredible, feels like it could have been written by a 600 year old man.
3. “When Things Go Wrong” – Kevin Godley & Lol Creme: There has never been a song with a more dichotomously Jewish/British vibe than this, as far as I know. Beyond that, it happens to be a perfect song from the most underrated concept album ever made, Consequences.
4. “Don’t Ask Me / Sheep” – Toy Love: It was hard to pick a Toy Love single to include on here, one of my all time favorite bands.
5. “Punk Rock Secret” – Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments: Ohio is the Fertile Crescent of amazing punk bands. Will showed me this band I think. Just bought this single at Reckless Records the other day for 2 bucks.

WILL’s PICKS:

1. “Lutzko Lives” – Puffy Areolas: My 2010s Columbus discount scum rock goats. Imagine if Destruction Unit did drugs.
2. “Today’s Gun Permits” – Eugene Chadbourne: I remember bumping this one on repeat last Election Day. Feel good Americana.
3. “Welfare Music” – the Bottle Rockets: More of the above. We love welfare. Also, this was my first concert, but I don’t remember it.
4. “Journey” – Burning Spear: His first record is probably my favorite reggae album. There’s a YouTube comment on this song that’s like “Great mystical song I feel the whole sacred spell of the earth” and I have nothing to add to that.
5. “Oranges in the oaks” – Maxine Funke: Probably my favorite living songwriter. I’m sure adjectives like idyllic and pastoral are thrown around a lot. Great mystical song though. I feel the whole sacred spell of the earth.

HENRY’S PICKS:
Being a member of National Photo Committee has brought some great people and great music into my life. In no particular order, here are some songs I like.

1. “Sick of Myself” – Matthew Sweet: Jason and his music have reminded me how much I love power pop. You haven’t really heard this song until you’ve heard Jason’s rendition. Matthew Sweet’s version is also awesome, and features Richard Lloyd on guitar. NPC played with Mr. Lloyd in January. So that’s crazy. Thanks Jason.
2. “Pick My Brain” – Bardo Pond: Leroy introduced me to Bardo Pond. Heavy stuff, and very awesome. Interesting rock at its finest? Thanks Leroy.
3. “Love’s Gonna Make It Alright” – George Strait: I love country music and I love NRBQ. Max blew my mind when he showed me this 2011 George Strait song, written by Al Anderson. It’s so good. It sounds so much like an NRBQ song, it’s insane. It changed the way I think about songwriting. Thanks Max.
4. “Mystifies Me” – Son Volt: I became obsessed with Ronnie Wood’s first solo album “I’ve Got My Own Album To Do.” Yeah man. Will reminded me that the first Son Volt record ends with a cover of Mystifies Me. I’m very glad he did, because it’s super good. Thanks Will.
5. “94 The Long Way” – Jim O’Rourke: When I listen to this song, I can feel every emotion. And also, Ken Champion’s pedal steel playing is amazing. Is this as good as it gets?

JASON’S PICKS:
Here are my favorite 5 Motion City Soundtrack songs; “Hold Me Down” is a goated breakup song.

1. “Hold Me Down”
2. “Her Words Destroyed My Planet”
3. “When You’re Around”
4. “My Favorite Accident”
5. “The Future Freaks Me Out”

National Photo Committee is looking to release more music in the very near future. In the meantime, check out their EP Songs About Stick and Rocks as well as their epic live compilation Live Nude Photo Committee.