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 Chicago-based songwriter (Advance Base, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone) and founder of Orindal Records, Owen Ashworth.
Over the years, Ashworth has helped define various niche communities that have found the vivid intimacies of his work to be crucially important to phases of their lives. The incongruent desires from lonely post grads throwing on an old Casiotone record, a group of parents suffering from where-has-the-time-gone-ism to the foresight of Advance Base, or the deep and cultured love for the quiet weirdos curated by Orindal that have shaped indie scenes all over the country – Ashworth has always held an edge to those shared experiences that bring these groups together.
When asked to put together a collection of songs for the ugly hug, Ashworth shares;
I don’t make many playlists. I am mostly an albums person. I am also a Tidal person, which means that I don’t have many people I can conveniently share playlists with anyway. A little while ago, when I was on a tour with my buddy Jake, Jake suggested that we make a playlist of our favorite songs for venues to play as the house music at our shows. Most of the songs on this playlist I originally selected for that Jake & Owen tour playlist. I remember how good it felt to hear this music that I love come on in a room full of people. It made the shows feel like parties that Jake & I were throwing night after night. It was a joy to share these songs then & it’s a joy to share them with you now.
You can listen to Owen Ashworth’s playlist on Tidal
Featured Photo by Jeff Marini | Written by Shea Roney
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 Toronto-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Eliza Niemi.
With intimate and collective soundscapes, Niemi’s anti-folk world is one built with articulated blunders, soggy admiration and precious observational harmony – taking the time to colorfully animate the tricky moments of glee, love, anxiety and loss in her life. Coming up to the two year anniversary of her remarkable debut full-length, Staying Mellow Blows, we asked Niemi to curate a playlist for the ugly hug, in which she shares;
“I made a playlist for my new friend recently of a bunch of my favourite songs that I thought he’d like. I soon realized that most of them boasted prominent shaker! I guess I love shaker. So I decided to make a shaker-themed playlist. Auxiliary percussion really adds so much to a groove, and I find shaker in particular to be very magnetic. A bunch of my own music has shaker too so I shamelessly included one of my songs on here. My friend Eli played the shaker on it — he’s awesome.”
Featured Photo by Ben Mike | Written by Shea Roney
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 Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, Nisa.
Crafting a career out of skies-the-limit songs, finding a beautiful blend in the harshness of garage rock, the glittery gaze of power pop and the undeniable release of a good dance track, Nisa released her debut full-length album, Shapeshifting, off of Tender Loving Empire Records earlier this year. The album carried its name sake in both the sonic explorations and narrative feats as Nisa wrote from the freights of a moving identity; one that is no longer fitting – while in line – the next is not yet attainable.
Sharing this week’s Guest List, Nisa says:
“This playlist came together in a secret garden I found near my apartment. I wish I knew it existed before this week, but I’m also enjoying the excitement of a new place to sit. Some of these songs have been swirling around in my mind as New York enters brain-melt levels of heat, while others felt connected to my neighborhood / built environment. Also, the Durutti Column is one of my favorite bands, and listening to them feels like endless sunshine…”
Nisa will soon be playing two shows supporting King Hannah on 7/1 at Johnny Brenda’s in Philly and 7/2 at Elsewhere Space in NYC. Shapeshifting is out now on all platforms.
Every Wednesday, the ugly hug shares a playlist personally curated by an artist/community member that has inspired us in some way. This week, we have a collection of songs put together by singer-songwriter, founder of new power-pop band Culture Tax, and Label Director of Brooklyn’s Double Double Whammy, Mallory Hawk.
Earlier this year, Hawk shared two singles, “All Your Troubles / Run Until They Catch You,” finding her embracing a new and vulnerable creative outlet as a songwriter. She is also a leading member of the new group, Culture Tax, a scrappy power-pop band with more music and shows on the way.
Beyond her own music, Hawk is a major advocate for the indie music community, bringing attention and solutions to the gender disparity in producing/engineering, sharing new ways to approach the music market and promotional campaigns, as well as helping artists navigate the unsavory terrain of the industry on her Substack, Senses Working Overtime.
In every aspect, Hawk reminds us that a shared love of music is what builds up communities. In the spirit of discovery and relationships, she shares this write up about the playlist:
“I considered a few themes for this playlist before catching myself shazamming a song at Honey Moon Cafe in Ridgewood, Queens this week. This is a common occurrence, I dwell there at least twice a week and a few of the baristas have impeccable taste. I thought it would be fun to just make this playlist the last 12 songs I shazammed, which could have been embarrassing or revealing, but all it revealed is I’m clearly going through a jangle pop phase. Some of these bands are largely forgotten, others a bit culty. All of it rocks and I totally see why I shazammed these songs. Shout out to Alex who works there, he unknowingly made at least 1/3 of this playlist. Enjoy!”
Cutlure Tax will be having their first show 6/22, at the knitting factory with ducks ltd. and kiwi jr.
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 Toronto-based artist, Maryam Said of poolblood.
In April, poolblood released theres_plenty_of_music_to_go_around.zip, a short collection consisting of two new tracks and a live recording of previously released song “twinkie” at tibet studio records. Following the release of their debut album, mole, poolblood has become a project of sonic exchange, shifting between ingenious instrumental layers and heartfelt folk structures that seep in with such warmth and enjoyment.
Along with the curation, Said shares a statement about the playlist:
“These are songs I’m currently spinning. I was moving earlier last month and settling in to my new place and had these songs to set the tone. I’ve always viewed music as a family, and it’s been the only constant thing in my life that shows up for me in the way I need it to. These songs are mix of songs that remind me of what it’s like to switch course, greet a new season and relief sigh.”
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 songwriter and guitarist, Jason Evans Groth of Magnolia Electric Co., Haunted Library, the Coke Dares and others.
As a librarian, Groth is a natural archivist and this collection of songs connects the web of friendships, networks and inspirations that he has encountered within his long running time in the indie music world. Touching upon the impact that individuals like Jason Molina and Steve Albini had on his life, this playlist is a personal love letter to the passion that comes from music and the people who make it something worth holding on to.
To accompany this curation, Groth has shared a write up to account each song to a specific memory, person or purpose that has moved him.
I moved to Raleigh eleven years ago, for a job that I was offered two days after my friend and bandmate from Magnolia Electric Co, Jason Molina, died. I left Bloomington, IN, my home through college and twelve years beyond; the place I moved to to keep my high school band going and where I joined, subsequently, all of my touring bands; the place where I watched my friends start Secretly Canadian Records; where I hosted, attended, and played dozens (if not hundreds) of house shows and bar shows and festival shows and college shows; and I started life as a full time librarian at a big state school a few states South. I didn’t fully stop touring but I did fully start a different career. Music has shaped my identity for as long as I could turn up the volume on the radio, and I think about everything in terms of it.
I’m now on the brink of another big move to a different college town for a different academic librarian job. Two days before I was offered the job, Steve Albini, who I got to work with on three records and who I consider a huge influence and a friend, died. The timing is not lost on me, and I’ve been thinking a lot about my friends. Not just Jason and Steve, who both died too young, but all of my friends. The ones who are or soon will be in towns I used to live in; the ones who I still keep in touch with no matter how far or close; the ones who I will meet and who I will remember to call and who I can’t wait to see again; all of my friends.
Photo Courtesy of Jason Evans Groth
This list is made entirely of songs that I have, over the last year or so, added to or heard on collaborative playlists with friends. Friends who share music are and always will be my best friends, and sharing music like this – music that I think of when I wake up, music that means something to me for a moment and I capture into a list, music that is brought up in conversations, or music heard in a movie, or music that is evoked because someone says something that makes me think of lyrics – is one of my favorite ways to communicate. Looking back at these lists I see a snapshot of me not just over the year but as a whole, as a person who has been fully taken with music for as long as I can remember. And all of the songs are songs that are both shared, specifically, with friends on lists, but were all shared with me by other friends, too.
Tim and Andy from Silkworm are friends (their band Bottomless Pit toured with Magnolia), and “Couldn’t You Wait?” is often the first song I think of when someone I love passes away. Steve Albini recorded that song, and Tim’s new band – Mint Mile – was the second to last band Steve ever recorded. The first time I heard “Farewell, Farewell” was in Utrecht on the last day of my first European tour with Songs: Ohia, played by our friend Burd Early as a wish for us to travel safely. Mark, the drummer from Magnolia Electric, shared The Goon Sax song with me because it reminded him of some demos I had made and shared with him.
The Gizmos – classic punk rockers from Bloomington – wrote a song about friends in the Midwest that just feels like home to me, and had my band The Coke Dares play some shows with them at a reunion a few years back. Jason Molina invited me into Songs: Ohia partly because he saw my Neil Young album cover band, The Cinnamon Girls, play Tonight’s the Night and told the head of Secretly Canadian “that’s my band.” Zeb, who plays in the Cinnamon Girls, showed me “Don’t Be Denied.” Amy O. is a friend from Bloomington and I can’t get this song out of my head. I heard this Heaven 17 song for the first time with my friend Sarah from Bloomington at a little reunion this past November in the mountains of Asheville. Rosali is a friend from the Triangle and “Rewind” is one of the best songs of 2024.
Here’s Steve with Shellac, being as provocative as ever, but also melodic, and sad, and cathartic, and darkly funny. All of that was Steve, and it sounds so good, as always. The Beths sing perfect harmonies and make great melodies, and my friend Kyle who works with me at the library casually introduced me one day when we were wiring music studios and I was hooked. My friend Scout writes great music, including this, which she recorded with Steve; Sal, who played on the last Magnolia tour, plays bass on this, and Will Oldham, who I admire and who I’ve gotten to play a few weird and memorable shows with, sings beautifully.
One time, at a Robbie Fulks show, Jason Molina told me that I was “as good as he is” at guitar; I don’t believe it, but I am grateful to Jason for showing me Robbie (and Steve recorded this, too). Nobody really showed me the Ariana Grande song but it’s been following me around, and it is so much like “Dancing on My Own” how could I not like it? It also has the word “friends” in it, so it works. Butterglory was one of those bands that only your friends knew about in the 90s, and I ended up meeting one of them at another indie rock person’s wedding in like 2011. Sardina was an amazing Bloomington band made up of people who were both inspirations and friends – the singer, Michelle, used to host my bands in Austin, and the drummer, Lon Paul, recorded my band the Impossible Shapes and played in the Indy band Marmoset. He also died way too soon.
Photo Courtesy of Jason Evans Groth
Steve recorded this Superchunk song, my favorite Superchunk song, and I thought it was appropriate to nod to the region I’m about to leave. My friend Matt does sound for them, too, so it all comes together. My friend David Vandervelde played “Looking for the Magic” for The coke dares when we stayed with him one night, and it’s never not been the first song I think of when I think of songs everyone should hear. My friends in the band Pavement introduced me to “Witchi Tai To” over the last two years of them playing. Ok, we’re not actually friends, but they changed my life and I feel like we’re close. And “Red Barchetta” was the secret fantasy song that Jason Molina wanted Magnolia to cover, shown to me first by my friend Greg in high school, but made legend by Molina at sound checks when we couldn’t quite figure it out. And “Thank You Friends” – the full version of which was shared with me first by my friend Jim, singer of my band Cadmium Orange, and the demo version which was shared with me by my friend Elizabeth, a DJ on one of the best radio shows I ever heard (Girls’ Guide to the Outlaw Spirit on WKNC in Raleigh) – is obvious.
Just writing this all down and looking at this list that is also a story, makes me feel so incredibly grateful for my friends, friends for whom music has been an identity definer and shifter, friends for whom friendship is often founded on the platform of passion for music. Thank you, friends.
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 Hong Kong/UK artist and experimentalist, Eva Liu of mui zyu.
As a project, mui zyu has molded an expansive, yet incredibly intimate soundscape into something that is both hauntingly stunning and neurologically addictive when ingested by earthlings. To celebrate the release of her sophomore LP, nothing or something to die for, out this Friday, Liu has created a sonic theme revolving around the album’s artwork, sharing:
“the theme is imagining what the cave-dwelling characters in Waffle Burger’s painting for my record would listen to in the morning. this is how i think they’d soundtrack their days, from waking up in the damp stoney cavern, to swimming in the hot broth, doing their group meditations and roasting the heck out of their marshmallows.”
nothing or something to die for will be available everywhere this Friday (May 24) via Father/Daughter Records. You can preorder the album now on bandcamp.
Every Wednesday, the ugly hug shares a playlist personally curated by an artist/band. This week we have a collection of songs put together by Asheville-raised, Brooklyn-based artist, and ugly hug contributor, Audrey Keelin, of the band Hiding Places.
Audrey’s songwriting and creativity comes from a place of nostalgia and comfort, carving a unique path of understanding their present surroundings. With this curation, Audrey explains:
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 Brooklyn-based artist, Mei Semones.
Early in April, Semones released her new EP, Kabutomushi off of Bayonet Records. In a sweet blend of genre-fusing, tender dynamics and vulnerable lyrics, Semones and her band have come into their fullest form yet. Reutilizing classic jazz forms in a modern indie-pop context, Semones continues to build on a career that feels unique in both style and performance, captivating and connecting a new kind of audience.
In spirit of Kabutomushi, Semones has curated a playlist for the ugly hug that touches upon some of her favorite songs that have stayed with her. Covering a large variety of styles, ranging from jazz standards, melancholy grunge hits and hip-hop underground currents, Semones has shared a piece of herself in this list.
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 Nick Sullivan of the Brooklyn/Boston band, Joyer.
With the release of their new record Night Songs out this Friday, Joyer has spent a lot of time on the road. Just finishing up a leg of touring on the West Coast and a week at sxsw – while also preparing for a handful of album release shows in the next few weeks – the band has seen a lot of the country together.
In honor of the time spent in route, Nick curated a playlist of songs derived from their van’s growing CD collection. With a mix of celebrated rockers, charming deep cuts and demos, even some songs from their contemporary companions, this playlist is a reminiscence bump for a time filled with variety, uncertainty and comradery for a band doing what they love.
the ugly hug 