The Weekender #4: Your Must Hear, Watch, & Read Guide
The Weekender #4: Your Must Hear, Watch, & Read Guide
This weekend features MGMT, Varsity, Heems, Lapgan, Portishead, Shane Gillis, Norm Macdonald, and the Grateful Dead.
The Weekender is a curated listening, watching, and reading experience to give your weekend a sensory upgrade. Subscribe to get The Weekender in your inbox free every Friday.
What to Listen to This Weekend
MGMT - Loss of Life
Get Vinyl: Prismatic Splatter | Blue Jay | Opaque Pink | Black
Stream: Spotify | Bandcamp | Apple Music | YouTube
This weekend’s big release is MGMT’s long anticipated fifth album after a six year break. The genre-shifting duo of Andrew VanWyngarden and Benjamin Goldwasser have one of the most fascinating career trajectories and discographies in recent history.
Their 2008 debut Oracular Spectacular catapulted them straight to indie rock royalty, boasting three iconic singles that have endured the test of time: "Kids," "Electric Feel," and "Time To Pretend."
Rather than following the more accessible, pop-infused road they paved, MGMT embraced their eccentricities, with the prog-heavy 2010 follow-up Congratulations and then the dense and difficult 2013 self-titled. They righted the ship with Little Dark Age, an album loaded with crowd pleasers.
And now, Loss of Life arrives, a record I've been heralding around here as potentially iconic for months. After a few spins, I’m proud to report it meets, if not surpasses, the high bar set by its predecessors.
The new record picks up where Little Dark Age left off. Do you remember where they left off? With an album closer that’s one of the best goddamn things I’ve ever heard.
Loss of Life resumes with that distinctive blend of lush psych-rock vibes intertwined with lyrical dissonance about the existential quandaries of our time. Dave Fridmann, a long-standing collaborator, returns to lend his production genius, ensuring the album strikes the right balance between catchy and eccentric. I can see this being an addictive record destined to captivate both long-time MGMT heads and newcomers alike.
Varsity - Souvenirs
Stream: Spotify | Bandcamp | Apple Music | YouTube
Throughout 2023, the Chicago-based quintet Varsity wrote, recorded, and released one song a month from January to December. Last week, the 12 songs were compiled and released as their fourth record Souvenirs. The album's cover art incorporates elements from each single's artwork, weaving together a tapestry of visual memories that complement the year’s journey.
If you’re a fan of recent indie pop like Alvvays, Tennis, and Charly Bliss, Varsity will be right up your alley. There’s no filler here, and it’s tough to pick favorites, but here’s three sticky sweet jams that have been stuck in my head: “Take it the Wrong Way,” “Good to be Bad,” and “Head in the Clouds.”
There’s no vinyl yet, but hopefully we receive word of one soon.
Heems and Lapgan - LAFANDAR
Stream: Spotify | Bandcamp | Apple Music | YouTube
In the early 2010s, any college kid with a penchant for rap, religiously scrolling through music blogs, was bound to fall for Das Racist, the Brooklyn-based hip hop collective featuring MCs Heems, Kool A.D., and Dapwell.
With their distinctive blend of humor, scholarly nods, deep references, and offbeat delivery, Das Racist quickly made a name for themselves. They went viral with the zeitgeist hit "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell," followed by critically acclaimed mixtapes Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man, marking a unique footprint in the hip hop landscape.
After Das Racist disbanded following their debut album Relax, Heems receded from the spotlight. Recently, he has been preparing for a resurgence with a new album slated for a spring release via his own label and magazine, Veena.
However, a chance meeting with beatmaker Lapgan shifted his plans, leading to Lapgan's signing as Veena's inaugural artist. Their collaboration flourished into both a creative partnership and friendship, resulting in the joint album LAFANDAR. The internal reception was so positive that Heems decided to fast-track its release over his own solo comeback.
The album features 12 tracks that showcase a mature evolution of the distinct style that defined Das Racist, highlighted by sharp wit, relaxed flows, and superior production.
Heems has curated an exciting roster of guests for the album, featuring Kool Keith, Quelle Chris, Open Mike Eagle, Blu, Fatboi Shariff, and Your Old Droog, each bringing their A-game. However, it's Heems who truly shines, showcasing perhaps his most impressive rapping to date, complemented by the finest production he's ever worked with.
There’s no vinyl announced yet, however the two Das Racist mixtapes just dropped on wax for the first time ever.
What to Watch This Weekend
Portishead - Roseland NYC Live
Watch: YouTube
This week brought the announcement that Portishead's 1998 live album, Roseland NYC Live, is set to receive a physical reissue. This follows a digital-only re-release that took place last November. The newly remastered live album, presented on striking red vinyl, was released and swiftly sold out (For real-time updates on vinyl releases, make sure to follow our Twitter account).
Taking advantage of this reissue, I revisited the concert, which is available free on YouTube, with each song available separately. Observing Portishead perform selections from Dummy and their self-titled album, accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra, is a remarkable experience. Among the highlights, Beth Gibbons' crooning "All Mine" stands out as a particularly memorable moment.
Shane Gillis hosting Saturday Night Live
Watch: NBC and Peacock
Shane Gillis' opening monologue will be appointment viewing this Saturday night, marking an unexpected return since his SNL firing in 2019. That year, before he could make his debut, controversial snippets from his extensive podcasting history ignited a media storm. Four days after his hiring, SNL reversed its decision and excluded Gillis from the lineup.
Since then, Gillis’ popularity has skyrocketed. He’s released arguably two of the funniest and rewatchable standup specials in recent memory: 2021’s Live in Austin on YouTube and 2023’s Beautiful Dogs on Netflix. His podcast with fellow comedian Matt McCusker, Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, is currently the top podcast on Patreon in terms of paid subscribers, bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars every month.
Gillis’ redemptive arc brings to mind a similar situation that occurred with the late, great Norm MacDonald. Rumored to be fired for making too many jokes about OJ Simpson (who was a golfing buddy of NBC president Don Ohlmeyer) during his Weekend Update segments, Norm returned to host a year and a half later. He seized this moment to retaliate, quipping about the irony of his return:
“How do I go […] from not being funny enough to be allowed in the building, to being so funny I’m hosting the show? [..] Then it occurred to me: I haven’t gotten funnier, the show has gotten really bad!”
The episode has never been re-aired and is not available on streaming.
What to Read This Weekend
Grateful Dead Archivist David Lemieux Knows Where the Beauty is Buried by Alex Pappademas for GQ
Diving into the Grateful Dead's extensive archive can be overwhelming, but fortunately, live-Dead expert and Dave's Picks compiler David Lemieux is here to guide us through. Here he answers the question on where people should begin:
It might sound like a bit of a cop-out answer, honestly, but I would start with the famous May 8th, 1977 show at Cornell. It's a very accessible show, but it's also incredibly well played. It sounds phenomenal. And then to really [show people] the breadth of what the Dead could do live and really blow some minds, I would go back to Dick's Picks Vol. 8, the Harpur College show. The first hour of that show is the acoustic Grateful Dead, then they follow it up with probably the most intense electric set I can think of. So it shows all of the world of the Grateful Dead in a three hour chunk. From there, it’s really hard. Maybe something later, like the Rich Stadium show from July 4th, 1989— it's a DVD and CD release called Truckin’ Up to Buffalo. That's about as high as the Grateful Dead perform in the late eighties. Maybe the Veneta, Oregon show in 1972 as well. It's an album called Sunshine Daydream. Those are three or four incredible places to start to get a sense of how great the Grateful Dead are, and how varied they are, as well.
Hey thanks for reading! What are you excited to dive into this weekend? We’ll be back next week with all sorts of goodies. Until then, rock on!
Such a great list of artists to check out this week! I'm especially excited to hear the new MGMT, and I had no idea about the new Heems project, so I'm doubly thrilled about that one! Hadn't heard Varsity but they sound right in my wheelhouse.
Speaking of Das Racist, I did write about them a little over a year ago for Earworms and Song Loops, if you wanted to check it out.
https://earworm.substack.com/p/im-at-the-combination-pizza-hut-and
It's the only post I wrote that got zero comments! Ha! I might repost it this week, just to see if I can get it some new attention (and I'll link to your post too, if that's cool.).
I’ll track down the Portishead gig. Meanwhile the new solo album by Beth Gibbons is very promising, if the one track released so far is any guide.