GOLIKEHELLMACHINE: 10 Songs

10 Songs: Summer in Middle Age

2025-08-15T00:00:00Z

The title here is mostly a troll for Ed Niedermeyer after a back and forth on Bluesky the other day about getting older and listening to more "world music", which is mostly just a pretentious name for "music that isn't in English and isn't four on the floor pop". Not everything here fits into that category, but most of it does. I go on periodic binges for this kind of thing every once in awhile, and this was a good opportunity to put a few of them together.

Most — though not all — of this comes from Mississippi Records, who are a fantastic resource for this kind of thing. Make a cocktail (Hemry's got you covered), sit on the patio or the porch or open up the windows, and enjoy the beginning of the end of the long, hot summer.

Click this link if you'd like to listen to this in a playlist.

10 Songs: Spring Begins

2025-03-20T00:00:00Z

Lots of bad news lately, and there'll be lots more to come, but Spring started, official-style, this week, and that's something, at least. Good time to get outside, put on your headphones and lie down in the park. Bring a bottle.

Mostly new stuff on this one, a couple of standouts include Dust Bunnies by Lebanon's POSTCARDS, and Self-Help by THE GHOULIES, though all of this list is pretty great, in my opinion.

For as long as it lasts, here’s a BNDCMPR playlist if you’d like this in playlist format.

10 Songs: Halloween, pt. 1

2024-10-25T00:00:00Z

This time of year, everyone's filled with anxiety about the spooky gourds carved into scary faces and filled with light. Here are 10 songs intended to lean all the way into that and have you cavorting with the devil. Let Abigail Williams see you do it.

For as long as it lasts, here it is in playlist form.

10 Songs: The Long Dark, Pt. 1

2024-09-28T00:00:00Z

Fall is, without question, my favorite season, and fall in the Pacific Northwest is exceptionally lovely. Even so, I always feel a little maudlin when the days start getting so much shorter, so fast. But the fading light through the leaves is a lovely sight, and the crisp weather always makes me feel a little sharper and a little more aware of my surroundings. It's a season for reflection, I suppose, taking stock before the holidays begin and you round out the year and prepare for the next one.

By this time next month, it'll be dark before supper.

For as long as it lasts, here's a BNDCMPR playlist if you'd like this in playlist format.

10 Songs: Never Forget, Pt. 1

2024-09-13T00:00:00Z

It's been a pretty long week, with some ups and downs — I got a layoff notice at the beginning of the week, which has had me at pretty high anxiety all week, but I also played a show with some friends mid-week and had a great Work Is Four Letters interview.

I don't remember a whole lot about September 11th, other than, like everyone else, being glued to the television until I had to go to my job at a lunch counter, where I was then, again, like everyone else, glued to the television all night. I had just turned 21 a couple weeks before that, which usually meant that we'd go to a bar I'd been going to for years, and I think after work, we went to a bar and watched even more television. My entire memory of the day is essentially of watching the television. Such a strange way to experience an event like that, and odd to remember it that way.

For as long as it lasts, here's a BNDCMPR playlist if you'd like this in playlist format.

10 Songs: Fuck JD Vance, Pt. 1

2024-07-18T00:00:00Z

I spent summer holidays (and sometimes Christmases) in Ohio. My mother's family were in Stow and Cuyahoga Falls, and my father's mother was in Akron. I don't remember a whole lot about it other than enjoying going to the malls and the movies and being less fond of some of my cousins, aunts and uncles, but I've never held them against the state, and I don't hold the odious JD Vance against it, either. Ohio has a long and great tradition of rock bands, here are 10 songs I picked at random while spending an evening wading through Bandcamp rather than reading the news.

Also, I wanted to make a Songs, Ohio joke, but decided against it. Except for this one, obviously.

For as long as it lasts, here's a BNDCMPR player if you'd like this in a playlist format.

10 Songs: Songs for Airports, pt. 1

2024-07-08T00:00:00Z

Flying from the west coast to the east for a single day of work, then flying back west the next day is a grind that's been my gig far more often than I would have liked this year, but that's the job for the moment, so that's what I do. Anyway, there's nothing everyone on an airplane loves more than someone who wants to dance, so here's a quickie 10 Songs of Northern Soul and R&B if, unlike me, you actually can dance around in your seat or your chair or at your job or whatever.

For as long as it lasts, here's a BNDCMPR player if you'd like this in a playlist format.

10 Songs: Australia

2024-07-07T00:00:00Z

Australia punches way above their weight when it comes to great guitar rock bands. I've heard a lot of theories for this, none of which I'm remotely qualified to weigh in on, and won't try. Regardless of why, there are a ton of great floppy haired shredders on the other side of the world, here are a handful I've been enjoying.

For as long as it lasts, here's a BNDCMPR player if you'd like this in a playlist format.

10 Songs: Sunday Music, pt. 1

2024-06-26T00:00:00Z

Sundays are a day for the Lord, if you're a religious person. I am decidedly not, so, for me, Sundays are for coffee or mimosas or brunch, but, always, they are for music. Here are 10 Sunday songs for you and the Lord or you and your brunch or you and whatever you do on Sundays.

For as long as it lasts, here's a BNDCMPR player if you'd like this in a playlist format.

10 Songs: Too Goddamned Hot, pt. 1

2024-06-26T00:00:00Z

It's too goddamned hot, everywhere, and as of the writing of this, it's only June. Portland's fortunately been mild this year, but I know folks everywhere are sweating and sweltering and suffering and swearing. Here's some hot weather music, crack open the coldest drink you can find and pretend you're somewhere that doesn't suck at the moment.

For as long as it lasts, here's a BNDCMPR player if you'd like this in a playlist format.

10 Songs: Wednesdays are the Worst, pt. 1

2024-06-26T00:00:00Z

As far back as I remember, I always ~~wanted to be a gangst~~... fucking hated Wednesdays. There's something about the ennui of being in the middle of the week — but not past it — that I hate, it's like sitting in the middle seat, you can't get comfortable and you're just stuck waiting until the heat death of the universe, or the end of the flight, or until you can go to bed, or whatever.

Anyway, here's some existential ennui listening for Wednesday haters.

For as long as it lasts, here's a BNDCMPR player if you'd like this in a playlist format.