bradluen
bradluen.bsky.social
bradluen
@bradluen.bsky.social
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Jazzwrld/Thukuthela's Swiftian run, Jubal Lee Young's four-word KJV, Wednesday's Southern Gothic podcast audition, SilkMoney making me fail my Mavis Beacon, plus progressive thrash, the least Latin name in Latin jazz, and #tetas in this month's Semipop Life:
bradluen.substack.com/p/semipop-li...
Semipop Life: Step step step, brothers
Jazzwrld & Thukuthela, Jubal Lee Young, Wednesday, Fieldwork, and more!
bradluen.substack.com
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

42. CMAT: "The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station"
Ireland 2025

"My Singapore-style fried rice:
Put ½ a tablespoon of olive oil into the hot pan"

yeah I'm gonna stop you there, Jamie

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTWg...
November 17, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by bradluen
Well, this is unprecedented. Thank you Joey for listening to and writing about every song I have ever written. Love the ranking, some curveballs in the top ten. Very flattering indeed, thank you.
Every song by Elizabeth Morris of @allodarlin.bsky.social, ranked! After four months of work (!!!), my next huge feature is about a band you maybe haven't heard of that might end up being everything to you: joeydaniewicz.com/2025/11/17/m...
All 69 Songs by Elizabeth Morris of Allo Darlin’, Ranked
It’s easy to see where things begin; it is harder to see where they end.
joeydaniewicz.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by bradluen
Every song by Elizabeth Morris of @allodarlin.bsky.social, ranked! After four months of work (!!!), my next huge feature is about a band you maybe haven't heard of that might end up being everything to you: joeydaniewicz.com/2025/11/17/m...
All 69 Songs by Elizabeth Morris of Allo Darlin’, Ranked
It’s easy to see where things begin; it is harder to see where they end.
joeydaniewicz.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:49 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

41. Wet Leg: "Chaise Longue"
UK 2021

alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong alldaylong

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd9j...
November 16, 2025 at 6:05 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

40. Corook: "They!"
USA 2025

Look, I'm not saying that Corook being the only artist to get two of my top 50 means I think they've had a musically better decade than, say, K. Lamar or B. Eilish (who got none.) They're probably on a par at best

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoTG...
November 15, 2025 at 8:25 PM
RIP Todd Snider. Most effortlessly funny musician I ever saw, but he could also play a train song
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8eR...
Play a Train Song
YouTube video by Todd Snider - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:11 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

39. Dj Kawest, T-Gui, T-Will: "Konpa Paradise 2"
France/Guadeloupe/Martinique 2024

The most audacious opening ten seconds of any song this decade. Seconds fifteen to twenty-five, when the keyboard part fully vests, are nearly as good.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWIe...
November 14, 2025 at 7:51 PM
New ongoing thread that'll unfurl over the next couple of weeks, will try not to make it all Aretha/Otis
Favorite '60s soul/R&B/blues albums, a thread:

Howlin' Wolf (1962)

How do you follow perhaps the GOAT blues LP? With your SEXFUNK record obvs. Wolf/Dixon/Sumlin etc. spin tales of fluids being drunk by the spoonful, modest-sized cocks causing ruckuses, back doors well you see where this is going.
Spoonful
YouTube video by Howlin' Wolf - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Favorite '60s soul/R&B/blues albums, a thread:

Howlin' Wolf (1962)

How do you follow perhaps the GOAT blues LP? With your SEXFUNK record obvs. Wolf/Dixon/Sumlin etc. spin tales of fluids being drunk by the spoonful, modest-sized cocks causing ruckuses, back doors well you see where this is going.
Spoonful
YouTube video by Howlin' Wolf - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:38 AM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

38. Rosé & Bruno Mars: "Apt."
South Korea/USA/technically NZ 2024

For a year I've been puzzling over whether "apateuapateu" is five syllables or six. Currently I think it's five and a third, so I hope they didn't overpay "Mickey"'s writers.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8WE...
November 13, 2025 at 6:41 PM
This was my clear number one, never heard it before the poll and now I wonder if it's the great Nigerian pop song of its era (pace King Sunny)
November 12, 2025 at 7:22 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

37. Duke Deuce, Lil Yachty, Turnt Lil Thadd: "Crunk Ain't Dead Mob"
USA 2020

Things I wish there'd been more of in 2020s rap: crunk; unison chanting; finding solidarity in survival; spelling things; jumping around in shopping mall food courts.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_cB...
November 12, 2025 at 7:17 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

36. Sabrina Carpenter: "Please Please Please"
USA 2024

The nerd Antonoff: I polished up the arpeggios real nice, w-will you go to the prom with me

The chad Bunetta: I literally used the same sample pack as "Say So"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF1N...
November 11, 2025 at 5:30 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

35. Ina Colada: "Komplett am Arsch"
Germany 2020

Luke Combs and Gmac Cash lose out on the Covidsong slot to this Partyschlager singer I am the only person whom Chuck Eddy convinced to listen to. Wir sind komplett am Arsch, doch wir leben!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKc4...
November 10, 2025 at 7:27 PM
What's up in classical music: the most hyped violin prodigy in years, a passacaglia on Radiohead, justice for Kurt Weill, the worst Bible story stretched to 18 minutes just to be much worse than Dylan's 30 second version, Verlaines (not the Kiwis) for song fiends, and a bunch of women composers:
Semiclassical Life: Write sins, not tragedies
I listened to a bunch of Gramophone Award finalists and might as well get a column out of it
bradluen.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:14 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

34. Mariah the Scientist: "2 You"
USA 2021

That I haven't got anything out of her subsequent run as an actual star/gossip column regular doesn't detract from how pretty and balanced this is. Sure was beautiful, now I lay it in the grave.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwNO...
November 9, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Ten current female (or nonbinary) artists I love:

Mahotella Queens
Adrianne Lenker
Olivia Rodrigo
Megan Moroney
Doechii
Victoria Monét
Matana Roberts
Elizabeth Nelson (of the Paranoid Style)
Jane Remover/leroy
Edna Martinez
Name ten current female artists you love

Ano
Poppy
BabyMetal
Hanabie
Shakira
Broken By The Scream
Ava Max
Aespa
Halsey
F5ve
Name ten current female artists you love 🎶🍷

Gillian Welch
Lana Del Rey
Cassandra Jenkins
Jessica Pratt
Weyes Blood
Tamara Lindeman
Elizabeth Fraser
Beth Gibbons
Katie Crutchfield
Elizabeth Fraser

#musicsky
November 8, 2025 at 9:38 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

33. Zuchu: "Amanda"
Not from Uganda or Rwanda, she's from TANZANIA, 2025

Late change to accommodate the breakout hit of the poll!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9f4...
November 8, 2025 at 6:40 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

32. Baby Queen: "Buzzkill"
South Africa/UK 2020

So Olivia must've had her former support act in mind when she & Nigro wrote "Get Him Back!", right? Not shocking that keying his car was much more streamable than partying with your self-loathing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYQM...
November 7, 2025 at 7:53 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

31. Sho Madjozi: "Chalé"
South Africa 2023

Never got over the fact that even after gerrymandering my 2023 year-end poll, this still got beaten into second by "Bad Idea Right?"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut3l...
November 6, 2025 at 5:18 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

30. Dolly Style: "Yihaa"
Sweden 2025

If these kawaii Swedish cowgirls still have my top song of 2025 at the end of December, it'll have been a weird year

(they probably won't)

(it'll still have been a weird year)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQAo...
November 5, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Trying to spot where Republicans have actually held up tonight, pattern seems to be "places somewhat more racist than you'd predict from socioeconomic status"
patch.com/new-york/min...
Bruce Blakeman Appears Set To Emerge Victorious In Nassau County Executive Race
Patch will be giving live updates of the tallies on Election Night.
patch.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:34 AM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

29. Iris DeMent: "Goin' Down to SIng in Texas"
USA 2020

Another ISC strike, but worth it for one of the great living folk singers shouting out the Squad and (even more surprisingly) the Chicks. Good day for a pro-Muslim, anti-war criminal song!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfwz...
November 4, 2025 at 6:15 PM
#TheTwen2ie5 ranked:

28. Tommy Womack: "Call Me Gary"
USA 2021

Finally, a (double non-complying) old white guy & a guitar!



With a song about the long-term fallout of church abuse!



www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr2d...
November 3, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Jazzwrld/Thukuthela's Swiftian run, Jubal Lee Young's four-word KJV, Wednesday's Southern Gothic podcast audition, SilkMoney making me fail my Mavis Beacon, plus progressive thrash, the least Latin name in Latin jazz, and #tetas in this month's Semipop Life:
bradluen.substack.com/p/semipop-li...
Semipop Life: Step step step, brothers
Jazzwrld & Thukuthela, Jubal Lee Young, Wednesday, Fieldwork, and more!
bradluen.substack.com
November 2, 2025 at 10:29 PM