Noots Letter: Old News
November 2022, and some other stuff
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The time has come. Today is the last day you’ll mark your rent checks with a 2022. Your favorite aesthetically-appealing data harvest, Spotify Wrapped, is out. Apple Music has attempted a meager version as well, so my friend James has one less thing to complain about. Publications like NPR and Pitchfork are asking readers to vote for their favorite albums & songs of 2022. People (me) are scrambling to listen to every single song that was released this year in an attempt to make end-of-year playlists.
But after a chock-full-o-nuts 12 months like this, how does any regular person keep up with the 60,000+ tracks that are being uploaded to streaming services every day?
I’ve been wondering what to do with this newsletter ever since settling back into Life On Land (dramatic). Once upon a time, I always passively listening to the radio, following along with TikTok trends, keeping up with Release Radar & Discover Weekly. By being at sea and therefore paying less attention/deleting TikTok every other week because my phone is always out of space, I fell behind. I don’t even know what the Song Of The Summer was! Unless it was that “my money don’t jiggle jiggle” song by Louis Theroux—it’s still stuck in my head so I sure hope it’s still riding the top of the charts.
All this is to say that the Noots Letter may be taking on a new form next year, just in case I fall off the face of the earth again. There will be more brainless jokes, less semi-informed thoughts, more memes, less research. Maybe guest more features, less original playlists. WHO KNOWS stay tuned!! As always, if you have requests, I’d love to hear them :)
In the meantime, here are Recent Revelations, and other Lukewarm Takes:
Thank you for submitting your Most Embarrassing Moments On Spotify Wrapped via my Instagram stories. I, thankfully, am not the only one with cliche Dad Rock topping the charts. An unsurprising number of you are gluttons for musical theatre. There were many apologies for Ye’s presence, but you’re probably in the company of Julia Fox so we forgive. Someone is still listening to One Direction…a lot. And my friend who only listened to 2.5 days of music, if you are reading this, please please please allow joy to enter your life next year.
This summer, I took a dive into album cover art. Here is an interview with one of indie-rock’s most prolific album cover designers. And here are some stories about the famous ones. Other than iconic portraits of the artists, I found much of this art falls into the following categories:
Hot Women — Blink 182, 38 Special, The Strokes, St. Vincent, The Cars, Scorpions
Geometric Designs That Would Go On To Make Great T-Shirts — Joy Division, Pink Floyd, Nico/Velvet Underground, Coldplay
Men In Jeans — Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Marshall Tucker Band, Bob Dylan
And then a ton of other Very Creepy ones because musicians are CRAZY!!!!!
Speaking of fine art, SZA dropped the cover image of her impending record S.O.S. and it’s simply the most stunning photograph I’ve ever seen. I wonder she, like me, was inspired after seeing this view from a cruise ship for four consecutive months. S.O.S. is set to be released this month, so everyone please save your lists until its arrival so we can adequately give it the #1 spot it deserves.
My biggest takeaway from this summer with the Rolling Stone Rock Room is that so many iconic rock songs are in the key of E/Em. I just imagine some old record producer in the 1970s being like “If you want a hit rock song, kid, you gotta put it in E major. And if you want a dirty hit rock song… well, that’ll be E minor.” (I have no idea how the record industry works.)
Christine McVie was likely the most underrated member of Fleetwood Mac, and I don’t say that to pit women against each other! In fact, her “best friend in the whole world”, Stevie, once remarked “We felt like, together, we were a force of nature.” Thinking about this photo a lot.
While I have not listened myself, I’ve heard that Ezra Koenig’s Time Crisis had several episodes debating the greatest American rock band. This is a fantastic conversation starter for the holiday season if you’re trying to more deeply connect with older male relatives or your friends’ boyfriends. The first thing you’ll realize is that every band you’re inclined to nominate is, in fact, British. IMHO there is ultimately one best answer and his band is named after an alphabetical avenue and he is Boss.
A startling number of you had T*ylor Sw*ft as your number one artist. What is all the hubbub ABOUT y’all. I keep wanting to give her a chance and I am continually let down! Midnights sounds like a less good early Lorde record, and I wish she wasn’t so married to a rhyme scheme, and many of my favorite musicians going on tour with her feels like my favorite actors joining Marvel movies. Please respond with an essay, genuinely, about why you’re all obsessed. I want to understand??
Wired headphones are making an unusual resurgence among teens. I believe time will prove a direct correlation between Wired Headphones and Having Long Nails, due to such high Risk of Tangling. If this conspiracy is true, this may serve to be huge for the nail industry (Big Nail) in the coming months.
I wonder if Harry Styles has ever gotten a rash from all those boas he wears.
Around age 19, Donna Summer landed the lead in the musical Hair and toured in it around mf Germany, as if I couldn’t be more enchanted by her already.
Absolutely quaking at the discovery that the following songs are actually covers:
“Changes”, popularized by Charles Bradley and featured as the theme of Big Mouth? Originally by Black Sabbath. The entirety of your reality is a lie.
“First Cut Is The Deepest” is not a Sheryl Crow original. It’s by Cat Stevens and from 1967. Millennials across the nation are gasping for breath.
“Respect” belongs to Aretha Franklin and ambitious folks at karaoke. But it was first recorded by Otis Redding. This will be the main talking point at this year’s Mandela Effect convention.
I’ve spent my entire non-driving life speaking ill about “Life Is A Highway” from Pixar’s Cars. It has, at last, stolen my pride and appeared on my Wrapped 2022 playlist. Also, I finally listened to the original by Tom Cochrane, and I will finally admit! Gary LeVox does it better. Congrats on the range, sir. I concede.
Saw two of the current greatest vocalists live together the other night at Madison Square Garden. Do yourself a favor and watch. And then watch this version of “Over The Rainbow”, which had me on my hands and knees.
Y’all see MUNA’s Halloween outfits and subsequent performance??????????? Sweating.
Kate Nash had a musical running Off-Broadway this fall, and I’m praying this means the Made of Bricks jukebox show is on its way. She now joins the likes of indie-folk-artists-turned-composers such as Anais Mitchell (Hadestown), Sara Bareilles (Waitress), and Ingrid Michaelson (The Notebook, coming to B’way next season!)
Boygenius, Sad Girl Supergroup consisting of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker, was filmed recreating a Nirvana photoshoot. We have something to look forward to in 2023, fellas!!!!!!
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Inside Passage - Blue music for blue mountains.
themes from early 2000s teen girl movies - Princess Diaries 3 was just announced; celebrate accordingly.
Bow Cam - Some favorite tracks while ushering autumn in New York.
Judging By The Cover - This one is for looking, not listening.
this is cringe — spotify wrapped 2022 - My very own song is at the top LOL. If you want a chaotic combination of uptempo electro-pop and songs that were likely featured in Rock of Ages, take a look inside this year.
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It’s impossible for me to select albums for this volume, simply because I have so many favorites from the past few months and so many more to listen to! Will I make it through all of them over the next 31 days? Only time will tell! If you are hungry for a compilation of all albums from year-end lists that I’m listening to, I’m in the process of making a spreadsheet. Before you ask, I am a Virgo.
And here is my version of that graphic all y'all were sharing, which I feel much more accurately depicts the State of the Noots McGoots Union better than this year’s Wrapped. Thanks for paying attention to me, ILY! <3
