Friday Five: April 3, 2026
- 6 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Side A:
Side B:
Friday Fav:
"Nice, Nice, Very Nice"• Dan Mangan - Sometimes you remember the exact moment you discovered an artist, the way your life shifts in an instant and they become an immutable part of your way of experiencing the world. Dan's one of those artists; a needle drop on "Fair Verona" in a basement apartment shifted me profoundly. Nice, Nice is a nod to Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle and it's been a staple in my musical diet for almost two decades. If you ever get the chance to see Dan live, don't miss it; he does crowd singalongs that will heal you from the inside. One of the very best doing it.
March 13, 2026
Friday Five exists as a little challenge to me: five new albums, five new stories per week. They're here for you to enjoy (or not!) No summaries or in-depth criticism. But here are a few notes:
No mixtapes for a minute, mostly because I've been offline. I'd say I'm touching grass but there's none to be found where I live; it keeps snowing. But I am offline and really happy, for the first time in many years, so bear with me while I moonlight here.
Kevin Kearney's piece in KKUURRTT and Tex's edition of Vlad Mag is a favourite but the whole edition is filled to the brim with bangers. Please make sure to read the whole volume.
Someone recommended Angine de Poitrine to me when I gave him Geese and he told me Geese sounds like "if The Sheepdogs went to art school" and now I can't unhear it, but at the very least Angine fucking rips (I'll even forgive them being Quebeçois.)
I'm still exploring Emmie Rae's fantastic playlists and play them a lot while I'm winding down from bartending. Highly recommended if your nervous system needs gentleness and rest.
Late to the party but thrilled to see Julián Martinez's book deal with Future Tense at StoryFort. Huge congrats and deeply deserved.
Trying not to be hard on myself for reading slowly, but I work two to four jobs at any given time and you know, that cuts into the reading time more than a bit. Been enjoying the hell out of Harry Crews' "The Knockout Artist" and "Venus and Aprhodite: A Biography" by Bettany Hughes. Obsessed with HBO's Rome and lamenting its demise; what a shame they had to cram four seasons of history and storytelling into one.
If you're waiting on a response from me for M7 submissions, you should have it soon. I'll be diving into them this weekend.
xo,
Kirsti