New Music Friday: 8/16/24

Here are the rules: I listen to all 100 tracks of Spotify's New Music Friday playlist, except for anything that rhymes the n-word with itself more than three times, any screamo or screamo-adjacent stuff, any CCM that reveals its true intentions in time for me to hit the skip button, and any egregiously corny modern country music, typically performed by a dude with two first names. Having sifted through this week's playlist, here's what I actively enjoyed:

"Officially Mine," Maude Latour
Aside from conversations between hardcore Bea Arthur fans and friends of Judd Apatow's daughter, I feel like we don't hear the name Maude very often these days — a feeling backed up by the following chart, which ranks it 990th among American baby names for girls:

Of course, every unpopular baby name is always only one superstar away from a reversal of fortune, and although I don't think Maude Latour is destined to be the star her name needs to make this happen, "Officially Mine" is still a pretty nifty little pop song.

"Brave," Blind Pilot
I learned a couple of things while listening to "Brave." First of all, I learned that Blind Pilot is still a band; at some point during their eight-year layoff between new albums, I'd forgotten all about them. Second, I learned that ATO Records is still around. It's like the middle aughts never ended! Speaking of which, "Blind" is an appealing mid-tempo number that would have slotted into that era's more adult-oriented fare quite nicely, further elevated by a lead guitar line that's pleasantly reminiscent of Lindsey Buckingham at his most tunefully sedate.