Yeah, I got to see her for free years ago when she was like 16 or something, touring off of her first EP—which is her best work to date, in my opinion. Raw, real, the writing is excellent, the melodies are so good. As she’s gotten signed to bigger labels and has some major pull these days, she’s moved away from that raw, sort of punk-y indie sound and into—admittedly, still some good stuff, her singles off the newer album are really good, the rest of the album not so much—more produced stuff with like a drum machine that doesn’t fit her aesthetic in my opinion.

I have thoughts on the topic, obviously lol

I dunno how but I got tapped into this really obscure vein in my Spotify, so I always find these bands with like 3,000 listens. I love more unproduced sound, and I fall in love hard and then am usually disappointed when a band I loved gets signed to a bigger label and gets their sound bastardized. Def happened with hop along. What even is that band anymore? But their first two albums? “Is Something Wrong?” and “Get Disowned” are fucking incredible. You like hop along?

Oh—if you haven’t listened to her, Shilpa Ray is high on my recommendations list. Watch her audiotree live session. It’s fucking excellent. I love her harmonium centric stuff, but if you don’t, skip to the last song, “EMT, Police, and the Fire Department.” I got to hear them play it live a few months back and it fucking rooockkkeeedd.