Mitski
The 30 Best Albums of 2022 (So Far)
The following acts released quality albums in May 2022 alone: Radiohead off-shoot The Smile, Kendrick Lamar, Wilco, Arcade Fire, Sharon Van Etten, The Black Keys, Florence + the Machine, Harry Styles — we’ll stop there for space reasons. It’s been such a wild music year so far, only some of them made the following list. Maybe 2022 was just front-loaded and the final six months will be less eventful. (Judging by the release calendar, that’s probably a bad prediction.) Either way, we had trouble even narrowing this down to 30. Let’s meet back here at year’s end and see how things shake out. 30. Caracara – New Preoccupations Fans of classic 2000s emo — Say Anything, Dashboard Confessional, or Circa Survive, for example — are sure to find something to love in Caracara’s New Preoccupations (and...
The 30 Best Songs of 2022 (So Far)
It’s almost absurd how much good music — universally acclaimed, big-ticket, year-end contender music — came out in 2022’s first five months. It’s hard to imagine the next seven matching that pace. We’ve heard soul-bearing rap songs (Kendrick Lamar), future windows-down rock classics (Momma), loads of elite-level Thom Yorke (The Smile) — the list, literally, goes on. Below, we gathered our 30 favorite tracks of 2022 so far. (In this case, we decided songs from any 2022 albums were on the table.) Let’s meet back here at year’s end and see how things shake out. 30. All Get Out – “Feeling Well” The first single from All Get Out’s new album, Kodak, smartly swirls folk-rock, emo, and a dash of country into a potent cocktail of paranoia, self-doubt, and hesitant nostalgia. This South Carolin...
David Byrne and Mitski Perform ‘This Is a Life’ for Sci-Fi Film Soundtrack
David Byrne and Mitski teamed up for the indie-rock jam “This Is A Life,” the first single off the soundtrack for the upcoming sci-fi film Everything Everywhere All At Once. [embedded content][embedded content] The track was scored by Son Lux, and is one of the 49 tracks off the soundtrack for the Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert sci-fi action-adventure. The massive record arrives on April 8. “This Is A Life” follows the heels of Mitski’s sixth studio record, Laurel Hell, and Byrne’s long-running Broadway musical, David Byrne’s American Utopia. Everything Everywhere All At Once hits the big screen April 8, and features actors Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Everything Everywhere All At Once Soundtrack ...
Mitski’s ‘Laurel Hell’ Becomes Top-Selling Album in America
After months of fan anticipation, Mitski’s recent album Laurel Hell debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200 and earned the #1 spot for album sales. The indie darling has seen a steady rise in fame over the past few years following her beloved two most recent albums. Laurel Hell has brought the singer a new level of chart success, propelling her further into the mainstream than ever before. ‘Laurel Hell’ album cover The album has earned the #1 spot on several categories including Top Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Vinyl Albums, and Tastemaker Albums. According to Billboard, the Indie superstar had “the largest vinyl sales week for any album released in 2022, and largest vinyl debut for an album by a female artist since Adele’s 30” was released.” She also debuted at #6 in the UK, #7 in Aust...
Mitski Shares Victorian-Inspired Video for ‘Stay Soft’
After years of fan anticipation, Mitski has finally released her new album Laurel Hell. Alongside the album release, Mitski unveiled a Victorian-inspired video for “Stay Soft,” a song appearing on the new album. The video features her wandering through a succulent, but haunting, garden. Inspired by Romanticism and paintings from the Victorian era, the video utilizes contrast to cast a shadow of precariousness within the delicate feeling of the luscious garden setting. In the seemingly peaceful start of the video, the beauty of the garden contrasts the eerie sense of surveillance from two eerie figures lurking in the garden. [embedded content][embedded content] The video takes a more explicitly dark turn as dusk turns to nightfall. The singer enters a half-synchronized-performance half batt...
On Laurel Hell, Mitski Dashes for the Dance Floor
In March, Mitski Miyawaki will play her first sold-out show at Radio City Music Hall — by far the largest headlining performance of her career, nearly quadruple the size of her last top-billing gig in New York City. Surely the indie noble will be scared shitless; who wouldn’t? That’s 6,000 people you’re supposed to entertain! But during that milestone set, there will be a moment, maybe several, when the full, pounding impact of Laurel Hell, Mitski’s exhilarating sixth LP, envelopes the cavernous theater in synth and the understated artist — who two albums ago was playing tiny clubs to 100 fans — transforms into a bonafide, beaming pop star. OK, maybe that’s assuming too much, but still — the new album, out this Friday, marks the relentlessly acclaimed singer’s first attempt at writing song...
Mitski Unveils Latest Single ‘Love Me More’
We’re less than a month out from Mitski’s latest album being released. The rollout has felt like forever (the first single “Working for the Knife” was released in October), but every song has been worth it. The latest one, “Love Me More,” which was released today, joins that club. The song is an upbeat, new wave-infused that really takes off. Yet at the same time, the song has the same wrenching lyrics that’s made Mitski a favorite in the first place. [embedded content][embedded content] “As ‘Love Me More’ was written pre-pandemic, lyrics like ‘If I keep myself at home’ had different meanings than what they would now, but I kept them on the album because I found that some of the sentiments not only remained the same, but were accentuated by the lockdown,” she sad in a statement. “‘Love Me ...
Mitski Releases Latest Single ‘Heat Lightning’
Mitski unveiled the latest single from Laurel Hell in the form of “Heat Lightning.” The brooding song is three minutes of the artist ruminating about the perils of insomnia (we’ve all been there before). “Heat Lightning” was originally written by Mitski on piano, where she sings “And there’s nothing I can do // Not much I can change // Can I give it up to you / Would that be okay? / There’s nothing I can do / Not much I can change // I give it up to you / I surrender.” The animated video for “Heat Lightning” was created by Alex Moy. [embedded content][embedded content] Describing Laurel Hell in a release, Mitski said that she “needed songs that could help me forgive both others and myself…I needed to create this space mostly for myself where I sat in that gray area.” Mitski wrote...
Mitski Announces New Album Laurel Hell, Listen to ‘The Only Heartbreaker’
Mitski is set to release her sixth album on February 4, and just unveiled her latest single “The Only Heartbreaker.” Laurel Hell is available for pre-order via Dead Oceans. Breaking her three-year hiatus with “Working for the Knife” last month, her newly released single is also accompanied by a video. “The Only Heartbreaker” video was co-directed by Maegan Houang and Jeff Desom, and it was the indie rocker’s first time being filmed almost entirely in front of a green screen. Mitski said of the upcoming Laurel Hell, “I needed to create something that was also a pep talk.” The record will follow her 2018 Be The Cowboy. She will embark on her 2022 North American tour in February, first stopping at the Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina. [embedded content][embedd...
Mitski Returns From a Three-Year Absence With ‘Working for the Knife’
After a three-year absence, Mitski is back. She just dropped her newest single “Working for the Knife,” and it’s as strong as you’d expect. [embedded content] “It’s about going from being a kid with a dream, to a grown up with a job,” Mitski said of the song in a statement. “And feeling that somewhere along the way you got left behind. It’s being confronted with a world that doesn’t seem to recognize your humanity, and seeing no way out of it.” Dressed as a classy, leather cowgirl, the synth laden track echoes throughout the empty halls Mitski dances between. Stripped down to a nod to the cover of Blink 182’s Enema of the State—bearing long blue latex gloves, red lace bra, and bright blue eye shadow—an empty audience applauds as she freely jumps, sways, and bobs on stage. Huffing and puffi...
The 101 Best Albums of the 2010s
Why now? Because — and there’s no reason to ignore the elephant in the room: SPIN stewardship has changed hands many, many times since we made the online jump — we got our chance. Because plenty of our favorite albums of the last 10 years could still use a boost. Because some of the already unanimously beloved music on this list still merits further praise. Because we relish excuses to sound off on the music that’s affected us the most and to enlist some of our favorite writers to do so. Because the works of art below serve as a reminder that the 2010s weren’t all bad. Because lord knows we need the distraction. Because it’s fun. There’s a lot of music that isn’t on this list. Which, duh, but plenty of artists whose work defined the decade for many, many people, including many of us, ...
