It's My Party and I'll Give Away Vinyl If I Want To

This week, we celebrate a big milestone with a vinyl giveaway. Plus: chatting about music with a condiment and reviving grunge with Hole's drummer

"Nobody's gonna read an e-mail newsletter."

In my very first post, I talked about my boyfriend’s insistence that starting a newsletter was a bit of a fool’s errand. He told me that attempting longform content in a world of TikTok attention spans was something only a certified ding-dong would do.

WELL.

Last week I hit 5,000 subscribers. Was it a total fluke because I wrote a note that randomly went viral? Absolutely. Am I rubbing it in his face anyway? You better believe it.

Personally, I think it’s cause for celebration regardless of how I managed to get here.

It’s a vinyl giveaway!

To mark the occasion, and to say THANK YOU WHAT THE HELL I AM SO GRATEFUL TO YOU GUYS, I thought it might be nice to give away some records.

I asked Domino very nicely if they might be willing to send a couple of my subscribers two new releases I’ve been digging. They said okay! So we’re going to do a little contest.

What you’ll get

Two winners will each get two records. Note, unfortunately entry is limited to participants in the U.S.

Source: Domino Music

• THE 1st RECORD: Fat Dog - WOOF. (September 6, 2024)

• THE SOUND: Imagine, if you will, if Gogol Bordello, Radiohead, and the Crystal Method created a strange but somehow cohesive supergroup. I know that a punk/klezmer/EDM hybrid wasn’t on your 2024 new music bingo card, but it’s what we’re all getting. Put it on your free space and lean in.

• STANDOUT TRACKS: King of the Slugs, Running

Source: Domino Music

• THE 2nd RECORD: Porches - Shirt (September 13, 2024)

• THE SOUND: An unexpected blend of ‘90s grunge with early 2000s pop, which Aaron Maine himself has dubbed “hypergrunge.” Some might find the autotuning out of place, but I think it’s an interesting stylistic choice. I hear lots of Weezer’s influence.

• STANDOUT TRACKS: Rag, Crying at the End

How to participate

Paid subscribers, you’re already entered. You don’t have to do anything.

Everyone else:

1. Make sure you’re subscribed.

2. Interact with this post¹ — like, restack, comment, whatever. All of that helps get the newsletter in front of new eyeballs. (If you’re commenting just to comment and don’t feel like participating, that’s fine! Just let me know.)

I will close participation at midnight EST on September 30th, then randomly select two winners and reach out to you with details.

I’m pretty excited about this, so I hope you are too. If you’ve heard the albums already, I’d love to know what you think.

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Other things I’ve been up to this week…

When I launched New Bands for Old Heads, I had only one goal: befriend a sentient condiment before the end of my first year on Substack.

In true overachiever fashion, I managed it by month three.

An Interview with Mustard

I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with JustSomeMustard and Cassidy Frost this week in what turned out to be a sort of readable podcast. We discuss what we love most about music, why we moved away from TikTok, what we see for the future of the music industry, and much more.

Mustard is excellent at crafting interviews, and Cassidy approaches musician brand-building a very refreshing way. I think you’ll enjoy the conversation.

Talking Music with Gabbie and Cassidy Frost

Reviving Grunge With Scott Lipps

Okay, Scott Lipps and I aren’t personally reviving grunge (actually, he might be… he’s played with Hole, after all!). But we did collaborate on a post this week to list out our favorite new grunge bands.

Scott also included a playlist of our selections, so it’s very much worth checking out.

Is there a grunge revival?

That’s it for now.

Thanks for putting up with a slightly late, slightly light post while I recover from a cold. I’ll be back next week with some new playlists!

xo

Gabbie

1. I would love to be able to give people multiple entries for multiple shares, but I don’t realistically know how to track that. Maybe you can let me know for next time!