WBRU

Take a trip back to 2005... ⏳

A strange new site called YouTube just launched, MySpace ruled the web, Katrina devastated the Gulf, and Kanye went off-script on live TV. Tom Cruise lost his mind on Oprah’s couch, and we were suddenly watching music videos on tiny iPod screens.

Emo and pop-punk broke through, fueled by American Idiots, Sugar, Helena, and Work. This Photograph Is Proof. It was very much fueled by ramen.

Some of it hasn’t aged so well (cough Nickelback cough), but at the very top, the Brightside was personified and Feel Good had a whole damn company. Was it the best of you?

For easier reading and links to the playlist, hit wbru.substack.com

When Stephen sent this to us we thought: shopping bag? rain poncho? If the latter, good for His reply set us straight: Lol... a banner. I remember taking from one of the after summer concert after parties. Cant remember where it was. Some backyard type bar... If you've got a WBRU...thing to share, send it along.

Phoebe Bridgers 🌉 is having a very productive year. In addition to her album LOST WEEKEND which dropped in August and her tour, which hits the TD Garden on October 6 and 7, she also contributed a song for the soundtrack for the new movie PRIMETIME, a thriller starring Robert Pattinson. “On Video” has a more of a loud build than most of her new album and it is our top new song of the week.

Lizzy McAlpine’s “Ugly things” 🦢 is also new this week. In our music meeting, Tumelo picked this as his favorite of the songs on Lizzy’s new album ANGEL.

Powered by releases of their new albums, dancey jams from almost monday and Jungle crash into this week’s top ten. A first for the former; familiar territory for the latter. almost monday has a show in Portsmouth, NH on the 30th.

You can check all this out on WBRU 📻 and our Today’s Top Indie playlist 🎧.

Links:
https://wbru.substack.com
YouTube playlist https://bit.ly/4b7AZNE
Spotify playlist: sptfy.bio/todaystopindie
Apple Music playlist https://bit.ly/4oLrQQG
Listen live/review WBRU radio: https://onlineradiobox.com/us/wbru/

Possibly answers your ??? about 🌎 4 minutes at a time. You can check out this episode from last week at wbru.substack.com The next question and answer will debut on WBRU at 6:56 and 8:56 AM on Tuesday.

This one found us a few days ago.

The big news on our playlist this week is the ascension of Fontaines D.C. to the top spot. “Marianne” with its 80s synth-driven post-punk sound is from the Dublin-based band’s forthcoming album DOPAMINE CHAMBER. Below the top, we’ve got four new songs for you on WBRU 📻 and our Today’s Top Indie playlist 🎧.

💬 Leon Bridges – “Talk It Over”

We’ve been fans of Leon Bridges for a while and this song, produced by the folks in Jungle is one of the most infectious things he’s ever done.

💌 beabadoobee— “Write Me A Letter”

Her LP PYLON dropped on Friday. This song is a standout. As J put it: it’s giving end of a movie vibes when the protagonist runs after their love interest but 10x sadder.

🥃 Remi Wolf – “Bottle”

This upbeat, catchy tune is all about her relationship with…well, the bottle. Her album MUD is due in a few weeks.

🌒 Phoebe Bridgers – “Kill Me”

It starts hazy, dreamlike and intimate, then darkens brining in heavy drums, vocal distortions, and a soaring electric guitar solo. A standout from LOST WEEKEND.

Links:
wbru.substack.com
YouTube playlist https://bit.ly/4b7AZNE
Spotify playlist: sptfy.bio/todaystopindie
Apple Music playlist https://bit.ly/4oLrQQG

Possibly answers your ??? about 🌎 4 minutes at a time. You can check out this episode from last week at wbru.substack.com The next question and answer will debut on WBRU at 6:56 and 8:56 AM on Tuesday.

You oughta know that 1995 was a watershed year for alternative rock, heavy, even crushing, eyeliner, and convincing ourselves that standard-definition CGI toys had souls.

God didn’t usually feature heavily on our radio, but this year we wondered if he was one of us—or if he was just stuck in a dorm room listening to the Empire Records soundtrack.

Despite all our rage, 1995 yielded an absurd run of classic records. It wasn’t just a year for the usual suspects, either; a Brown University grad ended up in our top ten (extra credit if you can name the band).

Over in the UK, Oasis and Blur were throwing literal punches in the Great Britpop War, but stateside, Noel and Liam won in a landslide. Meanwhile, Microsoft spent millions licensing the Rolling Stones for the Windows 95 launch—proving that even with Seattle’s grunge scene exploding right down the road, tech billionaires were stuck in 1979.

A lot holds up well: 11, 35, 36 are Retro Lunch regulars. We’re still scratching our heads over how Dave Matthews Band placed 30 spots above Radiohead. Things were different then.

Scroll the full list on wbru.substack.com for easier reading and links to stream the playlist, and drop your hottest takes in the comments. Who got robbed? 👇