Playlist #28: It all comes back round again

The radio's been playing the same songs over and over again, so suddenly I feel I'm hip to what kids these days are listening to. Well, it's an illusion, but whatever.

If you’ve been with the Once Monthly since any point in the last two years or so, and you’ve been paying attention to the playlists—I mean, sometimes I feel people go here just for the essays, but I shouldn’t be complaining—you’d know that the songs that make it to these hours are heavily influenced by what I hear on the radio stations I listen to.

In the past month—apart from a brief excursion with Hong Kong radio because, well, I was in Hong Kong for a few days—it was either the French network Radio Nova, which I had talked about before, or the Australian network Triple J, which I hadn’t, although again, if you’re into music a little bit more than most you’d probably know the significance of those folks down under.

I start there as an excuse letter of sorts. I myself was surprised at how much pop, and specifically how much hip-hop, is on this hour. Well… okay. At one point I had Tyler, The Creator and Kendrick Lamar on here, but in the end I only have that Doechii track, and I’m already quite behind it because Alligator Bites Never Heal was released late last year, and everyone had already raved over how funny “Denial Is A River” is, and by now there’s already a re-release and another semi-viral hit in “Anxiety”.

But, not so oddly, it reminded me of Rupert Holmes—and yes, I did put “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” in this playlist, and yes, it comes right after Doechii. He’s known for his storytelling, and I thought both songs were kindred spirits, provided you have a moment to stop and really listen to what they’re saying. In my case, it’s a traffic jam from a government meeting that made me realize I am actually invested in her “all time low”.

And that tangent ties in nicely with the Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary, err, documentary I watched on the flight back to Manila, which reminded me of some of the other songs I had grown up with. Yes, I gave myself a reason to add Ambrosia to this hour, although I had to stop myself from going all out, because I am planning a separate Hyperfocus essay on this. That said, maybe I should be listening to more of that stuff, because after writing down the first few paragraphs, I felt I had lost the point I was trying to make.

Ah, the perils of writing, am I right?

There’s also the fact that I did decide to listen to Triple J, because these days—and I’m certain I mentioned this—I choose what radio stations to listen to not just on the basis of what music it plays, but on how they can keep me company. Those youth-targeted stations do that sort of thing well, I find: they deliver the sort of craic I can keep in the background while I attempt to not be lazy and get something done. The whole being-updated-with-what-the-kids-like thing is a plus.

I may have chosen the wrong time to listen, though. The past few weeks Triple J—I do not apologize for not putting it in lower case like they insist—have decided to play their biggest songs more frequently. Now, I am not a first-timer to the station. A few people would know how often I gave my feedback to the new releases Linda Marigliano played, in the sheer hope of being mentioned on the radio. (She’s still my foreign radio crush.) So I could also tell that they’re playing the same songs more often now, and as a guy who relies on the radio for company, it does do my head in. I think it’s the single reason why Ball Park Music’s otherwise pleasant “Please Don’t Move To Melbourne” was dropped from consideration.

My rule, as wobbly as it is in practice, goes: if I’m to hear something repeatedly, it has to be because I choose to. I have no problem bashing repeat on, say, Maxïmo Park’s “Going Missing” if I’m feeling really sad, or Singaporean band Sobs cover Gwen Stefani’s “Cool”. I mean, the original song is good, but I didn’t realize I wanted to hear it done like shoegazers until now. And I know this version isn’t new.

The risk of that is that I will play the things I like over and over again, so I still do come crawling back to the radio. But of course I know it’s no longer the only place I can stumble upon new music. If I’m not at the mercy of rotation rules, it’s the algorithm. It’s how I randomly stumbled upon Thai singer Pami’s “Pity Dirty”, for example—and yes, I did know from the thumbnail alone that it’s bedroom pop, and I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but the song’s nice.

The algorithm also led me to local musician Suyen. Should I say she’s one of those artists the kids know intimately but I don’t? Perhaps. I only really knew about her thanks to ads on Instagram—on my cat’s feed rather than the Once Monthly’s. (Speaking of my cat, have you seen his feature on MeowStack?) Her debut EP, Suyen Imnida, dropped last February and I enjoyed it, although I felt a bit of distance from it because I felt it didn’t speak to me. Or, more of, I felt like an adult barging in on some teenagers hanging out. Not her fault but mine. Also, again, the EP is loads of fun. I may feel a disconnect—that’s all me—but it didn’t stop me from enjoying it.

There are many reasons why the Once Monthly exists in the first place, and one of them is to prevent me from going into atrophy, at least musically. They do say you stop listening to new music in your mid-30s. Well, I am keenly aware that I am aging and therefore no longer desirable. I try not to be the guy who holds on to his youth just to find meaning in his life—and I knew someone who pretty much did that—but it’s fun to listen to what the kids might listen to, still. It can be the frenzied storytelling of a female rapper, or it can be the vaguely 90s styling of a throwback rocker, or it can be something as mindlessly fun as the Jamie Cheung bop that kicks this whole hour off… well, it all comes back round again, doesn’t it? The same songs over and over again, attempting to fill the same gaps over and over again, and never succeeding.

Well, at the very least, I can retreat back to Allison Ponthier’s new single.

April’s looking busy, and so is May, so I don’t think I’ll get that Hyperfocus essay out there soon enough—but there will still be a Plaka Note on 25 April, and then another playlist on 9 May. Sounds about right. As always, you can recommend songs over at nicksyoncemonthly@gmail.com, or message me on the socials.

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In this playlist

• Jamie Cheung—“將快樂這刻蔓延 (Snap It)”
  single release (2025)

• Suyen—“Teka Lang! (Looper Machine)”
  Suyen Imnida (2025)

• Doechii—“Denial is a River”
  Alligator Bites Never Heal (2025)

• Rupert Holmes—“Escape (The Piña Colada Song)”
  Partners in Crime (1979)

• Ambrosia—“Biggest Part of Me”
  One Eighty (1980)

• Starbuck—“Moonlight Feels Right”
  Moonlight Feels Right (1976)

• Sara Schiralli—“Paranoid”
  Bang Bang (2010)

• Djo—“Basic Being Basic”
  The Crux (2025)

• Theodora—“Un Meilleur Nous”
  Bad Boy Lovestory (2024)

• flowerovlove—“Are U Serious?”
  Ache In My Tooth (2024)

• Katie Tupper—“Jeans (Fall On My Knees)”
  single release (2025)

• Pami—“Pity Dirty”
  single release (2025)

• The Haunted Youth—“Coming Home”
  Dawn of the Freak (2022)

• Sobs—“Cool”
  Air Guitar (2022)

• Electric Light Orchestra—“Mr. Blue Sky”
  Out of the Blue (1977)

• Olivia Rafferty—“Fossils”
  Typical Forever (2025)

• Allison Ponthier—“Karaoke Queen”
  single release (2025)