If you were to ask Family Feud surveyees what the most defining feature of the band Cola is, I’d guess that the top answer on the board would be their band members’ heavy Venn-diagram overlap with the members of Ought. But right below that in the #2 spot would likely be “guitars.” Not just any guitars—everyone’s using guitars these days, whether earnestly, ironically, reverentially, or otherwise—but clean guitars. The type of clean guitars you hear in the recent jangle-pop revival, or the post-post-punk resurrection of the 2000s East Coast indie rock boom.
While there’s a bit of Casablancas croon and Hammond Jr. riffing on their debut LP Deep in View, Cola purpose their guitars as a revisionist take on a similar vein of post-punk. It’s clear, though, from these 10 tracks that these guys respect a good guitar sound, whether it’s making its way into their music or otherwise into their ears. That’s why when compiling a playlist for us they focused on this detail while accumulating 10 songs for their lusciously titled “Big Shiny Tunes” tracklist.
“As appreciators of guitars that shimmer, strum, and even occasionally skwak, we made a playlist of some of our favorite clean guitar jams right now,” vocalist Tim Darcy explains. “The vermicelli to your rich curry. The honest biscuit to your seeded rye. Take a break from your velour, you decadent philistines, and join us in the raw bolt of acid-wash denim that makes up this playlist.”
With Deep in View arriving this Friday via Fire Talk Records, you can hear some other clean guitars on the playlist below, with commentary from Darcy and his bandmates Ben Stidworthy and Evan Cartwright underneath.
Stephen, “Little Audrey”
Tim Darcy: Al from Snail Mail sent me this record and it’s an honest to goodness hidden gem of NZ jangle rock. A post–The Clean project absolutely brimming with hooks and great songwriting.
Maximum Joy, “Silent Street” (Kid Jensen Session)
Tim Darcy: This is a live version from a BBC session MJ did. Awesome danceable ’80s UK post-punk. Hard to beat putting this on in the living room at a party. You are a shining god in your friends’ eyes now.
Nilüfer Yanya, “Thanks 4 Nothing”
Tim Darcy: Taylor from Flasher recently told me to check out Nilüfer Yanya and it did not disappoint. Great bare-bone tones, amazing raw vocals, can’t go wrong.
Smoke Bellow, “Maybe Something”
Tim Darcy: The new record from this great Baltimore band was on repeat for me early in the year. I was working in a screenprinting studio at the time, and whenever I put it on someone would ask me who it was. We’re playing with them in DC on our tour and I’m really stoked to see them live.
Aztec Camera, “Walk Out to Winter”
Ben Stidworthy: A pleasant track with a sophisticated chord progression from the Scottish new-wave wonders. It makes a lot of sense when you live in a cold climate and want to feel OK about it.
Ulrika Spacek, “Ultra Vivid”
Ben Stidworthy: My favorite track of their wonderful debut released by Tough Love Records in 2016. Everything they touch is gold, and this track epitomizes their harmonic world-building. I want to take the solo guitar chord progression at the very end and build an entire song around it. It has the same ethos of a J Dilla outro, and they were just laughing at us with that one. Like a victory lap through the stars.
Holm, “Erase & Repeat”
Ben Stidworthy: As an accomplished Aarhus punk/post-punk warlord, on occasion Mikkel Holm Silkjær will appear with a truly sublime and honest pop song. The first time I heard this trad-inflected northern power ballad, I had to leave my apartment and walk around and rinse this track in my headphones. Again and again. The background vocals provided by Ditte Gyldendal Amby of Whistler are completely chilling and create another emotional foothold for a song already imbued with meaning. I had the honor of performing it live with Mikkel last year and lost myself on stage.
Tom Petty, “You Don’t Know How It Feels”
Ben Stidworthy: This was the first song that Ought ever covered, so it will always be special, but as children of the ’90s it was already deep inside our musical psyches. The song holds sentimental depth despite its rustic nature and ultimately throw-away lyrics, and Tom Petty deserves all the recognition in the world for his mastery of that approach.
Lenny Breau, “Amy (For Cinde)”
Evan Cartwright: This might be the most tenderness that anyone has ever gotten out of an electric guitar. Lenny Breau lived in Toronto for a bunch of years, which is somewhere we all have ties. This song is just one of many gems.
Les Filles de Illighadad, “Surbajo”
Tim Darcy: A live jam from some of the best to rock a clean tone going today. I listen to all their records a lot and they always transport me with their hypnotic playing.
