Monday Mixtape: Geoff Rickly

crushed, Kelly Clarkson, 311, Deafheaven, and of course, NIN

Monday Mixtape is another path towards music discovery, featuring people whose taste I admire answering a series of questions and prompts with songs (which might change from time to time).

Geoff Rickly is the frontman of the band Thursday, a gorgeous novelist, an incredibly chic flaneur, excellent former (and hopefully future!) Bandsplain guest, and just a generally wonderful person/iconic Pisces. He also recently launched his own Substack, Solo Record, which is filled with his beautiful and taut writing, little musical treats (like acoustic performances), and deep dives into his specialty interests (like fragrance, for example). Click on over.

As you can see, his taste (in podcasts to appear on and otherwise) is pretty impeccable so I’m thrilled he agreed to do a Monday Mixtape:

Geoff Rickly
Pisces
Greenpoint, BK, NY

How do you find/discover music?

Mostly, I watch what my cool friends post, I hear about a band from one of my neighbors(Matt McGreevey of Epitaph/Anti-, possibly the man who sees the most shows on a yearly basis, lives next to me, and his wife Emily also has incredible taste). I try and stay interested in things that I don’t understand. If I pick up a sandwich at a deli and hear a song that makes literally no sense to me, I’ll ask the person at the register twenty questions about the band.

What was the first song you put on when you woke up this morning?

I use Christopher Willits’ The Art of Listening score as a guided meditation. Feels like a bit of a cheat but that was the first thing I heard today. I’m in the studio right now so the second thing I heard was a song called “We Let the Devil In” (by Absent Colors).

What song have you listened to more than once this past week?

Stu, who I work with has been going through a Dean Blunt resurgence so we listened to some of his stuff a bunch, but especially the Brit poppy song with the singer of Iceage. I think it has an unhelpful title: “4.”

What is a recent song you think everyone should know about?

crushed “exo”/ “starburn” (absolutely wild opening pair of songs). (ed note: In this house you already know we are obsessed with crushed).

A song off your work-out playlist:

End It “Familia Finito”

What song can you do at karaoke without looking at the tv screens?

“Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson, “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Down” by 311 (ed note: hell yeah brother)

Song you associate with being 13 years old:

Probably “Down In It” by Nine Inch Nails. My angsty little self was already well obsessed with them before downward spiral came out on my 15th bday, but then again you already know this from Bandsplain!

What is a song that inspires you to create?

I’m endlessly inspired to create. Everything makes me think of something I’d like to add. I think the huge lesson of hardcore for me was that music doesn’t have to live in isolation. Music can be a communal phenomenon, each song informing the next. So if I hear a great song, I always want to reply. In a very real way, Thursday started at an Ink & Dagger show, when Tom and I stood there absolutely destroyed by “Full Circle.” Now I’m often inspired by late style: Kim Gordon’s “Get Yr Life Back.” Arto Lindsay “Grain by Grain.” Where do artists go when the style they made their name with is codified?

What song do you listen to when you want a lobotomy?

Tommy Richman, “MILLION DOLLAR BABY” is what I listen to after I get my weekly lobotomy. It’s so basic but it scratches some itch. To give myself a lobotomy, I like noise music, or if I’m feeling more musically minded I’ll put on Uniform’s American Standard record.

What song do you use to indulge your wallowing?

So many, Yasi, I’m a Pisces. Cat Power “Metal Heart”, “Bad Religion”… Wye Oak “Civilian”. Mount Eerie “Through the Trees Part 2”. Majical Clouds, “Heavy.” Daughter, “New Ways.” (ed note: god I love Majical Clouds).

What song do you use to renew your spirit?

Deafheaven “Sunbather”, Mary Jane Dunphe “Opening of a Field”, Envy “Chain Wandering Deeply”.

What is your favorite cover song?

Cat Power “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”. I’ll be honest she has half a dozen covers that could slot in with this. At one point I thought Ryan Adams “Wonderwall” was my fav cover but I may have worn it out.

What song would you like to hear just before you die?

Spiritualized “Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space”.

All of the songs on Geoff’s Monday Mixtape can be found HERE