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Assembled earlier this year by Anna Devine, Ryan Kemp, and Jonny Fuller, the mutual-aid benefit compilation Melt ICE<\/em><\/a> is a beyond-worthy effort that offers a sweeping cross-section of local music.\u00a0But at 110 songs, arranged alphabetically by artist name, I was a bit daunted and kept putting off a close listen till later. Let me say that again: ONE HUNDRED AND TEN songs. <\/p>\n Once I had time to dig in, I was pleased to hear artists on their A-game. While plenty of contributors have found their way to past playlists, I also learned more about several musicians that I know only by name.<\/p>\n This month I’ve selected five tracks that I really dug from the comp. There\u2019s plenty more where this came from\u2014as you can tell, I only made it up to the letter \u201cI.\u201d <\/p>\n Bad Bad Hats, \u201cNo Chorus\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Bad Bad Hats sure know how to write Bad Bad Hats songs, and that\u2019s a compliment\u2014some bands never figure out how to sound like themselves. Here Kerry Alexander allows herself a little joke about the song\u2019s structure\u00a0 by falling for a guy who\u2019s \u201call hook and no chorus.\u201d We know what she means, don\u2019t we ladies?<\/p>\n Full Catholic, \u201cBarnburner\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n How do you deal with lies? Well, throwing loud guitars at the problem is one time-honored method. After all, we’re never gonna survive unless we get a little Crazy Horse.<\/p>\n GR3G, \u201cFear\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The Chicago-raised rapper has been sparing with new tracks since moving to the Twin Cities. Here he launches into a righteous, rat-a-tat flow over a throwback track laden with strings and piano.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gramma, \u201cPearl\u201d<\/strong> IAMJOY, \u201cWish You Light\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMaybe it\u2019s not what I wanted and maybe it was,\u201d observes Rosie Castano. \u201cTwo things can be true at the same time.\u201d You may recall her from last year\u2019s Poised to Pop<\/a>; she’s since rebranded as IAMJOY. <\/p>\n Downtown Boys, \u201cYou\u2019re a Ghost\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n These bilingual Providence-spawned (I mean the Rhode Island town, but sure, pun intended) lefties have been mostly out of action for nearly a decade now. With widespread ethnic cleansing back in style, you could be tempted to say this is their moment, but honestly, when hasn’t<\/em> it been the moment for bilingual lefties to strike back? Regardless, the anti-ICE video with which this single comes packaged certainly meets said moment. Their new album, Public Luxury<\/em>, is due in late June.<\/p>\n Massive Attack feat. Tom Waits, \u201cBoots on the Ground\u201d Ashley McBryde, \u201cBottle Tells Me So\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Rev this litany of a drunk\u2019s regrets up to full honkytonk speed and it would sound like a recollection of a Saturday night you look back on with fond regret. But McBryde sings with such cool moment-of-clarity deliberation you can almost see sobriety on the horizon. Songs! They\u2019re versatile that way.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon, \u201cLet Me Reflect\/Uber From O\u2019Hare\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Love the way this Charlotte rapper integrates not just female voices but women\u2019s perspectives into the conversational tracks on his most recent album, As of Now<\/em>. \u201cWe had our moment, it was cute, huh?\u201d he keeps pestering a baddie who’s moving on to greener pastures. She does her best to let him down easy till she says “see ya” with a \u201cStay blessed, keep ya head up.\u201d On the second half, the Lord just spits. Sample boast and\/or admission: \u201cI took a trip to Tennessee, all I brought with me was Crocs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Olivia Rodrigo, \u201cDrop Dead\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n What I love about Liv as a performer and a writer is she always observes herself rather than merely expressing herself\u2014she understands a silly, gushy infatuation as just that without robbing herself of the delight of rushing into it. And there are just so many wonderful little details here, like the double \u201cin\u201d of \u201cfe-mi-nine in-tu-i-shun.\u201d Incidentally, online astrologers tell me that the Gemini referred to here is Rodrigo ex (and onetime TV Sid Vicious<\/a>) Louis Partridge, not that Geese boy who I hope learns a thing or two about tunes and enunciation before Olivia drops dead for someone new.<\/p>\nLocal Picks<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Full playlist here<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/a>Gramma don\u2019t miss. At first the guitars reach out and smack you around, then they drop out so the bass can have its say, then they rush back in to finish you off.\u00a0<\/p>\nNon-Local Picks<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Full playlist here<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>This unlikely teamup is only 4:21 in length but it feels longer, which I mean as a compliment. Where Waits\u2019s ragged old man groan was once a deliberate stylization, now he\u2019s maturing into the real thing, and he’s fully credible as the voice of an eternal, universal, unknown soldier who has marched through millennia of mud and blood. And not to be a jerk, but I\u2019d be lying if I didn\u2019t admit that it does remind me a little of this.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\nWorst New Song<\/strong><\/h2>\n