Pop, Lock & Bops: Best of October 2018

Welcome to Pop, Lock & Bops, a monthly playlist series documenting our favorite windswept country tunes, heartfelt tearjerkers and down-right intoxicating dirty-pop club bangers.

Dear reader, you’re not alone. Music is a reliably addicting gateway drug to pure bliss in life. We seek out music as either an escape from the brutality of the world and our problems or as a cathartic release of pent-up rage, sorrow, joy. Ariana & the Rose is leading a revolution, at least for our latest monthly roundup of must-listen tunes. “Lonely Star” is the kind of career-defining, soul-rattling anthem; its construction is sturdy in the mid-00s glory, a punk-ish shell-shocker that takes no prisoners. “I know you think you’re on your own,” she sings, framing the sticky dive-bar banger as one of empowerment and solace in the face of darkness and self-inflicted misery.

Funk-pop duo The Darcys grasp their fingertips around our ear lobes with “Chasing the Fall,” a particularly slippery ode to unquenchable yearning from somewhere deep inside their flesh. “You got me chasing and risking it all,” the pair spout, layers of syrup thickness oozing up and over their voices. Hailey Knox, armed with her rumbling acoustic guitar, calls you (yes, you!) out with “Bitch, Bitch, Bitch” and unlocks her long-simmering potential of bending hip-hop swagger with traditional folk and pop music. Kim Petras wreaks havoc on our senses with “Close Your Eyes,” a spooky standout from her extraordinary Halloween mixtape ⏤ which B-Sides & Badlands reviewed as one of the best releases of 2018.

Indie-rock trio Wallows get a bit tipsy with “Drunk on Halloween,” which isn’t exclusive to the holiday alone and you won’t wanna miss the utter intoxication all-year-round. Meanwhile, newcomer UNBLOOM slips out with a doozy called “Lost Myself,” and JHart wonders “Why Does It Hurt” with a magnificently starlit ballad, echoing with synths and heart-palpitating percussion.

When all is said and done, we’ve got 39 songs to discover over and over again.

Take a spin:

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