100% MAY 2026
writing about my monthly music playlists
hello. every month i make a playlist of the songs that are grabbing me. I have been doing this since 2015. I call these playlists “100%,” because they’re 100% killer. I’d like to share these playlists with you now, in this GUTTER letter and GUTTER letters to come. These are gonna be ROUGH and minimally edited, but if you like music, talking about music, whatever, I think you might dig this! If you give it a shot, at least one song on these playlists will change your life every month GUARANTEED!
and if you do like what you hear here, or just wanna talk tune, PLEASE, let me know! there’s always 773-666-AGUN, but there’s also the #music channel in the GUTTER discord. I’m around! I’m snoopin!
Without further ado:
100% MAY
SIDE A
highwire days: transcendently great power pop track. The genre of “power pop” doesn’t really exist like it used to. I have a theory that this style of youthful, highly melodic guitar music has been subsumed into emo, and further now into the burgeoning genre called “diy” that i see kids on the internet talking about from time to time. I think it’s really cool to reclaim that sound away from the signifier “emo,” even though there’s no shame in being an emo band, especially right now. Just thrilling to see sounds recontextualized into new youth movements. Anyway this song is just terrific. Tommy Keene has a ton of terrific, heart on sleeve barn burners like this. Absolutely worth the deep dive.
wild connection: really love the roughness of this band. contemporary punk with slide guitar: what a fantastic combo! It’s got me thinkin, you know what might sound really cool on an indie band like this? double bass drum breakdowns. Is that a million dollar idea? no. It is a “Pitchfork 7.1, 8.6 on the rerelease” idea. Love the vocals on this, love the shambolic clang of it all, and love that slide guitar.
man of the month: when MIKE is put up against the right production, he’s really one of the best going. I thought the Surf Gang MIKE/Earl Sweatshirt double album was a cool experiment, if a little long, but for whatever reason, this one jumped out right at. And by the way, what is up with Jpegmafia these days? I loved that dude in 2019. for his new album rollout, he through some shade at Earl and Mike for “sounding like Lucki” on this album. What’s wrong with sounding like Lucki!? It works like CRAZY here.
losing you: this is a cool pop song! sometimes I have a really hard time connecting to contemporary pop vocals - the drippy babygirl style really does not hit for me. But this is fantastic! This ex-Disney star’s debut is pretty freakin solid! Love the groovy 80s-y production. Sultry!!!
hypnotize: totally psycho freak pop song. Relistened to this album after hearing AG Cook herald this album as big inspiration on PC Music. I can hear it! Sounds incredibly ahead of its time while also sounding profoundly OF its time. Absolute maximalist brain exploding pop music.
if i had a rocket launcher: a total dad rock ripper. though it was written in ’84 in response to Guatemalan genocide, the song is all too relevant. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. What a fucking chorus, man.
Days like these: a transcendent song - completely gutting. Low is one of the coolest bands to ever do it- and so consistent at such a high level, I’ll probably spend the rest of my life plumbing their discography. It is just so endlessly inspiring to me that this album could be so genre pushing, so deep into their career. The explosion on this song is so gutting, so totally heart rending. Beautiful, incredible music.
dread on the mountain top: “The smell of violence has overtaken the city” - what an opening lyric! Love the brooding intensity this song conjures. Those grooves are so sinister, so potent - it’ll just unspool you.
SIDE B
All the HEAVY tunes of the month are HERE! except the last one, that’s kind of a joke edition. like when bands in the 90s would put a secret track after 10 minutes of silence on the last song on the album.
everyone’s enemy: Feels awesome to be walking around in a bad mood pumping this one through your headphones. Allowing yourself the ultimate negation of punk misanthropy can be healing, folks! The breakdown on this one is so great. Always bonus points for yelling out the name of your band during the song’s coolest moment. Is hardcore the only genre to do that? It’s such a sick move. Once I can figure out how to do the equivalent move on a podcast, you will hear it.
destruction of my soul: “THERE’S ONLY ONE WAY OUT: BURN IT TO THE FUCKING GROUND” Terror, like Low, is another incredibly consistently great band. Their new album tears, I just adore it. I feel like in some punk circles, the comparison I’m about to make might sound unflattering, but I mean it with total love for the band: Terror is to hardcore as The Ramones are to punk. Wildly consistent, sticking with a sound that on paper might seem simplistic, but in effect is so beautiful. If someone asked you “what is hardcore,” you could point them to any Terror album and be 100% on point.
resist/desensitize: fucking mean, nasty shit. I love the tempo and chug on this one. also from a great album of back to back aggressive tunes.
barn burner: the first of a trifecta of revolting palm mutes. Really smart, gnarly lyrics on this song that really bring the heaviness home. This is Deadguy’s second album after like 20 years. How crazy is that to come back sounding this GOOD?!
stars: 90’s classic. If you haven’t seen Hum’s performance of this on Conan from the 90s, drop everything and WATCH IT NOW. The outro guitar bit on this song is so stink face inducing, it’s astonishing. More bands should be ripping from Hum.
to build a mountain: the “GO” after the first verse always gets me. HEAVY. GOOD. TO BUILD A MOUNTAIN TAKES A LONG LONG TIME.
forever: happy iceman release month
