November 19, 2018

Journey Into These Young Artists’ EPs

Pip Blom and boygenius have some tunes to share.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljOonyYsMJI

Album Reviews

boygenius
boygenius
Matador

Pip Blom
Paycheck
Persona Non Grata

Back in pre-digital days, the EP (“extended play”) record offered more content than the two-track 45 but less than a full album. It remains a viable format today, especially when the music is this good.

Showcasing three well-regarded, young solo artists whose confessional songs range from somewhat rockin’ to mostly folky, boygenius brings together Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, and Julien Baker for six unsparing tales of emotional devastation. “Bite the Hand” observes, “I can’t touch you/I wouldn’t if I could,” while “Souvenir” wrestles with self-loathing, asking, “When you cut a hole into my skull/Do you hate what you see/Like I do?” On “Ketchum, ID,” heavenly harmonies connect boygenius to timeless traditions of collaborative music-making, evoking a sense of communal effort that transcends styles and technology.

The wrenching tunes of boygenius feel like the work of old-timers next to Paycheck, the bracing, four-track gem from Amsterdam’s Pip Blom (the name of both singer and band). This engaging vocalist could be the snarkier little sister of Courtney Barnett, shouting, snarling, and clearly enjoying herself immensely on these fizzy, concise rockers. Don’t look for deeper truths—just dig the buzz. There’s plenty more Pip Blom, some of it just as exciting, out there online, too.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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