Elke and I started dating on May 4, 1990, so we had a little celebration last Monday. Since it was a relatively warm night, we skipped our original plans for a fancy night out and had champagne on the terrace instead.

Our soundtrack for that evening was Apple Music’s “Pop Hits: 1990” playlist. Coming out of the 80s with a growing taste for alternative music, this wasn’t exactly what we would have chosen. And yet, we knew every song well enough to sing along without hesitation.

Radio is the culprit, of course. At home, at work, everywhere, the radio was on. In 90s Germany, commercial radio was still new and somewhat exciting, so back then we tolerated the limited playlists and had fun with it¹.

It‘s hard not to feel nostalgic about the time when most people shared the same cultural experience. The way people flock to agreeable pop stars today shows that there is still a craving for that.

But I would not want to miss the diversity we have today. Many songs on the 1990 pop playlist were relatively narrow variations on a danceable, R&B-tinged, upbeat pop production from the U.S.². Today, the next hit can come from anywhere in the world. Even better, you don’t have to wait for a song to find its way onto the radio or into record stores. You can explore that incredible variety for yourself.

If you’d like a new discovery delivered straight to your inbox, you can subscribe to our “A Song Per Day” newsletter here.

Discovery of the Week: Three Electronic Albums

This week, we discovered three excellent electronic albums with female vocals from different sources.

• HAAi is a London-based, Australian singer/producer who released her latest album HUMANiSE last fall. We didn’t know her until we were invited to hear her new music next week.
• We featured Foxtrap’s song “Kontrol” eight years ago. Now they have released a new album, See Me. I Cannot Speak
• New German Cinema rang a bell when it popped up in my Mastodon stream, and indeed, we saw the project of London musician Jess Weiss at the New Colossus Festival 2023. Pain Will Polish Me is her debut album.

Cover Song of the Week: Poesie - Fake Plastic Trees

Elke and I are post-“Kid A” Radiohead fans, so their 1995 album The Bends has never fully resonated with us. But even we recognize “Fake Plastic Trees” after the first bar. So for a successful cover, you have to pack a punch, which UK singer/songwriter Poesie certainly did. The slow build culminates in vocal fireworks, and the original’s hidden guitar solo comes to the forefront.

To fully embrace the spirit of Radiohead, she recorded the song at their producer’s studio and even used some of their gear.

This Week in glamglare history

1 Year Ago: Josienne Clarke - Tiny Bird’s Lament

Elke picked this light-as-air song by UK singer-songwriter Josienne Clark on the day we took a bird-watching walk through Central Park. We did the same yesterday and saw many tiny birds fly by.

5 Years Ago: Baba Ali - Black Wagon

For London-via-New Jersey artist Baba Ali, the “Black Wagon” is a reminder to enjoy every day. The track appeared on his 2021 album Memory Device. He released a follow-up record in 2023.

10 Years Ago: Hazels - The Cure

There are not many traces left of the Newcastle five-piece Hazels, but the SoundCloud link in our article still works, so you can get an impression of what they were up to.

Song Pick of the Day

Listen to all seven songs on YouTube, or follow our daily updated Song Pick playlists on YouTube, Apple Music, or Spotify.

• Ananya - Man of the Match
• Liilo Leon - Edge of the Sky
• Cursing - Talk
• ANIQO - I Know
• CON THE ARTIST - where’s your girlfriend
• IAN SWEET - Criminal Kissing
• Moon Idle - Delay Me

We publish one Song Pick of the Day every day. You can subscribe to receive them by email.

Nine Photos – Between Rain and Sun in New York

Sometimes it takes a full weekend of rain to make the sun feel like a reward. Our series begins in Bryant Park, where we lingered despite the steady downpour, the city wrapped in gray and umbrellas.

By Sunday, everything had shifted. The sun was back, and we crossed over to Brooklyn Heights, taking in that familiar skyline from a distance, already feeling a bit lighter.

A week later, after my Saturday class, we found ourselves in Central Park, the trees fully awake in that fresh, unmistakable spring green. And on Sunday, we returned for a visit to the Central Park Zoo, where even the grizzly bears seemed to celebrate the season, swimming and playing as if they, too, had been waiting for this moment.

Nine small scenes, all rooted in the city with rain, light, and that first real sense of spring settling in.

1. “Step By Step” by New Kids on the Block was our unofficial, tongue-in-cheek favorite song. Elke once even called in to have the radio station play it for me. Unfortunately, I was not at home at that time. ↩︎
2. Of course, 1990 was also the year when Nirvana broke, which opened up an entirely different musical culture. ↩︎