CJ Simonson

No one has asked for this but, my top five U2 songs of the last 20 years:

5. "Ordinary Love" (Extraordinary Mix)
4. "Get On Your Boots"
3. "You're The Best Thing About Me"
2. "Every Breaking Wave"
1. "Song of the Future"

Julianna Riolino's Thoughts Settle On The Sprawling ECHO IN THE DUST - MGRM On ECHO IN THE DUST, you can sense Julianna Riolino's confidence growing. Both as a songwriter and especially as a performer, the varied and dazzling alt-country songs on her sophomore album exude a p...

On ECHO IN THE DUST, you can sense Julianna Riolino's confidence growing. Both as a songwriter and especially as a performer, the varied and dazzling alt-country songs on her sophomore album exude a playful boldness. Check out our premiere of the deluxe version of the album today!

This IG ad is trying to tell me old people are putting peanut butter on their phones and that’s one of their biggest mistakes is that true?? I love putting peanut butter on my phone fml

YouTube video by Sequence Selector Gelli Haha Builds A Playlist For Shrinking Down In The Magic School Bus And Exploring Human Anatomy

The prompts for Sequence Selector are randomly assigned before we start rolling the cameras, but I really couldn't have given Gelli Haha a more Gelli Haha prompt than to build a playlist "for shrinking down in the Magic School Bus and exploring the human anatomy." SWITCHEROO coded for sure.

Best Remember Sports album since ALL OF SOMETHING, really great stuff

This is the kinda name / set up / premise a @pftompkins.bsky.social Comedy Bang! Bang! character would begin with ten years ago

A ripper that’s out now!

Oh hey, I contributed to this!

An artist that has been posted plenty on indieheads, where plenty of weird video interview content gets shared, will get taken down, but a band called Daddy's Beemer can get zero upvotes and stay on. Make it make sense.

Any successful news operation that emerges going forward will have to be unabashedly left wing. Landlords fucking people over? That's a left wing cause. Businesses polluting? Left wing. City councilor is corrupt? Left wing. Workers being mistreated? Sports stadium displacing housing? Buddy,

YouTube video by Sequence Selector Niis Build A Playlist For A Summer BBQ In Hell

Hello people of Bluesky. We dropped a second episode of Sequence Selector this week, featuring the great band Niis (on Get Better) making us a playlist for a summer bbq in hell! Like, comment, subscribe, do any of that fun stuff if you would!

DON'T LET THEM IN: SINNERS, Hell, and I.C.E. - Merry-Go-Round Magazine "Come on in, you motherfuckers," Grace yells in SINNERS. It's an emotional response that has baffled and angered audiences since the film was released last year. But as our current political moment is...

"Come on in," Grace yells in SINNERS.

It's an emotional response that has angered audiences since the film was released. But as our current political moment is revealing, the vampires were always here, and they don't plan on leaving.

On I.C.E., Minneapolis, and Ryan Coogler's Best Picture nominee.

We have eight eps in the can that'll roll out bi-weekly, the first episode involves Levi Evans building a playlist for riding a several mile slip 'n slide, it's quite fun. The prompts are wacky. Give it a watch and at the risk of sounding like a hack (meh), like, comment, subscribe, yada yada.

YouTube video by Sequence Selector Levi Evans Builds A Playlist For Riding A Several Mile Slip ‘n Slide

Hola! Some semi-professional'ish news: My creative partner Camille Smura and I have started up a YouTube channel! It's a music interview channel based around artists or bands building playlists around random prompts. It's called Sequence Selector!

Snow Dunes, by Feels Like Heaven from the album Within Dreams

Good stuff! feelslikeheaven.bandcamp.com/track/snow-d...

You can’t report illegal acts because you don’t want to compromise them being carried out is an interesting take, if true

Merry-Go-Round’s Top 50 Albums of 2025 - Merry-Go-Round Magazine From Shallowater to Nourished by Time, Ribbon Skirt to Black Country New Road, we count down the 50 best albums of 2025!

Without further ado, we present our Top 50 Albums of 2025! From The Tubs' COTTON CROWN to Greet Death's DIE IN LOVE, Rico Nasty's LETHAL to Jobber's JOBBER TO THE STARS, we count down the best of the year according to our staff! Check out the list today!

Wrote about both our best artist and best new artist of 2025! Enjoy!

Merry-Go-Round’s Best Artist and Best New Artist of 2025 - Merry-Go-Round Magazine Merry-Go-Round Magazine is proud to anoint Gelli Haha and Geese as our Best New Artist and Best Artist of 2025 respectively.

To begin our three days of EOTY music coverage to close out 2025, let us begin with a pair of essays about the best artist and best new artist of the year! While the former was obvious, the latter is an act that many of our writers are buying stock in early. Enjoy!

Loneliness, LLMs, and Los Angeles: HER in 2025 - Merry-Go-Round Magazine Allegedly taking place in the year 2025, Spike Jonze's 2013 film HER is a fascinating depiction of not-so-future Los Angeles, feeling like what it is to live here while flouting its mechanical limitat...

Allegedly taking place in the year 2025, Spike Jonze's 2013 film HER is a fascinating depiction of not-so-future Los Angeles, capturing the feeling of what it is to live in the city while flouting its mechanical limitations.

On AI, LA optimism, male loneliness, and more.

Wrote about about a whole lotta covers for a sixth year in a row! And if you’re the type to want an easy r/indieheads post, by all means post it up there. Picks from Mavis Stapes excellent album, King Hannah, MJ Lenderman, etc. Happy Holidays!!

Best Songs of 2025 by CJ Simonson on Apple Music Playlist · 300 Songs

And for the Apple Music heads: music.apple.com/us/playlist/...

Best Songs of 2025

My top 300 songs of the year (in descending order). Cheers! open.spotify.com/playlist/5yr...

Here she blows, top 100 albums and EPs from 2025. Cheers!

Bandcamp Picks: Case Oats & Lily Seabird - Merry-Go-Round Magazine It's our Bandcamp Picks of the Week, featuring the devastating, grungy existentialism of Lily Seabird's TRASH MOUNTAIN, out now via Lame-O, and the springy Midwest character centric songwriting of Cas...

It’s our Bandcamp Picks of the Week, featuring the devastating, grungy existentialism of Lily Seabird’s TRASH MOUNTAIN, out now via @lameorecords.bsky.social, and the springy Midwest anti-folk of Case Oats’ LAST MISSOURI EXIT, out now via @mergerecords.bsky.social!

Danny Brown is the Greatest of All Time - Merry-Go-Round Magazine Five years ago, we claimed Danny Brown was the best artist of the 2010s. Checking in now, he might be in the conversation for the greatest artist of all time.

Five years ago, we claimed Danny Brown was the best artist of the 2010s. Half a decade later he might be in the conversation for the greatest of all time.

On the difference five years makes, QUARANTA, his podcast, and the brilliantly colorful STARDUST.

Bandcamp Picks: zayALLCAPS & bloodsports - Merry-Go-Round Magazine It's our Bandcamp Picks of the Week, featuring zayALLCAPS' modern madcap pop spectacle ART POP * POP ART and bloodsports' thrillingly aggressive ANYTHING CAN BE A HAMMER!

It's our Bandcamp Picks of the Week, featuring @zayallcaps.bsky.social's modern madcap pop spectacle ART POP * POP ART and bloodsports' thrillingly aggressive ANYTHING CAN BE A HAMMER! Read about both and then check them out over on @bandcamp.com!

I recommend hating something or someone with every fiber of your being, tbh, the blinding white rage is a vibe

For so much of my life the Spurs and the Lakers were the teams I hated the most, denying those Suns teams in the 2000s Finals opportunities. But... since living in Los Angeles, it's become the Dodgers and its not really that close.