Nectar’s Week in Pop
Nectar celebrates the release of their new album Knocking at the Door, available now via Infinity Cat Records, with an array of guest selections curated by the band’s Aaron Shults, Kamila Glowacki, Isabel Skidmore, & Jake Mott:
Kamila
Influence: Abba, “S.O.S.”
I don’t remember actively choosing to listen to Abba as a child but thanks to the heavy rotation of Abba by my parents I have come to know the words and melodies to all of their songs. I can attribute my appreciation for pop music and a catchy chorus to Abba, and I especially like the melancholic intro and lyrics in S.O.S. combined with the upbeat chorus (and those cat dresses!!).
Listening to Right Now: Japanese Breakfast, “Boyish”
I admire Michelle Zauner as an artist so much. This video (which she also directed!) is so great and falls right in line with my love of 90s high school movies (Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, etc.). I love the juxtaposed mood of melancholic pop and the lyrics have a clever sense of humor around the topic of unrequited love.
Isabel
Influence: My Chemical Romance, “Vampires Will Never Hurt You”
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to escape the influence this band has had on me since I started listening to them in middle school. I’m in love with the fun intersection of post-hardcore and campiness on I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, and it’s an album that really helped me realize it’s totally okay to be an edgy nerd who loves vampires.
Listening to Right Now: Hayley Kiyoko, “Feelings”
For me, this song is unapologetically un-cool in today’s culture of being too cool to have genuine feelings for people. This song celebrates emotional vulnerability in a way that I strive to do every single day—with funky basslines and an overwhelming love for girls. Expectations is the lesbian pop album we’ve all been dreaming of since birth.
Jacob
Influence: Grass Roots, “Let’s Live For Today”
Grass Roots were my first favorite band. My pops gave me a greatest hits cassette that I wore out as a kid. They do some sick harmonies on this and other tunes but something about this song always stuck with me.
Listening to Right Now: The Lillingtons, “Black Hole In My Mind”
I’ve been going back through older pop punk bands lately to catch up on some classics that I missed. This song just sticks in your brain for days after hearing it. Something I’m never mad about.
Aaron
Influence: Raw Nerve, “Late Again”
All four of us have also been in hardcore bands and I feel like the song structure and urgency of hardcore has always stuck with us. Maybe we just have terrible attention spans, but I’d like to attribute Nectar’s short songs to these hardcore bands, like Illinois’ Raw Nerve, that really helped us pave this path.
Listening to Right Now: Jack Stauber, “Peppermint” feat. Lexy
Maybe this plays back into the short attention span but I have been obsessed with all of these Jack Stauber videos. Feel like I seldom subscribe to a YouTube channel (really just this and Randy Santel aka ‘Atlas’ of foodchallenges.com), but I keep up to date with Jack Stauber’s new stuff and then watch “Peppermint” 17 times.
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