Welcome to Attack of the Glow Worms: the show the newsletter! As you may know, the two of us (Yumna and Laura) shared a radio show for a glorious year and a half. We’ve been intertwined for our whole college experience and the time after, and now we are soon being separated as Laura moves to Chicago and Yumna moves to London.
In July, we planned phase 2 of our collaboration, and the newsletter is only our first prong of attack. We hope that a quarterly zine, the website we already maintain, and this newsletter will serve as a way to continue our co-curiosity about all things pop (music AND culture), extend our grasp on the people we love, as well as make some connections with cool new people. We’re figuring it all out as we go!
Please keep an eye on your inbox (particularly on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month!) and check our website for little concert reviews and whatnot. We will upload the newsletters to the website for easy reference too :)
Us!
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LauraLaura is a virgo, and people usually guess that pretty easily. She’s moving from SE Michigan to Chicago in a matter of days! Laura likes
Laura kinda loathes
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YumnaYumna is a Gemini. She is from Michigan and moving to the land where indie pop got its start… Yumna yearns for
Yumna says “yuck” to
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New releases
As much for our own musical hygiene as to keep you in the loop, we’re gonna try our best to give some short n’ sweet on the latest and greatest(?) of music!
New release: Laurie Duo - Day
I got the opportunity to see Laurie Duo play many of these songs at the Big Pop Show in Durham this spring. Listening on my couch brought me to the same captivation and hypnosis that I felt in that crowd. Curious and nimble, the songs feel like memories pieced together from that one big, cold, dream you had a couple of weeks ago. Left me wanting to know more of the collaborative nature between person and persona. I really hope for big things for Laurie Sara-Smith and Asher Case! - Laura
Fav tracks - You from the front, Motorcycle Rider
New release: Tracey Nelson - hercules
The MJ-Lenderman-verse expands with Tracey Nelson’s debut album on K Records/Perennial! A very cozy blanket-burrito of rocker-crooning and soft harmonies. Relistening while writing and I’m pissed off that I can’t look out of a car window to see a countryside with trees arching over the road rn. I’m not a Lenderman devotee and this isn’t my typical bag but he does the damn thing well and I recommend it! - Laura
Fav track: St. John’s River
New release: Feeble Little Horse - Bitknot
Listened to this for the first time on the way to Charlevoix, Mi with my twee-expert roommates. Listened to this for the second time on the way home from a separate trip to Charlevoix, Mi with my veteran-of-the cloud-rap/hyper-pop scene boyfriend. Felt equally appropriate in both situations. Feeble Little Horse’s first album without a second guitar succeeds in filling the space with a cutesy atmosphere. Makes me want to nod my head to the beat with oversized headphones! Unfortunately, some of the more repetitive hooks made songs feel way longer than their 2 min (or less!) runtime. Has been on regular rotation nonetheless! - Laura
Fav track: Shady
New release: Slippers - Slippers 08
Someone on Bandcamp describe it as “girly pop guitar rock” which I hope to live in the in between of every day. The guitar tones are yummy and I wanna eat this album like a bowl of fruit loops. This album also has forgetful girl representation (“I can't find my wallet or keys / I guess I will just cancel all my cards”) and as someone who recently went though that it hit hard. I would go to school if Madeline Babucka Black was the indiepop teacher etc. - Yumna
Fave track: tie between Fool in Your Room and Til You Know
Album of the Now
Album of the week/day/month does not adequately summarize the ways a specific album can fit into our lives and shake it up, so we’re calling this “Album of the Now”. We’ll switch off on writing a little review/deep dive/analysis of one special album each newsletter!
Paul & Linda McCartney Ram by Yumna
Paul and Linda’s saccharine countryside domestic bliss on RAM is resonating with me hard. I have a deep desire to nest. It is far too hot to cook in my co-op kitchen, but I have been hunkering down in the garden pruning my tomatillos and fending off groundhogs like a madwoman. Ann Arbor is aglow with green in the summer, so when I get off swimming laps at the local Y, I like to take walks around the neighborhood, and listen to “Long Haired Lady”, and dream of a life far off from mine, with honeybees buzzing in Indian grass and a butter bell to call my own.
If only I had a thumb’s amount of Paul’s penchant for hooks and melodies! It is an enviable listen, with lots to learn from.
Favorite track: Heart of the Country
Recommendations
Things that are weighing heavy on our hearts and minds, or making them feel lighter!
Yumna:
Beyonce performing Deja Vu live at the 2006 BET Awards
I have been on a Beyonce kick. There are many Beyonce videos I could recommended you watch. Beyonce and Solange dancing to ‘Get Me Bodied’ at Beychella for one. I could say many things about a ‘Freakum Dress’...
Do me a favor. Just go to youtube.com and put on the video of her performing Deja Vu at the 2006 BET Awards. Skip all the Jay Z parts because they are not important at all. Her tiny little silver get up. Her hair, perfection. Her writhing on the floor, the desperation…the energy. She was my age during this performance. Perspectivizing, for sure. I need to do more writhing and practice my scales because I don’t think I want anything as hard as she does in this performance. EIectric. Love her.
To my girls reading…do you know where your Freakum Dress is tonight?
Parker Posey’s character in Josie and the Pussycats
Probably the most important film about music played by the most important actress of our time. Posey stars as Fiona, CEO of MegaRecords, who uses subliminal messages to manipulate teen spending habits. Posey plays Fiona has this pulled-back neuroticism – it’s tacked on and flat simultaneously – like she doesn’t sell the lines on purpose which makes it even more funny? Very self aware.
Lots of capital C choices. All good ones. And I have been saying "This is my girly room. No boys allowed. Come on girls, sit down. We'll gossip!” on repeat…it’s pure cinema…just a great movie.
Cuddlecore band called Josie and the Pussycats now!
Laura:
The concept of épaulement
My introduction to music was through dancing in childhood and teenagedom. I often get asked, “Was it like dance moms?” to which I reply “Yes.” Horrors and bedazzled bras beyond comprehension, and yet I still look back fondly. This recent foray back into the hobby has led me to take classes via youtube in my living room. My roommates cross the room by climbing over the sofa.
This 40 minute class in an ill-fitting leotard and sweatpants was the most diva I’ve ever felt. I only have épaulement–the twisting and angling of your head, neck, shoulders–to thank. A dance spirit (one of the many magazines I was subscribed to as a tween) article from 2009 describes épaulment as “the subtle difference between automaton and artist,” and they’re right!
I can’t stop pretending I’m in a ballet class in my day-to-day life. I’ve found myself wistfully twisting my neck and fluttering my eyes as I look right and left to cross the street. My neck has been inching up towards the sky every day. It has done Wonders for my self image. No automatons here!
If you want to feel like Toodles Galore (the sexy girl cat in Tom and Jerry) I recommend copying the ballet divas in this world and add a little drama to your posture.
Solange performing Losing You live at the Sydney Opera House.
Yes I did read Yumna’s recommendations before writing mine. This performance is my guiding light of how to translate joy to read from the back of the nosebleeds but feel ever-so-intimate. This is my dancing fruit animation, cocomelon, etc.
Something about the most simple dance moves done with an incredible bounce and excitement just pulls me forward and out of my chair. Solange probably went to the school of enchantresses founded by Lynn Mabry and Edna Holt (the TRUE stars of Stop Making Sense).
Watch this when you need to FEEEEEEEL joy. Like it’s teeming below the surface and you just need kindling. This is the whole damn bonfire!
Thank you for reading our very first newsletter! Please send us what's on your mind, or suggestions for what should be on ours, or even submissions for the zine at attackoftheglowworms@protonmail.com. Look out for the next edition on August 3rd! Muah!