Dear listeners,
Happy Day After Labor Day! It’s the beginning of one of my favorite micro-seasons of the year: That liminal time in early-to-mid-September when there’s a fresh crispness in the air even though it’s technically still summer for a few more weeks. (This year’s fall equinox is Sept. 22.) Embrace the in-between-ness. Wear those white pants and the autumn sweater you just dug out of the back of your closet. Experiment with pumpkin spice popsicles. Keep listening to your songs of the summer and those moody, minor-chorded ones that always sound like fall.
Here’s a brief playlist to get you through these fleeting few weeks of seasonal confusion. It’s got some upbeat, synth-pop bops from Haruomi Hosono and Robyn (whom I saw play a wonderful and impressively glittery show at Barclays Center last week!), along with a new Erykah Badu song about witches and a brooding rocker that happens to be the best baseball walk-up song I’ve encountered all year. Really, though, the only common thread uniting these disparate songs is that I like them, and I think you might, too.
I’ll be a good sport,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
One Perfect Song
Haruomi Hosono: “Sports Men”
Last week, my colleague Ben Sisario published a fascinating profile of the 79-year-old electro-pop icon Haruomi Hosono, whom he describes as “one of global pop’s most ingenious and provocative forces.” In addition to his many eclectic and forward-thinking solo albums, Hosono is known for his contributions to two influential Japanese bands, the rock group Happy End and the electronic trio Yellow Magic Orchestra. (Among the delightful curios Sisario links to in the piece is a recording of YMO’s 1980 performance on “Soul Train.”) This Friday, Hosono will release his 23rd (!) solo album, “Yours Sincerely,” and he will also make his Radio City Music Hall debut later this month. That means now is the perfect time to dig into the rich trove that is Hosono’s back catalog, whether you’re revisiting it or checking it out for the first time. Either way, I’d say that this charming, prismatic synth-pop gem from his excellent 1982 LP “Philharmony” is the place to start.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
A High-B.P.M. Remix
Robyn: “Dopamine (Jamie xx Remix)”
A few months ago, during a HIIT class at my gym, an instructor played a remix of the Swedish pop star Robyn’s 2025 single “Dopamine” that inspired me to sprint like an absolute maniac on the treadmill. I stayed after the class to ask who did the remix, but the precision-cut vocal sample and carbonated exuberance should have tipped me off — of course it was Jamie xx. Please use this song with caution: When played at maximum volume it is basically the equivalent of activating a star in Mario Kart and may make you move at hyper-speed.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
Two New Albums I Recommend
Erykah Badu and the Alchemist: “Witch Doctor”
I’ve enjoyed spending some quality time lately with “Before the World Blows,” the sprawling collaborative album that Erykah Badu and the producer the Alchemist released at the end of August. They make a great pair: Alchemist’s drifting, understated beats seem to intuitively understand the rhythms of Badu’s patient wisdom and cool confidence. You can hear their connection on this bewitching single, which begins with some classic Baduizm: “I may intimidate you at first,” she sings, “but I come to stimulate your universe.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
Sharp Pins: “B-A-B-Y Baby Luv”
Regular Amplifier readers know that a new release from the prolific power-pop project Sharp Pins is usually a cause for celebration, so I must shout out “Mod Mayday 23,” another collection of irresistible lo-fi earworms written by the young Chicago musician Kai Slater. This bouncy rocker just might be my favorite of the bunch.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
The Best Baseball Walk-Up Song I Have Heard Lately
Alice in Chains: “Rooster”
While I was in Southern California covering the Daisy Chain Fields music festival, I stopped by Anaheim’s beautiful Angel Stadium, a venue I have long wanted to check off my personal M.L.B. Ballpark bucket list. (Eight down; only 22 to go!) As someone obsessed with both music and baseball, I consider myself something of a walk-up song connoisseur, and I always appreciate when a player makes a particularly inspired choice. And so I tip my cap to Los Angeles Angels left fielder Wade Meckler, who that night walked to the batter’s box to the tune of this killer 1992 grunge anthem by Alice in Chains — dropping into his stance at the perfectly cued moment, when Layne Staley growls, “You know he ain’t gonna die!”
The invaluable Baseball Walk Up Song Database tells me that Meckler is not the only player currently using “Rooster,” but it was the first time I’d heard it used in a stadium. Though I usually prefer walk-up songs with a swaggering menace about them, I can’t say I was expecting a slow, dirge-like song about the horrors of warfare to work so well in this particular context. Trust me, it does. With the wind of “Rooster” at his back, no wonder Meckler is batting close to .300.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
The Amplifier Playlist
“A Between-Seasons Playlist” track list Track 1: Haruomi Hosono, “Sports Men” Track 2: Robyn, “Dopamine (Jamie xx Remix)” Track 3: Erykah Badu and the Alchemist, “Witch Doctor” Track 4: Sharp Pins, “B-A-B-Y Baby Luv” Track 5: Alice in Chains, “Rooster”
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