Charm's Grunge Girl Gone Bad Mix
Post Up Radio on a Tuesday? That’s right. We’re back, and we hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend, full of throwing back glizzies and seltzers.
We’re very excited to share this week’s mix, featuring Charm, one of our favorite new artists. She’s taking your favorite pieces of 90s alternative culture and 00s teen culture, then fusing them with her modern take on pop music to create a sound that’s familiar, but fresh at the same time. You will want to drive fast on the highway to her music, screaming the lyrics at the top of your lungs. If you want to know what we’re talking about, go watch the video for her most recent single, “Pleaser.” Charm is clearly having fun with everything she does, and we’re into it.
Charm’s Grunge Girl Gone Bad Mix is now streaming on Post Up Radio
Continue reading for our interview with Charm and a full track list for her mix.
Your mix includes a lot of music from the 90s, what is it about the music from that time period that inspires you?
I really like guitar-based music, I like rocking out. Music from that time makes me feel really cool, it’s just what I’ve always connected to. In the 90s indie scene, people were trying a lot of new things, making guitar music that had never been made before. There was a lot of experimentation and innovation going on. I like to think about how their risk-taking can influence what I do, and how I can help modernize that sound with my own music.
During the day time, you work in PR for fleece goddess Sandy Liang. What do you feel is the relationship between fashion and music?
When people listen to a certain type of music, it influences how they dress. Sandy is the LES cool girl, and what cool girl in LES doesn’t know about Cocteau Twins? When people gravitate towards specific genres and artists, it’s easier for them to pick an aesthetic, and shape who they want to be as a person in general.
Tell us about your journey, coming to NYC to go to school but then deciding you wanted to drop out before you got here?
I’ve never been a good student, but I needed a way to come out to New York. I always wanted to make music in Seattle, where I’m from, but I never found anyone who wanted to make the same type of music as I did. I came out to New York, and ended up taking two gap years, but it wasn’t until I started releasing music that I realized college wasn’t in the cards for me. I met some great people like Spencer., who encouraged me to release my own tracks after I spontaneously sang over a track they produced one night.
Your most recent track, “Pleaser” reminds us of iconic pieces of mid-2000s pop culture, such as Freaky Friday and Aly & AJ. What is it about that era that you love, and why do you think it’s making a comeback?
I grew up on that culture, and as a little girl hearing that music was very empowering. Potential breakup songs, teen movies like John Tucker Must Die. Being able to rebel inspired me. It’s a sound that everyone’s pretty nostalgic for, and wants to sing at the top of their lungs in a car. It’s a sound that you’d hear at the mall when you were 12 years old. It’s a sound I always wanted to hear modernized, so I decided to make it myself.
We also love the video for “Pleaser”, shot at the very important rock & roll club Arlene’s Grocery on the Lower East Side. What was the inspiration behind that video?
I pulled inspiration from a lot of 90s teen movies like 10 Things I Hate About You. I never went to my own prom, but I imagine that if I did it would be a shit-show, cake being thrown everywhere. If I had my own prom I’d want it to be at a rock & roll venue, with all my friends in attendance, and “Pleaser” was me turning my dream prom into a reality.
Music to cook to: Amy Winehouse - “The Girl From Ipanema”
Music to drive to: Cocteau Twins - “Heaven or Las Vegas”
Music to work out to: Anything by Type O Negative
Music for a cocktail hour: Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga - Cheek to Cheek
Music that’s a guilty pleasure: Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
Music to Post Up to: Sweet Trip - You Will Never Know Why
Charm’s Grunge Girl Gone Bad Mix Track List:
Naked Eyes - Always Something There To Remind Me
Cherry Flavor - Seether
Amyl and The Sniffers - Angel
Sonic Youth - Into The Groovey
The Danse Society - Somewhere
Crystal Castles - Vanished
The Sundays - You’re Not The Only One I Know
Swirlies - Wrong Tube
Veruca Salt - Forsythia
Hole - Violet
Smashing Pumpkins - Plume
Deftones - Hole In The Earth
Mirror Kisses - The Squeeze
The 1975 - Milk
Opus III - It’s A Fine Day
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Mary Jane’s Last Dance
No Doubt - Sunday Morning
Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye
Slowdive - 40 Days
The All-American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret
BoA - Twilight
You can follow Charm on Instagram and Twitter, and you can stream her music here.