Forever your star for March Sweatdown 2K26! Find it on YouTube and all playlists on The Sweatdown!

The Sweatdown has existed since April of 2018 as a monthly collection of music I’ve been listening to. Sometimes it’s old tracks but it’s usually new music. Everything from indie to synthwave to rock to alternative and more. Every December is a culmination of the music I’ve listened to. Originally posted to Spotify, these playlists can now all be found on YouTube where they will be updated monthly for YouTube Music.

Some of what’s here for March

I am so happy to see the return of Chain Gang of 1974 which a lot of people see as a sign of Grand Theft Auto VI being around the corner. My relationship to the band is a lot different than others. Most got into Sleepwalking (which is an all time classic) but I actually got into them due to this remix by Spacebrother of Innerpartysystem (now Black Caviar) of Miko. It was the remix of Miko which got me into the band, and the fact they did an incredible cover of The Naked and Famous’ song What We Want just deepened the wound they created. Heck, I might prefer that version. I ended up seeing them live in support of The Naked and Famous in 2015 in Toronto which was the best concert I’ve attended.

Welcome back Kamtin.

I always try to add songs that just recently came out but I had to make three exceptions. One is Mt. Joy’s “She Wants To Go Dancing” since I didn’t catch their new album last year and just heard it in the past month. Next is Me Not You’s “Kill The Noise” which came out a decade ago but this is a newer (g a z i n g) mix of it which is cheating to include it but it’s my playlist! Finally we got Sky Ferreira’s “Everything is Embarrassing” which I think is a forgotten classic. It just fit my mood for the month.

YouTube Music so far has been a terrible algorithm for finding new music. It doesn’t do a good job telling me new music is out from bands I like. The tab for telling me music I’d want to check out that’s new is full of AI crap and artists I’ve never listened to and sound nothing like something I’d want to listen to. But plain ol’ basic YouTube? The suggestions have actually been decent. Particually for Kids That Fly and Basement who I found simply checking out the bands they suggested. I’m going to have to do a deep dive on Basement because they sound exactly like my kind of candy.

Talker is such an interesting artist to me. I loved “Return to Sender” and actually the first track I had on a Sweatdown was “Suck Up” from 2020 on the April Sweatdown 2K20. I think “Gold Rush” is just different from what anyone else is doing. She’s taking swings and I appreciate it.

March Sweatdown 2K26 features:

Chain Gang of 1974 – Forever Your Star
G Flip & The Beaches – LEZ GO!
Sky Ferreira – Everything is Embarrassing
Me Not You – Kill the Noise (g a z i n g)
Talker – Gold Rush
Kids That Fly – THE BOXER
Basement – WIRED
Metric – Time is a Bomb
Kadeema – Fault Lines
Fatherdude – Working
Step Rockets – Lovechild
Mt. Joy – She Wants To Go Dancing
Sick Joy – Stockholm Flavour
White Lies – I Just Wanna Win One Time
The Smallest Number – Neverending Sunshine

Thank you for reading, thank you for listening, and hope you look forward to another year of The Sweatdown!

Photo by me from The Irish Harp Pub in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario on May 8, 2025.