We’re heading back to Songbyrd Music House in DC this December 14 with the help of our friends at Topo Chico to celebrate the holidays in style with a dinner party with Matthew E. White and Michelin-award winning Chef Marcelle Afram, known best for their work at Maydan. Tickets are on sale now and include a 5-course tasting menu of inventive Palestinian cuisine, intimate live show from White, 2 free Topo Chico-infused drinks and more surprises. Buy your tickets here.

You can get a sample of Matthew E. White’s music in this post. He has worked as a collaborator, producer and arranger for acts including Bedouine, Natalie Prass, Foxygen, Justin Vernon, Hiss Golden Messenger, Sharon Van Etten, The Mountain Goats, Dan Croll and Slow Club. His music has also been featured in film and TV, most recently in Netflix movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Join us for a good time, you won’t regret it.

The Wild Honey Pie has been on a long and winding road since I first hit publish in 2009 as a food blog from my college house in Boulder, Colorado. For over a decade, it’s been the ultimate pleasure to work alongside immensely talented creatives towards a shared vision of supporting the musicians we love through editorial, events and video production.

Starting in 2022 we will no longer be operating primarily as a music blog, but instead move ahead as a music-focused creative agency. It will always be our goal to support musicians as they seek out new audiences and we will work towards that goal by helping them produce videos and visual content with our network of animators, directors and designers.

For those of you who have come to love our experiences, you can expect much more in that department, enabled largely by our brand clients. We will be servicing more companies than ever who are looking to leverage music partnerships to reach fans through our events, content and place in the music industry. Keep an eye here for the latest on our adventures as we aim to bring people together through music.

Listening to Adi GuerrerX’s track “Queer Sci Fi Fantasy” is like taking a vacation from the horrors of the real world, and blasting off into—you guessed it—a queer sci fi fantasy. The hypnotic synth landscape of the song draws from old-school Moog magic, setting the scene for total immersion. Meanwhile, lush, overlapping vocal harmonies take the track in unexpected directions. Just when you think you’ve figured out the main melody, GuerrerX’s playful choices subvert your expectations in the best way. 

Lyrics like “I like how you don’t need saving” and “I like how you care for other beings” propel this fantasy even further. “Queer Sci Fi Fantasy” paints a picture of a world you want to stay and play in. Delicate vocal layers add human, emotive touches at just the right moments without breaking the semi-robotic sci-fi spell that’s been cast. And once the drum samples kick in, you realize that not only is this fantasy peaceful, beautiful, and spacey-sexy: it’s also fun to groove to. 

Honestly, the world can be a scary place right now, and we all need a break. “Queer Sci Fi Fantasy” is the perfect place to find it. Press play, and melt away into the fantasy, watching the moonrise in a periwinkle sky. Photo by LUX. 

Dylan Dunlap's latest single "Stupid Me" broaches loss with kindness, encouraging you to move on. While grappling with the disintegration of friendships, it's far too easy to blame oneself as he does. Dunlap's docile delivery and gentle plucks of his guitar carry us through his thoughts, where he wonders what he could have done differently and if it's too late to pick up the pieces. "Do you hate me, or are you just busy doing well?" he asks, emphasizing the familiar notion that in some ways, being forgotten is what hurts the most. The track swells cinematically with swirling echoes that build to a finite and satisfying end; when Dunlap sings "I'll set you free" for the final time, you believe him. 

On "Stupid Me," Dunlap says: "My girlfriend & I wrote about our shared experiences of drifting apart from the people we love. It’s a painfully confusing thing to go through and I’m proud of the way we turned it into something so hauntingly beautiful. In the past, we’ve both been left spiraling alone in our thoughts and wondering, 'Is there something I could have done?' To me, this song answers that question by introducing the art of letting go and moving on."

Check out the official music video for "Stupid Me," directed and animated by Efe Karadağlı and produced by The Wild Honey Pie, here. Photo by Brandon Espeleta. 

If you ever cried while listening to “driver’s license,” put on Test Subjects’ “Interstate of Mind.” Like Olivia Rodrigo’s standout hit, “Interstate of Mind” takes place on a long drive, reminiscing about an ex from the summer of being 17. Beyond these similarities, though, the track’s uniquely immersive blend of found sounds, acoustic/electronic instrumentation and cascading melodies feels as fresh and restorative as sudden rain. 

Rain is important to this Test Subjects’ track. The song takes place over the course of a rainy highway drive, setting the scene with the opening lines like “Doing laps on the freeway / On a Sunday / There was no one else on the road / Nothing else to do / Nowhere else to go.” The lyrics throughout are both descriptive as well as delicately poetic. A thunderstorm over the highway becomes “somewhere in the sky there’s an open eye raining down onto me / I don’t really mind / but I can barely see.” 

“Interstate of Mind” unfolds like a highway: smooth and steady, with sudden flashes of color and detail. What seems like a “no thoughts, just vibes” experience evolves into reflecting on a lost relationship before you know it (as these trips so often do). Test Subjects’ vocals are sweet on devastatingly simple lines like, “You put a ding in my bumper / I popped it out by myself / Now you’re wrecking someone else.”

Pressing play on “Interstate of Mind” plunges the listener into that uniquely meditative state you might find yourself in on a long drive. Percussive elements like blinkers and windshield wipers blend with subtle choices in the mix that place you in the driver’s seat of the car; this is a song for headphones. The saxophone playout towards the end is just one example of the endless surprises in store on this fascinating track. You’ll be tempted to keep singing, “Do you think about that summer?” long after “Interstate of Mind” ends—maybe even longer than you ever thought about that ex in the first place.

With flickering plucks of springy acoustic guitar and the wonderfully contrasting sound of muddy bass, Euan Blackman strolls in with his third single, “HIGHHIGHHIGH." Blackman sings of a common likeness amongst all of humankind: the desire to forget the past. This is not just any song about utilizing substances to distract from the present—it is a self-aware recognition of that escape, as well as a commonplace for theorizing. “Is it decadence to wanna feel right?” Blackman asks, in implied sleeplessness over the question. This sanguine tune is a crossing-paths of loss and hope.

The intersection of these two titans' talent is truly a blessing to the coinciding fanbases of emo rock and alternative comedy. What may seem like a slim Venn diagram has actually proven to be quite robust, as fans' recognition of this track at Phoebe Bridgers' recent live shows implies Punisher wasn't the only album this ghost-and-skeleton-clad crowd has been spinning. "That Funny Feeling," originally written and performed by Bo Burnham, one of comedy's premier talents, is a standout from his most recent special Inside, which landed on Netflix in May of this year and nearly broke the internet in the process. If you're familiar with Bo and Phoebe, it shouldn't shock you that she heard this song and loved it. The intelligence and poignance fit the bill of what she imbues in her own work. The articulation of general complacency in the midst of societal collapse, climate crisis and international neural numbing is crystal clear and sharp as a knife in this rendition. There's a certain brand of nihilistic nuance shared by the two that strikes a chord with fans. 

If this description seems abstract, it's intentional. I'd rather you take a moment to listen to Bo's original track (which you can find on streaming services, or even better, in context while watching his special on Netflix) and then take a moment to listen to Phoebe's cover. Not long ago, the two performed this song together for the first time at Largo in LA, an undoubtedly special experience for the audience; "That Funny Feeling" has since become a part of her setlist, a pleasant and near-perfect fit for the live show, as the song itself melds seamlessly into the narrative of Punisher, an echo or sister song to "I Know The End." If I wasn't already privy to Bo's work, I might mistake it for one of her original songs. The folk base of it appeals to her roots, while Phoebe brings a more explosive element to the track by adding horns and a longer, evolving outro. I'm thankful Bo and Phoebe sparked a friendship clearly built on philosophical and artistic similarities, and I hope it means we'll see more collaborations between the two of them in the future. Photo by Daria Ritch.

binki’s “Invisible Fence” is both a breath of fresh air and a certifiable bop. Blending driving, distorted guitars with punchy drums and bubbly synths, the song has a gritty authenticity that invites multiple listens. It pulls from the best of classic Kid Cudi-esque flow as much as from the sonic world of alt-punk to deftly weave a musical landscape that’s all its own. 

The most exciting part of this song, though, is binki’s fresh, playful lyricism, on display in every verse. “Wanna wake up in Bed-Stuy like Aladdin / Got a whole world I can show you” is just one easy example, but binki also toys with closely related rhymes like, “The other night was like gymnastics, doing backflips / Think it’s crazy how you acting, are you an actress?” Binki’s lyrics mine fresh material out of every metaphor that bubbles up, doubling back on his own ideas before jumping suddenly to an equally juicy new concept. The ideas, whether lyrical or sonic, never overstay their welcome, but stick around just long enough to land. 

“Invisible Fence” can most easily be categorized as the kind of free-flowing, hooky groove that fans of binki have come to expect. Like Childish Gambino and Tyler, The Creator, two artists who he cites as inspiration, binki defies genre while pulling in the best of what makes alt-pop catchy. “Invisible Fence” is no exception. Photo by Sophie Day.

Retro, shimmering guitars, dreamy 2000s-inspired vocals and a tight drum groove all make this track by Mabes shine. “Fairground” is a perfect road trip song, allowing you to skim over the surface of past heartbreaks without diving in too deep. “Love is a fairground,” sings Mabes, “I spent my last pound trying to win.” It’s the kind of sentiment everyone can relate to without trying—luckily, the bright folk-rock arrangement keeps the listener moving forwards through the delicately phrased sorrows of the lyrics without getting lost in them. 

The bells and soaring strings are subtle but brilliant elements hiding in plain sight in this track. They give a sense of push and pull at key moments without ever overpowering the guitars or over-sweetening Mabes’s alluring, irony-tinged vocal delivery. “Fairground” as a track has a laid-back, self-assured sense of fun. Like any carnival game, you’ll want to play it over and over again. And like a doomed love affair, you won’t care if it ends the same way every time. Photo by Theo Batterham.

Jazz-charmed Laufey Lin and indie-pop dazzled Adam Melchor got together on exhilarating new track "Love Flew Away." Sometimes falling out of love feels like falling into a dream you can tell you're not awake for. As we move around, the world around us feels real, but not quite real enough to hurt us if we let go too soon. This song feels exactly like the motion of letting go. Laufey's classic vocals fit perfectly with Melchor's dreamy tones, creating a dazy lullaby for the ages. Both artists are touring right now, and we've got our fingers crossed that means they'll surprise fans with performances together. Photo by Caity Krone.

Mitski returned earlier this month with a new single and corresponding music video called "Working for the Knife." Engaging, catchy and lyrically fascinating, "Working for the Knife" exhibits what Mitski does best: present thoughtful, probing questions about the nuance of growing old to the beat of a unique, indie-pop sound. This is a recurring theme in her music: maturing, inadequacy, heartbreak, the natural consequences of aging. Though what "working for the knife" actually entails feels open to interpretation. We see that, to her, the knife that enslaves her is her cyclical sense of pestering deficiency—the world's perception of her, her writer's block, her heartbreak songs, all of it: "I used to think I would tell stories / But nobody cared for the stories I had / About no good guys / I always knew the world moves on / I just didn't know it would go without me / I start the day high and it ends so low / 'Cause I'm working for the knife." The music video is a gorgeous reiteration of this very conflict. At the end, we see Mitski finally release into her artistic expression. We see her fully lean into her movement as she dances and beats and flails to nothing but the sound of her own hands and feet hitting the stage floor. Photo by Ebru Yıldız.