Music critics and Hearing Things founders Jill Mapes, Ryan Dombal, and Dylan Green decide whether Father John Misty's ode to worship music "Screamland," Kendrick Lamar's Cali trunk rattler "TV Off," and Veronika Slowikowska's Phoebe Bridgers-type pop parody "Mac and Cheese" are Waste or Taste. Side topics include Christmas music that doesn't suck, alternate-universe Spice Girls, and wet head braces.

Hearing Things is a new independent home for music and culture founded by journalists Andy Cush, Ryan Dombal, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Dylan Green, and Jill Mapes. Read more at hearingthings.co.