Phoebe Bridgers – Lost Weekend: I’m finally sitting in front of the stereo listening to the entire record while reading the lyrics, and it’s superb. The music, the lyrics, the production, the arrangements, the sequence of the songs … She wove a beautiful thread through death and love and life and loss. Lost Weekend just leapt into the handful of… Read more »
Gilla Band – Pugnello: I listened to three songs before I dismissed it as a novelty where Dara Keily shouts over abrasive riffs. Something about it stuck in my brain, though, and I went back. The deconstruction of sound in “Placeholder” has parallels with William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops. It’s never going to be in heavy rotation for me, but I… Read more »
Carly Rae Jepson – Day and Night: The more I listen, the more it makes me feel the way Everything but the Girl made me feel 25 years ago, except if they were happy and in love. “Hold Me to the Light” was my breakthrough track this week, and I can’t quite decide if it’s a romantic song with religious… Read more »
Taylor Swift – The Life of a Showgirl (The Encore) | 1989: A lot of artists I’ve loved released albums that disappointed me, but none made me as angry as Showgirl. A friend compared my reaction to how Metallica fans reacted to Load. He’s right. This feels like a betrayal, a conscious choice to walk away from the things that… Read more »
Brenda & Herb – “I Who Have Nothing”: I have no idea when or where I picked up this 12” single, but it is a total jam. The bass, the kick drum, the strings, all of it is on fire. Lyrically, it’s one of those songs like “Every Breath You Take” that is open to interpretation, maybe it’s a humble… Read more »
Mike D. – Thank You: I can’t decide if Mike D. is trying to make a more grown up Beastie Boys record or an introspective reflection from a seminal artist in the autumn of his life. Maybe Thank You tries to be both and doesn’t do either well. I like the back half of the record more than the front… Read more »
Van Morrison – His Band and the Street Choir: I listened a couple more times this week and it’s growing on me. Yes, the blues and New Orleans roots that I mentioned last week are very real and very uninteresting to me, but the album has moments that harken back to the weirdness and emotional intensity of Astral Weeks. I’m… Read more »
Alan Sparhawk – White Roses, My God: After spending some time with Sparhawk’s collaboration with Trampled by Turtles, I wasn’t expecting to like the digitized approach he used on this record. Maybe because I went in with such low expectations, I really like this on first listen. TBD if it ends up getting more plays, but I hear far more… Read more »
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours: I’ve been listening to a lot of new (to me) music and I needed a break, I needed something easy. Rumours is my benchmark for a perfect rock album, and it was a great way to cleanse my palate. What surprised me is how many new things I heard, things I’ve never heard before. Mike D…. Read more »
The Modern Jazz Quartet – Lonely Woman: In the liner notes, Raymond Molly wrote that the title track “is colored … with a gentle tint which excludes despair.” MJQ’s decision to exclude despair was an egregious error. Branford Marsalis introduced me to “Lonely Woman,” and I spent countless hours in front of my speakers absorbing the loneliness, the sadness, the… Read more »