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Nov 18
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Norman's avatar

I enjoy fresh mix tapes, thanks for sharing it with us.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

You're always welcome to share these here!

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Yana Bostongirl's avatar

Voulez Vous - ABBA

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Wayne Robins's avatar

Found the transcript to my 1988 interview with Robyn Hitchcock re his major label debut (A&M), Box of Frogs. Enjoyed it all weekend, a step above. You’ll read about it here soon!

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Kristin DeMarr's avatar

Love Robyn Hitchcock!! Excited to read about your interview with him!

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Danny Anderson's avatar

He's going to be performing at this week's "Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders" in NYC and I so wish I could make it!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Right on! I'm looking forward to it.

Not for nothing, your piece on Talking Heads really landed with me.

https://open.substack.com/pub/waynerobins/p/talking-heads77-and-2024?r=3cbf2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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Matt Bull's avatar

Saint Ettiene has a new one out? Excellent stuff! Here's my playlist for the week. Other than that, I've been listening to a fair bit of The Smile and Neighbours Burning Neighbours. https://open.substack.com/pub/recentanddecent/p/recent-and-decent-47?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1z6rnh

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Jon  Pinter's avatar

I am listening to The Smiles new album as I write.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thanks for the link! New Saint Etienne record comes out in a few weeks!

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Joyce's avatar

Mark Lanegan is the most amazing artist I've found to-date.

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=RDCLAK5uy_nq37ALYhB0Y1lH_lqe0TsiFb_H4kn-wNA&playnext=1&si=01Sh79WDqkkXcG68

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Dave Purcell's avatar

Whiskey For The Holy Ghost is such a great record. It's like some magical cross between Astral Weeks and Nick Cave. Thanks for the playlist!

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Joyce's avatar

Could not agree more; that and Straight Songs of Sorrow are always included; oh and Houston Publishing Demos is great too. Actually, when I try to identify my favorite Lanegan album, it always turns out to be "the one I'm listening to right now" as each one offers such compelling music. I couldn't figure out how to link my actual playlist here; there is just so much more to enjoy.

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Michael K. Fell's avatar

Welcome to the deep, dark, and brooding world of Mark. Several months ago, I wrote a piece about how his death greatly affected me. 

https://substack.com/@michaelfell/p-140703963

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Joyce's avatar

Just finished reading it, and you are so eloquent in capturing how losing him felt! A beautiful tribute for sure; left my comments there. All I can say is "thank you!"

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Michael K. Fell's avatar

Thank you, Joyce. 🙏

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Matt Madurski's avatar

It all started when I was writing my piece on Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box": https://chartchat.substack.com/p/alternative-airplay-modern-rock-tracks-billboard-nirvana-heart-shaped-box-in-utero

As is customary for me, I look at the other songs on the chart for the weeks the featured song owned the top spot. Up until this writing, I always included the songs that didn't quite reach the top, but I saw the song that peaked at #2 behind Nirvana, "Cannonball," and thought, "No way I'm giving this a one-paragraph treatment. I need to do more."

So I started to pre-plan my writeup for this song, a supplement to my usual No. 1 hits writeups, and started down a rabbit hole with Breeders. There's this awesome lady named Kim Deal who heads the band with her twin sister Kelley, and I think, "Huh, that's cool." But then I find that Kim Deal was in a band called Pixies, who EVERYONE loves but, because they broke before my Musical Awakening in 1994, I only knew of them by reputation (that and the "Wave of Mutilation" track on the Rock Band video game). I honestly never *listened* to the Pixies.

Well, how can I possibly write about Breeders and "Last Splash" without diving into the band that made Kim Deal a household name for a certain subset of music enthusiasts? So I start listening to Pixies in earnest for the first time, and it kept me up most of the night yesterday. I listened to "Surfer Rosa" and "Doolittle" in their entirety for the first time in my life, and I was fucking blown away. WHY did I wait my ENTIRE LIFE to listen to this?! Inconceivable!

And then, to further the rabbit hole, Kim Deal was the bassist for Pixies, and she's fucking amazing in pretty much every track. But Kim Deal was NOT the bassist for Breeders, and yet that bass line in "Cannonball" is bonkers! My mind explodes from the crazy derivations of these Pixies/Breeders revelations.

So, long story short, I'm going to have a LOT more to say about Breeders and "Cannonball" later this week, and that's due in large part to my current playlist of all Pixies/Breeders. (Side note: "Last Splash," at least through the first few tracks, is ridiculously good. Like, OMG.)

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Kristin DeMarr's avatar

Kim Deal is amazing! Love her, the Pixies, and the Breeders!

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Jeremy Shatan's avatar

And you're a lucky man because Kim Deal is about to release her first-ever solo album! And what I've heard from it sounds great.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

^This^

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

YES! Inconceivable indeed, but you're here now. Welcome to the club. We have cool jackets and everything. :)

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Sam Colt's avatar

It's fall, so it's time for some depressing indie folk, a la The Microphones and Mount Eerie.

Also been getting back into Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill, and expanding my familiarity with Can.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

That's a good mix! Funny how some bands can "only" be played certain times of the year.

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Sam Colt's avatar

Yeah idk if Mount Eerie is summer BBQ/day drinking vibes haha. But fall is usually when I just jam out to folk.

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Travis DeVore's avatar

Two Joes: Joey Cape and Joe Strummer.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I'm 1-for-1 on knowing who they are.

EDIT: Lagwagon! I feel like I shoulda known that...

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Danny Anderson's avatar

Recently discovered the French band La Femme (during the end-credits of an interesting horror flick, As Above So Below). What a great, groovy discovery!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Rock Machine is fantastic!

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Senor Fix's avatar

Another great playlist - excited for new Saint Ettiene though single is odd choice.

NEW & SHINY:

* Du Blonde 'Sniff More Gritty' - Garage rock with hints of pop & glam. Further evolution of Houghton's versatility and sound and her finest work yet. Been on constant rotation.

* Los Campesinos! 'More Hell EP' - Stripped down, enhanced by strings & gorgeously produced versions shine a light on the lyrics and reminded me what a great great 'All Hell' is. Naturally I listened to that album again and it remains a strong contender to be on AOTY list.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I'm really excited for the new record as well. Too late for most AOTY lists, which is either brilliant or diabolical...or both.

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Kristin DeMarr's avatar

Got hooked on AJR’s song Way Less Sad, so have been listening to a lot of AJR in the past couple of days.

Got nostalgic and listened to a bunch of Howard Jones. He had way more hits than I remembered.

Went to my favorite brewery’s vinyl night last week - they had the theme of “Time,” so I played:

Time and Time Again by The Smithereens

Alone Again Or by The Damned (yeah this was a loose interpretation)

A Question of Time by Depeche Mode

Sometimes by Erasure (12”)

Time (Clock of the Heart) by Culture Club

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Dave Purcell's avatar

Re: Howard Jones, I love when that happens. I'll remember one or two songs and then dive in and get reacquainted with a bunch of stuff I loved from an artist..

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Jon  Pinter's avatar

Good morning from the left coast. Any Play List that has Throwing Muses and Larua Nyro is a keeper.

Here is what is in my ears:

1. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1knJSMzp6SWo8aUh3W2hVo?si=4336588310a14a8b

2. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71PrDfTT9eNSnK4nHDJCqx?si=62487615e5734640

3. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EpBbYmYjaqNaa?si=1bd0500ed2804230

Have a great week.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thank you & thanks for the playlists!

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Sonny Rane's avatar

R.E.M. - Monster

Melvins - Houdini

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Incredible trifecta here, Sonny!

P.S. Thanks (I think?!) for getting Da da Da stuck in my head. lol.

https://sonnyrane.substack.com/p/da-da-da

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Sonny Rane's avatar

Such great music, right?

And you’re very welcome/please don’t hate me for Da Da Da! 😂

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Bob Tooker's avatar

The Rollins Band and April wine.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

What a combo! I love it.

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Bob Tooker's avatar

I should of spent more time watching sesame Street as a kid. That way I would be better at telling what things go together.

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Dave Purcell's avatar

Thanks for including The Long Fight! I'm happy to be in such good company. We're busy prepping for a big move, so I didn't have time to dig into my list of new artists and instead went on a chain-of-albums journey:

* Dwight Yoakam - Brighter Days -- He's back! Sounds like classic Dwight. Those Cali vibes led me to...

* Jackson Browne - Running On Empty and For Everyman. Thinking about his activism made me think of seeing Farm Aid in 1997, which led to...

* John Mellencamp - Scarecrow and The Lonesome Jubilee. Man, do these records hold up. If you want to see an interesting example of an artist aging gracefully, look up his Farm Aid performances of Paper In Fire in 1990 and 2023. Also, Lisa Germano is awesome. Thinking of seeing Farm Aid in Chicago led me to...

* Wilco - A playlist of their rockier stuff from Being There to Wilco (The Album). That led me to...

* Jay Bennett - The Magnificent Defeat. My favorite of his solo records thanks to a friend encouraging me to revisit it. Sigh, what a loss.

* Jason Lambeth's playlist from the two record by The Smile is great! Check out Wall of Cutouts:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4dCNhKHbtpjRk8lT4CbdiP?si=MHfWFcGkQiSST0NdgWrb0A&pi=R18EVFIMTbWev

* Last, I'm obsessed with Boys of Summer after Kevin shared the Quietus essay about it. I'd forgotten that Mike Campbell wrote the music. I'm sure I dismissed at time for being mainstream, but man, what a great song and recording!

Have a great week, everyone. Looking forward to your picks.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Of course! It's a great track.

Huge +1 to your point about Mellencamp's records holding up, especially The Lonesome Jubilee, IMO.

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jon cohan's avatar

My wife and I were on a 70’s kick while on a road trip this weekend – so nothing cool or eclectic here. But this is the top 5

Al Wilson, Show and Tell, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddDgNqaERSE

Rod Stewart, I’m Losing You. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP4CEPaiAzU

Dave Mason, We Just Disagree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBtmeQpRLvQ

Elton John, Madman Across the Water https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2LUWFptNCM

Meatloaf, You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (song begins at 1:01) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wO8toxinoc

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I dunno, this all looks pretty cool to me!

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jon cohan's avatar

It's a solid mix of 70's gold, but not for the young 'uns :)

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Jeff K's avatar

Couple new live albums out that I've been playing this week.

Ryan Bingham w/ The Texas Gentlemen - Live at Red Rocks. If you've never seen a show at Red Rocks, put it on your bucket list. The album is a good mix of older and newer Bingham tunes, although I didn't see anything on there from his latest EP. And The Texas Gentlemen are a tight backing band. A show I wish I could have seen.

Red Clay Strays - Live at the Ryman. If you're into Americana and you're not listening to the Red Clay Strays yet, you need to fix that. They're much more on the Sun Records/rock n roll/rockabilly side of things than an actual country band, but there's really not other category for them so they're put into Americana.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I know Bingham from Yellowstone, but i'm not sure I've ever heard any of his music. Need to change that ASAP.

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Amy McGrath's avatar

Gotta say that joining Bluesky was the best thing, if only to discover Novelty Island. I'll leave this Spotify link here. Part pop, part ambient and most importantly, part Nilsson!

https://open.spotify.com/album/15zb1VoIzhmnyXvoqAlIo9

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thanks for this!

And yeah, Bluesky's been great. I hope it stays this way!

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Abandoned Albums Podcast's avatar

I'm back going through Lone Justice. (wink)

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Yes! I've got these queued up for later today, starting with a (re)listen to the Etzioni episode.

For anyone scrolling the comments, you can check out Keith's interviews w/the surviving members of Lone Justice here.

https://open.substack.com/pub/abandonedalbums/p/viva-lone-justice?r=3cbf2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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Abandoned Albums Podcast's avatar

Thanks, Kevin! All three interviews are brand-spankin' new and complete with a question from one of our Substack subscribers. Marvin is a great place to start, he's always a fun interview. Cheers! And if you haven't, listen to Viva Lone Justice, it's worth it.

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Jim Ruland's avatar

The Mexican Standoff

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

A new one for me. I'm on it!

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Andres's avatar

Hiya! Lots of Buddy Guy, especially the album "Breaking Out".

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Michael K. Fell's avatar

Over the years, I have seen Buddy Guy a couple of times in concert, and even at his age, he can run circles around most. The dude absolutely slays the guitar. He may be a straight-up rockin' blues man, but if you add a bunch of distortion and volume to his playing, he would even out heavy metal the kids. Total legend who can also command a stage!

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Andres's avatar

That’s amazing, Michael! Colour me jealous 🤩 He smahes it, every single time. And his voice!! He’s just incredible.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Always a good time for the Blues!

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Tyson's avatar

The Sea and Cake have been making consistently good to great albums for 30 years(!) now, and is one of the finest and most listenable bands to emerge from the Thrill Jockey post-rock era. Front man Sam Prekop had put out some great solo records, starting with the lush, jazzy, understated Jim O'Rouke produced self-titled, and has since ventured into a more experimental, instrumental analog synth soundscapes, but still quite listenable. However Sea and Cake guitarist Archer Prewitt has also released a handful of solo albums that have mainly flown under the radar. Starting with 1997's In The Sun he has been making sunny AM pop that are really enjoyable. His albums aren't really re-inventing the wheel, but if you like power pop and 1970's AM gold I highly recommend checking out his discography. I've been revisiting his discography for the past few days, and every album is super solid, well crafted pop, which come to think of it isn't too far off from his main job in The Sea and Cake. Enjoy!!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thanks for this! Lots of AM Gold & Power Pop fans in here, including me.

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Wallytbm's avatar

Love the Sea & the Cake and Sam Prekop solo albums but need to delve into Archer Prewitt material, thanks for the tip

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Lou Tilsley's avatar

Antarctica by Divorce. Cannot wait for this album!

https://open.spotify.com/track/192MdJJceGKpFE2HTIOsRB?si=B-FC4SNwSxOrYS4RShq2zw&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A6kioG8s04cIoHuL6TZTqsG

We Are Scientists are back in the UK touring Brain Thrust Mastery to promote the reissue. Caught them in London last night and I’m still on a high. 3 more shows this week so that’s my album of choice for the time being.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I'm looking forward to it as well!

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Stephen Davenport's avatar

I just found a song from one of my favorite metal bands, Slipknot, called "Yen" that I had never heard before. Has a nice gothic sound with a nice buildup.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Right on!

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Jeremy Shatan's avatar

I like that Girl Scout album, too! I was blown away by CINE, the new album by veteran MC Cavalier with the producer who calls himself Child Actor. Gorgeous, melancholy, and cinematic hip hop. Dove into yet another listening party for Father John Misty's upcoming album and it continues to sound stunning. Finally, last night I tuned into the live stream from Camp Flog Gnaw and saw great sets from Jean Dawson, Left Brain, and Orion Sun.

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Thomas Benefield's avatar

Today, for the first time ever, I listened to Paul Simon's Graceland. This came out in 1986 when I was 16 and in the process of leaning into punk/new wave/alternative and away from anything classic. I was familiar with the singles, but wow! This is a solid 10/10 from start to finish. I listened to it on Spotify and it includes a spoken explanation from Paul Simon about how he developed the sounds of the album as well as a couple of demos. I can't say I regret not listening to it when it was released because I might not have appreciated it for the brilliance that it is. I also enjoy "discovering" something new for my ears. I know I will return to this album again and again.

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Lou Tilsley's avatar

This is also on my list for a revisit after reading this article

https://open.substack.com/pub/metropolitan/p/1986-graceland?r=1pwf0t&utm_medium=ios

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

It's incredible, isn't it? We covered it as part of our 100 best Albums series. I put it at #68

https://thekevinalexander.substack.com/i/148335899/paul-simon-graceland

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Adam Yee's avatar

When everything is a bit heavy and I just need to sing my lungs out to whatever it was that I grew up on, then I got to The Casey Kasem Experience playlist . There are no guilty secrets. Just bangin' tunes .... https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1uSwYBhwHnaC1eb2B4qSLK?si=1f2dab7b28744b1c

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

No such thing as a "guilty pleasure" here! We like what we like, right? This is a great list, BTW. Got it saved to play after lunch. I'll bet I haven't heard "Don't Pay The Ferryman" in 30 years?

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Justin Steiner's avatar

I spent most of my time listening to the albums I wrote about in my latest post: https://open.substack.com/pub/shooflypie/p/live-lost-world-explosion-headz?r=4iw9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Plus, I finally listened to the Record Store Day Podcast episode with Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, so I'm back to Moon Mirror again.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thanks for the link!

I keep coming back to Moon Mirror and finding my "new" favorite song on the reocrd.

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Justin Steiner's avatar

Isn't a great when an album lets you do that? I feel like it's got a lock on the top 10 this year, if not top 5.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Definitely (on both counts)!

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Dan Pal's avatar

A couple of new tracks for this week:

'Til We Remember Who We Are - Melissa Manchester https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoFWc6yA48U

Caroline - School of X https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CtzAxCfS5I

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thanks for both of these, Dan!

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Gordon Schenck's avatar

In the miid 80s, I discovered Cruzados and bought both of their LPs. Somehow I missed Tito & Tarantula during their period of recording although I kept stumbling across them in movies. So have been listening to a lot of Tito and Tarantula on Pandora this past weekend. Just discovered that I must dig up the soundtrack to "From Dark Until Dawn."

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Scott Michael Winchell's avatar

I was rolling along just fine with the new Dwight Yoakam album, soaking in the sun from his California-tinged sound and then I ran across Magick Potion! These guys are fantastic, obviously teleported from 1969 straight into our time for some sort of prophetic purpose. But, yes, Magick Potion. https://open.spotify.com/album/37cVw7PNGphM1PE5PJ8VIb?si=L3LRAjmSSAGq0gIFZkhmvQ

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Dylan Delgado's avatar

No new listens this week.

Relistened to No More Hiding by The Wanderer Edit and posted a review of it on my Stack (tl;dr really good, and provides a great account of disability).

I'm closing in on acquiring tickets to see Aurora in NYC on 12/6. I've identified someone that will accompany me, as I’ve never been to NYC before and it's likely going to be overwhelming to me.

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Beth Lisogorsky's avatar

Still Taylor for me as I’m coming off her Eras Tour 🎵

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Wallytbm's avatar

Thanks for including David Long & Shane O'Neill in your mix this week, much appreciated!

Here's one I thought you might appreciate, a New Order cover by a Spanish band doing Age Of Consent in Spanish -

https://calivvla.bandcamp.com/track/edad-de-consentimiento

The new EP by Shopfires is just gorgeous and recommended for any Sarah Records fan of bands like Brighter -

https://shopfires.bandcamp.com/album/surplus-ep

And this one goes out to all the dog lovers and Bauhaus fans -

https://lordfayrebank.bandcamp.com/track/today-my-dog-attacked-pete-murphy-from-bauhaus

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David W. Friedman's avatar

Any Laura Nyro is alright by me.

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