Happy Monday, and welcome to each of you who joined us over the weekend! It’s great to have you here with us.
The playlist below is some of what I’ve been playing. There are still plenty of new releases popping up, with no signs of that slowing down—2023 has been a great year formusic.
Now it’s your turn:
What caught your ear this week? Find anything good while crate digging? Is there an upcoming release or show you’re excited for?
I'm listening to the 25th anniversary edition of R.E.M.'s "Up." I'm probably going to write a special column about that album this week, as it's one of my favorites.
That's a good write-up! I think we're aligned when it comes to our appreciation of the album. If/when I do complete a write-up on this, I expect it'll be more of a personal anecdote entwined with a review of the album. A lot of what makes the album so important to me personally is how big a part it played in my life at the time.
Might not be an article that people can relate to, but it feels like a story I want to commit to writing. We shall see!
I think UP has aged quite well. Much better than Out of Time. I liked it when it first came out and still like it today. It fades a bit at the end, but the first 10 tracks are solid.
It seems we’re taking a similar approach to music writing. Finding a balance between personal reflection and reviewing the music isn’t always easy to achieve, and I’m enjoying the challenge!
I am a bit excited/trepidatious about the forthcoming Dolly Parton rock and roll album. I am worried, like when I picked up Jerry Lee Lewis’ Last Man Standing; it was wildly uneven, as these kinds of projects are bound to be. Then again, the differences between Lewis and Parton as a person/professional can be measured in light years. I’m gonna buy it, I mean, I’m not a monster and Dolly Parton can always use my $20 for something, but, it’s gonna be a drag is all of the songs are tired and/or uninspired.
One of the things that fascinates me about Dolly Parton is that throughout her career she has managed to keep her private life mostly out of the public eye. Sure, there are rumors or some jokes here and there. But compared to most other people who have been in the spotlight, there's very little talk.
I have a mutual friend with her (although I've never met here). It's not that she's ever done anything crazy. But there are certainly things there that might have been embarrassing at one point.
But yeah, I'm a bit nervous about her new album too. Although tbh, I'm not expecting much. The list of musicians her age still releasing interesting much is pretty short.
Had a long drive home last night and was tired, so I put on the Fratellis, who always give me a charge. Acid Jazz Singer is timeless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-ip6G0oREk
Let's do it! Kevin? You wanna host this discussion since you got the largest hub (stop bragging)? I suppose we can work out deets outside of the comment section...:)
The Catherine Wheel is peak stuff for me - I was also lucky enough to see the Twyla Tharp production, unbelievably great, probably one of the best dance pieces I've ever seen.
I can only imagine how fantastic it must have been to see. I wished that I still had my cassette copy of the Catherine wheel because it had a ton of extra music on it that the album did not.
Yes! I have that cassette somewhere...even though I usually didn't buy pre-recorded tapes, that one was a must for all the extra music. It was one of two tapes I bought for a cross-country bus trip, the other one being Eno-Fripp's No Pussyfooting. It was a good ride...
Just found Hadsel. What a gorgeous record! I never owned a Guadalcanal record, but growing up, I used to check their '2x4' CD out from my library all the time.
A friend of my wife and I has a boyfriend who drums for a band here in Tacoma, WA called Serpentfoot. I hadn’t ever really got around to listening to any of their music because who has time lol
I really love a few tracks from their newest album. They have this surf/goth rock sort of sound. One song in particular strikes me as if Idles played an homage to Bella Legosi’s Dead.
Revisited an old friend last night, Gil Evans - Out of the Cool, one of the first four Impulse albums from early 1961. The track La Nevada, in particular, is a masterpiece where Gil shows he doesn't need Miles (Porgy & Bess, Sketches of Spain) or Cannonball (New Bottle Old Wine) on hand to draw the best out of his compositions. Pay particular attention to Ron Carter (bass) and Elvin Jones (drums) on La Nevada. You'll reach for your remote to turn it up a couple of times, at least.
We saw Allison Russell live this weekend, but she didn’t play our favorite song from her previous album - Joyful Motherfuckers - so we’ve been listening to her, and that song, on repeat.
Huge +1 to Marhsall's article! That was a great read, and got me to dive back into her 'Trailer Park' LP. I loved "Weather Alive," and wrote it up last fall.
Enigma and Sandra... Michael Cretu and Sandra married in 19(88), they had two children (twins) plus Cretu and Sandra share the same birth day of May 18 (same as my oldest son), divorced 2 months shy of a 20 year marriage.
So Saturday morning "I Melt With You" by Modern English popped up in my Apple Play drivetime Spotify app thingy. I immediately added it to my Liked Songs because it had somehow fallen through the cracks of my post-Spotify digital music collection. Later that same day, doing something completely unrelated, I learned that the song is about making love during a nuclear blast. How did I not know that before? Why did these two events occur on the same day, 41 years after the song was released? Music is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
That is a great! I saw ELO on their first US tour, Roy Wood had just left (within 30 days). ELO put on a fantastic show, they used Celebrity Theatre’s sound system because all their sound systems went to Los Angeles (this was approximately’73). ELO did 4 encores of “Roll Over Beethoven” for the exact same reason). Having said all that, it was the best encores I ever witnessed. The band was humble and Jeff Lynne said those encores gave the group the needed boost to move (no pun intended) forward without Roy Wood.
They are a great live band, saw them 4 times through the years and always impressed. They were also super nice to their fans and gave my brother and I free t-shirts and posters for being long time fans. They made us fans for life.
I recently stumbled upon a band called Brigitte Calls Me Baby, and I listened to them all weekend. They're a little bit Elvis, a little bit The Smiths, and a little bit fuzzed out garage rock. The lead singer (Wes Leavins) has a fantastic voice. Here's "Impressively Average," the song that grabbed my ear: https://youtu.be/btD2fWF2qEw?si=_HiM1TOOLKLBS2NC
This week, I got back in touch with some old CDs: Indigo Girls, Swamp Ophelia; Cris Williamson, The Changer and the Changed; and The Verve, Urban Hymns.
Also came across Stravinsky's Capriccio, which was a bit more random than his usual fare.
I was going to listen to some Corelli violin sonatas, but the CD inside was New Order. Gotta see if I can track down the missing CD now.
One of my bucket list projects has been to do a "Nuggets" type set of pop-rock music from Chicago-based bands that cover the period from 1977 or so to the early 90s. So much great music and a lot of bands that were never signed to a major label or were signed and it didn't work out. This isn't the greatest version of the song but "Summer Days" by the Wild Roots is super catchy. They were signed to Island at one point in the late 80s, but the album was never finished.
One odd piece of trivia. If I remember correctly, at the time Wild Roots lead singer/songwriter JD Dragus was dating Sue Miller, who ended up marrying Jeff Tweedy in the mid-90s.
I’ve always had an on again/off again relationship with Cold War Kids. Sometimes we get it on and sometimes I’m not in the mood for a long time. But this new self-titled album of theirs is getting me worked up for the first time in quite a while!
Officially dumped Spotify and have been using YouTube Music, which is ok. Spotify announcing they would no longer pay artists if a track has under 1K plays was the last straw for me. I mean, all these services kinda suck for their own reasons, but getting off of one algorithm has shaken up some of my habits a little bit.
2PACALYPSE NOW- basically the same attitude is warranted today as in 1991...
The interface is similar to Spotify, so that made the transition easy. And Tidal has an “Influencer” section for better known bands, which is kind of fun to both test assumptions and maybe discover an older band. The algorithm is marginally better, though the suggested playlists are pretty much what I’m already aware of/listening to. Spotify is such a behemoth and kind of the default, which means I’m not always able to easily listen to playlists generated by others or on other platforms (like Music League). But I’m going to stick with Tidal for the foreseeable future.
Well, I guess the algorithm needs to get to know me...so I don't get some of the Spotify suggestions that I appreciate, such as ....70s jazz funk fusion, but I was kinda stuck in a rut with the suggestions, etc.
Sorta like staring over and needing to search more specifically more often, which is fine- less driven by the algorithm. Also the backend stats for artists are better and it's kinda cool that it links to videos too.
Wish there was just an easy way to copy over playlists!
As others have been, I listened to REM’s ‘Up’ - a much stronger album than some critics allow. Also been listening to the Beatles - along with everyone else - especially the new mixes of their early stuff.
A lot of folks are listening to the 25th Anniversary of R.E.M.'s Up. A worthy undertaking. But I'm listening to Micky Dolenz' take four R.E.M. classics and rework them with just the right amount of creative license. Dolenz sings R.E.M. Maybe the covers album of 2023?
Shazam find while running errands today: Incredible Bongo Band! One of those "what is this?" stopped in my tracks moments that I had to look up and I've stuck with them the rest of the day. Funky, breezy, a little bit cheesy. Distilled 70s. I've probably heard them on soundtracks, I've definitely heard them sampled. Can't believe I've never heard of them before, but I love that this still happens every now and then - no, after 50 years I still haven't heard everything!
The new Gaslight Anthem album, History Books, has unlocked for me. Listened to it at school this morning and will probably do the same again tomorrow...and probably again later in the week.
Soft Science are great as are most releases on the Spinout Nuggets label. Been listening to an old album by the Close Lobsters and the new album by John MCabe on the Subjangle label which should appeal to fans of R.E.M. and Love Tractor - https://johnmccabe.bandcamp.com/album/adorned
I was happy to see new singles from Foyer Red, Levitation Room, and TV Girl in my Release Radar. Also on Friday was the release of 1991, the second of two 2023 albums by Swedish psych-rockers Melody Fields, who have officially added shoegaze to their palette. Hypnotic and eccentric. I probably spent more time talking about music than listening over the weekend, as I made a video called "20 Live Albums That Are Fun To Have On Vinyl," and also recorded a conversation with two other gents for the Songs In The Attic Youtube channel on our favorite double albums. That hasn't come out yet, but the live vinyl one is here: https://youtu.be/VZawmgDIixU?si=3ta0DEQKS9CdgIKx. Oh, yeah, and on Friday I did another episode of Dennis Ball, talking about RSD Black Friday. That one is here: https://www.youtube.com/live/jv2Ac4yhnKw?si=s8MqKSl_Q1u9O8vB. It's Q4 and everything is happening at once...
I'm not, and I will!
"Careful" - beautiful new release from Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners 🪨🎶✨ https://open.spotify.com/track/6xwDNQRaRH0yQE5iKBT5dW?si=28a5869407ce46b5
I'm listening to the 25th anniversary edition of R.E.M.'s "Up." I'm probably going to write a special column about that album this week, as it's one of my favorites.
"Suspicion" is a top-five R.E.M. track IMO.
I chose to write about ‘Up’ in the post I published this evening. I’ll be interested to read your take on it, Matt.
That's a good write-up! I think we're aligned when it comes to our appreciation of the album. If/when I do complete a write-up on this, I expect it'll be more of a personal anecdote entwined with a review of the album. A lot of what makes the album so important to me personally is how big a part it played in my life at the time.
Might not be an article that people can relate to, but it feels like a story I want to commit to writing. We shall see!
I think UP has aged quite well. Much better than Out of Time. I liked it when it first came out and still like it today. It fades a bit at the end, but the first 10 tracks are solid.
My hot take: 'Out of Time' is extremely underrated, and I genuinely love 'Radio Song.'
It seems we’re taking a similar approach to music writing. Finding a balance between personal reflection and reviewing the music isn’t always easy to achieve, and I’m enjoying the challenge!
Striking that balance is tough! It also makes for the best reading, IMO.
For anyone scrolling the comments, here's the link to Ian's write up: https://open.substack.com/pub/iansharp/p/rem-up?r=3cbf2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Thanks Kevin.
If you do, please share the link with us!
Here you go, sir!
https://chartchat.substack.com/p/getting-down-to-revisiting-up
Thank you! Just got to the coffee part (no spoilers!) before having to leave for work. Gonna read it on my lunch break.
I am a bit excited/trepidatious about the forthcoming Dolly Parton rock and roll album. I am worried, like when I picked up Jerry Lee Lewis’ Last Man Standing; it was wildly uneven, as these kinds of projects are bound to be. Then again, the differences between Lewis and Parton as a person/professional can be measured in light years. I’m gonna buy it, I mean, I’m not a monster and Dolly Parton can always use my $20 for something, but, it’s gonna be a drag is all of the songs are tired and/or uninspired.
One of the things that fascinates me about Dolly Parton is that throughout her career she has managed to keep her private life mostly out of the public eye. Sure, there are rumors or some jokes here and there. But compared to most other people who have been in the spotlight, there's very little talk.
I have a mutual friend with her (although I've never met here). It's not that she's ever done anything crazy. But there are certainly things there that might have been embarrassing at one point.
But yeah, I'm a bit nervous about her new album too. Although tbh, I'm not expecting much. The list of musicians her age still releasing interesting much is pretty short.
I'm also excited/wary about picking it up!
I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot tonearm...but that's just me!
Had a long drive home last night and was tired, so I put on the Fratellis, who always give me a charge. Acid Jazz Singer is timeless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-ip6G0oREk
"I never wanna live without you' - Mary J Blige
I'm always (happily) surprised at your picks!
Ambient background stuff while I work, including Bugseed's "Galaxy Express."
Just got a ticket to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s upcomingNA tour this past week, so I’ve been on a Gizzy tear.
Quarters
I’m in Your Mind Fuzz
Butterfly 3000
PetroDragonic Apocalypse
Infest the Rats Nest
Silver Cord
Oddments
Float Along - Fill Your Lungs
Laminated Denim
Changes
Now that's ambitious! PetroDragonic Apocalypse is up for album of the year for me. Silver Cord....is not.
Yeah I was expecting to like Silver Cord a lot more but it’s ok. I agree, PetroDragonic is easily in my top 10 albums of 2023.
Speaking of, Kevin and Steve, I would be down to do a Top 10 list/Spotify wrapped collab with other music peeps on here if you’re interested.
Let's do it! Kevin? You wanna host this discussion since you got the largest hub (stop bragging)? I suppose we can work out deets outside of the comment section...:)
Dunno if it's the biggest hub, but sure, I can host!
I'm in!
Sick, let's get this going.
I'd be in as well - probably too much to coordinate but I've also been idly thinking of a podcast or video roundtable...
Thanks to someone who shall remain nameless, I felt compelled to do a deep dive on The Clash.
I also listen to the Catherine wheel, featuring David Byrne and Adrian Belew.
I have an idea on who that might be, and I'll bet they're pretty happy to read this. :)
The Catherine Wheel is peak stuff for me - I was also lucky enough to see the Twyla Tharp production, unbelievably great, probably one of the best dance pieces I've ever seen.
I can only imagine how fantastic it must have been to see. I wished that I still had my cassette copy of the Catherine wheel because it had a ton of extra music on it that the album did not.
Yes! I have that cassette somewhere...even though I usually didn't buy pre-recorded tapes, that one was a must for all the extra music. It was one of two tapes I bought for a cross-country bus trip, the other one being Eno-Fripp's No Pussyfooting. It was a good ride...
I will have to check out the Eno-Fripp.
Ted Leo
Oysterband
King ISO
Ted Leo! Yes!
Sam Roberts Band "Youth" - that is all! Unless we're talking more Beatles which will take far too much space than I can handle :)
Lol. Take as much bandwidth as you need/want. :)
The new vinyl reissue of Scenic’s Incident at Cima is really working for me right now!
That's a new one for me. I'm on it!
I missed Yard Act first time around but Ive just caught their new single and it's pretty good!
Yes!
* Robert Finley's 'Black Bayou'
* ML Buch's 'Suntub'
* Beirut's 'Hadsel'
* Guadalcanal Diary's 'Walking In The Shadow of the Big Man'
Guadalcanal Diary - Only for the most discerning music fans. I owned that album back in the day.
Just found Hadsel. What a gorgeous record! I never owned a Guadalcanal record, but growing up, I used to check their '2x4' CD out from my library all the time.
A friend of my wife and I has a boyfriend who drums for a band here in Tacoma, WA called Serpentfoot. I hadn’t ever really got around to listening to any of their music because who has time lol
I really love a few tracks from their newest album. They have this surf/goth rock sort of sound. One song in particular strikes me as if Idles played an homage to Bella Legosi’s Dead.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4Joyxyq0agKv8Vw1skh2Rz?si=-R5S0K7lSB6hXbMHrCaQ7w
The other is called Window and is just a fun rocking time.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4Joyxyq0agKv8Vw1skh2Rz?si=-R5S0K7lSB6hXbMHrCaQ7w
I don’t think I’ll strike gold more than twice so that’s as far as my dive will go but I really can’t recommend these two tracks enough.
After that description, how could I NOT check this out??
ETA: This is fantastic!
Revisited an old friend last night, Gil Evans - Out of the Cool, one of the first four Impulse albums from early 1961. The track La Nevada, in particular, is a masterpiece where Gil shows he doesn't need Miles (Porgy & Bess, Sketches of Spain) or Cannonball (New Bottle Old Wine) on hand to draw the best out of his compositions. Pay particular attention to Ron Carter (bass) and Elvin Jones (drums) on La Nevada. You'll reach for your remote to turn it up a couple of times, at least.
Elvin Jones! Detroit produced some excellent drummers...
Detroit was a hotbed of jazz, no doubt, but I continue to be amazed that Hank, Thad, and Elvin were all brothers. A wildly successful family.
Sorta like an early Marsalis version without the advantage of Poppa Marsalis.
Elvin lived in my NYC building growing up...as did Max Roach!
We saw Allison Russell live this weekend, but she didn’t play our favorite song from her previous album - Joyful Motherfuckers - so we’ve been listening to her, and that song, on repeat.
Dunno about the MF'ers part, but you all certainly have good reason to be joyful! That was awesome to read the other morning. :)
Been listening to a lot of All Them Witches lately:
* Sleeping Through The War
* Nothing as the Ideal
* ATW
Also after reading Marshall Bowden’s retrospective of Beth Orton’s career: https://open.substack.com/pub/newdirectionsinmusic/p/beth-orton-and-the-beat
I revisited her 2022 release Weather Alive and Ben Watt’s Fever Dream from 2016, both fantastic albums
Huge +1 to Marhsall's article! That was a great read, and got me to dive back into her 'Trailer Park' LP. I loved "Weather Alive," and wrote it up last fall.
https://thekevinalexander.substack.com/p/liner-notes-29sept-2022?
Happy Monday! Lots of mid-nineties soul (or neo-soul I should say); particularly, Maxwell and Lauryn Hill have been on repeat a lot lately
Smoooooth!
Enigma and Sandra... Michael Cretu and Sandra married in 19(88), they had two children (twins) plus Cretu and Sandra share the same birth day of May 18 (same as my oldest son), divorced 2 months shy of a 20 year marriage.
I will follow up with The Cocteau Twins
So Saturday morning "I Melt With You" by Modern English popped up in my Apple Play drivetime Spotify app thingy. I immediately added it to my Liked Songs because it had somehow fallen through the cracks of my post-Spotify digital music collection. Later that same day, doing something completely unrelated, I learned that the song is about making love during a nuclear blast. How did I not know that before? Why did these two events occur on the same day, 41 years after the song was released? Music is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
Lol. Awesome.
That is a great! I saw ELO on their first US tour, Roy Wood had just left (within 30 days). ELO put on a fantastic show, they used Celebrity Theatre’s sound system because all their sound systems went to Los Angeles (this was approximately’73). ELO did 4 encores of “Roll Over Beethoven” for the exact same reason). Having said all that, it was the best encores I ever witnessed. The band was humble and Jeff Lynne said those encores gave the group the needed boost to move (no pun intended) forward without Roy Wood.
They are a great live band, saw them 4 times through the years and always impressed. They were also super nice to their fans and gave my brother and I free t-shirts and posters for being long time fans. They made us fans for life.
Wait, what? I had no idea!
I recently stumbled upon a band called Brigitte Calls Me Baby, and I listened to them all weekend. They're a little bit Elvis, a little bit The Smiths, and a little bit fuzzed out garage rock. The lead singer (Wes Leavins) has a fantastic voice. Here's "Impressively Average," the song that grabbed my ear: https://youtu.be/btD2fWF2qEw?si=_HiM1TOOLKLBS2NC
This is a great piece of ear candy. Love this track. Thanks.
That sounds like my kinda combo! I'm on it.
Kurt Vile
Great songwriter and interesting dude.
Nothing's quite as chill as Kurt. Cueing up "Backasswards" now, perfect vibe for my sleepy Monday afternoon.
Yes! Criminally underrated.
Glad I'm not the only one who likes the new Cloud Nothings!
I've been getting into Yuragi thanks to A Forgetting Place
https://aforgettingplace.substack.com
Between Yuragi and Stomp Talk Modstone, 2023 is turning into a year of Japanese shoegaze for me. The best surprises are unexpected 🤘🇯🇵🤘
Stomp Talk Modstone have been on eof my favorite finds this year!
I woke up with Star Trekkin playing on loop in my head. Why, I do not know.
Earworms can be so random!
Right? I have to wonder what I was dreaming about...
The earwom Gods work in mysterious ways...
This week, I got back in touch with some old CDs: Indigo Girls, Swamp Ophelia; Cris Williamson, The Changer and the Changed; and The Verve, Urban Hymns.
Also came across Stravinsky's Capriccio, which was a bit more random than his usual fare.
I was going to listen to some Corelli violin sonatas, but the CD inside was New Order. Gotta see if I can track down the missing CD now.
Random earworms of the week:
Fort Minor, Remember the Name
Oasis, Wonderwall
Brantley Gilbert, Not Like Us
One of my bucket list projects has been to do a "Nuggets" type set of pop-rock music from Chicago-based bands that cover the period from 1977 or so to the early 90s. So much great music and a lot of bands that were never signed to a major label or were signed and it didn't work out. This isn't the greatest version of the song but "Summer Days" by the Wild Roots is super catchy. They were signed to Island at one point in the late 80s, but the album was never finished.
https://youtu.be/sPop61GBEXY?si=nmpFb33hrwwTZFig
One odd piece of trivia. If I remember correctly, at the time Wild Roots lead singer/songwriter JD Dragus was dating Sue Miller, who ended up marrying Jeff Tweedy in the mid-90s.
I mentioned it on Notes, but if you put this together, I'd love to read it!
I’ve always had an on again/off again relationship with Cold War Kids. Sometimes we get it on and sometimes I’m not in the mood for a long time. But this new self-titled album of theirs is getting me worked up for the first time in quite a while!
Officially dumped Spotify and have been using YouTube Music, which is ok. Spotify announcing they would no longer pay artists if a track has under 1K plays was the last straw for me. I mean, all these services kinda suck for their own reasons, but getting off of one algorithm has shaken up some of my habits a little bit.
2PACALYPSE NOW- basically the same attitude is warranted today as in 1991...
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nAny4rr_WbGXGwrb0pZGPQz0YCaN8MzbE
I left Spotify back when Neil pulled his songs. I’ve been on Tidal ever since.
What do you think of Tidal so far?
The interface is similar to Spotify, so that made the transition easy. And Tidal has an “Influencer” section for better known bands, which is kind of fun to both test assumptions and maybe discover an older band. The algorithm is marginally better, though the suggested playlists are pretty much what I’m already aware of/listening to. Spotify is such a behemoth and kind of the default, which means I’m not always able to easily listen to playlists generated by others or on other platforms (like Music League). But I’m going to stick with Tidal for the foreseeable future.
Honest Q: how has it shaken up your habits?
Well, I guess the algorithm needs to get to know me...so I don't get some of the Spotify suggestions that I appreciate, such as ....70s jazz funk fusion, but I was kinda stuck in a rut with the suggestions, etc.
Sorta like staring over and needing to search more specifically more often, which is fine- less driven by the algorithm. Also the backend stats for artists are better and it's kinda cool that it links to videos too.
Wish there was just an easy way to copy over playlists!
For example- got led to this awesome Tommy Gun video after listening to give em enough rope base on your rec... https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=bFHEuKkTa5k&si=hXjD4maUiYFIMSet
Billy Strings and Steve Earle!
As others have been, I listened to REM’s ‘Up’ - a much stronger album than some critics allow. Also been listening to the Beatles - along with everyone else - especially the new mixes of their early stuff.
I think UP has aged quite well. It fades a bit at the end, but the first 10 tracks are solid.
A lot of folks are listening to the 25th Anniversary of R.E.M.'s Up. A worthy undertaking. But I'm listening to Micky Dolenz' take four R.E.M. classics and rework them with just the right amount of creative license. Dolenz sings R.E.M. Maybe the covers album of 2023?
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Z1dP2d8RFhPWSy3a9U4k7?si=792a0a82b1554226
He's made me enjoy listening to "Shiny Happy People" again. Nice job, Micky!
His covers are great!
On Twitter, someone suggested Dolenz should do a record of Geggy Tah covers next, and that's been living in my head rent free ever since.
Not much new stuff this past week. Still enjoying Drop Nineteens
Older stuff:
Yo La Tengo: Fade (picked it up on vinyl)
Hank Mobley: Soul Station
Tom Waits: Blue Valentine
Radiohead: I Might Be Wrong
The Minus 5: Down With Wilco (for my latest Substack piece)
'Fade' is one of my YLT faves! 'Ohm' is pop perfection.
Shazam find while running errands today: Incredible Bongo Band! One of those "what is this?" stopped in my tracks moments that I had to look up and I've stuck with them the rest of the day. Funky, breezy, a little bit cheesy. Distilled 70s. I've probably heard them on soundtracks, I've definitely heard them sampled. Can't believe I've never heard of them before, but I love that this still happens every now and then - no, after 50 years I still haven't heard everything!
I'm always surprised at how much I still haven't heard. It's kind of aweosme, isn't it?
The new Gaslight Anthem album, History Books, has unlocked for me. Listened to it at school this morning and will probably do the same again tomorrow...and probably again later in the week.
I haven't heard it yet. I'll have to check it out!
Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Van Morrison and Julian Lage are my favourite listeners this week. https://weatheredmusic.ca/2023/11/14/accentuate-the-positive/
Jimmie Dale Gilmore is a soooooo good. Funny how west Texas grows talented artists.
Soft Science are great as are most releases on the Spinout Nuggets label. Been listening to an old album by the Close Lobsters and the new album by John MCabe on the Subjangle label which should appeal to fans of R.E.M. and Love Tractor - https://johnmccabe.bandcamp.com/album/adorned
I was happy to see new singles from Foyer Red, Levitation Room, and TV Girl in my Release Radar. Also on Friday was the release of 1991, the second of two 2023 albums by Swedish psych-rockers Melody Fields, who have officially added shoegaze to their palette. Hypnotic and eccentric. I probably spent more time talking about music than listening over the weekend, as I made a video called "20 Live Albums That Are Fun To Have On Vinyl," and also recorded a conversation with two other gents for the Songs In The Attic Youtube channel on our favorite double albums. That hasn't come out yet, but the live vinyl one is here: https://youtu.be/VZawmgDIixU?si=3ta0DEQKS9CdgIKx. Oh, yeah, and on Friday I did another episode of Dennis Ball, talking about RSD Black Friday. That one is here: https://www.youtube.com/live/jv2Ac4yhnKw?si=s8MqKSl_Q1u9O8vB. It's Q4 and everything is happening at once...