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Jan 29, 2024
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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I like this one, and her cover of Smokey Robinson's 'More Love' might be better than the original.

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Jan 29, 2024
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Wallytbm's avatar

I have a copy of one of their early 7" singles which seems to sell for crazy money now -

https://www.discogs.com/release/1248597-The-Scientists-Frantic-Romantic-Shake-Together-Tonight

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Yana Bostongirl's avatar

Kool and the gang - Fresh

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

"Emergency" is a great record! Nice to see the band getting some love here.

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Jay Corcoran 8's avatar

Established - SovIet, Soviet, The Cure

Underground - Secret Rivals

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Matt Madurski's avatar

Been listening to a lot of Replacements lately, thanks to my ‘Stack getting close to the end of their run on the charts. Found myself diving headfirst into the super huge “Let It Bleed” edition of “Tim,” and it’s pretty rad.

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Glenn Cook's avatar

Indeed it is. One of the best reissues ever, IMO.

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Tony Fletcher's avatar

Hey Matt, Tim and The Replacements were the subject of the latest Crossed Channels podcast I do with my Substack writer friend Dan Epstein. It is here if you have time/inkling: https://tonyfletcher.substack.com/p/tim-the-replacements-hit-the-big

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thank you for the link, Tony!

For anyone scrolling the comments, Tony writes a fantastic Substack, as does Dan. You can find Tony's above, and Dan's at : https://danepstein.substack.com/

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Matt Madurski's avatar

Appreciate you posting this! I'll put it in my podcast queue. Looking forward to it!

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Matt Madurski's avatar

You hooked me enough with the preview to subscribe and listen to the whole thing. Can't just have a discussion about R.E.M. vs. Replacements and leave me hanging! 😂

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

It is incredible. I could prattle on & on about it. lol. Are you covering them anytime soon?

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Matt Madurski's avatar

I don't have any more #1 songs from them, and I don't think they chart again in the MRT chronology.

I do expect to write something about "Alex Chilton" sooner or later. I fell in love with that track writing about their first MRT #1, and it's now in regular rotation for me.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I'm always on the hunt for good instrumental music I can have going in the background while I'm writing (or reading something that requires more focus). I've found some goodies lately:

1. Beedle the Bardcore does Eminem (I think it's called Medieval Eminem)

2. Mr Moto by Agent Orange (just one song, but solid punk without lyrics)

3. XYZ from Rush

I think I mentioned the Paul Gilbert Dio Album. A++, for what it's worth.

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Dave Purcell's avatar

Andrew, a few of my favorites to write and work to include:

- Bill Frisell - Good Dog, Happy Man

- Pell Mell - Interstate (brilliant instrumental record that seems to have been forgotten)

- Anything by GoGo Penguin

YYZ is such a banger!

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Thanks so much, Dave! I'm always on the hunt and will check these out today. <3

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Wallytbm's avatar

I really like that Pell Mell album 👌👌

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Lara's avatar

Hooray! More Rush fans! We really are everywhere. :D

Leave That Thing Alone is my fave of their instrumental tracks, but YYZ is a close second! (Sorry to self-link, but I wrote about LTTA here if you've never heard it before: https://oneadayrush.substack.com/p/leave-that-thing-alone-studio-version )

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Boom! Added another one today. Thanks.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Link drops are always welcome in this thread!

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Wallytbm's avatar

Check out The Nutley Brass albums as they do instrumental tributes to The Ramones, The Misfits and lots more. Also the 2 Sand albums on Creation by Edward Ball and Dick Green are worth searching out.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

YES! Thanks for this.

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Tony Fletcher's avatar

Flow State provides thrice weekly instrumental music to work by. They are here on Substack, I was subscribing for years before I really knew what Substack was. (For real.)

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Thanks! Could you do me a big favor and drop their link here?

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

https://www.flowstate.fm/

And here's a FlowState guest post by our friend Matt aka Fogchaser (another fave Substack well worth your time!):

https://www.flowstate.fm/p/flow-state-episode-201?r=3cbf2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Thanks, Kevin!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Just want to add that Agent Orange & Rush on the same playlist is my kinda mix!

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Marc Carrasco's avatar

I’ve just updated my playlist Reflect & Relax Cafe with some gems that you may like:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6EcLhgESeOBX3Fvfxt8SH4?si=4wRcZdIoR4qPZXuQeUs49w&pi=e-8KRSA2FwR36a

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Just in time for a couple of 'big' writing days for me. Thank you!

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Jack Roscoe's avatar

Lots of Lou Reed as I’m reading ‘Notes from the Velvet Underground’, also Roy Harper, Tom Waits, the new album by Dave Hause and a UK-based singer called Matt Deighton whose been forging very much his own furrow for a couple of decades - a documentary on him is worthwhile tracking down: http://www.mattdeightonmovie.com/

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Dave Hause is a new one for me; I'll check that out here shortly.

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Scott Michael Winchell's avatar

The Smile, ‘Wall Of Eyes’ is fantastic. That mix is coming at you from all over the place. Speaking of mixes, U2’s ‘Acthung Baby’ is out in Dolby Atmos, and sounds fabulous. Reminds me of the Sphere show we witnessed. New Dad, ‘Madra’: 👍👍👍!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I've been waiting for Madra! Look for a write up/review/feature on the LP soon.

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Bryan Padrick's avatar

My 17 y/o daughter just turned me onto Jungle (the group, not the genre). It's extraordinary - eclectic as hell. I kept asking her if this was the same band ... Worth a listen.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Yes! Almost impossible to not move while listening to 'em, either.

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Andres's avatar

Happy Monday(s)! Some of my go-to sellers on Discogs had January sales on, so been spinning my latest vinyl additions: Ray Charles, Teddy Pendergrass, Eurythmics, Tina Turner, Janet Jackson, Donny Hathaway, Curtis Harding, and more 🤩

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jeleonard193's avatar

I should spend more time listening to Ray Charles. We all should.

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Andres's avatar

Right?!

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Troy Olney's avatar

I will argue to my grave that Ray Charles is the greatest singer of all time.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Hard to argue against that.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Indeed!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

It's always the right time for Donny Hathaway! Which Tina Turner record(s) did you grab?

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Andres's avatar

It always is! Private Dancer (which I still didn’t have!) and Break Every Rule

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Nigel Poore's avatar

I'm trying this year to expand my musical horizons. It's not really a push, more of a nudge but I'm tip-toeing my way into southern rock, country rock, americana and similar. Although released last year I'm currently enjoying Israel Nash, Dylan Leblanc and Duane Betts.

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Marcus Meeks's avatar

If I could be so bold as to recommend an entry point for southern rock/Americana, Drive-By Trucker’s The Dirty South is a great place to start.

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Nigel Poore's avatar

I'll give it a go. Cheers 👍🏻

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I'll second that. It's a great on ramp to the genre/sound.

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Mark Nash's avatar

That Dylan LeBlanc album was amazing. I suggest giving Will Johnson's 'No Ordinary Crown' from last year a listen, it's also fantastic.

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Nigel Poore's avatar

Excellent, thanks Mark. Another one for the audition pile 👍🏻

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Troy Olney's avatar

Yeah, all of Will's solo records are really good. Seeing him this Sunday with full band. Can't wait.

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jeleonard193's avatar

Not sure if it is classified as Americana, but James McMurtry is a great songwriter. Start with the "Childish Things" album

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Nigel Poore's avatar

I'm not too worried about specific genre, as I try new stuff so I'll certainly give it a try. Thanks 👍🏻

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I'm stretching the definitions a little here, but I'd also suggest Wussy's 'Funeral Dress'

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Nigel Poore's avatar

Added to the list. Thanks, Kevin.

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Dave Purcell's avatar

Last week was all about:

- Floodlights - Painting of My Time, thanks to Kevin's playlist last week. Shades of Midnight Oil and Tragically Hip, and recorded live to tape in three days. Old school!

- New ones from The Smile and Sleater-Kinney (better than I expected on first listen, as I'm not a fan of the post-Janet records).

- The two new Pillow Queens singles. They seem to be going in a different direction, away from what I loved about their debut, but both songs are solid.

Have a great week, everyone. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is listening to.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I think I mentioned it on Notes, but I haven't had a chance to really dive into Sleater-Kinney's new one yet. Hoping to change that ASAP.

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Dusty Wright's avatar

I'm listening to my friend's band 15-60-75 aka The Numbers Band. So much incredible music. Chrissie Hynde's brother plays sax. 54 years together. Wrote about them yesterday: https://open.substack.com/pub/dustywright/p/numbers-that-add-up?r=36i7l&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcome=true

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Dave Purcell's avatar

Nice to see a Numbers Band mention! I used to be a prof at KSU and saw them several times in our years there. Ended up hanging out in Kent with Terry and his wife seeing bands one night, was lots of fun.

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Shaggy Snodgrass's avatar

I just saw them again, a couple months ago, for the first time in 25 years. They were in my neighborhood, at one of my off-gig hangouts. I got to carry Bob Kidney's Roland Stereo Chorus Amp to his car, and compliment him on his rare-bird Gibson Victory guitar.

It was an honor to be able to do both.

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Dusty Wright's avatar

That’s awesome. I spoke to Bob on phone last night Said he liked my article. Promised to send me some rare recordings. Cheers.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thanks for the link. I have to say I loved reading this subthread with you, Dave, & Shaggy & the common ground you share with this band (and Ohio).

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Dusty Wright's avatar

I think it’s fantastic that we can share music with each other on Substack. I find it daunting to sift through the great new music, but so appreciate writers furthering discussion and debate about new music, old music and rare music. Keep up the grand work.

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Senor Fix's avatar

2024 is out of the gate strong with some excellent new albums that tickled my ears all week.

* The Caraway's new album 'Our Brilliant Weekend'

* Bingo Trappers new album 'Karaoke Parkman Blues'

* Liam Gallagher & John Squire - 'Mars to Liverpool's single

* Exsanguinated Roommate's new album 'Lurking'

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

These are all new to me. I'm on it!

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jasonelambeth's avatar

I was turned onto new album by the band Capsuna. I listened to it like three or four times yesterday.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

...and I wound up listening to it 2-3x after seeing this. What a great record! Thank you for getting it on my radar!

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jasonelambeth's avatar

Happy to spread the word!!

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3Albums6OldGuys's avatar

Have the song "literary mind" from SPRINTS on repeat -- feels like an answer musically and lyrically to "boys in the better land" https://3albums6oldguys.substack.com/p/words-and-guitar-2024-sprints-sleater

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3Albums6OldGuys's avatar

And in the world of power/jangle pop, really enjoying the new release from SF's The Umbrellas -- https://theumbrellasca.bandcamp.com/album/fairweather-friend

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Pete Riddle's avatar

I've already listened to Fairweather Friend several times since it came out on Friday. It's such a (positive) big leap from their debut!

It's not even February, and I'm reserving spots on my AOTY list for this and Letter to Self by SPRINTS.

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Wallytbm's avatar

I've only heard a few songs so far but loving what I've heard so will be buying the album

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Fairweather Friend is incredible!

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Glenn Cook's avatar

I photographed the Grace Potter-Brittney Spencer show on Saturday, so I've spent a lot of time before and since listening to them. Spencer, who just released her first full-length, is a real find, and I really enjoy Potter's work and restless genre hopping, both from her time with the Nocturnals and as a solo act.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Right on! Will you be posting a photo essay from the show?

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Andy's avatar

Preppin a best of January 2024 right now and just put out my albums of the week: warmpathways.substack.com

1. Tesla - The Great Radio Controversy

2. The Smile - Wall of Eyes

3. Hugh Masekela - Home is Where the Music Is

Starting my slow dive into the Supertramp discography as well.

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Justin Steiner's avatar

I haven't listened to The Great Radio Controversy in forever...does it hold up?

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Nice! Always happy to see The Smile get some love.

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Tony Fletcher's avatar

A New Year's resolution (to the extent I have them) is to make sure i hear more new music as it happens this year, so I am grateful for so many of these tips. I have still been catching up on Peter Gabriel's excellent i/o, and on the list of albums from 2023 put out by the Curmudgeon Rock Report over here, only a couple of which I knew beforehand: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0LbgapEP1AgxCXnnVW5tgI?si=5647af52965f452c Kicking off this year, I've been enjoying Kevin's playlists, am super impressed by the two songs from Liam Gallagher and JOhn Squire - one of those "doh! why didn't they get together 20 years ago?" collabs - and am hopeful that new albums by IDLES and Elbow will raise their bars higher. Lots of great American powerpop that I am still wading through as well. Cheers.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I'm glad you've been enjoying them! 2024 is sure off to a strong start for powerpop, isn't it?

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Lara's avatar

This weekend I spent a lot of time listening to Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy, the debut album of the one (ish) hit wonders The Refreshments. That band's of the great could-have-been stories of the mid-90s, imo.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I would agree with that. A lot of stuff from that era is kind of an amorphic blob, but "Banditos" was great. I think it's telling that "Yeah, that seems faaaaaair!" popped into my head while reading this.

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Jeremy Shatan's avatar

Finishing up my latest Best Of 2023 had me sharpening my focus on jazz, Latin, etc. - read more here: https://anearful.substack.com/p/best-of-2023-jazz-latin-and-global. But Friday also had some killers: Astrid Sonne, The Smile, Finnogun's Wake, and Or Best Offer released strong albums or EPs, and the soundtrack to something called Flux Gourmet was a wild ride - features Nurse With Wound, etc.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Sounds right up my alley!

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Billy Cuthrell's avatar

Excellent playlist. Will Cashion, bass player for Future Islands, is a friend of mine (his parents are my neighbors).

- My car XM has been on Rock Bar all weekend. I don't know why....

- On my turntable in my office I'm spinning a couple of albums I picked up in the $.25 bin at Goodwill. Currently it's Country and Western Hit Parade featuring Slim Boyd and His Range Riders playing "She's So Sweet", "Oblivion" and "One Is A Lonely Number" followed up by The Blues Brothers "Made in America". Was there ever a better backing band?

- Spotify is a mixed bag with Billy Preston, the funk and soul of New Orleans greats Chocolate Milk and Seablite, which I discovered from this newsletter (Thanks Kevin).

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I love it! I was on vacation this past week, and for some reason Future Islands popped into my head, and never really left. Not just the new record, but 'Singles" too. And a podcast with Sam Herring.

And I'm really happy you're digging Seablite! One of my favorite finds from this past fall.

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Billy Cuthrell's avatar

Future Islands is a great band. They went to college at ECU, about an hour from me, and where I went to school, too. Fast forward about 10 years and I'm talking to Hugh Cashion (William's dad) and he mentioned to me his son loved in Maryland at the time and was in a band. I didn't think much of it and then Hugh asked me if I wanted to go see William play one night at a festival downtown. When we got there it wasn't a small festival by any means. That's when I put the last names together and figured it out. Seablite's cool. Listening to them a lot lately.

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Bob Tooker's avatar

A quiet weekend sorting through books and in general cleaning up what we need and what we don't need. Listen to some Cat Stevens, Sniff n Tears, Piper, and Todd Rungdren.

Hope you enjoyed the sun.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thank you! It was amazing. And came home to a "heat wave" of temps in the low 30s. lol.

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Marcus Meeks's avatar

Newish:

Wednesday - live show last week that I wrote about on my ‘Stack

The Bad Plus - The Bad Plus

The Smile - Wall of Eyes

Old:

Aretha Franklin - Spirit in the Dark (underrated IMHO)

Peter Tosh - Equal Rights

Some not-too-smooth CTI jazz - Jim Hall & Ron Carter releases

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

This is a killer six-pack. The Smile seems to be getting a lot of love from the community this week.

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Operation Plowshare's avatar

Wall of Eyes should be renamed Surrounded by Earworms.

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Mark Nash's avatar

Finally getting some new 2024 releases in my ears with a great batch released on Friday. Here's today's listening in order of preference, albeit based only on one listen of each album:

MADRA - NewDad

What an enormous room - TORRES

People Who Aren't There Anymore - Future Islands

Blue Raspberry - Katy Kirby

Wall of Eyes - The Smile

Outside of that I spent much of the weekend continuing to build out the playlists for future installments of my weekly Alphabet Soup series. It's been a lot of fun digging into tunes from my old CD collection, mostly releases from the early 90s through the early 20-teens.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Madra was worth the wait, IMO! I also really enjoyed the new Future islands. I haven't listened to 'Blue Raspberry,' but have seen it popping up all over the place, which I'm taking as a sign that I need to get on it.

Please make sure to share 'C' in your series here when it drops.

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Mark Nash's avatar

MADRA is indeed worth the wait, I’m loving it! The new TORRES and Future Islands albums are also great though not as good as the NewDad which is fantastic. So far Blue Raspberry is only alright for me but I’m only a few listens in so that may change. The ‘C’ artists post is out tomorrow morning, will post it here too.

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Mark Nash's avatar

Hey Kevin, the Week 5 installment of Alphabet Soup just dropped! Here's the link, I hope you enjoy it! https://open.substack.com/pub/joyinthejourney/p/alphabet-soup-week-05-artists-filed

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Right on!

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Nick Lewis's avatar

I went crate digging on Saturday, found a fantastic pop-up shop at a local arts and cinema venue in Reading, here in the uk. The guy had his decks set up and playing various records with a big collection for sale. I purchased a recordfor £7 an absolute bargain. It’s an Italian recording featuring Art Blakey amongst many other artists and there were 100 in the collection, not that this chap had all of them but I could probably find them if I looked. I’ll do a write up when I get the time.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

If you do write it up, please share it here with everyone!

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Wallytbm's avatar

I quite like covers as you may have guessed with all the tributes we have releases and here is a tribute I discovered recently, this one is a tribute to a record label Creation Records -

https://craftingroomrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/a-tribute-to-creation-records

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Sam Colt's avatar

About to listen to the new Smile album. Will report back on how dope it is.

(No, Kevin, this is not the time for your Thom Yorke/Radiohead slander...)

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Lol. Okay, okay.

And yes, please report back on what you thought of it.

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jeleonard193's avatar

Added two Liked Songs in Spotify:

People Who Died by The Jim Carroll Band - This was a staple of my fifth year of undergraduate studies.

Diana by The Charlie Kulis Band - A terrific power pop banger from an unlikely source. I am not sure what these guys are up to, but this song has me VERY EXCITED.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

"People Who Died' is a classic!

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Norman's avatar

The Bahama Soul Club, Todd Rundgren- Something/Anything

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Steve Goldberg's avatar

Listening to a lot of sludgy rock thanks to last week’s Tune Tag and the mention of Fu Manchu. Then Missed Listens recent piece on The Melvins got me playing them along with sunn O)))).

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Oh man; I haven't listened to The Melvins in forever!

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Jim Ruland's avatar

La Santa Cecilia

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

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

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Shaggy Snodgrass's avatar

Dug into Cleveland band LILIEAE's new EP, "Pretend & Dare"; they're slowly transitioning out of pop-punk and towards a more "post-punk" sound; and it's a developmental step forward.

https://youtu.be/l9w6rt6fgMY?si=r0TRySkK6UhuJZ0m

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

This rips!

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Shaggy Snodgrass's avatar

They're very, very good; and made a significant step forward with this EP.

They just need more people to know they exist, and rip.

Thanks for checking it out!

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kerensa woodward's avatar

i'm always loving marika hackman's new work 'Big Sigh', a masterclass in songwriting and gentle vocals

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Oh, that sounds perfect for today! I'll check it out here shortly.

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Paul Boardman's avatar

First couple of Ben Folds Five albums.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Right on. There was a time in my life when "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner" never really left my car's stereo.

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Paul Boardman's avatar

He’s a genius. That covers album is awesome.

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Stygi's avatar

fresh release from Justice x Tame Impala - "One Night/All Night" ✞🫀⚡️

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I'll have to check it out!

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Lost Soul's avatar

Decided to make more time this year to go back through my collection... last week I pulled out these... and wasn’t disappointed 😁

-Mike Oldfield - Discovery

-Chris De Burgh - Spanish Train and Other Stories

-Nik Kershaw - Human Racing

-Larry Norman - Only Visiting This Planet

-Status Quo - Hello

On a slightly different but related note, I watched ‘The Greatest Night In Pop’ on Netflix last night... would recommend it 👍🏼

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