tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-268904602024-03-17T11:21:10.710-04:00joy of speedspacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.comBlogger418125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-57440531303703713782024-02-26T23:46:00.004-05:002024-03-04T19:44:58.150-05:00The Stylistics - Sing Baby Sing<p>On <a href="https://totparchive.co.uk/episode.php?id=588">May 22, 1975</a>, I was definitely glued to TV. It was a Thursday night and <i>Top of the Pops</i> was on British TV. I was an impressionable nine-year old, but every single (well, almost every single) act on the show was something that made a deep impression on me. Slade's not-so-well-known but utterly brilliant four-on-the-floor rock "Thanks for the Memory" was followed by "Send in the Clowns," a late period classic from Judy Collins that I am sure perplexed me with its inscrutable lyrics. Then there was Desmond Decker's proto-reggae classic "Israelites" which, originally recorded and released in 1968, was a "re-release," a notion that was just as applicable to the final song on the show that night, Tammy Wynette's beautiful "Stand By Your Man," also originally from 1968, but a hit in 1975 again.</p><p>But let's face it, the star of the show was "Sing Baby Sing" by the Stylistics, the Philly soul troupe that went from strength to strength in the seventies with a slew of beautifully crafted falsetto gems. Their zenith in my mind was "Sing Baby Sing" which infused a touch of grandeur to their soul, the cadence of the chorus lifting it to the level of angels harmonizing in some heavenly stage. That feeling always stayed with me.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TtTgtkDLNys" width="320" youtube-src-id="TtTgtkDLNys"></iframe></div><br />spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-44443788722328085082024-02-12T22:44:00.008-05:002024-02-12T22:47:34.430-05:00Stop the Genocide<p>This song, "There Will Be No Morning Copy" by the long ago band <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clann_Z%C3%BA">Clann Zú</a>, an Australian-Irish band is one of the few that takes a direct and honest look at Palestinian liberation. The band existed only for a short time, from 1999 to 2005 but were incendiary in the right ways, speaking truth to power. Their second and last album, <i>Black Coats & Bandages</i> (2004) was a broadside against imperialism, war, and organized religion. Turn this up real loud:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s3hmF4RC4Ok" width="320" youtube-src-id="s3hmF4RC4Ok"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p><i style="color: white;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">Your borders are bloody mirages that expand and contract
at the will of the blade drawn across the back of a people in shadow.</span></span></i></p><p><i style="color: white;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">We are on the ropes. </span></span></i></p><p><i style="color: white;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">Tasting the blood in our mouths, mixing with what little hope we have left as it slides down our throats constricted by hands of avarice, soft media, oxymorons and military might. </span></span></i></p><p><i style="color: white;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">How long must we live in the shadow of your wall that divides our lives, our loves and our hopes? </span></span></i></p><p><i style="color: white;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">How long must we live in the daily fear of returning home to find it gone? </span></span></i></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400;"><i><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">We are refugees in our own land, waiting in hope for the day when we can walk our own streets</span></span></i></span><i style="color: white;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">. </span></span></i></p><p><span style="color: #ffa400;"><i><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">Just because you have the biggest gun doesn't mean your war i</span></span></i></span><i style="color: white;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">s won</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">. </span></span></i></p><p><i style="color: #ffa400;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">Just because you take our homes doesn't mean our hope is gone</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">. </span></span></i></p><p><i style="color: white;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">Just because you claim your cause as just doesn't mean that you're still not wrong. </span></span></i></p><p><i style="color: white;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">Just because you build a wall doesn't mean it will last that long. </span></span></i></p><p><i style="color: #ffa400;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color">A bullet flies through the head of another ten-year-old boy who held a rock in his hand against a thirty-ton tank in his people's land.</span></span></i></p>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-72146764451768755752024-02-11T23:58:00.000-05:002024-02-12T00:01:59.914-05:00Happy Birthday (II)<p>One last song for the birthday -- "Junk" originally released on <i>McCartney</i> (1970). My mother's older brother, who we called Boro Mamu, lived downstairs to us in our flat in Lalmatia in Dhaka in the late '70s and early '80s. He owned a copy of <i>McCartney</i> but for some reason, side one of the album was totally damaged and unlistenable so when I borrowed the album, I could only listen to side two, which included an instrumental version of the track which was called "Singalong Junk." For like decades I had no idea that there was a version of the track with actual words called "Junk," because it was on side one which I never heard until like the '90s or something.</p><p>Anyway, here is the instrumental version:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hiwzH4C4CzM" width="320" youtube-src-id="hiwzH4C4CzM"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>Here is the version with words, just called "Junk":</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uAQHhWbImyY" width="320" youtube-src-id="uAQHhWbImyY"></iframe></div><p><br />And here is the version from the Beatle days (1968) when McCartney demoed the track for possible inclusion on <i>The White Album</i>:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xgbJKtcgpQk" width="320" youtube-src-id="xgbJKtcgpQk"></iframe></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-79070931254850847282024-02-11T23:24:00.006-05:002024-02-11T23:26:03.311-05:00Happy Birthday<p>It is my birthday today so I thought I would post a song or two. Recently, I've bought a lot of vinyl, just kind of splurged. Today I got (in the mail) the new vinyl remaster of <span style="color: #ffa400;">Television</span>'s <i>Marquee Moon</i>. Now, normally, I don't really care for remastering old albums -- these are mostly just scams, but word on the street was that this was a significant upgrade of the musty old warhorse. So I just succumbed and bought it from Rhino. It was <a href="https://store.rhino.com/en/rhino-store/artists/television/marquee-moon-rhino-high-fidelity/081227818586.html">super pricey</a>. But I will tell you that it was well worth it. Yes, what more could you possibly wring out of this record? And how many more times can you hear it to discern some deeper truth about life? Anyway, it's a fucking monumental piece of sound that never gets old.</p><p>I will, however, not post a song from <i>Marquee Moon</i> -- just go listen to it yourself. But I will post a live version of the opening track from their highly-underrated and completely forgotten self-titled album from 1992, a song called "1880 or so." Both Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd produce serrated, distended, and orchestral solos, which they drop from like warp-speed torpedoes that zone out and into the cosmic ether. Close your eyes and prepare yourself:<br /></p><p>Happy Birthday to me:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lrl7O-gyHJs" width="320" youtube-src-id="Lrl7O-gyHJs"></iframe></div><p><br /></p><p>And in the spirit of the crime of time, here are the <span style="color: #ffa400;">Rolling Stones</span> with the classic (and also forgotten) "Time Waits for No One" from the album <i>It's Only Rock 'n' Roll</i> (1974) in which Mick Taylor crafts a beautiful solo, the aural equivalent of unraveling a beautiful tapestry, string by string as it falls apart in front of you. I have a memory of this from the fall of 1984, perhaps lying in my bed, dreaming of better things.<br /></p><p>Happy Birthday to me:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U7jQKk9bkHg" width="320" youtube-src-id="U7jQKk9bkHg"></iframe></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-85829674705436621402024-02-11T16:21:00.009-05:002024-02-11T16:26:09.224-05:00Damo Suzuki (1950-2024)<p>Damo Suzuki has passed away. A giant in the field of ... well, modern music, but hardly known to most, Suzuki was the vocalist (or, more precisely, <i>contributed</i> vocals, because Can didn't really have a 'vocalist') of the krautrock band, <b><span style="color: #fcff01;">Can</span></b>, during what I consider the absolute zenith of Can, the early 1970s. His articulations grace three 'proper' Can albums, <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Tago Mago</span></i> (1971), <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Eye Bamyasi</span></i> (1972), and <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Future Days</span></i> (1973) plus he's also on a soundtrack album, <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Soundtracks</span></i> (1970) which collects some loose ends.</p><p>I came to Can rather late, sometime in the early '90s when I picked up a compilation album <i><a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/150152-Various-The-Tyranny-Of-The-Beat-Original-Soundtracks-From-The-Grey-Area">Tyranny of the Beat: Original Soundtracks from the Grey Area</a></i> (1991) issued by Mute records that collects experimental progenitor tracks from the early days of electronic music, including works by Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Einstürzende Neubaten, Wire, Swell Maps, Loop, Fad Gadget, etc.</p><p>One of the tracks ("Oh Yeah") was by Can and it completely blew my mind. The song appears to start with the sound of a distant explosion, perhaps a bomb set off in a few miles away, and then goes into a hypnotizing metronomic percussive sound. When I first heard it, I just assumed it was some kind of electronic drum machine sequencer, but as you enter the second minute of it, as the sound becomes louder and more legible, your brain adjusts and you realize, no, it's actually a real drum set played by a real human being (Jaki Liebezeit, one of the greatest rock drummers, bar none). That adjustment in my brain really threw me for a loop. But the real reward is Damo's nonsensical yelps and outbursts, wordless, or maybe not, punctuating the song, giving it an emotional feel, sometimes mysterious, sometimes playful and sometimes both.</p><p>Later, I picked up <i>Tago Mago</i> (1971), the album on which "Oh Yeah" was taken from, and like probably many other young people listening to Can for the first time, it was a revelation. The minimalist machine-like discipline in their beat-making was as mesmerizing as it was unlike anything I'd heard before. I can see why, for some, Can could be an endurance test, but what I found, especially in Damo's vocals was, again, a playfulness and whimsy which seemed to undercut all the serious we-are-here-to-transport-you ethic that the other musicians in the band brought to bear.</p><p>It may be heresy to say so, but the most likely contemporary of Damo's was probably Yoko Ono, another worlds-breaking Japanese artist who, also during this very period. was experimenting with her vocals on some incredibly trancelike albums alluding to the cosmos, including <i>Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band</i> (1970), <i>Fly</i> (1971), and <i>Approximately Infinite Universe</i> (1973). One wonders if their worlds ever collided.<br /></p><p>Can and Can-adjacent people have a long discography, and it can be bewildering to know where to enter, but those three albums are perfect entry points. Or you could do worse with <i>The Singles</i> (2017) which collects all the high points from 1969 to 1979, even though the band were not known for their chart action.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2dZbAFmnRVA" width="320" youtube-src-id="2dZbAFmnRVA"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/npDdOF98MMc" width="320" youtube-src-id="npDdOF98MMc"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qKpCKBfazX8" width="320" youtube-src-id="qKpCKBfazX8"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m5AZ0Jq0hNw" width="320" youtube-src-id="m5AZ0Jq0hNw"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EVi-UTF9PL4" width="320" youtube-src-id="EVi-UTF9PL4"></iframe></div><p></p><p>I would be remiss not to mention one of my favorite Can-infuenced tracks, by <span style="color: red;">Flaming Lips</span><span style="color: red;"> </span>from their brilliant album <i>In a Priest-Driven Ambulance</i> (1990) which includes a song "Take Meta Mars" which was their attempt to copy the Tago Mago track "Mushroom." What they came up with was completely different and rather brilliant:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3UOMo-67U5A" width="320" youtube-src-id="3UOMo-67U5A"></iframe></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-78874260120203397862024-01-11T10:18:00.003-05:002024-01-11T10:18:42.075-05:00Lankum - Go Dig My Grave<p>Lankum are four people from Dublin who have been around for a while, almost 20 years I think. They seem to have honed their sound to a perfection in the past few albums, especially 2019's <i>The Livelong Day</i>, taking English folk songs from the 16th and 17th centuries (such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Rover">"The Wild Rover"</a>) and completely rethinking them as, I don't know, done by Swans or something like that. Intense stuff.<br /></p><p>Their new album, <i>False Lankum</i> (2023) is not quite as brilliant as the last one, but it <i>is</i> really good if you're in the zone for that kind of thing. The instrumentation is really original, crystal clear, the vibe is ominous and they are not here to fuck around, evoking that perfect moment when you cut yourself really bad, and you see the blood, all beautiful and glinting in the sun while the actual gash on your arm is screaming in pain. And it's the year 1534 so there are no antibiotics.<br /></p><p>"Go Dig My Grave" is the opening number of <i>False Lankum</i>, a motley combination of various English and old American ballads, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Butcher%27s_Boy_(folk_song)">"The Butcher's Boy"</a> which has been variously done by Elvis Costello and Sinéad O'Connor and Joan Baez.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qhqpQiXnFx0" width="320" youtube-src-id="qhqpQiXnFx0"></iframe></div><br />spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-87464971614961444832024-01-04T22:00:00.005-05:002024-01-04T22:01:35.667-05:00Beck - Colors<p>Speaking of Beck (or, I guess 'speaking Beck'), here's a RECENT song by Beck. I realize Beck has been naff since 1997 but I may be the only person on Earth who finds some of his recent party records quite fruit-juicy fun. Don't tell anyone but I really liked his last album <i><span style="color: red;">Hyperspace</span></i> (2019) which literally three people heard, all of them scientology heads. But more to the point, I really liked <i><span style="color: red;">Colors</span></i> (2017), especially the title track, which proves that <span style="color: #ffa400;">dance-party Beck is way better than NPR-liberal-Starbucks-sad-sack Beck</span>. How many Gen-Xers made good dance pop? One, Beck. Put on your dance shoes.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WRCA_Fo0rWA" width="320" youtube-src-id="WRCA_Fo0rWA"></iframe></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-73957096903159944832024-01-03T23:33:00.008-05:002024-01-03T23:35:27.901-05:00Dua Lipa - Dance the Night<p>Disco circa 1976-77 has come back to haunt us in <span style="color: red;">Dua Lipa</span>'s spectacular contribution to the <i>Barbie</i> (2023) movie soundtrack. Yes, it sounds like something that sounds like something that might have been <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC_kCnm3GYQ">Silver Convention</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ_QUh0lmj4">Andrea True Connection</a>, or even a 1997-era Beck track lost to a compilation.</p><p>Written by Dua Lipa (the best thing to come out of Albania this side of <i><a href="https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hoxha/works/imp_rev/toc.htm">Imperialism and the Revolution</a></i> by Enver Hoxha) and Caroline Ailin, the Norwegian pop-song-writing svengali based in London, this is literally the best jam of 2023. (See Ailin's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Ailin">songwriting credits</a> and weep).<br /></p><p>Can you not dance?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OiC1rgCPmUQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="OiC1rgCPmUQ"></iframe></div><br />spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-49679281903766269512024-01-02T23:42:00.003-05:002024-01-10T13:23:57.365-05:00Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood - The NumbersSo here's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood doing a live version of "The Numbers" in the back yard of the home of filmmaker <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Thomas_Anderson">Paul Thomas Anderson</a>, a home which is in the city of Tarzana (yes, that's a real place), California. Tarzana is a kind of narcotically bourgeois suburb way past the Getty Museum, north of Topanga State Park, in northern Los Angeles. Apparently, Paul Thomas Anderson lives there because why not. (Apparently <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzana,_Los_Angeles" target="_blank">lots of famous people</a> live there).<br /><p>The song "The Numbers" was originally a slightly unremarkable track from <a href="https://radiohead.bandcamp.com/album/a-moon-shaped-pool" target="_blank"><i>A Moon Shaped Pool</i> </a>(2016), the last album released by Radiohead. With the help of a beatbox (a late 1970s vintage Roland CR-78 drum machine), Thom and Jonny transform what was a bit of ho-hum into a truly striking piece of guitar pop. Brilliant.<br /></p><p>They recorded this on August 3, 2016. The video itself was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.</p><p>Anyway, this is the opening theme to 2024.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ti6qhk3tX2s" width="320" youtube-src-id="Ti6qhk3tX2s"></iframe></div><br /><br /><p></p>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-82785746652389355862024-01-01T21:43:00.003-05:002024-01-01T21:43:28.462-05:00What a beautiful world this will be<p>Worth starting the year on a pivot of hope.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rOQUzrhTBgw" width="320" youtube-src-id="rOQUzrhTBgw"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-25752045137157450172023-12-31T13:31:00.023-05:002024-03-04T19:44:17.899-05:00Year-End Lists<p>The year is winding out. I read these top albums lists and barely know any of the acts mentioned. Nor do I care that much. Band names are always two words, like 'shoe store' or 'make believe' or 'under water' or worse, wet leg, or dry cleaning, or japanese breakfast, or something that. The moment you've heard it, you've already forgotten. Names of hip hop artists are even more difficult to remember. Even the ones I like. There's always a small letter and an oddly-placed period and clearly wrong spelling and hey let's put a dash in the name too. And people making music are either too fucking old and should be in bed, or just basically Jack Antonoff who somehow is famous and rich despite being exactly as talented as a lesser Eagle (maybe Don Felder?). And how many times can one say "Well, I really respect Taylor Swift for her business acumen and her performing talents but I don't get her music" before you are arrested for behaving like an old man yelling at a cloud? Also, Andre 3000 released <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2023/11/18/andre-3000-new-blue-sun-review/">a record of flute music</a> so whatever.</p><p>So with that out of the way, here's some shit. </p><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">Music</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Honestly,
I can't remember listening to more than a handful of albums that
actually came out this year. But the ones that I liked include:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Love in Exile</span>: </i>This was surprisingly durable in my imagination in that I expected to forget it once I heard it once, but it was also, um, quite inspired for being essentially soundtrack music, and I think a lot of that has to do with Vijay Iyer who is not one to journey into muzak. I've already <a href="http://joyofspeed.blogspot.com/2023/11/haseen-thi.html">written about</a> it but it's definitely at the top end of my favorite albums of the year.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Clark</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Sus Dog</span>: </i>I've also written about this, which scratches my itch for mainstream electronic music. I've loved <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_(musician)">Clark</a> since his self-titled album was one of <a href="https://joyofspeed.blogspot.com/2014/12/favorite-albums-of-2014-part-i.html">my favorite albums from 2014</a>. Here, he sings (!), which may or may not be your cup of tea. Just noticed that Bleep picked it as one of its <a href="https://bleep.com/top-10-albums-of-the-year-2023">top 10 albums</a> of the year.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Katie Gately</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Fawn/Brute</span>: </i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/mar/31/katie-gately-fawnbrute-review-beguilingly-disordered-pop">One reviewer</a> says it's "beguilingly disordered pop," and yeah, it is at times chaotic, especially from someone who supposedly likes Billy Joel (cough), but LA-based Katie Gately's music is definitely an acquired listen, it's not 'easy' music -- YET repeated listens rewards as you enter her world and submerge yourself.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Lankum</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">False Lankum</span></i>: I write about Lankum <a href="http://joyofspeed.blogspot.com/2024/01/lankum-go-dig-my-grave.html">here</a> but honestly I'll say it again, if Michael Gira suddenly got interested in 16th Irish folk parables, this might be it.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Chris Mars</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">The Average Album</span></i>: I am pretty sure I am one of five people who actually heard this album. Even Wikipedia doesn't list it, but this is artist (and former Replacements drummer) Chris Mars' sixth solo album, released only <a href="https://www.chrismarspublishing.com/store/p28/The_Average_Album_%28WAV_files_for_increased_fidelity._Includes_2_Bonus_Tracks%29.html">his website</a>. Basic 70s-era guitar-pop, a little bit like the Kinks, this will scratch your itch for meat-and-potatoes rock'n'roll with a twist.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Janelle Monáe</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">The Age of Pleasure</span></i>: The fourth album from her, it has a bit of Afrobeat (it features Fela Kuti's son, Seun Kuti on it) and reggae overtones, but it's still distinctly a Janelle Monáe record: R&B pop for the charts which doesn't shy away from studio experimentation and genre mixing.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Olivia Rodrigo</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Guts</span></i>: If you like '90s girl band rock, you will like this, an album you can hear from beginning to end without getting bored. Surprisingly hilarious and sharp lyrics.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Skinshape</span> -<i> <span style="color: #ffa400;">Craterellus Tubaeformis</span></i>:<i> </i>Not much to say about Skinshape that I haven't already <a href="https://joyofspeed.blogspot.com/2023/11/skinshape.html">said before</a>, but I think here William Dorey takes his music into a vibe that I can confidently say is like early Traffic-- think of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_(Traffic_album)">fabulous second album</a> from Traffic from 1968 with Steve Winwood and Dave Mason vying to produce the perfect pastoral pop. This album by Skinshape is just so so so good.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Slowdive</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Everything Is Alive</span></i>: A rare band who have been producing fantastic music during the reunion / reformation era. (I would include Mission of Burma and Dinosaur Jr in that category, Pixies not so much). They still sound dreamy as ever but I actually think the hooks are possibly as good (or even better) than they ever were. The first track <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhQht-YK8rw">"alife"</a> is just the loveliest dream-pop entry into their canon.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Sparklehorse</span><i> - <span style="color: #ffa400;">Bird Machine</span></i>: OK, I'm not sure what to say about this because the death of Mark Linkous still chokes me up. But yeah, his family (I think?) scraped up his last set of tracks which were apparently meant for an album before he killed himself in 2010. I think they also souped some of it up, added instrumentation, and/or vocals. And this is what we have. I have mixed feelings about it all, but as a snapshot of "what-might-have-been" it's still great to hear 'new' Sparklehorse.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Yves Tumor</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume</span></i>: Incredibly eclectic and able to navigate across multiple genres--rock, pop, glam, electronic music, soul, and R&B--this is a beautiful pop record. Check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsOi9znJmEo">"Heaven Surrounds Us Like a Hood"</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxk-QeZ6Rus">"Echolalia."</a><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Yo La Tengo</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">This Stupid World</span></i>: What can you say about Yo La Tengo that hasn't already been said before? Record Collection Rock. Dependable. Noisy. Quiet. Hanukah. For a taste of this awesome record, check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV4R0T64RF0">their live set on KEXP</a>. Also the absolutely cool-as-fuck song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmA_d2DM57U">"Fallout"</a> from the new album.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Compilations</b><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Various Artists</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Barbie the Album</span>: </i>Besides the most awesome "Dance the Night" by the incomparable Dua Lipa which I write about <a href="http://joyofspeed.blogspot.com/2024/01/dua-lipa-dance-night.html">here</a>, this album has some unqualified bangers by Charlie XCX, Tame Impala, and Haim as well as a ballad-ish composition by Billie Eilish. In an era when no one cares about soundtracks, this was pretty good.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #fcff01;">Various Artists</span> - <i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3</span></i>: Who would have ever thought that a Replacements song from <i>Let It Be</i>
would end up in a Marvel movie? But it did! If you watched this movie,
you will know the exact moment that Paul Westerberg kicks in with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-5UUepFSjI">"How
smart are you?"</a> Other inspired tracks by Radiohead, Spacehog, Flaming
Lips, X, The The, and Beastie Boys, this soundtrack was really created
by and for GenX men have lost their place in the cultural zeitgeist.
Also, a great Florence + the Machine track (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOyfLBYtuU">"Dog Days Are Over"</a>) from her early days, actually her first album <i>Lungs</i> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX43QiFApWc">perfectly placed</a> in the movie. We miss you Florence.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i> </i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Music that I listened to a lot in 2023 but did not actually come out in 2023</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Aphex Twin</span> - <i>Selected Ambient Works Volume II</i> (1994) <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Beyoncé</span> - <i>Renaissance</i> (2022) </div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">De La Soul</span> - <i>3 Feet High and Rising</i> (1989) <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Fishmans</span> - <i>Long Season</i> (1999)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Fleetwood Mac</span> - <i>Then Play On</i> (1969) </div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Grizzly Bear</span> - <i>Shields</i> (2012)</div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">PJ Harvey</span> - <i>B-Sides, Demos, & Rarities</i> (2022) <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Julia Holter</span> - <i>Aviary</i> (2018)</div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Crusaders</span> - <i>Street Life</i> (1979) </div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Daniel Lopatin</span> - <i>Uncut Gems</i> (2019)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Curtis Mayfield</span> - <i>Curtis</i> (1970)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Nine Inch Nails</span> - <i>Ghosts I-IV</i> (2008)</div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">The Pentangle</span> - Basket of Light (1969)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Pink Floyd</span> - <i>The Early Years 1970/1971/1972 </i>(2016)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Secret Machines</span> - <i>Now Here is Nowhere</i> (2004) </div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Seefeel</span> - Rupt + Flex 94-96 (2021)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">The Smile</span> - <i>A Light for Attracting Attention</i> (2022)<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">This Mortal Coil</span> - <i>Filigree & Shadow</i> (1986)</div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">This Mortal Coil</span> - <i>Blood</i> (1991) <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Throwing Muses</span> - <i>The Curse</i> (1992)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Pete Townshend</span> -<i> Lifehouse Chronicles </i>(2000)<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">The Velvet Underground</span> - <i>1969</i> (2017) </div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Various Artists</span> - <i>OHM+: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music: 1948-1980</i> (2005)<b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Neil Young & Crazy Horse</span> - <i>Way Down in the Rust Bucket</i> (2021)<b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Reissues that I liked</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: red;">The Replacements</span> <i>- Tim (Let It Bleed edition) </i>(4 disc set)<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: red;">The Who</span> <i>- Who's Next | Life House </i>(10 disc set)<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i> </i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: red;">Shows<i> </i>I saw this year<i><br /></i></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white;">The Church</span> - March 30, 2023 at Gramercy Theater, NYC</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white;">Pinback</span> - April 30, 2023 at Bowery Ballroom, NYC</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white;">Halsey</span> - June 21, 2023 at NJ Pac, Newark</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white;">The Smile</span> - July 7, 2023 at Forest Hills Stadium, NYC</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white;">Beyoncé </span>- July 12, 2023 at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white;">Elvis Costello & The Imposters / Nick Lowe</span> - July 13, 2023 at Beacon Theater, NYC</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white;">The Pretenders</span> - August 16, 2023 at Bowery Ballroom, NYC</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white;">Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily</span> - September 14, 2023 at Town Hall, NYC</div><span style="color: white;">Explosions in the Sky</span> - October 7, 2023 at Bowery Ballroom, NYC<p></p><p><b><span style="color: red;">TV shows that I sort of liked this year</span></b></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">- </span><i><span style="color: #ffa400;">Beef</span><span style="color: #ffa400;"> </span>- </i>further proof that Steven Yeun is a fantastic actor with enormous range.<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">- <i><span>Black Mirror</span></i> </span>(Season 6) - a bit uneven, with each episode starting with a promise and a premise but often not landing quite well. The first episode called "Joan is Awful" was good.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">- <span><i>Gen V</i></span></span><span style="color: white;"> </span>(Season 1) - absurdly violent and gross, the show is like a cross between <i>Dawson's Creek</i> and <i>Reservoir Dogs</i> with some added moralizing about the media's hunger for the next big thing.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">- <i><span>For All Mankind</span></i> </span>(Season 4) - As silly as ever but it has kept my attention with various commentaries on class warfare, corporate greed, and the irredeemably evil malevolence of communist Russia.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">- <i><span>Invincible</span></i></span> (Season 2) - Ah, back for another round at it. Very satisfying until the season suddenly stopped after a baffling four episodes. We have to wait for God-only-knows how much long for "Part 2" of Season 2. Idiots. Also, another Steven Yeun vehicle.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">- <i><span>The Last of Us</span></i> </span>(Season 1) - Fabulous show with Pedro Pascal showing his actor chops. The ending of the season, in which Pascal's character does unspeakably horrible things to save his ward, played by Bella Ramsey, left a bad taste in my mouth. How can we root for you if you suck?<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">- <i><span>Loki</span> </i></span>(Season 2) - Has there been a show that is so fucking confusing, yet it delivers a deeply satisfying and emotionally resonant story of life and death and the choices we make? Well done, Marvel.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">- <i><span>Succession</span></i></span> (Season 4) - The king of gobbledygook shows, in which characters speak in half sentence parables of obscure pop culture references sprinkled with obscenities galore -- this was a fantastic show about rich people who uniformly suck.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ffa400;">- <i><span>Winning Time</span></i></span> (Season 2) - Another brilliant show, undeservedly canceled, a highly stylized period piece on early eighties LA culture. I am not one for shows about sports but this is both a capsule of elite sports glitz and a perfect example of history-as-entertainment-as-history, with just enough grounding in "truth" to let you think you were really watching the playoffs in 1981.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">Movies I liked this year</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">(5) <i><span style="color: red;">Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3</span></i>
(dir. Gunn) - An emotional entry and addition to the Marvel canon, this
movie also kind of stands apart from the Marvel canon. Each character
in the team gets an emotionally rewarding story, but especially Rocket
Raccoon who has more pathos than, I don't know, Robert Oppenheimer. And
the story arc for Nebula was as under-the-radar as it was
touching--broken child who remains broken but finds a new broken home to
fix. <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">(4) <i><span style="color: red;">Anatomy of a Fall</span></i> (dir. Triet) - A death happens, but who was responsible? We watch the movie hoping for clues but the real story is not necessarily the mystery of the death but the relationship at the heart of it, a relationship past its prime, the ones that most of us inhabit, the ones where deep resentments remain unsaid, until a moment of release allows us to expel, reveal, hurl all our grievances in an explosion of psychic violence. This is also a feminist movie and one that reveals in subtle ways how the inequalities in a relationship are usually invisible to the male, especially the sensitive artist male whose whole persona depends on being hip to such politics. Devastating.</div><div style="text-align: left;">(3)<i> <span style="color: red;">Oppenheimer</span></i>
(dir. Nolan) - Probably the third best movie of the year? I'm not sure I
would assign this movie as a historian of science but it is a brilliant
portrait of a deeply damaged individual who held a lot of power. I am
wary of great-man biopics but this avoided the
'rise-and-fall-and-then-triumph' tropes of biopics by leaving the story
incomplete in one sense. There is no redemption, just muted acceptance.
Beautifully shot and everyone wears very very nice clothes. Also, hats.</div><div style="text-align: left;">(2) <i><span style="color: red;">Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse</span> </i>(dir.
Dos Santos, Powers & Thompson) - Ah, the prodigal son, Miles
Morales, returns to captivate us, with another round of dazzle and
sparkle. The second in a supposed trilogy, the multiverse story is
heading towards, I think, one of the biggest conundrums of the Marvel
superhero archetype: does our hero need to have suffered in order to be
our hero? In other words, is Spider-Man still a Spider-Man if Gwen
Stacey never dies? I guess we'll find out. The second best movie of the
year. <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">(1)<span style="color: red;"><i> </i></span><i><span style="color: red;">The Holdovers</span></i>
(dir. Payne) - Perhaps the best movie of the year, for me anyway, a
wonderful character study of the lives of three misfits stuck with each
other over a Christmas break (in 1970) in a small town in New England.
The premise hardly sounds interesting but it is beautifully rendered
with appropriate pathos and fealty to recreating that particular moment
in American life. It is a movie about the sadness that inhabits us that
bubbles to the surface during holidays when we are forced to confront
the stuff that is indelible, the stuff that never goes away. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">Movies I also liked</b><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i><span style="color: red;">Barbie</span></i> (dir. Gerwig) - I don't have much to say beyond the fact that it was both (slightly) subversive but also fun, a liberal feminist manifesto with a gentle critique of capitalism that is also at the same time participating in capitalism.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i><span style="color: red;">The Creator</span></i> (dir. Edwards) - Yet another one of those sci-fi movies that looks gorgeous, has an intriguing premise, checks off the 'vibes' quotient, but then doesn't land the third act. AI can be sentient and have feelings. OK. But I still hate ChatGPT.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i><span style="color: red;">Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves</span></i> (dir. Daley & Goldstein) - Just a super fun movie, there is nothing to ponder here that is deeper than a moat surrounding an imaginary castle. Rewarding upon repeat watch.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i><span style="color: red;">Godzilla Minus One</span></i> (dir. Yamazaki) - A movie of gargantuan proportions by which I mean the Godzilla was fucking huge, this movie is a clever merger of the metaphor of the Godzilla story (nuclear anxiety) into the literal story of the monster itself (monster attack Japan). At times, it feels like the plot of a Bollywood movie with a whole redemption arc but what did you expect?<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i><span style="color: red;">The Killer</span></i> (dir. Fincher) - Skillful. Clinical. This movie is also a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZStkUxC4iL4">vibes movie</a> (in the words of Patrick H Willems). If there's tension in the movie, it's from the promise of extreme violence at any given moment. Because the movie evokes no emotion at all, I wonder if Fincher's goal was to make a movie where you felt exactly like the protagonist - emotionless with a helping of sociopathy.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i><span style="color: red;">Killers of the Flower Moon</span></i> (dir. Scorcese) - I liked it. I thought Robert De Niro's was probably the best performance.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i><span style="color: red;">The Marvels</span></i> (dir. DaCosta) - I liked it! Especially the Ms Marvel/Kamala Khan bits. I sense that the exact same movie could have come out in a different year and it would have been a success. Timing is everything.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i><span style="color: red;">Saltburn</span></i> (dir. Fennell) - Not unlike other classic tales of the less privileged who gets access to the world of the privileged and then shenanigans ensue - this is also a tale of sociopathy, narrated by said sociopath. The movie has some repellent moments, mostly about body fluids, but otherwise the joy of the story is really in the process of slowly unveiling the horrible truth that you know and suspect in your heart is true.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-13546747984427757322023-12-28T23:54:00.007-05:002023-12-29T00:07:21.902-05:00Deerhunter - Nocturne<p>You know when the end of a song so beautiful it makes you float away? Sometimes it makes you cry because life is sad and ugly and lonely and beautiful and finite and wrong and right and all things inbetween? The second half of this song by Deerhunter is like that.<br /></p><p>I've seen the band Deerhunter live many times, and push comes to shove, they are my favorite rock band of the past couple of decades. The last time I saw them was on February 27, 2019 at Brooklyn Steel, a venue that I had never been to before that night. The music blog <i>We All Want Someone to Shout For</i> posted some super nice images of that night <a href="https://weallwantsomeone.org/2019/02/28/photos-review-deerhunter-at-brooklyn-steel-february-27-2019/">here</a>. Their discography is long and deep and massive, and I've written them about them before here at Joy of Speed many times, including <a href="https://joyofspeed.blogspot.com/2012/04/deerhunter-atlas-sound-lotus-plaza.html">here</a> and <a href="https://joyofspeed.blogspot.com/2016/10/15-years-in-new-york-interpol-deerhunter.html">here</a> and <a href="https://joyofspeed.blogspot.com/2012/06/lotus-plaza.html">here</a> and <a href="https://joyofspeed.blogspot.com/2013/09/deerhunter.html">here</a>.</p><p>Like everything they have ever released, their last album, <i>Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared</i> (2019), was also quite good and concluded with a beautiful track "Nocturne," which is, perhaps, an allusion to Chopin's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturnes_(Chopin)">"Nocturnes,"</a> the short 21 piano pieces that Chopin is most famously known for. Coincidentally or not, bits and pieces of Chopin's "Nocturnes" feature in the movie <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRuWoMIdYo0">Deer Hunter</a></i> (1978).</p><p>Anyway, the track "Nocturne" is a real treat, especially its last half, specializing in the kind of instrumental minimalist repetitious blissout that releases you from the song, and shoots you into outer space.</p><p>First a picture from the show:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvBsGFDWrdwTkKctHFliWO7KKXC4qDE4t9jAT5V-YP5HQ7pxSG-bcsxdS140p9uEju14noajzSPO7PlfH_aY6p3Hue_k4c4pd3l4VqYFU_O8absMzVFJvovD_xmcfEST4S0x_otEQMPAqYGEeP5akJ9Kos22n_1UEBXxd5jE9x5KC6L7S0LslWNg/s4032/IMG_8026.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvBsGFDWrdwTkKctHFliWO7KKXC4qDE4t9jAT5V-YP5HQ7pxSG-bcsxdS140p9uEju14noajzSPO7PlfH_aY6p3Hue_k4c4pd3l4VqYFU_O8absMzVFJvovD_xmcfEST4S0x_otEQMPAqYGEeP5akJ9Kos22n_1UEBXxd5jE9x5KC6L7S0LslWNg/w489-h367/IMG_8026.JPG" width="489" /></a></div><p></p><p>Second, the song "Nocturne":<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yiG5WAfH0IU" width="320" youtube-src-id="yiG5WAfH0IU"></iframe></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-60235681507498819562023-12-27T01:08:00.000-05:002023-12-27T01:08:21.611-05:00Dot Allison - Message Personnel (Arab Strap Remix)<p>I think I first heard Scottish musician Dot Allison's music in the late '90s while living in Pittsburgh. I bought her debut CD <i>Afterglow</i> which was quite wonderful, in the genre of, let's say Beth Orton and Dido, but not quite as middlebrow and inoffensive as, at least, Dido. She had been a part of the electronic band One Dove who had released one great album before disintegrating. <i>Afterglow</i> was pop, but it was also odd and strange with unexpected noises and beats. One of the stranger tracks was "Message Personnel" which was then remixed by another famous Scottish band Arab Strap (another early 2000s favorite of mine) who completely transformed the decidedly morose track into an absolute jewel of late nineties electronic pop.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mq6iv5IwfAE" width="320" youtube-src-id="Mq6iv5IwfAE"></iframe></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-13860510899692674412023-12-26T14:41:00.000-05:002023-12-26T14:41:06.921-05:0010cc - Channel Swimmer<p>This is "Channel Swimmer," the b-side to the single "Life is a Minestrone" by the British band <b><span style="color: white;">10cc</span></b>, released in March 1975. This was the first 10cc song I'd ever heard, probably exposed to it via <i>Top of the Pops</i>, <a href="https://totparchive.co.uk/episode.php?id=582">the episode</a> broadcast on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7u6JaOR6kk">April 10, 1975</a>. However, "Channel Swimmer," I hadn't heard until quite recently, somewhat by accident, in a 10cc compilation that I was listening to. Written by Graham Gouldman (bass) and Kevin Godley (drums) and probably sung by Gouldman, it's really a beautiful little pop song. Perhaps about someone swimming the English channel to find his love but there's a farcical quality to it too:</p><p><i>"I see your face in every breaker / I see your smile across the reef</i></p><p><i>I came across the sea to take you / Don't make me out to be a thief"</i></p><p>The twist is, of course.. well, it's at the end of the song.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tveWjwi5Agk" width="320" youtube-src-id="tveWjwi5Agk"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-11576297944028127322023-12-25T22:36:00.007-05:002023-12-25T22:38:10.252-05:00Time Waits For No One<p>It is 40 years since the end of 1983. I don't have any particular recollection of the end of 1983, only dim memories of the year. But let's see what I remember:</p><p>1973 - Nothing</p><p>1983 - A friend committed suicide and that really shook me up. I have forgotten her name, though. I also graduated from high school.</p><p>1993 - I lived in Northampton, Massachusetts and was a bit itinerant.</p><p>2003 - I saw Explosions in the Sky in concert for the first time. I was thin.<br /></p><p>2013 - I think I visited China. There was a snowstorm in February.<br /></p><p>2023 - Today.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U7jQKk9bkHg" width="320" youtube-src-id="U7jQKk9bkHg"></iframe></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-2944532035175281872023-12-18T23:41:00.003-05:002023-12-18T23:41:46.594-05:00Sama' Abdulhadi - Boiler Room Palestine<p>Some good techno shit from the amazing DJ Sama' Abdilhad, recorded in the West Bank in 2018.<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x9VYKrtziSg" width="320" youtube-src-id="x9VYKrtziSg"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-50293576804005757172023-11-26T22:58:00.006-05:002023-11-26T23:01:06.490-05:00Clark - Sus Dog<p>I was a big fan of Clark's 2014 self-titled album but lost track of his very prolific releases over the years. On a whim I decided to see what he's been up to, and lo and behold discovered that he (Chris Clark) released a new album earlier this year called <a href="https://clark.bandcamp.com/album/sus-dog-2">Sus Dog</a>. Apparently 'executive produced' by Thom Yorke (who also sings on one track), the album is unusual in his discography in that he actually sings on it. His voice takes a bit getting used to -- it's a falsetto -- but it begins to feel familiar after a while. Clark's music in general is really hard to locate but this album is really... pretty? Lots of organic touches through the electronics that evoke a toy band working with high-level electronics. <i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/may/28/clark-sus-dog-review-chris-clark-comforting-weirdness-you-cant-get-anywhere-else-thom-yorke">The Guardian</a></i> says it answers the age-old question: "What would it sound like if the Beach Boys took MDMA and made a rave record?? The <a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/clark-sus-dog/">usual suspects</a> have been <a href="https://bleep.com/album-of-the-year-2023-clark--sus-dog">very praising</a>. But don't take their word for it. Check it out.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Q7Iro2T1NU" width="320" youtube-src-id="3Q7Iro2T1NU"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3V85QYm8h9s" width="320" youtube-src-id="3V85QYm8h9s"></iframe></div><br /><br /><p></p>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-28291408426063014002023-11-21T20:50:00.002-05:002023-11-21T23:24:29.680-05:00Julia Holter - Sun Girl<p>Finally! Some new music from Julia Holter. I hope this is a signal that a new album is imminent. I absolutely loved <i><span style="color: #fcff01;">Aviary</span></i> (2018) which had a huge, cavernous sound that enveloped you. As with much of her music, her vocal(s) are truly sutured into the music as an instrument, weaving in and out of the orchestral flourishes. She draws from the syllabic grandeur of Cocteau Twins in that it's not necessarily the words that matter but <i>how</i> she says the words. Definitely a lot of odd phrasing of text.</p><p>I had the fortune of seeing her at the Warsaw venue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on <span style="color: #fcff01;">February 22, 2019</span> and it was mixed and presented impeccably. She played with a small ensemble of musicians who were truly zoned into the experience.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSPBefwLc0T4QzoJGeVYhGhaEN-_ejSzysQv_Xo98g7OnFi8LX0GHw9fP6h5Y1-uqpASgbxVEWpV9zM_nDpka-jpcW4nv3JFVZhBsc1whH5Fwg9qbWlPI5a73UEU1psVa9aj36aWgh9GKNpsbFDGVMBkJ4UxSYCvfoLZZpGfdndySLH2rJBfRP6Q/s2640/IMG_8013.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2640" data-original-width="2640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSPBefwLc0T4QzoJGeVYhGhaEN-_ejSzysQv_Xo98g7OnFi8LX0GHw9fP6h5Y1-uqpASgbxVEWpV9zM_nDpka-jpcW4nv3JFVZhBsc1whH5Fwg9qbWlPI5a73UEU1psVa9aj36aWgh9GKNpsbFDGVMBkJ4UxSYCvfoLZZpGfdndySLH2rJBfRP6Q/s320/IMG_8013.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p>On this new track that just dropped, "Sun Girl," there's a hint of the heavy percussiveness (is that a word?) of Four Tet, but not as insistent or synthetic. As one might hope from a song called "Sun Girl," the song is unabashedly dipped in joyfulness -- no irony or cloying double message here.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CsmBrWiC_94" width="320" youtube-src-id="CsmBrWiC_94"></iframe></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-44763110073929892932023-11-17T23:02:00.010-05:002023-11-21T23:27:20.348-05:00Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily - Haseen Thi<p>I saw Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily recently, on <span style="color: #fcff01;">September 14, 2023</span>, in New York at the Town Hall. They were surprisingly good. I liked Aftab's slightly assertive stance on stage, a glass of wine in hand, one leg slightly in front of the other, unafraid and unselfconscious. The crowd was a bit uptight and reverential--middle class NPR liberals--but the music was occasionally just enough exploratory to make you think that it was all improvised.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbo42Wk1-ummfKOTq1xc_Z1li4n6p1RBUi9VZgQ0ztr_NxfsempC0sgUlDqa9wlFXt76x2_h5bR5j4xz_l2Ji6ugrkzSoTAy0EkWKsJcoBxf8kT0jZ6ywHrB25NBH2dCYA9W_W5nA4Si75xQW_8iWQ0uPEwrMc8Rh9_tf1G4REeShotzYkfMJcfg/s4032/IMG_4547.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbo42Wk1-ummfKOTq1xc_Z1li4n6p1RBUi9VZgQ0ztr_NxfsempC0sgUlDqa9wlFXt76x2_h5bR5j4xz_l2Ji6ugrkzSoTAy0EkWKsJcoBxf8kT0jZ6ywHrB25NBH2dCYA9W_W5nA4Si75xQW_8iWQ0uPEwrMc8Rh9_tf1G4REeShotzYkfMJcfg/w343-h457/IMG_4547.jpg" width="343" /></a></div>I actually had low expectations for their collaborative album, <i><span style="color: #fcff01;">Love In Exile</span> </i>(2023), not because they're not individually good--Vijay Iyer especially has been very adventurous--but because I expected a kind of Starbucks-lite muzaky thing. But I have to admit I like the album quite a lot. It floats by, but also tugs at you, drawing you in despite yourself, making you pay attention to the tones and timbre of the music, much like Aftab's fantastic solo album from last year, <i><span style="color: #fcff01;">Vulture Prince</span></i> (2021). There's a real three-dimensionality to the music, and her voice especially is quite gorgeous. This track is one of my favorites, "Haseen Thi."<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OI_RI6pJGXA" width="320" youtube-src-id="OI_RI6pJGXA"></iframe></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-61100658671908777182023-11-16T09:16:00.008-05:002023-11-21T23:23:25.632-05:00Skinshape - I Didn't Know<p>Skinshape is basically one British dude named William Dorey. It's pretty organic, mellow, some-of-it-just-instrumental pop with light touches of 70s soul, a tinge of early 2000s chillwave (think Zero 7). Skinshape has many albums but they are all surprisingly good. He has a new one out that is called <i>Craterellus Tubaeformis</i>, bits of which you can hear <a href="https://skinshape.bandcamp.com/album/craterellus-tubaeformis">here</a>.</p><p>The first time I heard this music was in the summer of 2022 on a visit to LA at a place called The <a href="https://www.therosevenice.la/">Rose Venice</a> in Venice Beach. We were having an early dinner, I think, sitting outdoors. They were playing a song over the P.A. and it pretty much stopped me cold. Something about the guitar reverb, the strange chords, a story about someone you might never see again. It's called "I Didn't Know" and it's from the album <i><span style="color: #fcff01;">Filoxiny</span></i> (2018).<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ulOgzjdBdzY" width="320" youtube-src-id="ulOgzjdBdzY"></iframe></div><br />spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-63580616130487962282023-03-17T23:26:00.002-04:002023-03-17T23:28:46.453-04:00Goanna - Solid Rock<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Another 1982 entry, this one from the Australian band <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goanna_(band)">Goanna</a> led by the great Shane Howard. A bit ahead of their time in that the subject matter of the song deals with the land rights of the Indigenous people of Australia, and in fact utters the term 'genocide.'<br /></p><p></p><p></p><p><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/tSNxFGW09Mo" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tSNxFGW09Mo/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe></p>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-1030226734489066702023-03-17T00:17:00.005-04:002023-03-17T23:23:32.316-04:00Fat Larry's Band - Zoom<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I adored this song as a kid. Still do. My year of 1982.<br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/DMo6Ju8SJ8o" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DMo6Ju8SJ8o/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe></p>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-66184346544466465262023-03-17T00:02:00.000-04:002023-03-17T00:02:03.064-04:00For Sai: Everything But The Girl - These Early Days<iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/cl--PBfPXPw" frameborder="0"></iframe>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-68454381143476307582023-01-12T09:34:00.008-05:002023-02-07T21:25:35.956-05:00Music in 2022<p>I listened to very little music that was actually released in 2022, but hands down the best album I heard was <span style="color: #ff00fe;"><span><b>Beyoncé</b>'s <i>Renaissance</i></span></span>. More on that later. Overall, albums released in 2022 that I actually listened to: <br /></p><div style="text-align: left;">1. <span style="color: #ff00fe;"><b>Beyoncé - <i>Renaissance </i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">2. <b>The Smile</b> - <i>A Light for Attracting Attention</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">3. Cate Le Bon - <i>Pompeii</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">4. <b>Nilüfer Yanya</b> - <i>Painless</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">5. Beach House - <i>Once Twice Melody </i></div><div style="text-align: left;">6. The Arcade Fire - <i>WE</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Of the older albums that I listened to this year, a favorite was <b>Halsey</b>'s <i>If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power.</i> Other stuff I listened to this year:<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">- 50 Foot Wave - <i>Power + Light </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Walter Becker - <i>Circus Money </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Bombino - <i>Agadez </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Can - <i>Tago Mago </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Chromatics - <i>Kill For Love </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Cluster - <i>Sowieso</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Crusaders - <i>Street Life </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Miles Davis - <i>In A Silent Way </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Deerhunter - <i>Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Grizzly Bear - <i>Shields</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Grizzly Bear - <i>Painted Ruins </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <span style="color: white;">Halsey - </span><i><span style="color: white;">If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power</span> </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Kare-Lis Coverdale - <i>Grafts EP</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Rafael Anton Irisarri - <i>Midnight Colours </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Mogwai - <i>Central Belters </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Mogwai - <i>Every Country's Sun</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Mogwai - <i>2018</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Nine Inch Nails - <i>The Fragile: Deviations 1 </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- The Police - <i>Ghost in the Machine</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Radiohead - <i>The King of Limbs</i> <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - <i>Soul</i> (soundtrack) </div><div style="text-align: left;">- Skinshape - <i>Filoxiny</i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - <i>The Kid</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Thom Yorke - <i>ANIMA</i><br /></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26890460.post-37353182346258813292023-01-11T11:26:00.005-05:002023-02-07T21:26:07.254-05:00TV from 2022<p>Unusually, I saw a lot of TV this year, more than I have ever seen in probably any year of my life. I don't normally watch that much TV, but for some reason managed to fit a lot of it in. There was also a lot of good TV, so there's that. This list at the bottom is all the shows I watched in alphabetical order, but my Top 10 shows would probably be:</p><div style="text-align: left;">1.<span style="color: #ff00fe;"> <i><span><b>Severance</b></span> </i></span>(Season 1)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">2. <i><span style="color: white;">Better Call Saul</span> </i>(Season 6)<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">3. <span style="color: white;"><i>Andor</i> </span>(Season 1)<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">4. <i>Ms. Marvel </i>(Season 1)<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">5. <i>Fleishman is in Trouble</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">6. <i>Peacemaker </i>(Season 1)<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">7. <i>White Lotus </i>(Season 2)<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">8. <i>The Boys </i>(Season 3)<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">9. <i>Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty </i>(Season 1)<i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">10. <i>Moon Knight </i>(Season 1)<br /></div><p>Other stuff I watched, in alphabetical order:<br /></p><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>Black Bird</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>The Book of Boba Fett</i> (technically, 2021-22) <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>For All Mankind</i> (Season 3) <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>House of the Dragon</i> (Season 1) <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power </i>(Season 1) </div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>Never Have I Ever </i>(Season 3)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>Obi-Wan Kenobi</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>Ozark</i> (Season 4)</div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>The Staircase</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>She-Hulk: Attorney at Law</i> (Season 1)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>Stranger Things</i> (Season 4) <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>Under the Banner of Heaven </i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>The Watcher </i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Saw partially, need to finish</div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>Harley Quinn</i> (Season 3) <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>Interview with the Vampire</i> (Season 1)<br /></div>spacemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09556503201815246287noreply@blogger.com0