Music Diary, Vol. 11

For the rationale behind this mad effort, the initial post is here. The full series of Music Diary posts are here. The full playlist is above, and also here.

Week of March 18-24, 2024

LYRICS: Rob Kendt (trad.), "Daddy, Don't Go Down the Mine"

SONG: The wide open harmony of this Arooj Aftab track and the gentle sadness (or sad gentleness) of her vocal accomplish exactly what she told Song Exploder she set out to do: Convey in music the cosmic ache of Hafeez Hoshiarpuri’s original poem.

ALBUM: The thing about whisper singing is that if it’s done right, there’s nothing quite as involvingly intimate. Which may explain why Julie London’s extraordinary 1955 debut still sounds like it was recorded yesterday.

LYRICS: John Prine, "Far From Me"

SONG: This vigorous zydeco romp by the Texas band Brave Combo is only a little over 90 seconds long, but it constitutes one of my favorite pieces of recorded music that (almost) no one has heard. Seriously, it slaps.

ALBUM: On this odd, beguiling 1999 collection, Megan Mullally and her band lean heavily, and convincingly, into Waits, Weill, Newman, and Sondheim, with a side of Jobim, Prine, and “Scarlet Ribbons,” and it all miraculously hangs together.

LYRICS: Dean Johnson, "Acting School"

SONG: A pointillist jazz waltz a la Can is not something I would necessarily expect on a Brittany Howard record, but then again, why not? And maybe it’s because the title suggests it, but I can’t help but hear this track as synesthetic.

ALBUM: I know this 1990 record was a cynically made studio Frankenstein, but the parts it’s composed of (especially the infamously under-compensated vocalists Martha Wash and Loleatta Holloway) are so alive the whole thing still pops. Sorry not sorry.

LYRICS: Noah Kahan, "Stick Season"

SONG: As I listen mostly to full albums, I’m prone to forget that some artists do their best work on singles. Case in point: this stunning gossamer sunburst by Rosalía, which epitomizes her pop flamenco period as well as any record she’s made.

ALBUM: I love everything I’ve heard by Janáček, including the quartets and operas, but these 2 symphonic works are the twin monuments of his oeuvre. Both seem hewn from the earth and sung to the sky, a kind of folk music by “classical” means.

LYRICS: Billie Eilish, "I Love You"

SONG: Is this Linda Ronstadt covering an unknown song by The Band? No, it’s the great Courtney Marie Andrews, whose freshly minted Americana doesn’t sound like a put-on or a throwback but just exactly what she was meant to sing.

ALBUM: The buzz about Waxahatchee’s new record was that it was mellower than her 2020 masterpiece SAINT CLOUD. Its quieter moments may be quieter—but its rockier songs go hard. In sum, it’s another warm room for big feelings, and I’m happy to be there.

LYRICS: Everly Brothers (F. & B. Bryant), "Radio and TV"

SONG: I loved this odd, multilayered Andrew Bird classic from first hearing. As often happens, when I looked under the hood of how it works, I grew to love it still more.

ALBUM: Janelle Monáe has only gone from strength to strength since she dropped this ambitious, dizzyingly versatile hour-plus collection in 2010. It remains not only one of the great pop debuts ever but one of the greatest concept albums, full stop.

LYRICS: Kacey Musgraves, "The Architect"

SONG: Going to open the Palm Sunday service at Greenpoint Reformed Church with this great Joshua White spiritual from 1933. Its matter-of-fact mix of Old and New Testament images and defiantly joyful chorus makes it the perfect end-of-Lent, head-into-spring tune.

ALBUM: Like Bill Monroe (bluegrass) or João Gilberto (bossa nova), Thomas A. Dorsey is considered the father of gospel music, but unlike those 2 pioneers he appeared on very few records himself. That makes this 1973 compilation quite precious indeed.