Music Diary, Vol. -16

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

Week of Sept. 18-24, 2023

Lyrics: The Kingston Trio (Bob Gibson), "To Morrow"

Song: In 2012, Italian singer-songwriter Maria Pierantoni Guia made the guitar-forward album "TrE" with Armando Corsi, and my fave track is this capering assertion of female independence, complete with kazoo and a reference to a "Wonder Woman onesie."

Album: There's just no other record like this, even in Joni's own catalogue. It's a perfect illustration of how, by placing constraints on herself (in this case, a specific guitar sound), a capacious artist can range as high and wide as ever.

Lyrics: Olivia Rodrigo, "lacy"

Song: The tension at the heart of this smoldering Alabama Shakes tune is that while the lyrics cry out for the end of a struggle, the jagged, restless music keeps the fight going.

Album: The mistake some people make with Nick Drake is to hear the gentleness of his sound as a sign of soft-headedness or gauzy sentimentality. But from his stunning 1969 debut on, his songs were always tough as nails, even if cloaked in velvet.

Lyrics: Jim Croce, "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)"

Song: Sondheim always said he disliked Weill, but does this smoky, insinuating instrumental film theme really sound like the work of someone untouched by Weill’s influence? The music, as Sondheim himself would agree, tells the truth.

Album: This is such a strange record, using recognizable, superficially inviting pop tools to craft a work of deep, disorienting idiosyncrasy. The boys are very far from the beach here, and they're not really boys anymore.

Lyrics: Weyes Blood, "Oh How We Drift Away"

Song: Immediately loved the acoustic textures that kick off this beautiful new Dua Saleh track, then the big singalong chorus swooped in and I was knocked out. I initially wanted it to be twice as long but have come to appreciate the economy.

Album: This arresting folk/soul record was made in 2016 but sounds more like 1972, and in more ways than one: Somehow an Icelandic hippie with the stage name Júníus Meyvant (real name: Unnar Gísli Sigurmundsson) has fused Tim Buckley and Curtis Mayfield into a convincing mix that's all his own.

Lyrics: Grateful Dead, "Dire Wolf"

Song: Missed this Faye Webster stunner when it came out over the summer. Its dry wit and sneaky dynamic range mark it as a breakthrough for an artist who can sometimes seem to coast on vibes; here she cuts to the quick with "who me?" insouciance.

Album: Falling somewhere between the spiky Siouxsie side project The Creatures and the sweet incantations of Enya (and anticipating some of the sonic adventures of Caroline Polachek), this 2010 Glasser record is both a rabbit hole and a warm blanket.

Lyrics: Steve Earle, "My Old Friend The Blues"

Song: We take the low-string surf guitar sound so much for granted, it's easy to forget that Duane Eddy and Lee Hazelwood basically invented it by playing a Gretsch inside an empty 2,000-gallon water storage tank in Phoenix, without an ocean in sight.

Album: I don’t listen to a lot of what you’d call straightahead rock anymore but I really like this record by Swedish Death Candy, who are not Swedish (they’re English) but whose music otherwise lives up to their name—it’s sweet and lethal.

Lyrics: Ashley McBryde & Benji Davis, "Gospel Night at the Strip Club"

Song: This beguiling, sneakily meditative tune by Little Scream has a sunny sound, a shifting time signature, and a concluding couplet that gets me every time: “This world is a perfect play / That becomes itself as it wears away.”

Album: This record of Javanese ceremonial music goes on a real journey and takes you with it. Opening with the familiar chiming gamelan swirl, it eventually veers into long vocal passages, brass marches, undulating dances. Transporting stuff.