Music Diary, Vol. 22

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 June 3-9, 2024

LYRICS: Rob Kendt, "Take Me Away"

SONG: This hard and heavy new single from Queen of Jeans makes me excited for their forthcoming record, and as with all their songs I have a fave moment: Here it’s the D# Miriam hits over the E chord, three phrases in a row, starting at :28.

ALBUM: Shades of Sade, traces of Joy Harjo, a light dusting of jazz—the new Arooj Aftab record is another expertly distilled and deliciously disorienting brew.

LYRICS: The Who, "How Many Friends"

SONG: My 14-year-old happily turned me onto the SoCal trio TV Girl, who remind me a bit of Sugar Ray via Pizzicato 5. To wit, this groovy single built on a sunny Poni-Tails sample, in which the soundscape is as much a part of songcraft as the chords.

ALBUM: I would never claim this 1987 Squeeze collection as their best, but it hit me at exactly the right time and deeply imprinted on me, and I do think its paradoxically slick, sunny songs about regret and the passing of time are wildly underrated.

LYRICS: Finom, "As You Are"

SONG: Last night I enjoyed the spectacle of an indie rock star campaigning for a Best Score Tony at a Bowery bar. Say this for Will Butler: He wrote so well in character for STEREOPHONIC that his set felt like he was covering songs by a fictional band.

ALBUM: I defy you stay still while listening to this stunning collection of body music and vocal pyrotechnics by the Brazilian ensemble Barbatuques.

LYRICS: Andrew Tibbs, "Bilbo Is Dead"

SONG: Otis Redding famously had his guitar tuned open, which is why “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” is all major chords. On this sizzling deep cut, open tuning must also be the origin of the spiky four-chord riff at :03 and throughout.

ALBUM: I’ve never heard a bad track by Charlotte Hatherley, but her first 3 records are tops for me, and this one, from 2009, is arguably the peak. Smart, angular pop music made with rock guitars is a sweet spot for me, and she hits it.

LYRICS: The Easybeats, "Friday on My Mind"

SONG: This George Harrison epic wasn’t on any of the formative Beatles collections I grew up with, so it almost counts as a new discovery to me. Its confident sprawl and density put George at the center of the band in a way few other Beatles cuts do.

ALBUM: I consider myself fortunate to have seen and danced (or tried to dance) to the irrepressible Balkan brass of Zlatne Uste. This collection captures both the intense, weightless joy and the oddly rooted gravity of their sound.

LYRICS: Jerry Lee Lewis (Gilmore/Newbury), "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye"

SONG: As often with Khruangbin, it’s hard to isolate any standout element in a favorite track, but in this one it’s definitely Mark Speer’s delicately dancing highlife guitar riff at 1:37 and 2:53.

ALBUM: He doesn’t take all the recommended repeats, but otherwise I find this Rubinstein rendition of Schubert’s wild, tuneful late B-flat sonata to have both the force and intimacy, the alternating elegance and effrontery, the piece contains.

LYRICS: T-Bone Burnett, "It's Not Too Late"

SONG: Not a vision of an afterlife so much as a stirring sketch of God’s long game, this lilting Paul Williams gospel tune, the finale of “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas,” is a soul lifter in every season.

ALBUM: It’s easy to think of medieval music as a kind of aural cleanse, but this exquisite Hilliard Ensemble collection of works by Pérotin—widely credited with the first 3- and 4-part polyphony in Western music—is legit thrilling on its own terms.