Music Diary, Vol. 48

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 Dec. 2-8, 2024

LYRICS: Peter, Paul & Mary, "Whatshername"

SONG: Two of the hardest-rocking minutes of music I know: this blistering Pillows track from 1999. (Their “Ride On, Shooting Star” is up there too.) Shinichiro Sato’s rackety drums are the main draw, followed by everything else about it.

ALBUM: The revolution will not be streamed: I’ve reconstructed as much as I can of this 1995 compilation of vintage beat jazz & poetry, which hits many essentials (Ferlinghetti, Kerouac, Corso) and includes several unjustly obscure deep cuts. Real gone.

LYRICS: Randy Newman, "Old Kentucky Home"

SONG: If you had asked 16-year-old me what the most beautiful song ever written was, I would not hesitate to name this prim, crystalline Simon & Garfunkel tune, delivered entirely by Art. Is it a tad precious? Sure. Still gorgeous? Definitely.

ALBUM: I’ve run hot and cold on Regina Spektor over the years, but I cherish the wild, eccentric, musically precise piano-and-voice CDs she made 2 decades ago, which circulated unofficially until 11:11 came out in 2022. And now: her roller-coaster second CD.

LYRICS: Kevin Ray, "Speak Now"

SONG: You might think the world doesn’t need yet another “Summertime” cover, but then you haven’t heard Essra Mohawk’s speed-freak boogie version, from her self-titled 1974 record. Dennis Parker’s bass is the secret weapon here imo.

ALBUM: In addition to traces of the band’s Eastern European folk origins, this sweeping and tuneful DeVotchKa record from 2011 is giving me strong Echo & The Bunnymen vibes, which is of course a huge plus.

LYRICS: Maurice Chevalier & Hermione Gingold (Lerner & Loewe), "I Remember It Well"

SONG: It’s not just the abrupt flip from minor verse to major chorus that makes this Split Enz classic so beguiling—there are also the odd measures of 2 they throw into the 4/4 at key points (first line of verse, synth solo). Apt for a tune about anxiety threatening joy.

ALBUM: Sorry not sorry: This 1998 Beck record, channeling Dylan and psychedelia in roughly equal measure (with a side trip to Brazil), knocked me over at the time, and I still return to it fondly. One key to its throwback appeal: the recurrent triple meters.

LYRICS: Patti Smith (Nirvana), "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

SONG: Suddenly obsessed with this bemused romantic ode by Lane Steinberg, which sounds a bit like Stephin Merritt doing prog power pop. The key: the itchy tritone that propels the song’s tension and release. Also a big plus in my book: a creepy accordion.

ALBUM: Spent a good part of today listening to this song-by-song comparison playlist of the Replacements’ Tim, the original and the Ed Stasium remix. I like things about both but the new one does have a clarity that paradoxically makes the band’s grit grittier.

LYRICS: Cibo Matto, "Birthday Cake"

SONG: Not my favorite Pixies track but one of my fave examples of their unique songcraft: The odd 6-bar structures of verse and chorus and the jagged dissonances of the melody make it clear, if there was any doubt, that this is art rock as much as it’s punk.

ALBUM: Maria McKee’s first post-Lone Justice record holds up well on a fresh relisten. Mitchell Froom’s attentive production was/is divisive; I find it a filigreed but not overly fussy frame for her fine-grained songcraft, expressive voice, and sense of drama.

LYRICS: Father John Misty, "God's Favorite Customer"

SONG: The only Ellington selection in the New Century Hymnal (under the name “Savior God Above”), this aching spiritual originated in his Black, Brown, and Beige suite, and is here given a lingering, searing rendition by Mahalia Jackson.

ALBUM: Few pieces of music place us in the building they were made and sung in quite like these choral numbers by Léonin, Pérotin, and the immortal Anonymous, who helped give birth to polyphony within the sacred reverberance of Notre Dame.