Music Diary, Vol. 79

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 July 7-13, 2025

LYRICS: Bomb the Bass, featuring Justin Warfield, "Bug Powder Dust"

SONG: My fave Bowie tune has an acoustic/electric sound that was deeply formative for me, but only recently when I tried to play it did I realize where it gets a lot of its nervy power: Its Lou Reedy verse is in C and its amped-up chorus is in B, and somehow it just works.

ALBUM: I first heard this Tom Waits masterpiece *after* I’d gotten into his bang-on-a-can records, and it immediately shot to the top of my list, it’s just that good. Deceptively shambolic but tack-sharp, it’s as arresting and rewarding as a great cast album.

LYRICS: Los Tigres Del Norte, “Somos Más Americanos”

SONG: I’m not able to sit still when this Prince deep cut comes on. The drum groove is a Tower of Power sample, lead vocal is by Morris Day, the wild sax is by Candy Dulfer, but to my ears this rivals “Kiss” as the ultimate distillation of Prince in full funk mode.

ALBUM: Not all the songs on this record of Old English bawdy songs and catches are about shtupping. In fact, the best are mostly about resisting men’s advances (“Cold and Raw,” “My Thing Is My Own”). And when the vocalists aren’t leering, the music is lovely.

LYRICS: Guy Clark, "Desperados Waiting for a Train"

SONG: This mesmerizing dub classic by Augustus Pablo and King Tubby, based on the Jacob Miller tune “Baby I Love You,” is a dream state in sound, with Carlton Barrett’s clattering drums, Pablo’s melodica, and Earl “Chinna” Smith’s guitar vibrating in irregular phases. Play it on a loop.

ALBUM: Andrew Bird's 1996 solo debut is weird and wintry and utterly hypnotic, a collection of fiddle tunes and reels that have the haunting, vivid sparseness of field recordings, and plenty of winks to leaven the morbid self-seriousness of it all.

LYRICS: Cake, "Short Skirt/Long Jacket"

SONG: You wouldn’t think that a slow, rubato version of this old fiddle tune by Rufus Wainwright and Chaka Khan would work but you’d be wrong. For one thing, there’s precedent in renditions by Terry Callier and Karen Dalton; and here Khan’s vocal has an almost Betty Carter-like freedom.

ALBUM: From its mind-bending opening chords to its final Picardy cadence, Essra Mohawk’s piano-led 1970 debut record is the kind of thorny masterpiece that richly rewards a deep dive, à la the best work of the artist she’s inevitably compared to, Laura Nyro.

LYRICS: Sam Hunt (w/ Luke Robert Laird/Russ E. Hull/Ashley Glenn Gorley/Shane L. Mcanally/Josh Osborne/Audrey Grisham/Meary Jean Shurtz), “Hard to Forget”

SONG: A musician I respect once told me this tune of mine (with my old L.A. band Millhouse) sounded like funk by way of XTC, which I took as a high compliment. Come for the cynical celebration of Mammon, stay for the disco break inspired by Meco’s “Star Wars” single.

ALBUM: She’d already pivoted from Christian contemporary with 2 (great) previous records, but this 1994 disc signaled Sam Phillips’s determination to rock harder and go darker. I only half-loved its aggression at the time; a fresh listen has blown me away.

LYRICS: Fleetwood Mac, "Silver Springs"

SONG: I’m not 100 percent sure what “itchin’ on a photograph” or “scratchin’ on a thermostat” mean, but this Grouplove banger makes me feel it, and not only when Christian Zucconi repeatedly hits those high B-Bb notes. For all its backward-looking regret and discontent, it’s a joyful jam.

ALBUM: If you’ve never checked out singer-songwriter Curumin, you’re in for a treat: His 2005 debut is a bespoke mix of Brazilian pop, soul, samba, and hip-hop. Fave tracks: the roiling opener “Guerreiro” and the rangy jazz instrumental “Índio Dança na Roda.”

LYRICS: Nickel Creek, “Doubting Thomas”

SONG: This 1981 bop by the Clark Sisters lays its gospel realness over a pop reggae groove as infectious as their deeply ingrained yet lightly worn harmonies. The production is a bit murky, admittedly, but the sun shines through all the same.

ALBUM: Superdrag frontman John Davis's 2005 solo debut, which announced his Christian conversion, offers a tasty mix of Beach Boys, power pop, blues-rock grit, and, on the standout track "Jesus Gonna Build Me a Home," gospel by way of The Band.