Music Diary, Vol. 88

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 Sept. 8-14, 2025

LYRICS: Rob Kendt, "Madame Bovary"

SONG: The lyrics maybe haven't aged well, but I smile every time I hear this vintage Sublime tune. It's all about the sound: the loping reggae beat, the warm Strat, the I-III progression at the top of the verse, the rising-falling chords of the chorus, the E7 ending. Sidelong pop perfection.

ALBUM: It's easy to tell Lennon & McCartney songs or vocals apart; one mark of Big Star's cohesion as a band is that on this epochal 1972 record, main singer-songwriters Chris Bell and Alex Chilton sound uncannily alike on both the rockers and the ballads.

LYRICS: Jessica Darrow (Lin-Manuel Miranda), "Surface Pressure"

SONG: Surely I'm not the only who finds this 100 gecs earworm as unutterably sad as it is infernally catchy, conveying both all-consuming devotion and abject desperation with the simplest of means. Has AutoTune ever sounded so plaintive?

ALBUM: I've long adored Curumin's 2005 debut, but only yesterday did I dive deep into this under-recognized Brazilian/Japanese musician's 2007 follow-up. I'm still swimming in its irresistible mix of samba, funk, hip-hop, and J-rock. It's intoxicating.

LYRICS: The Pogues, "The Old Main Drag"

SONG: Getting strong Dawn Upshaw vibes from this new Patricia O’Callaghan rendition of a piece by composer David Braid—specifically Upshaw’s piercing, fragrant take on the pentatonic scales of Earl Kim’s “Girl With Orange Lips.” There’s also some Barber bittersweetness here.

ALBUM: With her throwback style and moody SoCal dreamscapes, Eleni Mandell absolutely deserves to be as huge as Lana Del Rey. That she alternates her low-and-slow vibes with punky jams and gypsy rags, as on this solid 2001 disc, is all upside.

LYRICS: CMAT, "When a Good Man Cries"

SONG: Love the way this compelling internal dialogue between 2 (or more) warring sides of Willow’s psyche unfolds musically, from calming arpeggios to stacked harmonies and jumpy jazz, then back again. Drummer Asher Banks is an MVP throughout.

ALBUM: “Why Didn’t You Stop Me?” is truly a banger for the ages, but all the tunes on this stunning, unabashedly weird, utterly involving 2018 Mitski record are worth multiple listens for their surprises and complications, both in the music and the lyrics.

LYRICS: George Jones (Steve Duffy & Dickey Lee), “She Thinks I Still Care”

SONG: If “Please Please Me” is indeed about a guy asking his girl for reciprocal oral favors, might it be possible that the Beatles got the idea from this Mitch Murray tune (almost their first single), in which the plaint is reversed—i.e., show me how to please you?

ALBUM: Who knew? Cole Porter wrote a ballet, a jazzy lampoon of America’s restrictive immigration laws, that premiered in Paris alongside Milhaud’s “La Création du Monde.” And it’s quite good, as heard on this disc from John McGlinn and the London Sinfonietta.

LYRICS: Paul Simon, "Night Game"

SONG: Madison Cunningham’s mesmerizing new single sounds like a crossover with Fleet Foxes’ tightly harmonized folk—appropriately enough, as Robin Pecknold guests on vocals. The guitar tracks and vocals evoke a babbling brook leading to a whirlpool, if not a waterfall.

ALBUM: Spent a lot of time yesterday with the new Beths record, which mostly hits hard and hooky as ever, though I kept getting stuck—in the best way—on the simple, searching, forgiving “Mother, Pray for Me.” Amid the bangers, a balm.

LYRICS: Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Bill Doggett/Lucky Millinder), “Shout, Sister, Shout!”

SONG: Junior Parker went from helping to invent rock ’n’ roll (his recording of “Mystery Train” and its B-side “Love My Baby” inspired Elvis’s version of the former) to covering one of its most outlying efflorescences, this mind-blowing Beatles raga. Music—it is not dying.

ALBUM: Candomblé incantation meets a brassy dance band sound on this transfixing 1957 record from Orquestra Afro-Brasileira, led by the indomitable Abigail Moura, proving again, if proof were needed, that devotional music can sound like party.