Music Diary, Vol. -11

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 Oct. 23-29, 2023

Lyrics: Jesse Jo Stark, "Lady Bird"

Song: Two thoughts as I revisit Stu Phillips’s stirring “Battlestar Galactica” theme (from the original series): 1. I am 10 years old and cosplaying Adama again, and 2. Am I the only who hears a lot of “Petrushka” in it, especially in the strings?

Album: Ella Fitzgerald’s discography is too vast for me to venture an authoritative ranking, but last week I happened to sample this 1961 collection with a jazz quartet, which has a great set list and impressive range, from swinging to intimate.

Lyrics: Ashley McBryde, Caylee Hammack, and Pillbox Patti, "Brenda Put Your Bra On"

Song: It wouldn’t have occurred to me play this Talking Heads classic at Greenpoint Reformed Church, but this past Sunday’s scripture was “render unto Caesar,” and so this song’s equivocal, bittersweet (ironic?) embrace of conformity and patriotism seemed apt.

Album: What do you make next, after you’ve thrown out the rules and could conceivably try anything? Radiohead’s answer, after the game change of KID A, was this wildly rangy and, I think, underrated record—a map with 11 routes, all worth the journey.

Lyrics: Kacy & Clayton, "A Lifeboat"

Song: Spent the morning sampling various renditions of Schubert's rapturous "Ganymed," which is less an art song than a three-act drama. Felicity Lott's crystalline version is the one I grew up on, but today I'm warming up to Jessye Norman's.

Album: I’m late to the Mindy Smith party, but better late than never. I adore her 2004 debut, but the record I’ve been spinning most is her rock-solid self-titled collection from 2012, which has just the right blend of country honey and rock salt.

Lyrics: The Roches, "Hammond Song"

Song: With its rock-ribbed funk riff, airlifted strings, and strange, harmonically smudgy chorus, this is maybe my favorite track from WISE UP GHOST, Elvis Costello’s underrated collab with The Roots.

Album: Shoegaze was never my thing but this My Bloody Valentine record is undeniable. Apart from a few churning, catchy tunes, LOVELESS is a mesmerizing miasma of guitar and vocal effects as a kind of musique concrète, a garden of unearthly delights.

Lyrics: Lhasa de Sala, "My Name"

Song: Fully willing to admit that this is my fave Yes song almost entirely thanks to the baroque keyboard-and-guitar-and-bass passage that opens and punctuates it. The rest is very solid pop songcraft, stitched expertly around that essential jam.

Album: This compilation of rare salsa, cumbia, and vallenato from the vintage Colombian label Discos Fuentes is an embarrassment of riches and a must listen—75 minutes of polyrhythmic joy.

Lyrics: Mary Gauthier, "Drag Queens in Limousines"

Song: Released when she was just 18, Madison Cunningham’s pre-debut album AUTHENTICITY is no longer officially available, but you can hear from its opening track that her gift and her sound were fully formed (also that she'd been listening to THE BENDS).

Album: When I first heard this wild Messiaen symphony on the radio decades ago, I thought something was wrong with the stereo or that I was also hearing music from a neighbor. That’s how beautifully, miraculously incongruous its sound world is.

Lyrics: The Wood Brothers, "Who the Devil"

Song: One of my favorite things about The Melodians’ original recording of this Rastafari classic is the way it imperceptibly speeds up—play it all the way through twice and you’ll hear it. The spirit doesn’t just move, it accelerates.

Album: Met a Dylan fan yesterday who didn’t know about the Christian phase. I told him about the great live collection from that period, also steered him to what I think is the best of the 3 born-again records (with some great “secular” deep cuts).