Music Diary, Vol. 18

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 May 6-12, 2024

LYRICS: Nick Drake, "Hazey Jane I"

SONG: Love this breezy new Pom Poko single, which only takes 40 seconds to digress from straightforward guitar pop into a bit of math rock noodling. This Norwegian quartet should absolutely be as huge as Vampire Weekend imo.

ALBUM: For a while I thought it was the rootsy guitar sounds I loved most on this 2021 Haim record. Then I realized it was the punchy drums. Oh, also the vocals and the songwriting. Spoiler: It’s the kind of collection that improves with each listen.

LYRICS: Caroline Polachek, "Blood and Butter"

SONG: I can’t figure out why, but this exquisite Sting track, in which he put lyrics over a tune by Hanns Eisler, feels uncannily like a waltz, though the meter is actually all over the map. Maybe time really is a state of mind, even in music.

ALBUM: Pianist Stephen Hough is some kind of subtle sorcerer: On this ravishing 2010 record he manages to make Chopin sound like Debussy and at the same time more Chopin than ever. It’s dazzling and ear-opening.

LYRICS: Beck, "Nobody's Fault But My Own"

SONG: You wouldn’t think covers of the Beatles’ mind-blowing quasi-raga (with Ringo’s best drumming imo) would add much. But this playlist, which ranges from Susheela Raman’s gamelan-esque take to Junior Parker’s laconic rendition, says otherwise.

ALBUM: For most of this amazing 1971 record, the Brazilian “samba soul” band Os Diagonais emphasizes the soul sound (with a particularly strong Curtis Mayfield influence). But it’s not mere imitation, and soon other textures emerge. A must listen.

LYRICS: Loretta Lynn, "Don't Come Home A Drinkin'"

SONG: One of my fave Radiohead tracks starts on acoustic guitars in a persuasively odd meter (4/4 alternating with 6/8), then switches to an iterative groove in disorienting 3-bar groupings. I find it all as hypnotic as its title suggests.

ALBUM: Steve Albini’s budget for this pathbreaking Pixies record was $10,000 and his own pay a mere $1,500. But its influence can’t be easily measured: It is the ground on which much of 1990s rock (and since) was built.

LYRICS: Stereophonic cast (Butler), "Bright (fast)"

SONG: With some albums I can name a favorite song, a favorite chorus, a favorite solo. On the great new STEREOPHONIC cast album, I can single out a favorite chord: the startling but inevitable G7 under "my love," at 1:22 in "Seven Roads."

ALBUM: The STEREOPHONIC cast album sounds for all the world like the deluxe re-release of a late-‘70s classic: full band versions, demos, a bit of studio chatter. It is also blessedly unafraid to embrace a degree of unavoidable Fleetwood Mac-ness.

LYRICS: Marty Robbins, "El Paso"

SONG: Though I have the sheet music and I know where the downbeat is on this Brecht-Weill sailor’s tango, the verses’ meter still wrong-foots me—just one thing that makes this song a masterpiece of storytelling, right up to “geschissen.”

ALBUM: Come for the tasty trad string music, stay for Sarah Kate Morgan’s gorgeous, supple soprano, one of the most heart-tuggingly expressive voices I’ve heard in a while.

LYRICS: Bruce Springsteen, "Reason to Believe"

SONG: I first heard this penitent boogie by Rodney Crowell when he played it live on Fresh Air and it was still raw. The studio version retains a plaintive edge. Going to try to get through it this morning at Greenpoint Reformed Church. Happy Mother’s Day!

ALBUM: Steve Albini didn’t impose a sound on the artists he engineered for but instead brought out their essence. That’s especially true of this quietly devastating Low classic, as gentle and stark a spiritual testament as I’ve ever heard.