Music Diary, Vol. 19

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 13-19, 2024

LYRICS: Lucy Dacus, "Please Stay"

SONG: I love Bernard Herrmann in both his brooding/anxious and fantastic-beast modes, but I also especially cherish the jaunty, exuberant Americana he conjured in his first score, for CITIZEN KANE (the 1870s chapter). He seldom sounded this deliciously brassy.

ALBUM: These piano rolls made by Ravel of some of his signature works are hardly their ideal versions, but the tempi and dynamics are never less than fascinating. Even in this attenuated form, you can feel his assiduous, impish presence strongly.

LYRICS: Ethel Merman (Irving Berlin), "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun"

SONG: With its lilting triple meter, cascading piano, and harp and sax flourishes, this uncharacteristically delicate Pogues track makes the case for them as London-Irish cousins of Los Lobos—i.e., rockers with a gift for fine-grained folk art.

ALBUM: Thanks to Switched on Pop for introducing me to Rosie Tucker’s smart, catchy, moving guitar pop. The beguiling lyrics are a huge draw but so are the vertiginous melodies and sweet-gritty textures (kudos to super-producer Wolfy). A total delight. 

LYRICS: Rosie Tucker, "Paperclip Maximizer"

SONG: I find myself returning with particular pleasure to this COWBOY CARTER track. The low vocal register, the spiky acoustic guitar, the jarring step-wise chord progression, the push/pull of the lyrics—it's a simmering, hypnotic, Prince-worthy brew.

ALBUM: The last fully country k.d. lang record doesn’t have the timeless sheen of its predecessor, SHADOWLAND, but this collection of mostly original tunes by lang and Ben Mink remains remarkably soulful, exuberant, and vivid.

LYRICS: Sara Bareilles (Stephen Sondheim), "Moments in the Woods"

SONG: Can’t get enough of this swirling Haley Heynderickx tune, which seems to be from the point of view of a decaying corpse at the bottom of a body of water, with a constantly twanging B note on her guitar suggesting a flicker of light underwater.

ALBUM: Henry Mancini wasn’t just a great film composer, he was a great record maker. What other movie soundtrack makes as purely enjoyable a listen apart from its inspiration as this alternately lush and brassy 1961 disc?

LYRICS: Björk, “Possibly Maybe”

SONG: This kind of capering comic froth is not what Shostakovich is best known for. I’m willing to concede that I may especially appreciate it as a contrast to his more load-bearing music; even so, this is delicious light music on its own terms.

ALBUM: Many PJ Harvey fans prefer her earlier, starker records, but I cherish this collection for its stunning range, from contemplative to convulsive and all points between. And its embrace of a teetering NYC feels prescient (it came out in 2000).

LYRICS: Rachel Bay Jones (Stephen Sondheim), "Shine"

SONG: Remi Wolf’s layered, ebullient first record got tagged with the “bedroom pop” label—fair enough. But I just bought tickets to see her in Brooklyn next fall after being reminded by this blistering live track what she can do outside the studio.

ALBUM: Joni’s first record is too easily overshadowed by literally everything she did next, and its sound quality is hardly ideal. But every track here is a bespoke jewel, and the whole thing is, as they say, a mood.

LYRICS: Little Feat, "Brides of Jesus"

SONG: I swear by Donny Hathaway’s 1971 cover of this gospel pop standard, but was pleasantly surprised when I listened back to the hit record the Canadian folk-rock quintet Ocean had with it the same year. It really cooks.

ALBUM: At the Lutheran church I grew up in, our organist would often bust out a wild Buxtehude fugue as a postlude; we’d all file out under the huge pipes blasting like dragon’s fire. I always went slow and wanted to linger. This record takes me back.