This album is GOD.
love
Atlas Sound – Te Amo (live on KEXP)
I’ve been depressed lately. Melancholic. In this state I gravitate toward music that either obliterates with minimalism or force, for the most part. I can drown myself in a long piece from Oren Ambarchi or Klaus Schulze or even Swans. I can really get lost in something wordlessly spiritual like Alice Coltrane or Pharoah Sanders. But occasionally I just crave the kind of song designed to wallow in heartache. Spiritualized is an obvious go-to (I have two albums in my car at all times now) but Bradford Cox is nearly as adept at tapping these feelings, albeit in a less direct manner. In other words, this song pops in my thoughts often.
The album version is fantastic, inverting his usual icy claustrophobia, wrapped inside a warm blanket of sad love spiked with hope. This take opens the song up with fresh air and light, without ever leaving the bed. Lay down and enjoy.
Kendrick Lamar – Real
I’m real, I’m real, I’m really really real.
I’d heard a single or two from Kendrick Lamar over the past year, and knew I liked his voice and style but never bothered to grab his Section.80 mixtape. So anyone else who’s heard his official debut good kid, m.A.A.d. City can imagine how completely my hair was blown back in surprise: his bravura storytelling prowess, easy-like-falling cadence, all-star lineup of peripheral talent behind the mic and mixing boards; most of all, the entire album comes together in a cohesive narrative which completely justifies the subtitle of “A short film by Kendrick Lamar.” The spoken interludes are not only enjoyable but essential to wrapping the entire package up. Presented as a series of voicemail tape recordings from Lamar’s mother while he’s out on the town in her borrowed minivan, the final episode unfolds within this song, flipping aspiration to inspiration and leaving a lump in my throat.
Whether it’s the Erykah Badu-like hook and bouncing beat or the way “love” acts as a prism through which several verses are refracted, something about this track in particular allowed it to burrow under my skin and seal the wound from inside. Since Lamar is such a gifted storyteller this almost feels like a spoiler to share a song near the end… but it’s too good to keep to myself. If you haven’t heard the album yet, do yourself a favor and try possibly the best major label release I’ve heard in years.
There he is, eating cereal and sporting what looks like the exact haircut I had in 1991.
You can grab the album on Amazon, but I’m waiting for a vinyl copy.
Cat Power – Colors and the Kids
Sometimes a song slips right between the ribs and punctures my breath, the very first time. This is one of those songs.
Cat Power (Chan Marshal) recorded this song fourteen years ago for the maybe-masterpiece album Moon Pix. Despite having heard the odd single over the years, this was my proper introduction to her work, this year. I may be a little late to the party but I have the feeling that I wouldn’t have appreciated this as much at the time. There’s a gorgeous sense of resignation and near-snuffed-out hope felt in the tightness of my throat, the way certain lines send a shiver up the sides of my neck.
I could stay here
Become someone different
I could stay here
Become someone better
The moment this hits in the song, her vocals take off in a way that melts through to me. It’s an already intimate song taken to confessional. The knockout delivery perfects a song about things I understand only too well.
Please, give it a try. I subconsciously avoided Cat Power throughout the years perhaps out of unfair lumping in with the flood of early 2000’s indie pop bands, which turned out to be a huge mistake. The album, by the way, is eleven straight great songs, if not all being equal to this heart destroyer.
Buy it directly from Matador or at a local shop like I did.
The Durutti Column – Trust The Art Not The Artist
A few months ago I really wanted to share this incredible song with you and found, to little surprise, that it was streaming exactly nowhere on the internet. So I put my copy on youtube because everyone deserves to experience this distilled observation of profound humane love.
Interesting Blogs / Blue Crystal Fire
My list of connected blogs should change more frequently, and now is a great time to start. There are a couple I have in mind, music blogs with vast knowledge and interesting subjects. I need more. Not only to spread the word here, but for my own benefit. I find it easy to slide into routines and some fresh perspective is a necessary punctuation. So:
What are your favorite music blogs?
Any type: essays, reviews, videos, original material, file sharing, etc.
Please leave a comment and then listen to this absolute stunner from Robbie Basho, Blue Crystal Fire.
This song resides at the center of Visions Of The Country (1978), the only Basho album I have. Having discovered his music this month I’m not experienced enough to convey much more than the notion that this is an essential listen for fans of guitar music and/or incredible voices. It is. I literally cried during my first listen.
Great cover artwork, too!
Thank you for the replies!!
Until The Quiet Comes Comes
Just because.
This has been out over a week and the leak for half that, but tonight, alone, listening to the proper stream on NPR, my excitement is reborn. There are details, sharp edges and vocal snapshots bursting out at me, entire stretches brimming with instrumentation I haven’t noticed. I listened to the leak ten times and haven’t heard the album like this. My thought confirmed: the vinyl leak is muffled, distant and compressed sounding. Everything’s in there, buried then rendered in high fidelity. I kept wanting to lean inward and focus on the elements I knew were inside. It’s a treat to know that what I’ll be receiving in a couple weeks is even better than what fans have been going nuts over.
Stream the entire album here:
Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes
[NPR stream]
Thanks, NPR. Also a question: why can’t your player embed?
Also here is the video for first single Putty Boy Strut. Regardless of how you feel about this song, remember that with this man’s work, it’s all about context.
[Pre-order the album from Bleep, especially if you want the ridiculous collectors edition like I do.]
Optimistic Underground 