The Fuck is Dear Tommy?

Ruth. On sale at the IDIB store. Not Ruth or Dear Tommy, just the top.

View this post on Instagram

🕯

A post shared by Chromatics (@chromatics) on Apr 15, 2020 at 8:22am PDT

Born Again

Ellis - Born Again (2020)

Happened to catch a blurb about Ellis' new album, Born Again, which made me curious enough to look it up. Lo and behold, I'm very into it. Kind of atmospheric dream pop which, you know, is totally up my street. Click on the album cover to give it a listen over on her Bandcamp page.

Fodder on My Wings

Nina Simone - Fodder on My Wings (1982)(2020 Reissue)

Hadn't heard this Nina Simone album before, thought I'd check it out. I first came across her sometime in the 90s, I think. I've only a cursory knowledge of her. I've seen the What Happened, Miss Simone (2015) documentary. I have a few albums and a compilation. This 1982 album was just reissued by Verve, I freaking love the cover (which you can click on if you'd like to listen to the album). 

*Edit - Just finished a full run of the album, man, what a ride. I think I need a couple more listens to absorb it. 

*Edit Edit - There's a nice writeup over at Pitchfork. Much better than anything I could ever write.

This Cover of Hey Julie is Lovely

Posted today by Eva from Charly Bliss.

View this post on Instagram

FOW forever ❤️ Adam Schlesinger forever ❤️

A post shared by Charly Bliss (@charlybliss) on Apr 8, 2020 at 3:19pm PDT

RIP John Prine

Fuck, y'all, shit just keeps getting worse and worse, it seems. Hello in There was my first encounter with John Prine back in the mid-80s. I love his easy-going and sorta conversational songs. One of the greats. Terrible, terrible loss.

*edit* nice writeup here, if you're interested.

Say So

Just stumbled upon this, I hadn't heard of Rainych before, but her cover of Doja Cat's Say So is fucking superb. I love the original and I love this as well. Comparing them is like comparing ice skating and roller blading. Same thing but completely different.

These Clothes Don't Fit Us Right

R.E.M. L-R: Bill Berry, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills

I had no idea, but today is the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.'s first gig. These guys have been with me pretty much since my late-teens. I had heard of them when Murmur first came out. I read Rolling Stone religiously and Murmur kept showing up in their bands-to-watch columns and on the college charts at the back of the magazine. Some time later, they appeared on Solid Gold, performing South Central Rain, which made this a Reckoning-era appearance (album released in April of 84) . Solid Gold was a weekly show that counted down the week's top ten hits while the Solid Gold Dancers performed interpretive dances along to each track. Dionne Warwick, Marilyn McCoo and Andy Gibb were among the higher profile hosts. The show itself was pretty cheesy. I mean, we already had American Bandstand and Soul Train, but Solid Gold somehow lasted 8 seasons. 

In any case, my first listen to R.E.M. was via Solid Gold. I remember liking it but not loving it. After Reckoning (1984) came Fables of the Reconstruction (1985) and Life's Rich Pageant (1986), but it wasn't until Document (1987) where I really dove in. The One I Love and It's the End of the World and I Feel Fine were getting TONS of play on MTV. I got a copy of the album and it clicked with me immediately, so I went backwards from there and those dudes started soundtracking much of my life from the late 80s through the 90s. Green (1988). Out of Time (1991). Automatic for the People (1992). Monster (1994). New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996). So much fucking awesome.

Admittedly, I fell of the bandwagon after Up (1998). Reveal (2001), I felt, was largely lacking in spirit (I've sorta revised opinion that in recent years) and Around the Sun (2004) is easily the worst thing that happened to the R.E.M. brand. The last couple studio albums, Accelerate (2008) and Collapse into Now (2011) sorta had me interested again. And that last live album, Live at the Olympia (2009) is waaaaaay better than it has a right to be. I only listened to it out of curiousity and I was surprised at how much I liked it.

In any case, joyeux anniversaire to R.E.M., one of the best bands to emerge from this country. There are lots of album links here (spoiler alert: every major release is linked in this post). Click one and take it out for a drive if you haven't yet been initiated, or maybe get reacquainted if it's been a while. There are some really good compilations as well, if you just wanna do a greatest hits drive-by. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Stay safe, y'all. Shit is weird out there.

Kathryn Calder

Kathryn Calder did a 30-min livestream from her home tonight and it was super cool. Her voice is one of my faves in pop music today, it's just so clear and lovely. And she seems like a genuinely good person, to boot. Thankfully it's preserved on the Youtubes, and you can watch it again and again and again, if you like. Or just the once. She runs through hits from all three of her albums and even tosses in a New Pornographers tune (Adventures in Solitude, which I fucking LOVE) which is the cherry on top. Check it out.

My Holy Trinity (Country Music Edition)

Hailey Whitters - The Dream (2020)

Caitlyn Smith - Supernova (2020)

Aubrie Sellers - Far From Home (2020)

This is my holy trinity right now, and I hadn't heard of any of these ladies before a month or so ago. They're females in country music, but that's pretty much where the similarities end. These are three very different albums and they're all worth listening to, as far as I'm concerned. And I feel like if it weren't for this goddamn virus shit, they'd all be gearing up for triumphant tours to engage with appreciative crowds. I would go to all three of these gigs if they were happening. For now, I'm content to listen to these excellent albums while isolating for the greater good. So, I'll just post some links here to get you started if you're interested. (Weirdly, while getting the links, I just noticed each album is 12 tracks long. Also, I noticed that I posted them in reverse alphabetical order of their surnames. Also also, each album cover depicts each one leaning back, and they're all lone figures. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?)

Hailey Whitters - The Dream
Caitlyn Smith - Supernova
Aubrie Sellers - Far From Home

RIP Adam Schlesinger

Fountains of Wayne - Utopia Parkway (1999)

Ivy - Apartment Life (1997)

Died of C19 complications today. Dude played a big part in my musical life starting in the mid-90s. Utopia Parkway (1999) is probably about as perfect as it gets. Oh, and Ivy's Apartment Life (1997). I played the hell outta those albums, they should be taught to anyone who is considering making pop music. I'm just thinking about these ones right now, but there's so much more. Definitely worth your time to track down some other stuff. Super sad about this. RIP, man.

New York

Lin-Manuel Miranda singing St. Vincent's New York is the content I didn't realize I needed.

Running out of songs of my own
to play on behalf ofhttps://t.co/VL7nwWXY7P
So here’s New York by the brilliant @st_vincent.
That site again is https://t.co/VL7nwWXY7P
❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/UR3B0xee5Y

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) April 1, 2020

The History of Myspace Music

Somebody's Myspace Page

Stereogum posted a fascinating article about the rise and fall of Myspace and its musical impact. I had an account but I didn't really utilize it, I spent most of my time on a few message boards (Bowlie, Giant Robot, Aimee Mann) during those years.

Anyways, check it out here, it's a compelling read (or at least it was to me).

I made you a mix

C192020

I'd been putting something together in my head a little bit before all this shit went down. The other day, I sat for a few hours and finished it. Making mixes is kinda like therapy to me, maybe you'll like this session (I tried to keep it upbeat and I think I somewhat succeeded). No tracklist, just let that shit happen.

I think the link expires after 5 days, maybe 7. Anyway, grab it here. Stay safe, y'all.

Infection

Morpheme, one of Dean Garcia's many, many side projects, put out the Red Dog EP in 2011, which included this song (which fucking destroys, as far as I'm concerned). You might know Garcia from the band, Curve. If not, do yourself a favour and get acquainted. Hope y'all's quarantines are going okay.

I Think We're Alone Now

Today, Billie Joe from Green Day posted this pretty cool cover of the 1967 Tommy James and The Shondells classic. Apparently he recorded it in his bedroom since he's under quarantine like anyone else. A lot of interesting things are popping up because of C19 and it's nice to see people working around quarantine and still finding a way to be creative. Stay home and stay safe, y'all.

The Machine is Bleeding to Death

MOOD

the car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel

and the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides

and a dark wind blows

the government is corrupt

and we're on so many drugs

with the radio on and the curtains drawn

we're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine

and the machine is bleeding to death

the sun has fallen down

and the billboards are all leering

and the flags are all dead at the top of their poles

it went like this:

the buildings tumbled in on themselves

mothers clutching babies picked through the rubble

and pulled out their hair

the skyline was beautiful on fire

all twisted metal stretching upwards

everything washed in a thin orange haze

i said: "kiss me, you're beautiful -

these are truly the last days"

you grabbed my hand and we fell into it

like a daydream or a fever

we woke up one morning and fell a little further down -

for sure it's the valley of death

i open up my wallet

and it's full of blood

Atlas

You may or may not know that today was Bandcamp day. Not gonna get into that too much (if you know, you know) except to say that I hit the site pretty hard, picking up some stuff I'd been meaning to grab for a while and also coming across some super cool new-to-me stuff. One of my faves so far, in an afternoon of listening, is FM-84's Atlas (2016). Simply glorious synthpop, it was love at first listen. And that album cover, deceptively simple, so evocative. I love it. Do yourself a favour and listen to the album over at the FM-84 Bandcamp page, here. Yeah, I mostly hated the 80s because I lived through that shit, but when someone's interpretation of it is this good, who fucking cares.

Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris

Some nice news amidst the chaos. Hayley Williams' (from Paramore) solo album, Petals for Armor, is on its way. She just released this track, Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris, which features the Boygenius ladies. Predictably, I love everything about this even though their voices aren't super prominent. I just really like the low-key vibe, but I'd rather hear it in context of the album. I've been trying to stay away from the rollout but I couldn't resist checking out this track. In any case, Petals for Armor should be out on 8 MAY, so I'm looking forward to that.

Don't Die on My Doorstep

Music for self-quarantine. Listen to Felt's The Pictorial Jackson Review (1988) here.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Really nice piece in the New Yorker today on Fiona Apple and her upcoming album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters. She's been a fave for a long while and her albums are too far between. Her last one, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, was released in 2012. The time between that one and the previous, Extraordinary Machine, was 9 years. So, yeah, there's a little pattern. In any case, please enjoy this article while you're social distancing and waiting for Fetch the Bolt Cutters to drop: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/23/fiona-apples-art-of-radical-sensitivity

It's probably a good time to reacquaint yourself with her four albums, as well: Tidal (1996), When the Pawn (1999), Extraordinary Machine (2003), The Idler Wheel (2012).

Lastly (for now), check out this fantastic cover of Elvis Costello's I Want You, with the man himself on guitar.