Burn the feel

There's a part of my head where it's always 1982 and electrofunk soundtracks moments both great and small. This tune represents a few characteristic minutes in that world. Sure it's a party jam, but I can't help but find the music moving. Which is weird, I admit. As for the upper case "k"s in the middle of her name...you got me.

JaKKi - Got Me Burnin' Up

Visions

Ah, sweet unheralded psych pop magic. Bless the people at Rhino for their continued curatorial prowess. Pulled out this adjunct to the Nuggets series and was charmed anew by nearly every track. I couldn't share just one. 

I don't know what I like more about this first song — the easy grooviness or the fact that it came from a has-been rockabilly guy reconstructed for the psychedelic era. At this distance, quality wins over authenticity, and who really cares if this Baker Knight was cynically cashing in or having his mind blown? As for Kim Fowley's mini space adventure, I cannot bring myself to believe he wasn't laughing all through the session. In both tracks, I sense a wide-eyed wonder that may take several generations to recapture.

Baker Knight and The Knightmares - Hallucinations
Kim Fowley - Strangers From The Sky

Woozy walking

Feeling the walking wooziness after a hectic week on this Friday. One of these days, I'll figure out a way to get summer vacations back into my life. Here's a tune for my state of mind, courtesy of a some light sidework from krautrock luminary Dieter Moebius. This tune brings to mind all my childhood dreams involving clowns, and magically makes them a lot less scary.

Liliental - Wattwurm

Swing from a good good rope

These days, I'm wouldn't even pretend to boast about being the first kid on the block to get to know about this or that band. I wasn't a super early adopter 10 or so years ago, but I do remember catching an early wind of TV On The Radio's Young Liars EP and knowing there was something special about them, even if in retrospect they were just beginning to crawl out the Williamsburg murk and into the sunshine of global acclaim.

That debut work continues to sounds great. In some ways, even better than the big brilliance of what they've evolved into. This song remains my favorite — a bold cover that absolutely re-imagines (and arguably overtakes) an indie rock semi-classic. People talk about the voices that haunt. This has about 15 of them.

TV On The Radio - Mr. Grieves

You'll lose your mind and play

It's a rare song that hits on most of the hallmarks of psychedelic music without coming off like a parody. Pre-arena Pink Floyd were aces at that. And not just in long form. Syd Barrett could conjure musical visions from the outer (inner?) regions in the space of a tight pop song. Case in point...

Pink Floyd - See Emily Play

Everywhere I go the sky is falling

Interesting how I had a sudden desire to listen to M. Ward, and then I go check my calendar, and see that I've got plans to watch him play tonight! A nice synchronicity. I don't usually think to listen to him, which is probably due to my being far less intrigued by his music learning some actual information about the man. Which is to say, when it became clear that he wasn't a phantom of some real or invented part of American lore. Maybe the biggest pitfall of fame is becoming a known quantity and losing the possibility of shrouding yourself in mystery. I guess I'll find out soon enough whether I dig his current material. Hopefully, it's as sad and soulful as this tune.

M. Ward - Paul's Song

Disappearing

Deerhoof is so damn charming, it hurts. Experimental and bubblygummy and always effervescent. Album after album, the more they expand their sound, the more I'm pleased by how well they do it. And I love how well their fractured, lanky virtuosity translates to the stage. Here's a tune that gets into some droning Can territory with drummer Greg Saunier pushing relentlessly ahead, equal parts Tony Allen and Jaki Liebezeit, which is fine company to sit beside.

Deerhoof - Desapareceré

May I sing with me

The Sparks obsession has segued to a tender look-back thru my Yo La Tengo collection. I maintain my collegiate perspective that they were one of those rare bands that could try anything without looking stupid. (Something about humility and not worrying too much about your career, I guess.) And yet, every song of theirs I put on the 'blague is a rocker. Hmmm.

Yo La Tengo - Upside-Down

Boys of summer

OK, I think I've had my Sparks fill for now. Just in time to celebrate the new album by perennial 'blague fave Windsurf, whose retro-futurist cosmic beach jams never fail to take me to a place of sonic bliss. This is the title track of their latest, and though the video has been around a while, I can't help but not share it, so deftly does it capture that jumbled, subjective '80s mutation that is at the heart of their aesthetic. I really can't get enough of this stuff.

A wallet from a careless man

 

Can't resist one more from the Mael Bros. Here's a tune from their classic Kimono My House, which is maybe the best place to start in their daunting and varied discog. The usual lyrical saltiness aside, this is one with universal appeal — that feeling when you find a wallet on the street and decide that the poor sap is actually better off bankrolling your subsequent spending spree. If fist-pumping Glam is about anything, triumphant liberation from guilt may just be it.

Sparks - Lost And Found

I never feel like garbage when I'm with you

Plans for a hearty upstate hike were sabotaged by incessant rain. Having prepped myself for the prospect of injury, sunburn, or combination of the two, I found myself with a vast appetite for passing the hours with a quiet book. Which means I've got an equally vast appetite built up for a virtual dance party. And more Sparks antics. Which means the Giorgio Moroder-era of their career is called for.

Sparks - When I'm With You

You can dress nautical

I'm in the midst of a Sparks obsession. Which means simultaneous absorbing of all their phases — including the unique successes and boisterous failures. I find myself gravitating to their twisted New Wave period, but of course, those glam records are irresistible too. And I'm still not getting tired of Russell Mael's voice, which maybe should be alarming. I suspect this will not be their last tune up on the 'blague.

Sparks - Angst In My Pants

Tort reform

I praised Tortoise's groundbreaking early work a while back, but have been fairly dismissive of their last few efforts. True, they've spent the last decade and a half basically refining their aesthetic and running in place. But sometimes you have to stand back and appreciate that refinement. Which is what happened when I gave a listen to It's All Around You recently. 

It's probably a case of ears suddenly becoming more attuned to subtlety, not looking to be surprised, but happy to find pretty things in small places. Suddenly, I like the shift toward melody, away from stone-faced austerity, being less stingy with color. Now I want to see the imaginary movie they're soundtracking. Of course, it helps that the vibes are still around. Without those, these guys would be truly lost.

Tortoise - Stretch (You Are All Right)

Dazzling

Dazzle Ships is one of those albums people love in hindsight or at least in principle— the archetypal non-commercial "serious art" statement by perennial chart-toppers. I admit I'm mostly on board with that. And conceptually, I do like the idea of dazzle (anti-)camouflage, with its intent to confuse rather than conceal. I guess that's what's going on with the album's dour abstractions. But then they throw in a pop gem like this one, which would surely give their ship away to enemy rangefinders.

Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark - Telegraph

Spirit animal

I'm not a huge fan of either Buckley senior or junior. But from a musical persepctive at least, their early deaths were a real shame, if only for the high bar they set for vocalizing. This track in particular finds Papa Tim taking his mellifluous voice into some impressively animal-like places. Surely he was possessed by some spirit we should all meet at some moment in our lives.

Tim Buckley - Monterey

Odd time in no time

I never understood why avant garde rock bands are called "ahead of their time". Time will literally never catch up with them, and their music has nothing to do with anyone's time, now or in the future. Those fancy chops, odd meters, and semi-discordant jazz horns will never blare out of cars speakers or function as the soundtrack to any mass activity of daily life. Band members will never taste the sweet n' stinky pleasures of rock hedonism. They will, in fact, always make music for small rooms of dedicated head nodders. Their albums will bob in and out of print. Sometimes they will be blogged.

Interesting fact about these guys — their drummer was also in Soundgarden. How's that for making a shitty concession to getting with the times?

Tone Dogs - No Cry

Tone Dogs - Secret Crush

Tomorrow ain't what it used to be

And a damn shame for all of us. It's nothing new to be discouraged by our collective dread at what's to come. But when you hear a tune that hints at a prior era's sense of wide-eyed (or stony-eyed) wonder at future possibilities, it just brings into relief the sadness of our time. Meanwhile, a thumbs-up to Madlib for re-imagining this groove; the sample is culled from Donald Byrd's track of the same name.

Madlib - Stepping Into Tomorrow

Like to sing about sunshine

Funny how even the more sensible of us fall victim to the fabled company party and all its ragged booziness. After near-disastrous phone disappearance and subsequent sleep-deprived, hungover recovery mission, I'm thinking it'll be easier to stay above the influence in the future. (My creaky bones nod in agreement.) Meanwhile, I'm thinking some ridiculously sunshiny tunes are a nice way to downshift from a manic couple of weeks. The Free Design sometimes strike me as a put-on, but there are some subtle dark vibes underneath the harmonies. Here are a couple tunes from both ends of their full-throated career.

The Free Design - Umbrellas

The Free Design - Like To Love

Pay what it takes to feel alive

I remember in college briefly being into a lot of those Southern gothy bands — the ones that mixed weird and surreal/apocalyptic religious imagery with ramshackle percussive sounds that sounded like an increasingly second-hand approximation of Tom Waits's '80s albums. That approach is legit enough, but it wasn't really a good look for me. Jim White has turned out to be one of the more durable of those dudes, and listening to his debut album again, I'm pleasantly surprised at how nicely it fits these hazy heatwave days. This tune is an interesting cocktail of apocalyptic visions in a cool glass of water slowly poured over your head.

Jim White - Burn The River Dry

Tomfoolery

Another one from the gifted/ignored one-man-band files. Songblague has already paid this Tom some much-deserved attention, but I finally got ahold of his album and can't help myself. What can you do with infectious pop but be feverishly devoted to it for a time?

The Toms - Other Boys Do

Apart on me

Having finally reached a state of exhaustion, I'm incapable of hearing any kitsch or weirdness in the DIY synth funk of Jeff Phelps. Just some tender diva-ing and a drum machine that understands every shade of the song's emotion.

Jeff Phelps - Don't Fall Apart On Me

Yesterday's endings will tomorrow life give you

At long last, I'm giving Yes's debut some real attention! Having listened to their heyday albums to death a few times over and having gone thru so much admiration, revulsion, re-appreciation, and more backlash, I'm able to enjoy a totally different band in these baby steps. Which is to say, a band very much in its fey '60s throes, looking for a sound, but it might involve with big "compositional" ambitions. The fact that even this—it's proggiest track—only vaguely hints at blowing structures open, is now a big part of its charm. Especially the glorious clumsiness of the big ending! Goes to show that however highfalutin, they were always inspired amateurs.

Yes - Survival

Burnt candle

Busy times. Across the board. So much that I didn't even have a quality minute to share a song yesterday. Barely so today. Burning the candle at both will surely burn you out. I'm not sure if this library jam represents disease or cure. Probably both. Be sure to listen to the end for some sweet flute action.

Teddy Lasry - Traffic

Disturbed

Ack, a day back in the flow of daily life, and I've lost the easy vacation shine, the cat-like jitteriness making its presence known way too soon. Who would've thought I'd lose the mellow before the suntan. Agitation suggests a rock-out. And so it goes. 

Absolute Grey - Memory Of You

Stretched across the continent

Back home! The honeymoon was a persistent glow, and I'm hoping to keep it alive in spirit as long as I can. Meanwhile, I'm struggling with the jetlag and renewing my visceral understanding of how it feels to be stretched across the great sky. Here's a tune that would have fit both the languid and active of the last week's moments, as well as this gradual process of become whole at home again.

Prins Thomas - Attiatte