Among this week’s selections: An entertaining visualization of a Johnny Cash song; a digital treasure trove of Grateful Dead concert recordings; a French electro-art-pop record from a couple years ago; a Finnish label drops a blazing psych-funk LP that deserves comparison to Funkadelic and Sly without hyperbole; a new band’s single that sounds like a lost Stax session, some extra vibey jazz-based beats; and more!
It’s like Abraham Lincoln might’ve said, “you can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
This week is one where we get all of the people some of the time. In a glass-half-full-sense, we’re going to make absolutely everyone happy at some point this week. Is that too ambitious a promise? You’ll have to find out.
Think about this week’s edition sort of like wandering through a meadow and picking flowers. In a healthy meadow, there are a lot of different plants each playing their own role in the success of the whole [holistic] habitat. Some species prefer dry spots, some a bit of shade in the afternoon, while others flourish with wet feet, and so on — the important thing is that each of them are doing their thing.1 Diversity is the key to natural success, and not just in nature.
Get ready for an assortment of tiny reminders about how big and weird the world is.
A Few Things I’ve Wanted to Mention…
I stumbled across this map that populates all of the places that Johnny Cash mentions in the song “I’ve Been Everywhere”, while the song plays. It proves definitively that he has been a lot of places. Highly recommend spending up to 3 minutes with that.
I apologize for not letting you know about that sooner. The time has never been right.
Last fall, there was an amazing cache of original first and second run printings of Bill Graham/Fillmore West concert posters from the late 1960s that came up for auction in the Hudson Valley. A guy who ran lights for Graham’s productions had landed in Ulster County with a trove of memorabilia. I was only able to pick up one poster, but it was a 1966 Otis Redding three-nighter. I’d like to think he had a minute to sit on the dock of the bay at some point during that visit to SF.
Apparently, this show wasn’t taped by any Deadheads I’ve been able to track down, sadly. If you know of one, send it my way and I’ll write a poem celebrating you and record a reading of it for you to play for your children while I sing your praises.
I’m not the only one looking either. I found someone else asking the same question in the GD subreddit a while back. However, while searching for it, I stumbled across this treasure trove of Grateful Dead concert recordings available for free via the Internet Archive. Some good digging.
And then there’s this other thing…
A few weeks ago, Carrie sent me this article, “The Sounds of the Invisible World”, which discusses the scientific advancements Western society made as a result of engineering innovations in microscopy steering science to prioritize visual information over auditory. The result is that our ability to hear the world has atrophied in nuanced ways because we overvalue optics/aesthetics relative to our other senses. 🤯
“…new generations of scientists have begun exploring the neglected world of sound — from the cosmos to individual cells — leading to some remarkable discoveries that, like the microscopists in centuries past, reveal hidden and unsuspected worlds.”
There are some staggering sonic discoveries detailed in that article, if you’re in the mood for some kismet and awe. All things are delicately interconnected in ways we can’t perceive.
This week’s picks are similar to a healthy meadow. #listeninghabit
Léonie Pernet - La Cirque du Consolation
I’m no longer sure now what I was looking at when I got served this very French experimental-electronic-art-pop album from 2021 as an algorithmic recommendation, but it’s a nice find. Totally unfamiliar with Ms. Pernet’s catalog previously, but will now need to dig back and see what I’ve missed because I’m aaallll about this sound sometimes.
The record opens with a cosmic, retro-synth electro-pop jam “Mon amour tu bois trop” that grows in unexpected ways over the course of a taut 3:25. “À rebours” starts in outerspace and then finds its way back to the dancefloor with pulsing kicks, a great snare line and bonus tabla interlude! “La mort de Pierre” is absolutely epic without needing any drums and should be played loud. The title track also does not disappoint. There are a lot of different sonic experiences packed into this record. Worth a listen.
Grande Mahogany - As Grande As
This is another find that was not on my radar whatsoever until it popped up in my BlueSky feed a couple of weeks ago. What to expect here? That raw psych-funk side of Funkadelic circa Maggot Brain that Lenny Kravitz lifted for his initial run of hits in the ‘90s mixed with a healthy dose of Sly Stone, and a sprinkling of Frank Zappa. I know I’m setting this up with some pretty big reference points expectations-wise, but this isn’t hyperbole. This album, which came out in February on a Finnish label, is keeping the fire burning. Let your freak flag fly. Start with “Bop Your Head (Till It Drop!) to get oriented.
Parlor Greens - “West Memphis”
This new trio on Colemine Records was obligated to call this song “West Memphis” because it’s such a clear homage to the grooves of the Stax catalog. If you need some Booker T & the MGs mixed with a little bit of The Meters’ swing, then this will scratch the itch. This felt like a nice chaser to Grande Mahogany among the stack of recent releases I was perusing.
Koralle - Perfections
Koralle is an alias of the Italian musician/producer Godblesscomputers, and here he brings a clean EP of downtempo mellow moods. The vibe is that smooth European flavor of jazzy boom bap, which the opener “Perfections” nails.
The standout is “From the heart” which features a lyrical contribution from Awon, a Brooklyn-native rapper and a Pisces. We’re almost the same age, so maybe that’s why I feel this so hard. Strong pen game on display there, but the rest of the record is solo instrumental and extremely crisp.
Babyshoe, if you’re reading this, don’t pass go without checking out “Come back to me baby” and this whole EP.
Jesse Morris - I Wanna Take It All Back
Changing gears, but coming back to where we started off — talking about Johnny Cash. I cannot begin to unravel how a series of fateful “You Might Also Like…” clicks got me to this album, but I’m glad it did.
I feel like I probably bummed this guy a cigarette outside of a show once because he looks familiar, but I don’t see how we would’ve crossed paths because in 2008 while I was making pizza and writing freelance in Georgia, he was working on this fiery honky tonk record in San Francisco. Press play on “Doin’ Time” and tell me you don’t get the urge to start riding trains and telling the authorities to fuck off. This is more like Johnny Cash flipping off the photographer while playing a show in Folsom Prison rather than “I Walk the Line”.
Sadly, Jesse never finished this record because he died young. What’s available here was released in 2011 (hence the “In Memory”) with funds going to help pay for his burial. Jesse was clearly talented.
I was going to make that the last pick, but it’s kind of a downer note to finish on, so let’s take another stylistic swerve to close it out.
Adriaan de Roover - Other Rooms
From weighty to weightlessness, press play on “Homebound” and drift out into space to watch the sunrise from behind a whole planet rather than just a horizon. I should’ve recommended this before the eclipse happened. My bad.
These songs are interesting paintings made of sound and not just flat drifting spa music. “Dank u” is another highlight. There’s a lot to take in, if you give this one some space to breathe.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for spending some time listening. We’ll be back with something completely different next time. Until then, try to appreciate all of the different roles there to play in the world.
It’s the diversity that’s actually vital to a healthy ecosystem because the plants need the insects, birds need both, plus the herbivorous mammals, which support apex predators, and tying it all together is clean water. And that requires diverse eco-system types, including wetlands and marshes, which will be essential to managing sea-level rise. Unfortunately, a lot of real estate development was done on top of land that used to be wetlands and marshes, which is why middle-class neighborhoods on Staten Island were some of the highest casualty areas from flooding caused by Hurricane Irene, and why large parts of Florida are becoming uninsurable now, cost-wise, for homeowners. The in-fill of wetlands and marshes was incentivized for real estate development by the federal government starting in 1850 with the passing of the Swamp Act.