This  week’s Timely Tunes features new music from the likes of Neil Young, The Replacements, Iron Chic, Kelela and Lorenzo Senni. Pour your favorite beverage, sit back and listen.

TIMELY TUNES

Iron Chic “My Best Friend (Is a Nihilist)” (From “You Can’t Stay Here”)

I was a big fan of Iron Chic’s 2013 album, “The Constant One”, but after the tragic death of founding guitarist Rob McAllister, I wondered if the band would ever follow it up. Fortunately, the Long Island punk band’s new single is a fist-pumping, black humored, multi-hooked barnburner. For a band that once memorialized The Gin Blossoms in a song (“True Miserable Experience”), it’s not entirely surprising that their catchiest song to date would sound a bit like emo’s answer to “Hey Jealousy”.

The Replacements “I Will Dare (Live)” (From “Live at Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, 2/4/86”)

The Replacements are, without a doubt, my favorite American rock and roll band of all time; a quartet of Minneapolis misfits who wrapped perfect pop songs in a coat of ragged punk threads. They were also one of the most frustratingly wonderful live bands of their era, capable of ramshackle, drunken destruction or mercurial brilliance (often in the same set). On September 29, Rhino Records is releasing a double disc set of their legendary 1986 show at Maxwell’s.

Neil Young “Give Me Strength” (From “Hitchhiker”)

Neil Young has given us half a century of brilliant songs, bizarre artistic cul-de-sacs, and transcendent live performances. There has also always been a mythic belief that he probably has an innumerable bounty of gems in his vast vault. In 1976, during one of the peak eras of his overflowing genius, he spent one night recording a collection of ten sad, stripped-bare, beautiful songs that fell into the cracks of history. Many of the songs were re-worked and released in different forms on future albums, but a couple were never given a proper home. Now that Young has finally officially released “Hitchhiker”, we get the previously unreleased “Give Me Strength”, a simple, gorgeous song about moving on.

Kelela “Frontline” (From “Take Me Apart”)

The second single from Kelela’s highly anticipated new album, another collaboration with young producer Jam City, is a jaw-dropper. Her music, a meticulously well-crafted blend of abstracted synthesizers and laser-precise human emotion, sounds beamed in from the future. This is the sound of an artist reaching the pinnacle of her prowess.

Lorenzo Senni “The Shape of Trance to Come”

In 1959, alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman blew apart the jazz world with the masterpiece “The Shape of Jazz to Come”. Italian producer Lorenzo Senni’s latest single is a winking nod to Coleman (and perhaps also to the Refused’s later “The Shape of Punk to Come”). Trance has little of the critical cache of either jazz or punk, generally dismissed as a somewhat gauche, corny substratum of club music. But Senni is a playful experimentalist capable of bending the core elements of club euphoria into much darker, stranger clusters of sound.

TIMELY TUNES, VOL. 59

TRACKLIST:

1. Local H “All The Kids Are Right”
2. iron Chic “My Best Friend (Is a Nihilist)”
3. Gin Blossoms “Hey Jealousy”
4. The Modern Lovers “Dignified and Old”
5. The Replacements “I Will Dare (Live)”
6. Hüsker Dü “Eight Miles High”
7. Miracle Legion “You’re the One Lee”
8. Neil Young “Give Me Strength”
9. Gram Parsons “She”
10. Lou Reed “Sad Song”
11. Cocteau Twins “Fifty-fifty Clown”
12. Kelela “Frontline”
13. Caribou “Our Love”
14. Lorenzo Senni “The Shape of Trance To Come”
15. Roy of the Ravers “Emotinium – Original Mix”

What are you listening to lately?

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A new month calls for some new tunes, right? This week on Timely Tunes we have music from LCD Soundsystem, Samantha Urbani, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Sannhet. We also honor the memories of two musicians we lost this week. 

TIMELY TUNES

LCD Soundsystem “oh baby” (From “American Dream”)

When James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem called it quits in 2011, complete with a wake-like capstone concert at Madison Square Garden, it felt like the perfect endpoint for one of the most consistent and zeitgeisty bands of the 2000s. Apparently, David Bowie himself urged Murphy to give it another go, and when Bowie gives you advice, you take it. I had no doubt that Murphy was still capable of great things, but I had no way of expecting THIS: LCD Soundsystem’s greatest record in a discography made up of only great records. The leadoff track, “oh baby”, seems a nod to Suicide’s classic “Dream Baby Dream” and is one of the most open-hearted, gorgeous songs the group has ever released. A triumphant way to open what turns out to be a darker, yet still hopeful, album-length meditation on aging and loss. *Note: I have already included “Dream Baby Dream” on another week’s playlist, but it seemed necessary to include it again here, in a slightly different version.

Samantha Urbani “Time Time Time” (From “Policies of Power EP”)

A big, bold, meticulously crafted pop song that is equal parts “Like a Prayer”-era Madonna, “Rhythm Nation”-era Janet Jackson, and “Sign O The Times”-era Prince. Samantha Urbani is the former paramour of modern pop maverick Dev Hynes, and her sound, especially in its tasteful use of saxophone, shares a similar sonic space as Hynes’ Blood Orange project. The track balances just on the precipice of cheesy nostalgia, but manages to be one of the most refreshing pop songs of the year.

Hiss Golden Messenger “When the Wall Comes Down” (From “Hallelujah Anyhow”)

It’s only been a year since MC Taylor’s last record as Hiss Golden Messenger, the wonderful “Heart Like a Levee”, but if “When the Wall Comes Down” is any indication, he remains on a roll. It’s a big-hearted, reassuring hymn to resilience in the face of a world that seems intent on building walls and breaking apart families. I haven’t felt very confident in the fate of humanity this year, but music has the power to light a path back to hope.

Sannhet “Way Out” (From “So Numb”)

Sannhet are an instrumental trio from Brooklyn that make a cacophonous sound out of the building blocks of black metal and autumnal post-rock. Their latest album, “So Numb”, is their most accomplished work yet, moving farther away from the cold nihilism of black metal and closer to something more immediate and approachable. That’s not to say they have lost any of their ferocity, and “Way Out” is a beast of wordless emotion.

This past week we have lost two of the most singular and idiosyncratic titans of music: CAN’s Holger Czukay and Steely Dan’s Walter Becker. Two very different bands, but both were gigantic gateways of sound for me in my youth and continue to be important to me. I have included songs from both artists this week.

TIMELY TUNES, VOL. 58

TRACKLIST:

1. Triste Janero “A Beginning Dream”
2. Suicide “Dream Baby Dream” (Single Edit)
3. LCD Soundsystem “oh baby”
4. David Bowie “Teenage Wildlife”
5. CAN “Sing Swan Song”
6. Blood Orange “You’re Not Good Enough”
7. Samantha Urbani “Time Time Time”
8. Madonna (featuring Prince) “Love Song”
9. Steely Dan “Josie”
10. Arthur Lee “Everybody’s Gotta Live”
11. Hiss Golden Messenger “When the Wall Comes Down”
12. Jake Xerxes Fussell “All in Down and Out”
13. Kevin Ayers “Song for Insane Times”
14. Do Make Say Think “Horns Of A Rabbit”
15. Sannhet “Way Out”

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New tunes this week here on Timely Tunes include the latest by Grizzly Bear, Kotomi, Brand New and Julien Baker. Plus, a brand new playlist for your listening enjoyment! 

Timely Tunes

Grizzly Bear “Losing All Sense” (From “Painted Ruins”)

Grizzly Bear remain reliable to such a degree that I kind of take them for granted. They create immaculately-produced, subtly expansive indie rock that feels almost anachronistic in the pop and rock landscape of 2017. “Losing All Sense” is psychedelia-adjacent in its beguiling labyrinth of melodic pleasure zones.

Kotomi “Ooh La La”

A balmy, understated electro-pop end-of-summer jam from Lauren Hillman, an LA-based singer and producer. If you, like me, mourned the retirement of the excellent and similarly-inclined Chairlift, this track could help to fill that void. “Ooh La La” captures the cohabiting feelings of ebullience and melancholy that accompanies the realization the pools will soon be closing and covered with falling leaves.

Brand New “Can’t Get It Out” (From “Science Fiction”)

The anticipation built up in the eight years between Brand New’s previous album to this one, which the band has pretty openly projected to be their last, created a level of pressure that seemed impossible to live up to. Last week, without warning, they finally brought “Science Fiction” into the world, and I’m happy to report that it’s one of the most complex, restrained, and rewarding rock albums of the year. The evolution of this band from a pretty good emo/melodic hardcore band into a truly GREAT, boundary-pushing rock band over the course of five albums culminates in what might be their best work yet. Of all the tracks on the album, “Can’t Get It Out” is the one that most is the closest kin to past work, an emotionally riveting anthem that keeps revealing new tricks the longer the wick burns, but this is an album that is best experienced in full.

Julien Baker “Appointments” (From “Turn Out the Lights”)

Julien Baker’s debut album “Sprained Ankle” was a sadly beautiful revelation of youthful fears and cautious hope. “Appointments”, the first single from its follow-up, is a continuation of that story. Over the barest of accompaniment, her aching voice rises from quiet trepidation to a forceful longing; an instrument straining to be heard in the night.

TIMELY TUNES, VOL. 57

TRACKLIST:

1. The Beach Boys “Surf’s Up”
2. Grizzly Bear “Losing All Sense”
3. Gal Costa “Nao Identificado”
4. Saint Etienne “The Process”
5. Electronic “Second Nature”
6. Kotomi “Ooh La La”
7. The Radio Dept. “Teach Me To Forget – 12” Version”
8. American Football “Never Meant”
9. Brand New “Can’t Get It Out”
10. Radiohead “Let Down”
11. Julien Baker “Appointments”
12. Beach House “Sparks”
13. Roy Orbison “Summer Song”
14. Charles Mingus “Mood Indigo”

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This week, Timely Tunes features music from Kesha, The National, The Dream Syndicate, Lo Tom, Yumi Zouma, and K A R Y Y N. 

Timely Tunes

Kesha “Bastards” (From “Rainbow”)

Kesha, who at the turn of this decade, was a brash, colorful pop star with a personality as big as Lady Gaga or Katy Perry with hits to match. “Rainbow” is her first album in five years, due to a horrifying legal battle with her former producer, who is accused of doing some pretty evil shit. The album is a stylistic kaleidoscope and a powerful statement of empowerment and reclamation, and her strongest to date. Opening cut, “Bastards”, is a beautiful country ballad that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Kacey Musgraves album. It’s an ode to not giving up in the face of horrible people and awful situations that sounds even more reassuring after the events in Charlottesville.

The National “Carin at the Liquor Store” (From “Sleep Well Beast”)

“Carin at the Liquor Store” isn’t The National reinventing their wheel: it’s another in a long line of brooding, melodically rich ballads. But they are so untouchably good at what they do, that I don’t mean that as any sort of slight. Where this song DOES depart a bit from past explorations is that lyricist and singer Matt Berninger trades in his usual abstractions for more open, direct references to his real-life wife. It feels intimate and grand at the same time.

The Dream Syndicate “Glide” (From “How Did I Find Myself Here?”)

One of the more unexpected reunion albums by one of the most under-appreciated bands of their era. The Dream Syndicate took their name, somewhat confusingly for amateur record collectors, from a 1960s collaboration by La Monte Young, Tony Conrad, and John Cale, and merged psychedelic and garage punk influences into 1982’s  “The Days of Wine and Roses”, still one of the most impressive and singular debuts by any band. The called it quits in 1989, but everything old is new again, and “Glide” has the energy and power of a band half their age.

Lo Tom “Overboard” (From “Lo Tom”)

This is the supergroup of my teenage dreams: David Bazan and TW Walsh (of Pedro the Lion) with Jason Martin (of Starflyer 59), and Trey Many (of Starflyer 59 and Velour 100). For a very brief blip in my mid-teens I became convinced that I should stay away from secular music and seek out more spiritually edifying bands. The problem is, when you have already been exposed to Pavement, The Velvet Underground, and Sonic Youth, most Christian rock just ain’t gonna cut it, no matter how much you want to please Jesus. Pedro the Lion and Starflyer 59 were two of the bands on a very short list that I discovered during that dark time, and two that have continued to stick with me over the years. All of that to say: I was pretty excited about this album, and “Overboard” is a basically perfect earworm of a song. It makes me feel 15 again, but without all the guilt.

Yumi Zouma “Depths (Pt. I)” (From “Willowbank”)

Irresistible soft-focus disco bliss from New Zealand that gives me flash backs to a simpler time when Obama was President, and I could go to the beach with Tanlines, Air France, and Cut Copy as my soundtrack and not worry about impending civil war or nuclear fallout. Truly halcyon days. What was I saying? Oh yeah…this band is delightful.

K A R Y Y N “MOVING MASSES” (From “of Light”)

A beautiful, emotionally overpowering selection by musician K A R Y Y N composed for Samantha Shay’s recent opera “of Light”. Shay’s latest work arose out of a mentorship from unequaled performance artist Marina Abramovic and has been heavily praised by Bjork (and many others). Made out of overlapping vocal loops, and little else, “MOVING MASSES” is an incredible work of art.

TIMELY TUNES, VOL. 56

TRACKLIST:

1. Dolly Parton “My Blue Tears”
2. Kesha “Bastards”
3. Glen Campbell “Too Late to Worry – Too Blue to Cry”
4. The National “Carin at the Liquor Store”
5. Television “The Dream’s Dream”
6. The Dream Syndicate “Glide”
7. The Rain Parade “No Easy Way Down”
8. Swervedriver “Deep Seat”
9. Lo Tom “Overboard”
10. His Name Is Alive “This World Is Not My Home / Home”
11. Air France “Collapsing Outside Your Doorstep”
12. Yumi Zouma “Depths (Pt. I)”
13. Tanlines “Nonesuch”
14. Comit (ASC) “Under Your Spell”
15. David Sylvian “A Fire In The Forest”
16.  A R Y Y N “MOVING MASSES”
17. Jurg Frey “Extended Circular Music No. 2”
18. Robert Ashley Opera Ensemble “Celestial Excursions: Act I – Is It Light Yet? Love Letter, Pt. 1”

~~~~~

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Timely Tunes Volume 55 had already been written when the world received the sad news of Glen Campbell’s passing. We couldn’t publish this issue without a mention, however, so one of his songs was added to the playlist. He brought so much to the world of music and he will be greatly missed. 

Timely Tunes 

Sabrina Malheiros “Clareia” (from “Clareia”)

Sabrina Malheiros’ music is a refreshing update on Brazil’s rich musical tradition of bossa nova and Samba. Joined by her father, the bassist of legendary samba jazz-funk group Azymuth (a favorite of hip-hop crate diggers), the music on her latest record is a joyful and summery blast recorded overlooking Gunabara Bay. As Malheiros herself describes, the album title means “to clear, light, brighten or illuminate, which, after seeing Brazil and the rest of the world go through some very difficult times, is exactly what the writing of the album brought into my life.”

Kelela “LMK” (from “Take Me Apart”)

Remember when Timbaland was producing absolutely bonkers pop hits for Aaliyah that sounded beamed in from the future? The new Jam City-produced Kelela single sounds like we have caught up to that future. I can never begin to guess what is going to turn into a hit, but this certainly sounds like a hit.

Four Tet “Planet”

Twelve years ago, at a music festival in Chicago, I saw a vinyl-meltingly hot mid-day DJ set by Four Tet and watched while Diplo cooled himself off by doing cannonballs in the pool adjacent to us. Why tell that story now? I don’t know. This gorgeous new track is hard to not daydream to, I guess.

Moses Boyd “Sirens” (from “Absolute Zero”)

Virtuosic London drummer, composer, producer, and electronic musician Moses Boyd has worked with everyone from the aforementioned Four Tet to Tony Allen, and his new EP is stunning, boundary-pushing space jazz.

Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet “Eh Ya Ye” (from “Ladilikan”)

A mesmerizing collaboration between three Malian griot artists and one of the world’s great string quartet experimentalists. The full album comes out in September, and I’m excited for the full meal after this teasing taste.

Destroyer “Sky’s Grey” (from “ken”)

I’m never exactly sure what Destroyer’s Dan Bejar is talking about, but I always FEEL like I get it, and that’s what makes him one of my favorite songwriters. Here, apparently, he has been working on “the new Oliver Twist”, while “the groom’s in the gutter” and “the bride just pissed herself”. Playfully daft as always. Be sure to stick around for the second half of the song when it suddenly expands into something that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Suede album.

Randy Newman “Wandering Boy” (from “Dark Matter”)

At age 73, Randy Newman remains the mordant anchor of American pop. No one can mix sweetness with irony and satire quite like he, and “Dark Matter” is a wonderful late-career addition to an excellent discography. “Wandering Boy” is a sad and tender song based on a neighborhood boy that his daughter thought would be president one day. The boy died of heroin addiction, instead.

TIMELY TUNES, VOL. 55

TRACKLIST:

1. David Axelrod “Warning Talk Part 1”
2. Sabrina Malheiros “Clareia”
3. Azymuth “Seems Like This”
4. London Posse “How’s Life In London”
5. Mariah Carey “Vulnerability (Interlude)”
6. Kelela “LMK”
7. Tricky “Makes Me Wanna Die”
8. Lloyd Clifton Miller “Gol-e Gandom”
9. Four Tet “Planet”
10. Shivkumar Sharma “Bhopali – Gat Composition In Ektal”
11. Moses Boyd “Sirens”
12. Weather Report “Non-Stop Home”
13. Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet “Eh Ya Ye”
14. The Human League “Seconds”
15. The System “Promises Can Break”
16. Destroyer “Sky’s Grey”
17. Brian Eno “Julie With”
18. Randy Newman “Wandering Boy”
19. Sparklehorse “Painbirds”
20. Glen Campbell “Wichita Lineman”

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We took last week off, but Timely Tunes returns this week with everything from the buoyant future-pop of Charli XCX to a slow-disintegrating Nine Inch Nails stunner. Welcome to August! 

TIMELY TUNES

Charli XCX “Boys”

Charli XCX is one of the great pop chameleons of her generation, leaping from one boundary-pushing genre exercise to another. She seems comfortable collaborating with SOPHIE on Aphex Twin blender-beat post-modernism (the giddily bizarre “Vroom Vroom”) or creating meta-pop anthems. “Boys” is an example of the latter, a deceptively simple and laid-back earworm; it’s one of the most effervescent pop joys of this summer. The self-directed video (a cheeky eye-candy parade of countless male celebrities including Diplo, Mac DeMarco, Joe Jonas, A.G. Cook, Ty Dolla $ign, et al) is great too.

Jessie Ware “Midnight”

London chanteuse Jessie Ware’s excellent first two albums, 2012’s Devotion and 2014’s Tough Love, were twin pillars of sophisticated, soulful modern R&B. Her latest single highlights those skyscraping, dexterous vocals over ever-tasteful, elegant production, confirming Ware as a powerhouse of the form.

Belle & Sebastian “We Were Beautiful”

An ever-wistful Stuart Murdoch aches over unexpected, but subtle skittering drum & bass on the band’s first release in a couple years. It almost sounds like Aphex Twin remixing a Momus song, and as much as that description reads like a disjointed mess, they make it work.

Rich La Bonte “Bright Yellow Star” (From “Mayan Canals”)

Originally released in 1981, this lost gem has recently been reissued on Josh Cheon’s excellent Dark Entries label (named after the early Bauhaus single). This heavily flanged outré-pop wonder recalls the playfully weird R. Stevie Moore or Robyn Hitchcock, and I would be surprised if Ariel Pink doesn’t have a copy of this album lying around somewhere.

The War On Drugs “Strangest Thing” (From “A Deeper Understanding”)

Adam Granduciel almost sounds like he is writing a Bruce Hornsby track at the beginning of “Strangest Thing”, but just when it looks like the mandolin rain* is about to drown us all, he lifts off into the cosmos on a Crazy Horse guitar solo. No one makes the building blocks of dad rock sound this urgently vital. *No mandolins were actually hurt, or even used, in the making of this excellent track; I was just making a joke.

Nine Inch Nails “The Background World” (From “Add Violence”)

Nearly thirty years into his career leading Nine Inch Nails, an institution of disaffected angst, Trent Reznor could easily have turned into a peddler of greatest hits nostalgia. That he has proven unwilling or incapable of taking the easy road leaves him as one of the few holdovers from his generation who remains potently relevant. The second of a promised three-EP arc, “Add Violence” is both more varied and vital than last year’s predecessor (the interesting, but somewhat slight “Not the Actual Events”). The final track is a stunning, meticulous slow-burner, and honestly one of his best-ever compositions. As it self-destructs over the course of seven minutes of progressively disintegrating loops, 2017-era Reznor proves that he is equally capable of honoring NIN’s past and pushing the project into a terrifying future.

TIMELY TUNES, VOL. 54

TRACKLIST:

1. Carly Rae Jepsen “First Time”
2. Charli XCX “Boys”
3. Missy Elliott (featuring Aaliyah) “Best Friends”
4. Jessie Ware “Midnight”
5. Maxwell “Mello: Sumthin (The Hush) – Live”
6. David Bowie “Right”
7. Ben Folds Five “Selfless, Cold and Composed”
8. Belle & Sebastian “We Were Beautiful”
9. Momus “The Sadness Of Things”
10. Gary McFarland “Because”
11. Rich La Bonte “Bright Yellow Star”
12. The Cars “You Wear Those Eyes”
13. Bruce Springsteen “Two Faces”
14. The War On Drugs “Strangest Thing”
15. The Blue Nile “The Downtown Lights”
16. Coil “Triple Sun”
17. Nine Inch Nails “The Background World”

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