Timely Tunes ~ March 24, 2016

 

Big Thief “Real Love” (From “Masterpiece”)

Naming your debut album “Masterpiece” takes chutzpah or a winking sense of inward disarmament. Brooklyn’s Big Thief have now released two singles from that upcoming record, and both have been lyrically vivid beauties. “Real Love” features eviscerating lyrics (“real love makes your lungs black/real love is a heart attack”) and disintegrating blasts of guitar, positioning the band between Neil Young’s Crazy Horse era and Courtney Barrett.

Margo Price “Hands of Time” (From “Midwest Farmer’s Daughter”)

Margo Price’s evocative songs of Midwestern hardships, sung in a strong and pleasing voice, are a throwback to Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams. She has artistic ties to Sturgill Simpson, and the two are representative of a new wave of young, talented country songwriters who are battling against the banality of Radio Nashville and cutting their own idiosyncratic trails.

The Goon Sax “Sometimes Accidentally” (From “Up to Anything”)

The Go-Betweens were an important band for me while I was developing my musical tastes (I highly recommend checking out “Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express”, “Tallulah”, and “16 Lovers Lane” if you haven’t). The Goon Sax are a teenage band from Brisbane, fronted by the son of The Go-Betweens’ Robert Foster, and are helping to continue Australia’s strong history of jangly, bittersweet indie music.

Underworld “Nylon Strung” (From “Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future”)

In the 1990’s, Underworld made grand, expansive, and cohesive electronica albums (“Dubnobasswithmyheadman”, “Second Toughest In The Infants”, and “Beaucoup Fish”) that still hold up as some of the strongest records of that decade. That their latest album proves them capable of still scaling those euphoric, heady heights this late into their career is astounding. “Nylon Strung” showcases the human heart of dance music, as Underworld does better than anyone, and is one of the most ebullient tracks of this young year.

The Body “Adamah” (From “No One Deserves Happiness”)

The Body have become one of the most prolific, fiercely experimental, diversely collaborative, and divisive bands in the extreme music world. They continue to blur the lines of metal and noise, while periodically tempering the sheer hellish miasma with dark beauty. Maralie Armstrong’s scorched-earth guest vocals on “Adamah” are used as a counterweight in a way that recalls Jarboe’s work with Swans.

The Body – Adamah from guy_do_or_die on Vimeo.

R.I.P. to A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg.

 

Spotify Playlist: Timely Tunes, Vol. 18

Tracklist:

1. Faces “Flying” (From “First Step”)
2. Courtney Barrett “Avant Gardener” (From “The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas”)
3. Big Thief “Real Love” (From “Masterpiece”)
4. Hop Along “Tibetan Pop Stars” (From “Get Disowned”)
5. Emmylou Harris “Tulsa Queen” (From “Luxury Liner”)
6. Margo Price “Hands of Time” (From “Midwest Farmer’s Daughter”)
7. Lucinda Williams “King of Hearts” (From “Happy Woman Blues”)
8. Iggy Pop “Isolation” (From “Blah Blah Blah”)
9. The Bats “Treason” (From “Daddy’s Highway”)
10. The Goon Sax “Sometimes Accidentally” (From “Up To Anything”)
11. The Go-Betweens “I Just Got Caught Out” (From “Tallulah”)
12. Shintaro Sakamoto “Don’t Know What’s Normal” (From Single)
13. Dexter Wansel “Life on Mars” (From “Life on Mars”)
14. A Tribe Called Quest “Jazz (We’ve Got)” (From “The Low End Theory”)
15. Underworld “Nylon Strung” (From “Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future”)
16. Siouxsie and the Banshees “The Sweetest Chill” (From “Tinderbox”)
17. Thomas Tallis “Salvator mundi 1” (From “Cantiones Sacrae 1575”)
18. The Body “Adamah” (From “No One Deserves Happiness”)
19. Sunn 0))) “Kannon1” (From “Kannon”)
20. Fennesz and Ryuichi Sakamoto “Oto” (From “Cendre”)