Clear Spot - A week ago I threw the tenth annual edition of my birthday party popularly known as the Gold Party. Amongst friends and family I received hugs, kisses, well wishes, and gifts I was not expecting. All I want for my birthday is to have fun with those I love as we party it up the only way we know how - with good music and good people. These gifts had me pushing cards and bags away as I let everyone know "you didn't have to get me anything."
Turns out they did get me things and now I am forever indebted. This is all beside the point of the constant help and support those around me provide everyday. My people are wonderful and I love them all.
With time after the party I took to opening my cards and putting aside the gift certificates to my favorite record shop. My people know me and they treated me well. I took my butt down to browse some vinyl and search for some specific records I've had my eye on for some time. The result was a big score that cost me nothing and put a smile on my face.
One of those records I picked up just so happened to find me in the newest used bin where records fresh off the street sat until they are added in to the alphabetical stock. Good thing I went when I did or else I don't know if I would have found Captain Beefheart's Clear Spot. An album that holds three of my personal favorite Mr. Beefheart's tracks, but one that I've never listened to in full. I can say I was pleasantly surprised once I did.
Clear Spot jumps through hoops, finding its way through a maze, and eventually, landing in a field devoid of any constraints. Around those three favorites, songs that could fly over the airwaves, clean, "normal," and catchy, are a grouping of odd balls living in their own world. These tracks coexist in 37 minutes as brothers and sisters, but they don't all look alike.
The title track stood out to me as I spun the record and absorbed it through my stereo system. Warm yet bright, and interesting to say the least, "Clear Spot" makes you wonder how the same band could write this song and then "Too Much Time" in the same sessions. While "Too Much Time" is the clear winner of the album, I wanted to include "Clear Spot" on this week's playlist to give it some luster, some pizzazz.
This next request might involve you inviting yourself over to have a listen to the very copy I spoke of previously, but with such a grouping of songs comes the demand to hear them as they were intended - on vinyl. Once I took the album to my car stereo , listening through Spotify, I was let down and disappointment as they lacked the punch they held just a day earlier. In that case, I insist on finding some way to ingest this material the proper way. Be it as it may, whatever you gotta do, get it done.
Welcome To Hell - A recent repeat in choice of artist, but not in song function and execution, "Welcome To Hell," another title track, has been on repeat for the last month or so as my nerves and anxieties have gotten used to the panic attack inducing music that is Black Midi. I will define these boys as weird and their music as "something else," but I do implore you to try what you can handle.
On my post birthday shopping trip I had three albums in mind that I searched for excitedly. Unfortunately I was only able to find two, but that serves as a winning record in my book. Even as this music impacts my central nervous system so haphazardly, I was happy when I found it and was ready to explore its contents.
When I included "Speedway" on one of my previous playlists I did so to introduce you all to the live version I was so fortunate to witness. The difference from that studio recording to the live version spans for miles and miles on a haunted trail found only in nightmares. As for "Welcome To Hell," the boys in Black Midi did well in capturing the pure terror and oddity in their recording. As I revisit this track I find it comparable to that of the version I heard when I saw them in person. Lacking the bass that shook me to my core, this tune still holds the chaos that is such a song appropriately titled "Welcome To Hell."
Pop this one on when you're around some people you'd like to be rid of. It will most definitely shoe them far away.
Can I Believe You - Compiling this week's playlist proved to be an easy start as I needed only to look to my record wrack and the recent additions. With the first two tracks, "Can I Believe You," although not the title track, finds itself on one of the albums I added to my collection as a birthday present.
A long time overdue, my hands finally found themselves on a copy of this beautiful and essence of everything natural and ethereal record. It is a testament to one of the best concerts I have ever been to that filled my heart with joy and love and longing. It was magical, it was peaceful, and it was incredibly fun. It all makes me think of you.
Once a long week of work and obligations ended, I crawled home, took a long and hot shower, laid on my bed in underwear, and listened to this entire album with no other distractions. It was beautiful and recharged me to the fullest I could be filled.
I can not recommend this album and Fleet Foxes more. A truly incredible catalog of music that will leave you speechless and floating through the air.
Irene - Back in who knows when, I looked into the music of Courtney Marie Andrews because I simply had to. I got one glimpse of the album cover for Honest Life and immediately fell in love with the woman staring back at me. An even greater appreciation and a crush grown bigger is what happened when I heard CMA sing the songs she put all of herself into. The all around woman of my dreams turned out to be an artist I'd follow for years to come as her music comforted and spoke to me on a personal level. Thank goodness that voice loved to sing songs in the key of brilliance rather than some other genre I wasn't so keen on.
"Irene" pulls on my heart strings and fills me with so much comfort it's difficult to describe. A song structure simple enough, repetitive, filled with tasty licks, I find myself driven to the drums and the vocals and the guitars and the bass... well actually the entire track, the entire ensemble, every note that is placed perfectly in their own spots to create this track with warmth and good feelings.
A personal test of a good song, one that I will never get sick of, is when I'm able to add it to my list of tracks to practice to. I play along with a handful of songs that have exciting drum parts, ones that stand out amongst the rest and are fun to play. "Irene" circles my head when I'm wearing headphones with everything else that I'm not able to provide as I follow along. The simplicity of "Irene" drives me to improvise and add new licks while I follow the heavy tom fill and rolls that dominate the transitions of this tune. It sounds exactly the way I would play if I were on the track myself.
Say Something - A song I will forever shout towards the stage when I see Dr. Dog, "Say Something" is a tune I've only heard live once in my array of Dog shows. Without fail, I will voice my pleads and wants in the lulls of the show hoping to get the band to jump into one of their most electric and goose bump inducing numbers.
"Say Something," along with the Dr. Dog catalog as a whole, serves as a once in a blue moon song that pops up in my mind at the right times. I've touched upon the sentiment of having a favorite artist but not listening to them almost at all. It's a fine line between being a fan and listening to music without thinking to remembering your love for a group and listening with all the feeling in your body. There is too much emotion when listening to most of Dr. Dog's catalog especially "Say Something."
I'm getting a little sick of myself and my writing when all I can say is that a particular artist or song is my "favorite," but in most circumstances that title is what that certain something deserves. I have favorites across the genres, across the feelings, and across the moods they put me in. So without further ado, here's my favorite Dr. Dog song. There will be no second favorite (I Only Wear Blue), there will be no second number one, and there will be no hidden runner in the race. From here on out I'll be more careful with my words and how I describe these tracks. They're added for specific reasons, but I'm skating on a thin ice now.
Jolene - The soft yet powerful and graceful voice of Ray LaMontagne puts me in a trance every single time. Something about this man's voice makes me feel, here we go again with the repetition, safe, warm, and comfortable. Look, I was going through a bit of a mood when I made this playlist and it just so happens to be a rainy day, warm shower kind of vibe.
With sentiments of love and love lost, "Jolene" brings me back to relationships I've lost and others I've subconsciously sabotaged. Hindsight is always 20/20 and I'm always an idiot left to wonder about what could have been If I wasn't the way I am.
Much in line with that way of thinking, I find myself popping songs like "Jolene" on when I'm feeling low and reminiscent in a sad way. My mood screams long night drive with plenty of time to think and wonder. The sky is full and the stars are out or its clouded over and I'm inside with the heater on. It's all music that wraps itself around me, most times heightening my emotions, but all together comforting me by amplifying what's happening in a empathetic way.
The Start of Something - I don't know where I found Voxtrot. Part of me thinks this album may have worked its way in the knee high pile of CD's I checked out from the library, but who's to know.
With a want to get this post up and out of my face I'll cut to the chase. "The Start of Something" makes you feel exactly how the title makes you think its going to make you feel. There's excitement in the air and there's a bitter sweet aura that makes you want to jump up and down and cry at the same time. While this song is more upbeat than most on my "I Don't Wanna" playlist, it has the same sentiments. This track makes me think of the things I once had in my life, the people I once had in my life, and the ideals and thoughts I carried with me when I was a younger man.
Music does wild things to me. It forces me for three minutes to think about my past. Whether that's good or not is circumstantial. It'll be different every time. But the feelings are all there and the outcome will likely be the same. I'll be able to move on to other music and get lost for another three minutes in a completely different mood. What am I running from? Myself most likely. What music is going to catch me? My own maybe.
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