Friday Music Day

FMD: Texas is a landlocked state

54 Comments

I took advantage of my cold to listen to some new music. Aided by a Saturday trip to the library.
Some quick takes on passing listens:

Mitski Bury Me at Makeout Creek.
Mitski Retired from Sad, New Career in Business.
Mitski Lush (less about this one).
There's love for her around here, but I didn't have the same immediate reaction as everyone else. Her music reminds me a lot of Angel Olsen (I'm sure Will Oldham has already asked her to sing on an upcoming album), but more dangerous. I'm not sure her best songs hit the highs of Olsen's, but the albums are better overall. There's no drag at all... hit hit hit (as in "punch" or "jab"). I hear a bit of Regina Spektor in Mitski's vocal acrobatics, but Spektor could have turned each of these songs into 6-minute meanderings. I went to bed last night listening to "Shame"... uh, wow.

PS. Can someone translate "胸がはち切れそうで "? Or even give a phonetic transcription?

Natalie Prass Natalie Prass.
Did Spooky rec this? It reminds me a lot of Caitlin Rose, hits some of those 70s singer-songwriter notes without sounding too much like James Taylor or Carole King to make me cringe. In a shuffle with Mitski, she sounds a bit languid.

Kacey Musgraves Same Trailer, Different Park.
I'd heard one or two tracks before. This is pretty good modern country. Maybe a few jokes or points are repeated or hit too hard, or maybe I'd just already heard that song in the background. I'll keep this around.

Hercules & Love Affair DJ Kicks.
It's pretty much what I expected, but somehow disappointing. This should be more fun.

Amon Tobin Supermodified.
I keep skipping it, I'm just not in the mood.

D'Angelo and the Vanguard Black Messiah.
This was released late in 2014 and made a bunch of lists, but I haven't really liked it much. I never listened to D'Angelo's other stuff, so I have no context.

Björk Vulnicula.
I keep skipping it, I'm afraid it'll stink.

Aaron Dilloway & Jason Lescalleet Popeth.
More ambient than I would have expected with those names. Maybe a bit creepy, but it was good for reading to.

Jan St. Werner Miscontinuum Album.
I don't remember the story behind this (though I could re-read the review, do I want to?), alternating tracks of dream-speech and ambient instrumentals. I skip the speaking (which is like a subliminial messages tape or that last track on Tool's Undertow), and the instrumentals are also good for reading to. It's clearly not Dilloway (it's more composed), but it's creepier than Popeth.

Horace Andy Get Wise.
A collection of singles he made with a different production house in Kingston (between his Studio One work), I think his other stuff pops more. Some good songs I'd never heard before (Andy seems to re-record his hits a lot), but I think he was smart to stick with his regular crew. Interesting as a historical document (great to have at a library), but I'd rather listen to Skylarking. If I'd heard this first, my preferences might lean the other way.

King Tubby vs The Clancy Eccles All Stars Soundsystem International Dub LP.
I've confessed my weakness for mid 70s- mid 80s reggae and dub (see above record), and this seems to be a pretty important album in the development of it. I'm digging it.

I'm tired of your money.

54 thoughts on “FMD: Texas is a landlocked state”

      1. Thank you! (Or maybe: ありがとう.) I had been wondering about this but hadn't gotten around to looking it up or asking.

        1. 胸⋅が⋅はち切れ⋅そう⋅で
          Mune⋅ga⋅hachikire⋅so⋅de

          Japanese is a syllabolic language, so every consonant followed by vowel is it's own syllable. For example, the first word would be pronounced like "Moo-nay", not "Moon".

          1. Thanks. I think I've read enough Japanese musician's names to get the pronunciation of the standard transliterations.
            e.g., Nobukazu Takemura's last name isn't /TĀK mur ə/ but /tak eh MUR ə/
            (With my bastard phonetic system, the /eh/ is somewhere between the English "short e" and "long a". [Phonetically, the English "long a" ā as in "cake" is really the long version of our "short e", as you hear in many romance languages: ¿Qué?, which matches the English pronunciation of "Kay?"])

            1. Why throw in a single phrase in Japanese? Obviously, it's intentional. The other lyrics go up to the edge of confessing heartbreak, but this line probably comes closer than any other in the song. So switch languages to hide it a bit? Or maybe it's some other reason that has nothing to do with this.

  2. 1. Duty Free -- The Ike Reilly Assassination -- Salesmen and Racists
    2. Cumberland County -- Fred Eaglesmith -- Falling Stars and Broken Hearts
    3. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times -- The Beach Boys -- Pet Sounds
    4. Geraldine -- Glasvegas -- Glasvegas
    5. Perch Warble -- Guided By Voices -- Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow
    6. I Want To -- Best Coast -- Crazy for You
    7. Start Choppin -- Dinosaur Jr -- Where You Been
    8. Proud Mary -- Creedence Clearwater Revival -- Chronicle, Vol. 1
    9. Spiritual -- Johnny Cash -- Unchained
    10. Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts -- Bob Dylan -- Blood On The Tracks

    B1. Howl -- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Howl
    B2. Seawall -- Son Volt -- Honky Tonk

    Notes
    a. Definitely Mitski's Townie is one of the most fun songs I've heard outside of the Sleater Kinney album in a while
    B1. I love that Howl album from BRMC, guess I'll be listening to that a bit this weekend.
    6. I find this Best Coast song haunting
    2. Just try and find a better song about a snow plow driver. I dare you.

      1. Yeah I've see 'em twice, both outside. Not sure if I want to seem them inside, especially in June. That may be a game day decision, based on what else is going on that week.

  3. 1. Rilo Kiley - "Capturing Moods" - The Execution Of All Things
    2. Ingrid Michaelson - "Warpath" - Lights Out
    3. The Replacements - "I Will Dare" - Let It Be
    4. Billy Bragg & Wilco - "Someday Some Morning Some Time" - Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions
    5. Arctic Monkeys - "That's Where You're Wrong" - Suck It And See

    6. Ray LaMontagne And The Pariah Dogs - "Like Rock & Roll On The Radio" - God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise
    7. Cold War Kids - "Miracle Mile" - Dear Miss Lonelyhearts
    8. Drive By Truckers - "Mercy Buckets" - Go Go Boots*
    9. The White Stripes - "In The Cold, Cold Night" - Elephant
    10. Jeff Bridges & The Abiders - "I Don't Know" - Live**

    B. The Kinks - "All Day And All Of The Night" - Kinks

    *8. This is a disappointing DBT track to have randomly appear. I think I need to listen to Southern Rock Opera now.
    **10. Dude

    1. Hey - DBT! Me too!
      Also, I really enjoyed that Ray LaMontagne album.
      Also, also - good list all the way through.

  4. 1. Neneh Cherry “Golden Ring” Man
        a. Band-tailed Nighthawk “Song and Calls” (Sound Guide to Nightjars)
        b. Tamaulipas Crow “Calls”* (Cornell Essential Set)
    2. Audion “Mouth to Mouth” Mouth to Mouth EP
    3. The Field “Is This Power” Looping State of Mind
    4. Feel Something (The Haxan Cloak Remix) “Tri Angle Records 2011 and Beyond”
        c. Blue Jay “Counter-calling” (Cornell Master Set)
        d. Common Loon “Yodel Calls” (Cornell Essential Set)
    5. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy “Royal Quiet Deluxe” Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

        e. Cuban Nightjar “Song and Calls” (Sound Guide to Nightjars)
        f. Black-capped Chickadee “Hoarse Calls” (Cornell Essential Set)
    6. Merle Haggard and the Strangers “Teach Me to Forget” Mama Tried
    7. Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX “Fancy”* Fancy
    8. Eric Copeland “Scum of the Cream” Ms Pretzel
        g. Black Grouse “Calls” (Geoff Sample's "Bird Songs and Calls of Britain and Northern Europe")
    9. Modest Mussorgsky* “IX. La cabane sur la pattes de Poule - Baba Yaga - (Die Hütte auf Hühnerfüßen)” Bilder Einer Ausstellung
    T. Kanye West “On Sight” Yeezus
    E. Horace Andy “Fever” Mr. Bassie

    *Notes:
    b. This bird sounds very different than our local American Crows.
    7. Ugh, I got tired of this so fast. Wierd Al sped up the process.
    9. In English, "The Hut on Fowl's Legs" from "Pictures at an Exhibition". This is the Sergei Gorchakov orchestration (not the usual Ravel orchestration). Performed by the Krakow Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Karl Anton Rickenbacher

      1. I read that article yesterday. I have a handful of peanuts in my coat pocket, to feed any I come across.
        I've only been able to feed two so far.
        Befriending crows is a much better option than angering them.

        From my bus commute, I like watching the commuting crows in winter that spend the day near my house and roost in the thousands around downtown.

          1. Cool. When my kids are a bit older, I want to bring my bike downtown in the winter and chase the crows around, see where they're roosting each night (it's not always the same place).
            I picked up this book at Half-priced a few months ago and I've been reading bits here and there.

  5. 1. Working On The Highway – Bruce Springsteen
    2. Jesus Fever – Kurt Vile
    3. I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That – Elton John
    4. Exodus – Bob Marley & The Wailers
    5. Wanna Be Martyr – Full Devil Jacket

    6. Zip City – Drive-By Truckers
    7. I’m A Believer – Neil Diamond
    8. Empty Arms – Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble
    9. The Maids Of Cadiz – Miles Davis
    10. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing – Jack Johnson

    B. I’m Dancing In The Show Tonight – Ween

  6. 1. TV on the Radio - "Second Song" Nine Types of Light
    2. Baroness - "Collapse" Yellow & Green
    3. David Byrne & St. Vincent - "Lightning" Love This Giant
    4. Mastodon - "The Czar" Crack the Skye
    5. Ramona Falls - "Bodies of Water" Prophet
    6. Dirty Projectors - "Police Story" Rise Above
    7. Real Estate - "Green River" Real Estate
    8. The Walkmen - "Lost in Boston" A Hundred Miles Off
    9. Red House Painters - "Cruiser" Old Ramon
    10. M83 - "Skin of the Night" Saturdays = Youth

  7. 1. "God Only Knows" - Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
    2. "Disarm" - Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
    3. "Everything You Want" - Vertical Horizon - Vertical Horizon
    4. "Come Fly With Me" - Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me
    5. "No Particular Place To Go" - Chuck Berry - St. Louis To Liverpool
    6. "40 Day Daydream" - Edward Sharpe &The Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below
    7. "Yellow" - Coldplay - Parachutes
    8. "Slow It Down" - The Lumineers - The Lumineers
    9. "Burning Love" - Elvis Presley
    10. "Beyond The Sea" - Dean Martin
    B: "Don't You Evah" - Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga


  8. Along with Mitski, another recent discovery that's getting a lot of play in my life is Nashville instrumentalist William Tyler. This could be the soundtrack to your life for the next 13 minutes.
    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qLbjLRt_f4

  9. I saw Julia Holter with the Spektral Quartet at The Amsterdam on Monday. They performed the world premiere of Alex Temple's song cycle Behind the Wallpaper. (A review of the NYC show a few days later can be read here.)

    It was a thoroughly enjoyable night of music, though next time around I want to see her with her band playing her songs. She is really an amazing talent. The second of two compositions of her own that she played that night was this number.*
    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrfvCbY0Aa4
    * not from Monday's show

  10. I'm just going to leave this here. I like this whole record quite a bit but this song is something else, god damn.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acyeKYS3ucA

  11. 01. Candlemass - "Black Dwarf", Candlemass
    02. King Diamond - "The Girl in the Bloody Dress", Give Me Your Soul... Please
    03. Black Sabbath - "Voodoo", The Mob Rules
    04. Mastodon - "Island", Leviathan
    05. Arch Enemy - "Pilgrim", Burning Bridges
    06. Iron Maiden - "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg", A Matter of Life and Death
    07. Metalium - "Borrowed Time", Grounded - Chapter Eight
    08. Type O Negative - "Summer Breeze", Bloody Kisses
    09. Metallica - "Eye of the Beholder", ...And Justive for All
    10. Iced Earth - "Angel's Holocaust", Night of the Stormrider

  12. It was Spoons who rec'd Ms. Prass.
    In my new-music shuffle*, this came through a few times today. It could be the best Caitlin Rose song ever:
    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgadJlTfdk

    *where I shuffle and then pick full albums out of it and then shuffle again.

  13. Her music reminds me a lot of Angel Olsen

    I've been getting a Fiona Apple-ish vibe from some of the songs on Lush. (Definitely "Bag of Bones.") I'm sure it's partly just the fact of the piano, but I think it's more than that. Also, one of the tracks on Bury Me at Make Out Creek makes me think of The Magnetic Fields--which is really to say that it makes me think of a roommate I once had who was really into Stephin Merritt.

    edit: I do also get the Angel Olsen comparison, though I feel like Mitski's voice might have a bit more weight to it. Some of Olsen's songs can be so quiet and subtle that they're capable of passing by unnoticed.

    1. Totally agree with the Fiona Apple comparison for Lush. The piano, her voice, the nakedly personal lyrics. And here's what I'd messaged to friend on fb regarding Mitski:

      Also, the guitars on the coda to "Francis Forever" totally launch off into Brian May territory.

  14. "Sister Havana" - Urge Overkill
    "Promises" - Eric Clapton
    "I Bought a Headache" - The Replacements
    "Pot Kettle Black" - Wilco
    "Kool Thing" - Sonic Youth

    "Oh Well" - Kenny Wayne Shepherd
    "Only Happy When It Rains" - Garbage
    "Change of Heart" - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
    "Lovelines" - The Replacements
    "Touch, Feel, and Lose" - Ryan Adams

      1. I never heard the song until like 6 months ago. But I love it and been meaning to go deeper into the Urge Overkill library, but havent got around to it.

      2. Following that link was worth it for the t-shirts alone. The comment from free was pretty cool too, though.

  15. Hey those with admin powers: I left a comment here last night and when I edited it, it got classified as spam. If someone could rescue it from purgatory, I'd be very grateful!

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