November 2024
The Pilgrim, Their God and The King Of My Decrepit Mountain
Tapir!
I'm dreaming of a nap in the grass in the sun, shadowed by gently waving leaves — a breeze bringing scents from outside of our mundane neighborhood — I played this album in the car driving back from the coast — bitter (the trip is over) yet sweet (what lovely memory). A warm jet soothing aching muscles. This debut of breathless title offers such classic features as three-act structure and theological narrative arc, but there's no need to get caught up in intricacies — warm honey sweeps over me — o, to encase the moment in amber.
October 2024
String Quartet Live!
Kishi Bashi
In celestial symphony Kishi Bashi invigorates his own compositions, stiff in studio, with smooth and brilliant energy—Kishi Bashi saws and sighs. The narrative: beginning, desert, antichrist, and end—a bible of Kishi Bashi's own making—punctured by a Talking Heads cover and the surreal Ballad of Mr. Steak, "who could have been deliciously devoured, but he loved to dance." Live, Kishi Bashi and company play with infectious dynamism. It must have been an amazing show. How glad I am to have this recording! I keel, I swoon. Particularly recommended for fans of Bird and Pallett.
September 2024
Searchlight Moonbeam
Time Is Away
"Searchlight Moonbeam is ... tinctured fusions of fugitive sounds and reverie-inducing arc-hival speech. ...[A]n autumnal dreamscape, intimate and ves-pertine, pensive and irresolute ... exquisitely heartbroken ... plan-gent improvisations.... Revelations are frequent: bedsit isolationism ... narked minimalism ... etude-grooves and echoic wobble ... the plaintively dubby ‘Is It You?’ by Slapp Happy ... perverse as the cover of Throbbing Gristle’s 20 Jazz Funk Greats. ...[T]he musical analog of an Italo Calvino novel or a medieval fable.... Endowed with the tactility of Braille. ...It is a record of the seasons, for the seasons. ...[G]loaming melodies, disques du crépuscule and ensor-celled storytelling."
August 2024
Objectivity is dead. We live in a culture of the subject, our lives not history but folklore of the current day, be they lies or truth or some combination; here nine members of funk-fusion collective Nubiyan Twist join nine collaborating vocalists to share stories of now. Cautionary tales, says their description, parables of modern life. Perhaps you'll see your own subjectivity reflected in a brilliant flash of color--and even if perhaps you don't, you may have stolen a glimpse into someone else's.
July 2024
Cool off with a dip in the reflecting pool that is Drunk by Thundercat. What is a party if not an effort to stave off the existential? Sweet crooning vocals flutter dream-like (a butterfly) over a web of instrumentals comprising jazz- soul- r&b- psychedelic- acid- emo- city pop. Thundercat hosts guests as illustrious as Kendrick Lamar, Kenny Loggins, Pharrell, then turns around to lovingly satirize those who would stake their lives on anime. Close your eyes, relax, stay a while. Or look up the music videos, which are excellent.
June 2024
A Beginner's Mind
Sufjan Stevens &
Angelo de Augustine
Happy Pride, and one year of these review-recommendations. After years bombarded by the speculation of strangers, Stevens spoke with quiet sadness of his late partner in 2023—for those with the eyes to see, queerness has always been foundational subtext within his music. Here he works with lesser-known De Augustine to build a musical survey of a strange series of movies, Night of the Living Dead through Bring It On Again, interested less in the literal events (no need to watch the full playlist) than elements of metatext—made by whom, for what purpose, and did it succeed? Was the pursuit worthwhile? And if not—can we still make meaning from it?
May 2024
Bark Your head Off, Dog
Hop Along
Hop Along writes lyrics as if prose, describing moments of narrative as tangible in their specificity as sweat on the back of your neck on a hot summer day; they set prose to music with voiced smiles and the confident sound of summer surf rock. They are equal parts concrete and allegorical, referential and rhetorical. The singer has a rough, "unpolished" quality I find deeply charming, giving the impression of an almost childlike naivete, backed by depths of layered instrumentation that show the true complexity of their intent. Sunny major chords decorate the backdrop of a deeply thrumming sorrow. This is love and loss and memory, and even when it's gone, the emotion stays with us always.
April 2024
Yudashi Peril: Floraison
Tetra Yon
What was your life like ten years ago? I was out of high school, working, not yet comfortably in the realm of college, and the world felt bleak and endless. Certainly there are things I would have done differently, but to go back would mean reliving that which hurt me. To even think about it is to enter a realm of limitless rumination. How far back would we need to go to 'fix' anything? Is it even possible? Yudashi Peril: Floraison. This recently-released soundtrack to the acclaimed (by me) visual novel features 64 instrumental tracks ranging from the melancholy piano of a moonless night through daily life's bossa nova, the hirajoshi scales that score girl gangs of delinquents, and crushing industrial that brings to mind the rusted landscapes of Yamaoka's Silent Hill. Music for confronting the past that threatens to destroy you.
March 2024
"The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters."
- Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (c. 1929)
Where I live March is cold and lonely; we see more clouds than sun. Fuel your dim and hopeless days with eco-anarchist folk-punk collective Blackbird Raum, whose textual references range from the medievalist ballads of Sir Thomas Malory through Lakota holy man Black Elk and environmental scientist Rachel Carson. Sing your elegy as a call to action.
"Change is confusing and dangerous, but it’s a dire necessity. One thing is clear: the answer will come from people, not power."
- Banjo player CPN (2011)
February 2024
I rediscovered Squalloscope with Exoskeletons for Children in 2022 and was blessed shortly afterward with this excellent new release. Weightbearer is dreamy, sparse, heavy with grief and thick with resilience. They speak with the voices that haunt us late into the night. These are mantras borne out of desperation and a helpless insistence on love. We are calloused all over, but delicate wings still flutter against our encircling ribs, hopeful, always, for a more tender future. The winter is cold and long and we have little choice but to endure it; but if we look closely, spring buds may already be sprouting in places we would never have expected.
January 2024
Louie Zong is a professional animator and he still finds time in his busy schedule to make these funny little songs and renders. It was hard to pick a track to feature because I like so many of them, but Cartoon Mines (above) is about the struggle of working in a creative field, so it works as a thesis statement. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll say "that's so relatable, Louie, you really get me." I also find it admirable because the scale of production is so small and the results are so pleasing! We should all be so willing to experiment and just to make something, regardless of how it might turn out. Free/pay what you can!
December 2023
Stillness in Wonderland
Little Simz
In the pursuit of success the only paths illuminated are those already traversed: a set of rules and metaphors, from which any diversion could prove fatal; yet to follow the path traced by another is to fundamentally deny the self. Life's vast wilderness holds un-limited possibilities. In her second self-published LP, Simbi Ajikawo uses the familiar imagery of Alice's fantastical adventure in describing the emotional heights of mundanity. Wonderland be-comes the metaphorical wood-land, a realm defined equally by obstacle and promise, separate from our world yet mirrored in every aspect. Effortless meters ground lush instrumentals in an everyday reality, as if to say: this is our life, for better or worse.
November 2023
Above——
A grave marker in a sunlit forest, the anonymous forgotten dead of history; a plea for kindness and simplicity; to enjoy a life on the verge of changing; beauty and peace even when danger abounds.
Below——
Death by a thousand cuts; dragging heavy knees across wet muddy asphalt; the ever-present threat of a death that eludes you; destruction as a step on the path to creation; confronting the shadow of the self. And don't forget to start again just when you think it's over.
October 2023
Dead Man's Bones
Dead Man's Bones
Welcome to spooky season, and happy haunting. Looking for the claustrophobic creepiness of Poe? The silly scares of a good Goosebumps? Perhaps the murky melancholy of a ghost ship lost at sea; mournful memories of the unfortunate undead; the miser-able mayhem of a tragic teenager? Even a nostalgic New England autumn seems to be represented, though that may be my bias. There's something here for every flavor of frights, so memento mo-ri, my friends.
Minor disclaimer: Ryan Gosling (yes, from Barbie) is a founding member and he probably won't benefit much from your music budget; if you want to support an indie artist in the spirit of Band-camp Friday, check out Hemlocke Springs' new EP.
September 2023
Now together dear reader we embark upon our first journey into a realm I think of as meta-fiction. Heartland dictates a narr-ative of fantasy adventure: our hero leaves behind the life he knows, seeks God, and, betrayed by God's unfeeling nature, defeats and destroys him. He's not called God, though. He's called Creator, Storyteller, Singer, and, ultimate-ly, Owen. What does it mean for the character to kill his writer? It can mean rejection of the life (or name) prescribed to us; it can mean determination, despite the difficulty, to find our own paths through life. I can't tell you what it means. Go on—decide for your-self.
August 2023 
Samples for Handsome Animals
Lady Lamb (The Beekeeper)
Lady Lamb lyrics are just slightly strange in a way that really appeals to me. She grounds a lot of emotion in the physicality of the body (the spine, the ribcage) and she decorates with the texture of words like aubergine. I love her modern output but there's something odd and magic about these rough early recordings. For a long time this album simply wasn't available anywhere! So what a delight to see it on her page. Every aspect communicates bittersweet nostalgia and intense longing. "You look like you could be my friend, don't go away."
July 2023
"I'm inching away from the darkest slump of my life, and I don't know if I'm coming back." Crying's debut album is a double feature of EPs that fit perfectly together. (I don't have a big story for this one so it's harder to write a blurb!) They pair an upbeat, chiptune sound with introspective lyrics. This album feels to me like acknowledging the struggles of depression and adjusting to adult life, and insisting, despite everything, on optimism. Their work brightens my day when I'm in a good mood and keeps me warm when I'm feeling low. I also think they are terribly underrated! Give them a shot!
June 2023
How Sad, How Lovely
Connie Converse
Connie Converse disappeared, likely of her own volition, in August of 1974. She left behind an incredible library of recordings, a mix of covers and original songs, which were first organized and published by her family estate in 2009. Converse was extremely private about her personal life, with family saying both that she may never have had any romantic relationships, and that she may have been a lesbian. Her work is full of humor and heart, and dwells heavily upon gender and the roles of men and women in society. I hope that wherever she is, she found peace.
Stay tuned... 
