Heavy Rotation: Half “Old,” Half New
Stereolab – Mars Audiac Quintet (1994)
Even the most warmly radiating music can make me shiver when dropped into a month as cold as this one’s been; this is one of the few inherently warm albums I can think of, which is why it’s all I want to hear.
Massive Attack – Mezzanine (1998)
But when I want to luxuriate in the drama of the cold, this will do.
Kate Bush – The Dreaming (1982)
When I used to say, “I love Kate Bush,” I always meant “I love Hounds of Love,” and while that album is awesome enough for me to make such generalizations about its maker, I’ve been trying to improve the situation and look closer at her earlier records. The Dreaming is Hounds of Love’s weird, weird predecessor, the precise place where Janelle Monae and The Knife come from, and always a few steps to the left of Elvis Costello’s most unusual album tracks from the same era (compare her heist yarn “There Goes A Tenner” with his popping Diddley homage “Lovers Walk,” for example).
Iris DeMent – Infamous Angel (1992)
Oh, Iris, I prefer to let the mystery be, too!
The Chameleons – “In Shreds” (1982)
The heaviest song ever recorded?
Twin Shadow – Forget (2010)
I came up with a formula to describe Twin Shadow (A.R. Kane + Simple Minds’ New Gold Dream + MJ’s Off the Wall + Hall & Oates’ “Out of Touch”), but it doesn’t come close to how lovely and stone cool this album is.
Kanye West – G.O.O.D. Fridays (2010)
I’m sure we will all appreciate the painstakingly, expensively, luxuriantly produced My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and its long gestation when it’s released on Tuesday, but it’s good that Kanye has also proven this year he’s one of the best spontaneous artists we have.
Weekend – “Coma Summer” (2010)
What makes this the noise-pop band of the moment is not the pop, which is standard, but the noise, which is audacious.
Let’s Wrestle – In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s (2010)
In the grand tradition of Television Personalities, Guided by Voices, and Art Brut… er, wait, Let’s Wrestle borrow different qualities from each: The first’s unfailing attention to mundane detail, the second’s production style where every sound seems to be drunk and crying, the third’s man-child talking points. Is it sad how much I relate to this?
Pernice Brothers – Goodbye, Killer (2010)
I should’ve known this would be a grower, consistent with the pattern in which every Pernice Brothers album becomes with repeated listens prettier and more comforting than its predecessors. This might still be a “minor” work, but only minor work can be cherished so.
