NEW MUSIC FOR OLDS #71
A humiliating level of disclosure
Welcome back to another exciting installment NEW MUSIC FOR OLDS. Prepare yourself, because today I’ll be baring the very depths of my soul.
On the docket:
Saying yes to Yesness
That pizza place you went to back in college
The past not even being past
Checking in with FJM
Me, definitely not writing about Kendrick Lamar
A photo of Dave Kendall in tight jean shorts
Shall we? WAIT, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
GOOD STUFF
For sale: Glossary of Terms, never clicked.
Yesness, “Occasional Grape?”
Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music
Album: See You at the Solipsist Convention
Nutshell: Post-rock
Voltage: 7
Thoughts: Yesness is a collaboration between Kristian Dunn of El Ten Elewven (a band of which I was heretofore unaware) and Damon Che of Don Caballero (a band I know mostly by reputation). I guess I’m going to need to go back and do some deep listening, because I am aggressively saying yes to Yesness. If you dig experimental rock like Battles, Pinback and Zammuto, this should be riiiiight up your alley. See You at the Solipsist Convention is almost entirely instrumental and rather math-y, but it’s not some impenetrable chore—“Occasional Grape?” legitimately rocks, especially once the tempo picks up. BTW, I’m trying to imagine the context in which a person might pose a question like “…Occasional Grape?” and I’ve got nothing. While we’re being pedantic, this album title would be better if it was See Me at the Solipsist Convention. Yes I’m very fun at parties, why do you ask?
Pairing Suggestion: Charging into battle in your robotic exoskeleton
Clem Snide & Eef Barzelay, “Smokey”
Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music
Album: Oh Smokey
Nutshell: Singer-songwriter
Voltage: 3
Thoughts: Clem Snide and Eef Barzelay, in addition to sounding like characters from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, are the same person. At one point a band band, Clem Snide released a string of critically admired (but largely ignored) alt-country albums between the late 90s and the mid-2010s. They broke up a couple times and at this point, it’s just Barzelay and studio collaborators. But the clumsy attribution did its trick. After mostly ignoring Barzelay’s solo albums, I felt compelled to click play on this so-called Clem Snide album. It’s like passing an old pizza place you went to back in college—you’re curious to see if that slice still hits the same. “Smokey” is like a hug for your heart, and its gentle tone feels very appealing right about now, given…everything. “God loves you,” croons Barzelay in his reedy tenor, “more than you’ll ever love yourself”. You don’t need to believe that literally to find comfort in the notion.
Pairing Suggestion: Curling up under your favorite blanket
Kim Deal, “Obedience”
Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music
Album: Nobody Loves You More
Nutshell: Good ol’ college rock
Voltage: 7
Thoughts: For the longest time, The Pixies were firmly situated on the alt-rock’s Mt. Rushmore. But over the past decade, and seemingly based on nothing more than “vibes”, Kim Deal/The Breeders have grown in acclaim while the Pixies’ legacy has collected a bit of dust. Granted, the new Pixies album is kinda blah, but I found the general lack of interest a bit depressing. By contrast, Kim Deal’s first official solo album has been the subject of rapturous anticipation—appropriately, as it turns out! Half of the songs on Nobody Loves You More feature surprisingly lush arrangements, but it’s the righteous rockers like “Disobedience” that take me straight to my happy place. So what’s my point, exactly—that a good album is getting more attention that a mediocre album? Keen insight, Finnegan! I guess I find the evolving narrative interesting, in a “The past is never dead" kind of way.
Pairing Suggestion: My aforementioned happy place, a.k.a an August 1991 episode of “120 Minutes”
Choose your fighter.
And if you want to sing out, sing out.
SOME BULLSHIT
Full disclosure:
In addition the artists I wrote about in GOOD STUFF, I’ve also been enjoying Father John Misty’s new album, Mahashmashana. I’ve already written about FJM a couple of times and this latest album feels like more of the (very good) same. What can I say—there’s too much good music! And I suspect, in one direction or the other, most of us have made up their minds about Father John Misty. That said…
Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Apple Music
Fuller disclosure:
The other album I’ve been spending time with is GNX, the “surprise” Kendrick Lamar release from a few weeks back. I’ll spare you the intrigue: I really like it! Or do I? When it comes to this guy, it’s hard for me to know for sure.
I‘m always reticent to write about hip hop. For starters, I’m…me. Have you met me? Do I strike you as a guy who knows hip hop? Truth be told, 2/3 of it bores me. And the rappers I do enjoy? Why damn them with the praise of a 51 year-old dipshit who has just publicly stated that he finds most hip hop boring? Better I enjoy the work quietly. Your secret is safe with me, [NAME REDACTED]!
Luckily, some reputations are secure enough to withstand bandwagon jumpers. Actually, when it comes to Kendrick Lamar it’s more like my shoelace got caught in the wheel of the bandwagon and I’m being dragged behind it. Generally, it goes like this:
PHASE I: A new Kendrick Lamar album comes out and nobody on social media will shut the fuck up about it. Everyone refers to him as “Kendrick”, which gives me what I’ve been told is The Ick. I pride myself for not succumbing to groupthink.
PHASE II: I finally listen to said Kendrick Lamar album and quickly decide that it’s a masterpiece. I pore over the dense lyrical mastery and flagellate myself for being a pretentious little shit who’s too cool to enjoy popular things.
PHASE III: After a week or so, I’m only really listening to a couple tracks. After a month, only if it comes up on shuffle.
PHASE IV: The earth orbits the sun once or twice, a new Kendrick Lamar album is announced and the cycle begins anew.
With GNX, I’m currently between Phases II & III. I mean, this is undeniably fantastic:
So what causes my interest to eventually wane? Part of it is a particular “flow” lamar adopts from time to time—that sleepy, rap-singing hybrid that just won’t die. Lamar doesn’t lean on it too heavily, but it’s an occasional headwind. And then I ask myself, why tolerate headwinds at all? Maybe I don’t like this as much as I thought. Maybe I’m just responding to a cultural imperative to participate in The Discourse. But to what end? I doubt anyone is interested in my observation that “Reincarnated” sounds like something from Hamilton1.
Most importantly, writing about the topics normal people want to read about violates my longstanding commitment to commercial non-viability. If I wrote about Kendrick Lamar, more people might find out about this newsletter. Folks might start upgrading to paid subscriptions. It would be pure chaos. I cannot risk it.
“But Christian,” you ask, “Aren’t you writing about Kendrick Lamar this very moment?” No, I am writing about myself. I’m as disappointed as you are.
Am I a dingus? It’s okay to tell me I’m a dingus.
Oh, and regarding the name thing: I’m not telling you how to live your life. If you feel comfortable referring to this person as “Kendrick”, godspeed. As someone on the very periphery of fandom, I don’t see Mr. Lamar and I as being on a first-name basis. As such, I will continue to refer to him by his full name, fully understanding that it makes me sound like a Black comedian’s version of a White guy.
A humiliating level of disclosure:
Did I just sign up for tumblr (something one can still do, apparently), in order to access a microblog called whatsdavekendallwearing? You’re damn right I did.
Okay, I think we’ve all had just about enough for today.
In two weeks, prepare thyself for the 3rd ANNUAL NMFO HOLIDAY LISTACULAR! Prepare thyself.
This does not qualify as an insult from me, a Hamilton enjoyer. But you know what I mean.
The album cover though, if one were ever see such a thing, would just say "Clem Snide" though right? Like this is just Spotify making sure you find things and people get paid correctly, I hope. I mean, or else Eef Barzelay is essentially putting his name on everything twice? In which case I think I'd have to never listen to him/them (Them & Him?) again.
Dave Kendall-era 120 Minutes was the foundation for my entire life's musical fandom. For better or for worse - I'm still catching up on artists I completely missed out on because they weren't featured on 120 Minutes 30+ years ago.
Love the tumblr, and the Charlatans being my favorite band in the world, it was awesome to see them at the top. RIP Jon Brookes tho.
Anyway here's an earworm for you: https://open.spotify.com/track/0x0lQtqEDD1ZLebBK5i8rX?si=ae944a73db0d4d2a. Somehow that showed up in my wrapped as my #1 song of 2024.