Greetings! Lovely to be here, once again nestled between your shipping confirmations and Nancy Pelosi fundraising pleas. Has it been two weeks already? Not if you’re a Paid Subscriber, it hasn’t!
Opening with a money grovel? Gauche, Finnegan.
Screw you, internal monologue. Let’s get to it!
GOOD STUFF
This week’s musical enticements are on the mellow-ish side, which I attribute to…well, nothing really. That’s just the way this particular cookie has crumbled. NMFO #3 may be full of eardrum mutilators, so consider yourself warned.
(Reminder: A quick Glossary of Terms)
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, “Pull Your Pants Up”
Click here for Apple Music // Click here for Amazon Music
Album: Cold As Weiss
Nutshell: Sparse instrumental funk
Voltage: 5
Thoughts: This same casual/funky vibe is consistent throughout the entire album, so if you like this, there’s more where that came from. Use it soundtrack your daily errands! With Delvon Lamarr coming through your headphones, that CVS trip to pick up Zyrtec and Skinny Pop magically transforms into a deleted scene from Oceans 11. The organ is the main attraction here (says so in the name!) but the drummer and guitarist are tight as heck and everything stays right “in the pocket,” as Randy Jackson liked to say. That’s a yes from me, dawg.
Pairing Suggestion: Pulling off a casino heist. Or vacuuming.
Father John Misty, “Goodbye Mr. Blue”
NOTE: This song deals (in part) with the death of a pet. Just a heads up.
Click here for Apple Music // Click here for Amazon Music
Album: Chloe and the Next 20th Century
Nutshell: Bittersweet folk, with hints of ‘70s Countrypolitan
Voltage: 2
Thoughts: If you’re familiar with Father John Misty (aka Josh Tillman), you won’t be surprised that this has echoes of Harry Nilsson. Actually, forget “echoes”—it’s basically a modern take on “Everybody’s Talkin.” Nevertheless (or because of that,) it’s just about perfect. I’ve always enjoyed FJM but his compositions too often feel unfinished, as if he noodles on the piano, jots down whatever “deep thoughts” pop into his head, and then piles on bells and whistles in the studio. “Goodbye Mr. Blue” feels like the work of a more disciplined songwriter. As usual, Tillman’s voice sounds great—warm, open-hearted and free of the affectation that sometimes seeps into his public persona.
Pairing suggestion: Driving alone at dusk, regretting just about everything
Moonchild, “I’ll Be Here”
Click here for Apple Music // Click here for Amazon Music
Album: Starfruit
Nutshell: Hushed jazz-tinged R&B
Voltage: 3
Thoughts: If you loved 90’s Neo-Soul, listen up. Moonchild isn’t raw and steamy like D’Angelo and they don’t have the confident swagger of an Erykah Badu (who does?) But they’re smooth like top shelf bourbon and guaranteed to put you in the mood for love. The chord changes feel unexpected at first, but by the 2nd verse you’ll be bobbing your head. Superb vocal harmonies. It’s not “sex music,” exactly—more like daydreaming about good sex you once had or plan to have in the future.
Pairing Suggestion: Slipping into a bubblebath (or imagining someone slipping into a bubblebath.)
FOR FANS OF…[Talking Heads]
I’ve always admired Talking Heads. At least, I began admiring them once I left behind the hair metal of my early teens. Back when I was “Rokken with Dokken”, I knew nothing about CBGB’s or New Wave or the avant garde. Due to the popularity of “Burning Down the House,” young “Chris” Finnegan foolishly dismissed Talking Heads as a band for people who listened to the radio (boooooo!) As for David Byrne’s oversized suit? Who cares—he was still wearing a suit, maaan (double boooooo!)
My opinion evolved as I crawled out of my hairsprayed pubescent chrysalis and emerged as the black turtleneck-wearing, Morrissey-affecting poet warrior of my later teens. Once I started demanding that music be “important” (eye-roll,) I came to acknowledge Talking Heads as innovative and courageous, while rejecting bands like Dokken as sweaty Corporate Rock try-hards.
It’s a standard arc for any suburbanite who came of age in the mid Eighties. But even once I accepted Talking Heads as “good”, I can’t say they totally clicked—not in an organic way. I did spend a few weeks in college performatively enjoying My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Byrne’s experimental 1981 album with Brian Eno. Imagine scrambling to finish a term paper while some asshole down the hall is blaring this:
Inexcusable. This was also the period of my life when I unfailingy wore a Tibetan smoking cap, so...
But generally speaking, Talking Heads have never burrowed into my lizard brain like, say, Bowie or Peter Gabriel. Still, there are a half-dozen Heads tunes I love and another half dozen I like. That’s a lot! And Tina Weymouth will never get her due as a great bass player and unassailable bad ass.
Mostly though, I place myself in the David Byrne Admiration Society. I got a lot out of his book How Music Works, which I may dig into at some later date. And I finally got around to seeing American Utopia on Broadway (it closes on April 3rd FYI.) Respect must be paid a guy who has been making art in the public sphere for almost 50 years and whose North Star still appears to be nothing more convoluted than “You know what would be interesting…?”
You may recognize that same adventurous spirit in the band Tune-Yards. Now a duo, Tune-Yards is mainly the project of Merrill Garbus, whose ear for and appreciation of global musical traditions feels distinctly Byrne-esque. In fact, both artists have been the subject (target?) of many “cultural appropriation” discussions. To each artist’s credit, they’ve addressed this stuff head on (feel free to google—this newsletter ain’t gonna be Thinkpiece Central.)
The link between Talking Heads and Tune-Yards seems so obvious that I found myself wondering if they’d ever worked together and sure enough…
So if you’re an avid Talking Heads fan, it’s quite possible you already know Tune-Yards. In which case, DON’T DISLOCATE YOUR SHOULDER PATTING YOURSELF ON THE BACK, BIGSHOT!
Did that come off defensive? I’m not defensive. Please don’t put it in the newspaper that I got defensive.
Anyway, Tune-Yards are great. Here are a few songs to get you started.
Tune-Yards on Apple Music // Tune-Yards on Amazon Music
SOME BULLSHIT
Remember a couple sections ago when I was talking about Moonchild? They’re new to me, so I wanted to learn more about the band. When I clicked on their Apple Music bio, I noticed something very, very important.
YOU: Too many words, Finnegan. What am I looking at here?
Wait, does that say…? Computer, enhance!
Steve Wonder, ladies and gentlemen. STEVE. WONDER.
Did this make me giggle for ten-plus minutes? Dear reader, I assure you it did. Jury’s out on whether said giggles were THC-induced.
(beat)
Ok, jury’s back in and the verdict is…“PROBABLY!”
What can I say, I love me a good perspective-altering typo. You grow accustomed to a stage name over the course of your life, to the extent that you don’t hear it as strange. If you think about it at all, it’s because that name has become shorthand for “musical genius”. But remove one letter and you may as well be talking about a budget magician doing a daytime show SUNY Binghamton. Delightful.
While I realize hashtag games were made illegal in 2015, I nonetheless present this humble list of formalized (or de-formalized) musical alter egos:
Rob Dylan (Your sister’s ex-boyfriend)
Mickey Jagger (Gonzo porn auteur turned Comedy Store dreg)
Lewis Reed (Economics chair, Princeton University)
Katie Bush (Featured speaker, “Stop the Steal”)
Bob Halford (Your dad’s work friend who always put you in a headlock for some reason)
Nicholas Sixx (Antagonist in popular series of dystopian Y.A. novels)
Ed Vedder (Erie’s top-rated HVAC repairman. You’ll pay more, but whaddaya gonna do—it’s Ed Vedder!)
William Eilish (Fine millinery, 14 Lower Dilberry Sq., London W11 1HH, UK)
Chris Cross (will make you jump jump)
Bjorkie (Bjork’s dog)
It would be downright rude for me no to suggest you offer your own in the comments.
Also, Father John Misty performed “Goodbye Mr. Blue” on Colbert last week. Very nicely, I think! But I always notice that, being a former drummer (he used to be in Fleet Foxes,) Josh Tillman never quite knows what to do with his hands. Whenever he gets up from the stool, he has that open-mic-comic “So, um, what else is going on?” body language. It’s awkward but endearing.
That’s about it for today. I want to thank everyone for their thoughtful comments on NMFO #1—as I figure out what this thing is/will be, it’s so helpful to get direct feedback. More please!
And if you enjoyed NMFO#2 and feel like sharing, I know better than to stand in your way. Paid subscribers, see you next week. The rest-a yiz, let’s all meet back here on April 6th!
It's funny this came up today because all week I've been thinking about Bernard and Elizabeth Rubble - Frederick and Wilhelmina Flintstones' neighbors.
Bond. Jim Bond.