NEW MUSIC FOR OLDS #5

Culture war special!

Hey everybody. Before we get to the tunes:

It’s Monday night and I’ve spent the last hour reading about the leaked SCOTUS decision on Roe v Wade. I’m now drunk with rage (and also alcohol). I have no great desire to turn this trifling newsletter into another front in the culture war. And yet…

An offer to all Free Subscribers:

If you make a donation of at least $50 to any organization working to defend reproductive rights, I will add you to the Paid Subscriber list for one full year, gratis. That means you’ll get NMFO every gosh-darn week, instead of bi-weekly. The paid version is a bit different than the main newsletter and I think you’ll enjoy it!

So make your donation and forward your receipt to newmusicforolds@gmail.com. I’ll hook yer shit up, guar-on-teed. Feel free to pick literally any pro-choice charity, but if you want to keep it simple:

National Network of Abortion Funds

Paid subscribers, I don’t know what I can offer you for donating, other than the reassurance that you’re not garbage. But I’m open to ideas!

As a palate cleanser, here’s a french bulldog dressed as Elton John.

Tiniest dancer

Ahhh, that’s better. Onto the music!

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GOOD STUFF

As always, a Glossary of Terms.

The Lazy Eyes, “Fuzz Jam”

Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music

• Album: Songbook

• Nutshell: Aussie psych rock

• Voltage: 7

• Thoughts: When The Lazy Eyes asked their Hall of Fame producer “Hey, which guitar peddles and keyboard sounds should we use use on this song?”, he clearly replied “All of them”. That’s a philosophy I can get behind! These guys clearly adore the first two Tame Impala albums, but that’s hardly disqualifying in my book. There’s also a lot of Flaming Lips, as well as any other “trippy” band you can think of. Influences aside, the jam is indeed fuzz-y and the groove is extremely groove-y.

• Pairing Suggestion: Tripping balls at some outdoor festival, moments before you collapse from dehydration (Not that I’d now—I avoid hard drugs and also the shirtless.)

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Lydia Persaud, “Unsung”

Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music

• Album: Moody31

• Nutshell: A gifted vocalist who evokes classic 70’s R&B without coming off like a novelty act

• Voltage: 4

• Thoughts: I’m sure I won’t be the only person to hear dialed-down echoes of What’s Going On? (the album)—the bouncy bassline, the background ooooohs, and most acutely, in the vocal melody. If you close your eyes, you can imagine Marvin Gaye singing this note for note. Like Gaye, Persaud doesn’t have a “big” voice, relying instead on control and phrasing. And like The Master (can you tell I’m a fan?) she often plays with tempo, coming in slightly ahead of or behind the beat. For me, that stuff is like catnip. But for the ears. Pure earnip, I tell ya.

• Pairing Suggestion: Slow-dancing on a perfect summer night

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Faye Webster, “Kind Of (Type of Way)”

Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music

• Album: Car Therapy (EP)

• Nutshell: An indie pop take Old Hollywood musicals. Or vice versa.

• Voltage: 3

• Thoughts: It was only after I’d listened to Car Therapy a couple of times through that I learned that most of the songs are orchestral re-workings of tunes from Webster’s 2021 album “I Know I’m Funny haha”, which is more in the traditional singer-songwriter vein. Both versions of “Kind Of” are appealing, but this newer one feels more idiosyncratic. Webster’s voice has a pinched Bernadette Peters quality that fits nicely with the swelling strings. There are probably dozens great artists making slightly mopey alt-country, but who’s doing Disney-inspired orchestral pop? It feels like there’s a place for that—in my brain, at least.

• Pairing Suggestion: Sitting delicately on a tree stump, singing to a bunch of cartoon critters. But for some reason, you’re all depressed.

Likes? Dislikes? Declare thyself!

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For Fans of… [STEELY DAN]

There seem to be two school of thought about Steely Dan:

• TEAM A: Steely Dan are smug automatons who make bloodless jazz fusion for CEOs who think they’re “with it” because they own a leather blazer. The sound of someone ironically doing a line of coke.

• TEAM B: Steely Dan are the urbane creators of a secret musical language that expands the minds of those willing to hear it. The apotheosis of anti-cool cool.

Satisfying no one, I fall somewhere in between. I spent my twenties firmly in Team A, but over the years I’ve drifted steadily towards the light. You can chalk that up to me actually listening to Steely Dan records, rather than reacting to radio singles and general “vibes”. Or perhaps Steely Dan appreciation is a natural byproduct of Male Middle Age, like increased nose hair or strong opinions about bourbon.

The precise midpoint between “basic bitch” and “trying too hard”

But I still wouldn’t call myself a “Dan Fan”, as they have come to be known. No matter how much I admire the musicianship and compositional ingenuity, I’m still left with a vague wedding band aftertaste. Well, that’s not exactly right—Steely Dan does occasionally sound like a wedding band, but a wedding where the best man is the groom’s adult son. A third-wedding band, if you will.

Hey nineteen

Over the past two decades, Dan Fans have reclaimed that blatant un-cool-ness as a badge of pride, to the extent that Steely Dan is now something of a lifestyle brand. I instinctively recoil at meme-ification, but I do my best to judge music separate from whatever cultural nonsense surrounds a band’s fanbase. Aja and The Royal Scam are the two albums on which I’ve “put in the hours”, but I’m familiar enough with Steely Dan’s catalogue to make a personal ruling: Steely Dan is a beautiful house in which you can wander for hours and hours and continue to discover new rooms. All the furniture has slipcovers on it, but that’s just so you don’t mess everything up, slob that you are.

To switch metaphors, Steely Dan is a bit like sushi. Sushi is beautiful and delicious but it’s never going to give you the OHFUCKYES thrill of a perfect slice (although “Peg” and the drum solo at the end of “Aja” come close). My enjoyment, real though it is, comes almost entirely from the neck up and I’m often left thinking, “Ok, that was nice. What next?” It’s the musical equivalent of a domino exhibition.

Pretty cool. But ultimately, who gives a fuck?

NOTE: I’m aware that there are newer, more impressive domino videos I could have embedded. But one should never miss an opportunity to post premium “That’s Incredible” content.

Choose your fighter

Now that I’ve laid bare my mixed-but-trending-upward feelings about The Dan, apply whatever grains of salt you deem necessary to my recommendation that you check out Oakland’s Once and Future Band.

I heard OAFB in a San Francisco bar last year and instantly Shazam’d the shit out of it. Their schizophrenic sound references pretty much the entire Seventies canon—a Pink Floyd intro here, a Stevie Wonder verse there, straight into a Wings chorus, etc. Somehow it all melds together to create a reasonably cohesive prog-pop sound.

I wouldn’t say these are my absolute favorite OAFB tunes, but they’re the ones that most clearly display Dan-like tendencies. You won’t find that trademark Steely Dan lyrical zing (which I would sum up as “Check out this loser lol…”) and the production is a bit grimier, but the weird chords and ace musicianship are here in spades.

Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music

Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music

Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music

Thoughts? Am I nutso?

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SOME BULLSHIT

I had a mammoth treatise planned for this week’s Bullshit, but I’ve spent the last three hours hate-scrolling various hashtags, so maybe it’s best to save that for a week when I’m not busy wishing death upon roughly 30% of our fellow citizens.

Let’s cap today’s NMFO with a few links:

• This Jeff Tweedy interview in Esquire is chock full of warmth and wisdom. Absolutely worth your time.

• The teaser has dropped for the Weird Al biopic, starring Daniel Radcliffe. Even as an old school Dementoid, I’m skeptical this will be good. But I’m thrilled it exists.

• RIP Mick Shrimpton. You outlasted them all.

• Finally: I try to maintain a general spirit of positivity here at NMFO, but my love of Things Terrible will occasionally shine through. To that end, I highly recommend following the twitter account @catatonicyouths. They compile (and selectively edit) weird/awful musical performances uploaded to YouTube. A little taste:

catatonicyouths @catatonicyouths

alone

catatonicyouths @catatonicyouths

zack is built different

catatonicyouths @catatonicyouths

fire’s not enough

Shall we consider that my dismount?

As always, thanks for reading. If you’re enjoying NMFO, please consider becoming a paid member and/or sharing this post. Gracias!