Tune Hounds

Can’t use email at work, so this tumblr is now strictly things I want Mark to listen to.

Found this from John Patitucci--that bass is totally killing it.

The Cribs, "Bastards of Young" (2011) Almost forgot to say happy 30th birthday to the Replacements' Tim, a good candidate for the record with the greatest disparity between songwriting and production quality. Lord, that thing sounds thin and trebly, and not in a good way. So here's a pretty terrific cover of Tim's finest song---like all the best Replacements songs, it's about insecurity and despair, delivered with a fuck-you attitude that can't quite cover them up. I love the raw energy here, but I do miss the original's melancholy chug (and infamous video) that makes the despair more explicit.

Pure Gold

Would you believe this song has, on several occasions over the years, brought tears to my actual eyes? A good song for writing teachers trying to get students to understand the use of concrete imagery. (And a great trump card in "favorite tMG song" conversations/bragathons.)

Julia Holter, "He's Running Through My Eyes" (2013)

Loftus, "When the Electricity Goes Out in the Submarine" (1999) A strange and beautiful collaboration between members of Rex and Red Red Meat that captures the latter right in their metamorphosis into the mighty Califone. The whole album is very much like Califone in their second-gear noodling mode, with a little postapocalyptic singalong thrown in on this song. I bought this CD at Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis; there's a swatch of sandpaper on the cover.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, "Thousand Knives" (1978) Excellent Friday music, not least because I too get dressed up on Friday night just so I can sit in the bathtub with a gooseneck lamp, cool as you please.

Don’t remember if I’ve posted this before, but twice is still not enough! 

Hank Williams, "I Can't Get You Off My Mind" (1948) I had misremembered the line as "Do you think that it's smart / to jump rope heart to heart?" which is, honestly, a little better. #arrogance

The Amps, "Pacer" (1995) Of course, I should have known about Kim Deal's one-off project the Amps for years, but instead, sheepishly, I'm hearing this record (20 years old this month) through a goddamn Spotify Discover Weekly playlist. It's my Platonic ideal of 90s guitar pop: a little scuzzy, a little twee, some sweet harmonies, a sharp ear for a chorus. In other words, a band who's smart enough to know how to act dumb. (See also: Rentals, The)

Chris Smither, "Every Mother's Son" (1971) Chris Smither is one of the least-sadsack folkies out there, but when he does get mopey, he delivers. His crisp start-stop playing here is masterful, and I love that soft drone in the background (an electric guitar with wah? cello? a horn?)--the whole thing anticipates Bon Iver's first record, almost 40 years earlier. (A great album cover too, not just for its design but also its perfect marriage of title and image.)

Caetano Veloso, "You Don't Know Me" (1972) Listening to Caetano's Transa, made during his exile years in London. The interplay on this track is sublime. The way the bass works here--more like a lead instrument, syncopated but not exactly samba-like--plus the drums' heavy accent on 3, made me think, I bet Caetano was listening to reggae in London. And sure enough, the first line of the next track is "Walk down Portobello Road to the sound of reggae": CALLED IT. (And there's maybe something of John Paul Jones' and John Entwhistle's approach to the bass here as well...)

One more from Nuno.