Holy mackerel this is great.
Pre-hair-and-makeup Robert Smith is a damn handsome man and the band just *kills* this. I have to agree with the comments there at the bass line is the standout winner.
And, in a broader sense, I think people underrate The Cure as a band name. It’s gotta be top 50 All Time. And then that they had so many great songs? Damn.
Here’s another occasional “bucket of songs that caught Mike’s fancy” playlist. This was a fun 6 months of listening. Putting it together I got to relive my little trip from ambient music and fuzzed out drone to hip hop and 20th century country music.
There can be some jarring transitions from song to song but I am way into all of the songs on this list. Give it a listen, I hope you enjoy it.
I’ve talked before about my classic rock thing and I’ve been revisiting that playlist often. What still blows my mind is that these were all young people making the music because I had only ever really seen them as old people. This video of The Marshall Tucker Band is great and I still love this song.
Back in June, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever released a gem of a jangle-pop record, “Hope Downs”. For reference, I’d say it’s got some early Tame Impala or maybe some early Soft Pack (if you turn your head just right). The Clean comparisons are obvious and very real, but they’re not just copping the style of those guys. It’s a really good record.
They’re touring the US soon but they closest they come to me is DC on a Monday night. I don’t have it like that anymore.
Loretta Lynn (still alive, btw) is an American Treasure.
This is a playlist I put together last year based on this NME Top 500 Songs of All Time list from 2014. It’s most of the Top 100. There are a couple that aren’t on Spotify.
They’re all hits (well, except the Blur songs, obvs.), and at over 7 hours long, it’s a nice way to spend a workday or two.
Snail Mail was great.
It was a mid-week show after I’d been on the road a ton over the weekend. It was still totally worth it.
Highly recommended if they come anywhere near you.
It’s crazy to me that this record is 50 years old. I never listened to it until after I read the 33 1/3 novella “Music From Big Pink”, which is a fictionalized story of the recording of the album.
It’s one of those albums that gets the major hype treatment from the baby boomers but, IMO, it lives up to it.
Debut album from singer/songwriter Lindsey Jordan. It’s so damn good.
“Pristine” is the lead single and a fair measure of what the sound is. I call it 90’s guitar indie rock (and I love it).
They’re coming to Richmond in a couple of weeks and I’m hyped to see them live.
This is a fun interview with Jake Johnson on Hannibal Buress’ podcast “The Handsome Rambler”.
I like the idea of recording these kinds of interviews on audio and on video. There is a funny story about Jake and Hannibal on the set of Tag trying to get Brian Dennehy to listen to the song “Dennehy” by Serengeti. It’s a super-duper Chicago song and it’s still making me laugh.