My new digi-single Green Book will be out on 4/20 via AMDISCS.
1. Black Dice | Heavy Manners
I always loved Eric Copeland's specific accordances: his vocal Yow and strangeness. It made sense to me that he and Bjorn were from Maine. After the sheer brutality of the opening of Broken Ear Record, this track is a comedown, swooping like an oscillating fan. Relax...
2. The Shaggs | Philosophy Of The World
The Shaggs made me realize that meaningful songs don't necessarily require any talent. The Wiggin sisters formed this band because their father, Austin Wiggin, foresaw their rise to fame. He was a very religious man. You can never please anybody in this world...
3. Yo La Tengo | Decora
I had the great fortune of seeing Georgia sing this song live a few months ago. The husband-wife duo of Ira and Georgia have been kicking ass for decades, and Decora reveals their humanity and, more importantly, their love.
4. Lollipop Shoppe | Through My Window
Before there was Dead Moon, Fred Cole was recording sad songs in Portland, Oregon. In 1967, the album Just Colour created a new facet of Oregon songwriters. Without Fred Cole, there would've been no Elliott Smith.
5. Phillip Seymour Hoffman | A Generation Speaks
Reminiscent of Grizzly Bear's first album, the DIY NYC scene was back on top when PSH released his debut album for free. Full of humor and the increasingly-rare love song, Noah Klein's songs evoke the loneliness and absurdity of youth.
6. ZNR | Solo Un Dia
ZNR went ignored in 1977 with Barricade 3, an album clearly inspired by Erik Satie's wanderings. Early analogue keyboards and strong Italian/French vocals form the central structure of the songs, which experimented with pitch, poly-rhythms, and shifting keys.
7. Brightblack Morning Light | Everybody Daylight
This song brings it all back for me - waking up in tents boiling in the morning Sun - Where can we find food? and all the rest. Truly nomadic and always-wandering, BML can groove like few others, explicating and defining New Weird America by living the lifestyle they preach.
8. Eddie Marcon | Anime
Shining On Graveposts begins with this song, sinking into ambient reverb. These humble songs build, becoming oceanic and haunting. I have no idea what she's singing (in Japanese), but have always wondered.
9. Gordon Lightfoot | Early Morning Rain
I grew up listening to this with my mom and her friends! Gordon Lightfoot was always on, it seemed especially fitting when we lived in a two-room cabin and Tim Turrentine was rolling cigarettes by hand. I must've been about eight years old. I had a Brittany Spaniel and a BB Gun. You cant jump a jet plane / Like you can a freight train / So I best be on my way / In the early morning rain...
10. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti | The List
How appropriate. Ariel is such a lovable weirdo - his list of his favorite songs names none, instead exploring a fascination with order and placement. It ponders the nature of pretension and obscurity, self-reflectiveness and self-reference. Why did that song have to lie to me?
