Amplifying the music, books, movies and journalism that matter.
Life is complicated and busy. Did you notice? Keeping up with the music, movies and books that fed your youthful imagination and conversations is harder than ever, but even more important. Here's the good news: there's never been more great new stuff. The challenge is to find it.
So here are my highly opinionated views on sounds, sights and words that will help you keep it fresh and real, and links to the veins where the richest motherlodes can be found.
Do you long for the "Summer of Love" sound of the Youngbloods? Does the mention of Moondance make you a little woozy? Maybe you came way too late for that party but have been wondering what Bon Iver would sound like if Justin Vernon had any soul?
If the answer to any of these questions is "yes", then you need some Michael Kiwanuka in your head right now. A Londoner of Ugandan parents, Kiwanuka has clearly been mainlining post-Monterey Otis Redding, all of Bill Withers, and not a little Curtis Mayfield. The fingerprints of the trippy part of the late 60's are all over this. But what's not to like about psychedelic soul?
As we approach the summer solstice, here is an album that has already earned a place on my 2012 Best list. Fittingly, as the northern hemisphere tilts closer to the sun, it's the latest from Beach House, Bloom.
The long shadow of Brian Wilson hangs over this duo, a Baltimore pair that has been recording since 2004 and now sits in the center of the genre known as "dream pop." It's a big, lush sound, full of harmony and vocal wash. Boomers, there are echoes of George Harrison, ELO and the Zombies and later, Dream Academy's Life in A Northern Town. Everybody else, you know this sounds as kin to Panda Bear, Animal Collective, Sigor Ros, Deerhunter, Camera Obscura, Atlas Sound, Grimes, my recent faves Chairlift and Tennis -- oh, for God's sake it's everywhere. Haven't you been paying attention?
This stuff plays with contrast, just like Wilson's best: the sunny melody that wraps up a lyric about loneliness and alienation. (And who doesn't love a dollop of irony with their pop?) But forget about narrative, these songs are all about mood:
Face it, right now this sound epitomizes the antithesis of rap -- there's not a hip-hop bone in its body. But as Beach House puts its across, it's not slack. It has tension and a certain muscularity that's revealed in this live version of Wild:
Earlier Beach House disks felt, well, washed out. This one has cohesiveness and heft. I'm moving in for the summer.
She recorded it in 1976 at the age of
33, long after the poplar success that came with Both Sides Now, Big Yellow
Taxi and Free Man in Paris. Hejira is a dreamscape of jazz
sounds, her own guitar underpinned by Larry Carlton’s and the gently propulsive
drumming of John Guerin. But it’s the bass of Jaco Pastorius that gives
this disk its droning power. From
deep in the analog era, the sound is crisp and clean.
Composed after a cross-country car
trip from Maine to California, the songs are full of the imagery of the road
and the mood is full of loss and longing. Listen to Refuge of the Roads,
which epitomizes the restless, rootless feel:
In
a highway service station
Over
the month of June
Was
a photograph of the earth
Taken
coming back from the moon
And
you couldn't see a city
On
that marbled bowling ball
Or
a forest or a highway
Or
me here least of all
You
couldn't see these cold water restrooms
Or
this baggage overload
Westbound and rolling Taking refuge in the roads
For me, the beautiful, beating
heart of this masterpiece (I do not
exaggerate) is her meditation on Amelia Earhart, then already a mythic figure of
the female adventurer:
I
was driving across the burning desert
When
I spotted six jet planes
Leaving
six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain
It
was the hexagram of the heavens
it
was the strings of my guitar
Amelia, it was just a false alarm
On a summer night, rain threatening or even coming down, fall under the spell of this
one.
Okay, this is a stretch but stay with me for a minute: Imagine if Sandra Dee, in addition to starring in, it had
written and directed Gidget, the 1959
movie that ushered the surfing craze into popular culture.And what if Sandy had then gone on to
adapt it for television (too bad for you Sally Fields), with an unblinking
focus on what exactly went on with Moon Doggy at the beach? Nuh, uh. No chance for the girls to win big in 1959.
But this is exactly the hat trick that 25 year-old Lena
Dunham has pulled off.Fresh out
of Oberlin, she produced a smart, original 2010 film about coming home to NYC “in a post college delirium” – Tiny
Furniture.It’s a gem.
Now under the watchful gaze of Judd Apatow, she’s got a
breakout hit on HBO, Girls, recycling and expanding the characters and
situations of Tiny Furniture.The
writing is sharp, the acting authentic and Dunham's character heroic.
Watch it for its knowing, hilarious insights into how women
are navigating the straits of young adulthood right nowWatch it for an early look at young
comedic talent who could be this generation’s Elaine May (Wayback Machine alert
– Google her).
But whatever you do, do not watch it as the parent of a 25 year old daughter. If that's you, go watch something else less unsettling, like Game of Thrones or something.
Spring is here. Maybe you'll be headed to a party in a Brooklyn backyard. Maybe you'll be giving one in a crowded apartment or a spacious, green terrace. No matter where it throws down, it's time to think about the music that will get the party started. Here, a guide to new sounds that will make folks think about moving and how much it would be to dance with that girl over there in the corner.
Lee Field and the Expressions, You're the Kind of Girl. Here is where I would start, with a Memphis soul groove (horns and all) crossed with a little Wilson Pickett, that would have felt right at home in 1972. But it's brand new from Brooklyn's Truth and Soul record label.
THEESatisfaction, QueenS - Oooh, you'll like this: a rock-steady groove that's two parts R&B, one part hip-hip, one part alternative -- wait, how many parts is that? A Seattle hip-hop duo with brave originality and minimal beats. Get busy - they want to dance with that girl in the corner, too.
Azaelia Banks, 212 - Now this is nasty -- trashy mouth and all. Don't let your Mother listen. But it's a irresistible dance tune, rapped over a techno beat that will be bustin' out of everywhere this summer. Hattie, where did you find this?
The Funk Ark, A Blade Won't Cut Another Blade. New afro-pop from a DC band. Think Santana goes to Nigeria.
Lushlife, Anthem. Philly rapper Raj Halder samples great beats and name-checks some unexpected pop culture references. Check it out for a chilled moment before the evening ends.
Some of my most enduring musical memories are of male-female duos
whose chemistry comes right through the speakers and sits in your lap: Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Otis Redding and Carla Thomas, and Sonny and Cher (yeah, baby). And later, the Eurythmics, Richard and Linda
Thompson, and Everything But the Girl.
Each of these new duos manages to serve up something original,
yet familiar; tuneful, yet electric.
Tennis, Origins – These two scored last year with a sweet song cycle about a sailing trip. This is a little edgier.
Chairlift, I Belong in Your Arms – Straight outta Brooklyn. If it’s brand new, can it
still be New Wave?
Jenny and Johnny, Scissor Runner – Side project from Jenny Lewis (sigh) of
Rilo Kiley, and her guy Jonathan Rice. As in "never run with scissors". Yes, Mother.
