Good morning.
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written. That’s mainly because I’ve been busy with general life stuff. I’ve also, for some reason, begun writing a story that feels like it could be another novel manuscript and so I’m fortifying myself for one big charge before—or so it seems—I enter the next stage of my arrested development.
This month has also been one of the most trying months I’ve experienced at work. The last several months have been hard but this month may be the most challenging so far. You can read about it here and here or follow along. There’s not much else to say about the situation. But I still have a lot of thoughts about where the media business is in general in 2024 and I’ll share them once I have the energy to put them all down coherently.
I’m here today to share a March playlist. Living in Austin has changed my perception of the seasons. I used to have a great sense of how March in New York felt: as if you were always on the cusp of something beautiful; bright surprisingly warm days followed by miserable wind and despairing rain; unassuming long drunken afternoons and early evenings with basketball on everywhere only to be taken aback by the need for a much heavier coat once the sun went down. And always with eyes on the summer coming.
Now, March—this March—feels like high summer in New York. Beautiful sunny days in the 70s that stretch to the 90s all of a sudden if you aren’t looking. Then those stretches of heavy gray days, always awaiting rain, that sit somewhere between 68 and 74 but never feel that warm somehow.
This playlist may reflect my lack of feel. I’m not sure what these songs are supposed to evoke, but I’ve been listening to them all and I’ve liked them all a hell of a lot. Hope you find something for yourself.
“Washita Love Child” by Jesse Ed Davis
No matter how low energy I’ve felt this month, this song fuckin’ jacks me up. I’ve been a longtime lover of Jesse Ed Davis ever since I heard George Harrison introduce him on the second tape of my mom’s copy of The Concert for Bangladesh (1971). Downloaded Jesse Davis! (1970) back in the good ol .rar file blog days and listened to it a lot in 2010-2012. Heard this song in the credits of a Reservation Dogs episode and it reminded me that I love Jesse Ed Davis. By the way: Reservation Dogs, what a show! Moved at its own pace, constantly thought-provoking, and also surprisingly emotional.
“All Lined Up” by Sheer Mag
Sheer Mag is a band that’s been around for a while I guess. Could have fooled me—I only heard of them because I was reading the AllMusic Editors Choices for March. I’m glad I know them now. Their new album Playing Favorites is one of those little miracles for a guy like me: a true rock n’ roll album that hits all the notes and postures perfectly. There’s no place for a record like this in the world these days—they’re genre flicks that rarely break through. I mean, honestly, where do rock records fit in? But I love this album and I LOVE this song. There are endearing, strutting BTO acoustic guitars, “Venus” backing shouts, Thin Lizzy or Cheap Trick style flourishes on the lead guitars, and a rip roaring vocal delivery of the line “I need to shoot some pool.” This song, this album, just IS. And it IS exactly what it IS in such a way that I could listen to it forever.
“Manhattan Island Serenade” by Leon Russell
As a Harry Nilsson lover, I feel like the reassessment of Nilsson’s career that took place over the 2010’s is now due for Leon Russell. This guy wrote and arranged some great songs. Sure, his voice doesn’t have anything on Nilsson but this is a beautiful ballad. Great rain and tires on rain sound effects too—always gonna get me with those.
“No More Lonely Nights” by Paul McCartney
I’ve been listening to Take It Away, my Paul McCartney podcast, again. A thing about me is that I listen to podcast episodes I’ve listened to multiple times about albums I’ve heard a million times for comfort. But I’ve been keyed in on this song from the much-derided Give My Regards to Broad Street album and film. This is Paul doing his take on HUGE 1980s style pop. The pre chorus and chorus of this song are amazing. But this song has the strangest and most out of place guitar solo. It’s like a Marc Ribot solo on a Tom Waits song transplanted to a Berlin single. That’s the joy of McCartney—you always find something like this buried in there.
“I Still Believe (Great Design)” by The Call
I heard this song somewhere because it's in my Shazam history, but I can’t for the life of me remember where I heard it. An outstanding mid-80s production: a little Simple Minds-style keyboard mixed with some INXS-level theatrics.
“Dirty Laundry” by Don Henley
Say what you want about Don Henley but the fact that the same guy that sang “Desperado” also sings “Dirty Laundry” is pretty amazing. I have to admit that I have a soft spot for the sleazy, Henley synth songs from the 80s (I’m thinking “All She Wants to Do Is Dance” and “Sunset Grill”) and this track may be the perfect encapsulation of that sound.
“OMG” by Suki Waterhouse
This is one of those songs I found by scrolling through the thumbnails in the New Releases carousel on Spotify. I stopped on it because I liked the little thumbnail image. This is one of the new ways I find music these days. Alas, poor Borders headphone CD stations! In any case, this song transitions nicely out of the Henley sleaze into some present day pop.
“Quarry” by Wednesday
I heard this song at my training gym. It reminded me of Pavement and I liked it.
“Open Secret” by Stephen Stills
This song is one of my guilty pleasures. In fact, Stephen Stills in general is one of my guilty pleasures. By all accounts, Stephen Stills was one of the most talented musicians to come out of the 1960s, but boy did he make weird choices and swing and miss a lot. This song, from Stephen Stills 2, is a perfect encapsulation of what I love about Stills: he digs his teeth into the lyrics like a pork chop that’s just on the edge of rare and doesn’t let go; there is an ornate, heraldic (some, but definitely not me, would say “over the top”) horn arrangement; and the song finishes with a Latin-tinged outro jam. What a ride.
“My Favorite Mistake” by Sheryl Crow
There is a certain category of song, for me, that I can only describe as “oxygen.” Now, you might think that means a song you need to live. No, what I mean is the kind of song you know but never think about knowing. “My Favorite Mistake” is one of those songs. This song felt like it was everywhere when I was 13 or 14 years old. I breathed it in via Z100. It only made it to number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, which I find surprising. It also lost to “My Heart Will Go On” in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 1999 Grammy Awards. That one makes sense, I guess. This song is phenomenal: it has a deceptive swagger and the chorus is undeniable—you simply have to give in.
“Lazy Flies” by Beck
October is usually Mutations season for me, but I felt the pull to listen to this record in March this year for some reason. Probably because it's one of my favorite albums of all time and I hadn’t listened to it in like five years—maybe more. Mutations is Beck’s best album but I’ll hear arguments for others. (Personally, I think The Information deserves more credit than it ever got.) And “Lazy Flies” is the song from Mutations I listen to the most and it, to me, represents what was so great about Beck when he was on the come up: capable of saying anything or doing anything musically. We don’t talk about him much anymore, do we?
“Sanctuary” by Hiss Golden Messenger
As I’ve said before, I’m not very familiar with Hiss Golden Messenger’s discography. I probably should be though. I pretty much like every song I hear from them. I heard this one on the radio and thought it was some latter day Prince song I didn’t know.
“Breathless” by The Corrs
My fiance and I were looking for a show to watch and we half-heartedly started watching Derry Girls again. This was on one of the episodes. Great show with truly inspired dialogue. Great song.
“Just One of the Guys” by Jenny Lewis
Got a chance to see Jenny Lewis in downtown Austin on March 1st on a beautiful night. I loved her new album Joy’All and her 2019 record, On The Line, is one of my favorite albums of the 21st century and of course I sang along to all of the songs she played from both of those. But after the show, I found myself seeking out the songs she played from Voyager (2014). I think this song is just well written and well produced (Beck produced it and I think you can hear him on backing vocals). If you haven’t seen Jenny Lewis, I recommend it. She really puts on a real rock show—there’s just not as much room for those and what Jenny Lewis does these days. There’s something here we’re gonna feel like we missed out on. And the more I think about her work, the more I think she’s Warren Zevon’s rightful heir.
“Aoi Sakana” by Sachiko Kanenobu
I saw Wim Wenders’s new film Perfect Days this month. If there was ever a movie that was made for me, this one was it. A life-affirming movie based around a series of days where very little happens except for a few slight variations and one charged familial interaction that tells you more than a lot of plot ever could. Cassette tapes feature heavily in the film and the protagonist plays this on his car radio at one point. Fantastic song.
“Redondo Beach” by Patti Smith
I have to admit that I generally can’t stand Patti Smith. But I will also admit that I don’t know that much about her and her work. She was just one of those figures that I never warmed up to. I mean watch her in Scorcesce’s Rolling Thunder Revue (2019) “documentary” and tell me that’s a person you’d ever want to be around. I get that she’s important and I understand her legacy but some people you just think are shams and she’s one of them. But god damn does this song make me want to rethink all that.
“Water Underground” by Real Estate
Real Estate just came out with a new album at the end of February and this track was the single. This song has been playing on the radio all the time and it has been embedded in my brain for weeks now. Real Estate doesn’t do much as a band but what they do, they do well. It’s good cooking and cleaning music. I appreciate it for what it is.
“It’s Gonna Be (Alright)” by Ween
My fiance was listening to 100 Gecs one weekend when we were cleaning. 100 Gecs are good and fun. I told her they reminded me of Ween. So we put on The Mollusk, which is probably my favorite Ween album. Damn, that’s a good album. Damn, Ween was an awesome band. If you never got into them or never listened to them before, amid all of their weirdness they always manage to find a way to fit in one extremely well-done and tender ballad. This might be one of their best-written compositions.
“Crystal” by Fleetwood Mac
I was driving back from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and had “Blue Letter” by Fleetwood Mac stuck in my head. So I put on Fleetwood Mac (1975). This is the album where Buckingham and Nicks joined the band. This is the album before Rumors. Now, I recently heard my neighbor playing Rumors in its entirety through the wood floor of the large, old 1920s house we share and Rumors remains an amazing album—but I kinda like Fleetwood Mac better? I mean, we did the whole Tusk (1979) is better than Rumors thing (2009-2012). Can we do the Fleetwood Mac is better than Rumors thing? Anyways, all I can say about “Crystal” is that it is Lindsay Buckingham doing one of the best versions of that unique thing he does. Do I love the weird edges he put on his sound on Tusk? Sure. Do I love the power of his biggest hits on Rumors. Of course I do! If you say you don’t like “Don’t Stop” you are lying. You’re just a liar. But do I like the crisp songwriting, the ache of the melody, and the wonderful group singing, on this song perhaps a little more? Yeah, maybe this March I do.