CD Monday

CD Monday

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Fiona Apple

This is where I hopped on the Fiona Apple wagon. Been a happy, devoted passenger ever since. I still get that displaced, uncanny feeling during certain Extraordinary Machine songs, like the leaked version of the album I first heard was the real one and these tracks are remixes, but it’s been a really long time since I heard the leaked stuff — not even sure I still have it — so that feeling is more faded than ever. Like a ghost that just kinda shrugged its shoulders and started walking away.

Speaking of giving things up, I gave this to Baby YHT to hold while we were walking out to the car this morning and she refused to give it back. I buckled her into her car seat and calmly said “If you want to listen to this music, you have to let go.” And she did. What a kid. Either she:

A. Is getting easier to bargain with
B. Really likes Fiona Apple
C. Really hates Morning Edition
D. Knows that it’s her mom’s copy and desperately wanted to cling to anything mommy-related because mommy being in a different room or somewhere else these days is ABSOLUTELY A REASON TO PANIC WHY AREN’T YOU PANICKING TOO DADDY WE’VE GOT A REAL SITUATION ON OUR HANDS HERE

Fiona Apple — “Not About Love” [Spotify/iTunes]

CD Monday

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WXPN

Mrs. YHT comes from a family of devoted WXPN listeners. Her parents still listen regularly despite having moved from Harrisburg, PA to Northern Virginia, and Robert Drake’s “Night Before” Christmas music marathon has become a really fun tradition. Every year, my brother-in-law manages to garner an on-air shout-out via Twitter, which means that every time Drake pauses the marathon to list songs and make announcements, everything stops. Abruptly. Whoever is talking is aggressively shushed and we wait to see if he’ll mention us. (Keep in mind there’s a fair amount of red wine involved.) It’s hilarious. “Shut up he’s talking!!!”

Mrs. YHT’s dad passed along this sampler CD a couple weeks back. The Langhorne Slim song on there is one I especially enjoy. Listen below.

Langhorne Slim & The Law — “Strangers” [Spotify/iTunes]

CD Monday

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James Supercave

A kickass signed test press of James Supercave’s debut LP was spinning at YHT HQ all week, thanks to a lucky like and comment on Plan 9’s Instagram feed. It came with a CD copy, so I’m rolling with it in the car this week.

I wasn’t familiar with the group before this, but I enjoyed what was available on Spotify when the contest was posted, and I’m all in on Better Strange. It has a remarkable consistency to it — as a whole, it maintains a cohesive groove and quality without the tracks running together. The net effect points to a strong foundation and a high ceiling, the kind of statement any band would kill to make with a first LP, and the whole thing feels like a win-win-win: I have a unique version of Better Strange; it was, ya know, free; and I’ve connected with an album I might not have if Plan 9 and the band hadn’t teamed up to offer the contest.

Driving around this week is going to feel like one big victory lap.*

*Speaking of victory laps, Denny’s last lap at Daytona is the best thing that’s ever happened and I’ve never been prouder to rock my #11 license plate holder.

James Supercave — “Burn” [Spotify/iTunes]

CD Monday

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Sufjan Stevens

Per local ordinance, Sufjan Stevens must be played ASAP after snow starts hitting the ground. It’s on the turntable, it’s the car… it’s the law.

Sufjan Stevens — “Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois” [Spotify/iTunes]

CD Monday

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Bright Eyes

Just spent some time on the Wikipedia page for the term “equivocate.” Apparently, it has a very specific meaning related to logic and polysemic words, but I was planning on using it to say that I tend not to be very decisive. The fact that I couldn’t commit to using a word to describe my tendency to waver before looking it up takes this idea to a whole other level of absurdity. Or maybe it’s irony. I can’t decide.

The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that my enjoyment of Bright Eyes is rooted in Conor Oberst’s voice — more specifically the conviction he communicates. Like simply writing and singing his lyrics isn’t enough. Like he’s spitting them out so they’ll hit as hard as possible. Consonants are more percussive, and long notes end up wavering under the weight of all the emotion he’s putting into them. Pretty sure that’s ironic too, the wavering. It’s strength and weakness all tangled up together.

While I hopped on the Bright Eyes train around the time I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn came out, Cassadaga was the first full album cycle I was on board for, and it’ll always be a favorite. Gonna get real self-righteous in the You Hear Thatmobile this week.

Bright Eyes — “Four Winds” [Spotify/iTunes]

CD Monday

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Tedeschi Trucks Band

Picked up this promotional single at BK Music a few weeks back, and I’m excited to dig in this week. OK, so maybe not ALL week — two songs over and over might make Davy a dull boy — but I’m enjoying “Don’t Know What It Means,” with its meaty four-on-the-floor beat and horn arrangements that remind me of the ones Allen Toussaint did for The Last Waltz.

Tedeschi Trucks Band — “Don’t Know What It Means” [Spotify/iTunes]

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Apparat Organ Quartet

Baby YHT would like to direct your attention to this week’s CD, the self-titled 2002 album by Iceland’s Apparat Organ Quartet.

Confession time: I picked this because I had wintry weather on the brain, and I thought it’d be fun to listen to an Icelandic band while riding around and watching this foot of snow melt. Then I checked Wikipedia and saw that Iceland’s climate is unusually temperate for its latitude. Technically, the highlands qualify as tundra, but the Quartet is from Reykjavík, which is subpolar oceanic, which… I dunno what that is.

This is an awesome album. I do know that. Shouts to friends of the blog Travis and Lyndsey for grabbing it while traveling in Iceland!

Apparat Organ Quartet — “Romantika” [Spotify/iTunes]

Apparat Organ Quartet — “Cruise Control” [Spotify/iTunes]

CD Monday

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WillieNelson

When I posted the Preservation Hall Jazz Band doing “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It,” it was more or less arbitrary. I couldn’t remember which songs I heard when we were there (aside from “Christmastime Is Here”), and I’m not even sure if the musicians we saw were part of the Band proper, so I picked something from Soundcloud at random. Then again, I love the song’s title, so maybe it wasn’t entirely random.

That title jumped out at me again this morning when I was looking through the tracks on this Two Men with the Blues album my mom got me a while back. Happy to have an excuse to put this in the car. It’s a feel-good album, Willie showing his knack for jazz and Wynton adding easygoing gravitas.

Speaking of titles, I’m glad they didn’t call it WWIII.

Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis — “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It” [Spotify/iTunes]

CD Monday

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David Bowie

Another day. Another year. Time to look forward, and that’s just what this album cover says to me. Out with the old, in with the new. Perfect for the first CD Monday of 2016.

And how fitting is “ignoring the pain of their particular diseases” as a companion lyric for today — the most Monday Monday I can remember? I heard that line while driving to work and thought “That’s life, man.”

David Bowie — “The Next Day” [Spotify/iTunes]

CD Monday

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Air

I grabbed this on the way out this morning in hopes of getting a get-shit-done boost this week. Christmas shopping. Year-end lists. Prepping to join Doug Nunnally for his Sound Gaze retrospective spectacular on Saturday morning. Lots to do.

But I hadn’t listened to Pocket Symphony in a while, and I forgot about track two — “Once Upon A Time” — which is practically an ode to procrastination. “Don’t try to be on time,” eh? YOU’RE NOT HELPING, AIR.

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