Deep Sleep in Seattle

'Deep Sleep' by Sleeping Bag. Indie Rock from 2014. A Seattle band. Came across the vinyl record at a great price in 2020 as my local record store was attempting to liquidate much of their inventory when closing down their store due to the owners opting for retirement during covid and opening up a space in an antique mall and keeping their longtime local shop alive.

The record had a limited printing of 500 copies. I have number 334. Always a bonus to discover great music from the great Pacific Northwest.

Abbey Road

Saw a record store, new arrivals flip video where the vinyl was pulled from the sleeve.

I'm not a huge fan of color vinyl. I mean, it's ok occasionally and some variants and designs actually wow me.

But The Beatles on color vinyl .... well that feels like a sin of unparallel gravity.

Maybe it should be an amendment to the ten commandments.

          11. Thou shall not put The Beatles on color vinyl.

 

With that visual bouncing around in my mind and the fact that it's been many years since I've listened to this record, I pulled out 'Abbey Road' this morning ... on black vinyl and also the remastered compact disc, The Beatles on cd concept seems mildly acceptable to me. 

There were flashbacks to long gone days of youth and the hours spent listening to my vinyl mentors record collection.

Confessing

'The Confessional Tapes' by Aidan Baker. On vinyl from 2015. Ambient, electronic, experimental sounds.

Perfectly placed buzz, fuzz, clicks, ticks, pops and drone amidst sparse piano and vocals slightly above whispers. Sounds like perfection when listened to with the volume turned up at 1:00am and in a dimly lit room. Maybe appreciation takes hearing it while in a certain mood or frame-of-mind, while needing sleep and at a specific time of the late evening with particular atmospheric conditions, but I rate it a 10/10. These are the sounds that I've been transitioning to in my senior years.

Enjoyed it enough that I have two additional Aidan Baker recordings ordered and arriving soon. 

This Week

A Monday (May 26th) evening playlist .....

• The Bats - Electric Sea View / I Go Wild
• Phil Cook - Miles Away ..... Had been seeing him in videos playing with Hiss Golden Messenger and he always looks like he's getting so much enjoyment from what he's playing. Then discovered that he has his own albums.
• Warren Zevon - Desperadoes Under the Eaves
• Sarah Jarosz - Jealous Moon
• The Jayhawks - This Forgotten Town / Society Pages
• Son Volt - Bandages and Scars

And a few more from a few days later. Not sure if it qualifies as a playlist but it's a list of songs that I took time to listen to ......

• The Church - Under the Milky Way / Metropolis
• Donald Fagan - I.G.Y. ..... Heard in the store while grocery shopping and having to hear it again, played it while at work.
• Van Morrison - Wavelength ..... I didn't really become a Van fan until I heard this. I think, (though I may be in error), that it was on SNL all those years ago.
• Poco - I Can See Everything
• Terence Boylan - Trains
• Counting Crows - Children In Bloom / Walkaways
• Matthew Ryan - Return to Me
• Richard Buckner - Progress ..... A demo from his 'Extractions' email. Not sure if it's on any of his records.

These Wilder Things

 

'These Wilder Things' by Ruth Moody. From 2013 on the Red House Records label. Americana and Appalachia sounds. Even a little Newgrass. Mark Knopfler plays guitar on one tune. And there's a beautiful cover of Bruce Springsteen's, 'Dancing In the Dark'. Other than that, it's all Ruth Moody originals. The highlight being her song, 'One Light Shining'.

Stereolab

New one from Stereolab on compact disc. I've just become aware of their music in the last year or two. I read that it's been fifteen years since their last release of original music. There are elements of indie rock, electronica and disco here. The list of credits is like a who's who of (assumedly) electronic instruments that I've never heard of. 

A John Hiatt Playlist

Found an unlabeled cassette tape in a shoebox deep in my closet. Stuck it in the cassette player. Appears that I was making a John Hiatt mix-tape. So many great songs to choose from.

• Shredding the Document .... "I'm shredding the document, I'm keeping my mouth shut, I'm running on radio silence, I'm letting the record speak."
• Cry Love 
• Slow Turning ..... "Now I'm in my car, Ooohh I've got the radio down, Now I'm yelling at the kids in the back, 'Cause they're bangin' like Charlie Watts."

• Perfectly Good Guitar
• Have a Little Faith In Me
• Paper Thin
• Love You Again ..... "I want to thank you for asking me to love you again."
• Stolen Moments
• My Old Friend ..... "My Old friend, You're just as pretty as you were back then."
• Memphis In the Meantime

Daily Worker

Awake at 4:00am, listening to 'Field Holler' by Daily Worker, released just a few weeks ago. 

Daily Worker is Harold Whit Williams. He sent a copy of his poetry chapbook, 'I-40 Primal Scream Therapy' along with the vinyl record. Singer/Songwriter who on this recording sounds at times, a little late-1960's Beatlesque. There's a Strawberry Fields vibe present throughout.

A very enjoyable listening experience.

Foxes In the Snow

 Up late listening to the just released Jason Isbell album, 'Foxes In the Snow.' Stripped down solo album. Just his voice, acoustic guitar  ..... Oh and great songs. 

"For a minute in the afternoon, I almost didn't think of you, it was good while it lasted."

Pretzel Logic

 

Found a nice copy of this record a few days ago in the local used bookstore ..... Yes, bookstore. They've started dealing in used vinyl. Before putting it out for sale, a sticky note was attached that reads: "Hey; It's that album your weird uncle is always talking about."

I'm guessing that I'm the weird uncle. I had this record in my teenage years but didn't appreciate it enough and sold it in a garage sale. The song, Rikki Don't Lose That Number, has always reminded me of high school. Even though I don't think it was released until a month or two after graduation. But it has a feeling in it that brings back those memories of being 18 years old and hanging out with high school friends. And for whatever odd reason, it's always reminded me of a certain girl that I was too shy to talk to back then but had the pleasure of connecting with forty-five years later.

Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic from 1974. 

Another Approaching Birthday Blues Playlist

What I'm listening to on this damp and chilly Saturday evening. Comments added are mostly unrelated to the respective songs. .....

• Kris Delmhorst - Waiting Under the Waves ..... Another dreaded birthday coming up soon. Is there a way to avoid it?
• Matthew Mole - Same Parts, Same Heart ..... Several years ago my boss brought rice crispies cookies to work on my birthday. He understood the significance of extra marshmallow gooeyness. 
• Michael Doucet & Todd Duke - Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky
• North Mississippi Allstars - Jumpercable Blues ..... I think an extra 2% should be added to a senior discount for each birthday successfully reached and if a person makes it to 100 years old, everything is free. 
• Peter Mayer - The Birthday Party
• Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band - So Good
• Phil Ochs - There But for the Fortune / Cops of the World
• Radical Face - Ghost Towns ..... "I still dream of you ...."
• Red House Painters - Shadows ..... Listening with eyes closed. There's something about this song that's causing a flashback to attending Catholic folk masses in much younger days.
• Robert Earl Keen - I Gotta Go
• Rocket 3 - Never Again ..... The monthly bills all paid. Feeling of relief ensues.
• Si Kahn - Gone Gonna Rise Again

Thursday Evening

Done for the evening with watching basketball and dinner. Kicking off my shoes and socks. What I'm listening to. Probably listed these here before. Songs that I revisit regularly .....

• The Bats - Sir Queen
• Stereolab - Mountain
• Lou Barlow - Privatize
• Austin Lucas - Already Dead / Kith and Kin
• Chris Whitley - Accordingly / Poison Girl
• Willy Porter - Unconditional

Monday Night Playlist

Monday night and just clicking on random songs in my itunes library. Maybe the best way to construct a playlist ....

• Hiss Golden Messenger - Pittsboro Farewell (Two Monarchs) ..... A catchy, instrumental tune with fiddle, acoustic guitar and banjo. 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊
• J. Paul Jr. & the Zydeco Nubreedz - Right Now / Stronger ..... Dancing along in the dark.
• John Hammond Sr. - Big Black Mariah
• John Prine - In Spite of Ourselves ..... Duet with Iris DeMent. Always causes me to smile and chuckle.
• Johnsmith - Kickin' This Stone ..... Singing along.
• Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band - Casanova
• Keane - Crystal Ball
• Keb' Mo' - My Baby's Tellin' Lies
• Kurt Vile - I'm an Outlaw ..... I recall hearing this for the first time in my local record store. I ran up to the counter to check out the 'Now Playing' display.
• Lake of Stew - Free Medicine ..... A front porch, Americana tune with several harmonizing voices.
• Leif Vollebekk - Elegy

Flashing Back Once Again

I tend to flashback. Twenty, thirty, .... heck fifty or sixty years. Long ago I was accused by a friend in the middle of a driveway basketball game of H.O.R.S.E. of being overly nostalgic. I guess it's true. And I suppose that's why songs become 'classic.' Anyway, here's just another flashing back playlist .....

• Wheat - Don't I Hold You .... I wonder if this qualifies for the list? Though it certainly causes me to reflect on a seemingly past life. Seems too recent though if I stopped to look up the year I'd likely discover it's been at least twenty years.
• Wheat - More Than You'll Ever Know ..... Appropriate for someone un-named, though very special to me.
• The Church - Under the Milky Way ..... I'd like to go outside at this moment and search the sky but it's too damn cold tonight and I'm too damn old to withstand it. But I suppose that's all in ones attitude.
• The Psychedelic Furs - The Ghost in You ..... Once upon a time, we'd stay up into the latest hours of the night watching music videos on television. 
• Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
• Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart
• Dire Straits - Down to the Waterline / Sultans of Swing ..... At least I'm flashing back in an orderly manner. 1990's, 80's, 70's, etc .... Getting closer to where I entered. 
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Even the Losers
• Jesse Colin Young - Four In the Morning
• The Youngbloods - Quicksand ..... One of those songs that I didn't truly appreciate, or stop and listen to, until fifty years later but it brings back the memories anyway.
• Ringo Starr - Photograph
• Rolling Stones - Angie ..... Heard this evening while fueling up at the gas station. Kids working the pumps listening to classic tunes.

The Rounders

 'Little Bitty Can of Worms' by The Rounders. From 2003. Americana with plenty of electric Blues influence and heavenly slide guitar moments with a Texas or southwest feel. A later album was released on Blind Pig Records ..... if that's any indication.

Not sure how I discovered this band. Most likely would have been while record store crate digging for cd's and coming across the colorful art on the album covers. I may have made one blind buy and returned for more. The more I ponder the question, the clearer the vague memory becomes.

Exploding Stars

On the turntable. From 2010. 'Stars Have Shapes' by Exploding Star Orchestra. Avante-Garde jazz. A group led by trumpeter, Rob Mazurek. 

Diving deeper into the abstract and further out into space as I move deeper into my senior years.

This may just lead me to giving another chance to the final two or three John Coltrane albums. Maybe I can better understand and appreciate.

In the Moment

It's plenty cold outside tonight. Inside though, relaxing with 'In the Moment' by jazz drummer, Makaya McCraven. A 2015 release. Live improvised performances taking my imagination to different and unknown places. One of the records that sparked my search for different jazz sounds.