Maggie Rogers

Maggie Rogers - 'Notes From the Archive: Recordings 2011-2016'

I had never heard of her prior to two weeks ago. I read a few lines of a review, checked out a few seconds of song samples and ordered this. It was more than next day delivery but even next day would have been too long of a wait.

How could I have not have known? I can't know everything but there's no way these songs should have passed by me all these years without notice. 

Starts with an Indie Rock vibe but feels more Singer/Songwriter the deeper you get. Reminds of new discoveries made during late night listening sessions of Oregon Public Broadcasting radio. 

And I love the simplicity and the black of the cover art. All you really need is the basics.  

Highlights after two listens are, 'Wolves', 'Blood Ballet' and 'Does It Feel Slow?' which is a duet with Holden Jaffe (another new name for me), but every song feels incredibly must listen vital.

"I'm not waiting for the wolves to rip my heart out, I'm not waiting for the wolves."

Short But Great OPB Radio Playlist

• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Bad Brood *****
• The National - Conversation 16
• Elbow - The Delayed 3:15  ..... I keep mistaking Elbow's lead singer for Peter Gabriel. I'm sure that Guy Garvey will enjoy reading that. But hey!! It kept me listening the first time. It sent me on a voyage of discovery.
• Julien Baker - Something
• The Decemberists - Make You Better ..... And their from Oregon!!!

Afternoon OPB Playlist

A rare early afternoon session with OPB Music. Usually reserved for late nights.

Sudden sad news yesterday that my local record store is closing. No indication beforehand that it was being considered, even as I spoke to one of the owners the day before about sisters (mine) and fathers (hers). It says '#retirement' on the store's facebook page but I can't help but wonder if the sight of too many people in the store with limited floor space during this covid crap has something to do with it? I know that it caused me to feel uncomfortable and exit much sooner than I usually would have. I actually wondered at the time if they were feeling uncomfortable as well? If they saw closing the store as the only option for staying safe and healthy?

• The Strokes - The Adults Are Talking
• The Beths - Dying to Believe
• Post Animal - Special Moment
• The Cure - Lovesong ..... A classic from the 1980's.
• Leon Bridges - Sweeter
• The Velvet Underground - Femme Fatale
• Elbow - White Noise White Heat ..... I hear something in this that reminds me of Peter Gabriel.
• Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
• Margaret Glaspy - Devotion
• Pinegrove - Phase
• Doves - Winter Hill *****
• Mondo Cozmo -  Upside Down
• Soccer Mommy - Lucy
• Christian Lee Hutson - Get the Old Band Back Together ..... First time I've ever heard the words in song: "You know I can still kick all your asses."
• The Airborne Toxic Event - Hollywood Park

Another OPB Radio Playlist

Late night, in and out of the room, tuned in to OPB Music Radio, playlist .....

• Hanni El Khatib - ALIVE
• Caribou - Home
• The Clash - Spanish Bombs ..... Their 'London Calling' album continues to be one of the holes in my vinyl collection. Can't ever find it at a price I am willing to pay. 
• Car Seat Headrest - Can't Cool Me Down
• The Pixies - All Over the World
• Cloud Control - Scar ..... The highlight of the listening session.
• Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes ..... What's a palindrome?
• Brownish Black - Dance Fever ..... Reminding of the disco dance competition television show from the 1980's.
• Phosphene - Cocoon

Sunday Evening Playlist

Sunday night listening to OPB Music Radio, hoping to discover something new.

• Houndstooth - No News From Home
• Michael Nau - Hoops ..... OK so now I'm thinking about basketball, even if that's not what the song is about.
• Woods - Where Do You Go When You Dream? ..... Seems like frightening places more often than pleasant places.
• Phantogram - Into Happiness
• The Black Keys - Gold on the Ceiling
• Deer Tick - Mange ..... 'Mange'? I'm going to attempt to use that on the word game I play online.
• Stephen Malkmus - Shadowbanned
• Laura Marling - The Muse
• Ages and Ages - No Nostalgia ..... That's always been one of my biggest problems .... Way too much nostalgia. For everything that's passed it seems.
• Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
• Weyes Blood - Something to Believe
• The National - Bloodbuzz, Ohio

OPB Playlist

Stay at home order in effect and being followed. Time for another OPB Playlist ….

• Marika Hackman - Blow
• Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
• Sam Phillips - Don't Do Anything ….. Love when an musician/band pops up on OPB's playlist who I can claim to be a longtime fan of.
• Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes ..... It's looking a little like it's a female artist spotlight type of night. Not that there's anything wrong with that. 
• Eyelids - The Minutes
• Andrew Bird - Fallorun
• Patti Smith - Dancing Barefoot ….. I should know this and am embarrassed to even ask here, even as I know no one will likely read this page but is this a cover version? Seems like I know this song by another musician. 
• Sandy) Alex G - Hope
• The Antlers - Hotel
• Dirty Projectors - Overlord
• Jose Gonzalez - This Is How We Walk on the Moon

A quick search and the discovery that 'Dancing Barefoot' is an early U2 song. No wonder it sounded so familiar. A B-side that appeared years later as a bonus track and one of the reasons that I loved the concept of bonus tracks on compact discs. But why didn't I just recognize it without the research? 

• Jonathan Something - Unfortunately Blue
• Lomelda - Interstate Vision
• Sharon Van Etten - One Day
• Alela Diane - Moves Us Blind ..... Nothing quite like being up at 2:00am, sipping orange juice,  listening to internet radio and discovering new sounds. I never know when to stop, always telling myself: "Just one more."
• Black Belt Eagle Scout - My Heart Dreams *****
• Y La Bamba - November ***** ..... Was thinking: Who does this tune remind me of? Oh Yeah, The Sundays!!
• Houndstooth - No News From Home

Saturday Evening Radio Playlist

Saturday evening. Too wet and chilly to be running about outside. So a little Oregon Public Broadcasting music stream is in order. Always with some new and different sounds mixed with a few classics for these aging ears.

• Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside - God's Away On Business
• The Devil Makes Three - All Hail
• Daniel Norgren - Dandelion Time
• STRFKR - Open Your Eyes
• Dan Dan - Circuit
• David Bowie - The Stars (Are Out Tonight) *****
• Andy Shauf - Things I Do
• Jeff Tweedy - Family Ghost
• The Prids - Summer Cult *****
• Alvvays - In Undertow
• Lala Lala and WHY? - Siren 042
• Saintseneca - The Awefull Yawn
• Toro Y Moi - Girl Like You
• Tommy Alexander - Time and Time Again
• She-Devils - Hey Boy

I keep saying to myself: "Time to end this and move on to whatever's next in my evening …. But maybe just one more song." Because the alternative tonight was watching my list of Twitter followers go up and down.

• Bon Iver - Naeem
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Heavy Metal
• Dana Buoy - Bloom
• Corridor - Junior *****
• La Luz - Cicada

Afternoon Playlist

Another OPB Playlist. This time late afternoon/early evening listening …..

• Marika Hackman - I'm Not Where You Are
• Tracy Chapman - Change
• Fruit Bats - The Bottom of It
• Midlake - Head Home
• Crooked Still - Can't You Hear Me Calling
• Amelia - Between the Bars
• Phantogram - Into Happiness
• Sparklehorse - Piano Fire *****
• Post Animal - Ralphie

OPB Music Playlist

Late night, because I'm dead freaking tired but don't want to go to bed yet and would rather listen to the radio playlist as spun by DJ Doug .....

• The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez - Cello Song *****
• David Byrne - Good and Evil
• Eels - Prizefighter
• Pond - Elegant Design
• George Harrison - Any Road ..... I've been hopelessly in love for the longest time with the sound of a slide guitar and George's playing has an especially beautiful tone.
• Lord Huron - Lonesome Dreams
• U.S. Girls - Velvet 4 Sale
• Ty Segall - Diversion
• My Morning Jacket - All the Best
• Death Songs - Let This Body Go ..... I generally avoid anything with the word, "death" in the title.
• TV On the Radio - Wolf Like Me
• Spindrift - The Legend of God's Gun ..... Has a little bit of a 1960's Surf Rock meets Garage Rock with narration sound. I'm thinking this would be a cool addition to the vinyl collection.
• Aesop Rock and TOBACCO - Corn Maze ..... Hip Hop
• Here We Go Magic - Hard To Be Close
• Stevie Wonder - Boogie On Reggae Woman ..... Heard this song dozens of times over the years but never knew its name. 
• Shuggie Otis - Strawberry Letter 23

Once I start listening I often have issues of separation and abandonment with turning off the music for concepts like getting sleep. The inner voices keep resolving: "Just one more." 

• Wye Oak - Symmetry
• Clinic - The Second Line

I fell asleep sitting at my desk with the lights turned down low and missed a few songs. Back now to the mystic fuzzy world of the barely awake aging dude of the late night!!

• Richard Swift - Lady Luck
• Daniel Lanois - Where Will I Be? ***** ..... (A sudden visit to Amazon to order the album.)
• Paul Simon - I Know What I Know
• Floating Action - Dying Punch ..... Reminding of David Lindley and Wally Ingram recordings.
• Desaparecidos - City on the Hill
• Yeasayer - I Remember

More Sounds

How many different groups are out there recording and releasing music? Seems like an endless supply of new bands to listen to. Though there are several on this list who are not fresh sounds to my ears.

• The Young Veins - Change
• Parquet Courts - Mardi Gras Beads
• The Decembrists - Starwatcher
• Florence & The Machine - What Kind of Man …. There's a note or two or a tone buried deep in this song and in the singer's voice that sounds like something once heard in a mid to late 1970's Fleetwood Mac recording. I was listening though not very intently when it suddenly struck me.
• Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Big Black Nothing
• Nirvana - About a Girl …. Never did get into the whole Nirvana thing. Though I did become a fan of Pearl Jam.
• St. Vincent - Hang On Me …. Conjuring up memories from youth while attending eight years of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic school.
• Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon …. You hear stuff! Or sometimes it just strikes you! Maybe I'm hearing things but there's something in the vocals that reminds of Bono from U2.
• Frightened Rabbit - Scottish Winds
• Broken Bells - Vaporize
• Garbage - Milk …. A songs going along and after a minute you feel like you can predict where it will go next and then some odd, unpredictable chord change happens that doesn't sound so pleasant to your ears, or like it belongs. But it must have sounded necessary to the songwriter who apparently didn't want to sound predictable.
• J. Mascis - See You at the Movies *****
• Saintseneca - Ladder to the Sun *****
• Wilco - Via Chicago
• The Weakerthans - Aside …. All these tunes helping me get through another long night at work.

OK a couple more. No such thing as too much music.

• The Walkmen - Louisiana
• Rostam - In a River

New Night, More OPB

• The Joggers - Wicked Light Sleeper
• Dum Dum Girls - Bedroom Eyes
• Goat Girl - The Man

Lots of interesting names for groups and song titles these days.

• The Black Keys - Fever …. Not the Bruce Springsteen 1970's outbreak of Fever.
• The We Shared Milk - Could This Be Real …. Imagine if I had every vinyl album containing all the songs that I've heard the past few nights from OPB Music. That would be the beginnings of one far out record collection.
• Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms vs. Bad Arms
• Yo La Tengo - For You Too …. Two nights in a row for this one. Reminding of the weekly top-40 hits on AM radio from days long ago where the popular songs were played almost hourly it seemed.
• Marika Hackman - Time's Been Reckless
• Sun Kil Moon - Carry Me Ohio …. A long time favorite. I enjoy listening to Mark Kozelek's voice.
• Josh Ritter - Girl In The War