Ashez of Thyme
*Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas: You know how in The Princess Bride Humperdink is unafraid to fight to the death, but balks at fighting to the pain? Me, I get more neurotic about getting old than dying. Fear of dementia, mainly, which can be rational but not the way I do it. I worried about Cohen after Dear Heather, but in retrospect, that wasn’t a sign of irreversible decline, just a weak album. It’s not like he’s younger than that now. On Old Ideas, his physical decline is a major subject like it’s never been before. Yet this is easy for me to take when the songs prove his mind remains sharp. Can’t tell if this is ageist or not, but I’ll find out if I make it to 77.
David Murray Cuban Ensemble Plays Nat King Cole En Español (2011): Someone find Wong Kar-Wai and tell him to stick this on a soundtrack. Actually, someone find Wong Kar-Wai, slap him a couple of times, prop his eyelids open, make him watch Days of Being Wild through In the Mood for Love, and then tell him to stick this on a soundtrack.
Tha Grimm Teachaz: There’s a Situation on the Homefront (1993): Makes one long for the release of other lost early-Nineties rap albums, like the Juke Journeymen’s Digital Destination; the Shaw Brothers’ A Touch of Zen; and Rhymin-N-Garfunky’s Time (And Relative Dimension in Space).
Lana Del Rey: Born to Die: The special edition of this album contains fifteen songs. The mean song length is four minutes, three seconds. The shortest song is 3:29 and the longest song 5:00. The only word that appears in two song titles is “to”.
