Music diary: Tuesday
(Key: M = MP3, R = Rhapsody, S = Spotify, SC = SoundCloud, Y = YouTube)
Death Grips: The Money Store (2012, R, 1st play)
“Skrillex-sans-fun”, Xgau sez, which leaves us with… A bad haircut? An aneurysm? The complete works of Zukofsky?
That every-first-line-from-MCA thing (Y)
Icona Pop: “I Love It” (Y): Katherine called this “I Don’t Care” but everyone else on the Internet calls it “I Love It”. And if that’s the most obvious set-up for a weak punchline you’ve seen, I don’t care, I love it.
Kalenna: Chamber of Diaries (2012, M, 2nd play)
This isn’t as consistently striking as Dawn’s Armor On, but “Matte Black Truck” is unfuckiwithable. Among other things, it’s about the way we use music to work through our emotions, for which purpose Wu-Tang is more versatile than Death Grips.
Katie Got Bandz: “We Ridin Around and We Drillin” (SC)
Chief Keef & Fat Trel: “Russian Roulette” (SC)
I prefer the former for no reason other than that it’s not a Lugerbeat.
Icona Pop: “I Love It”: I know I just listened to this, but I don’t care, I [50 UNFOLLOWS]
Trouble Maker: “Trouble Maker” (Y): Hyunseung’s got the moves like Justin, got the moooooooooves…
Schoolboy Q: Habits & Contradictions (2012, S, 3rd play)
I’m not yet willing to go all-in on the Black Hippies beside Kendrick, but it seems a matter of time before Quincy makes a really good album.
Lee Konitz: Subconscious-Lee (1949-50, S)/Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh (1955, S)/Motion (1961) (S)
Cool jazz is excellent music to learn game theory by. Lee Konitz is excellent music by which to sneak in a few bars of appreciation of his long, smooth lines while learning game theory. These are all Obvious Classics, each cooler than Birth of the Cool. Ice cold, even.
[Netflix/dinner break: Scarface (1932). Some pretty solid big band from Gus Arnheim!]
Gus Arnheim: “Singin’ in the Rain” (1929, Y): This, in contrast, is way above solid.
Issa Juma: World Defeats the Grandfathers Vol. 2 (2012, R, 4th play)
I could listen (and have) to East African guitar all day. I prefer this latest Juma collection, digital-only from Stern’s, to Volume 1. D.O. Misiani’s The King of History is still the place to start though.
Johnny Cash: American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002, R); “25 Minutes to Go”; “One Piece at a Time”; “Highway Patrolman”; “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”; “The Mystery of Life”; “Home of the Blues”
Seems people are converging on the opinion that American IV is Cash’s best studio album. Agree!
Icona Pop: “I Love It”: Really this is too upbeat to end the day on, but I don’t [DELETES OWN TUMBLR]
