February 2019 – Fingertips

Free and legal MP3: Sharon Van Etten (forceful, introspective rock’n’roll)

A heavy beat offsets a desultory piano line, synthesizers at once ferocious and distant blaze around the edges, guitars eventually squonk onto the scene, all while Van Etten sings poetically of longing, nostalgia, and destiny.

“Seventeen” – Sharon Van Etten

Rock’n’roll evolves, shifts, mutates—and persists. Anyone who doubts this need only listen to “Seventeen,” which performs the magic trick of weaving a classic-sounding song out of strands and blocks of sounds and textures that never quite existed in music’s “classic rock” heyday. A heavy beat offsets a desultory piano line, synthesizers at once ferocious and distant blaze around the edges, guitars eventually squonk onto the scene, all while Van Etten sings poetically of longing, nostalgia, and destiny—lyrics at once concrete and slippery, a deft interweaving of adult and teen-aged introspection that as a listener you intuit more than comprehend. The song rumbles and, eventually, roars. A master of subtle melodic gestures, Van Etten along the way crafts a chorus that slays with muted glory.

Some commentators hear Bruce Springsteen in the anthemic energy of this song, and while I get the comparison, leaving it at that diminishes Van Etten’s accomplishment. She’s no knock-off. The entire album in fact strikes my ear as a brilliant example of how to be a 21st-century rock’n’roller—taking the bones of archetypal rock music (“Seventeen” has a backbeat; you can’t lose it) and then planting your own individual 2019 self, with all its accumulated know-how and influences, right into the heart of it. Since we last heard from SVE (2014’s Are We There), she has become an actor, a film composer, a mother, and a graduate student in psychology. Which is just to say that she has quite a formidable self to align with one type of creative expression or another. When it came time to record a new album, she opted for a producer, John Congleton, known for synth-pop stylings, and arrived at the studio inspired by the dark, reverberant music of Portishead and Nick Cave. Something arresting was bound to come of all of this, and it did in the form of the enigmatic but majestic Remind Me Tomorrow, which was released in January on Jagjaguwar Records. That’s where you’ll find “Seventeen.”

Van Etten feels like an old friend by now because of the Eclectic Playlist Series, but this is only the second time she’s had a download featured here; if you missed “Serpents” back in 2011, you’re in luck: the free and legal MP3 is still available. Meanwhile, you can listen to Remind Me Tomorrow, and then buy it, on Bandcamp, where it is available digitally, on CD, or on vinyl. And in case you missed it, another song from the album, the brilliant “No One’s Easy To Love,” closes out (and provides the title for) this past month’s playlist, here.

MP3 via KEXP.

Free and legal MP3: Papercuts (buoyant wistfulness)

“How To Quit Smoking” – Papercuts

Opening with a brisk, dynamic, and hummable instrumental riff, “How To Quit Smoking” advances quickly from there into a verse so confidently melodic as to recall some lovely, imaginative amalgam of Belle & Sebastian and The Smiths. Papercuts’ master mind Jason Quever sings with the barest hint of a British accent that he actually doesn’t have and a baked-in wistfulness augmented by vocals that are mixed down into the center of the rhythm section. He sounds to me like someone singing on a budding spring day about how he actually misses the autumn.

This one is propelled by a classic backbeat as well, but note what a different vibe we get compared to the Van Etten song which came before it this month. Despite Quever’s gentle presence the song bounds forward with a determination reinforced every time the opening riff cycles back through. There’s an extra songwriting trick in here that, to my ear, adds to the song’s pluck: the way that in most of the verses, the third lyrical line picks up without any rhythmic space from the second line—listen at 0:36 for an example (the second line ends with the words “on the ceiling,” the third begins with “Read a book,” directly on the next beat, in the same measure). This is a small gesture that you’re probably not intended to notice, but it’s a wonderful flow-enhancer in just the right place.

Quever has been recording as Papercuts since 2004, including one record for Sub Pop in 2011. Long based in San Francisco, he recently moved to Los Angeles. His latest album is Parallel Universe Blues, on which “How To Quit Smoking” is the third track. It was released on Slumberland Records in October 2018. You can listen to the whole thing on Bandcamp, and then buy it there in your preferred format (digital, CD, vinyl). Papercuts has been featured on Fingertips twice previously, in 2011 and 2014. The MP3 this time comes courtesy of The Current.

(Note that MP3s from The Current are available in files that are 128kbps, which is below the iTunes standard of 192kbps, not to mention the higher-def standard of 320kbps. I personally don’t hear much difference on standard-quality equipment but if you are into high-end sound you’ll probably notice something. In any case I always encourage you to download the MP3 for the purposes of getting to know a song via a few listens; if you like it I still urge you to buy the music. It’s the right thing to do.)

Free and legal MP3: Talkboy

Sparkly, melodic indie rock

“Someone Else For You” – Talkboy

With its sparkly veneer and heavy undercurrent, “Someone Else For You” is two minutes and twenty-eight seconds of uprushing melody and impressive craft. Time is saved from the get-go: the song launches with no introduction, which feels like walking into a movie that’s already started. Momentum continues via a verse that essentially fakes right and goes left—the way the first line ends, with the words “into the city” (0:02), leads the ear to expect a similar pause at the end of the next line (0:05-:06). But, instead, the melody flows through an unexpected chord change, on the words “things to say” (0:08), before resolving back in a place that satisfies musically even as the lyrics suggest conflict, referring to words that “always came out wrong” (0:11). Best of all, look where we are now: just 12 seconds in, already treated to an eight-measure verse melody and lyrical intrigue before most songs have emerged from their opening vamps.

And why not? When you have a lead singer with Katie Heap’s rich tones and easy assurance, there’s no point in delaying her entry. The second verse runs through the same territory but now with a wash of wordless backing vocals layered below. The chorus arrives with an extra bashing of drums at 0:25; with its repeating, descending conclusion, it’s more concise melodically than the verse. This provides a clearing for the guitars to emerge from the background, surging first below the lyrics (0:32) and then out into the open at 0:38. The song now carries a heaviness one might not have anticipated from the head-bobbing opening.

Deft touches dot the rest of the song, from the head-clearing acoustic blip at 0:52, to the quiet iteration of the chorus the second time through (1:07), the feedback-y bridge (1:25), and, maybe best of all, Heap’s effortless octave leap at 1:47, after which she finishes the song in her impressive upper register.

Talkboy is a six-person band from Leeds. “Someone Else For You” is their third single, released earlier this month. You can download this one, as usual, from the above link, and then check the other songs out over on SoundCloud.

Just say you tried (Eclectic Playlist Series 6.02 – Feb. 2019)

Did you like me associate “Wild is the Wind” with the late, great Mr. Bowie? He does astonish, with his version on Station to Station. But it was my friend George, from over at Between Two Islands, who alerted me a few years ago to the fact that the song is an old one–from a 1957 movie of the same name–and was originally sung by none other than Johnny Mathis. I should have known this but then again one can’t know everything when it comes to music (unless you’re George). The song, which was nominated for an Oscar in 1958, was composed by the Russian-born composer Dmitri Tiomkin, who specialized in scores for American Westerns. The lyricist was Ned Washington, perhaps best known for penning the words to “When You Wish Upon a Star” and–who knew?–“Town Without Pity.” (The rabbit hole of forgotten songwriters and their work is deep and compelling.) Bowie by the way was inspired by Nina Simone’s version, which she recorded live in 1959, and then on a studio album in 1966. It isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to mix Johnny Mathis into a playlist that also includes Björk, Taj Mahal, and Warren Zevon but that’s my job–easing out into Jane Siberry’s majestic “The Valley” certainly gave it a smooth landing.

Random bits:

* The Tourists were a British band, most notable these years later for being the band in which Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart first met and played together. They were active from 1976 through late 1980. Eurythmics emerged in the Tourists’ aftermath, and released their debut album in 1981.

* I am not notably either a blues aficionado nor a Billie Holiday devotee, but Cassandra Wilson’s album of jazz standards associated with Holiday, 2015’s Coming Forth By Day, strikes my ear as monumentally good. Working with producer Nick Launay (known for his work with Nick Cave in particular but with dozens of impressive credits), Wilson imbues these old songs with smoky atmosphere at once quirky and incisive.

* Warren Zevon is celebrated mostly for his early (’70s) and later (’00s) work but the stuff in the middle, in retrospect, isn’t too shabby either. I have particular fondness for the title track to this 1991 album, as full of humor, chaos, and melody as any of his most memorable material.

* Sharon Van Etten’s new album, Remind Me Tomorrow, is pretty great, in part because she’s just pretty great in general. Did you read about how she’s studying to be a psychologist? In addition to her being a singer/songwriter, an actress, and a mom? I was already very impressed by her and now all the more so.

* The Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose: two fantastic hit songs, and then a bunch of forgettable filler. How did this happen? Who knows. But now I’ve given you both of the good ones here, so their days populating the Eclectic Playlist Series are officially over.

* Speaking, earlier, of forgotten songwriters, or partially forgotten, or in any case under-appreciated, I give you Jules Shear, who has had a preternatural knack for pop-rock melodies. The Bangles made this one a hit a year after his version. Yup it’s very ’80s. And completely wonderful.

* Lastly: if you have somehow managed never to have seen the “Bachelorette” video, a classic directed by Michel Gondry, do yourself a favor and go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJnhaXwK86M. And this advice coming from a guy who never usually sees the video. What a sensational song this is, still.

Full playlist below the widget.

“O Lucky Man!” – Alan Price (“O Lucky Man!”: The Original Sountrack, 1973)
“So Good To Be Back Home Again” – The Tourists (Reality Effect, 1980)
“I Love You So Bad” – Ezra Furman (Transangelic Exodus, 2018)
“Treat Her Like a Lady” – Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose (single, 1971)
“How Soon” – Martha Wainwright (Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole EP, 2005)
“Billie’s Blues” – Cassandra Wilson (Coming Forth By Day, 2015)
“Bachelorette” – Björk (Homogenic, 1997)
“She Loves to Be In Love” – Charlie (Lines, 1978)
“Horse and I” – Bat For Lashes (Fur and Gold, 2007)
“If She Knew What She Wants” – Jules Shear (The Eternal Return, 1983)
“Kiss of Life” – Sade (Love Deluxe, 1992)
“I Scare Myself” – Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks (Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks, 1969)
“The Mountain” – Dave Carter & Tracy Grammar (Tanglewood Tree, 2000)
“Mr. Bad Example” – Warren Zevon (Mr. Bad Example, 1991)
“Part Time Love” – Ann Peebles (Part Time Love, 1971)
“Last Wave” – They Might Be Giants (I Like Fun, 2018)
“Wild is the Wind” – Johnny Mathis (A Certain Smile, 1957)
“The Valley” – Jane Siberry (Bound By The Beauty, 1989)
“Take a Giant Step” – Taj Mahal (Giant Step, 1969)
“No One’s Easy to Love” – Sharon Van Etten (Remind Me Tomorrow, 2019)