Fingertips

I’ll go public in my own time

Eclectic Playlist Series, Vol. 4 — March 2014

As one corner of the world embarks upon a week of relentlessly promoted new music, how about a playlist filled with almost entirely unpromoted music from every rock’n’roll decade that yet exists?

So, yes, Volume 4 of the Eclectic Playlist Series is upon us. I am starting to think the playlists should have titles, if only to give them more immediate personality. Will think about this for future reference.

In the meantime, here are 20 more songs placed thoughtfully together despite notable differences in year of origin and genre. We open up with a Jules Shear track that is not I don’t think in the standard pantheon of widely-admired Jules Shear gems but not for lack of brilliance. The Smiths song has always been a favorite in part because of how it manages to break out of the band’s signature sound even while still being very Smiths-y. Willie Colón I quite literally just stumbled upon recently via some Songza exploration. New York salsa is not an expertise, needless to say, but this song had an extra oomph to it that called to me. I especially like juxtaposing the cutely blasé Australian singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett, just now breaking out, with the declarative strangeness of New Wave princess Lene Lovich. It just seemed to work. As for OMD into the Grateful Dead, that initiated as a music library shuffle accident that was too good to forget. Meanwhile, the Auteurs, anyone? I never really knew what they were about, but ended up with a cassette version of New Wave a few years after its release. I never heard them on the radio, and have never had reason to discuss them with anyone, so I feel as if they have previously existed in my own private sub-universe. We’ll see how they do exposed to the light of day.

If this seems like a reasonable idea, be sure to check out the previous playlists in the series, helpfully titled Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3.

This playlist was originally created via Spotify but I’ve since converted all playlists to Mixcloud. Here’s the widget:

Full playlist:
“Hard Enough” – Jules Shear (Allow Me, 2000)
“Le vent nous portera” – Sophie Hunger (1983, 2010)
“A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours” – The Smiths (Strangeways, Here We Come, 1987)
“I Just Got Back” – Parliament (Up for the Down Stroke, 1974)
“Listen to Me” – Buddy Holly (Buddy Holly, 1958)
“Heart” – Nick Lowe (Nick the Knife, 1982)
“El Dia de Suerte” – Willie Colón (Lo Mato, 1973)
“Avant Gardener” – Courtney Barnett (The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas, 2013)
“Home” – Lene Lovich (Stateless, 1978)
“I Got a Line on You” – Spirit (The Family That Plays Together, 1968)
“Kill to Know” – Amy Miles (Dirty Stay-Out, 2002)
“Helen of Troy” – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (English Electric, 2013)
“Box of Rain” – Grateful Dead (American Beauty, 1970)
“Leave Me Alone” – Baby Washington (I’ve Got a Feeling, 1963)
“He Keeps Me Alive” – Sally Shapiro (Disco Romance, 2004)
“Gimme Some Slack” – the Cars (Panorama, 1980)
“Show Girl” – The Auteurs (New Wave, 1993)
“10538 Overture” – Electric Light Orchestra (The Electric Light Orchestra, 1972)
“Bodyguard” – Dawn Landes (Fireproof, 2006)
“It’s a Fire” – Portishead (Dummy, 1994)

Introducing Mixcloud playlists

The Fingertips Eclectic Playlist Series is now available on Mixcloud.

Regular visitors may have noticed that I’ve begun posting playlists on Spotify. At the same time, I haven’t been completely happy there. While it’s all but effortless to make playlists on that popular streaming service, there are in my view three consistent downsides to how things work in Spotifyland. First, you have to register before you can listen; second, playlist songs are inelegantly stacked together (rather than artful segues you typically get an awkward amount of dead air between songs); and third, all playlists are marred by random commercials which intrude if you are using the free versus paid-for service. An additional problem occasionally encountered is the absence of a song one might otherwise want to use. Spotify has lots of stuff but they don’t have everything, because basically no one can.

The British streaming service Mixcloud deftly sidesteps each of these problems, for the relatively minor cost of it involving more effort to create playlists in the first place. Rather than dragging and dropping songs, Mixcloud requires the playlist maker to fully construct his or her playlist as one long file, which is then uploaded. Further effort is then necessary to upload song titles and “time-stamp” the playlist, so the Mixcloud player can identify what song is playing at any given time.

The end result is brilliant, however. You get a playlist anyone can listen to, without joining anything, you get a playlist with purposefully designed segues, you get a playlist without commercials, and you get to include any song you have in your own library. On top of all this, Mixcloud is legal; they pay all the appropriate licensing fees required in the U.K. And while it’s true that Mixcloud is a very DJ-oriented environment, there does seem room for eclectic playlists of all kinds, so I’m definitely hopeful to gain a foothold there.

Which I most certainly have not done yet, as you’ll see if you visit my profile page. But hey it’s a brand-new enterprise for me, and the beginning is always today, as the saying goes.

Note that right now I’m a bit out of sync with myself—Volume 4 in the Eclectic Playlist Series will be out in a few days on Spotify, but on Mixcloud only the first two playlists in the series are available. You can access those below. I am hoping that within another month or so I will be able to beginning publishing the playlists on Spotify and Mixcloud at the same time. In the meantime, it’s a good opportunity to check out these earlier playlists if you haven’t quite found the time yet. Not that I can give you more time in the day (if only), but here at least is the easiest access yet to the music.

Fingertips Eclectic Playlist Series, Vol. 1 by Fingertipsmusic on Mixcloud

Fingertips Eclectic Playlist Series, Vol. 2 by Fingertipsmusic on Mixcloud

Free and legal MP3: Terminal Gods (dark yet uplifting guitar rock)

Hook-iness nestled in a gnarled shelter of blazing guitars.

“The Wheels of Love” – Terminal Gods

A pounding ferocity that makes me want to talk in clipped sentences. Hook-iness nestled in a gnarled shelter of blazing guitars. Almost poignant in its refusal of poignancy. Black leather hiding a tender heart. Those gruff, baritone lead vocals that almost aren’t even like singing.

But then there’s the discipline of the guitar lines themselves that give rise to a need for articulate description. I hear unexpected echoes of Big Country’s bagpipey sound lurking in the fervent fingerwork, and something of that band’s earnest hopefulness too, despite Terminal Gods’ best efforts to cloak themselves in a goth-ier growl. The song is simply too well built to be a downer, the interplay between vocalist Robert Cowlin and guitarist Robert Maisey too vivid to do anything but uplift.

Cowlin and Maisey were formerly in a band called The Mumbles from 2005 to 2011; Terminal Gods was formed shortly thereafter. “Wheels of Love” is from the band’s debut release, a six-song EP entitled Machine Beat Messiah, released in late November. You can listen and/or buy via Bandcamp.

Free and legal MP3: Goldheart Assembly (energetic & smile-inducing)

Nothing is better than music that makes you smile not because it’s funny but just because it makes you smile.

“Oh Really” – Goldheart Assembly

With slinky-swingy energy of elusive provenance, “Oh Really” is irresistible well before the gang-style vocal response in the chorus makes further opposition futile. Nothing is better than music that makes you smile not because it’s funny but just because it makes you smile.

Beyond those fetching “Oh really?”s of the chorus, the song’s charms are rooted, to my ears, in the way the melodies snake in and around the 4/4 time signature; routine avoidance of the downbeat (i.e., the first beat of the measure) gives “Oh Really” the momentum of a slippery incantation. At the same time, the slightly over-modulated mix pushes the ear in a not-unpleasant way, adding to the goofily hyped-up ambiance. All in all a winner that needs to be listened to more than written about. (That’s your cue.)

“Oh Really” has been around since at least 2010 but did not appear on either of the band’s first two albums. It was officially unveiled as a single in January. Goldheart Assembly is a five-piece band based in London. Thanks to Lauren Laverne at BBC 6 for the head’s up, and to the band for the MP3.

Free and legal MP3: Paul Armfield (disarming acoustic contemplation)

Sleek and homespun at the same time, “Speed of Clouds” may initially hit the ear as an oddity, but settle in with it and let its idiosyncrasies coalesce into the enjoyable and rather moving composition that it reveals itself, over four minutes, to be.

“Speed of Clouds” – Paul Armfield

And now for something completely different. A delicately plucked, out-of-time intro, employing a variety of under-utilized string sounds, launches us into an alternative musical world in which acoustic instruments band together orchestrally to accompany a deep-voiced troubadour musing on the profundity of aging. Sleek and homespun at the same time, “Speed of Clouds” may initially hit the ear as an oddity, but settle in and let its idiosyncrasies coalesce into the pleasurable and rather moving composition that it reveals itself, over four minutes, to be.

At the center of it is the voice and sensibility of Paul Armfield, an Isle of Wight-based singer/songwriter with a distinctive delivery, best described as a cross between Cat Stevens and mid-career Leonard Cohen, with a bit of sorcerer thrown in. His is such a different-sounding voice than we are used to hearing that at first it may seem almost primitively mannered, and yet very quickly, as you sink into the song, you may notice how soon like an old friend he sounds, not to mention how beautifully he does in fact sing, his voice projecting a three-dimensional presence that feels especially satisfying in this age of vocal processing and gimmickry.

“Speed of Clouds” is from Armfield’s fifth studio album Up Here, which was released last month. You can listen to the whole album via SoundCloud. Thanks to Paul for the MP3.

Hidden eyes could see what I was thinking

Eclectic Playlist Series, Vol. 3 — February 2014

The Eclectic Playlist Series rolls on, with a brand-new mix of wide-ranging songs for your listening pleasure. I hope.

For those just tuning in, you can find a bit of philosophical rationale for this kind of eclectic playlist in a short essay I wrote in November for the Linn Products music blog. The basic idea is: I find music much more interesting to listen to in a context in which genres and eras are mixed mindfully together, rather than segregated into narrowly-focused lists. I am pretty sure I am not alone in feeling this way, but you wouldn’t know it based on the types of playlists which tend to be available via the popular streaming services.

If this seems like a reasonable idea, be sure to check out the previous playlists in the series, helpfully titled Volume 1 and Volume 2.

This playlist was originally created via Spotify; all have since been migrated to Mixcloud. Here’s the widget:

“Money” – Annie Gallup (Swerve, 2001)
“Yr Own World” – The Blue Aeroplanes (Beatsongs, 1991)
“Pinky” – Elton John (Caribou, 1974)
“El Rito” – Destroyer (Five Spanish Songs, 2013)
“Big Tall Man” – Liz Phair (Whitechocolatespaceegg, 1998)
“Now That You’re Here” – Altered Images (Bite, 1983)
“Can I Change My Mind?” – Tyrone Davis (single, 1968)
“Expensive Shoes” – Christina Rosenvinge (Frozen Pool, 2001)
“Any Major Dude Will Tell You” – Steely Dan (Pretzel Logic, 1974)
“Seal My Fate” – Belly (King, 1995)
“Hannah Hunt” – Vampire Weekend (Modern Vampires of the City, 2013)
“Until You Come Back to Me” – Aretha Franklin (single, 1973)
“Beauty Trip” – Television (Television, 1991)
“The Wild Truth” – T Bone Burnett (The Talking Animals, 1988)
“Don’t Ever Leave Me” – Connie Francis (single, 1964)
“I Don’t Want to Lose You Yet” – Steve Earle (Transcendental Blues, 2000)
“Love’s In Need of Love Today” – Stevie Wonder (Songs in the Key of Life, 1976)
“Pendulum” – Pure Bathing Culture (Moon Tides, 2013)
“Hang Onto Your Ego” – Beach Boys (Pet Sounds, 1967)
“Je T’Aime Tant” – Julie Delpy (Julie Delpy, 2003)

Free and legal MP3: Dott (bashy, poppy, female-fronted garage rock)

With the chugging backbeat and sing-song primitivism of classic garage rock, “Small Pony” blends a thin, bashy DIY sound with something elusively richer and cleaner.

“Small Pony” – Dott

With the chugging backbeat and sing-song primitivism of classic garage rock, “Small Pony” blends a thin, bashy DIY sound with something elusively richer and cleaner. Beneath its bratty drive (I mean that in a good way), the song finds little ways to breathe and expand—that end-of-verse space where the mix reduces to bass and drum, for instance (first heard at 0:17), or that brief moment of vocal harmony heard directly after that. Small things, you’re not even really supposed to notice them, so maybe forget I mentioned them—just enjoy the side benefit of the song being cooler and more accomplished than this kind of thing often is.

And as fun and insistent as the head-bobbing verse melody is, with its alternating ascending/descending hook, the chorus is even better, featuring a step-like descent that now feels very Phil-Spector-girl-group-y. This impression is strengthened by the way front woman Anna McCarthy’s voice is produced here, wrapped with same-note harmonies and ever-so-subtly distorted. The break after the chorus is equally charming. First we get a guitar solo so matter-of-fact it’s almost drowned out by the drums, followed by background wordless vocals that marry a ’50s melody line to the unrelenting garage-y backbeat into one more moment that might not quite register but yet again adds to “Small Pony”‘s allure.

Even the lyrics have a kind of hiding-in-plain-sight panache. Avoiding the tired trappings of either infatuation or heartbreak, “Small Pony,” if I understand it properly, seems to be about the unique wonders of a long-term relationship. (But where the title comes from I have no idea.)

“Small Pony” is the lead track from the album Swoon, the band’s debut, released in December on Graveface Records. Dott is from the delightful if rainy city of Galway, Ireland. MP3 via Magnet Magazine.

Free and legal MP3: Ponyhof (elegant, dynamic, emotional)

An elegant, emotional ballad that builds with great poise and features a vibrant electric cello.

“Tiger” – Ponyhof

An elegant, emotional ballad that builds with great poise, “Tiger” hooks me quickly, with its opening juxtaposition of warm keyboard and what sounds like a distant, distorted guitar but is actually an electric cello. Then Carrie Erving starts singing and I’m hooked further by that minor-key swerve at the end of each line of the verse and the persistence of Chris Loxley’s droning cello, squealing and squalling in the background like the some weirdly positive version of nails on a blackboard. It’s a great vibe they’ve got going here.

At the chorus, the song opens up with satisfying heft, as both the drums and, now, a more standard-sounding cello kick in at the same time (1:09)—not a typical pairing but an effective one. Erving’s voice here becomes both smoother and sturdier, and acquires a male background singer who happens to be Will Butler from Arcade Fire, singing here with a kind of intense restraint that transforms his voice into a shadow of hers. As the song returns to the verse at 1:37, the momentum feels unstoppable; in truth, the verses in the song from here onward advance with the power of a chorus, while what initially seemed the chorus section reveals itself to be the subtler structural partner in a increasingly forceful union. In any case, the song climaxes at the unfolding of the last verse, beginning at 2:46 (“There’s a tiger in your heart…”), which veers through lyrical changes into what will surely prove to be one of the year’s wildest guitar solos, especially since it is in fact being performed by Loxley on that electric cello of his.

Carrie Erving is the singer/songwriter at the center of Ponyhof, a Brooklyn-based foursome which Erving says might be called a band or maybe more accurately a collective of musicians who gather to play her songs. “Tiger” is from the debut Ponyhof album, Empires, which was released last month. You can download the song from the above link, or via Ponyhof’s SoundCloud page, where you can also hear the album’s title track.

Free and legal MP3: Lo Fine

Friendly if uneasy midtempo rocker

“All We Need is Hell” – Lo Fine

Friendly and uneasy at the same time, “All We Need is Hell” is a guitar-filled midtempo number overflowing with smooth riffs, honeyed melodies, and weary-to-acerbic observations. What’s not to like?

Despite the seemingly laid-back pace, the song accrues a crafty urgency through the course of its concise three minutes. I attribute this in part to the appealing, multifaceted guitar work, as a crunchy undercurrent builds in the second half that was unapparent in the first. And the song structure itself is partly behind the cumulative power. To begin with, note how the verse and the chorus feel and sound similar musically, even as they are not actually the same. This gives the song, over time, an extra vigor, since in this case, the chorus feels less like a change of direction and more like a continued, purposeful movement down the existing path. And then there’s the matter of how the titular phrase is employed—not as an established part of the chorus but as one-time utterance in the center of the song, before the second time we hear the chorus. This strikes me as an unusual and stimulating songwriting device.

Lyrically, the song draws me in with its combination of understandable phrases and less comprehensible longer sentiments. But the lyrical linchpin is surely the line that opens the first iteration of the chorus (0:40): “Getting rid of all the demons/To get down to just the devil”—a disconcertingly profound idea, sung with front man Kevin O’Rourke’s slightly unsettling blend of sweetness and forewarning.

Lo Fine is the longstanding, ongoing musical project helmed by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist O’Rourke. Founded in 1998 in Northampton, Massachusetts, Lo Fine has released three full-length albums and three EPs over the course of its meandering existence. “All We Need is Hell” is from the third album, Want is a Great Need, which was recorded largely in O’Rourke’s adopted home of Truro, near the tip of Cape Cod, and came out in November. A more recently released second single, “More Better,” is also available for download now, via SoundCloud. Thanks again to Magnet Magazine for the MP3.

photo credit: Petar Dopchev

Free and legal MP3: Gringo Star (woozy, melodic neo-psychedelia)

From its chirpy, distorted intro to its abbreviated yet definitive coda, “Find a Love” packs a lot of off-kilter goodness into its archetypal pop song length of 2:45.

“Find a Love” – Gringo Star

From its chirpy, distorted intro to its abbreviated yet definitive coda, “Find a Love” packs a lot of off-kilter goodness into its archetypal pop song length of 2:45. This is achieved in part through uncommon succinctness—less than 30 seconds total, for instance, are spent delivering the song’s verses, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen or heard that before. At the same time, the song’s woozy, melodic neo-psychedelia gives off a feeling of warmth and expansion; the song lopes along, backbeat converted into a clattery shuffle, and we appear to have plenty of time for lagniappe like a hidden-in-plain-sight “Penny Lane” riff smack in the middle of things (first heard at 1:36), or that science-fiction-y end to the instrumental break at 1:56, or, for that matter, a chorus so laid-back it almost doesn’t bother with lyrics.

Gringo Star is a band from Atlanta led by brothers Peter and Nicholas Furgiuele. Founded as a foursome in 2001, with the name A Fir-Ju Well, they took the name Gringo Star in 2006; after two full-length albums, they became a trio. “Find a Love” is from the band’s third release, Floating Out to See, which was recorded at home and self-produced, unlike the first two albums. Gringo Star was previously featured on Fingertips in August 2011. MP3 via the good folks at KEXP.