Blood Harmony Volume 36: New Albums

Hello all!

I’ve been in an album mood recently so I thought I’d share some recommendations. Incidentally, I don’t have much to say about The Tortured Poets Society except that I like “Fortnight” quite a bit. As for Cowboy Carter, I think it’s wonderful. I’m definitely drawn more to the first half. I’ve never been a huge Post Malone person but I love his Beyoncé duet too! What is happening to me?

1. A La Sala by Khruangbin, Dead Oceans Inc, April 2024:

   I love this band. I love the wistful quality of their music. Here’s another funky, beautiful album. The NYT Magazine had a great article about them recently (gift link). I have yet to see them live and they are coming through my area on a Tuesday and playing a venue with terrible sound so I’m not sure that this is my time either.

   Here’s some drawings I did of Laura Lee Ochoa from Khruangbin for DrawTogether, the weekly drawing newsletter from Wendy Mac. I have some free 1 month DrawTogether subscriptions to share if anyone wants one!

   

2. Tigers Blood by Waxahatchee, Anti, March, 2024.

   I’ve never really connected before with Waxahatchee (born Katie Crutchfield near Waxahatchee Creek in Alabama) but my friend Connie recommended this album and she was totally right. It’s sprawling and poetic and jangling and “Right Back to It” is my favorite song of the year so far.

3. Atavista by Childish Gambino, RCA Records, May, 2024.

   From the Variety review by Jem Aswad: It’s hard to think of an album with a more confusing backstory than Childish Gambino-aka-Donald Glover’s “Atavista,” which was first released stealthily — with little notice, promotion, cover artwork or even song titles — into a dark world four years ago, in the early days of the pandemic, and originally named after its grim release date, “3.15.20. The album basically kept its light under a bushel for the past four years, until last month when Glover announced on his Gilga internet radio show that he’d be re-releasing it in the near future. And at midnight this past Sunday, it suddenly appeared on streaming services, with three songs removed and two new ones added, bearing the title Glover said he’d originally intended. It was accompanied by a characteristically subtext-laden video for the song “Big Foot Little Foot,” and the announcement of a massive world tour launching in August.

   This album is great. It’s weird and expansive and catchy af. Huge fan of “Psilocybae” back-to-back with “To Be Hunted”. Also, this video:

4. Radical Optimism by Dua Lipa, Warner Records UK, May, 2024

   It took me about three listens to get over the fact that this isn’t another Future Nostalgia. But now I love it. It’s chill and catchy and summery and finds Dua reckoning with love and maturity. I don’t love “Illusion” but Future Nostalgia also had some skips (ahem, “Boys Will Be Boys”). Big fan of “French Exit.”

Other Things:

Movies: Challengers: total blast but I still don’t understand why they threw a kid in the plot. A Star Is Born (1976): truly strange and I’m a Streisand fan! Summertime (1955): spinster Katherine Hepburn wanders around Venice and falls in love. Fantastic. The Idea of You: very sweet, kind of vanilla. The Beekeeper: holy shit! Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese: I’ve been into this record forever and I finally watched the documentary. What a wild ride (the actual tour and the documentary). I could watch Scarlet Rivera ride around in a fancy car while Dylan drives the tour camper all day. Incredible.

TV: I just finished Sugar on AppleTV which is the story of a private investigator in LA hired to find a missing woman. But things aren’t what they seem in a genuinely surprising way! And the PI is played by Colin Farrell looking super cool and obsessing about old movies. He and Amy Ryan have great chemistry. The soundtrack is aces. Special thanks to my friends Chris and Micah who are the only other people I know watching this show and who are nice enough to respond to my texts of “Sugar! WHAT?”

Mending: I took a workshop in mindful mending recently with a wonderful teacher named River and it really sent me down a path. My mom taught me how to sew and bought me a sewing machine when I was a kid. I was never that great at it but I liked the activity and I liked bopping around fabric stores in whatever city I was living in. I feel like mending was meant for me though. It’s small work and kind of fiddly but it means that you can fix holes and stains and keep the clothes you love for longer. If anyone has a well-loved item of clothing that needs repair, feel free to pass it along my way! Caveat: beginner skills.

Repairs on my husband’s beloved shirt from the Diesel Cafe in Somervillle.

The clothing moths came for this one! Damn you clothing moths!

If anyone wants to learn more, I really like this book as a reference.

Thanks for reading!