Blood Harmony Volume 7: Winter Mix
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York and by that I mean the COVID vaccine
I opened with a Shakespeare quote! And I will now follow it with the a Twitter quote from Dr. Nina L. Shapiro :
I would. I would totally get it in my eye as long as the needle was short and a small gauge. So that’s where I’m at. Let’s talk music!
Thank You Lord by Gospel Church, Harlem, There is No Eye: Music for Photographs, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, released 2001. I’ve owned the book There is No Eye for years and always loved it, particularly the Roscoe Holcomb pictures. This track showed up on a radio show I was listening to and that’s how I discovered that there is a companion album! I’ve rarely heard a more clear through line from gospel to R&B/funk than this track. The main vocalist sounds like a non-secular James Brown. Mesmerizing.
Turntables by Janelle Monae, All In: The Fight for Democracy Soundtrack, Bad Boy Records, 2020. Preach it Janelle!
Do Wrong by Moodymann, Taken Away, Self-Released, 2020. Moodymann is a legendary Detroit house producer. He seems to dealing with some relationship issues in this track but man is it catchy. I think she might be better off without you, Moodymann. This whole album is great though.
Born In A War by Future Islands, As Long as You Are, 4AD, 2020. Pitchfork says this album is just more of the same from this Baltimore band but I like this track quite a bit so shut it Pitchfork.
7 Seconds by Porridge Radio, Single, Secretly Canadian, 2020. British post-punk band makes sweeping, emotional rock.
My Love For You by ESG, Come Away with ESG, 99 Records, 1983. ESG, aka Emerald Sapphire & Gold, is a post-punk band from the Bronx composed of the three Scroggins sisters and their friend Tito Libran. They kick ass. This song kicks ass. I love their voices.
Make Me by Chong the Nomad and Ben Zaidi, A Long Walk, Self-Released, 2020. Chong the Nomad is a Seattle electronic music producer and her stuff is awesome. Ben Zaidi is another Seattle artist whose bio includes these choice lines: “While still in high school he began writing songs that caught the attention of local labels and, ultimately, Harvard University, where he enrolled to study music and poetry. In his dorm room he honed a unique sound that blended the confessional songwriting of Blue-period Joni Mitchell with the sonic minimalism of James Blake.” That dorm room sounds both pretentious af and also awesome.
Miedo by Rita Indiana, Mandinga Times, Self-Released, 2020. I first heard of Rita Indiana the way all hip music listeners learn about new music: I read a long-form article in the New Yorker about her new album. It’s a great article. Indiana is a Dominican musician and novelist. This album is amazing.
Rio by NEGRO, single, Universal Music Mexico, 2020. A beautiful song by a Mexican artist. That’s it, it’s just beautiful.
The Divine Chord by The Avalanches, We Will Always Love You, Modular Recordings, 2020. Thanks to my friend Micah for notifying me that this album came out! It’s wonderful. I will quote Philip Sherburne’s Pitchfork review here: “The record begins with a farewell voicemail—a final communication, we are led to believe, from a young woman who has passed away—and it ends with the Morse code-like bleeping of the Arecibo Message, an interstellar transmission carrying information on the human species into the infinite beyond. In between those poles, the Australian group continues doing what it has always done: spinning the sounds of disco, soul, easy listening, and other nostalgic staples into luminous, ludic shapes, turning musical collage into a sparkling, four-dimensional fantasyland.”
Other Things:
I’ve been listening to a lot of cover songs recently for some reason and here are two that I love. The first is Courtney Barnett and Phoebe Bridgers covering a song that has literally been stuck in my head since 2001. Here is their cover of “Everything Is Free Now” from Gillian Welch’s incredible album Time (The Revelator). If you didn’t catch The Daily episode with Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, I highly recommend it. The second cover is Tom Petty’s “Walls” by Hand Habits and Angel Olsen filmed in the most Asheville-looking location of all time, The Masonic Temple. It’s gorgeous.
If you’re looking for another playlist, I direct you to my “B-Sides” playlist where I stick songs I love that don’t make it onto my mixes (usually for contextual reasons).
Thanks for listening and Happy Holidays to you and yours!