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State of the Media Moth: Music
Jan. 13th, 2021 01:07 pmSo what have I been listening to lately? Most of my record purchases have been music I already knew and liked, and it's had sort of a 'more of the same' feeling. Like, the Belle and Sebastian live album? Nice takes on songs I liked, with some improvements on the oppressive delicacy of cuts originally on 'Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant.' The Nick Cave solo piano record? Not harrowing like 'Ghosteen', but not emotionally easy either. 'Getting Into Knives?' Sure is a recent Mountain Goats Album. So I'm gonna talk about two records that are absolutely striking me this January.
Trust by Elvis Costello -- I used to not like this one. It didn't have the lushness of 'Imperial Bedroom' or the rock n' roll immediacy of his early Attractions recordings. I sort of saw it as a transition into his work that drew heavily on pop before and outside rock music, which was therefore more 'sophisticated' than his still unimpeachable early work with the Attractions; and from his more personal narratives of angst (okay, he kept on with those) to the narrative vignettes about strangers and their sexual politics that would populate albums like 'All This Useless Beauty.' And yeah, that's true. But it's really good at being that. First off, it's an absolute tour de force on the part of Steve Nieve, playing any and all styles of pop piano. He's really the lead instrumentalist on this one, which is right and good. I think I listened to his exquisite organ on 'Watch Your Step' four times today. Which is not to say Bruce Thomas doesn't get in some wonderfully melodic bass parts. The gender stuff? It is likely that his arch takes on such topics as domestic violence and sexual transgressions amount to condescension. But it's filtered through a beautiful stained-glass window of punning and oblique details that I sort of don't care; this isn't the venom of 'Alison.' Standout tracks include that one I just mentioned, 'New Lace Sleeves' for that jittery jazz intro alone (nevermind the gender feels I get when I too look so pretty in my new lace sleeves), and 'Shot With His Own Gun' for the sheer opera of it. And, dear former roomie, I finally love the lyric 'When you're drinking down the eau de cologne, and you're spittin out the kodachrome.' And this album. You win.
Bach's Violin Sonatas and Partitas, as performed by Sandor Vegh -- Now, I have no vocabulary to discuss classical music. I just know that the angels sing in solo violin. It has a clarity like nothing else. And Vegh plays with conviction. He makes the silk of it the kind of silk they used for body armor back when. All of which is to say, I have no fucking idea how he does it or how Bach put this shit together, but, like the Big Bopper, I know what I like.
Trust by Elvis Costello -- I used to not like this one. It didn't have the lushness of 'Imperial Bedroom' or the rock n' roll immediacy of his early Attractions recordings. I sort of saw it as a transition into his work that drew heavily on pop before and outside rock music, which was therefore more 'sophisticated' than his still unimpeachable early work with the Attractions; and from his more personal narratives of angst (okay, he kept on with those) to the narrative vignettes about strangers and their sexual politics that would populate albums like 'All This Useless Beauty.' And yeah, that's true. But it's really good at being that. First off, it's an absolute tour de force on the part of Steve Nieve, playing any and all styles of pop piano. He's really the lead instrumentalist on this one, which is right and good. I think I listened to his exquisite organ on 'Watch Your Step' four times today. Which is not to say Bruce Thomas doesn't get in some wonderfully melodic bass parts. The gender stuff? It is likely that his arch takes on such topics as domestic violence and sexual transgressions amount to condescension. But it's filtered through a beautiful stained-glass window of punning and oblique details that I sort of don't care; this isn't the venom of 'Alison.' Standout tracks include that one I just mentioned, 'New Lace Sleeves' for that jittery jazz intro alone (nevermind the gender feels I get when I too look so pretty in my new lace sleeves), and 'Shot With His Own Gun' for the sheer opera of it. And, dear former roomie, I finally love the lyric 'When you're drinking down the eau de cologne, and you're spittin out the kodachrome.' And this album. You win.
Bach's Violin Sonatas and Partitas, as performed by Sandor Vegh -- Now, I have no vocabulary to discuss classical music. I just know that the angels sing in solo violin. It has a clarity like nothing else. And Vegh plays with conviction. He makes the silk of it the kind of silk they used for body armor back when. All of which is to say, I have no fucking idea how he does it or how Bach put this shit together, but, like the Big Bopper, I know what I like.
