over and out
september 2024
a pseudo-listicle to keep things fresh and varied. possibly an intentional riff to avoid lapsing into more diaristic rambling. i am merely a conduit after all. this is about the ~music~, not me.1
here we go.
shreddingest guitar solo
ALLEGRA KRIEGER released her fifth album, “ART OF THE UNSEEN INFINITY MACHINE”, this month. it didn’t disappoint—i dare say it was never going to disappoint based on the four tantalizing singles she dropped starting in june.
the whole record is a treat, but pay particular attention to the penultimate track “WHERE YOU WANT TO GO”. what starts as a whisper (morning came with the hope/of lifting the weight of your feet with a rope) builds to release—of anger, of control, which is illusory anyway… the dread of dying. by the time the guitar gets ripping, unspooling into delirium, i am persuaded by the possibility that life is simply motion, vibration; at times we stumble, others we sprint. no matter what, as KRIEGER advises, “you better keep up/fuck what you feel”.
deepest throwback
it saddens me that i can’t remember the artist playlist where i reconnected with this track from YO LA TENGO’s “AND THEN NOTHING TURNED ITSELF INSIDE-OUT”, but oh well. it’s a gem.2 it’s impossible to decide what about the song i love most: the rainfall ride cymbal and pattering drums, the warmth radiating from the layers of guitar and bass, or, when i played it in my parents’ kitchen the other night, the fact that my dad, with his characteristic sincerity, asked “did i do this one?” he did.
hardest opening track(s)
after totaling up the scores, it’s a tie between the detached indie heartthrobs of our time: PORCHES and MJ LENDERMAN. both released albums this month, both are playing in Nashville in the coming weeks, but only one was recently written about by their ex, FRANKIE COSMOS, for being (surprise!) kind of a tool even if his music is good—PORCHES’ “RETURN OF THE GOAT” felt like the perfect link between his previous, more celebratory and carefree album “ALL DAY GENTLE HOLD!” and his new loud, garage-grunge-y album “SHIRT”. the record showcases Maine’s knack for reinvention without betraying what makes PORCHES well… PORCHES: the sleepy, suave, did-he-steal-his-parents’-xanax? kind of vocal delivery, the innate pop sensibility, the subtle undercurrent of depravity.
by contrast, MJ LENDERMAN’s opener “MANNING FIREWORKS” for his album of the same name, is not a slapper per se, and yet it may be my favorite of the entire record for how it smolders. at the end of the first verse, the violin and drums, the upright bass, come in and back up the lonely schmuck singing and playing guitar. by the time he’s talking about “sneakin’ back stage to hound/the girls in the circus”, they’re really cookin’; LENDERMAN’s statement has been all but made and will be reasserted with every subsequent song. like everyone else, i love this album. i need not say any more.3
biggest legend
after a 14 year hiatus, DAN REEDER performed in the states, and it had to be Nashville, where is label, JOHN PRINE’s oh boy records, is based. after a short set at Vinyl Tap, he and his daughter PEGGY REEDER played two sold out sets at Soft Junk. with only a limited familiarity of his catalogue i went mostly on faith and NIC’s encouragement. and of course it was magic. the father-daughter combo lent REEDER’s songs an even more pronounced intimacy than can be found on the already poignant recorded versions.
REEDER interspersed the songs with what can only be described as flash fiction… tales of watching a blind guy bash a porsche with his white cane, the singular, childhood joy of eating cold ravioli from a can. and then they played a cover of “FIX YOU” by COLDPLAY—on top of the several JOHN PRINE covers—and that just about sealed the deal. whether or not you’re a fan, i trust you’ll understand why he’s more represented than any other artist on this month’s playlist. “it’s actually simple but it’s hard to explain.”
most reps
not that touring musicians really live anywhere, but i’m starting to wonder if MJ LENDERMAN’s moving to Nashville. this past month he played a stripped-down set at The Blue Room with bandmate KARLY HARTZMAN, and then a double shift at The Basement East, playing both his own set and lead guitar for WAXAHATCHEE at ANTI-record’s 25th anniversary showcase. he’s coming back to play a sold out show at The Basement East on october 5th.
thanks to my one true live music plug, Tyler King, i got one of the 50 day-of tickets for the ANTI showcase, where CHRISTIAN LEE HUTSON and MADI DIAZ wore their hearts on their sleeves, MJ went back to his roots with “KNOCKIN’”, and WAXAHATCHEE not only played “TIGERS BLOOD” from front to back, but debuted a new song “MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING”. thanks Tyler.
longest hype
and on the 10th of september, SOUR WIDOWS played at DRKMTTR. MELAINA KOL and YOUBET got things started as the room filled up. each act voiced what we were all thinking: how lucky we are to have an all-ages d.i.y. venue like DRKMTTR, where teens can positively geek out with their favorite bands when they assume their post behind the merch table; where the sound tech is literally right over there.
SOUR WIDOWS mostly stuck to songs off their new album “REVIVAL OF A FRIEND”, although they did play two unreleased songs, the names of which i’m dying to know. i’m told i was beaming the entire time and i believe it. i fell into the pocket and stayed there until, suddenly, the set was done and the band assumed their post behind the merch table.
other notable album releases: NILÜFER YANYA, STYROFOAM WINOS, LEIF VOLLEBEKK
SHOWS IN SEPTEMBER: SOUR WIDOWS + YOUBET + MELAINA KOL / FLORRY + JOSH HALPER + ABBY JOHNSON / PETER CAT RECORDING CO. / MJ LENDERMAN + KARLY HARTZMAN / DAN REEDER / ANTI-RECORDS 25TH ANNIVERSARY SHOWCASE
SHOWS IN OCTOBER: CHARLI XCX + TROYE SIVAN (SWEAT) / HORSEJUMPER OF LOVE / MJ LENDERMAN / NILǓFER YANYA / PORCHES
just kidding. of course this is about me. look at my pictures. bite me.
the whole album is.
okay, well, the one thing i will say is i enjoyed the opportunity to consider the differences between MJ LENDERMAN’s songwriting and ALLEGRA KRIEGER’s. they’re both writing incredibly vivid songs—some of my favorite right now, lyrically—but it feels like they exist in different planes. where LENDERMAN, like DAVID BERMAN before him, seems happy to simply point at both the absurdity and the profundity of the most staggeringly banal moments of our lives, KRIEGER takes those same moments and lifts them up to a metaphysical place. neither one is better than the other… different strokes.
Happy to have you along to any and every show. Happy you enjoyed it. Happy to know you.