Last year I posted my song-by-song discovery of Courtney Barnett’s album Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit, listening to each song for the first time before writing about it.
I liked that experience, especially because the album turned out to be a great one, and I’ve been wanting to give it another try. This time, however, I’m going not with a newcomer but an artist I already know and love.
Here’s one of those fun cases where the birthday of a loved one falls on a Random Weekend.
It gives me a chance to play my favorite musical game, wherein I say “whatever song plays next will sum up the rest of your life” or “whatever song plays next describes our marriage” and so on.
So, whatever song plays next is dedicated to my lovely daughter Fiona, who turns 10 today.
The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that my Song of the Day number jumped ahead by 10 after yesterday. That’s because, while perusing old blog entries, I stumbled upon a mistake in the numbering.
In May of 2014, during a theme week on my five desert island songs, I posted R.E.M.’s ‘Maps and Legends’ as SOTD #2,117. It should have been #2,127.
I have some hope that I’ll finish out my Pazz & Jop series on a high note. I’ve heard of the artist at #18 on the list before, and in a promising context.
My younger daughter and I are at Moe’s Southwest Grill recently and were helped by a young woman we decided resembles Vanessa Hudgens. We returned a week or two later with my older daughter, who said no, she looks like Alessia Cara. “Who’s that?” I asked. A singer, my daughter told me, and a good one.
We’re in the home stretch of my look at the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll, and I will say that week two has proven far better than week one so far.
Will Kurt Vile, at #17 on the list of 2015’s best songs, buck that trend or extend it? I’d never heard of Vile, a Pennsylvania-born singer-songwriter who has released six studio albums since 2008. But I like the lyrics to this track before hearing a note of it.
Meet Me In Montauk 