While I’m on record for saying how much I don’t listen to stuff from the 90s — that I grew up liking anyway — I have a real soft spot for the coming-of-age stuff of the early 2000s to mid-2000s. Not sure if it has anything to do with growing up, starting to choose stuff you like in earnest or what, but I have a great deal of nostalgia for the stuff I remember playing on long road trips, riding on Greyhounds on my CD player, or whatever I could fit onto my MP3 players.
I’m doing this reverse teenager thing where I’m reverting to listening to the stuff from the 80s and 70s, not exclusively, but where I’ve grown a deep appreciation for pop music that was less reliant on computers and more on humans playing background tunes.
No doubt there are lots of people still playing music with instruments, Tiny Desk has a host of them and it’s part of what makes that series so alluring.
PLAYLIST OF THE WEEK
I was on the exercise bike at the gym & made this playlist just for Apple Music folks, because I was already listening in there.
ALBUMS OF THE WEEK
There are so many records I’d either not realized had been released or hadn’t stopped to listen to. A few are legit new releases over the past few weeks.
Soft Kill - Metta World Peace (post-punk)
Cécile McLorin Salvant - Melusine (jazz)
Christine & The Queens - Paranoia, Angels, True Love (synth-pop)
YESTERDAY I LEARNED: Julius Eastman
While I grew up literally falling asleep to classical music radio for much of my life (which probably tells you a lot about how cool I was as a teen) and playing in concert & marching bands in high school, I could never really get down with minimalist music.
Philip Glass kinda hurts my ears, even if I can appreciate what’s going on there. Every once in a while, I’ll run across a minimalist jam and it’ll keep me really engaged because of the interesting stuff they’re doing. For instance, Matthew Halsall’s record from 2020 “Salute to the Sun” was for sure my jam. (It’s probably not that minimalist, because there are drums, but the entire album felt way more downcast than I’m usually vibing with, and it’s jazz not classical.)
Yesterday, I ran across a Tiny Desk of the band Wild Up! playing the music of Julius Eastman, who I’d never heard of in my life.
Eastman was a classical music composer who in the 1970s and 80s made some of the most challenging and confrontational music we’ve heard from the genre. He left behind a legacy that took decades to unpack, but I’m glad we’re starting to see people reveal the stories and complexities of his life.
The man left behind quite the musical canon and it’s a shame that 1) he didn’t get to live enough to enjoy people discovering his music and 2) that kids today don’t realize how many people came before them, living and thriving in spite of the complexities and difficulties of their circumstances. Not because it means it’ll make their struggles easier, it’s just really helpful to realize — especially when you meet people — that you’re not the only one trying to do whatever you’re doing. But I’ll save that rant for an entirely different conversation.
TL;dr: Go listen to Julius Eastman. Thank me later.
Until next time…