SO/SN/SB/SB — 9/5/23

I promised a while ago that I was going to be publishing at least two blog posts every day (M-F) for as long as my career would allow me. I leaned on Summer Song Challenge to make that happen this summer (and then some), but it still wore me out, and I'm only gonna be hitting one post a day for the next few days. We'll get back to two-a-days by next week.

Something Old

It's always nice to have different kinds of music in the arsenal to fit certain moods and certain times of day. I got real pissed off when Frank Sinatra was chosen for family dinner down the shore, but I'll admit that it was more appropriate as "dinner music" than whatever I had on (probably Floodlights). Same goes for the morning. In the same way that I have no issue with eating a cheesesteak for breakfast even though it's not really a socially-acceptable "breakfast food," I have no qualms ripping Descendents at 7 AM (assuming everyone is awake at that point). But it is nice to have something calming and almost elevator-music-y to play during those early morning hours, ya know?

Dorothy Ashby's Afro-Harping has fit the bill recently. Stephan chose the title track from this album for our "unexpected instrument" day in Summer Song Challenge, the unexpected instrument being obvious. What was also unexpected was that this album had way less soul and way more lounge jazz in its sound than I would've guessed. Not necessarily a bad thing, but maybe a little closer to Gal Costa than Otis Redding than I'd prefer. It's all good! It's the morning time! Sometimes, at that time of day, the people want something that sounds like the interstitial music from an Austin Powers movie!

Summer Song Challenge is over, but I would assume this will not be the last time I'm mentioning an album I discovered from my friends' write-ups.

Something New

No one was asking or expecting the reunited Be Your Own Pet to capture the unhinged and raw teenage energy that they unleashed on that all-timer of a 2005 self-titled debut. The new one—Mommy, their first in over fifteen years—hits the intended target way better than I could've hoped for. No, it doesn't feature anything as wild or crazy or free as "Bicycle, Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle," but wouldn't that have been sad if they tried? No one is that age anymore, not the members of the band and not the audience. Let the past stay in the past, I say.

The new shtick is kind of brilliant, the more I think about it. Musically speaking, they're following the growing-up playbook established by Paramore, with even some of the same new-wave-ish undertones mixing with old punk aesthetics. Otherwise, they seem to be going for Milf Dominatrix vibes, with Jemina Pearl donning the slick leather on the cover and cracking the whip both literally and figuratively all over the album. I'm into it, and not just because I'm a disgusting pervert. I'm into it because the whole pain = pleasure thing is a nice metaphor for what BYOP is trying to do here—find that same excitement that you felt all those years ago, but maybe make it sting a little more now that we're all numb and need a higher dosage.

I'm not doing a good job of explaining what I mean, and I swear to god this has nothing to do with my kinks. It's all about BE YOUR OWN PET BEING BACK, BABY!!!

Something Borrowed

Uproxx music critic Steve Hyden has been leaning into "big lists" recently. Ya know, "Top 100 Song by ___" and stuff like that. I dig it, because the man knows how to write a blurb. That's all you need in order to save your list from accusations of it being a "listicle." There is care put into these things. A couple weeks ago, he dropped "The Best Soundtrack Albums, Ranked," which had 50 albums on the list and offers a really good example of how to write a blurb. Here are a couple good examples:

"37. Clueless (1995)

I thought about putting Fast Times at Ridgemont High on this list, but the soundtrack is larded with too many past-their-time arena-rock acts that either worked professionally with the film's co-producer Irving Azoff or palled around with Fast Times screenwriter Cameron Crowe. Both men were at odds with director Amy Heckerling, whose punk/new wave sensibility was more in line with youth culture at the time. You can tell that Heckerling got her way with Clueless, another L.A. teen comedy whose alt-rock soundtrack practically screams 1995 in bright pink letters. What that means is plenty of sugary bangers from the likes of Supergrass, Luscious Jackson, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Smoking Popes, Counting Crows, and the Muffs.

...

2. Saturday Night Fever (1977)

There's a strong musicologist argument against this album, which is that a scene invented by queer, Black, and Latin artists ought not to be represented by a double LP headlined by three white male Australians. It's such a strong argument that I wouldn't dream of disputing it. I wouldn't dream of it because I am a weak man. I am a weak man because I also can't resist (affects the guitar sound from "Stayin' Alive") bwa bwa bwa ba da da bwa bwa ba da da da da. Even though (like you) I have heard it 1.6 billion times. Because Saturday Night Fever is indestructible. We know this because many people (even the Bee Gees) have tried to kill it and they have never succeeded. This album is so iconic and popular that it has endured endless success-to-laughingstock-and-back-to-success cycles. You can enjoy it as pop music, as a joke, as a dated cultural reference, and/or as a deathless classic. Just don't expect it to ever go away.

Read the whole thing HERE. Beyond the solid blurbs, it obviously gives you a lot to think about as far as soundtracks are concerned. Here's my issue with soundtracks in general: they usually act as mix tapes for the filmmakers. Which is great for the film—Dazed and Confused comes in at #8, if you're curious, and it's a film soundtrack that is absolutely essential for its film (as discussed many times already on this blog)—but kinda shitty for the idea of "the album." I.e. this is only a cohesive work of art because someone in an entirely different medium says it is, and I don't buy it.

There are definitely a few soundtracks on this list that hang together as an artistic whole just like a regular album. I'm talking about the albums that feature all original music, mostly from one artist, who had a hand in shaping the album in their own image. The #1 item on the list fits the bill (won't spoil it for you). So does Super Fly, A Hard Day's Night, The Harder They Come. I'd also give Saturday Night Fever a pass, even though it features plenty of non-Bee Gees artists, but let's be real, we're here for the Bee Gees.

Anyways, good list, even though I disagree with the premise.

Something Blue

There's been a spate of weird middle-of-the-night sojourns in the living room while the youngest goes fucking nuts and rolls around and whines and does pretty much anything but sleep, and so for a couple nights there I was tossing around the idea of starting to watch or rewatch a TV series, exclusively during those 1AM to 3AM hours. I was in the mood for a light sitcom as opposed to an hour-long drama (like Lost) because, ya know, I'm tired as fuck.

I had vague memories of watching My Name Is Earl with my parents back in the day. I was still able to recall the concept—Earl has a list of wrongs that he's committed that he wishes to correct and make right, and he spends each episode crossing one thing off the list—but didn't really remember anything else. So instead of doing the endless scrolling-through-Hulu bullshit, I just popped on the pilot episode.

It was... fine. I still think it's a great hook, but the execution was lacking. One, it wasn't all that funny (I understand that sometimes comedies need a while to warm up, but I wasn't looking to invest the needed time in the middle of the night with a goddamn baby). Two, the pilot spent way too much time on a plot that has aged very poorly, and attempts to be heartwarming via homophobia. I'm not gonna waste my time wringing my hands about a mid-'00s sitcom that had no reason to be politically correct, but I also am going to use this as an excuse to not bother with Episode 2. Maybe I should rewatch Lost.