Meat Puppets

I so admire their commitment to music, rather than their image. They have lived the art life — it’s so obvious in hindsight because their entire catalog holds up. It’s a sign of a band working at a very high level. A band who knows who they are. And it makes me so happy to see their original lineup back together after all these years.

This little guitar riff is infectious — the opening title track from their excellent LP from ‘85. No eighties cliche’s interfering with this genius song that transcends genre. They remind me a little of Miracle Legion, but this sound is all their own and I love the thrown away feel of their vocals over those beautiful guitars.

A long time ago
I turned to myself
And said "You are my daughter"

❤️

The Avalanches (feat. Blood Orange)

Night time, I’m fine
Dreaming of another life.

Another timeless, miracle of a song. Somehow they’ve cooked up the melancholy title track of this outstanding record to include Smoky Robinson, The Roaches and a new sublime, vocal from the uber-talented Dev Hynes. It all sounds beautiful and seamless, clocking in under three minutes. And those dreamy R&B vocals that carry us out feel so buoyant and lovely.

The Avalanches (feat. MGMT & Johnny Marr)

One of the reasons I love this band so much is because it’s difficult to recognize where one sample ends and another begins. It just feels like great music in the end, and it took some alchemy to get there.

Fusing Karen Carpenter with Cola Boyy and making it feel wonderful isn’t easy to do. Or in this case, speeding up The Shirelles and bringing in Johnny Marr and MGMT. Those VanWyngarden lyrics and vocals are so beautiful with this music. It feels like a perfect fit. Apparently he was going through a break up and his melancholy shone through. And those little background vocal interludes between each I still remember you are magic.

The Avalanches

Oh man….this one’s a minor miracle that has brought me big joy over the last six years. Studio wizards the Avalanches return after sixteen years (!) to release their sophmore record WILDFLOWER. With this single, they’ve taken a sweet, little street vocal from 1959 and put it in the spotlight. SIX BOYS IN TROUBLE is an incredible musical testament in its own right — you can hear this kid’s passion and innocence right in his beautiful, spontaneous vocal.

But to sample it and build this song around it? Then cast and create this video? A miraculous acheivement. Even the intro/outro is a stunning bit of filmmaking with strong performances from our little hero and ticket booth worker. No spoilers, just watch it. What a vibe. ❤️

Cola Boyy & The Avalanches

This has been all over my playlists. It is from Cola Boyy’s 2021 debut LP PROSTHETIC BOOMBOX.

Now, Cola Boyy is Matthew Urango from Oxnard, California. He’s a tremendous artist and inspiration who is disabled and an advocate for postivitity and for people on the fringe. You can feel the love in this track and video, the lyrics. It makes me so happy tonight.

We all have the tendency to run from problems and conflict. We run to protect ourselves. It’s not just the billionaires buying islands.

There's a time in life, yeah
Where we're searching for answers
I be asking myself
'Bout a getaway plan

Do I take a jet plane
Should I learn to drive, yeah (yeah)
Will I make it if I walk there
Will I make it if I walk there

Don't forget me
Don't forget
Don't forget your neighborhood

The National

The 16th and final track on I AM EASY TO FIND just kills me. That little piano refrain, the haunting strings and that tragic baritone vocal from Berninger. I don’t know the context of these lyrics — it’s probably a break-up…

But sometimes I like to adopt my own context with certain songs. For me, this track is a metaphor — seeing your child move on to their own independent life. That slow, relentless process. I feel it with Flannery now. Sixteen going on seventeen.  

I was always ten feet behind you from the start

Then suddenly light years away. Maybe it feels like light years, but really we’re still hanging like twenty-five or thirty feet behind. 😆  

We all need the love of our parents, even as we grow old.  

This song LIGHT YEARS has an emotional, cinematic video embedded below. It comes from a longer piece of filmmaking — click the link to watch the entire beautiful short film from Mike Mills. It’s difficult for me to get through it without weeping. 😭

The National

Love the energy in this beautiful track — it’s like a celebration. It’s almost comical. The percussion, the strings. Those layered male/female vocals from Eve Owen and Matt Berninger. It feels like a celebration of a woman, even though it’s a complicated, frustrating portrait. There’s often something unknowing about the person we love, and we’ll eventually hit a wall and feel that separation. The mystery is good — all these questions need to stay unanswered at times.

I think I'm hittin' a wall (is she outside?)
I hate my looks, I hate 'em all (is she looking out?)
I think I'm runnin' away (is she standing up?)
The storm you bring
Can't take another day (where are her hands?)
I think I'm hittin' a wall (where are her eyes?)
I think I'm hittin' a wall (where are her feet?)
I hate loving you as much as I do (where's her head?)
I think I'm runnin' away (is she outside?)

The National

These Lisa Hannigan vocals feel so important — they have gravitas and are performed so well over this exquisite music from the Dessner brothers.

The fact the National uses so many incredible female vocalists on this record is such an important creative decision. I can’t remember exactly what Matt Berninger said, but it was something along the lines of, “I’ve heard my voice enough.” Having a female presence throughout this record was brave. Is it still a National record? A resounding yes — because Berninger’s voice haunts the entire record and carries with it a kind of humility. And any good relationship has a second voice and point of view helping steer it.

Hearing your voice always saves me
Can you get away and talk to me?

The National

Another gorgeous one from the perfectly titled I AM EASY TO FIND — which has become my most played National record and my second favorite behind BOXER.

I love this arrangement — how the song begins with piano and competing drums and tempos. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus adds an epic element to the intimate feel. Haunting guest vocals from Mina Tindle on this track that Berninger wrote with his wife Carin Besser. Their poetry articulates the joys of their commitment and the endurance it takes to keep it meaningful and fulfilling.

It's still always you every morning I think of no matter what
How I want you here
I know I am easy to find but you know, it's never me
I still got my fears

The National

I used to play HIGH VIOLET in our car back in 2010 and I’d watch Flannery in the rear view, strapped wide-eyed in her car seat, only 4 — and I’d wonder and worry about sorrow. Specifically — if, when and how it would eventually find her.

Love the tempo of those guitar strums and those big drums. Just a beautiful song and arrangment. And these Berlinger lyrics are thoughtful and poetic as they help reveal the enticing side of sorrow.

Sorrow found me when I was young
Sorrow waited, sorrow won
Sorrow, they put me on the pill
It's in my honey, it's in my milk

The National

Like a little drop of ink in a glass of water…

The lyric popped in my head today and I had to remember where it came from. This song. My favorite from BOXER — a record with a slew of great songs. Not sure why this one’s the track I always stick a pin in. There’s something really mysterious and beautiful about it. A compassionate love song to lost friendships. I have some really good friends I haven’t spoken to in many years.

Hope we’re staying glued together
I have arms for them

But some nights I remember them. And I try to get inside their heads and feel them again — who they are. It could a prayer, a mediation, a memory.

Get inside their heads,
Love their loves… ❤️

The National

I heard this EP called CHERRY TREE back in 2005 when prepping to shoot our movie CALVIN MARSHALL. I remember playing it a lot at the time and this track became an anthem of sorts, marking this particular hurdle in my life and career.

This song also announced THE NATIONAL as a seriously terrific band working at a high level and making their own rules about genre and style. So love this guitar and drum vibe, with that cello and understated vocals. And these lyrics are so personal to me, because I saw our film slipping away from us — something our team had worked for years to get made.

How close am I to losing?

Big Audio Dynamite

Mick Jones came right out of that broken CLASH gate in 84 with this amazing track that somehow works so well — even as it mixes samples, genres and new 80’s sounds. I love these samples and those little random stories in this track. They could be bad dreams Mick had or maybe they’re based in reality. It doesn’t matter in the song, we feel the insanity either way.

E =mc2

Energy equals matter times the speed of light squared.

Jones uses this concept to describe a culture where things are moving too fast and veering out of control.

The Clash

Excited to put two out there for Mick Jones before moving on from the Clash — he may not have had the swagger of Joe Strummer, but whenever he takes a lead vocal, you realize he could’ve done it a lot more often. This first one is the last track on their masterpiece LONDON CALLING — it’s a simple love song about loyalty, with a very inauspicious title. Another one of those heartbreaking songs about being let down in a relationship. But somehow the music still makes you feel good — it just sounds buoyant and fun. Sometimes calling someone out can be empowering and you really feel that energy here.

There’s only one thing I can say
Did you stand by me? No, not at all.

The Clash

Imagine putting on the self-titled debut by THE CLASH back in ‘77, not knowing anything about this band. What a beautiful experience that would have been. It announced to the world who the Clash was. It’s all here in track one — melody, guitars and drums. Great vocals from Strummer and Jones. Already socially conscious — this little, touching portrait of a young blue collar worker hating his boring job and working conditions.

But he loves his evenings out with Janie. Lucky lady. He seems like a good dude who just hates his boss. No payola in his alphabetical file. 😂 But he needs to fill his Ford Cortina with gas so he and Janie can go out.

Absolutely love those No’s at the end and how our hero plans to let his boss and government man know exactly how he feels about his shitty job.