Taylor Swift – Midnights: Like I said last week, there are definitely cracks in this album (I’m looking at you, “Karma”), but there are moments of Taylor at her best. “Labyrinth” and “Sweet Nothing” are sitting alongside “Snow on the Beach” as early favorites, but pretty much everything on the album has wormed its way into my brain.
Jon Hopkins – Music for Psychedelic Therapy: I’ve long said there are only two kinds of music: good and bad. Being a hypocritical and flawed human, though, I tend to fully place certain genres, like new age, into the bad category. I find myself dismissing Music for Psychedelic Therapy because of its new age tendencies. I’m trying to listen intentionally and move beyond my bias so I can see if the record stands on its own merits.
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – Porgy & Bess: The more I listen to this, the more I want to hear other songs from this stellar pair. I just ordered Cheek to Cheek: The Complete Duet Recordings and I’m very excited.
Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell: I was talking with a friend about great Sabbath records and I realized I never gave the two Dio albums proper attention. Heaven and Hell isn’t perfect, but even the filler is stronger than most bands’ A-material. I have no clue why I didn’t spend more time with this when I was a kid because it sits nicely alongside old favorites like Number of the Beast and Blackout.
Martyn – Ghost People and Great Lengths: Ghost People is better than Great Lengths, but they’re both upbeat and generally decent. They’re also a good reminder why I prefer mixed sets over albums of DJs’ entirely original material.
Kristin Malossi – Fact Mix 881 DJ Voices: I love this set, especially the way she uses brief snippets of sound as anchors in series of four-bar phrases. There’s a ton of energy but I never feel like I’m being subjected to a ridiculous roller coaster ride. I know I’ll be going back to this mix again. (Soundcloud)
Tricky – Knowle West Boy: I can only listen to so many mediocre albums by an artist before I give up and slip into nostalgia for a handful of good records. I was at a comfortably nostalgic place with Tricky when I found Knowle West Boy in a stack of CDs I’d forgotten buying. Shockingly, it’s good.
Low – “Remembering Low’s Mimi Parker with 6 Essential Tracks”: Migos strikes me as little more than a one-hit wonder who captured America’s fancy, so I’m disappointed (but not particularly surprised) by the disproportionate media coverage of the deaths of Takeoff compared to Mimi Parker. Parker spent nearly 30 years pushing the boundaries of modern music, and this Pitchfork playlist is a nice way to remember some of her contributions.
Prince – Prince: Bob and I spent the past week digging into Prince’s second record. It’s still not great, but there are a couple of gems on here.