Listening Journal: September 1 – 7

Tom Waits – Rain Dogs: The songs, arrangements, and performances are wonderful. Marc Ribot’s increased presence adds beautiful color to the songs, and the instrumentation pushes the boundaries of “found sounds” even farther than Swordfishtrombones did. I’m still struggling with the lyrics, though. These characters and settings are so fantastical as to feel like caricatures. I recognize that I’m listening through a filter of Disney movies and Tom Cruise blockbusters that have, in the 40 years since the record came out, monetized (and therefore defanged) tropes of scary dwarves and drunk pirates and death in New Orleans. But even in 1985, these tropes were lazy, and Rain Dogs feels as if Waits wants to live in a 1920s circus freakshow or a 19^th century Stevenson novel. I suppose nothing is wrong with that, but George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London portrays many of the same characters and settings, and even at 90+ years old, it does so with fewer cliches. Waits finds moments that do justice to Orwell, though. When he sings about Brooklyn girls on the downtown train or the drunken glee of the rain dogs, he taps into a flawed humanity that feels real. I’m going to keep digging into these records because I know my biases—both the love I had for Waits in my 20s and the expectations I bring today—are coloring how I listen, but I’m struggling to rediscover that love I once had.

Turnstile – Never Enough | Time & Space: It’s fun watching fans of different genres—hardcore, post-hardcore, emo, pop punk—simultaneously claim Turnstile as their own and blast them for coloring outside the lines. I’m not a big fan of any of those genres, so my only emotional connection to the band is that they’re from Baltimore and they raise a lot of money for an organization I care about. However, Brendan Yates’ production on Never Enough messes with me. His reverb-heavy ‘80s approach annoys me, but then I hear the Police-meets-Cure energy of “I Care” and I love how the band is willing to abandon the rules, constraints, and expectations of whatever genre they’re supposed to be upholding. I went back to Time & Space for comparison, but it’s closer to a genre record and it isn’t really my thing. Never Enough, however, confuses me enough that I’ll keep listening to it and see if it breaks through for me.

Caribou – Our Love: I bought this years ago and never listened to it until I was inspired by Dan Snaith’s recent collaboration with Sofia Kourtesis. It’s good but it doesn’t knock me over. However, “Can’t Do Without You” grabs me as an opener and “Your Love Will Set You Free” is a fantastic closer that plays with polyrhythms in a way that always catches my attention.

Ceremony – Rocket Fire: Funny that I put this on, just a couple weeks after having such an indifferent reaction to Winter’s new record. The heavy guitars and driving drums on Rocket Fire are definitive of the kind of shoegaze I still like, and once I get past the thin production, I love the energy of songs like “Silhouette” and the noise on tracks like “Don’t Leave Me Behind.” Maybe I need to go back and revisit some shoegaze albums I dismissed, including that Winter record.

Clairo – Charm | Wolf Alice – The Clearing: The cover of the former always captures my eye in record stores and the latter received such glowing reviews that I finally tried both this week. I got three songs into each record before the ‘70s nostalgia made me shut them off.

Pretty Girl – Fabric Presents Pretty Girl | HAAi – DJ-Kicks: These two records cleansed my palate after I abandoned Charm and The Clearing, respectively.

Old friends who made it into rotation this week: Khruangbin: Mordechai; Paul Simon: Graceland; Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department.