Fleetwood Mac – Rumours: I’ve been listening to a lot of new (to me) music and I needed a break, I needed something easy. Rumours is my benchmark for a perfect rock album, and it was a great way to cleanse my palate. What surprised me is how many new things I heard, things I’ve never heard before.
Mike D. – Thank You: I couldn’t stop asking myself if I’d be listening to this if it was an unknown artist, and the answer significantly changed from track to track. At times, it felt like an elder statesman resting on his laurels, but at other times, it felt like he was reclaiming what he created and carrying it into the future. I made it through the record once this week, and I need to give it at least one more try.
Turnstile – Never Enough: Versions: I only scratched the surface but I’m hooked. Porches does an absolutely lovely (remix? reinterpretation? collab? I don’t even know what to call these) of the title track, then Slayyyter comes in and absolutely destroys (in a good way) “Birds.” Floating Points takes a disappointingly generic approach to his remix of “Sole” by simply dropping in a beat when the song’s oh-oh-ohhhh’s lend themselves to an infinite possibility of electronic mayhem, but he saves it with the second half of the track. And unfortunately, that’s all I had time for this week.
Grateful Dead – Dave’s Picks: I listened to a bunch of different shows in the background, including Albuquerque (11/17/71) and Ann Arbor (12/14/71) from Dave’s Picks 26 and the October 1971 shows from Chicago on Dave’s Picks 3. All good stuff, and it’s interesting to hear multiple shows from those months when Keith Godchaux was coming in and Pigpen was slowly making his exit.
Old friends who made it into rotation this week: Laufey: Bewitched; Laufey: A Matter of Time Live at Madison Square Garden; The National: Alligator