Alan Sparhawk – White Roses, My God: After spending some time with Sparhawk’s collaboration with Trampled by Turtles, I wasn’t expecting to like the digitized approach he used on this record. Maybe because I went in with such low expectations, I really like this on first listen. TBD if it ends up getting more plays, but I hear far more humanity than I anticipated.
Laurel Halo – Midnight Zone: In my 20s when I first heard about Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, I thought it would be the most intensely dense thing I’d ever heard. I was incredibly disappointed. Midnight Zone is closer to what I was hoping for. It’s not so much a wall of sound as it is a bottomless ocean of sound. This is a difficult listen in the way a Rothko color field is difficult: if you give it a surface listen, you can easily dismiss it as a monotonous drone, but if you’re willing to listen deeply, you need to be ready to go into your subconscious mind. I can’t decide if its density is analogous to the beautiful wonder of being immersed in the sounds of the deep sea or the horrific terror of being trapped in one of Dante’s circles of hell, but either way, it’s intense.
Shudder to Think – Pony Express Record: I really wanted to like Craig Wedren and Nate Larson in the mid- to late-‘90s, but Pony Express Record never really stuck. I got caught up in the hype of Record Store Day in 2025 and picked up the re-release on a whim. It still doesn’t stick. I only have room for about 300 records and this doesn’t make that cut.
Van Morrison – His Band and the Street Choir: Astral Weeks changed my life, and I eventually learned to appreciate Moondance. My initial reaction to His Band and the Street Choir is that it has great energy but isn’t my cup of tea. It’s rooted in blues and New Orleans music, and that’s just not what I’m into. But I’ve listened a few times and I keep hearing things that grab my attention. I’m going to give this another week and see what happens.
Gracie Abrams – Daughter from Hell: I finally made it to side 2. None of the songs grabbed me on my first listen, but “Daughter from Hell” didn’t grab me at first either and it’s becoming one of my favorite Gracie Abrams songs. Any child who was difficult for their parents should listen to the title track. I plead the fifth on whether I fell into that category.
Grateful Dead – May 11, 1977 | May 14, 1977 | 10 21 & 22, 1971: I’m still mostly listening in the background, but “Big River” from the May 11 ’77 show is one of the best versions I’ve ever heard.
Old friends who made it into rotation this week: John Coltrane: A Love Supreme; Van Morrison: Moondance