Carly Rae Jepson – Day and Night: The more I listen, the more it makes me feel the way Everything but the Girl made me feel 25 years ago, except if they were happy and in love. “Hold Me to the Light” was my breakthrough track this week, and I can’t quite decide if it’s a romantic song with religious imagery or a religious song with romantic imagery.
Olivia Rodrigo – SOUR: I’ve tried this album numerous times over the years and it never hit, but I finally heard “Brutal” for the fantastic opener it is. The world is better since teenage girls have mainstream artists who write songs like this.
Cameron Winter – Heavy Metal: I listened to this once last December, loved it, then waited 10 months to play it again. That says something important about this record. Sonically, I like it a lot. Lyrically, I can’t tell if Winter is a brilliant poet or a pretentious nitwit, but I’m leaning toward the latter.
Grateful Dead – May 20, 1973: Set three is the gem here. The transition from “Truckin’” into a “Nobody’s Fault but Mine” jam is filled with joy. “The Other One” is a dark and ferocious storm, and then the sun breaks through on “Eyes of the World.”
Old friends who made it into rotation this week: HAAi: Baby, We’re Ascending
Record store finds this week: I finally found a 12” of Peech Boys’ Paradise Garage classic “Don’t Make Me Wait” in the wild, and shockingly it was only three bucks. That was a huge hole in my collection of classic disco and early house singles, and I’m thrilled I found it.