Often I start these with a little preamble about the month. What did I do that was interesting? What does this month mean to me in general? And bros, I have to report that nothing of note happened this month. If I didn’t listen to 30 albums I would be hard-pressed to come up with anything beyond the general satisfaction and surprise that I survived it relatively unscathed.
I flipped through my Instagram stories for evidence that I even existed and here are some highlights. I bought a 1960s-70s record player and a box of maybe 50 old records and managed to fix it and get it working. I’m not handy, so this fairly pedestrian victory is a big one. I hosted a table for the organization I volunteer for at the Latin America fair, where I was reminded how bad my spanish is and had an excellent burrito. I had a lot to say (bad) about Russell Brand and Tim Ballard and a lot to say (good) about Karen Carpenter. Oh and we had a big conversation about mustaches inspired by Travis Kelce. Are we for them? The answer is sometimes.
Let’s talk albums!
The Albums
Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly/Good Kid m.A.A.d City
I listened to both of these this month and the chances are extremely high that if they were on separate months, each would be top five. One of the running themes this month is that while I mostly ignored rap as a teen, I’ve been trying to catch up as an adult. What’s ended up occurring is that I’m listening to a lot of classic albums that, while history-making, do not hold up in many ways culturally. Lamar grapples with that world with clear-eyed 2020 vision (absolutely unintentional pun) and blistering, sparkling intelligence. Both albums made me appreciate the classics more and excited me to see what’s to come. To Pimp a Butterfly is probably the more listenable of the two but I don’t think that means better.
Beyonce, Renaissance
Speaking of artists at the absolute peak of their powers, Renaissance continues Bey’s domination of the top 5. Lemonade, self-titled, and now Renaissance all tell such concise stories of the moments in which they were made, and each is a world-changer. It’s wild to think that there are going to be more Beyonce records when she’s already created a once-in-a-generation catalog. Wowza.
Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman
Oh heck yes two great segues in a row can I keep this up? SPEAKING OF RENAISSANCES <deep breath> Chapman has been having a little of a mainstream one herself due to the (let’s be honest inferior but still nice) cover of Fast Car by country music star Luke Combs. Anyone with a voice would make this anthem a hit, but nobody does it like Tracy.
Witness Chapman—a last-second replacement for Stevie Wonder (oh my gosh another segue is coming I can feel it) after Wonder realized the hard-drives for his backing tracks were misplaced—as she soothes a disappointed Wembley Stadium crowd with a generational classic:
Music is so good. And Tracy Chapman is a full album of it! “Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution” is beautiful and so sad. At the time of its release, 1988, Chapman seems so sure that an end to the myriad issues of the era was just around the corner. That so much that she sings about in this album still feel as bad and hopeless today is a failure every one of us need confront. It’s all so beautiful. This is my album of the month, but because it hasn’t been re-released on vinyl and the cheapest decent-quality record I could find for sale was $100, I passed for now. I’m hoping that now that young people are paying attention to her, we get some represses.
Y’all remember when I mentioned Stevie Wonder? It was two paragraphs ago. Well get ready for
Stevie Wonder, “Talking Book”
Before 2023, I thought I didn’t have to pay attention to Stevie Wonder. I figured he was just easy listening kind of not-much-there 70s songs. What I’m saying is that I was a stupid idiot. I listened to Innervisions earlier, and was absolutely stunned by what I heard. Now I learn that Innervisions is part of Wonder’s “classic era,” which was started by Talking Book. This period is shaped and defined by a room-sized monster of a synthesizer called The Original New Timbral Orchestra, AKA TONTO. It sounds so dope. The song “Superstitions” is on here, and that foot-operated MOOG bass slaps. The lyrics are good. Wonder’s voice is lovely. What a stunner of a package this is.
The Chicks, Gaslighter
Um, while we’re talking about classics… alright that’s forcing a transition when I just didn’t have one. Four out of five is not bad. The Chicks have been a big revelation for me this year. I’ve just listened to two albums so far, this and Taking the Long Way. Both are channeling anger and hurt into undeniable art. I wish they hadn’t gone through the trials that led to these albums, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t astonished by what has resulted. Gaslighter presents us with the image of a small, sad man who cheated on Natalie Maines on her boat. And then that sad sack gets utterly destroyed. He tried to sue Maines for the rights to any song written during their breakup, and wow I bet he wishes he’d won.
Taylor Swift has said there would be no capital-T Taylor without The Chicks, and title track “Gaslighter” is Swiftian in its turn of phrase. “Julianna Calm Down” is beautiful, and you feel “March, March” with its pounding drum beat like deep in your core. This album rules, so I bought it.
From The Vault is What This is Usually Called
The Beths, Expert in a Dying Field
Usually this section is about an album I grew up with, or had a major impact on me during a specific time period. But Expert in a Dying Field came out last year and I just discovered it in the last few months. And even with my perhaps ill-advised prison of my own design that is listening to a recommended album a day, I’ve spent much of my spare music listening time with these lovely New Zealanders. I don’t know how you define “indie pop,” but there’s a sneaking suspicion of mine that serious music guys don’t like allowing women vocalists into their little club because, and this is crucial, most of them sing well. And having a nice voice is apparently a huge no-no. So you have to put that “pop” moniker on interesting and innovative women-led bands so college guys can feel good about ignoring them. It’s just a hypothesis.
When I started this experiment, I asked you all for no-skip, all-banger records and it would be selfish of me to keep this one to myself. I hope you love it.
The Albums
Another fun month! And all but one of these albums were completely new to me. What fun what fun