Turn It Up - 6/10/2024

Earworms, obsessions, recommendations

It’s another week, so we’re back with some things we’ve been listening to. David up first, then Charles, and we’ve listed a bunch of reading recommendations at the end.

Lone Justice – “Teenage Kicks” (single, 2024)

Even as Maria McKee and Lone Justice was making its name as roots rock powerhouse in a cowpunk scene that included Los Lobos, the Blasters and Dwight Yoakam, and years before Feargal Sharkey scored a huge European hit with a version of McKee’s “A Good Heart,” Lone Justice was raging joyously through a previously unreleased version of “Teenage Kicks,” a 1979 side from Sharkey’s band The Undertones. If anything, McKee and her early 1980s outfit come off harder and punkier, and hornier, than the Brits did, in their wiry energy and shrill attack but also in the way McKee, who came out as pansexual in 2018, doesn’t bother changing Sharkey’s pronouns: “I wanna hold her, wanna hold her tight! …All right!” – DC

Bobby Bare – “I Drink” (from Bobby Bare at Larry’s Country Diner, 2024)

Airing from 2009 to 2022 on RFD TV, Larry’s Country Diner featured country stars performing casually on a café-styled set that really leaned into the faux part of folksy. It favored old-school country types though younger retro acts sometimes appeared: The last season devoted episodes to Gene Watson and Moe Bandy, for example, but also featured Hot Club of Cowtown and the Malpass Brothers. This sounds like it might be a good time, and it could be, except that host Larry Black and other regulars were so tediously unfunny while sometimes interrupting sets and even songs. Fortunately, the shows are now available to stream minus the banter and visuals. Gems galore to discover, if you’re patient. Bobby Bare’s season 17 appearance is particularly strong, never more so than when the old song-hound includes Mary Gauthier’s “I Drink” in a set that otherwise rehearses his hits. His studio version of that song, from 2017’s Things Change, is loud and fussy, but this spare acoustic live version is low-key devastating. Bobby Bare, ladies and gentlemen, a songwriter’s best friend. – DC

Sylvia – “Nobody” (from Just Sylvia, 1982)

I don’t know Sylvia’s catalog beyond the hits, so I plan to check out her five RCA albums, released between 1981 and 1985, now that they’ve been remastered and made available for streaming. In the small sample of her work that I am familiar with, she boasts a kind of Juice Newton-meets-Crystal-Gayle energy typical of that era and, largely because of that, she often gets dismissed out of hand—all of which, these days, puts me on her side in a way I admit I wasn’t back in her moment. Back then, I hated her biggest hit, “Nobody,” a country chart topper and pop No. 15, for all the usual tin-eared and buttheaded rockist reasons, but as my ears have opened through the decades, I’ve been charmed by the record’s country-pop bounce, its New-Wave synths and those supportive backing vocals from vocal trio the Cherry Sisters. The story’s good too, with Syliva finally figuring out her boyfriend’s a cheat who, at least for the moment, she’s going to fight for. – DC

Alan Braufman – “Chasing a Melody” (from Infinite Love, Infinite Tears, 2024)

Alto saxophonist and free-jazz master Alan Braufman kickstarts his new album blowing a speedy, salt-peanutty tune, in harmony with tenor man James Brandon Lewis. Then come long, spirited solos from Patricia Brennan on vibraphone, Braufman, Lewis, and Ken Filiano bowing his bass—all while drummer Chad Taylor solos away himself, more or less, even as he keeps indefatigable time. Spoiler alert: It takes them eight minutes, but they catch the melody at the end. – DC

Richard Thompson – “Turnstile Casanova” (from Ship to Shore, 2024)

As indicated by the title and Life Aquatic-esque cover image, Richard Thompson’s great new album has a nautical theme of sorts. But my current favorite track comes from one of the nervy pop portraits of love gone wrong that’ve long been among Thompson’s signature moves. “Turnstile Casanova” builds from yet another piercing RT riff into a snotty rebuke of a former lover who’s left him for the titular famous name. Thompson’s got plenty of spittle-flecked scorn for both of them, but his grumbling admissions that “I thought I was brave, I thought I was strong” reveal the song’s true, wounded heart. Rolling ever forward over guitar and drums, “Turnstile Casanova” is over before you know it but sticks with you long after it’s gone. – CH

Finom – “Haircut” (from Not God, 2024)

The Chicago-based duo Finom is new to me, and their new Jeff Tweedy-produced album is now in steady rotation. Mixing angular post-punk rhythms with slightly off-kilter close harmonies, Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart (backed by a local crew featuring Spencer Tweedy on drums, among others) recall the fractured funk of Gang of Four and the Slits alongside the pop-and-dance-forward sides of duos like Secret Sisters and especially Lucius. The sensibility of songs like “Haircut” – a slice of flaneur-like urban life – is all Finom’s own, playful and precise with a seeming effortlessness that can’t disguise the ensemble’s tight construction. It’s a perfect soundtrack for the busy introverts among us. – CH

Bonny Light Horseman – “Rock The Cradle” (from Keep Me On Your Mind/See You Free, 2024)

I’ll have more to say about the new Bonny Light Horseman album, a gorgeous collection from the folk-rock supergroup. Several songs are sticking out on early listens, and none more so than “Rock the Cradle,” the cozy Josh Kaufman-led track about domestic chores and comforts. What I love most about it is how much it reminds me of Ronnie Lane, whose solo albums swung with the same friendly, acoustic lope that splits the difference between the campfire and the music hall. (The fact that this song, like most of the album, was recorded at an Irish pub is a detail that Lane would approve and appreciate.) In fact, perhaps it’s even the same “Annie” here who Lane sang to all those years ago. The song builds to a singalong, with an unexpected round of applause at the end that would’ve fit in perfectly on some of Lane’s recordings and embodies the communal spirit that infuses all of Bonny Light Horseman’s warm and wondrous music.  – CH

Jon Muq – “Shake Shake” (from Flying Away, 2024)

Sometimes you hear things that hits several musical pleasure centers at once, hitting with a familiarity that makes it feel like an old friend already. Jon Muq’s debut album is one of those, a fresh and loving mix of ‘70s soul, pop, folk, and even reggae sounds that’s carried beyond simple re-creation by Muk’s warm vocals and the fresh productions by Dan Auerbach, whose label Easy Eye released the album. On the easygoing lovers rock of “Shake Shake,” bubbling electric guitars carry Muq’s adoring invitation across the dancefloor. Like Flying Away as a whole, it’s a party you won’t want to leave. I can’t wait to hear what Muq does next. – CH

Laci Kaye Booth – “The Loneliest Girl in the World” (from The Loneliest Girl in the World, 2024)

Don’t let the title fool you. Booth flips the miss-lonely-hearts script into a celebration of the untethered life that nods back at a tradition stretching from “Single Girl, Married Girl” forward while sliding through an arrangement that places this song of herself straight in the center of the post-millenial pop mix. The images are crackling – “Her friends, they’re having babies/But there ain’t no car seats in her Mercedes” – the affirmations are inspired – “got a dirty mouth a mind to match” – and Booth delivers the infectious melody with a perfect amount of breathy restraint. A perfect, bopping track for whether you’re raising kids, raising glasses, or both. – CH

Reading recommendations:

Nadine Hubbs asks if country music is quintessentially American, temporarily in front of the paywall at American Music

Jewly Hight talks to Brittney Spencer about the singer’s voice and how she uses it, for Good Country

Paste staffers reimagine the pop canon with their picks for the 300 greatest albums ever

Rebecca Keegan on Ann Powers’ Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell, for The Los Angeles Times

Steacy Easton on Adeem the Artist’s Anniversary, for The Bluegrass Situation

Jim Poe on the 40th anniversary of The Bangles’ All Over the Place, for Under the Paving Stones

Josh Friedberg picks 25 of the best country songs of the 1990s, for Pop Matters

Jeff Gage talks to Angelica Garcia, for Los Angeles Times

Dan Charnas on Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” for Slate

Doug Bradley on Born In The U.S.A., for Letters to You

Eric Harvey on Ice Cube’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, for Pitchfork

Mankaprr Conteh talks to dream hampton, for Rolling Stone

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