Highlights from the September playlist include Nicki Minaj, Allison Russell, Romy, Yussef Dayes, Boris, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Tall Trees, The Who, Margo Cilker, Vagabon, Loraine James, Lydia Loveless, and Molly Burch. [Spotify]
“If something isn’t available on Bandcamp, I’ll scope out used CDs to buy and rip. If I love something enough, I’ll try to get the record. If it’s out of print, I’ll throw it on my wish list and cross my fingers for a reissue. At the end of the day, the goal is to have something to hold onto: a digital file, a CD, a record, anything other than an ephemeral stream.” [NYT]
There’s just something about the Lankum record, I don’t know what it is. Maybe this feature can explain it. [The Guardian]
This Blonde Redhead record is easier to understand because it’s so immediately easy to love. [The Guardian]
Richard Davis, bassist on Astral Weeks and several of its rivals for the “greatest album ever” title, passed away recently. [Rolling Stone]
If you haven’t read about the merch-cuts-that-venues-take controversy yet, start here, even though it came out before Willie Nelson intervened. [Consequence of Sound]
Cat Power is back with a live album (which is crazy to me, since she is a notoriously shy live performer— and once gave the worst concert I’ve ever seen) of Dylan covers. Here’s here 20 best tracks, although I would add a few and the order would be dramatically different in my version. [The Guardian]
“What more can be said about those hallowed halls of the PERRO sessions? A musical who’s who of the upper echelon of San Francisco at the height of its power. Every cornerstone of the scene was represented in the assemblage, but the ship was helmed by two wayward voyagers—pushing the outer expanses of musical ideation. Often omitted from the varied bootlegs and official releases culled from … David Crosby’s magnum opus If I Could Only Remember My Name…” [Aquarium Drunkard]
“When he finally reached Sanders’ bedside after a flight to the west coast, he felt comforted. ‘I was pleased that we could see him with his spirit leaving him slowly, because he just seemed so peaceful,’ he says. ‘It felt like he was truly there with us, just in his usual meditative state. We were playing music in the room for hours, just listening to music that Pharoah liked.’” [The Guardian]
This article is missing an ending but oh well: “When clothing designer Betsey Johnson married the Velvet Underground’s John Cale, it spelled the end for the band.” [The Daily Beast]
“He was the ghost player on Aerosmith's Train Kept a Rollin’, and defined many a classic Alice Cooper album with his stinging, melodic leads, but Lou Reed's ferocious Rock ’n’ Roll Animal live album may just be Steve Hunter’s finest hour – and contains one of the most underrated twin-guitar solos of the ’70s.” [Guitar World]
“Eventually, we get around to the notorious Metal Machine Music, a double album of relentless feedback, by general agreement unlistenable. I review it for Melody Maker when it comes out in August 1975 and can’t decide whether it’s a Warholian prank, a conceptual joke or the brutal fulfillment of Andy Warhol’s advice to The Velvet Underground to always leave their audience wanting less.” [LitHub]
Yes, I know that’s three articles involving Lou Reed in a row… it was just a rich month for Lou stuff.
“A self-confessed “blackout drunk”, Tolhurst’s chronic alcoholism led Smith to sack him as the Cure’s drummer in 1989, painfully rupturing a friendship that had begun at the age of five at St Francis’s primary school in Crawley, West Sussex. In the bitter aftermath, he sued Smith and the Cure’s record label over royalty payments and lost. By the time he fled to LA in 1994, ‘seeking to be a stranger in a strange land’, it felt like year zero.” [The Guardian]
Film
If you haven’t seen Walkabout, you probably shouldn’t read this fantastic analysis of the new 4K Criterion DVD (yay, DVDs!) and look at the stunning screen grabs from the iconic cinematography… [RogerEbert.com]
R.I.P. to Netflix’s DVD service, which ended last week. The nightmare that results from streaming-only media and content licensing is only going to worse now, folks. [The Atlantic]
Sports
Yes, I’m including a link about sports because this is hilarious, starting with its subhead: “[Aaron] Rodgers' torn Achilles was devastating even to one of his biggest haters on the planet, writes SFGATE columnist Drew Magary.” [SFGate]
Books
Although the cover isn’t finalized and you can’t preorder the hardcover, the Amazon page for my next book is live! And you can preorder the Kindle edition, apparently. [Amazon]