“Drive” – R.E.M.
This playlist took a long time to come together, so I had to call in a couple ringers to bookend the new music. To open, this week’s The Alternative Number Ones over at Stereogum (subscription required). A little shocked Tom only gave it a 9.
“People Watching” – Sam Fender
Everyone’s favorite Americana-loving Brit is back! For Fender’s upcoming album, The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel offered some production help, including on this track. Fender already had a toe in the shadow of the TWOD sound, so nothing is tweaked too much here.
“Ohio All The Time” – Momma
A lot of folks in Indiana have been thinking about Ohio all the time this week.
“Zelda” – TOLEDO
Let’s keep it in Ohio. This song sounds like it could have been an out-take from a Sufjian Stevens album in the early 2000s, from the vocals to the banjo to the horns pretty much everything else about it.
“Supermum!” – Adore
Speaking of throwbacks, this Irish trio sounds like one of those mid-90s bands like Elastica or Republica.
“As Good As It Gets” – Katie Gavin with Mitski
Another stellar track from Gavin’s new solo album. I’m overdue in checking it out.
“Listen, The Snow Is Falling” – Galaxie 500 covering Yoko Ono
Not today, but it was yesterday. A new record for November snow in Indy, the airport checking in at 3″. It was a perfect snow day: it snowed pretty much all day, but because it had been almost 70 two days earlier, the roads never got covered or even slick. By midnight most of it had melted. It was still stupidly cold thanks to the windchill. All the long-rang forecasts say we should get less snow than normal this year. Hopefully this was a blip and not an indicator those looks ahead are way off.
“Like A Virgin” – Madonna
Depending how I handle the holiday weekends, we have anywhere from three-to-five of these video looks back to 1984 left. Today we have the last monster hit of 1984, capping off the greatest year in pop music history while setting the stage for 1985 when Madonna would ascend to Michael-Prince-Lionel status. It was at #38 in only its second week in the Hot 100, and would become the final #1 song of 1984 four weeks later. It continued to top the chart for the first five weeks of 1986. Madge had arrived.
Also, we were in Venice two years ago this week and didn’t see any lions walking around. Or hot girls dancing in the canals. I feel gipped.