https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/6CI01EFpeeP4BoBWwBTGyK?si=GIelrZt2SFSIuLxPuIBvPA<\/p>\n
\u201cDance of the Clairvoyants\u201d – Pearl Jam
\nIt\u2019s been seven years since we\u2019ve had a new Pearl Jam album. That\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. Their last couple albums were uneven at best, teetering toward mid-life mediocrity at worst. A new album is set for a spring release, and we got the first single this week.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s different, which I think is a good sign. Instantly there were dozens of David Byrne GIFs posted in response, as this track has a definite Talking Heads vibe. Each time I listen to it I\u2019m really wanting Mike McCready to tear loose, and a little disappointed when he doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a promising first glimpse. I\u2019m hopeful they can give us an album that isn\u2019t filled with safe, boring songs. I\u2019m not going to get too hopeful about that prospect, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cSleep\u201d – Cartalk
\nThese LA kids have a good vibe. Kind of a SoCal Middle Kids thing going on, which I naturally dig.<\/p>\n
\u201cStreetlight Blues\u201d – Squirrel Flower
\nOh snap, this is a hell of a song! Mournful with that little country twang, those lyrics about missing out on something, and that slow simmer that never quite reaches a boil and deliciously builds tension. Thumbs up!<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Boy in the Bubble\u201d – Paul Simon In the early 2000s, when file sharing took over, I had a long-term project to download and listen to every album from a collection of Greatest Albums of All Time lists I had collected. It was through that process that I discovered that while all that praise for Graceland<\/em> from Rolling Stone, et al was likely pumped up a little because of their Boomerism, it was indeed a hell of an album. And this is the song that I heard for the first time during that stretch and has stuck with me ever since.<\/p>\n
\nI remember kind of hating Simon\u2019s Graceland<\/em> album without ever listening to it. When every aging Baby Boomer rock critic flipped their shit over it, I chalked it up as out-of-touch old folks trying to recapture their youth. Pretty aggressive criticism for a 15-year-old!<\/p>\n