If I said Inara George and
Greg Kurstin to you, I like
to think you’d follow up
with, say no more, say no more.
It’s more likely that you would
not say that, but not totally
out of the realm of possibility.
Simply put, the pop duo
makes infectious synth pop
masterpieces; she’s a great
singer, and he’s a genius
keyboard guy and together
they make delicious albums
of pure sweet synthy originals
and have made two sweet
synthy tribute albums, one
full album of the songs of
Hall and Oates,
and another, hilariously,
for the music of Van Halen.
Their version of “Hot for Teacher”
is absolutely to die for.
This record, Recreational Love,
is the epitome of palatable.
It’s nutritionally valuable
candy. It sounds great on
headphones, a wonderful
collection of instantly hummable
melodies and clever lyrics
and smooth keyboard layers
and drum machines that don’t
obviously sound like drum
machines except when they do.
This duo writes better
pop songs than most pop stars
and are relatively obscure–
except for that Greg Kurstin
has played with or produced
everyone and their dog;
his resume is a virtual who’s who
of great pop and rock royalty,
and Inara George is the daughter
of the guy who founded
Little Feat. They are famous
unrecognizable musicians,
which is good for them,
it seems, because it affords
them the power, when together,
to do whatever they want.
Notes on the vinyl edition: Recreational Love, Rostrum Records, 2015, heavyweight black vinyl.
In case you’re just joining me: I am listening to (almost) every record in my collection in alphabetical order and writing a poem-like-thing in response to each artist represented there. It appears that my collection in the letter B is pretty vast! I will “be” here for a while!
michael jarmer 