In 2020, I wrote a whole thingabout these Dear Hunter kidsand how I discovered them, slowlybut surely, and how they becameone of my favorite new acts of thefirst decades of the 21st century.Now, five or six years later afterthat discovery, I remain a superfan. They are the only contemporaryband, for example, that I have seenliveContinue reading “#662: D is for The Dear Hunter (Part the First)”
Monthly Archives: January 2026
#661: D is for Dalt, Lucretia
I saw the image of this cover photoon a Facebook post by David Sylvian,and I thought first, who is Lucretia Dalt,and then, why is David Sylvian givingher a shout out in his socials? It tookonly a few clicks to learn that Daviddoes a guest vocal on one of her songs,that he lended his production talentstoContinue reading “#661: D is for Dalt, Lucretia”
We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program To Write About Joy As A Form of Resistance
I’ve been recording little instagram videos of myself, mostly to promote my various music projects, records coming out, shows coming up, that sort of thing. I’ll do or say something silly for about 30 seconds and then I’ll conclude with some announcement about the music. The other day, though, I recorded a video in whichContinue reading “We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program To Write About Joy As A Form of Resistance”
#660: D is for Dacus, Lucy
“The first time I tasted someone else’s spit, I had a coughing fit,” is the first lyric I ever heard Lucy Dacus sing. I don’t remember precisely why I bought the Historian record;it was before I was aware of the super groupBoy Genius, with Phoebe Bridgers and JulienBaker. I must have just streamed it, andContinue reading “#660: D is for Dacus, Lucy”
#659: An American Sonnet for the Fraction 3/14
I asked google to convert the fraction3/14 into decimals. The artificial intel (default now in a google search),tells me that I am approximately 0.2142857 of the way throughmy entire record collection, andthat the six digits that follow the tenthsare apparently a series of numbersthat will repeat indefinitely, infinitely, forever and ever, amen. I started thisprojectContinue reading “#659: An American Sonnet for the Fraction 3/14”
#658: C is for Crowded House
Brothers, fathers and sons. That’s where I want to begin. Brothers Neil Finn and Tim Finnrose to rock stardom in the unlikelyand miraculous success of Split Enz, the weirdest, nuttiest, and earliestimport from New Zealand ever. At some point in the mid 80’s, that group dissolved, and Neil went on without his brother to formContinue reading “#658: C is for Crowded House”
#657: C is for Coulton, Jonathan
Dance like they’re watching you, because they’re watching you. –Jonathan Coulton The first time I heard this guy, a fellow musician by way of comparison told me about this singer-songwriter’s project of writingand releasing a song a weekfor an entire year, while weintrepid songwriting homestudio cats were attemptingsix songs in one day of every monthContinue reading “#657: C is for Coulton, Jonathan”
#656: C is for Costello, Elvis (20/22)
20: Hello, Clockface Let’s begin with a middle easternsoundscape and a spoken-word thing, “Love is the one thing we can save;” follow that up with a trashy punk number, “I’ve got no religion/ I’vegot no philosophy;” and third, a kindof demented sounding country song. Here’s a jazz ballad, replete with a horn section and trumpetContinue reading “#656: C is for Costello, Elvis (20/22)”
#655: C is for Costello, Elvis (79/98/18)
79: Armed Forces My first Elvis Costelloand the Attractions album, Armed Forces ruled my 16 year-old world, so much so, that I can still sing alongword for word to every songon this album, except for thewords I couldn’t understand, because there were no lyricsin the liner notes, and becausesometimes, Elvis Costello mumbles. I know IContinue reading “#655: C is for Costello, Elvis (79/98/18)”
#654: C is for Costello, Elvis (The Spanish Model)
The first Elvis album I listen to doesn’t haveElvis’s voice anywhere on it, or hardly. A testament to Costello’s cross-cultural reach, Elvishanded over 16 of the original instrumentaltracks from This Year’s Modelto 16+ different Spanish speakingsingers. As a listener, and a huge Elvis fan, and a guy who does not speak Spanish, it’s a tripContinue reading “#654: C is for Costello, Elvis (The Spanish Model)”
michael jarmer 