Less Than Zero

I exaggerate, but it was pretty damned cold. What to do (music-wise) about it?

Embrace it, I say. It may seem like the cold embrace of death, but that's the chance you take.

Eno: On Land (1982)

Every time I say something about a Brian Eno album, I fear I'm not adequately conveying how alien his work can be. And as that goes, this album is a pretty good example. No pretty piano or voices like Music for Airports. No specially-treated piano sounds like The Pearl. No concessions to pop music (guitars, drums, melodies, etc.) like Another Green World. In short, no obvious heart. It's here. He just doesn't flaunt it. It is, as we say, what it is.

And what it is works perfectly for me at the moment. A recent medical setback has me yearning for the minimal input I can still handle, and this does the trick.

Slightly out of reach, but when I check, it's still there, asking nothing of me. It's a deal.

A-

"Dunwich Beach, Autumn, 1960"

One Is Not Enough:

But I can't play it all day. I need some other records that hit the mark as well. So I tried to find something new to match the mood: cool, almost sterile, coming from the vast surrounding darkness: 

• Dove Ellis: Blizzard (2025): I was hoping for something more stark. But this Irishman is one of those expressive ones. Weird. A bit like John Martyn but less bluesy. And having had two blizzards in the past two weeks, I thought it might be apt. But the title could refer to the repose you may experience if you're stuck inside your house for days at a time. Or more obviously, the storm itself. I assumed the former and was mistaken. So I'm in no real position to judge it at this time. All I know is that I can't listen to it right now.
• Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago (2008): Based on its reputation, I thought it would be cold and barren. Not so. Annoyingly, not so. Given its reputation, I had much higher hopes for it. But I just may not be in a position to judge. So I put it aside.

So rather than another swing and miss, I decided to check what I already have:

• Joanna Newsom?: Practically no "production" at all would seem perfect. Alas, she's a bit...wacky.
• Tallest Man on Earth?: Spare, but a bit too much enthusiasm. 
• Iron and Wine?: Too folky. Too slow.
• Aphex Twin?: Too Suicidal. 

I did eventually find a couple of suitable records:

Low: I Could Live In Hope: Glacial pace, minimal harmonies. Anything more would be too much.

Cindy Lee: Diamond Jubilee: I thought it might be too recent, but it did get me through the earlier phase of this medical issue, so why not now? And it works.

A Break?:

My health being what it is, in the event that I'm not up to all this I may take a little break. 

I'll keep you posted.

The Fifteenth Annual Jaybee-bies: Well, THAT Sure Sucked

Executive Summary:

2025 was everything we feared it would be, and more.

• Personal: I'm getting over (I hope) an illness.
• Music/Personal: Due to the above, I did the world a huge favor and stopped "playing" guitar for a while. The world took no notice. So I had no choice but to start again. This time with a focus on having fun. You've been warned.
• Music: Per my last post, I'm feeling more alienated than ever from the current music, probably due to thoughts on mortality. Jazz, Blues, and Oldies were great, as usual. Otherwise, I kept looking for the weirdos. Thank god I found some.
• Politics: After a long year, I'm seeing a little bit of daylight. How about you?

Humans:

Best:

• Some judges
• A very few congresspersons
• Janet Mills
• Many, many others who, in my current state, I just can't bring to mind. Feel free to write in your favorites.

Worst:

Some old winners (Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Jesse Waters) are working extra hard at being awful just to keep up with the new kids:

• All the tech bros with no balls
• All the media outlet owners who really don't give a shit about media
• Elon Musk
• Laura Loomer 
• Nick Fuentes (do I really have to point this out?)
• Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas 
• ICE
• Mike Johnson
• Pam Bondi
• Stephen Miller

Best Books:

I managed to read some books this year, none of which changed my life, but many that taught me things, some of which I might have been better off not knowing. I hope it's all made me a better person.

• Peter the Great by Robert Massie - Great Russian history. I see Adam Driver in the title role. 
• The Age of Revolution 1789-1849 by EJ Hobshawm - A tad (or two or three) drier than Massie's book, but it's got such a grasp of the entire era, it's worth it.
• The Killing Fields of East New York by Stacy Horn - History on a much smaller scale. Not to worry, there's still plenty of evil here to go around.
• The Family by Ed Sanders - Just some light reading before tackling Infinite Jest.
• Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion - Even less sixties nostalgia than The Family.
• Small Town Talk by Barney Hoskyns - Even less sixties nostalgia than Bethlehem.
• Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace - I read it on my tiny iPhone SE, which took nearly all summer. And as I did with Gravity's Rainbow, I ended up frustrated, annoyed, and wanting to read it again, maybe this time with a highlighter.
• The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin - Chuck D patiently explains it all to us. Great first line: "Listen up, motherf*ckers."

Best Movies:

• Wake Up, Dead Man
• Okay, Superman

I don't even remember if I saw anything else. I simply have to get out more!

Best TV:

I was stingy with my time this year, so I was reluctant to commit to an entire series. Mike Schur is a safe bet, though:

• A Man on the Inside

I simply must stay in more!

Best Concerts:

Do the 40th anniversary screenings of Stop Making Sense and Clue count? (Answers: Yes and No)

Music Awards:

Most Work (But Worth it): 

   Can

Most Work (And Possibly Not Worth It): 

   Luckily, nothing this year.

Most Surprising (and Not Necessarily in a Good Way): 

   Heartworms

Best Nostalgia:

   Louis in London

Best Artist:

   Cindy Lee

Best Albums of My Year:

1. Cindy Lee: Diamond Jubilee (2024) - A dark time, indelibly stamped by this odd, lonely, beautiful record.
2. Handsome Family: In the Air (2000) - Cindy Lee swapped for Johnny Cash, the cold tundra swapped for the country, where everything is Very Normal. Right.
3. Duke Ellington/Charles Mingus/Max Roach: Money Jungle (1962) - Seemingly effortless group creation on the fly.
4. CMAT: EURO-COUNTRY (2025) - Containing great tunes, great singing, and sheer gusto.
5. Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio (1952) - Improvisational genius improvising away, accompanied by a crack trio, none of whom are exactly slouches either.
6. Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past is Still Alive (2024) - This simple, straightforward country rock album patiently waited for me to catch up to it. I feel so dumb!
7. John Coltrane: Crescent (2024) My Coltrane sweetspot appears to be just before he takes off for the stratosphere. An excellent intro to his work.
8. Geese: Getting Killed (2025) This one gets extra credit for conceptual integrity.
9. Adrienne Lenker: Bright Future (2024) - Oh so fragile and yet it outlasted other, more "muscular" records.
10. Otis Redding: Dictionary of Soul (1966) - Of all his not-quite-great albums, this one is probably the best.

Honorable Mention: The Pretty Things, Oklou, The Housmartins, Waxahatchee, Iggy, Dijon, and Louis Armstrong

Best Compilations:

1. Slim Harpo: The Best of...

2. Big Joe Turner: The Very Best of... 

3. Little Richard: The Georgia Peach

The Album I Listened To Most but Had the Least to Say About It Due to Density (Mine, not the music's.):

 Boards of Canada: Music Has the Right to Children

Songs:

• Some of the best songs I heard this year can be found here. It's a weirdly folk/country/hard rock hybrid. Good luck!
• And since Cindy Lee is not on Spotify, here's a link to hear the entire album. I recommend you play it really early, or really late:

Conclusions:

I've been listening differently this year. Circumstances persuaded me to look to the past in hopes of finding something timeless. So I took my eye off the new and the shiny. A well rounded person would do both.

So then, how could you, dear reader, gain any useful knowledge about this year? You're busy, you want to have fun. Why am I dragging you to the old abandoned mine shafts? It's always been the conundrum of my approach. 

The other issue is ranking some new records against many that have stood the test of time. It's almost as though the new music doesn't belong on the list at all. But I'd rather think of it as how I feel about these records right now as opposed to for all eternity.

And yet, on Bluesky, I'm seeing more and more folks mixing the old and the new on their lists of books and records in the name of describing the year they had. As the inventor of this approach, I approve.

The circumstances I mentioned above pulled me away from playing guitar for a while. Time was looking more and more limited, and I decided listening to actual pros was a better use of it than playing mediocrely (yes, I just made that word up). I fight the same war on the reading/writing front. Why write a word when there are so many great books to read? I don't know, but I will anyway.

I eventually drifted back to theh guitar, ignoring the voice asking me what the point was to trying to get better at this point. Then Son Michael bought me a new guitar - a nice electric one I really have no business playing. But Mike said I had a rough year and should "have some fun", whatever that is.

On the real-life front, I've gotten past my horror, or at least compartmentalized it. Elvis C was wrong, you know. One can be disgusted by events, but given how many people get hurt, there's never a justification for feeling merely amused.

Have a great new year anyway.

Deaf/Dumb/Blind/Speed Dating

Patrick/Cindy

I've wandered so far off-track and off-time that I've neglected this more-than-half-completed decade. Thus, like Imperial Contracting, I've been redoubling my efforts, with achilles-heel-style-vent included free of charge, just to catch up. 

All three of the following records are from 2024, and all are cases of buy first, listen later. Aside from the utter dumbness of this approach, there's also the surprise factor. Does it sound as I expected  (based on words used in reviews, band name, or - even more logically - the cover art)?

It's like a form of blind and/or speed dating. And all of these records confound such expectations to some degree. What is one to do? I already bought them, so swiping left (or is it swiping right?) is out of the question.

Plus, having one's expectations confounded is actually way more fun with music - I'd imagine - than actual dating.

Did I mention all three groups have female band leaders??

Illuminati Hotties: Let Me Do One More (2024)

Expectation: Energetic, hard-edged rock 'n roll.

Actual: Energetic, yes, but softer-edged and humorous. And there's even a name for it: tenderpunk.

It's fast and funny, but the high-pitched - okay, squeaky - voice can wear a bit (at least for my demographic). Thankfully, they relieve this somewhat with good melodies, great production, and a couple of strong slow ones as a change of pace.

A great listen if you're in the mood. I just haven't been, lately.

B+

Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past is Alive (2024)

Expectation: Loud, sleazy (just like the folks mentioned in their name) rock n roll. And forbidding. too, especially as she so resembles Aubrey Plaza on the cover.

Actual: Folk/country mid-tempo ballads, love songs to broken people, with a focus on lyrics.

The tunes are pretty basic. What really puts it all across are the lyrics and the urgency of her delivery. That little quiver in her voice shows that she really means it.

And it just rolls along, one simple song after another, and there's not a bad one among them.

Not quite compelling, but if you want forty minutes of a consistent quality - and a certain laid back, romantic, urgent mood - this is it.

A-

Cindy Lee: Diamond Jubilee (2024)

Expectation: Female singer, torch songs, with a little David Lynch thrown in.

Actual: Some of the above, but with a primitive edge. The guitars are not always in tune, but always there.

The "band" consists of Canadian expatriate Patrick Flegal with some help from Steve Lind. Patrick is also Cindy Lee herself. And they make the space sound huge and intimate at the same time. Like in an empty airplane hangar, or a desolate landscape dotted with factories, making for a "you can't get away from industrialization if you tried" feeling. (We - the USA - should feel so lucky.) Sort of an updated, more rural Eraserhead milieu, 'cept here EH is trans. David Lynch would be proud.

This record has been hard to find - poking around for most of 2024 in obscure places - but finally released on iTunes this month. Somehow, it nearly topped several year-end polls anyway.

Starting from absolute quiet, a slow fade-in with an acoustic guitar played with the minimal necessary technique, then a soft, high-pitched female voice, and then out of nowhere a feedback-drenched electric guitar (Peter Green comes to mind, but with none of the blues licks) played with delicacy. There's also a male voice, which is provided by the same person who provides the female one.

I'm keeping faith that the strength of the opening numbers will hold up over its 32(!) tracks. It's not so easy to tell at first. And I'll admit that the second disc strays a bit, but I'm willing to wait it out.

Production is minimal. Sort of "if you can't kill it yourself, you're not going to eat" approach.  And very, very sixties. The whole design is an appeal to obscurity (echoey vocals from a guy who's WAY down the hall, etc). Musical masochists will flock to it. It could all be a huge scam but every time I put it on I hear more. Why does primitive sound so refreshing to me?

It's meant to be listened to in the cold, early morning, when you're all alone, and it's utterly compelling.

A