Dinner Music #139: The weekly lineup
oddball funk, art rock, chamber pop
This week we’re listening to a funk (a lot of it), art rock, and acrobatic chamber pop (i.e. another way of saying-not-saying genre-defying).
“Funk not only moves, it can remove,” croons a singer on the opening track on Parliament’s Mothership Connection. An unexpected and potent missive on the powers of music in the middle of the beginning of a seminal funk album. I say seminal for many reasons, the endurance of the sound and group, and also the literal Mothership is on display at the National Museum of African American Culture & History (has anyone gone to see it?). At the time of the album’s release, the BBC described it as a “pioneering work of Afrofuturism…set in a future universe where black astronauts interact with alien worlds.” This groove-laden gem is a must.
Next, we have “protean genius”1 Robert Wyatt, a founder of the “Canterbury scene” in England and a long-time figure in the rock scene more broadly (Pink Floyd performed a benefit concert for Wyatt when a fall from a window paralyzed him in the mid-70s). Old Rottenhat has glimpses of baroque pop, while steadily refusing to go full-tilt into decadence. The album has a sense of introspection and intentional withholding, with Wyatt’s crooning pointing toward some larger, unnamable human truth. There’s a kinship here to Brian Wilson, the sadness and ascribed genius. The synth-heavy instrumentation gives the sound a cosmic-feel. A space-age sadness, perhaps.
Then there’s the funky, yet thoughtful, Loose Grooves and Bastard Blues from Tommy Guerrero, a former professional skateboarder, complete with that California-cool. From his Bandcamp: “my 1st album. it was never meant to be released. i was just recording for the fun of it.. still my fave. oh so naive...” The sunshine inflected groove comes with tinges of melancholy. That particular West Coast sense of sublimity of the world. The finiteness of it. A nice one for early evenings or late, late nights.
From Session Victim’s low key, low pressure, we have funk-jazz that’s a little bit more upbeat and “feels like an anathema to today’s fast-paced, industry-driven musical landscape.”2 A review from Kono Vidovic puts it best: “ The tracks…are born from a pure state of flow, from needle drops that inspire and synthesizer jams that lead to unexpected aural territories.”3 If you like Surprise Chef or berlioz—that neo-jazz or neo-funk sound—you will probably like this.
We end with an album I’ve already listened to dozens of times. Tether, a debut from Annahstasia, is open and sublime. Light in its particular heaviness, as though she were carrying something of the world. And her voice, deep and cavernous, evokes a sense of the possible, the way looking out onto the ocean or a mountain or the desert might carve you out, make you new. This album will care for you.
Enjoy.
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Plus, paid subscribers get a monthly playlist (check out the playlist for May here), albums recs for new music, and access to the “for consideration” weekly playlists (2-5 hours of additional music!).