Dinner Music 63: The weekly lineup
smooth neo-jazz, technicolor R&B, absolute groove
This week the music is about the music. Many of the albums and songs on the playlist are instrumental or the vocals act like instruments, blending in with the sound instead of flying over it. There’s something sexy about it, the interweaving and folding in of sound, the improvisation of next moves, never knowing what’s coming next. There’s a stillness in the movement. Quiet, reaching.
We begin with Mary Lattimore, a harpist out of Los Angeles, whose work thrives on evoking change and memory. Goodbye, Hotel Arkada “celebrates and mourns the tragedy and beauty of the ephemeral, all that is lived and lost to time.” On lost to time, we have Cold Fact, an album both under appreciated and cult classic, due to its patchwork success across the globe. The sound is haunting and psychedelic, like the peak of an uncomfortable, illuminating trip. If you’re looking for something that might make your jaw drop, start here. Next, a trip of a different kind. Beirut’s uncanny ability to transport and make new is unparalleled. The newest album Hadsel is also haunting, but more like looking over a cliff into the sublime. I’ve listened to this album more than anything else since its release. It’s quiet, it’s there for you. On the inverse of quiet, we have daddy of the technicolor dream sound, Burt Bacharach. Make It Easy On Yourself is simply that. If you’re looking for a good time, start here. We stay in good times, but go deeper with Surprise Chef and their warm, grainy 70s sound, “the moody shades of instrumental jazz-funk.” This instrumental album is constantly moving — it moves toward, away, gets bigger, grows quiet. This album fucking grooves.
Enjoy.
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