Dinner Music 67: The weekly lineup
Anatolian synth, afro-funk, smokey electric rhythm and blues
This week the sound is about strong starts. The albums are danceable, high energy — all unique in genre. It’s a new year, a moment when we are looking into this vast, unknowable thing before us called time. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Don’t ask too much of yourself. The albums and songs on the playlist are meant to bring you back down to earth, to this moment right here, instead of who you might be at the end of all this.
We begin with the sultry, smokey album Ain’t That a Bitch from Johnny “Guitar” Watson, a Texas-born R&B and funk electric guitarist. This is the type of album you hope will be playing on the record player at that cool new bar on the corner. It’s easy, but the music is smart, with it’s funk riffs and jazz snare. We move into an album ahead of its time, a fusion of new wave, psych and disco with traditional Turkish and Azeri rhythms. Café Türk is a melting pot of sound — it spans cultures and languages. Let it be an inspiration to you, that nothing has to be just one thing. But, if something is just one thing, that can work too, as it did with West Side by Vicious Pink, a compilation album of remastered and unreleased tracks from the UK new wave group. The sound is crisply distinct, with hazy synth and big, wide percussion. If you like the 80s, start here. Thinking about strong starts, we have Buari, one of the first mainstream afro-funk albums to be released in the United States. The sound balances New York City funk sensibility with Ghanian rhythms to create something both familiar and new. We end with something new — a cosmic, Americana folk album from Mapache, a group out of Los Angeles. The soft melodies and steel guitar evoke an ethereal sense of the seventies, a time when everything was uncertain but wide open, and just like now, there’s so much open space ahead of you.
Enjoy.
The playlist is here.
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Monday
Ain’t That a Bitch - Johnny “Guitar” Watson (1976)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Tuesday
Café Türk - Café Türk (1980s)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Wednesday
West Side - Vicious Pink (1980s)
Spotify / YouTube / Other streaming services
Thursday
Buari - Buari (1975)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Friday
Swinging Stars - Mapache (2023)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Pair with
A carbonic Sangiovese. This chillable red is going to be a good alternative all of the heavy, dark, tannic reds your parents will try to give you now that it’s cold. Don’t take the bait!
Blackberry, Grapefruit, and Sage Infused Water. For those of us doing dry (or in my case, dry-ish) January, here is some very good fruit water.
This very silly pepper grinder. I just got this in December and it’s very silly and very fun. It works, which is important with cute items that tend to be non-functional.
This bubble glass. Mark my words, 2024 is going to be silly. So, silly glassware, like this bubble glass, will be essential to make it through the year.
If you’re in Austin or nearby, I’m DJing as 1/2 of Horse Opera at Howards on Friday from 9pm-1am. Come say hi!
**
Thank you, thank you.
Have a great week.