Dinner Music 74: The weekly lineup
Organic groove acid trip, lush lyricism, laurel canyon reverberations
This week the music is interested in delving into the Laurel Canyon sound and the sense of experimentation. This Los Angeles neighborhood was the nexus of counterculture in the 60s and 70s, inspired by it’s iconic Southern California landscape — rolling hills, lush vegetation, winding roads, the lingering perfume of eucalyptus — and massively communal spirit. Organic reverberations, lush harmonies and ruminating, laid-back lyrics flow through the songs of the time and continue to roll into new sounds like an ebbing and flowing tide.
Many of the albums and songs featured are not true to Laurel Canyon, though, of course, some are. The aim is to interrogate sound, not history. We’re looking at the organic links the sound brings up, all over the world.
We begin with Indian artist Ananda Shankar, known for his sitar playing, who traveled to Los Angeles in the late sixties. Shankar’s blend of east/west is both rooted in tradition and forward-looking, foreshadowing the rise of globally-minded (or appropriated) sound to come in the seventies. The album blends folk elements with psychedelic and experimental sounds, combining the sitar and tabla with electric guitar and synth. The feel is organic, but the sound is psychedelic. We move into Cooley Munson’s In Debt, a collaboration album between Bill Cooley and Alan Munson, both musicians in Southern California in the seventies. The sound is atmospheric, as if floating through the warm air, with elements of folks, psych rock and synth. There’s a dreamy quality to it, but a dream that you’ve had before, when it’s so good you don’t want to wake up. You want to stay awhile. We hop, skip to the other side of the world for another dream-like sound. Sydney-based Lazy Eyes builds nostalgia upon lush, evocative lyrics set over warbling guitar and cosmic synth. Each song seems to ask a question, like The Seaside:
I’m here right next to you
Don't say you don't want me to
The sea is sparkling blue
So I ask you, what can I do?
What can you do? For fans of Tame Impala, start here. We move other-worldy with Mariangela Celeste’s ethereal voice set over luxuriously simple guitar and percussion. It’s haunting and mesmerizing, drawing sonic lines between the utopia of California and the grisly underbelly of it. There is California and the Myth of California, always both, always together. I’ve been listening to this album nonstop. We end with Clarence Carter’s gritty, soulful voice. His style sits right outside of the Laurel Canyon, but you can see the ways in which those situated in California were trying to get at the authenticity of sound he radiates. You may recognize Slip Away from Almost Famous, and, perhaps, that underscores my point. For every essential musical movement, there are those that came before.
Enjoy.
The playlist
Monday
Ananada Shankar - Ananada Shankar (1970)
Spotify / YouTube / Other streaming services
Tuesday
In Debt - Cooley Munson (1972)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Wednesday
SongBook - The Lazy Eyes (2022)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Thursday
Mariangela - Mariangela Celeste (1975)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / Other streaming services
Friday
This is Clarence Carter - Clarence Carter (1968)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Pair with
Citrus Salad with Fennel & Avocado. The food this week has to be sunny, full of citrus and earthy flavor. And, can we talk about California without talking about avocados? Pair with Ina Garten’s lemon chicken.
Lo-fi Chenin Blanc. A southern California Chenin Blanc, is there a better life? This tastes like sunshine and the salt of the ocean. The utopia of California in a bottle.
Pool blue and kelly green. These are my colors and I’m sticking to it. I look at this green leather tote everyday. Somehow, it fits.
Watching the flowers grow in. In Texas, we’re just starting to see the first blooms of crape myrtles and are looking at a stellar wildflower season. We’re early in spring. Watch it. Enjoy it.
This essay about roadtripping across America. “Bits and pieces, America. The glare of nonstop revelation refracted through a zillion facets. Day to day. Place to place. Your gorgeous, heartbreaking cities, your openhanded people. Winter sunlight glancing off a metal barn roof, glimpsed from a moving car. And all of us going through it, going through you, never more together than when we feel ourselves alone, because if we’re all feeling it, loneliness is over.”
Thank you, thank you. Have a great week.