This week’s sound is a bit of a kitchen sink, so to speak. The albums and songs in the playlist represent the reality of how I’m collecting music — it’s usually a bit random, skewed to the seventies and not nearly as curated as I tend to make it for this newsletter. But, I noticed that so many of these albums pushed the bounds of musical exploration in their times. So, this week, we’re exploring the way that pushing boundaries means finding meaning across disparate works, sounds, genres, countries, instruments, eras. It’s a sonic hodgepodge of disco, funk, country and grooves that make you move.
We begin with Nana Love and her recently re-released album of Ghanaian disco tracks, a journey through afro-disco and groovy boogie that feels like a jaunt through a sweaty, outdoor club at 1:30am (think Eli Escobar’s Tiki Disco). These songs would be equally at home at Studio 54 or Paradise Garage as I’m sure they were in the Ghanaian clubs of the time. For some serious groove or a late-night al fresco dinner, start here. We record scratch, vibe switch into Linda Martell’s Color Me Country, an album I’ve featured a few times since the early days of the newsletter. I’m bringing her up, again, because the album is an incredible country album, but also because Martell was featured on Beyoncé’s album COUNTRY CARTER. If you haven’t listened to Color Me Country, I implore you to go listen. It’s truly so good. We move into Cheo’s album, with a sound so silky and smooth that you just might float away while listening to it. It’s like one of those perfect Sunday mornings, where you’ve just read Roland Barthes and understood it, your outfit fits just right and you can’t help but move your body as you get ready for your day. Cheo describes making the album as, “cheaper and funnier than going to therapy, I wanted to make the kind of album that you hit play, naked just before getting in the shower.” Then it’s a romp through Latin soul, salsa and rumba with hints of Laurel Canyon psych. We stay slick for Breakwater’s self-titled debut album. It’s slow, funk-fortified sound makes for ideal underground vinyl club listening. Add this one to your crate-digging list. It’s tight grooves and iconic seventies summertime sounds make it an instant classic — and it was. I loved reading through the reviews for the CD, lots of folks in Philly and DC playing in fire hydrants to these funky beats. We end with a true sonic departure from the rest in a compilation of Fred Ventura’s house tracks, full of grit and dark wave energy laced with italo-disco magic. This is aftersun music.
Enjoy.
The playlist
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Monday
Disco Documentary - Full Of Funk - Nana Love (1978)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Tuesday
Color Me Country - Linda Martell (1970)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Wednesday
Música para verse bien - Cheo (2023)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Thursday
Breakwater - Breakwater (1978)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Friday
Future Unknown, The Lost House Trax - Fred Ventura (1988-1992)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Pair with
Kitchen sink pasta. There’s not really a recipe for kitchen sink pasta — just throw whatever you have into a pot and stir it up. But, if you want a full, spring-y salad, you can follow the recipe linked. Add some corn, mint leaves, feta, green beans.
Ruth Lewandowski orange wine. A funky-sided orange wine with lots of nice notes between a light red and a crisp white. A little bit of tannins, a lot of stone fruit tasting notes.
This picnic blanket / quilt. It’s picnic season here, if you ignore the mosquitos, so I’m thinking a lot about how to take advantage of this narrow window where I can eat lovely little meals outside with my friends.
A corkcicle. One of these bad boys can fit an entire bottle of wine perfectly. It stays cool for a really long time, so it’s ideal for transporting wine for outdoor swims and meals.
This essay by Gary Indiana. You even have time to learn to bake bread or repair a motorcycle. After time runs out you will persist in someone’s memory somewhere, the way alcoholics say, ‘It’s five o’clock somewhere.’
Thank you, thank you. Have a great weekend.