This week is about creating something just a step beyond what feels natural. Over the weekend, I saw David Lynch’s Wild at Heart for the first time and, wow, what a ride. The way his movies are soundtracked always strikes me — they shouldn’t make sense, hair metal into Glenn Miller, yet they do. They make perfect sense. We start this week in an atypical place — the soundtrack to an erotic Italian film from the 70s. The sound is oddly sophisticated, dreamlike, cerebral. It is sexy, but it’s not cheesy. We step from Italy to Atlanta with Curtis Harding’s sweeping, maximal album If Words Were Flowers. It’s like stepping right into a gospel church on Sunday morning. The sounds are southern and Americana at it’s finest, combining jazz, funk, soul, R&B and gospel into something that is at once recognizable, but undefinable. That quality also exists for Meernaa, whose sound draws from the genres just listed, yet her music is more akin to poetry than gospel. It’s soothing and cathartic. The raw edges juxtapose each other, at once cleansing and danceable. Caroline Loeb takes all of the classic ‘80s sounds, heavy hitting bass, electro synth sounds, sweeping backing vocals, and adds silky, smooth French vocals over it to create something fully danceable. To close out the week, we move back into sexy, sensual sounds. Instead of Italy, we look to Motown with an album from two former members of the Supremes, Scherrie and Susaye. The album is smooth, combining the best of disco and Motown into a warm and soulful collection of tracks that just keep on building the heat.
As you listen this week, take these words from Doris Lessing with you. “Already there was an air of pleasant dislocation of ordinary life.”
The playlist is here.
Monday
La ragazza dalla pelle di luna - Piero Umilani (1970)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Tuesday
If Words Were Flowers - Curtis Harding (2021)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Wednesday
Heart Hunger - Meernaa (2019)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Thursday
C'est La Ouate - Caroline Loeb (1987)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Friday
Partners - Scherrie & Susaye (1979)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Pair with:
Creamy lemon pasta. This is the best spring/summer pasta recipe. I made this a few weekends ago with chicken francaise and it was an absolute banger of a meal. You could also add spinach or peas and make it simple.
Note di Bianco. People ask me often what my favorite wine region is and goddamnit it’s Italy. This Sicilian white is made from Grillo, a varietal that is indigenous to Sicily, and is zesty, crisp and drinkable.
These Loewe sunglasses. The sunglasses are getting bigger and I’m here for it. These are perfectly big and pointy, which is my favorite eyewear shape (if there ever were such a thing).
This drawstring top. I have a shirts problem. I only buy pants. I got this shirt in hopes that it will solve that problem. I’ll report back. Also, I keep only buying black (see SSENSE wishlist screenshot below). I suppose I’ve become goth in my old age.
Thinking about:
Thank you, thank you.
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