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Do I Need To Know About Music If I Want To Write About It?

Somehow everyone likes Music, but simultaneously we can’t agree on what music we like. So what is it that we’re all in agreement about liking? This makes for a strange bit of sociology in terms of how music is approached and talked about. Since music has this odd type of universality it’s seeped deep into our culture and our discussions of it manifest in some strange ways. My love of music, and later love for philosophy and sociology is what led me to studying why music is so universal but not agreed on for six years and two degrees.

All this time studying music has led me to what I now arrogantly believe may be one of the central contradictions of music which is that it is worthless. I’m not trying to say that it’s worth is = 0 nor am I trying to misdirect with a platitude that it is “priceless” meaning that it’s worth is infinite. What I mean is that it simply cannot be defined in terms of having a worth at all. In computer terms you might consider this as being null. I don’t believe this worthlessness is necessarily bad or even good. What I do mean to point out is that it prevents us from thinking clearly about the role of music. When considering we live in a capitalist hellscape this provides a problem because we can’t assign its value at “infinite” nor can we value it at “0”. This is what I think leads to the never ending arguments surrounding the worth of music, musicians, their work.

Before I go on, I should make this clear: I support every musician in their right to get paid. I wrote my Master’s thesis on the labour rights of musicians and how they are abused. However I have a utopian vision where all music is free for everyone. That vision doesn’t jive with our world and until we have some massive societal revolution, musicians gotta eat and we have to play by the rules of capital for now.

The most frustrating way that this valuelessness manifests is that knowledge about music, be it music theory, music history, sociology of music, whatever, is always valued as a secondary skill even in the industries and structures built around music (I pause here again to remind people that I’m a recovering academic writing blogs on Tumblr, what I’m about to describe is personal, I’m mad about it, maybe that’s improper or biased but it’s how I understand my own experiences). Let me give you a few examples.

After entering the hell of the job market with two music degrees I was encountered with a great deal of false hope. There were actually fairly frequent job postings in or around the “music industries”. This was great for living in a small city, albeit one with a rich musical history. What quickly hit me though is that despite all these music jobs no one was actually looking for anyone who knew anything about music. Go ahead and search “music” on a job board, most of the jobs listed will not have “requires a knowledge of music or musical background” unless you’re teaching (I’ll get to this later). Most jobs in music require marketing, business, social media, administration, event planning, etc. Whats more they require experience in those fields so they are not open to most musicians or people who have dedicated their time to the actual music. I don’t mean to downplay those skills or say they are not relevant, I do mean to say that any actual knowledge of music is rarely prioritized. Of course people with passion for music are attracted to these positions but they can also become bloated with people who enjoy music passively. I guess the issue there is that I don’t know a single person who doesn’t enjoy music.

At this point you’re probably shrugging off my frustration as an idiot who thought studying music instead of literally anything else would help me get employed in music. Well you’re right I am frustrated because even the people I know with music degrees who work in music had to get a second degree or diploma unrelated to music to get that job. You might also say “well there are people who write about music who get hired based on their knowledge of music.” But let me dig at that point.

As someone who keeps a close eye on these job postings I can say with relative confidence that most job postings at major music publications (I recently saw one for Stereogum) require experience in journalism first. Their interest is not in proving that you actually understand the content you’ll be writing about but that you’ll be able to produce content on anything. This is most clearly shown in music reviews. Take any review of a new popular album and jot down a one sentence summary of each paragraph. You don’t have to do much to see that not only do these writers bring up the same points in each review, they often do it in the same order. I don’t say this to slander journalists, I think it’s a noble profession, one I don’t have the skills to do. I do this to point out that if you take an incredibly diverse set of information and give it to people who have been trained to write in a certain way, you’ll get largely the same output. If you don’t, you’ll encounter an editor who, having raised through the same ranks will see that it is. Of course it’s not always the case that journalists get hired to write for these publications (for instance, you may just have connections) but it is very common.

I realize this comes across as arrogant and entitled but I think the question of credentials is an important one. After all, I’ve spent six years writing about music under the scrutiny of academia to be told over and over I don’t have the qualifications to write great content like “Every Radiohead Song Ranked” because I didn’t study journalism. I hosted a campus radio show on music for four years to be told the same thing at a radio station. What seems to be happening is that obviously music is important. We’ll create an infinite amount of publications dedicated to the topic. It has worth. But it’s still second to skills that have value to the institution. What I hear from people hiring in music is “Of course music is important... it’s just not valuable”. My encyclopedic knowledge of music is not welcome in the working world unless it’s tied to another skill that can be more efficiently employed. This is because we can’t actually place value on music the way we can on skills with more quantifiable outputs.

This brings me to education. All through my time studying music I got “so you going to be a teacher?” it was something I found frustrating but I do love to teach so I always said “maybe”. Well recently I figured I might as well look into teaching. Where I live, to get a teaching degree you need to have a certain amount of course hours in “teachable” subjects. There’s band class in every school here and luckily I’ve taken a number of conducting classes and have plenty of class hours in music. When looking at the list of subjects considered “teachable” one has an asterisk next to it. It turns out music can only be your “secondary” teachable meaning you have to have majored in another topic and maybe minored in music. I talk to teachers I know in the province and they say that there are barely any music teachers and they regularly have to try and recruit from outside the province. I called one of the univeristies in my area and they assured me that my masters degree was not applicable and that I can’t even apply to be a teacher with only music credits. What I love about this is that I, as arrogant as it may sound, almost certainly know more about music than anyone teaching it in my province (there is a small program at my alma matter that gives degrees in “music education” but having spent a good deal of time with those people I’m not too worried about competition). More people would have education degrees not from the music education program and instead would all have music as a “secondary”. Meanwhile I’m not even eligible to enter most of the teaching programs here at all.

While this article certainly comes off as the complaints of a dumbass, I think there’s an importance in asking these questions. If you decide to pursue the knowledge of music academically, why is that so often viewed as a bonus to a primary knowledge? Why are our priorities in the music world on non-musical skill sets and knowledge, even in careers that are concerned with music knowledge like teaching and music writing? I don’t think it’s anything to do with the well meaning people I’ve thrown under the bus here and everything to do with our way of measuring value. Or better, our deep inability to deal with things that can’t have value assigned to them. Consider also that every LP when it came out was sold for the same price, but immediately some of them became collectable and would exponentially increase in value while others you would struggle to give away. The universality of price of a new LP in the 60s, a new CD in the 90s or an iTunes single in the 00s was because we just can’t place a value on its contents so we had to concede that every song is worth $0.99. Because a good deal of my identity and work has been put into understanding music now my skill set and that of others is in a weird non-value. Afterall everyone loves music, what’s so special about me?

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Let’s Talk About Lyrics About Love

The fantastic new Dirty Projectors album, Lamp Lit Prose, is finally here. Well, not really finally since it’s only been something like a year since their Self-Titled, maybe problematic, powerful album of break up jams came out. And folks, I am happy to announce David Longstreth is in love again and everyone knows it.

If you skim through the reviews of this album you’ll find two things. A near universal agreement that this is a 4 star/B/7.5 record, and that the lyrics of “Break-Thru” specifically the reference to Julian Casablancas, Archimedes, and Felinni are worth mentioning (these are likely attempts to appease our sweet algorithms that watch over our content consumption). The consensus in these reviews is that these lines are a bit embarrassing. My friend David Sackllah, likely the only reviewer who will read this (Hi Dave <3) mentions specifically the line “she keeps it 100 in the shade” in his review for Consequence of Sound. Indeed it’s an embarrassing line, it’s up there with Longstreth hits like “What hits the spot yeah/like Gatorade/ you and me baby/ hitting the spot all night” from Temecula Sunrise. But maybe the fact that it sounds like a teenager trying desperately to impress a crush with his knowledge of things speaks to something more about love.

Anyone who’s been in love knows embarrassing lines about love are the truest expression of being hopelessly in love. Love after all makes no god damn sense and if you’ve felt it you have made a fool of yourself. Not to wax poetic and fall victim to exactly what I’m talking but the nature of love is a kind of surrender. You surrender any sense of being cool because you want something so bad and wanting anything is not cool.

So when I hear a line like “She keeps it 💯/in the shade” my reaction is first “oh my god how dumb” then of course I’m forced to face my own history of professing love and concede a point.

Of course lyrics like this are much more prominent in Pop Music. A favourite recent example of mine is “Who gave you eyes like that,/ said you could keep them?” From I Really Like You by Carly Rae Jepsen.

The brilliance of the “eyes” lyric from Jepsen is that it only barely makes any sense. What it’s pointing to is the inherent unfairness that comes with love. If you’re in love with someone you can’t help but be powerless to them. She’s referencing this authority imbalance in a playful way. She knows she’s powerless to her love’s eyes and suggests that some sort of governing body or person must have granted the tools of authority. Of course conjuring such a figure of authority is absurd, the same as love itself. If you’re a stingy reader of lyrics you may look at that lyric as non-sense and sticking out from the rest of the lyrics of the song which are a coy attempt to test the waters. Does this person like me as much as I like them? The very act of determining it is attempting to plot the balance of power between the people. If I like you and ou like me we’re equally balanced, if one likes the other and not vice versa, one person has more power.

This is an old concept. Shakespeare showed this in The Tempest when what’s his name let whats her name (I’m far too lazy to Google the characters I’m thinking of. I’m writing this off the top of my head on my phone) cheat at chess because he just didn’t care for rules or logic as long as it was in service of his love. Similarly many musicians will surrender any regard for the rules of grammar, cultural coolness, etc. To express their love. Speaking of grammar, remember the time Sufjan Stevens wrote an open letter criticizing Miley Cyrus’ grammar? While the tone of that letter is admittedly hard to parse, there are plenty of criticisms of lyrics that rely on some sort of “this doesn’t make sense”. It doesn’t even have to be about love, think of when Drake claimed to start from the bottom and people (in Canada at least) collectively shrieked “He was on Degrassi though!!!!!!!”.

Ultimately one of the great powers of lyrics and art I suppose is its ability to shirk rules (I don’t mean “great” as a value judgement or to mean “good”). However it can get into weird territory when music, which is so deeply tied to social capital and “coolness” explores territory outside of the rules of cool. Whether this was his intention or not I think that’s what Longstreth has done on Break-Thru and throughout a lot of his work. I mean, the man has dedicated a lot of music to singing about Don Henley. And I’m willing to go along with him on this ride cause I’m in love and it’s fucking embarrassing.

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Milo - Things That Happen at Day / Things That Happen At Night Here’s an interesting pair of EP’s from one of today’s best rappers. There’s something to be said about Milo’s influence on the world of internet and rap but I’m probably not the person to say it. I do feel as though his presence and success on Bandcamp is indicative of a shifting industry and he’s set apart aesthetically and in platform from “SoundCloud Rappers” Anyway in regard to the actual music, it’s brilliant. I’ll admit that my initial infatuation with the record may have been attempt to sound smarter on my campus radio station by playing a musician who clearly knew more about philosophy than I do. But in revisiting the album I think it’s a lot more than it’s well read lyrics. The beats and the flows are uniquely hazy and dense and don’t quite sound like anyone else. I’ve missed out on my fair share of Milo vinyl releases that are now flipping online so I had to jump on this (and another you’ll be seeing soon). What I really love about Milo is that he never settled into the bookish rap category and has, with each release expanded and explored unique territory. This would be a crowning achievement for most musicians but serves as a starting point for Milo/Ruby Yacht/Scallop Hotel releases. . . . . . #Milo #ThingsThatHappenAtDay #ThingsThatHappenAtNight #RubyYacht #ScallopHotel #ArtRap #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Fripp and Eno - Evening Star My other pick up from the Halifax Record Fair is this classic LP. If you’re familiar with Eno’s ambient work or the other album they did together you’ll be on familiar ground with Evening Star. I find this one, especially Index of Metals, explores a little more dissonance than Eno’s usually ambient work but it makes for a richer experience as I think this is one of the defining albums of the genre. I think I paid a little too much for this but I try not to pass up on any Eno opportunities. Plus I’m glad to have the pair of Eno & Fripp releases now. . . . . . #BrianEno #RobertFripp #EnoandFripp #EveningStar #EditionsGC #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Polyrock - Changing Hearts Today was the Halifax Record Fair. Record fairs, like Record Store Day, often leave me feeling anxious and disappointed. I tend to get my hopes up that I’ll find some stuff I’m not typically going to find in your average shop and realize that there’s just a bunch of people who buy a bulk of dollar bin stuff and mark up all The Beatles and Zeppelin in between 200 copies of Alan Parsons. That said, it’s not all bad. There’s a guy who goes to the Halifax one with a bunch of Japanese pressings, mainly of jazz which is cool. I didn’t quite have the funds to get some new Monk but I did grab this Polyrock record from him. Polyrock is an underrated Post-Punk band from NY in the early 80s. Unfortunately they got a bit drowned out by bigger bands with similar sounds. What sets them apart is that they are produced by the one and only Philip Glass. While Glass is known to collaborate with many different musicians in different styles this is his only time he’s produced a band like this to my knowledge. He also adds keys to a few tracks on this record and their first self titled LP . . . . . #Polyrock #ChangingHearts #PhilipGlass #RCA #RCArecords #PostPunk #NewWave #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time: Stage 4 The Caretaker is back with the fourth release in the Everywhere at the End of Time releases and this time, it’s personal. The on going series is supposed to simulate the feeling of slipping into dementia. The first entries in the series are more like what we’ve come to expect from The Caretaker with looping samples of old jazz 78’s where the cracks and hiss of the shellac almost start to overtake the music. The loops are done in a way that make you lose sense of time. This entry however things start getting a lot more dark, with the noise completely overtaking the samples. Instead of a collection of short pieces we’re presented with four sides of hypnotic noisy soundscapes. I’m excited to see how each step will progress from here. . . . . . #TheCaretaker #everywhereattheendoftime #everywhereattheendoftimestage4 #HistoryFavoursTheWinners #HistoryFavoursthewinnersrecords #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour I first heard of Kacey Musgraves on the press cycle for her last record. I had a few friends who have keener ears than me and picked her out as an up and coming crossover success. While I did enjoy the last time she was on SNL it was still a little too far out of my wheel house. My interest was up enough that when this album came out I knew to check it out. What a revelation it is. In someways it captures that indescribable pop power you hear in Carly Rae Jepsen’s Emotion but with a hazy kaleidoscope feel (which is perfectly reflected in the packaging). Country music seems to be having a moment right now among people like me who have long neglected it. Between this and the popular podcast Cocaine and Rhinestones, the trends of the world are turning back toward country as a popular genre. I suppose it’s always been very popular but it’s always been somewhat sequestered from the “mainstream”. I’m sure there’s some interesting research to be done about why that might be, or why the divide existed at all but I’m a recovering academic so I’m not going to take a swing at that here. Just enjoy the pristine songwriting throughout this record. . . . . . #KaceyMusgraves #GoldenHour #MCA #MCArecords #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Frank Ocean - Endless It’s finally here after about half a year of waiting. Although tbh I’d wait a full year for this beauty. For those who may not know, Frank Ocean broke his years long silence with a short film/album called Endless which came out only a few days before his other album Blonde. I think both albums are absolutely stunning and easily put Frank Ocean among the greatest musicians and artists of our time. The music on this album has been out for a long time now so I won’t dwell on it too much other than to say that it is some of Frank’s most experimental, rich, and rewarding works. The vinyl version includes some reworking of tracks and some remastering making it sound even better than the original. The packaging for this album is stunning. I had to boomerang it a bit to show off the iridescence of the cover. Everything is beautiful and glossy (I’ve already gotten my greasy fingerprints all over it). Also instead of releasing a clean single LP, Frank went with a double LP choosing to etch sides B and D. I don’t mind switching discs for a little added aesthetic bonus. If you’re more familiar with Blonde or haven’t heard Endless, do yourself a big favour and listen to it ASAP. I have to admit I still am bummed I missed my chance to get an official pressing of Blonde cause I had already blown my cash on some other records that day before I found out about Blonde. But I’m sure someday I’ll find a copy that isn’t $400 . . . . . #FrankOcean #Endless #BoysDontCry #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Fleet Foxes - Crack Up (Choral Version) / In The Morning (Lice in Switzerland) I happened to be in my local shop the other day when this late arrival RSD release showed up in the mail. I figured I already have ever Fleet Foxes release including the Mykonos 7” and the previous RSD 10” so I might as well round out the collection. Plus I really love all the artwork with Crack-Up and related releases. Both sides have the rich lush production that I’ve come to really love in newer Fleet Foxes material. Plus a pretty mean Bee Gees cover on the B-Side. . . . . . #FleetFoxes #CrackUp #NoneSuch #NonesuchRecords #InTheMorning #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Johnny Greenwood - Phantom Thread Original Motion Picture Soundtrack This isn’t a film review page so I’ll spare you my feelings about Phantom Thread as a film (I adore it with the caveat that I would watch anything PTA directed especially if Daniel Day Lewis is involved). I will tell you that this is my favourite soundtrack in recent years with a close runner up being Johann Johannson’s (RIP) Arrival score. This is one of those brilliant soundtracks that both perfectly fits the film and stands on its own as a record. It calls to mind composers like Satie with its brilliant simplicity and evocative melodies. I think Greenwood is on a roll with his film scores it’s a shame that I don’t care much for Radiohead. While it wasn’t the smartest financial decision for me to pick this up right after RSD I couldn’t resist especially because it comes in such beautiful packaging and with scores! It’s only of a few of the pieces but they have House of Woodcock which is worth it for me. . . . . . #JohnnyGreenwood #PhantomThread #PaulThomasAnderson #DanielDayLewis #Nonesuch #NonesuchRecords #Soundtracks #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Car Seat Headrest - Teen Fantasy (Original 2011 Version) This is my final pick up from RSD, and it may look familiar to some of those who follow the page. I feel like most of you probably know what’s going on here but for the uninformed this is CSH’s album from 2011, recently it was entirely re-recorded and rereleased which I posted about a few weeks back. For RSD they released the original version which you may note has some differences in the artwork including a mirror-imaged front cover. As far as my collection goes this is one of the most overt “collectors” items I have. As much as I like this album and this version I have come to realize that i like the new version a lot more. When I first heard he was going to re-record this record I was skeptical. It sounded like a bit of a cash grab and there is already a cult following around this version (and clearly people willing to just buy a pressing of this) but now I feel like I understand it. That being said I’ll always have a place for this version cause it shouts out Dan Bejar. . . . . . #carseatheadrest #twinfantasy #matador #matadorrecords #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Those Who Walk Away - The Infected Mass Here’s an album that inexplicably escaped my grasp since I try to listen to every release that comes out on Constellation. I found this one used on record store day, and while I’m glad I picked it up I can understand why someone might return this album. The album is partly composed using audio from airplanes before or during fatal crashes, and if that isn’t morbid enough, the composers own brother died in a plane crash. It’s unclear if any of the audio on this album came from that particular crash. The sound of the album reminds me of many Constellation Records (and adjacent) artists like Tim Hecker, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, or Hiss Tracts. Plus it is coproduced by Paul Corley who has worked with Ben Frost and Oneohtrix Point Never While those artists are known to work with dark sound palettes this album certainly has an added weight to it. I hope to hear more compositions from Mattew Patton under this moniker or otherwise. . . . . . #ForThoseWhoWalkAway #TheInfectedMass #MatthewPatton #Constellation #ConstellationRecords #CanadianMusic #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Robbie Basho - Visions of the Country Another non-RSD, RSD pick up. I first heard of Robbie Basho when a friend of mine sent me the song Blue Crystal Fire to me on Facebook. Like many people I was immediately taken by his voice and the dream-like guitar playing. It sounded like an old kind of music I never heard but somehow was familiar with. I would later find out that this feeling came from the mixing of two genres I am familiar with, American folk music and Indian Raga. The real Liner Notes on this reissue do a better job describing Basho and his relation to American wilderness than I ever could but it really is some of the most vivid imagery I can think of in music. It also has some of the best album-cover-looks-how-the-album-sounds since Loveless (I know this came out first) While I keep an original pressing on my Discogs wish list I was more than happy to pick up this beautiful reissue. . . . . . #RobbieBasho #Visionsofthecountry #GnomeLife #GnomeLifeRecords #WindhamHill #windhamhillrecords #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Wilco - Live at the Troubadour 1996 Here’s a “proper” RSD post and some more Tweedy content. Had I not been going through a bit of a Wilco/Tweedy phase after seeing Jeff twice I’m not sure I would have been particularly drawn to this release. Boy am I glad I’m going through that phase. While I’d maintain that the current Wilco lineup is the best, this show definitely is a rocker and a document of a band at their prime (there have been many time Wilco has been at their prime) I was kind of surprised to see them open with two slower tracks, “Sunken Treasure” and “Red Eyed and Blue” but that was another draw for me because those are two of my favourite tracks from Being There. It’s also great to hear the Uncle Tupelo track “New Madrid” and a sped up version of “Passenger Side” which is labeled (Punk Version). If you’re not the biggest Wilco fan or never heard them I find their live albums are a good introduction. This one for pre-200s Wilco and Kicking Television for post-2000s Wilco. . . . . . #Wilco #Liveatthetroubadour #Liveatthetroubadour1996 #Reprise #RepriseRecords #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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David Toop & Max Eastley - New & Rediscovered Musical Instruments It’s Record Store Day so I thought I’d make a post of a record I got the other day that doesn’t have anything to do with RSD (those posts will trickle out in the next few days) This lucky find is an original pressing from Brian Eno’s Obscure label. Only 10 records were pressed on the label and this is the second one I’ve found (although my copy of Discreet Music is technically a reissue through Island). This is a great record -and is typical of the releases Eno oversaw on his label. It’s not exactly an entry point to Obscure but it’s exploratory and experimental. Both Eastley and Toop were not necessarily musicians as a primary occupation (Toop a broadcaster and music writer, and Eastley a sculptor, who made some of the instruments on this record). . . . . . #DavidToop #MaxEastley #DavidToopandMaxEastley #newandrediscoveredmusicalinstruments #Obscure #ObscureRecords #BrianEno #Eno #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Bill Callahan - Apocalypse This album fell into my lap when I found it used at a local shop. I’ve been slowly digging into the Callahan/Smog catalog and loving every minute. This is no exception. This album seems to have a chance at a resurgence considering the track America! (A favourite of mine) is used in the Netflix show Wild Wild Country (which I suspect got its name from Dover). I’m two episodes in and love their choice of music between this and Kevin Morby. Hoping to keep my Callahan collection growing. . . . . . #billcallahan #apocalypse #DragCity #DragCityRecords #Smog #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature

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Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand I’ve been listening to this a lot lately. This is an album of both economy and excess in contest with each other. On the one hand you have these fairly short songs that sound like previews for fuller songs at first but are in fact all you really need them to be. Then there 20+ tracks on this thing, which would lead you to believe it’s a lot longer. I’m by no means a GBV pro, their catalog being so large, but this album definitely has gotten me interested in diving deep into Robert Pollards work. After you hear this album a few times you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a few of its melodies and esoteric lyrics rotating through your head in a given day. For me it’s usually Gold Heart Mountaintop Queen Directory especially with that recorder in the background. . . . . . #GuidedByVoices #GBV #BeeThousand #robertpollard #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #Thelinernotes #albumart #vinyligclub #recordcollector #vinylgeek #recordcollection #vinyladdiction #albumart #vinylcollectionpost #records_feature