The Annotated Beukemix 2019

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Finally getting my thoughts out on the mix from two years ago. I considered skipping it, since it's more than a year since I made it. But, realizing I use these writeups for my own later reference, here we are.

If you want a copy of this, drop me a line -- I will happily send you a CD or a rip. I did put the mix on Spotify, but it has a replacement for Track 11 because the Spidey Bugout Megamix isn't on there -- sorry..

Who has time to tally horn sections or hand claps or Twin Cities bands anymore? Not me! 

1. OYAHYTT - The Coup ft. LaKeith Stanfield
Watched The Coup co-founder Boots Riley's absurd anti-capitalist satire SORRY TO BOTHER YOU early in January '19. OYAHYTT plays throughout the early movie, an engine to get us up to the appropriate level of frenetic, holding-on-by-a-thread energy that is to come.

2. Can't Run But - Paul Simon
Paul Simon had returned to SNL as musical guest in October 2018, joined by the modern chamber ensemble yMusic. I really liked their performance of this restless, half-sung song, a rework of a song from 1990's "Rhythm of the Saints." Finally dug into the associated album "In the Blue Light" early in 2019.

3. The Eye - Brandi Carlile
As I mentioned in the 2018 mix, Carlile's "The Joke" had knocked me on my ass. Listening to that mix on the way home from a date with Melissa early in the year, she mentioned that she really liked this song, which was making the rounds on a couple Twin Cities stations despite being a few years old at that point. We stayed in the car in the driveway to listen through this gorgeous song, with lush harmonies layered under Carlile's warm, clear voice.

4. Sisyphus - Andrew Bird
This one snuck up on me over the course of several listens on The Current. One day I started to pay more attention, and thought I'd finally found a Father John Misty song I really liked. That wasn't quite right -- it sounded like the midpoint between FJM and Alex Ebert from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Turns out that I really like when folky indie rock artists like Andrew Bird lean a little farther in the rock direction, make the sound bottom-heavy and give the vocals some gauzy, ghostly reverb.

5. Heads Gonna Roll - Jenny Lewis
Love the Beatles-esque orchestrations and chord progressions here, including a solo in the bridge that I'm legit not sure whether it's a guitar running through effects pedals, or an organ. Lewis' vocals are in the fine tradition of 1970s pop-rock singer/songwriters, in a vein similar to some of my favorite songs from her Rilo Kiley days. (EDIT: I have learned that, Beatles indeed, Ringo Starr plays drums on this track. Also, the keys are Bentmont Tench from The Heartbreakers; still couldn't tell you if that solo is his instrument or not)

6. Saw Lightning - Beck

A little slice of apocalypse. The shouts in the background throughout make it feel like the recording studio is under attack and they're trying to get the thing recorded before it's overwhelmed. Or, if you think about the dark forebodings of the lyrics, maybe it's a tent revival on the precipice of getting out of hand.

7. The Bleeding Heart Show - The New Pornographers
This was on The Current's list of 893 Essential Songs Since the Year 2000 that spring. The build on this thing is so slow and careful. The three-against-four rhythms, and chords that never quite resolve, are layered and layered, and you get AC Newman's vocals first, and then Neko Case coming in on harmony, and it backs further away from resolution... until it FINALLY lands in a major key ("We have arrived") and STAYS there in a glorious, life-affirming anthem.

8. Tennis Ball - Hello Peril
ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE was a sweet and funny if somewhat by-the-numbers romcom, but one of my favorite things was Randall Park's character's live hip hop band. The songs we hear are musically legit with really funny, clever lyrics. This is one of them.

9. Los Ageless - St. Vincent
Also from The Current's post-2000 song list comes this cri de coeur from Annie Clark, lamenting a lost love and having weird feelings about Los Angeles (I assume this was about actress Cara Delevigne, with whom she had recently ended a multi-year relationship). It's an amazing, digital creation, with an absolutely killer chorus: "How can anybody have you? / How can anybody have you and lose you? / How can anybody have you and lose you and not lose their mind, too?"

10. Harmony Hall - Vampire Weekend
Speaking of killer choruses. This was something like a song of the summer for me in 2019, but <rueful laugh>, little did I know that it would become the song that best exemplifies the sentiment of 2020. "I don't wanna live like this / but I don't wanna die," but wrap that sentiment in a beautiful, uplifting arrangement. In the summer of 2020, I drove to Eat Street to pick up some food, and this song came on. The location and the music took me back to an amazing meal I'd had in the neighborhood for my 40th birthday a year before. The sense of loss and isolation and fear came crashing in, and I had to pull over and just be devastated for a little while. 

11. Spidey Bugout Megamix (Expectations Remix) - DJ KiddLove
INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE knocked my socks off, and the graffiti scene in the subway was the moment I locked into the movie. This is the music from that scene, a tremendous mashup of "Apache" and "Hypnotize" and "Mary Mary" and some samples from a half-dozen things (including Red Leader shouting "It's away!" in the Death Star trench run). The vibe reminded me a lot of DJ Shadow's "The Number Song" off of Endtroducing, and it turns out there's a good reason, as this mix also samples a remix of that song. Those many sources and samples are probably why this song hasn't been officially released in any purchasable fashion.

12. Cuz I Love You - Lizzo
My favorite cut off of Lizzo's major-label debut was the title track, with its growling big-band sound, and Lizzo pushing her voice to the absolute limits.       
                                                
13. Hungry - Paul Revere and the Raiders
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD reminded me of this song that I instantly remembered, but which my brother and I had somehow overlooked in our big Oldies Download Project years ago. Dig that ultra-fuzzy guitar in the post-choruses, and the wordless vocals in what seems like the coda until they jump back into the chorus and fade out. Generally, I loved how music, and especially pop radio, threaded throughout that movie. 

14. Dark White - Joshua Redman & Brooklyn Rider (w/ Scott Colley & Satoshi Takeishi)
Heard this on the jazz station one day and really liked it. You've got saxophonist Redman, the Brooklyn Rider string quartet, and Redman's usual bassist and drummer Colley and Takeishi, straddling the jazz/classical line on a composition by Patrick Zimmerli.

15. Right - David Bowie
"Right" was used in the end credits of an episode of "Mindhunter," David Fincher's Netflix serial killer drama, and you know, any excuse for another Bowie track on a mix.

16. Mariners Apartment Complex - Lana Del Rey
Music critic Matthew Perpetua jumped out in December '18 with a hard stance in favor of this song as the best of 2018. Somehow I didn't see that tweet until late in 2019, but finally checked out the track, which is indeed quite good. Meanwhile, Rolling Stone had connected it spiritually & thematically to Leonard Cohen, which once upon a time might have been a major contraindication for me (my feelings on Cohen's music are complicated for dumb reasons). But Cohen never drenched his songs in as much atmosphere as Del Rey.

17. Last Train - Allen Toussaint
I didn't know much about Allen Toussaint before catching this on the radio, let alone his legendary status in New Orleans R&B. This is a funky little track from 1975 that starts relatively simple, but gathers instruments and textures as it goes. Made me want to hear more Toussaint, for sure.

18. Israelites - Desmond Dekker & The Aces
Already loved this from hearing it occasionally on oldies radio as a kid and later being re-exposed to it by some list of best songs of the 1960s. Its somewhat non-sequitur use in HBO's "Watchmen" miniseries renewed my appreciation.

19. Gelaye - Radio Tehran
Watched the Iranian/American vampire film A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT for my usual pre-Halloween horror viewing and was not disappointed! The music, in particular, was great, and this track stuck out to me.

20. Comin' Thru - Chali 2na
I remember Kumail Nanjiani saying on Twitter early in the run of "Silicon Valley" that Mike Judge had ridiculously good, deep taste in music, and especially in hip-hop. This one from the Jurassic 5 veteran Chali 2na, used over the credits in an episode of the last season, supports that conclusion.

21. Colors - Black Pumas
Damn, this is great. I love how spare the groove is when it starts, with just a chattering guitar line, and the organ just faintly sneaking in underneath, and then the drums as just a click, and layering and layering until it's a big, beautiful, celebratory, soulful anthem.

The Annotated Beukemix, 2014

I want to try something new this year. Instead of writing up one great big post with notes on each of the songs that grabbed me anew this year, I'm going to serialize it, with one new chunk of the post each workday (and probably the Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving). This way I can write in coffee-break-sized chunks instead of blocking off lunchtimes.

(2021 Edit: you can listen to most of this on Spotify now, with a replacement track for #21 -- the Serial Season Two theme in place of the one from S1.)

Liner notes!

1. Heart of Gold - Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band
I'm not a big Neil Young guy, but when I heard the opening riff of this great soul cover, I knew exactly what song it was going to be. I first put Charles Bradley on my radar a couple years ago, and I look forward to hearing more. His version feels much more "lived in" and painful than Neil Young's ever did to me (I should note that I don't actually dislike Neil Young). (HS)

'I used to hate it when it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to "Heart of Gold." I think it was up at number one for a long time, and I'd say, "Shit, that's me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me."' - Bob Dylan

2. Step - Vampire Weekend
Melissa and I heard this one while waiting in a long line of cars at the MSP Humphrey Terminal last December. This was the first time Vampire Weekend had really grabbed me. I love how dense the lyrics are in this song, and now that I'm digging into it, I find that it's full of sideways references to other bands, songs, etc. For someone who geeks out on hyperlink songs like "American Pie," this is catnip. One theory, which I like, is that the "girls" referenced in the song are musical tastes. Every time I see you in the world, you always step to my [music]. That titular line, and the melody of the chorus, are taken from a Souls of Mischief song called "Step To My Girl," which is also good. Maybe that's why Melissa dug the song when we first heard it -- it's got underground Oakland hip-hop in its DNA.

3. Asleep at the Wheel - Band of Skulls
Heavy, riffy, hard blues rock from an English trio. Not a lot going on under the hood, but I don't really pay much attention to lyrics anyway. The reviews I've read like to compare it to later White Stripes or, as Allmusic puts it, Muse playing a Black Keys song (or vice versa). But I'm reminded more of Sabbath.

4. Savion Glover - P.O.S.
P.O.S. spits the anxieties of the late Bush era into a restless and efficient track from Doomtree's 2007 album. Great hook, great wordplay and lyrical pivots. I also love the metaphor of the last line and the title as regards the architects of the Global War On Terror (GWOT, TM) and the invasion of Iraq. (TC)

5. Chain My Name - POLIÇA
A track I really liked the sound of from local synthpop outfit POLIÇA. Looking at the lyrics just now, it reads like it's about a crumbling marriage. I just enjoyed that it sounded like 16-bit video game music. (TC)

6. Far From Any Road - The Handsome Family
I didn't think the finale really stuck the landing, but True Detective's deep sense of dread really stuck with me, and I found myself more affected after watching any given episode of the HBO miniseries than anything I'd seen in a long time. The opening credits music by the Handsome Family contributes greatly to the foreboding (helped further by the haunting visuals -- I don't know why, but I found the oil industry landscapes to be some of the visually creepiest things in the show). I know I'm not the only one who thought the opening verse referenced "the poisoned Creole soul," in reference to the story's Louisiana setting, but it's "the poison creosote," in keeping with the desert imagery of the rest of the lyrics. I wonder if the second season, set in California, will keep the song. (Bonus: check out the opening from this season of Key & Peele.) (HS)

7. Turn-of-the-Century Recycling Blues - And The Professors
I just found out yesterday that the singer & songwriter here is Adam Levy, formerly of the Honeydogs, who joined us for Show X back in January and with whom I had a good chat about his love of film composer John Barry. I've sent him some questions about this song, so I might have more to say soon, but for now: My first reaction to this song was just how pleasant and sunny the arrangement was. But then the competing undercurrents of good-old-days nostalgia and the ugliness that lurks throughout history shone through in the lyrics. Very Randy Newmanesque, in both music & lyrics. It's almost like a far more musically interesting, less on-the-nose We Didn't Start the Fire for the 60 years preceding that song's time span. It brought to mind things like Ragtime and Bioshock Infinite and the idea that the happy times that the winners of history remember fondly have some blood stains on them. (TC)

8. Hey, Girl - Sonny Knight & The Lakers
Just... damn. I want to learn the horn part. I love the overall sense of propulsion, and the way the downward horn figure continues for several more notes than expected going into the bridge, and the drum break that seems to be a hat tip to the Amen Brother break, and Sonny's enthusiastic talking bit, and the shout-outs to the soloists, and that the trumpet player bobbles the first couple notes coming out of the bridge, and all of it. (HS, TC)

9. GMF - John Grant
First heard this on The Current. The radio version's chorus refers to "The Greatest Living Person". Something about the syllabic scan of that line suggested to me the song was edited. When I heard the title was GMF, I knew I was right. I love songs where the protagonist is the jerk (the antihero trope is far less played out in music than it is in prestige TV dramas). Paired with lush production, I'm sold.

10. Busy Earnin' - Jungle
High-energy music that makes me happy. The dancing in the video is terrific, too. (HS, HC)

11. Water Fountain - Tune-Yards
One of the things I enjoy about Merrill Garbus' songs is that she generally seems like she's having a blast, even if, as in this case, the lyrics seem to be referencing world issues of starvation and water access. There's something wickedly subversive of couching issues that heavy in music that starts out sounding like a double dutch chant and ends up at one point with a freakout that would be at home on the Katamari Damacy soundtrack. (HC)

12. Pushin' Against A Stone - Valerie June
Joe Bozic alerted me to this song's existence last spring, and I really dug it. It's by far the most r&b/rock-oriented song on June's album with the same title, which displays pretty diverse musical interests and influences. When she came to town for Wits with Kumail Nanjiani in June, she played more country-oriented stuff, which is less my bag but better showcased her voice. She also helped Kumail and Mike and the rest of the crew explain how to buy a donkey (you can totally hear me laughing in this video).

13. Childhood's End - Pink Floyd
Imagine with me: you come to love an insanely popular band late, in early adulthood. Then, one day, you realize that within the range of their albums you consider your favorites, they released a half-instrumental soundtrack album you've never bothered to check out before. And, upon listening, it fits much of the character of the early end of that range of albums you love. That happened to me. My favorite Pink Floyd is that which includes Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Rick Wright all as significant creative contributors. You need Gilmour's spaciness and Waters' deep, bitter sense of the world to be in balance, and you need both Wright's consummate musicality and Gilmour's guitar solos. I do, anyway.

14. Mission Statement - Weird Al Yankovic
As a nerd who was a kid any time later than 1980, I am predisposed to have enjoyed Weird Al at some time in my life. I've always admired his attention to detail in parody, even if I think his lyrics lean more towards silly than incisive humor (incidentally, this is why I've usually found that his polka medleys of pop hits have tended to age best among his songs). But this track is a rare Weird Al song (in the style of Crosby, Stills & Nash, particularly "Carry On" and "Suite Judy Blue Eyes") that I'd actually call satirical.

15. Joke About Jamaica - The Hold Steady

I didn't love Craig Finn's voice when I first heard The Hold Steady, but his style forces attention on the lyrics (rare for me). Each HS song is an empathetic work of short fiction, a character study presented with the sounds of the world's best bar band. The protagonist here is a woman facing the fading of her youth, and looking back on the years that she was hot shit on the scene. The song is also full (including the title) of references to Zeppelin songs, which certainly got my attention. (TC, sort of)

16. Restless Leg - Har Mar Superstar

I've written before that the first time I heard this song I thought it was a Robinson Caruso Organization track that if somehow missed. I hope James Rone takes this as a compliment, but the songwriting and instrumentation sounds so much like that project. Even the keyboard sounds like Andy Crowley often did in the RCO. The song is bouncy and fun. No horns, but nobody's perfect. (TC, sort of)

17. Lazy Wonderland - Broken Bells
"Holding on for Life" was my favorite new song of 2013, so it was going to be hard for the rest of After the Disco to live up to that promise. It was hard, but this beautiful, dark song about love and — madness, I guess? — was another high point. Even though it's from a minor key to a major (instead of major-to-major*), the chord resolution at the end can't but remind me of the end of "With a Little Help From My Friends" (and Oasis' "She's Electric," which stole the same ending).

18. There Is - The Dells
I spent some time this year trying to fill in the gaps of the long-running Beukema Brothers Oldies Download Project. In the process of researching the old Time/Life "Rock & Roll Era" tapes our parents had, I came across this great track. I have no idea if I ever heard it back when KOOL 108 was an oldies station, but it's a terrific sound that reminds me of the things I love about the Four Tops. (HS)

19. Let Me Down Easy - Paolo Nutini
Here's another one Joe Bozic hipped me to, from Scottish R&B singer Nutini. Even though it's built around a sample of American Bettye LaVette, there's something unmistakable about the sound that marks it as being a UK production. Something about the particular way the organ is used, or the trip-hoppiness of the beat. I'm probably making this up. Anyway, it's a smooth little soul song. (HS)

20. New Dorp, New York - SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig
I was first struck by, and liked, the deep and somewhat dark weirdness of this track featuring lyrics and vocals by Vampire Weekend frontman Koenig. Turns out the title refers to a neighborhood in Staten Island. And of course the "Empire" and "Rock" in the chorus are buildings as well as metaphors. Though it now feels less inscrutable, I don't pretend to get the extent of the seeming socioeconomic implications of the song's lyrics. But it does remain pleasantly dark, and weird, and toe-tapping.

21. Bad Dream (The Theme) - Nick Thorburn
I'm pleased that this short tune happens to have timed out to be posted on a Thursday, which for the past 12 weeks has been the release days for each new episode of Serial. For that time, this music has been the bookends for Sarah Koenig's exploration of Hae Min Lee's murder and Adnan Syed's conviction. Appropriately, it suggests curiosity with a backdrop of menace, playing these tones against each other. And for the last couple of months, I've been walking around with the "dink dink dink dink" stuck in my head.

22. Hey Jude - Wilson Pickett
Every Thanksgiving, The Current programs a "time machine weekend," where each hour features music from a single year, with the years shuffled throughout the weekend. I wish they did this every weekend. Anyway, this year I heard this great cover of the Beatles, featuring Duane Allman on guitar. (HS)

And that's it! See you next year.

Key and final score:
HS - horn section - 7 - a rare year without a majority
TC - Twin Cities artists - 4 + 2 x 1/2 = 5
HC - hand claps - 1 - poor showing

*Major Major Major Major

Kumail on Letterman

My friend and freshman year roommate Kumail Nanjiani will be performing standup on Letterman tonight. Kumail and I put together a standup night in Fall 2000 at Bob's Coffeehouse on campus at Grinnell college because we each wanted to try putting an act together. We followed this up with another show the following Spring, and then he went to Chicago after graduation, where he started climbing the ladder of standup comedy in Beef City. I ended my "career" after my third performance, when I visited Kumail and other Chicago-based Grinnellians in the Spring of 2002 and went to an open mic with him. He was by a wide margin the funniest person on stage that evening, and he has continued to swiftly rise from there.

He capped off his years in Chicago with a tour leg opening for Zach Galifianakis through the midwest, and with Unpronounceable, a one-man show about his experiences going from a traditional Islamic background in Pakistan to one of the most liberal colleges in the US. Then he moved to NYC, where he has performed constantly, appeared in speaking roles on SNL and The Colbert Report, was a writer and regular on Michael and Michael Have Issues, and recently had a feature article written about him in the NY Times.

Tonight he'll be on Letterman. There is one other scheduled guest, some other up & comer by the name of Mariah Carey. Check him out: he is very funny.