Exitmusic’s Week in Pop
Exitmusic release their anticipated album The Recognitions April 20 through felte & now it is our honor to present Week in Pop guest selections presented by the duo Aleksa Palladino and Devon Church:
Devon Church’s picks:
This Mortal Coil, “Song to the Siren”
Somehow this song, written by Tim Buckley, became a sort of theme to a recent year of my life. I was first introduced to it by a friend who asked for help recording a cover, and it seemed to reemerge here and there without my seeking it out, in live versions by friends, and various cover versions (i tried my hand at a cover myself, and Amen Dunes has a good one, too). This version by This Mortal Coil, to me, expresses a sensation that no other song seems to. It exists in this weird pause-space where one sees the object of desire, knows that reaching for it will mean destruction, but also knows they’ll reach for it anyway, over and over. No wonder David Lynch used it in Lost Highway, and claims it was the inspiration for the first two Julee Cruise albums.
Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, “The Story of the Wind”
This album in the Ethiopiques series is my go to for clearing out mental space. It was composed and performed by an Ethiopian nun in the late 60s and is probably my most played album on the past year.
Lou Reed. “Street Hassle”
Lou Reed does something for me that no one else does, and I was recently surprised to find out that he had an amazing song, practically an opera, that I not yet burned into my brain by overplaying it. This one unfolds like a bleak, unsentimental short story, but also has a sort of spiritual luminosity, kind of like Denis Johnson’s stories in Jesus’ Son (a great book which happens to take it’s title from a Reed lyric).
Abul Mogard, “Works”
The best, most soulful ambient record I may have ever heard, made by a former Serbian steelworker in his 70’s who began building his own synthesizers and composing these powerful works in his retirement.
김정미 Kim Jung Mi, “Haenim”
I love this song. Amazing love ballad recorded by psychedelic Korean musicians in the early 70s.
Aleksa Palladino’s picks:
Simon and Garfunkel, “The Boxer”
I’ve been revisiting Simon and Garfunkle a lot recently. There is their obvious mastery of melody and harmony, but what gets me hooked is the story. A perfect time capsule from the late 60s in American social history. A time when the average persons eyes were opening to a bigger picture of racial injustice, the horrors of senseless war, female empowerment, sexual liberation, a deeper self awareness and a mistrust of the government. In this song you can feel him waking, his voice starts gently, introverted, as if he’s still in his own head recalling the dream. The music itself is awoken abruptly from a lullaby by the massive kick drum. His voice repeating lie lie lie as the only word of the chorus. His voice gaining strength and conviction as the landscape of the music shifts finally into a dystopian reality of the times. This song was released in 1970, just two years after both Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. American was still in the Vietnam War, and for the first time the American people had to question if we (our government) were still the good guys.
Nina Simone, “Black Is The Color of My True Loves Hair”
Such strength and depth. This is the era of performance, I wish I had been alive to see. No show! No moving lights or strobes to blind you, no bigger than life persona, or over the top outfits; just a human being laying it out there for you. Allowing themselves to be seen. THAT is what it is about.
Cat Power, “You Are Free”
Lne of my all time favorite performances. There have been so many moments where I silently thank Chan for this one. Her fragility and strength are so beautiful and she does this without dressing up for the part. What a rebellious and honest act to not play the game the mans way. We need more of this. More women rejecting the pre ordained image of what sells art. Its powerful to be you, you are enough. push up bras and oversexed performances distract from the depth of what you are saying.
Louis Armstrong, “St. James Infirmary”
Wow this song comes in like thick, sad, perfection, a funeral procession. I’m obsessed with the sorrow and the triumph that the trumpet offers. The sound of loosing everything- except your dignity.
Johnny Cash, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”
Oh my god, that voice! The simplicity of this song. Just honesty. That’s what its all about people. Sharing your truth. Exposing your pain, your humanity, building a bridge to connect and remind other people that we are all here, trying for the same things, failing at times, but recognizing the moments when we had it. I aspire to this level of directness.
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