Genesis was one of my favorite bands growing up in the 80’s and was a huge influence on my taste for progressive rock next to Yes and Pink Floyd. Abacab (1981) is one of those albums I first bought on vinyl, then later on cassette to be able to play in my car, and then finally on cd when I hooked up my first cd player. It’s a great summertime album. Here’s my favorite, ‘Keep It Dark’, played live in Phildelphia in 1983:
Philip K Dick
The New York Times’ Simon Critchley writes a three part series on the life, philosophy, and madness of Philip K Dick.
Dick’s life has long passed into legend, peppered with florid tales of madness and intoxication. There are some who consider such legend something of a diversion from the character of Dick’s literary brilliance. Jonathan Lethem writes — rightly in my view — “Dick wasn’t a legend and he wasn’t mad. He lived among us and was a genius.” Yet Dick’s life continues to obtrude massively into any assessment of his work.
I recommend a little Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here, while you read:
Chris Thile
Time to step sideways from your typical progressive artist to bluegrass/mandolin stylist extraordinaire Chris Thile. Thanks goes to Gary Kramer for introducing me to Mr. Thile and his band, the Punch Brothers, doing Radiohead covers. Thile’s crooning and enigmatic voice, his creativity, and the spot-on timing of his band are a natural fit for Radiohead tunes – or they make it seem natural. Here’s ‘Faust Arp’ and ‘2+2=5’:
And you can’t go wrong playing some Punch Brothers on a summer afternoon with a big pitcher of margarita’s. Here he is with Michael Daves live at NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert last June:
Friday Brass
Hope your week at work was less hectic and stressful than mine. In any case, I think the musical prescription is the same, some second line brass.
First up is a great second line performance by the Lil Rascals Brass Band, ‘Roll With Me, Knock With Me’:
Next up is the Menahan Street Band “Make the Road by Walking” live in Central Park, NY (warning: this video shows fat white dudes trying to groove – disclaimer – I’m a fat svelte white dude):
Spiritualized in Concert
Sit back and relax. Let Spiritualized will rid you of your ‘it’s still not Friday’ blues. Live from the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. a week ago on the 10th, available in full here from NPR. First up we have “Ladies and Gentleman We are Floating in Space” a quote, and then it’s “Come Together”:
Pierce almost died twice in the last seven years, once from double-pneumonia and once from degenerative liver disease which necessitated chemotherapy. He recorded Spiritualized’s remarkable new record, Sweet Heart Sweet Light, while recovering from the latter, and its songs don’t hesitate to leer into the abyss. Even as they swagger and seethe, they document a frail and flawed man’s circuitous journey through self-inflicted agonies and righteous redemption, and back around to agony.
Actionsuit Alert! 