Album Pairings: November New Releases

By Shane Kimberlin

Homegrown arts commentator Shane Kimberlin. Photo by Allison Sayer

Silk Sonic - An Evening with Silk Sonic (Aftermath, Atlantic)

Household hitmaker Bruno Mars and neighborhood polymath Anderson Paak wield 70's Philly and Detroit funk, soul and R&B. It's easy when your homework is also your scripture. Funkadelic's Bootsy Collins and Thundercat, whose biggest wish is being in Funkadelic, play bass together on "After Last Night." Modern updates abound: rapping, a current ethos (cultural references, ease of swearing, etc) and the crispest of sonic production (like silk, ahem). Sly, self-aware humor abounds. Best line: "Not to be dramatic, but I want to die." It ain't a throwback but a costume party, and everyone’s invited, including, I suspect, future releases from other artists. There's something audacious in releasing a work so lush and expensive sounding in an era where laptop-made mp3s reign in vogue, and one can hear the door open to a revival of a smooth blockbuster pop sensibility not heard since the 90's, though most likely not as good as these jams. The songs lack the spiritual undercurrent of their forebears- earthy fun and drama abound only- but those are the breaks when you're not raised in a gospel choir. Still, the transcendence found by those dancing at weddings will be very, very real.

 Pairs well with: Dancing, driving, 70's cosplay, cleaning the house, weddings, weddings, weddings.

Pairs poorly with: Writing, reading, anger.

Courtney Barnett - Things Take Time, Take Time (Milk! Mom + Pop Marathon Artists)

Beloved Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett has released alternative indie music with droll lyrics for nearly a decade. Her deadpan brings to mind a more tuneful, on-key Stephen Malkmus or Lou Reed. Unlike those dudes, she is dry by choice, not limitation. This album is not a revelation, but nobody, especially Barnett, expects it to be. "Take it Day by Day” has an infectious melody. Set the timer for it to be featured in an indie Netflix movie later next year. Contrary to how these things are supposed to go, the album picks up steam as it progresses. “Splendour” is nearly danceable. Even at its most intense, it is mellow, the sonic equivalent of sipping on warm coffee at home in sweats. Easy to imagine Barnett did much of this while stuck in her flat, where she recorded these songs quietly so as not to tick off the neighbors during their COVID-19 lockdown. Listeners can do the same. There is one mood, but it's a good mood, and even turning this sucker up won’t wake anyone next door up in the most packed of places. Just the way she intended.

Pairs well with: Driving, cross country skiing (mellow), snowy days indoors.

Pairs poorly with: Working out, chopping wood, 

They Might Be Giants - BOOK (Idlewild Recordings)

Nearly four decades old and now seventeen official albums in (not counting the kid's albums, c'mon), BOOK is a multimedia project. It includes a 144 page book of lyrics, but not ones from songs you remember (Flood), but the recent stuff. I just listened to the album instead, and can safely say it finds They Might Be Giants in the mode they know best, which is playing and singing They Might Be Giants Songs and all that entails. There’s a song called “Super Cool” which is not very cool at all but seems to be Beck-adjacent in call-waiting music glory. One song concerns a brontosaurus and its neck, a metaphor for artist anxiety, called "Brontosaurus." Why not Brachiosaurus? Maybe they'll explain more in Book II. Another track's about drowning a clown, called “Drown the Clown," which relates to social media, or not. What’s a girl to do? Indeed, criticizing TMBG for making TMBG songs is a fool’s errand, like being annoyed at Garfield for loving lasagna or the sun's rise and set schedule. Non-fans will remain unpersuaded by any of these songs, and fans will surely be thrilled. A good TMBG song and a bad TMBG song is all a matter of mood. The mood I possessed while ingesting this new effort was wanting to listen to Flood instead.

Pairs well with: They Might Be Giants fan clubs

Pairs poorly with: Operating heavy machinery, arguing with a loved one, taxes

Snail Mail - Valentine (Matador Records)

I started this album thinking the path was set by Cat Power and the Breeders, and while she has some of the Deal sisters' vocal grit, there's a deep sideways debt to the Cranberries, particularly Dolores O'Riordan's emotional vocal highs and bare-stripped honesty. Songs are all guitar with smatterings of synth and drum machine loops, a fusion of robotic 80s, grunge 90s and post-mo indie oughts, something new, something borrowed. Another argument for the collapse of historical time in the streaming age. The center of all this lush production is her singing and thoughts. Content-wise, it's as serious and brutal as a sensitive, well-meaning twenty-two-year-old can be about love, heartbreak, addiction, and rehab; that is, deadly, especially if not in the mood, but listeners might be surprised to discover they now are after a few songs. By the end of the album, you will hope this’ll be but the transitory low that produced an artistic high, and not the seeds of a career strategy, which shows just how effective her efforts truly are.

Pairs well with: Heartbreak, contemplation, hard days

Pairs poorly with: Dinner parties

Want more from Shane Kimberlin? Get started on his fiction serial The Wish Belly!