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La La La (LP)
Marinero
Using the moniker, Marinero, songwriter Jess Sylvester continues where his last album, Hella Love, left off. If one can say Hella Love was goodbye to Jess’s hometown of San Francisco, La La Lais his new adventure in Los Angeles. La La La plays out like a movie, somewhere between The Long Goodbye, Boulevard Nights, and a James Bond film if it was set to a soundtrack created by Joe Bataan, Brian Wilson, Ennio Morricone, and Perez Prado, artists that have a deep impact on L.A.’s musical landscape. Songs such as, “Dream Suite” “Cruz” and “Sea Changes” are gorgeous, while songs like“ Taquero” and “Pocha Pachanga” are in the tradition of Spanish wordplay that is the root of every great Tropical song. La La La is smart as it is beautiful.
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First in the Family: A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream (Book)
Jessica Hoppe
he timing for Jessica Hoppe’s first book could not have been any better. At a time when immigrants are vilified by half of the country, the tendency for those who support immigration is to shuttle the “model” immigrant into the forefront to show that they have value. Firsts for the “perfect” immigrant are displayed in terms of “the first to graduate college” or “first to get a high-paying job” which can be stressful and often unrealistic. Hoppe’s book explores other firsts for immigrants, such as the importance of being the first in the family to confront generational trauma by going into recovery. Hoppe’s recovery is made on her terms, tackling the stigma of what addiction looks like for a person of color, often coming to a head with the very people in recovery that look at immigration and race as “outside issues” From the days of being referred as “Tequila Cha Cha” by her co-workers for her prodigious love of alcohol, to writing what might very well be the “Autobiography of Malcolm X “ for BIPOC addicts, Hoppe’s book humanizes both the immigrant experience and those on the road to recovery.
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Traigo de Todo (LP)
Ismael Rivera Y Sus Cachimbos
Of all the Fania vinyl reissues, I was most excited about this one. Triago De Todo highlights one of the greatest Salsa singers on the Fania label, which, on a roster with singers such as Hector Lavoe, Ruben Blades, and Ismael Miranda, is saying a lot. Originally released in 1974, it continues to sound fresh, with Javier Vazquez excellent arrangements and Rivera’s improvisational “sonero” style in full force. My favorite track is “ Satelite,” a lost-in-space song that lyrically rivals David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” Side note: I gave my original copy to a woman that I had a major crush on, and I regret it to this day. Let that be a lesson for you kids.
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Diamond Jubilee (LP)
Cindy Lee
Hey, good is good. I don't care how many other people will recommend this album on the Music We Like list. I've been looking forward to getting my hands on this record since I saw Cindy Lee perform their songs from Diamond Jubilee last year at Zebulon. It was worth every second of being stuck in a packed room with a bunch of Silver Lake nepo-babies and their cigarette smoke.
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Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (LP)
Laura Nyro
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Laura Nyro wrote gospel and blues-inspired rhapsodies about the humdrum unfurlings of everyday lives, elevating them to sermon-like tiny epics. They were hits for other major '60s artists, while Nyro watched from the sidelines. But her words have since proven to continually resonate, with no finish line in sight. That's the ultimate victory for an artist routinely relegated to the backdrop.
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Silvertone (LP)
Chris Isaak
You've got The Wild One poster pinned to your bedroom wall, no frame. Tight white Ts line your closet with the sleeves short. A neon sign from the Ed Hopper diner across the street pulses, bleeding past your blinds while you lay on your bed, smoking a Lucky Strike and crying, one tear, because the girl you love isn't real, just like the rest of your persona. You can blame Silvertone for that. Or hasn't anyone told you? James Dean died more than half a century ago.
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Yes (LP)
Yes
"She brings the sunshine to a rainy afternoon. She puts the sweetness and stirs it with a spoon." After that, I leaped off my La-Z-Boy and ran out to buy Yes' debut album. With lyrics like that, who needs the rest of the English language?
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Dreaming My Dreams (LP)
Waylon Jennings
Spin "Dreaming My Dreams with You" and all of a sudden, you're at some dingy bar, your head slumped, reeking of cheap beer. It's closing time, the vexed bartender reminds you. Just one more song on the jukebox, you promise, before you have to go out into the howling wind, where newspapers sweep the floors and you hug your coat extra tight. You have nowhere to go but inside your broken heart.
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Drugstore Cowboy
Pretty-looking junkies stealing from local pharmacies to feed their fix, brimming with paranoia and led by a cool cat that talks like that and has a penchant for believing in paperback hexes. I hang the movie's poster on my wall. I play the soundtrack.
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The Prisoner (BLU)
A seminal '60s British TV show with a timeless mod aesthetic and belief system skirting on the nihilistic. It had every reason not to have been THAT good, and yet it was.
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