Welcome back to Melissa Recommends Music! I know, it’s been a bit of a hiatus since the last newsletter went out four weeks ago. What can I say? Summer vacay vibes got to me. The weather has been temperamental in New York, but the last couple weeks of May were beautiful and perfect and it was impossible to stay in when I could be walking to the park with The Wake blasting in my ears.
This week brings you my Latest Roundup, where I get to showcase ten of my most liked and most listened-to songs of the past month, or in this case, two months — with Imad having graciously guest-written the last newsletter, it’s really been that long since the last LR, which made it all the more difficult for me to put together today’s playlist. I kept switching out songs and changing the order so much that eventually I had to just force myself to call it a day. That being said, there’s some fun and quirky songs waiting for you in the mix that I hope you’ll enjoy.
And with that, I’d like to take a small moment on this gorgeous summer solstice to celebrate six whole months of Melissa Recommends Music (!!!). It’s a bit shocking to me that anyone reads my newsletter, much less finds what I have to say or recommend interesting. The warm response from friends, family, acquaintances, friends of friends, complete strangers, former flames et. al has been humbling and heartwarming. So thank you from the bottom of my hot pink OMG, I Love Music heart for all your support!
Read on for ditzy synths, twee pop, and a brief look at a subversive take on the mythology of the cowboy.
Track Listing
“Heartbeat” - Black Tambourine
“Um Gago Apaixonado” - João Nogueira
“I Just Got Back” - Parliament
“Luna d’agosto - Con clavicembalo” - Piero Umiliani
“World of Pauline Lewis” - Television Personalities
“Is This Music?” - Teenage Fanclub
“Mojave” - International Music System
“Do U Miss All The” - Free The Birds
“For the Sake of the Song” - Townes Van Zandt
“Let The Radio Play” - Reverend Baron
1. “Heartbeat” by Black Tambourine
One thing about me is I LOVE a good cover. So much so that I have a playlist called “peas in a pod” where I keep a running list of my favorites, which of course includes Black Tambourine’s fun and fuzzy cover of Buddy Holly’s “Heartbeat.” This song was originally written and recorded by Norman Petty and Bob Montgomery, but Buddy Holly popularized it when he released his version in 1958. It was the second to last single he released in his lifetime (R.I.P.) and inspired dozens of covers in the years following, along with the first name for a band that would eventually become Herman’s Hermits (shoutout ‘60s on 6 Sirius XM for putting me onto them at a small age).
Black Tambourine were a four-piece from Silver Spring, MD, first formed in 1989 as a side project by members of Whorl and Velocity Girl. While they only released a handful of songs during their two-year run, they’re up there with Tiger Trap, Tullycraft, and Beat Happening in terms of influence on the American twee pop landscape.
I’ve had a soft spot for Black Tambourine since I first heard “For Ex-Lovers Only” in 2019 and became totally obsessed. That song used to propel me across my college campus with an energy I can only describe as caffeinated. With “For Ex-Lovers Only” in my headphones I was making beelines everywhere, buzzing on the rolling drum line and harsh noisy guitar as if I had just had a few cups of coffee.
A few weeks ago I thought about Black Tambourine and gave them the true deep dive they deserve, which reignited my passion for their sound, alternately described as twee pop, indie pop, noise pop, and shoegaze. “Heartbeat” is the one I kept coming back to this time around.
2. “Um Gago Apaixonado” by João Nogueira
Yay for ditzy synths atop classic Brazilian rhythms! “Um Gago Apaixonado” is all about someone so in love they can’t help but stutter around their crush, with the lyrics playing on repetition in a pretty impressive display of verbal dexterity. João Nogueira was a respected singer and songwriter of samba and MPB, gaining popularity in the ‘70s with compositions sung by Élis Regina, Clara Nunes, and Beth Carvalho (among others) before embarking on a solo career of his own.
3. “I Just Got Back” by Parliament
Keeping the silly vibes going is this oddball track from funk legends Parliament, who I trust need no introduction. “I Just Got Back (From the Fantasy, Ahead of Our Time in the Four Lands of Ellet)” plays into Parliament-Funkadelic’s fixation on extraterrestrials with a story of a former abductee (or perhaps voluntary space explorer?) come back to Earth to share the wisdom he’s picked up on his cosmic journey. It’s off Up For the Downstroke (1974), Parliament’s second album after 1970’s Osmium and and a four-year period during which George Clinton focused his energies on Funkadelic. Up For the Downstroke was intended to reach a wider audience, with a more pop-aligned structure than Funkadelic’s experimental, far-out sound.
Upon first listen this song didn’t quite stand out to me, but as I kept coming back to it I started to notice just how subtle and layered the arrangement is — of course, the dreamy, cascading piano that alternately crescendoes and fades into the background is a standout, along with the twangy acoustic guitar that feels somewhat unexpected, but the percussion is an understated treat to hear too. And then we have the whistling… PHEW, those are some crazy great whistling solos. Perhaps the biggest reason behind my fondness for this song. They really remind me of Walter’s secret talent in The Muppet Movie, which I unironically think is one of the best movies of all time. Lest we forget, it won the Oscar for Best Original Song…
My internet sleuthing led me to a review of Up For the Downstroke that called today’s track a “psychedelic pop epic… a fairly awful, funkless number that’s notable only for the amazing whistling solos of songwriter Peter Chase.” True, it’s a psychedelic pop epic; true, the whistling solos are amazing, but is it “fairly awful?” I suppose you could say it’s pretty funkless if you were looking for groovy bass lines or other hallmarks of the genre, but isn’t funk a SPIRIT more than a strict sound? I’ll let you be the judge of that.
Thank you to my college boyfriend for his obsession with P-Funk, without which I would only know them as the guys that did “Give Up The Funk.”
4. “Luna d’agosto - Con clavicembalo” by Piero Umiliani
Piero Umiliani, we meet again… you may remember that I recommended his song “Chaser” on LR3, then discovered library music on LR4, and here we are once again. I said this in LR3 but since we’re on the topic of The Muppets, he also famously composed their theme song, “Mah Nà Mah Nà.”
This endearing instrumental also features some amazing whistling, alongside a harpsichord (“clavicembalo” in Italian), the star of the show. This track makes me want to sway to and fro and saunter down wherever I’m going with a little pep in my step.
5. “World of Pauline Lewis” by Television Personalities
“World of Pauline Lewis” has been a cherished commuting companion of mine the last few weeks, alongside The Wake of course. I have yet to do a deep dive into the TVPs, so if anyone out there has some favorite tracks, send them my way! My lack of familiarity did inspire some research into the group, distilled down below.
“World of Pauline Lewis” comes off Television Personalities’ debut album, the cult classic …And Don’t The Kids Just Love It. The album came out in 1981, a few years after they’d formed and gained critical acclaim with an EP and a handful of singles. It might be more accurate to call the Television Personalities the project of Dan Treacly, who remained the only constant throughout multiple lineup changes over the years and whose songwriting made up the band’s material. The TVPs never gained much commercial success, but they had a cult following and influenced artists like Pavement, MGMT, and Jesus and Mary Chain with their ventures in punk, psychedelia, and pop.
6. “Is This Music?” by Teenage Fanclub
Similar to my relationship with Black Tambourine, I discovered two songs by Scottish alt-rockers Teenage Fanclub years ago, latched onto them, and never bothered to explore the rest of their repertoire. I found them in 2017 while doing some research for an album review of Alvvays’ newly released Antisocialites; Pitchfork named Teenage Fanclub as one of their influences, which led me to “Sparky’s Dream” and “The Concept,” and I never looked back.
They came back on my radar when I stumbled upon “Is This Music?” on Michelle’s playlist, and of course it immediately hooked me — as you likely already know, I can’t resist a fuzzy guitar hook over heavy bass and a driving drum line. This one really reminds me of the drums in “Kick The Tragedy” by the Drop Nineteens.
Teenage Fanclub influenced a slew of other bands beyond Alvvays and enjoyed critical and commercial success throughout their career, which started in 1989 and continues today. Some fun facts courtesy of Wikipedia:
“Bandwagonesque topped Spin magazine's 1991 end-of-year poll for best album, beating Nirvana's Nevermind, their Creation stablemates My Bloody Valentine's album Loveless, and R.E.M.'s Out of Time.”
“Teenage Fanclub were regularly name-checked in interviews by Kurt Cobain, who described them as ‘the best band in the world’. The band would support Nirvana on tour in the summer of 1992.”
“Liam Gallagher of labelmates Oasis called the band ‘the second best band in the world’ – second only to Oasis.”
7. “Mojave” by International Music System
Let’s lighten the mood after the heavy shredding of Teenage Fanclub with a downtempo 1983 synth track from International Music System. From what I could gather online, I.M.S. were an Italian electronic-synth-pop (AKA Italo Electro) group mostly active in the ‘80s. “Mojave” is sweet and thoughtful, but a lot of their other tracks are upbeat, experimental and highly danceable.
8. “Do U Miss All The” by Free The Birds
Perhaps you’ve heard of Free The Birds? My perception of them is that they’re one of those contemporary indie bands that all the cool kids know. I saw this song pop up on a random playlist someone I don’t now put on Spotify which was alarmingly aligned with my own taste — I knew about 50% of the songs and 75% of the artists, and cherry-picked some of those unfamiliar to me to listen to. This was one of them.
9. “For the Sake of the Song” by Townes Van Zandt
If you’ve been anywhere near me in the past month you’ve probably heard me talk about Townes Van Zandt. While I’ve had a surface-level familiarity with his music for years, a few weeks ago I listened, really listened, to “She Came and She Touched Me” and was actually stunned by the pure poetry of the lyrics. I revisited other songs of his that I knew already and was once again stunned by their beauty. “Velvet Voices” off the same album as today’s pick, For the Sake of the Song (1968), is gorgeous, but the title track was a new discovery that ended up on my recent rotation. I love the way it picks up after the first chorus; I always look forward to the flutes (pan flutes? recorders?) and the wild bass line.
Not that I have an extensive knowledge of the genre, but I haven’t found very many country songs that portray a female lover with such complexity. They’re typically vengeful, forlorn, devoted, or a combination of the three, but whoever Townes is singing about is way multi-faceted, and it makes him, the narrator of the story, all the more interesting too. It’s a testament to his songwriting, his profound grasp of psychology, and his empathetic view of love that he can write about this relationship with such depth.
I think one hallmark of great classic country songs is their focus on interiority, perhaps as a result of the “lone wolf” cowboy mythology, which lends itself to individualism, heartbreak, and an exploration of psychology through that. We often get to understand the cowboy’s POV more so than whoever he’s left behind, but many times only to the extent of an “I’m married to the road” kind of motivation. Townes is playing with that trope here, implying that he’s a “strong and silent” type who’s hurt his lover because he can’t stay with her, but he subverts it by prioritizing her perspective — even when he’s defensive, he comes back to her POV and gives her grace by trying to understand where she’s coming from. “Who do I think that I am / to decide that she’s wrong?”
Townes was a master who employed his poetic skill throughout his career, but while he was known as one of the best and most influential country artists to his peers, he never achieved that status in the mainstream the way someone like Willie Nelson has. He’s a genius in the same way Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan are, yet not nearly as well known as them.
Shoutout to my college boyfriend again for not only showing me Townes Van Zandt while we dated, but providing me with an excellent playlist of his favorite Townes songs upon my request at the beginning of my obsession a couple weeks ago. Showing me both P-Funk and Townes Van Zandt… he holds multitudes.
10. “Let The Radio Play” by Reverend Baron
Our final song is like all the best things about a summer’s day: sunny, laidback, nostalgic… makes you want to stop and smell the roses. A great sendoff to what I think will be our sole June playlist — picture me contentedly waving goodbye as you drive away in your car, having just stopped by for a visit. Until next time!
Thank you for reading today’s newsletter! As always, if you care to share your thoughts, reactions, suggestions, etc. I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
The next newsletter goes out in two weeks, written by a close friend with an impressive knowledge of R&B, soul, and funk. Stay tuned!
P.S.
Remember how I recommended not one, but two songs from ScubaZ’s sole full-length release, The Vanishing American Family? At the time that was the only thing on their Spotify page, but now they’ve added more music, a Spotify bio, and even released a new single! Good for them :)
“Glittering Prizes” by Television Personalities also great! Also pretty sure SPIN basically apologized for choosing bandwagonesque over nevermind 10 years later