Playlist of the Week 13 May – Wayzgoose Magazine

By Chloe Stiens

I was in a folky rocky acoustic mood this week. Featuring new music from St. Vincent only.

You can find this week’s playlist at the top of the ‘Spring 24’ playlist, here:

Laura Marling, Alexandra

This song was the soundtrack to my 2020 lockdown, i.e., sitting in the sun with my Bluetooth speaker and a glass of wine, so as soon as it gets sunny this song makes an appearance.
The song is inspired by the Leonard Cohen song ‘Alexandra Leaving’. Here, Marling questions what happens to the woman-muse after she is no longer relevant to the writer.
I like chromatic descent in the internal harmony, in which the flat 7 note lends mixolydian modal folk sensibility.

Funkadelic, Can You Get To That

From their celebrated 1971 album, Maggot Brain. It is actually a reworking of an earlier Parliament’s track, ‘What You’ve Been Growing’.
I love how the drums come in accompanied by a piano glissando, and the low ‘I wanna know’ in the chorus.

St. Vincent, Big Time Nothing

From St. Vincent’s new album, All Born Screaming (it has also been released as a single). This is the first album entirely self-produced by St. Vincent, in which her previous sonic influences are excitingly combined; in this song, the Masseduction-esque synth gives way to a funk influence first explored on Daddy’s Home.

Big Red Machine, Fleet Foxes, Anaïs Mitchell, Phoenix

Big Red Machine is the collaborative project between Aaron Dessner (of The National, and co-producer of Taylor Swift’s Folklore/Evermore and The Tortured Poets Department), and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver).
The piano writing here brings to mind one of my favourite Evermore songs, ‘Dorothea’. The percussion is very interesting; the backbeat is composed more of fills than grounding kicks. I also enjoy the subtle horns combined with the other country/folk acoustic instruments.

Mac DeMarco, Moonlight on the River

My favourite song off of 2017’s This Old Dog.
The reverb on the lead guitar brings to mind reflections in water, before it gives way to simple acoustic guitar, bass, and drums for the verse.
I love how it goes crazy at the end, as ‘everybody dies’. While the rest of the song can be interpreted as the narrator coming to terms with his father’s impending death, the ominous sounds here could be his grief taking over.

Gang Starr, Full Clip

This song is from the rap duo’s eponymous compilation album, released in 1999, and samples Cal Tjader’s instrumental ‘Walk On By’. I particularly like the scrubbing on the chorus.

Joni Mitchell, California

Joni Mitchell’s music is back on Spotify!
I too have been ‘Sitting in a park in Paris, France / Reading the news and it sure looks bad.’
I love how her voice floats upwards on ‘Just give you the blues’.

Land of Talk, Compelled

From the Canadian band’s 2020 album, Indistinct Conversations.
The layered guitars and synths from 2:21 create a kind of ‘indistinct’ soundscape.

Taylor Swift, The Bolter

One of my favourites off the Anthology portion of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department. I’ve chosen the clean version, just because I don’t enjoy how the explicit lyrics in the chorus jar against the sentiment of acceptance and renewal.
Dessner’s country/folk influence is strong here, and perfectly compliments Swift’s vocal writing. I really like the minor turn at the end of the chorus.

Grateful Dead, Deal – Live at Gizah Sound & Light Theater, Cairo, Egypt, Sep. 16, 1978

I was visiting friends in Cairo, so downloaded this album for the flight. The Grateful Dead were the first band to play at the pyramids!
‘Deal’ is my friend’s favourite Dead song at the moment, so it was on repeat during my trip.
I really like the solo (which is actually in the first half of the song, starting at 1:23)… you can really hear Jerry’s banjo techniques in the arpeggiation.

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