musical meals, musical snacks

New Music 07/04/25

I was in an outstanding mood over the weekend, probably because I went to a fun dinner party on Friday, took a nice walk on Saturday and went to the beach on Sunday instead of spending the entire weekend with my friend, the computer. Sometimes I can get very like, ah my sweet companion the machine, I cannot wait to get you alone and open at least 400 tabs on you. It’s important to go out and see your friends! Further adding to my jubilation - the new David Longstreth/Dirty Projectors album. I’ve listened to it 3 times, and it’s intricate, full of musical shifts, sweet melodies and surprises. David Longstreth is a classically trained musician, who tempers his complex compositions with wonderful hooks and draws on anything from jazz to choral music. His music is a perfect combination of emotion and skill. There are a couple of albums that are like this on the playlist this week, including a very ferocious one by aya. I love music that combines these things because it refuses to be background; it insists that you pay it attention to understand it, but it gives you enough that is easy to hold onto, enough to relate to, that you actually want to invest in it. It’s a full meal rather than a snack. Sometimes though one simply needs a tiny little snack and there are some of those on the playlist this week too. More on all the musical meals and snacks below!

PS I’m doing things slightly differently this week, the full playlists are for everyone, but my mostly fun, often quite tangential and sometimes useful thoughts on them are only for paid subscribers. (DM me if you’re like I really cannot afford another subscription to another thing, but I want to read this, and I will happily comp you)

Spotify Playlist Here

Apple Music Playlist Here

If you’re looking for a way into this album, this is to me one of the most beautiful songs on it, with its gentle Brazilian feel (from 50”) that becomes something far more wild. Longsreth’s voice changes a lot between registers and in his lower range, which I I’m less accustomed to, he sounds more anchored. The strings are a standout too, the type of arrangements you might hear on an old Jobim album. I’ve written about how this work is a song cycle (songs connected by lyrical or musical themes), but not about the song cycle it’s named after - Das Lied von der Erde by Mahler. It’s an interesting piece to use as a reference; written during a time of great despair for