1) The Killers, “Pressure Machine” / Just last August, The Killers released what I thought was their most cohesive musical statement to date. “Imploding the Mirage” closed the gap between their singles (perhaps the best catalog in the 21st century so far) and their album tracks, which often feel like fringe and filler. Less than a year later, “Pressure Machine” arrives to set another personal best.
More than a few critics and listeners have labeled this one the band’s “Nebraska.” Like Springsteen did on that seminal album, they write about small-town America from the inside-out, examining its particular heartaches, losses and addictions.
But Brandon Flowers and the boys could never quite draw down to the same whisper Springsteen did. So while “Pressure Machine” is a quieter affair, less dependent on the skyscraping sounds of previous records, it relies on texture more than space and softness to distinguish itself. In that way, the album is part “Nebraska,” part Side B of U2’s “The Joshua Tree.” Whatever the equation, the album is gorgeous, wrenching and far more accessible than a record like this has ever been.
2) Lydia Loveless, “You’re Leaving Me” + “Let’s Make Out” / Two new songs from one of America’s best songwriters will always feel like appointment listening. “Let’s Make Out” is vintage Loveless, a loping piece of Midwestern guitar rock with a brash candy shell and a vulnerable center. “You’re Leaving Me” is the real revelation here. Its jazz-kissed melody shows off Loveless’ range as a singer and songwriter, and the arrangement achieves a gentle, bittersweet soul.
3) Angel Olsen, “Aisles” EP / I really dig this EP of ‘80s covers from Angel Olsen. First off, she tackles several of my favorites: “If You Leave” and “Forever Young” (Alphaville, not Bob or Rod). But she also takes such an auteur’s approach here, slowing down songs like “The Safety Dance” and Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” to find the dark substance behind a decade known for its musical style.
4) Taylor Schumann, “When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough” / Shooting survivor (and my pal) Taylor Schumann has written a book that should—in a more perfect world—quell any debate over pursuing thoughtful gun reforms. Schumann presents the personal side and social implications of gun violence in equally compelling ways, calling readers to soak in the statistics, then sit with survivors as they navigate the worst moment of their lives and all the aftershocks that follow.
Schumann’s work certainly qualifies as important with a capital I, but it’s also lowercase intimate; the book introduces readers to her lovely soul and, in doing so, asks us to remember that every number is a real person with a family, a future and a thousand little qualities that make them worth sticking up for.
5) Geoff Dyer, “See/Saw” / This collection of essays, subtitled “Looking at Photographs,” is a must-read for anyone who writes about visual art or simply wants to access the heartbeat of a still image. Dyer digs deeper into the Vivian Maier story, introduces the dark and wonderful night photographs of Lynn Saville and enters the beautiful blur of Roy DeCarava’s images of jazz greats such as John Coltrane, Ben Webster and Elvin Jones.