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Aarik Danielsen

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December 6, 2024

December 5, 2024

1) Father John Misty, “Mahashmashana” / Could it be—could Father John Misty’s latest be my favorite among his strange and textured catalog? I can’t say with certainty, but it feels that way with every listen. The artist otherwise known (including in his songs) as Josh Tillman makes me laugh to keep from crying, keeps me guessing at the shapes of gods and angels and demons, makes me want to learn to dance. 

2) Michael Kiwanuka, “Small Changes” / The British singer-songwriter is quietly building one of the great modern soul canons. No matter how spare or lush his arrangements, the voice is the thing (and the words that voice wraps around)—Kiwanuka forever feels as though he’s singing right to you. 

3) The music of Grant Lee Buffalo / Making up for lost time with this ‘90s L.A. band—which foregrounded the songs of the great Grant-Lee Phillips—has been a joy. There’s such an easy, intoxicating quality to cuts like “Fuzzy” and “Truly, Truly” that makes me want to stay lost in them forever. 

4) Heavy Moss, “Dead Slow” / The new one from this Australian band stakes a fascinating claim at the places where psych-pop and classic soul meet. Features members of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, Atolls, Sons et al and Hayley Mary.

5) Whitney Rio-Ross, “Cancion De Amor” for Earth and Altar / My friend the poet Whitney Rio-Ross somehow uses words to create a soft gospel of all the places and moments where words alone cannot go. This familial scene binds generations together with waves of sound and in flowing dance steps. 

In west Texas, between days of slaughter, 

sow, and reap, the radio taught him 

what no book could. Neighbors’ sorrows wailed 

in ballads. Their joy danced through mariachi.

But I know next to nothing, my tongue still 

more sputter than roll. 

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Aarik is a Midwestern journalist, essayist and poet whose writing exists at the four corners of literature, human dignity, pop culture and theology.


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