1) Boygenius on “Saturday Night Live” / I just cannot contain the joy I experienced at watching Boygenius—which pools the talent and kinship of three great modern songwriters—make “Saturday Night Live” their own this past weekend. We are lucky to be living in the time of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus; the way they transmit their inner lives is simply remarkable. Watch clips of their performances here and here.
2) Roadside Graves, “I Won’t Cry Alone” / Anytime there’s new Roadside Graves music in the world is cause for celebration. One of the most essential indie-folk bands of my listening life, the New Jersey collective makes music for those whose souls cry for consolation against the spare, splintered backdrop of the everyday. These 10 songs are worthy of their canon, and showcase a band that’s still true to itself while allowing time to weather and shape its spirit.
3) Beirut, “Hadsel” / Empowering the sound of a church organ to propel these songs along, Zach Condon and Co. create a cohesive listening experience, full of rich texture and ambient mystery. Somehow the record, which sounds great and grand, carries intimacy and lightness too.
4) Haruki Murakami, “Sputnik Sweetheart” / Rarely do I feel happier than when reading the first sentences of a new (to me) Murakami novel. In the case of this 1999 offering, the opening lines read:
In the spring of her twenty-second year, Sumire fell in love for the first time in her life. An intense love, a veritable tornado sweeping across the plains—flattening everything in its path, tossing things up in the air, ripping them to shreds, crushing them to bits.
5) Kathy Fish, “Alligator” for Northwest Review / Every one of our stories houses dozens of possibilities, endless “maybes.” The wonderful Kathy Fish draws this reality into relief in her latest work of fiction, a piece which breaks down our relationships, our very sense of time and self, in quietly fascinating rhythm. The elements within and without us, and our relative ability to touch them, sing through these sentences.
There’s blood running down my leg during the Christmas recital. And there’s blood running down my leg into my anklet. And I’m singing O Come, All Ye Faithful. I mean we all are.
Maybe blood is the story.