The Year of Magical Listening

FEATURING KNOWER FOREVER by KNOWER, self-released in 2023. Listen / Buy direct "Knower Forever" "Do Hot Girls Like Chords?" "It Will Get Real" "I'm The President" TRANSCRIPT I'm ashamed to say it now, but I didn't think I liked this music at first. I resisted it, even. It seemed, to put it simply, too much. And by the way, this music, what's playing right now: it's nothing like the

FEATURING "Free From the Guillotine" by Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band, from Dancing on the Edge, released by Sophomore Lounge in 2023. Listen / Buy direct TRANSCRIPT I want to do something that's not easy for me to do on this show: I want to talk about an artist who's first and foremost a lyricist. Which means I will be talking over the very lyrics I want to highlight. It ain

FEATURING "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl, from If I Should Fall from Grace with God released by Warner Music in 1988. Listen TRANSCRIPT Here's another one that fell through the cracks, another song I have no right not to have heard until now. And I couldn't even get to it in time for Christmas. But like the song's narrator, let's pretend that it's an

FEATURING "Psychedelic Switch" by Carly Rae Jepsen, from The Loveliest Time, released by 604 Records in 2023. Listen TRANSCRIPT This is an ode to my song of the year – the song I played more times than any other song, and that played in my head countless more times than that – a perfect song, an electric song, an unstoppable, irresistible song that never failed to sweep me up a

FEATURING Motewolonuwok by Jeremy Dutcher, released by Secret City Records in 2023. Listen / Buy direct (digital | physical) "Skicinuwihkuk"TRANSCRIPT The first sounds we hear are the music of nature: the harmonies of birdsong, the rhythm of the land underfoot. The next sounds we hear are the music of language: poetic speech in a seldom-heard tongue. It's like an invocation of the

FEATURING "Solo for Tamburium" by Catherine Christer Hennix, composed and performed for MaerzMuzik in 2017, and released by Blank Forms Editions in 2023. Listen / Buy direct TRANSCRIPT A constellation of notes slowly comes into view, filling up the night sky with light. From darkness comes illumination; from silence comes reverberation; from nothing comes, seemingly, everything –

FEATURING Javelin by Sufjan Stevens, released by Asthmatic Kitty in 2023. Listen / Buy direct "Will Anybody Ever Love Me?" TRANSCRIPT The first thing I noticed was how familiar it all felt: this fingerpicking, these harmonies, this dear little voice. And more than that, the distinctive flood of emotions that was instantly stirred up inside me. This music felt – and still feels �

FEATURING Fountain Baby by Amaarae, released by Interscope Records in 2023. Listen / Buy direct "All My Love" "Angels in Tibet" "Co-Star" TRANSCRIPT I loved this music from the moment I heard it, from the very first notes of its opening melody, with its haunting oscillation between dominant and tonic, and this ghostly choir of distant voices gradually surfacing amid a groundswell o

FEATURING Maps by billy woods and Kenny Segal, released by Backwoodz Studioz in 2023. Listen / Buy direct"Soft Landing""The Layover""FaceTime""NYC Tapwater"TRANSCRIPT Here's a little secret: When I listen to music, the lyrics are typically what I hear last. I am drawn to the sounds and harmonies and rhythms; but the words often pass me by. Which may make a lyrical genre like hip-ho

FEATURING Nymph by Shygirl, released by Because Music in 2022. Listen / Buy direct"Woe""Wildfire""Firefly""Coochie (a bedtime story)"TRANSCRIPT The music starts, and we are immediately surrounded by voices: oohs and aahs and scrambled chatter. It's like we've stepped inside the artist's mind and are about to discover what's there. And when we arrive we are greeted by even more voic