find lynchian devotion
Plus new music from the Tubs, Lucy Dacus, Tim Hecker, and more
Hello! Welcome to the Unskippables, especially to the new folks who subscribed last week!
It’s somehow fitting that David Lynch, the premiere auteur of the perverse darkness at the heart of the American dream, died the week that the perverse darkness at the heart of the American dream sat center stage at the inauguration.
David Lynch’s art mattered to me I’d say a moderate amount, compared to many friends who found a real home in his films, but as a figure of creativity, he was nonpareil. My friend Liam Singer put it well in an Instagram story that he had the rarefied air of a Mr. Rogers – a completely pure spirit in pursuit of his vision of art, free of artifice, irony, or distance.
Lynch was best known for his aesthetic focus – which was singular and truly incredible – but to me, his legacy is also about his absolute loyalty and devotion to his collaborators. His artistic commitment was matched by his absolute love and trust in the people he worked with – Laura Dern, Kyle MacLachlan, Harry Dean Stanton, Julee Cruise, editor Mary Sweeney.
Of course, maybe no collaborator understood Lynch’s vision more than his longtime composer Angelo Badalamenti – his video explaining the genesis of Laura Palmer’s Theme is maybe my favorite Lynch artifact, detailing the creation of his largest musical legacy:
RIP. Anyways, here are some Good Links:
Aid Kondukta – Flow State collected links to help support Madlib, who lost hours of music, his record collection, and equipment in the LA fires.
Or: Bandcamp is donating all of their revenue share from records sold on 2/7 to MusicCares.
Stay for the Dee Dee Ramone impression – Bill Hader’s “What’s in my Bag” is a delight, despite the reveal that he’s into Frank Zappa.
Getting tangled up in Bob? If you’re new to, or digging back into Bob Dylan, this reprint of a 1998 article on the best of Bootleg Bob is a fun primer on the live/weird/unreleased world of Dylan worth spending more time with.
These fucking guys – AI music CEO dudes seemingly have no idea why people enjoy making music, or have gotten joy from picking up a single instrument. As reported by 404 Media, the CEO of an AI music app recently talked about why they’re building their product – “It’s not really enjoyable to make music now […] It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice, you need to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software. I think the majority of people don’t enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music.” Damn dude are you saying devotion to an art practice is a life-changing thing you make dedicated time for to work through how to express yourself and isn’t always instantaneous delivery of generic, good-enough slop? Someone should definitely make a wack startup to fix that!!
As always, you can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!
The Tubs – Narcissist
“Hurt people hurt people” but as a request! “Jane says you’re a narcissist/ Well I wanna see/ You should do it to me” is such an amazing flip in the first line – the song explores dating someone awful just to distract from your own pain, lavished in gorgeous chiming guitar.
Lucy Dacus – Ankles
Don't be fooled by "Ankles'" chiming, cheery music – Dacus writes a killer ode to desire here, matched with an equally delightful video imagining the ego and id battling out on the city streets. It’s a treat just to hear her voice on the track, still a calm body of water meant for endless stacked harmony, but the song’s serene ode to sex is a winner.
Parchman Prison Prayer – MC Hammer
Another Mississippi Sunday Morning is a sequel to 2023’s record of impromptu one-take gospel music from the Parchman Farm maximum security facility in Mississippi. There are wordless odes, confessions, and more traditional odes to God, but I found this rap/beatbox combo with the hook “Holy Spirit dancin like MC Hammer” captivating – free of effect, bass, or anything, just someone rapping to the limit of their modes ability to get to something raw, modern, and powerful.
Tim Hecker – Sunset Key Melt
January weather under 10 degrees? Weird fascist-ass shit happening nationwide? Perhaps you, too, need a big ambient weighted blanket, and luckily Tim Hecker is back with Shards, a collection of unused soundtrack pieces.
Hailey Whitters – Casseroles
“Casseroles” is a plain-spoken meditation on grief and grieving, and when and how to show up for your friends. Whitters offers few answers, instead meditating on the moments when the world moves on but you don’t, and if she’ll remember not to move on with the masses when grief happens to the people she loves.
throwback
Robert Palmer – Looking For Clues (Live)
After the Pitchfork Sunday Review of Palmer’s 1980 LP Clues, I went back to this really wild performance from Palmer and his band of the title track “Looking For Clues.” I mean, let’s put aside that the guy in the purple jumpsuit is living his absolute best life here just to focus on Palmer’s highly precise vocal pocket throughout the live version of this song. I love the LP version, but there’s something about Palmer’s performance on this that makes the track feel competitive with the best of the Talking Heads, or even the Devo and Prince tracks from the same era that found a synthetic home for horned up male neurosis. Also the sleeveless crewneck! A look!