Recommended Albums: February 2023

In this month’s edition of Recommended Albums, we feature new records from established favorites on the blog (Yo La Tengo, Kelela), relative newcomers (Miss Grit, mui zyu), and more SUPER great records from artists I’ve admired for a while (Avey Tare, BIG | BRAVE, Young Fathers).

There’s also A LOT of great tracks that came out last month from Tennis, Anna B Savage, En Attendant Ana, Uh Huh, Jacques Greene, Meernaa, U.S. Girls, Pearla and more. Below that you’ll find what else I listened to in February aside from the new stuff. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t much! It was a lot of Miles Davis, to be clear.

If anyone had been waiting for this, apologies! From preparing for SXSW, to actually attending the festival, my time was sunken into many other things. Hopefully you still dig the tunes as you progress through March’s offerings.

RECOMMENDED ALBUMS OF FEBRUARY 2023::

Avey Tare – 7s [Domino]
The strange and wondrous worlds that exist between all the couch and seat cushions of the world, interconnected by some extradimensional highway, filled with lost ephemera and micro-organisms.

BIG | BRAVE – nature morte [Thrill Jockey]
A quest for food is successful but a fellow warrior is killed in the hunt, and the tribe mourns their loss simultaneously with the victory of sustenance.

Kelela – Raven [Warp]
Each night you dream of washing up onto an island populated by memories from your past relationships, and you have to decide which ones are real and which are stunted by time and perception.

Miss Grit – Follow The Cyborg [Mute]
A touch screen you can dip your fingers and hands into, reaching for another to hold onto somewhere in the vast expanse.

mui zyu – Rotten Bun For An Eggless Century [Father/Daughter]
A distant, pale light glimmers at the horizon outside your bedroom window, its potential warmth is alluring yet deceptive.

Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World [Matador]
Instead of going to bed early to rest yourself before a morning flight, you decide to stay up and wear yourself down by practicing hobbies, scrolling the internet, and getting inside your own head about what you’ve read on the news and what your friends are going through.

Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy [Ninja Tune]
A dance hall filled with deliriously happy revelers harnesses enough energy to warp into space, into another dimension.

GR8 TRACKS OF FEBRUARY 2023::

Anna B Savage – “Pavlov’s Dog”
Avey Tare – “Lips at Night”
Avey Tare – “Sweeper’s Grin”
BIG|BRAVE – “the one who bornes a weary load”
Black Belt Eagle Scout – “Nobody”
Black Belt Eagle Scout – “Understanding”
Caroline Polachek – “Sunset”
En Attendant Ana – “Wonder”
Jacques Greene – “Believe”
Kelela – “Contact”
Kelela – “Happy Ending”
Kelela – “Raven”
Meernaa – “On My Line”
Mega Bog – “The Clown”
Miss Grit – “Lain (phone clone)”
Miss Grit – “Like You”
Miss Grit – “Your Eyes Are Mine”
Model/Actriz – “Crossing Guard”
mui zyu – “Ghost With A Peach Skin”
mui zyu – “Rotten Bun”
Pearla – “Ming the Clam”
shame – “Burning By Design”
Shygirl – “Heaven (feat. Tinashe)”
TDJ – “Save Me”
Tennis – “Forbidden Doors”
Two Shell – “bluefairy”
Uh Huh – “Babylon”
U.S. Girls – “Tux (Your Body Fills Me, Boo)”
Yo La Tengo – “Aselestine”
Yo La Tengo – “Fallout”
Yo La Tengo – “Miles Away”
Yo La Tengo – “Sinatra Drive Breakdown”
Yo La Tengo – “This Stupid World”
Yo La Tengo – “Tonight’s Episode”
Young Fathers – “Drum”
Young Fathers – “Holy Moly”
Young Fathers – “I Saw”
Young Fathers – “Ululation”
@ – “First Journal”

MORE FEBRUARY 2023 FAVORITES::

The Blue Nile – Hats [1989]
Now this is just a classic that I’ve been listening to since 2017, but I had a special moment with Hats this month. A local record store posted that they had a copy on their Instagram page, and a friend tipped me off to it around 20 minutes after they posted it. Knowing how rare the record was, I knew I had to buy it. I had recently won some money through my family’s Super Bowl Squares, so that was my justification. The store closed in 20 or so minutes, so I bolted down the 14 blocks to try and get there before they locked the doors. I even called ahead of time to see if it was still there. I got there in time, and the clerk had saved it for me. It was the most I’d ever spent on a record, but this was a great LP to spend the money on. A grail of mine, and a super special record period.

I’ve always associated this record with living in NYC as well, and all of that may be changing in the next few months. We’re going to have to wait and see. No matter what happens, I’ll always associate many dreamy and lovesick nights in the city with this album.

Laurie Spiegel – The Expanding Universe [1980]
I had tried listening to this foundational synth pioneer record before, and I remember the exact location. I put it on in the office once when I was alone, thinking it would be the right vibe for me to get work done or something. Something wasn’t right, and it just sounded monotonous. Cut to a few years later, I was record shopping with a buddy and the shop had this going over the speakers. Potentially the perfect soundtrack for thumbing through records? I later came back to it while doing some light gaming, and found again, it was the right mood. At night, in headphones, just meditating. Take it from me – if you weren’t feeling this album the first time you listened, give it another shot in a different environment.

Liaisons Dangereuses – Liaisons Dangereuses [1981]
My 80s project listening took a steep nosedive in February as my time finally started to become consumed by listening to brand new and upcoming records for not only the blog, but for my job. I know, woe is me, but that’s generally how it goes the last few years I’ve been working on this project. January starts off super strong and I find a whole bunch of great new discoveries, and then it thins out and I forget about the project until the next year. I need to stake out time in my week to go through records later on in the year, which makes it somehow less fun. What IS fun, however, is this Liaisons Dangereuses record. Tons of great grooves, with “Peut Être… Pas” being my favorite.

Miles Davis – On The Corner [1972]
While out on the vinyl shopping spree as mentioned in my Laurie Speigel blurb above, I bought a copy of Miles Davis’ Porgy & Bess, despite never listening to it before. I had realized I didn’t own any Miles Davis on vinyl, and outside of a few Kind of Blue listens in early college, I wasn’t super familiar with his work. I told my dad about this, and he bought a copy of Kind of Blue online for me as a surprise. He’s always been into jazz, so he probably was excited to see me continue listening to his stuff, which I did: Sketches of Spain, Someday My Prince Will Come, E.S.P., Nefertiti… but then I jumped into his 1970s stuff (I still need to listen to Bitches Brew, somehow) but mainly On The Corner.

As soon as I hit play on that I knew I was in for something special. The lava-hot jazz funk being laid down was wholly intoxicating. I first started listening to it while walking down First Avenue to Mercury Lounge on a Friday night. It fit perfectly as I watched the East Village nightlife spill out around me. It’s funky, it’s chunky, it’s groovy, it’s mysterious at times, and it’s so damn good. Reading a bit into it, it’s clear jazz critics at the time absolutely hated it, but it resonated more with the rock crowds. Later on jazz critics reappraised it. Classssiiccc media. You’ll be seeing more Miles in my March post, for sure. I’m not really a big jazz guy, but I full-heartedly recommend On The Corner.

The Sea and Cake – The Fawn [1997]
Oh look, more The Sea and Cake. That’s right folks, despite me blasting them throughout 2022, I still can’t get enough. I finally pulled the trigger on buying vinyl of theirs, too, as on February’s Bandcamp Friday, I purchased five albums of theirs on vinyl. A big chunk of change for sure, but the amount of joy their discography brought me last year should be immeasurable. I also chatted with a friend about the band since I saw his little icon on tSaC’s Bandcamp pages, totally geeking out over truly one of the best bands ever. Why The Fawn featured here? I spent more time listening to that and Oui this year compared to last year’s favorites, which were Car Alarm, The Moonlight Butterfly and Runner. Such a good band. Glad I have a nice chunk of their discography on vinyl now.