We are back with a new edition of Saturday Night Music Club! The SNMC started up as an idea I had years ago - to recapture the feeling of being a kid and getting together with your friends in the basement to listen and discuss music. Because of the pandemic, a group of us got together over video chat to share and discuss music. To welcome our New York-based friends Frank and Kevin to the SNMC, we decided on a New York theme. That means that the record each of us had to choose met one of the following parameters: 01. The artist is either from New York - or a band member was born there - (anywhere in the state), 02. The album was recorded in NY, 03. The album or song has NY in the title. A track from each record (when available) is collected in an ongoing SNMC Spotify playlist at the bottom of this post. So please listen in and enjoy the tunes along with us.
Each installment of the SNMC begins with a trivia contest based around the chosen theme. There were 20 questions in total. Some that were asked: Name 5 of the 15 Sonic Youth studio albums; Page Hamilton was a member of Band of Susans before forming this alternative metal outfit in 1989; Name 6 of the 9 original members of the Wu Tang Clan; This New York Yankee held the record for the most home runs in a single season until it was broken by Mark McGwire in 1998; Carlton Ridenhour and William Drayton formed this group in Long Island, NY in 1985. How'd you do?
Trivia Rankings: Jaymz (8 points - winner), Frank (7 points), Dream Pop Jesse (5 points), Sarah Q (3 points) and Kevin (2 points).
Jesse's "off-limits artist" of the month: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
I should also mention that Dream Pop Jesse's partner-in-crime, Thalia 'Raven' Williams, was also present for this edition of the SNMC. She played us School of Seven Bells' "Half Asleep" from 2008's Alpinisms.
BRET HELM
Audra | Life on this Planet
Which album did you bring to represent New York?
Favorite Song?
Why did you choose this record?
Describe this album in one sentence:
Any favorites that you heard from others throughout the night?
SARAH QUARRIE
KEVIN LARKIN-ANGIOLI
Favorite Song?
Describe this album in one sentence:
Any favorites that you heard from others throughout the night?
Which album did you bring to represent New York?
Living Colour - Vivid. Their debut album! (Epic | 1988)
Favorite Song?
Most know LC for "Cult of Personality," but I've always been partial to "Broken Hearts" - check out that bass solo!
Why did you choose this record?
So many possibilities for a New York-theme. The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Ramones, Patti Smith seemed a bit too obvious, so I wanted to represent an artist of my teenage years that hasn't become a household name over the years.
Describe this album in one sentence:
A successful fusion of hard rock, funk, punk and soul with a Body Glove wetsuit-wearing singer.
Any favorites that you heard from others throughout the night?
I sincerely enjoyed everything that was played. Jaymz turned me on to the Light Asylum album back when it came out, and the emotional outpouring in "Shallow Tears" has always been my favorite song on that record. I don't often reach for a Small Black record, but whenever Sarah puts one on I inevitably ask, "Who is this?" I appreciate all of the thought and effort that everyone put into their choices. Looking forward to next month's theme.
Life on this Planet | Instagram
Which album did you bring to represent New York?
Small Black - Limits of Desires. Released May 10, 2013 on Jagjaguwar. Second studio album.
Favorite Song?
"Free at Dawn"
Why did you choose this record?
I honed in on Small Black as my choice to represent Brooklyn. To me this album embodies NYC sonically from the uplifting energy of feeling freedom to accepting how things change from actions to memories.
Describe this album in one sentence:
A synth-pop journey through the hopes and obstacles of life.
Any favorites that you heard from others throughout the night?
I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's picks, but I did end up purchasing Frank's choice of Bowery Electric Lushlife that night!
FRANK DESERTO
Which album did you bring to represent New York?
Bowery Electric - Lushlife (Beggars Banquet | 2000). This is their third and final album, sadly.
Favorite Song?
The opening number, "Floating World." This is the song I was hoping to play during our hang, but we couldn't pull it up. Instead, we listened to the single mix of "Freedom Fighter."
Why did you choose this record?
It's the underdog, an album that is unfairly dunked on by legions of shoegaze fans who don't listen to any other genres, which is surprising too, because the band is known for experimenting with electronica and dubbed out rhythms before, so this seems to me more like a fitting evolution than a cheap cash grab, though obviously the timing is a little late on the whole. Their first two records are indeed masterpieces, and technically "better" albums as far as rankings are concerned, but this album is the one I return to most often. It's also my second favorite trip-hop record, after Mezzanine, of course.
Describe this album in one sentence:
An eerie, ethereal, seductive listen.
Any favorites that you heard from others throughout the night?
The School of Seven Bells track was probably my favorite of the night, though I enjoyed everything that was played across the board. For me, I was always familiar with the band, but never dug deeper than their debut, so not only was it a great listen, but a suitable reminder to dig deeper into their catalog.
KEVIN LARKIN-ANGIOLI
Hudson Valley Region of New York | Twitter, Instagram
Which album did you bring to represent New York?
Which album did you bring to represent New York?
Nina Simone - Little Girl Blue (Bethlehem | 1957). Her Debut!
Favorite Song?
"You'll Never Walk Alone"
Why did you choose this record?
Why did you choose this record?
I've slowly grown obsessed with this track over the course of some time the past couple years. The work of Peter Straub, jazz-obsessed and occasionally lifting songs from the canon for titles (IF YOU COULD SEE ME NOW, for example) as well as names and actual people for characters (Tommy Flanagan, Lester Young/"Pork Pie Hat"), caused me to begin familiarizing myself with more of it. Nina Simone is an artist I've been meaning to get to know more for a long time, at least as far back as realizing Bowie's "Wild is the Wind" was a tribute to her, who owned the song in her 1966 cover of a song plucked from the obscurity of a 1957 film. Following a post on The Red Hand Files where Nick Cave (no stranger to Straub's work, making several references to it himself) revealed that Nina Simone's "Plain Gold Ring" was one of his ten essential "hiding songs," I began to check out the album. While I love Simone's voice, this instrumental performance of a song which does have lyrics stirs something deep in me. I've long loved a baroque, romantic style of piano playing, and this recording is characterized by such passionate excess. I added it to a long playlist of piano songs I listened to daily while working through the most difficult months of the year.
The song interests me with the multiple lives it knows. It began as a song in a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, CAROUSEL (1945). It took on its most enduring form when a band from the Merseybeat scene in Liverpool produced by George Martin recorded a version and released it as a single the month before the JFK assassination: Gerry & The Pacemakers (1963). It went on to become the anthem of the Liverpool Football Club, with supporters singing it from the stands before every home game at Anfield to this day. In between these two disparate versions is the incomparable Nina Simone, sitting at her piano in New York City, at the commencement of what would become a great career. This song haunts me and consoles me at the same time. It pushes the listener on to greater and greater teetering heights of emotional fervor, beginning low and rumbling like a stormcloud ruminating before pitching forth with sudden high notes, piercing through, fated attempts for an emotional liberation, something that flops and thrashes within us. Also, it seems Jimmy Bond bows his double bass on this one; its low emanations add to the stirring power of this song, hitting something in the gut even when you're not fully aware you're hearing it on first listen. The wonderful sleeve bills the album: "Jazz As Played in an An Exclusive Side Street Club." With Nina seated on a bench in Central Park, the air of New York City jazz is implicit. The album was actually recorded in Beltone Studios on Broadway in Manhattan with a hastily assembled trio, making this Broadway tune that much more apt. Simone had classical training, and this recording leans more toward that side of her musical personality than jazz or gospel/blues. For our New York theme, the album's clear connection with the city (it ends on her sole original on the LP, "Central Park Blues") made it a solid choice that may seem a bit out of left field. While certainly not "goth," this version conjures and suggests to my imagination the atmosphere and filigree, the muted longing and the past's damp pressing on us, of the literary gothic, especially as practiced in the twentieth century by masters as diverse as Daphne DuMaurier and Peter Straub.
Describe this album in one sentence:
Classic record with that extreme stereo separation (Nina Left, drums and bass Right) that I love so much, mixing a really interesting varied selection of material, and it sounds like it's being recorded in the present moment right in front of you even though the songs have been coming out of stereos many millions of times around this troubled globe for over half a century.
Any favorites that you heard from others throughout the night?
On the night in question, the Light Asylum pick by Jaymz was a stand-out, building to an emotionally moving climax (I've not seen RUSSIAN DOLL and had not heard the band yet). As I was not able to be fully present at the time and had some technology issues, it's been fun to revisit everyone's picks. The one I'm absolutely besotted with is "Half Asleep," by School of Seven Bells, chosen by Thalia. I love the video, too. I've watched it and listened to it three or four times doing this write-up. Hitting my mood today nail on head. Catching up with the band's story, I'm even more moved. I'll be checking out the full album it's from in short order. All the dreampop picks were bands I hadn't heard yet and am now curious to hear more from. Bret's pick was another reminder I have to really spend some time with In Living Colour one of these days; they seem like they were probably the best, most exciting new band in existence for a shining moment as the eighties ended. And the LP whence Frank's Bowery Electric deep cut hails is going to be the first thing I reach for next time a trip-hop mood comes crawling over me.
DREAM POP JESSE
Phoenix, AZ | Instagram
Which album did you bring to represent New York?
Asobi Seksu - Hush (Polyvinyl | 2009). Their 3rd album.
Favorite Song?
"Me & Mary"
Why did you choose this record?
In 2009, I went to see Asobi Seksu play Trunkspace a tiny venue about the size of a barber shop in Phoenix. The excitement level was spiking as I pulled into the empty parking lot to arrive early. I jumped out of my car with all my things and slammed the door behind me, checking my pockets... I had no car keys. I turned and peeked into my darkly-tinted windows to reveal a red Norway lanyard dangling from the ignition of my now locked car. I began to panic and I went to the venue entry to inquire about set times. I had a bit of time still. I phoned my ex-girlfriend who lived just down the street to bring a wire coat hanger. This did not help and eventually called a locksmith who got me in, but by this time I had missed both opening bands and to my heartbreak, Asobi Seksu had already started to perform. I had seen them perform a few times after this but this entire calamity has made this album even more valuable to my collection. Choosing a song was difficult as I love it start to finish.
Describe this album in one sentence:
A wash of noisy, dreamy whirlpools.
Any favorites that you heard from others throughout the night?
Pretty much all choices were enjoyable.
JAYMZ TODD
Phoenix, AZ | Instagram
Which album did you bring to represent New York?
Favorite Song?
Which album did you bring to represent New York?
Light Asylum - Light Asylum (Mexican Summer | 2012)
Favorite Song?
IPC (Prison Industrial Complex-Convert). Played "Shallow Tears" for the group.
Why did you choose this record?
Why did you choose this record?
Chosen because it was my favorite album of 2012.
Describe this album in one sentence:
Describe this album in one sentence:
It hits hard and is a perfect pairing of both Yaz and Nitzer Ebb.
Any favorites that you heard from others throughout the night?
Any favorites that you heard from others throughout the night?
Small Black / Bowery Electric / Nina Simone
Here's the playlist!
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