Daily Jam - The Fairest of the Seasons

I really do love Nico.  Here's a track from her solo debut, co-written by Jackson Browne.  Listen to "The Fairest of the Seasons" below, our Daily Jam.

The Saxophones

Oakland based husband and wife duo The Saxophones released their new album "No Time for Poetry" earlier this month, a mix of baroque pop, exotica, lounge, and noirish jazz.  The whole thing plays like some kind dark and strange film, black and white images in a smoky haze.  Check out the album opening "Too Big for California" below and get the LP here from Full Time Hobby.

Daily Jam - When the Lights Go Out All Over Europe

The Divine Comedy's 1994 album "Promenade" remains one of my unlikeliest favorite albums over three decades later, it's brand of dramatic baroque pop setting far apart from virtually everything else i listen to...especially back in the '90s.  Here's a lovely track from it for your Thursday.  Listen to "When the Lights Go Out All Over Europe" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Goodnight Ladies

I vividly remember where i was when i found out Lou Reed had died.  I was at the annual Texas Book Festival held in downtown Austin, in front of the Capitol building at 11th and Congress where a lot of the tents are set up.  For some reason, HEB had a giant (possibly inflatable) shopping cart on site.  Everything felt surreal.  And the first song to pop into my head was the closing track from 1972's "Transformer," the jazzy and baroque "Goodnight Ladies."  It's in my head now.  Let's put it in yours.  Listen below, our Daily Jam.

JESSICA

And now for some dark and ethereal baroque folk from Australian artist JESSICA.  "The Reenactment" is a somber lament, ghostly vocals playing atop an even ghostlier sounding piano.  Beautiful, aching, haunting stuff.  Listen below and get the "Letting Go Is Letting In" album here.

The Mellons

Here's a new track from Salt Lake City power pop band The Mellons.  Listen to "Please Baby Please" below and download the tune here from Earth Libraries.

Daily Jam - My Death

When we’re young, we take our lives for granted. Our present, our future, our health, our deaths…we live only for the moment, taking in every slice of pleasure or experience we can, our hair whipping wildly in the wind in our faces, gritted teeth, and no foregone conclusions. We walk on ever forward, never looking too far ahead, but never looking back either. Thinking back on our youth is like floating through a daydream. We inhale nostalgia like pulling off a joint. We inject memories like a syringe full of sleepy afternoons. And nothing seems real until it’s all too real.

Growing up, I could be a fairly macabre little dude, especially in my early teenage years, an adolescent not quite obsession with death and doom and gloom presided over by my artistic overlords of music, film, and literature. I thought about death…a lot. I dwelled on it. I wrote about it, drew about it, sang about it. My friends, my family, my loved ones, myself. But I never really experienced it except in an abstract way. Global catastrophes or disasters can certainly make you feel sad or empathetic, but at the end of the day, you still experience that kind of tragedy and death as a glassed off observer. It’s all just images on a screen really. In fact, it wasn’t until I was 30 years old that death really hit me directly…and completely took the wind out of me. After all of that not quite obsession, I was left unguarded and unprepared. And I felt foolish that I had found it so fascinating. And since then I’ve tried to appreciate life and everything in it, to think about my future, and my health, and my eventual death. But of course, we all eventually slack off.

And then death hit again.

The second time was no different than the first, even when expecting it or waiting for it. I was still unprepared and found myself adrift soon after. Death is so much more than you can ever really fathom. And again, it made me want to live, and to get things done, and to experience everything, and to blah, blah, blah. But we all fall back in line. We all succumb to the droning hum of existence. We find ourselves bored again. We find ourselves complacent. Death’s always just around the corner, but it never seems real, until it is again.

I’m doing my best not to take life or death for granted. I’m doing my best to carpe diem and all that good shit. And it’s hard work. And sometimes my brain and body don’t want to comply. But it’s good for my soul. And I hope I can keep it up before the next death, and the next, and my own.

Ladies and Gentlemen, from 1967’s Scott, Scott Walker’s “My Death”…

Young Moon

New Zealand by way of San Francisco artist Young Moon makes a sweet and melancholy kind of baroque pop with dreamy synths and floating melodies.  New album "Triggered by Sunsets" drops next month.  Get it here from Orindal Records and listen to "Deep Ecology" below.

Peel Dream Magazine

LA artist Peel Dream Magazine has a new album coming our way next month.  Gone are the shoegaze sounds of 2020's "Agitprop Alterna," and in are the airy and baroque psychedelic kosmische sounds the artist describes as space-age bachelor pad music.  Check out "Pictionary" below and pre-order "Pad" here from Slumberland Records.

Daily Jam - This Lamb Sells Condos

Here's one from composer and violinist Owen Pallett back in his Final Fantasy days.  Weird baroque chamber pop for all.  Listen to "This Lamb Sells Condos" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Il Pleut Bergere

Here's a little French pop from Radiah Frye, produced and arranged by fellow weirdo Nino Ferrer.  Listen to "Il Pleut Bergere" below, our Daily Jam.

Sam France

It's really hard not to hear California artist Sam France channeling Dylan on his vocal delivery on the new "Hoarse Galorēs" LP.  It's not a bad thing at all, but it totally caught me off guard when listening to "I Should Have Known," a Dylan-esque piece of baroque psych pop.  Check it out below and download the album here. 

Daily Jam - 30 Century Man

There's never really not a good day to listen to some Scott Walker, unless you're thinking of the asshole former governor of Wisconsin.  No.  Don't listen to him.  Fuck that guy.  Anyway, here's "30 Century Man" from "Scott 3," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Flesh for Frankenstein Main Theme

Paul Morrissey's "Flesh for Frankenstein," also known as "Andy Warhol's Frankenstein" is an odd little film, full of sex and gore and comedy, but also a kind of heartbreaking score from Claudio Gizzi.  The film is great, but i think the soundtrack is absolutely wonderful, a baroque pop masterpiece.  Listen to the "Main Theme" below, our Daily Jam.

Death and Vanilla

Sweden's Death and Vanilla have a new album of lush and gorgeous psych pop headed our way in May.  Pre-order the upcoming "Are You a Dreamer?" LP here from Fire Records, and listen to the album opening "A Flaw in the Iris" below.

Roar

Phoenix artist Roar makes a kind of baroque psychedelic pop, but with a lo-fi and dreamy aesthetic, the kind of music you listen to with your eyes closed and the sun on your face.  Latest album, "Pathétique Aesthétique" is available now (get it here), but go ahead and listen to "Wondering Why" below.

Tredici Bacci

Three days into SXSW, and despite a day cut short due to a sick child, i think i may have found my favorite act of the festival.  Boston's Tredici Bacci make wonderful homages to 1960's Italian film scores, a kind of mix of chamber pop, baroque orchestral movements, and a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor.  The 10-piece band's live act also threw in some No Wave type chaos and some irreverent stage banter into the mix as well.  I loved every second of it.  Listen to "Drowned" featuring the lovely Jennifer Charles on guest vocals and score the "Amore Per Tutti" LP from NNA Records.

Joanna Newsom - Sapokanikan video

The woodland nymph otherwise known as Joanna Newsom has a new album, "Divers," out in October on Drag City.  And i probably know more people who will be annoyed by this news than excited.  While i will admit that Newsom's particular brand of folky, baroque pop is an acquired taste, it's one that i thoroughly enjoy.  Watch the Paul Thomas Anderson-directed video for "Sapokanikan" below and pre-order the Steve Albini-engineered album here.