For Your Consideration, A Very Cultured Playlist

From the Archives

We cannot promise you that this is the best playlist of 23 eclectic selections for the start of your week. But we can promise you that it is the only one like this. Please appreciate this Vintage

Brady Putzke

gem, devour his fine notes, and pray with us that his musical acumen may one day grace this magazine again. ~ The Editor

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Duke Ellington famously said "There are two kinds of music: good music and the other kind." This weekly feature is a tribute to the first kind. As such, no thought is taken to genre in terms of song selections. This is the stuff I think is excellent and worth your time. If something is not to your taste, feel free to skip to the next one. But I encourage everyone to broaden their horizons, since that's what this feature is really all about. There are worlds of music out there waiting to be explored.

Here is the list:

And here’s this week’s track-by-track breakdown to go with your listening experience and help you form your Very Correct Opinions™️. Put on some good headphones, kick back, and enjoy to the fullest extent of the law:

1. “Symphony No. 8 “- Antonín Dvořák (Berliner Philharmoniker under Rafael Kubelík): Is it better than his famous No. 9? Maybe. Is it blasphemy for me to even suggest that? Probably. Am I right? You can decide. Settle in and enjoy some brilliant melodic themes that will stick with you forever. This is a somewhat underappreciated masterpiece of orchestral writing.

2. "Pain" - Cellar Darling: Do I understand what these lyrics are about even a little bit? Nope. Is the melodic writing utterly genius? I think so. Does it have a hurdy-gurdy? You betcha. This is like if Evanescence didn’t suck, with European folk music added in. 

3. "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane" - Norman Blake: Blake was a master of bluegrass flatpicking and this deceptively simple song shows it off big time. This is the apotheosis of Americana music for me.

4. "Like Flies" - Humanity's Last Breath: Caveat emptor, lots of screaming vocals. Is this the most crushingly bleak and heavy song ever written? Could be. This is legitimately terrifying music and I love it. YMMV.

5. "Days of Wine and Roses" - Oscar Peterson Trio: Is this the record where jazz snobs say Peterson kind of sold out? Sure is. Is it a near perfect rendering of this classic tune? Damn straight. The scene generally emphasizes wacky technicality over just playing a darn good song really well. This is the latter.

6. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" - Fellowship: Yes, this is exactly the song you’re thinking it is, but a power metal version. Come for the undeniably magnificent lyrics (It’s enough for this restless warrior/just to be with you, I mean, come on), stay for the best falsetto vocals since Prince’s “Kiss”.

7. "Dream the Dead" - Caligula's Horse: Are these lyrics nonsense? Yeah, maybe. I don’t get them. But you’ll forgive it for the insanely good instrumental and vocal performances. This is a stunningly talented band, here at the height of their compositional and performance games. 

8. "Since U Been Gone" - Kelly Clarkson: The best radio pop song since the year of our Lord 2000, fight me. 

9. "A.H.B." - S U R V I V E: The missing track from the Blade Runner OST you didn't know you were missing. 

10. "Carolus Rex" - Sabaton: High concept historical heavy metal about the rise of Charles XII of Sweden. Is it cheesy? Yeah. But if it doesn't put you in a triumphant mood bordering on megalomaniacal, I don’t know what will.

11. "Maybe You'll Be There" - Diana Krall: Absolutely heartbreaking lyrics, in the best way. And Krall is a stellar performer. Enjoy muchly.

12. "il bianco e dolce cigno" - Jacques Arcadelt (Laudantes Consort under Guy Jansses): A quintessential 16th-century Italian madrigal. This was truly groundbreaking 450 years ago hahaha.

13. "Toccata and Fugue in d minor, BWV 565" - J.S. Bach (Stokowsky Orchestral Transcription): You know the piece. Maybe you haven’t heard a full orchestra play it. It’s sublime. No disrespect to Ol’ Johann (the greatest musician to ever live), but this might surpass the original organ version.

14. "Blood on the Milky Way" - Sear Bliss: Caveat emptor, lots of screaming vocals. What happens if you take nasty Scandinavian black metal and add a full horn section? This absolute freaking gem.

15. "Dedicated to You" - John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman: I am a joyous purveyor of jazz heresy, so I tell you that this is John Coltrane’s best album. Every cut is basically perfect. Hartman’s voice is untouchable. Enjoy and expect to see a lot more of this album from me.

16. "Worker Bee" - Motion City Soundtrack: Do you hate your job and modern wage slavery system? Of course you do. This is the ironic anthem. 

17. "You Don't Know Mind" - Pink Anderson: The idea of “soul” in music is hard to pin down. It’s kind of like the Supreme Court definition of pornography, you know it when you see it. In this case you know it when you hear it. Pink is the picture of Soul in the dictionary.

18. "Why Should the Fire Die?" - Nickel Creek: These guys are consummate musicians in every sense. Enjoy the wonderfully moving lyrics and then go appreciate your lovely spouse or SO.

19. "Lay Here" - Copeland: Copeland went from making decent emo to the best electronic indie rock money can buy. This record is flat genius and this is a good representative track. Analogue synths ftw.

20. "Holy, Holy, Holy" - Reginald Heber (London Philharmonic Choir): In my often-not-so-humble opinion the best arrangement and recording of the iconic hymn. This is near the best we can do to express God’s glory through music. Be amazed at His majesty.