Vinyl Court
Artist: Father John Misty
Album: God’s Favorite Customer (2018)
Purchased at: Vintage Vinyl (St. Louis, MO) for $20
Father John Misty was crowned king of the hipsters a few years ago, ceremonies aren’t cool so he never had one. Instead hipster music fans will just continue to adore him and act like everyone just “doesn’t get it.” Okay, this didn’t “officially” happen but it seems true. The fact is that no matter the image or fanbase good music is hard to ignore and Father John Misty is strangely compelling. His new album has the intoxicating “Mr. Tillman” about getting blitzed in a nice hotel room and connecting the dots the next day. There’s a very interesting self inspection with “The Songwriter” as well that has some interesting twists on the superfan mentality. It’s the same old Father John Misty but is still very intriguing and filled with good songs.
So this is the “loser edition” of God’s Favorite Customer,” this means it has those cool blue chrome tears on the cover(which is hilarious) and an exclusive purple splatter vinyl pressing. The actual record is made to look like a test pressing too which is actually pretty cool and fooled me at first. The inner jacket that you can’t even see has a nice paisley-esqe pattern too, the artwork is really top notch here.
Verdict: It’s a litmus test, you’ll like it or hate it most likely. As much as my instincts tell me not to like this record I can’t help but be pulled in by it.
Artist: The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Album: Time Out (1959)
Purchased at: Red Racks Thrift Store (St. Joseph, MO) for $1
The used record shelf at Red Racks Thrift Store has never been too nice to me. I got a little gem here though with “Time Out” by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. It’s a quintessential jazz record and regraded across the board as a classic in its genre. It’s all because of my cool music guru/ride or die Sam Blumer that I even know of Brubeck’s existence, hence the purchase. The jacket was in good condition and the record had only minor surface scratches so dropping a folded up Washington to own this one was a given.
The music here is some pretty complex jazz yet is considered to be one of the most accessible records of its genre which is quite the accomplishment. The needle drop immediately takes to to a song with a 9/8 time signature (yes, 9/8) in “Blue Rondo a la Turk” and that isn’t terribly unusual for this group of songs. “Take Five” has a hypnotic rhythm that makes it hard to deny how good it is. Some more bee-bop tunes like “Three To Get Ready” prove that Brubeck and company are no joke.
Verdict: This album is far outside of my normal comfort zone but is never a boring listen. It’s also great atmosphere music for the background of a conversation or activities like writing, drawing or putting together a new nightstand from IKEA.
