🎵 R.E.M.’s Monster is an underrated album, though it certainly is very much of its moment (the mid 1990s).

🎵 Peter Buck and Mike Mills (of R.E.M. fame) are in a supergroup that only performs original songs about baseball. The world is a weird and wonderful place.

🎵 I have been listening to all the singles and EPs from Us the Duo while working the past couple hours. Their recordings all sound great and are relaxing, but not too relaxing, sounds to work to. (I think some of the songs are covers, but I’m not sure.)

🎵 There’s a new, remastered version of “Jollification” by The Lightning Seeds out now.

🎵 How did I not know there was a new Avett Brother’s album?

🎵 I discovered new albums by “The New Pornographers” and “Belle & Sebastian” today. They totally made my day.

I have the premium headphones and DACs that would make Amazon Music HD, it’s new hidef tier, worthwhile for me. But…I really don’t want to subscribe to anything other than Apple Music, due in large part to Apple Music’s integration with all my Apple hardware, which makes life easier for me and every member of my family. Also, I do not like how Amazon’s Prime Video app looks or works so much, and don’t want to invite that kind of friction in my music listening experience. I do applaud their direction into higher quality streaming, though.

I love the richness of Jerry Orbach’s baritone on this recording of “Try to Remember” from The Fantasticks. The lyrics are simple, deep, and beautiful, too.

Try to remember the kind of September / when you were a tender and callow fellow

I like to put this song on repeat when September begins. It’s the sort of song that moves into my psyche and stays with me for a long time.

🎵 I am very much enjoying NPR’s New Music Friday playlist today. It helps to have two Lana Del Ray tracks and one from TOOL on the list.

🎵 I am immune to the charms of “Baby Shark.”

🎵 The New Pornographers are releasing a new album on September 27 (via Jazz Monroe of Pitchfork). I love this band, and I love the music of one of their members, Neko Case, even more.

🎵 It’s a bright and cheery “Country Caffeine” afternoon for me, as I close out my work week.

🎵 I was happy to discover today that NPR has added curated playlists to Apple Music. It will be another, alternative source of new music recommendations for me.

🎵 Somehow I made it from Beats 1 to Robyn Hitchcock’s “Chronology”, which is a fun listen but very far afield from the hip-hop I started the day with.

🎵 It’s a Beats 1 morning for me. I don’t often listen to Beats 1, but today I had no idea what to listen to while I worked.

🎵 Texas 25 is a great pop (ahem, blue-eyed soul) album. The band reworked eight of their hits, and added four new songs, to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

🎵 “What’s Up Danger?” by Blackway and Black Caviar. (I’m starting my day in the Spider-Verse.)

🎵 I’m listening to Aja on my V-Moda Crossfade 2 🎧 tonight. Steely Dan isn’t always my thing, but their records sound so good.

🎵 I never get sick of Lana Del Ray, especially when a song of hers shows up in my “Chill Mix”.

🎵 I’m giving “Hadestown” a first listen tonight. I never heard of the show until today’s Tony award nominations. , which surprised me, because I try to keep track of all the Broadway musicals. I thought that this was another very weak year for new musicals, so I am happy to learn of a completely new one. I hope that it is a new classic. I’m not sure, though, how closely the “Hadestown” on Apple Music resembles the Broadway version; I read that the show went through a bunch of changes over the years.

🎵 Nancy Wilson, who I have known about forever but have never really listened to, is awesome.

🎵 Temporary, by Feathermerchants

🎵 The new Sara Bareilles album is really good.

🎵 While I’ve been working this morning, I have been listening to Apple Music’s “Vibes” playlist on my big Marshall Bluetooth speaker (no headphones for a change). It’s good working music: laid back, but not too slow, varied, and modern.

🎵 It’s an “Automatic for the People” day for me. That amazing R.E.M. album has been the soundtrack to deep work for me since 1992. The 25th anniversary edition (man, I’m old!) has live tracks for most of the tracks, which makes it a fun listen.