PUNKTILIO PRODUCTIONS

A writer's archive. Flecked with contemporary sources of inspiration and shame. Conflating the rigor of routine with a riot of restlessness since, like, 2008. All are welcome. Few will stay.

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Wu-Tang Clan, "Ron O'Neal"

Song of the Week -- Contemporary Division (3/3)

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Spoon, "They Want My Soul"

Song of the Week -- Contemporary Division (2/3)

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Chris Owens, "Nothing More Than Everything To Me" (live/acoustic)

Song of the Week -- Contemporary Division (1/3)

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The Clash, "Career Opportunities" (Sandinista! version)

Song of the Week -- Classic Division (3/3)

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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Rebels"

Song of the Week -- Classic Division (2/3) (Congrats on your first #1 album, Tommy!)

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Le Tigre, "Deceptacon"

Song of the Week -- Classic Division (1 of 3)

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Hot off the presses, a long-ass read on Spotify.

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Stiff Little Fingers, "Suspect Device"

Song of the Week -- Classic Division

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Run the Jewels, "Blockbuster Night Part 1" (snippet)

Song (Snippet) of the Week -- Contemporary Division

(I don't normally consider snippets for my vaunted Song of the Week laurel. But this is Run the Jewels, and it's great. Best two-man rap crew since OutKast.)

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The Raveonettes just pulled a Beyoncé, dropping an album on the unsuspecting masses with (little to) no fanfare or advanced warning. The record is called Pe'ahi, and I have no idea how it's pronounced. (The title derives from a Hawaiian shore break where Sune Rose Wagner almost drowned. Ah, mortality, you're man's eternal muse!) I've yet to listen to Pe'ahi, so I'm afraid I must reserve judgment on the new material. To fill the void, please read this slap-dash essay on "Recharge & Revolt," a single from the Raveonettes' swiftly forgotten 2011 LP, Raven In the Grave. (For the record, I much prefer the band's 2009 album, In and Out of Control. It's a midcareer masterpiece from a reliably underrated act.) 

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Fleetwood Mac, "The Ledge"

Song of the Week -- Classic Division (For what it's worth -- and you should read that as "nothing" -- I consider this punk.)

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Jenny Lewis, "The Voyager"

Song of the Week -- Contemporary Division

(I could have gone with any of several songs from Lewis' forthcoming album, but the title track is my favorite among those granted "official audio" status.)

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Last night I had a semi-poetic experience whilst listening to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours LP. I didn't stream the whole thing; I merely headphoned four or five of my favorite tracks, and their collective impact proved mesmerizing. I don't care how clichéd I sound: Rumours is a damn fine album. The songwriting is positively tip-top, and the music coheres as a genuine team effort...despite the fact that team the essentially hated each other.

Fleetwood Mac are odd. They've had innumerable internal breakups, but no grand or lasting external breakup. (Provided you excise the Peter Green years.) This is to say that the heavy hitters are still together and, more demonstrably, still on the road. The lineup reads as follows: a Fleetwood, a Buckingham, a Nicks, and two McVie's. It's amazing these people are on speaking terms, never mind conducting an international tour.

Point is, Fleetwood Mac are a fantastic pop band. If you don't like Rumours, I'm afraid you're just not a very good white person. I probably prefer Tusk, if only for its sharper edges, but last night I needed to hear desperate, charged, and perversely comforting music. A triple shot of "Second Hand News", "Gold Dust Woman", and "Silver Springs" fits this bill. And "I Don't Want to Know" -- perhaps the most perfect Laurel Canyon pop song ever written -- is a sublime chaser.

If you agree, read the linked post on Lindsey Buckingham's genius. Yes, it's ostensibly about Ariel Pink, but I can give or take that motherfucker. If he served a purpose vis-a-vis this essay, it was only in clearing the runway for a Mac Attack. Click through if you're willing to admit that there's precious little distance between punk, alternative, and Lindsey Buckingham's wobbly ramblers on Tusk. The late Seventies were an embarrassment of music riches. I wish I'd been there.    

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A happy 41st birthday to the elegant and stately Rufus Wainwright! Here I review his 2012 tune, "Montauk," prefacing my remarks with a tale of minor romantic mortification. (The mortification was my own; the romance, I believe, was entirely imaginary.)  

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Morrissey, "Now My Heart Is Full"

Song of the Week -- Classic Division

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Perfume Genius, "Queen"

Song of the Week -- Contemporary Division

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The Ramones, "Life's A Gas"

The last word for today.