I had been hoping to avoid it forever, but I finally came down with covid. Coronavirus? Whatever’s it called these days. I had never had it.
A doctor friend of ours replied, “As far as you know! I always tell people…”
“No, I’m pretty sure I never had this.”
I’m not usually a very persuasive person, but I could tell by her expression that she was convinced.
I missed my daughter’s swim lesson, an important PTA meeting, an HOA meeting. I lost my sense of taste, vision in my right eye, the ability to sleep uninterrupted. I caught up on fantasy baseball mock drafts and doom-scrolling. I listened to Bad Bunny.
It doesn’t happen this way for me very much anymore, but, when I was a kid, my love for one band or artist would pave great, wide, open freeways toward love for other related bands or artists. In that fashion, Sonic Youth led me to Pussy Galore led me to Jon Spencer led me to R.L. Burnside led me to John Fahey led me to John Cage and so on.
A great album played from a good music-streaming app can have the same effect these days. Bad Bunny’s latest album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, led me to Los Pleneros de la Cresta led me to Chuwi led me to RaiNao led me to Dei V led me to Calle 13 — all captivating and rewarding journeys into sound for which I am grateful.
Being sick, though, is a real pain.
So, what are we going to listen to today?
I don’t really believe in guilty pleasures, but the emo stylings of Sweet Pill come close for me. I’m almost actually embarrassed.
Sweet Pill: Unraveled (Hopeless Records)
Piink Sifu: BLACK’!ANTIQUE (Dynamite Hill)
The Weeknd: Hurry Up Tomorrow (XO Music)
Ambrose Akinmusire: honey from a winter stone (Nonesuch Records)
MIKE: Showbiz! (10K)
Ebo Taylor, Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammed: Jazz is Dead 022 (Jazz is Dead)
Madvillain, Madlib, MF DOOM: Madvillainy Demos (Stones Throw Records)
Black Flower: Kinetic (SDBAN Records)
Cymande: Renascence (Cymande LTD)
Shackleton & Wacław Zimpel & Siddhartha Belmannu: In The Cell of Dreams (Live Version) (7K!)
Jaye Jayle: After Alter (Pelagic Records)
Jim White, Trey Blake: Precious Bane (Fluff and Gravy)
L.S. Dunes: Violet (Fantasy Records)
Fránçois & The Atlas Mountains: Âge Fleuve (Infiné)
Memory Pearl: Cosmic-Astral (Boiled Records)
