00’s music

It always gets so hard to see, right before the moon – Five from The War On Drugs

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I know I’ve dropped a few tunes from The War on Drugs over the years here yet as I sit here with them in my ears through the day I figured it was time to drop a few more in one place in a more organised manner.

Originally formed when Kurt Vile and Adam Granduciel discovered their mutual obsession with Bob Dylan, the band dropped one album with that initial lineup before Vile’s departure to pursue his own solo career (on completely amicable terms) and a mass exodus of players led to Granduciel recruiting new members and gradually expanding on the band’s sound ahead of the release of 2014’s Lost In The Dream signified a massive shift in both their appeal and sound having arrived at a seemingly perfect combination of grand guitar-driven soundscapes that build and unfold into blissful tunes that combine obvious influences like Dylan and Petty with elements of My Bloody Valentines and Sonic Youth while retaining their own identity. From Lost In The Dream thru I Don’t Live Here Anymore they’d parlay this sound across three pretty-much faultless albums (so far) that inevitably occupy plenty of car stereo time as well as so often proving a mainstay in headphones as the sound manages to feel suited both to the intimate listen as well as creating a sensation of cruising down a clear highway at sunset.

A Needle In Your Eye #16

Debut albums are funny things when looked back on so many years later. Wagon Wheels is very much and album of 2008’s indie-rock feel and more heavily indebted to Vile and Granduciel’s love of Dylan than anything else with the band’s name on. While there’s plenty to enjoy Only ‘A Needle In Your Eye #16’ (I’m guessing the numbering of songs as ‘versions’ is another nod to Bob) is a real standout for me .

Brothers

Originally a longer tune on the Future Weather EP the version on second album Slave Ambient manages to retain the song’s vibe but bringing it into a tighter arrangement that – like a lot of songs on the album including the wonderful ‘Come to the City’ – feel like a clear transition is underway as Granduciel refines his sound.

An Ocean In Between The Waves

One of many highlights from 2014’s Lost In The Dream

Pain

A Deeper Understanding is another of those albums I can cue up and just let… flow. Adding a little more grit to the tone of Lost In The Dream, I love the sound of the guitars across the album and ‘Pain’ builds to a point that just lets these go.

Victim

It would be daft to repeat the same formula over and over and so, just as A Deeper Understanding adds to Lost In The Dream‘s sound, 2021’s I Don’t Live Here Anymore still contains just as many long burn, slow builders while adding a few more electronic elements and drum loops into the mix, bright sounding synths and upbeat tempos all wrapped-up in a mix that highlights the ‘morning in America’ era FM sound that manages to sound both reverential and fresh. There’s also plenty of lush guitar tones and scorchers too.

Talking Tracks – I’m going to scream….

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Believe it or not, I love talking about music. I recently had the genuine pleasure of sitting down with Geoff to do just that for his The 1002nd Album podcast to talk about a track that’s very close to my heart. I follow only a few podcasts but I’ve been enjoying Geoff’s for some time now so I was delighted to have a chat with the man himself.

You can check it out here, should you so wish, and be sure follow the1002ndalbum podcast wherever you usually get such thing for some great takes.

Tracks: Beaux Dimanches

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Blowing the dust off the cartridge to plug the ‘Tracks‘ format wherein I spotlight a particular song that stands out in my mental jukebox and sits amongst my favourites back into action. Are these favourite songs? I suppose so. If one of those folks in Hollywood could finally settle on a suitable compensation package for me, these tunes would no doubt occupy at least a side or two of the soundtrack to my life’s movie.

Why ‘Beaux Dimanches’ by Amadou & Mariam? It’s hard to to recall now exactly when this song floated into the mix but I know that it’s probably post 2008. Even before I started rebuilding and improving on my French enough to get to grips with the lyrics I was hooked – the slinky Mali-blues guitar lines, the beat, the sheer joy of it: there’s no way for me to hear this and not feel uplifted.

Amadou & Mariam are a musical duo from Mali. The couple, born in the country’s capital Bamako, began playing together in the 1980s, working their way up from more minimal arrangements of guitar and voice before perfecting their blend of rock guitar, Mali blues and about every kind of world-music vibe you could throw a hat at to form their own take on Afro-Blues as they moved from Mali to Paris via the Ivory Coast building up wider and wider audiences and fans like Stevie Wonder and Manu Chao. It’s a heady, delicious mix that vibes just right with me.

Both Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia are blind. Amadou lost his sight when he was 16, Mariam having lost hers at age 5 thanks to an untreated case of the measles. They met at Mali’s Institute for the Young Blind and, along with going on to form their musical partnership, would go on to marry and have three children.

It was Chao that produced their 2004 album Dimanche à Bamako (Sunday in Bamako) from which this track is taken. ‘Beaux Dimanches’ (Beautiful Sundays) is a joyous song about weddings in the capital -‘Les dimanches à Bamako c’est le jour de mariage’ – suitably upbeat and coloured with references to Malain traditions.

Dimanche à Bamako was the record that bought the duo to the attention of the world. From here they’d record the anthem for the 2006 World Cup, play major festivals like Coachella, Latitude and Lollapalooza and play with folks like David Gilmour, that knob from Blur (who’d also have a hand in producing their next record) and Beth Orton while touring with the likes of Coldplay and U2. They have continued to put out a wonderful album every few years. 2012’s Folia in particular gets many a spin in the motor and improves every drive when it does. When Matt Groening curated the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in 2010 he chose Amadou & Mariam to close it.

And here’s a man with a lust for life, he lives for now on the edge of a knife – Five From Thurston Moore

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Thurston Moore – erstwhile founder and guitar wrangler, singer etc of Sonic Youth – has been popping up a fair bit on my news feed of late. He’s got a memoir out (which I look forward to reading) and as a health issue has limited his physical wandering to promote it, there’s no shortage of interview opportunities to do so. 

Along with his former band’s work, Thurston’s solo work has proven a strong mainstay in my collection and I always enjoy slapping on one of his albums. In the same manner that his band used to straddle both the alt-rock and avant-garde worlds, Moore’s solo work has swung from one to the other with an array of noise-based, experimental recordings across a myriad of labels and outputs as well as a now seven album long roster of song-based projects of which those recorded with the ‘Thurston Moore Group’ probably lean as close to the Sonic Youth ‘sound’ as we’re likely to get since that band’s move to inactivity in 2011.

While there are certainly some elements of his less song-based stuff worth checking out – if you’re curious I’d recommend 2021’s Screen Time and 12 String Meditations for Jack Rose (Moore’s tribute to that mighty of drone musicians) – I thought it worth tipping the proverbial to a smattering of his solo catalogue…

Frozen GTR

While Moore’s first solo album Psychic Hearts was very much a snapshot of mid-’90s Sonic Youth in sound, his second song-based solo album Trees Outside of the Academy felt wrapped more around acoustics – save for the odd searing lead laid down by J Mascis whose studio the 2007 album was recorded in. The album has long been a favourite of mine, it’s a decidedly warm sounding album and showcases Moore’s ability to create hypnotic acoustic rhythms. 

Benediction

Following the acoustic-leanings of his previous solo effort, Demolished Thoughts was produced and assisted by Beck in his more folk-pastoral mode with splashings of harp and violins adding to the album’s delicate lushness. Unfortunately, according to Kim Gordon’s ‘Girl In A Band’, Thurston realised that most of the songs on it were about ‘the other woman’ and so it was buried. Twelve years on and with Mr Moore now married to the presumed subject of these songs it’s worth a revisit without the baggage, right?

Forevermore

With Sonic Youth on hiatus, Moore’s first rebound effort came via the short-live, punkier edged Chelsea Light Moving. When he next emerged with an album in his own name it was 2014’s The Best Day which also marked the first effort of his Thurston Moore Group which featured My Bloody Valentine’s Deb Googe on bass, James Sedwards trading guitar licks and Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley on drums. The Best Day feels like a statement of intent as well as a great collection of tunes and ‘Forevermore’ bristles along with a real thump and kick across it’s eleven minutes that manages to combine Moore’s penchant for sprawling guitar epics with his ability to craft a real driving hook.

Smoke of Dreams

While <The Best Day leant to SY and Thurston’s harder-driving sound, for 2017’s Rock n Roll Consciousness he, and the Thurston Moore Group, paired with producer Paul Epworth – yep, he of Adele, Rhianna and Florence and the Machine work – for an album the delved into the gentler, hippy-like side to Thurston Moore’s writing. Yes there are noisy, bouncing guitar jams but there’s more of the softer side with some real optimism in the lyrics.

Hashish

By The Fire – so called because it’s “the idea of people sitting around a fire and dialoguing” – is the Thurston Moore lockdown record, if there’s such a thing. Finished and released in 2020 while Moore was coming off the back of the Spirit Counsel project, By The Fire feels like a glorious melding of that project’s experimental leanings to Moore’s riff and song-based work in a way that his solo work to date hadn’t really managed

There’s a piece of Maria in every song that I sing – Five From Counting Crows

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The Counting Crows are one of those bands that seemingly achieved mainstream success overnight on the back of their hit single ‘Mr Jones’ – they managed to pull of a neat trick of combining complex and wrenching lyrics with a roots inflected take on alternative rock with a sumptuous production (thanks to T Bone Burnett) that hit the magical sweet spot between sounding nostalgic and contemporary just at that moment in the early ’90s. August and Everything After remains one of that decades strongest albums and while they’ve continued to pump out solid albums (albeit with an increasing number of years between them) since they’re probably still best known for that first flurry of tunes. Or singer Adam Duritz’ (now removed) dreadlocks and his ability to punch way above his weight with the ladies.

That strange DJ function on the streaming service most of use recently plucked a couple of their songs out of my listening history and I thought throwing up a few of there’s would serve as a toe back into posting here.

Perfect Blue Buildings

August and Everything After is just an exquisite combo of rich ballads, brilliant melodies and cracking musicianship all pinned down by Adam Duritz’ lyrics and voice. There’s a particularly strong trifecta in the middle of the album with ‘Perfect Blue Buildings’, ‘Anna Begins’ and ‘Time and Time Again’ but ‘Perfect Blue Buildings’ become one of the groups most beloved songs and there’s something about that line ‘It’s 4:30 A.M. on a Tuesday, it doesn’t get much worse than this’ that hits the sweet spot for me.

A Murder of One

After an album of relatively serious, angsty ballads and a run for Springsteenism on ‘Omaha’, ‘A Murder of One’ is a joyous, upbeat way to end an album and a cracking tune to boot.

Angels of the Silences

How do you follow up the success of August and… ? Recovering The Satellites is a bloody good album. Problem is it’s also a pretty long and heavy one – feeling every minute of its near hour length at times. It’s got a lot of great tunes on it but I always found it too much for one sitting and a lot of the quiet joy that lives between the lines of August.. missing here. ‘Angels of the Silences’ always hits the spot though with its urgency

I Wish I Was A Girl

Third album This Desert Life is an underrated gem in Counting Crows’ catalogue – after the overwrought writing and weight of their second album, it’s a tighter, more professional effort that relatively zips along at 11 songs but each of them are very well-crafted and benefit immensely from both a lighter tone and Duritz seemingly having reigned tendency to over-emote. Hooks and cracking melodies abound but I’ve always loved the lyric and delivery of “You dive into the traffic rising up, and it’s so quiet, you’re surprised and then you wake.”

1492

Those first three albums still find their way into my ears a lot. Their fourth Hard Candy was pretty solid but I kind of drifted away from Counting Crows and, it seems, so did many. After another few years between albums they dropped the double album Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings in 2008. They’ve dropped another one and a half studio albums in the 15 years since but I wouldn’t be able to tell you anything about them. ‘1492’ – all dirty guitars, energy and frenzied lyrics – has been a favourite since I heard it and one I never reach for the skip button over.

Out of Europe: Five From Italy

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I haven’t revisited this series for a while. Last I dipped into this theme was 2021, in fact. Thankfully I’ve since been able to return to the continent and am already booked up to do so again this summer.

The stupidity and complete cuntwomblery that is / was Brexit has made it a little tricker – bit more faff at borders – but there is hope that this will soon change as the reality of just what a fucking twat of an idea it was becomes clear and the costs of that blue passport* become clearer cause climb down after climb down…. I’ll stop before this becomes too political again. Where was I? Oh, yes, with Italy on the cards again this summer this felt like a good opportunity to pull this one out of ‘drafts,’ blow off the proverbial dust, finesse and let it loose.

Italy is one of those countries I’d longed to see and doing so in 2011 was a fantastic experience. We’ll be going back this summer and getting to show the cub some of the wonderful things the country has to offer is something that fills me with immense joy. When it comes to culture and, particularly music, Italy is a touchstone and has given so much to us.

But, if this blog doesn’t touch on the expected classical (though Vivaldi is responsible for some of my favourite pieces), discuss opera or, as sure as the Pope wears a ridiculous hat and heads a shameful organisation, won’t add a Måneskin video – what has my digging into music from the footwear-shaped country yielded?

Red Light Skyscraper – 4AM

Let’s get things started with a little post-rock – because it’s usually my way ‘in’ to a country’s music lately. One of the joys of a mostly-instrumental genre is its universality and yet there are differences to be found in the genre from country to country as well as region to region in some instances. Red Light Skyscraper (yes, a very post-rock band name) hail from Siena and lean to a more modern (concise tunes vs, say, GSYBE!’s 20 min epics) and propulsive element, with a few choice samples here and there and some solid driving beats. ‘4AM’ (I’m a sucker for a song with a time in the title) kicks pretty fucking hard once it gets going.

Ennio Morricone – Gabriel’s Oboe

When it comes to film score composers Ennio Morricone, born in Rome in 1928, was one of the very best. Not as grand in sound as John Williams, say, but nobody could create a score as evocative or moving as Ennio Morricone – whether it’s the famous stand-off in ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ or the sheer emotional heft that lived in the swell of strings throughout the score from’Once Upon A Time In America.’ For me, though, very little beats ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’.

Massimo Volume – Le nostre ore contate

These guys have been at it since 1991, save for a temporary break between 2002 – 2008. Their vocalist has a sort of poetic, spoken-word approach to vocals (Italian sounding like one of the more poetic European languages vs, say, German) against a guitar and drum-driven instrumental backdrop that’s almost like post-rock in its build ups, rhythms and structure. All bloody good things and right up my alley.

Baustelle – Charlie fa surf

Now this one I’ve really been enjoying – it’s got a brilliantly upbeat, bounce to it, I really dig the vocal harmonies and it gets bonus points for, in what seems like a made-for-radio tune, including “andate a farvi fottere” (go fuck yourself). It’s always good to learn the important phrases when trying a new language.

Hailing from the Tuscan town of Montepulciano, Baustelle describe themselves as having an “extremely peculiar blend of Italian pop tradition, British pop (Pulp, the Smiths), and French chanson… mixed with 1960s naivety and 1980s imagery.”

Manuel Agnelli – La Profondità Degli Abissi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJU7Lrai8fw

From what I’ve read there were a few big rock bands to come out of Italy during the ’90s. One of them was a group called Afterhours and this is a solo song from their singer Manuel Agnelli. ‘La Profondità Degli Abissi’ (the depth of the abyss) packs a lot into its three minutes and, even though I haven’t a clue what he’s singing about, it’s an all-out bonkers-yet-brilliant cracker and I really dig the way his vocals build up and soar off with strings.

*I had to update my passport on return from France last year and reluctantly traded in my ‘EU’ passport for the dark blue one but take great amusement from the fact that, inside, it bears greater resemblance to the EU ID cards than anything ever before

I’m sorry I missed you, I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain… Five from The National

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Sneaking in a quick ‘extra’ and the reason behind the selection of Ohio’s The National – my local record shop highlighted the upcoming release of the band’s ninth album at pretty much the same moment as I caught ears on their latest, ‘Tropic Morning News’:

Aside from tapping my foot and digging the tune, it got me thinking. See, The National are one of those bands with which I have a strange relationship. Though I can’t recall how I first heard of them, I was really into Alligator when it came out back in 2005 (and since I recently added it to the collection on vinyl it’s had plenty of spins) and jumped on Boxer and High Violet as they followed but somehow that interest slipped.

Whether it was perceived over-exposure as critics rushed to heap praise or was the fact there was so much to listen to and so little time? Who knows but the end result was that for the next few albums I didn’t jump on them straight away BUT did end up hearing enough to get hold of them and fall in love with them and wonder why the fuck I didn’t get hold of them sooner – what was stopping me? Both Trouble Will Find Me and Sleep Well Beast are bloody brilliant and while I Am Easy To Find is perhaps a tad bloated (3 lps) the augmenting of vocalist Matt Berninger’s voice with an array of guest female singers is brilliant way to keep an evolution in sound. They plough the occasionally-anthemic indie rock terrain with a more thoughtful, literate approach with lyrics that are often at odds with the upbeat charge of the music delivered through one of genre’s more distinctive voices while managing to adjust their formula at the right moments to prevent it becoming stale.

So this time I’ve decided to stop the weird cycle and have pre-ordered First To Pages of Frankenstein* and thought this a good opportunity to highlight five of my preferred cuts from the band’s back catalogue.

Lit Up

This is where I came in, on album number three: Alligator. I haven’t ventured further back really but it’s oft-mentioned that this is where the band really found ‘their’ style / sound. It’s a brilliant album without a track I skip but I like the sharp short hit of ‘Lit Up.’

Mistaken For Strangers

Boxer took everything from Alligator and dialled it up a notch. While ‘Fake Empire’ is probably the most well-known thanks to Obama’s use of the tune, ‘Mistaken For Strangers’ has that brooding urgency that always gets my attention.

Bloodbuzz Ohio

Whether it was down to new label 4AD’s promotion, the band’s continued up tick with the music press or riding the attention use in a successful Presidential campaign… but High Violet did big numbers for the band and seemed to be their break-out moment.

Don’t Swallow The Cap

I feel like Trouble Will Find Me gets somewhat overlooked – following on from the attention of High Violet perhaps something more immediate and ‘hit stacked’ was expected but the album is one that rewards repeated listens, is a more studied and stately affair than previous but is well worth the time.

The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness

A shift in sound accompanied Sleep Well Beast. The band’s trademark sonic atmosphere augmented with new elements, faster beats and squalls of noise that add texture and momentum and make it one of their finest.

*not the last two which contain the postscript where the monster says “It’s ok if people call me ‘Frankenstein’ I really don’t mind, ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’ is a tad demeaning anyway”

Tracks: Bluebird of Happiness

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According to search results various, the bluebird has been a ‘harbinger of happiness’ for thousands of years. Said bird reminds us not to lose hope in the face of an adversary and not to let go of the joy even in the direst times. Lovely stuff.

For me, Mojave 3’s ‘Bluebird of Happiness’ is one of those magic songs. You know; one of those songs that connects on a different level to other tunes, automatically fires of an emotional response for reasons you may never fully understand and, frankly, probably don’t need to.

“Who are Mojave 3?” I hear imagine you asking. After the critical spin and uppercut that felled the shoegaze scene* the ridiculously wonderful Slowdive were dropped by Creation just a week after the release of their fifth album, Pygmalion** -also ridiculously wonderful. Members Neil Halstead, Rachel Goswell and Ian McCutcheon switched direction a little, following the more ambient leanings Halstead’s writing was already taking and throwing dream pop with a bit of folk and country rock into the mix. By the time of the band’s fourth album Spoon and Rafter in 2003 they’d added keyboard player Alan Forrester and ex-Chapterhouse guitarist Simon Rowe and were leaning more into dream pop/alt-country elements with a sound not a million miles away from Mercury Rev.

Neil Halstead – as borne out by his solo work as well as Slowdive and Mojave 3 – is a songwriter who places emphasis on arrangements and layers. Spoon and Rafter is full of examples of just this approach but no song more so than the 9:15 opus ‘Bluebird of Happiness’ with its multiple parts gently transitioning into each other, Halstead’s vocals remaining calm and measured against a mesmerising backdrop that at turns rises to guitar-driven chorus and falls back to piano lead reflective chill.

Anyway, back to that magic stuff… From the second I hear those opening ambient sounds (there are some birds in there, some whispered vocals) and piano notes I feel a sense of calm wash over me and when those nine minutes and fifteen seconds are up I feel lighter and at peace, if only for a little while. I don’t think you could ask for more from a song, really.

Mojave 3 would release one further album – 2006’s Puzzles Like You – before dropping into hiatus for a couple of years ahead of a touring comeback in 2011 though any music they may have recorded after that has yet to see the light of day. Halstead and Goswell both kept busy with solo work until Slowdive reunited in 2014 with a new album following in 2017*** and another currently in the works.

* Fuck you, Britpop.

**Spun at least once a week on my turntable

***Also, you’ve guessed it, ridiculously wonderful.

One fluid gesture, like stepping back in time… Five from Placebo

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The French love their language and have laws to protect it. The Toubon Law, from 1994, mandates its use not just in official government comms (which you’d kind of expect) but also in the likes of adverts – most of which seem stuck in the 1989/1990 vibe anyway – and other commercial communication.

This extends to radio, with an oft-rebelled against rule that 40% of the songs that are played must be performed in the French language. I guess the thinking is that if ‘the kids’ only hear Americans singing about California they’ll forget their own language. Now this isn’t always a bad thing as there’s plenty of good French music out there lately – see my last post for an example – but it also means that if, like I did and – signal permitting still do – listen to, say, RTL2 for any protracted period you’re likely to hear too much ‘chansons’ music.

So where am I going with this…. well, the French love a bit of Placebo as Belgian-born Brian Molko speaks the language fluently. It also means they can play Placebo’s ‘Protège-moi’ as part of the aforementioned quota while also playing a contemporary international band. Hearing this version of ‘Protect Me From What I Want’ along with cuts from their latest, Never Let Me Go, has given me the impetus to run up a few of that band’s best and revisit since shaming them some time back in a ‘Then and Now‘ post.

Placebo formed in London in 1994. They’re currently made up of just the two members – singer / guitarist Brian Molko and bassist / guitarist Stefan Olsdal and missing a drummer. It wasn’t always this way: their longest-serving drummer, with whom they recorded their better albums, left in 2007.

Teenage Angst

From Placebo’s self-titled debut 1996 album.

You Don’t Care About Us

Without You I’m Nothing, Placebo’s second album remains their crowning glory if you ask me. It’s damn-near faultless and remains on regular rotation nearly 25 years on.

Without You I’m Nothing feat. David Bowie

Their second album is so good I’m throwing in another cut, the title track, albeit with a version that differs from the album version as David Bowie approached them to collaborate after the thing was recorded and released. /p>

Meds

Skipping a couple of albums – Black Market Music and Sleeping With Ghosts – where they went off the boil a bit to 2006 and the title track from their last album with drummer Steve Hewitt in which they seemed to have rediscovered some drive and consistency. While not their strongest it was their best in eight years.

Try Better Next Time

Getting in the DeLorean for an even bigger jump this time to 2022 with a song title seemingly taken from my response to the albums they’ve dropped in the last sixteen years… Never Let Me Go oddly feels closer to Meds than anything between. It would seem that the six years they’ve had between albums has allowed them to rediscover a spark that was missing for quite a while now, the songs are leaner and pack more wallop and there’s not a lyric as disastrous as ‘my computer thinks I’m gay, I threw that threw that piece of junk away, on the Champs-Elysées’ to be found anywhere, thankfully.

Bonus tune…

Johnny and Mary

Yes I’m throwing in a cover. Back in the days when singles were something other than an individual stream, Placebo would add either a couple of cracking b-sides or covers. While their take of ‘Running Up That Hill’ gets the most plays we’ve probably all heard enough versions of that one lately so I’ve gone for their cover of Robert Palmer’s classic that accompanied ‘Taste in Men’, the lead single from their third album.

All that I wanted to say, words only got in the way… Five from My Morning Jacket

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I’ve been writing on this blog in varying stages of regularity for a hair over ten years now and, having kicked off with reference to one of my favourite bands, it feels the time is right for me to stitch together a handful of My Morning Jacket’s songs that I enjoy a whole fucking lot.

Like so many others, My Morning Jacket came into my aural sockets via one of those cds attached with funky gloop to the front of a music magazine. From first hearing ‘One Big Holiday’ I was hooked. While It Still Moves got the thumbs up from me it was Z that blew me away and still ranks as one of my all-time favourites.

Hailing from Louisville, Kentucky the band got going in 1998. A couple of strong, promising albums The Tennessee Fire and At Dawn on indie-label Darla were followed by lineup changes and signing to major distribution with ATO for break-through It Still Moves and have been mining a rich seam of guitar-driven excellence that bridges indie-rock/folk, alt.country and full tilt jam outs that veer gloriously toward psychadelia since all pinned down by Jim James’ voice. While it’s fair to say there’s been the odd dip post-Z as they continued to try driving their sound down different avenues, their albums are always worth tuning in and contain plenty of cracking moments as they keep exploring and they’re a brilliant live act as the constant presence of their two official live albums – Okonokos and Live Vol.1 – on my turntable will gladly demonstrate.

While The Waterfall marked their last effort for some years – indeed, it looked like the end of the band was on the cards for some time – a reinvigorated My Morning Jacket emerged in 2021 with a self-titled effort that saw them playing at their finest again.

It’s near-impossible to condense their work into five tunes, so let’s leave at being a case of ‘here are five My Morning Jacket songs’:

The Way That He Sings (2001)

One Big Holiday (2003)

Anytime (2005)

Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt.2 (2008)

Complex (2021)