Stumbled upon this track over the weekend and thought “Is this a Mazzy Star b-side I have somehow never heard before?” Alas, it is not… but that I thought it was means it is instantly worthy of attention.

I never knew that I needed a Jarvis Cocker rendition of this Cash classic. Turns out, I did.

Brutal.

This new Alan Sparhawk track, released the day before Ash Wednesday, is perhaps the closest contemporary analogue to a biblical imprecatory psalm I’ve ever heard. It literally sounds like a howl from the depths of despair, furious and invoking God’s vengeance on the wicked. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s a deeply affecting piece of art and I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ll be sitting with this one for a while.

Share a song you feel was ahead of its time.

Lee Scratch Perry and King Tubby playing in the studio in 1973 and made a record that cemented a style whose influence would touch so many different genres of music in the next half century. Massively ahead of its time.

U2 was my first favorite band and I hung with them for a long time. Over the last 15 years, I more or less stopped paying attention, but I’m grateful for this new release, and especially this song.

For Ash Wednesday.

If your life were a movie, what would its theme song be?

As an expat and a man possessed of an aching for an unknowable elsewhere, this song works on a number of levels for me.

Listening to Bowie today. This really was a perfect final bow.

Love this sludgy dreamy goodness from Blackwater Holylight.