Heavy Rotation - Week Of Feb. 3rd

In our weekly series, Heavy Rotation, I will write about the five records I have been spinning regularly over the last week. There is not an expiration date. The records included can be from any time period at all. All entries are eligible to appear for multiple weeks. In fact, repetition is likely due to the fact that while I listen to a fair amount of music, it's not as much as I'd like to make time for. Also, as some of you may know, we have a vinyl only policy around our house, so as expected, all entries on the list are being listened to via turntable.

Ladies and germs, presenting installment three of Heavy Rotation . . .

Miles Kurosky | The Desert Of Shallow Effects
Miles Kurosky for The People's Committee for the Preservation Of Sound | 2010

Miles Kurosky disbanded his brilliant band Beulah, in 2004. The demise of the band, due mostly to personal frictions and a lack of momentum, is chronicled in the wonderful film, A Good Band Is Easy To Kill. Kurosky was obviously the driving creative force behind Beulah, but personal setbacks and health problems delayed the completion of his first solo record for more than five years. The Desert Of Shallow Effects reminds us it was worth the wait. The songs are devastatingly personal and emotionally wrought, but littered with humor and playful innuendo. Kurosky is a master of using jubilant arrangements to play counterpoint to his often dour narratives.

Vampire Weekend | Contra
XL Recordings | 2010

When the first Vampire Weekend record came out, I largely ignored on the basis of their effete, trust fund Ivy League indie pop pedigree. Their self-titled debut came off like a frat boy version of Graceland and I tuned out. Then along came the second album, Contra and I realized that I had missed the boat completely. Sure, the influences are a bit cloying and the over-privileged mystique seems to have some validity, the alluring hooks of this record are undeniable.

The Housemartins | London 0, Hull 4
Go Discs! | 1986

The Housemartins are such an unabashedly British band that they named this LP after a fantasized football (soccer to the Ugly Americans) score of their hometown team scorching the big city twits from London. In 11 songs on this record, their Britishness is reinforced time and again with colloquial phrasing, that UK brand of white boy soul and some rambunctiously energetic 2 minute pop tunes. With a chip on their shoulders and the sound of a blue collar Smiths, this record sounds remarkably fresh and fun for its age.

Fruit Bats | Spelled In Bones
Sub Pop Records | 2005

Spelled In Bones marks the third record Fruit Bats effort and the most fully realized and poppy of their canon. Combining nostalgia with first person narrative and a penchant for a production style of the 70's, primary Fruit Bat, Eric Johnson crafts a world it's very easy to get lost within. The songs are warm and inviting and weave together like a beach novel.

Tom Waits | Swordfish Trombones
Island/Def Jam | 1983

This is the album where Waits made the jump from his loose lipped, piano lounge act persona to more of a musical junk-pile mentality and a step away from traditional songwriting. Even though the record is a major departure from his more straightforward work to that point, this record is filled with amazing harm, humor and nostalgia. Waits is a master of exposition and geography in his songs. Just one listen to "In The Neighborhood" will bring you back to your childhood on a warm summer's day near the house where you grew up. And it will make you smile.