Currently: one minor amusement a day

HYUKOH and Sunset Rollercoaster, Silver Jews, and Porridge Radio

Currently is usually a paid segment of Record Store where I talk about some of my favorite tracks this week and share an exclusive playlist. Paywalls are down for this month’s content. You can manage your subscription here.

tw: suicide

AAA (2024) is my favorite late-2024 discovery. The bands are Korean and Taiwanese, and this is their first collaborative effort. This whole record is something special—readers of this newsletter know that I love electronic music, but sometimes it’s nice to get back to something that sounds like a bunch of people in a room. The music video they made for “Young Man” is really excellent, and you can also check out this video of the recording process for “Kite War.”

I’ve been listening to a lot of Silver Jews. David Berman’s birthday was a few days ago, and I’ve been thinking about him, his legacy, the mystery of his life. I also read a tweet this morning about how often the thing keeping someone from wanting to die is “one minor amusement a day.” I also had a conversation with the farmer I work for at the farmers market (South Berkeley, Tuesdays, best market ever, you can never convince me otherwise) wherein he was smiling, I asked him playfully what he was so happy about, and he told me (in limited English): more work, the nice weather, the kids, the new year, the family. I was struck by his palpable joy towards the things I often take for granted in my own life. So, needless to say, the Silver Jews has been hitting.

I’m really excited to see friends-of-the-newsletter Good Looks on tour this year. I’ve been a fan of theirs since this excellent debut album, Bummer Year (2022), but was really moved by their last record. Recently, the last few songs, ballads, as well as the titular track off of Bummer Year have been feeling especially poignant.

Dry Cleaning is one of those English bands that sounds extremely English (Dua Lipa is an English musician that sounds extremely American, for reference). I really like that about them.

The new Japanese Breakfast song nearly put me in a coma yesterday. Michelle Zauner and I share a lot of factual similarities, and I also think she’s one of the best indie writers making music today—writing a song like “In Hell” should buy you at least ten years off, but she’s already back with another record. Side note: if anyone knows anyone who could get in contact with Michelle or her publicist, she would be a dream interview for this publication.

Another tour I’m excited for this year! I already feel like 2025 is going to be a stronger year for me with feeling connected to and moved by music.

I love Pavement as much as the next guy, but I’m also very partial to some of the solo/alternate Stephen Malkmus work. Other favorites include: “Ramp of Death,” “Middle America,” “Lariat,” “Rushing the Acid Frat.”

The other night I was in a wine bar with friends and the bartender put this record on. We looked at each other with knowing, I pointing at the ceiling, nodding, and he closing his eyes in an expression of understanding. It is very special to connect with a stranger over shared taste, and I wanted to immortalize this moment in my newsletter, near the bottom where few people will actually read.

Currently trending in my brain: learning to knit lace, training for a marathon (upbeat running playlist next week probably), forgetting to make or drink coffee one day, our new pizza oven and the ensuing pizza nights, my red cotton sweater, doing a puzzle (read: reaching a point in my life where I’m relaxed enough to enjoy doing a puzzle), dogs in the snow, Japanese single-serve pourover coffee, looking through old family photos, frozen berries, beautiful sunsets at the farmers market, Are.na (and generally committing this year to being more fully archivist than I already am), this one TikTok about going to the library all day (an activity I did as a child and wish to do again), this other TikTok about a metaball typeface, watching every Miyazaki movie, cobalt blue around my shared home with my partner as an adoption of the color as “ours.”