The Friday Refrain: Your Weekly New Music Digest

I thought the interesting releases would be behind us. At first I thought it was maybe some sort of after effect of the Flaming Lips/Dogfishhead Beer (which is delicious), but nope. Sigur Rós released the soundtrack of their 2016 Route One livestream. It was a video of driving around the island of Iceland set with a soundtrack generated by an algorithm. Sounds really cool and it's still there on youtube. I think I'm going to categorize that one "Interesting..." In summation, they released the music to that today.

Anyway, on to the other releases of note: People have been talking about Janelle Monae's new album, Dirty Computer, for awhile now and today it's out! Poppy rapper Post Malone is back with beerbongs & bentleys. Country superstar Keith Urban released Graffiti U and Okkervil River is here with In The Rainbow Rain. Van Morrison & Joey DeFrancesco team up to do some jazz and blues collaborations while country statesmen (I feel like that should be his title so I'm going with it) Willie Nelson opines about age and life today in Last Man Standing. Indie Rockers Dr. Dog are getting good feedback for Critical Equation. And a personal favorite, Speedy Ortiz, rock it out on Twerp Verse. With that, looks like it's time for:

Shall I bother...

• Speedy Ortiz: It's really hard not to say who they sound like but i'm going to try. This album feels even more angular and fuzzier than before. Or is it? Man this band knows fuzzy garage rock.
• Dr. Dog: If you're a fan, you're probably already listening, but it's just that delightful Dr. Dog sound though a bit more low key in my opinion. That's not a bad thing. 
• Janelle Monae: there is good reason people have been buzzing about this one. If anything, it's worth listening to so you can keep up with the water cooler conversation at your local record store.
• Willie Nelson: Listening to old people reflect on life is an interesting thing. And Willie's gotten old. So his outlook might not always be so... upbeat? I only gave a cursory listen but to me, he seemed to capture that been-alive-8-decades thought. In a nutshell - it's the first song. Being happy you're alive because, well you're alive, but having to deal with seeing your world fading from the world of today. Bittersweet isn't the word, optimistic pessimist isn't either. Perhaps at a certain point, life is just a generic oxymoron that you live with everyday and appreciate it for what it is.
• Van Morrison: I include the cover of "Have I Told You Lately?" because it is just... i've always toyed with making a rock version of "Ain't Misbehavin'" and it feels like that idea flipped around with this song. If that made sense to you, I admire your ability to decipher my poor verbage today.

Well the sun is shining and it's time to plant some future garden things. I'll leave with a Spotify list to get your weekend started and Happy Listening!