A Natural Fact

The Mary Timony Band “Killed By The Telephone” – There’s a problem here, and no problem at all. The “problem” is that if you’ve heard a lot of Mary Timony’s music from after The Dirt Of Luck, you can predict this song’s movements from second to second — she’s operating on instinct, not so much imagination, and even the best moments feel like something you’ve heard from her several times before. However, if you’ve heard a lot of Timony’s post-Dirt Of Luck music, you probably like her style, and “Killed By The Telephone” sounds like a new old friend, or maybe even a step up from most of what she’s been doing in the past few years if just because it straight-up rocks out when it’s not floating off into a sea of arpeggiation. I guess I can’t stop myself from wishing she was re-writing “XXX” and “Pat’s Trick” instead of The Magic City, but that’s my problem and not hers. (Click here to buy it from Buy Olympia.)

C.O.C.O. “Your Own Secret Way / Sly” – The singer is hung up on someone, and so everything that person says or does seems like a code to crack, or a path to an answer — yes, no, maybe? This person is occupying so much space in her brain that she hopes and assumes that she’s weighing heavily on their mind as well, but the possibility that she’s wrong just makes it worse. (In other words: you should pay rent in my mind / say like the French say / “bon soir je regret a demain” / do you like me? / do you like me? / do you like me? / do you like me? / I guess.) (Click here to pre-order it from K Records.)

Elsewhere: R.I.P., Mike Weiringo.