HIGHLY RECOMMENDED W/ BREWSTER
* Providing the A's to the 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Q's today is Brewster— a band of music-makers making music out of New Jersey who recently dropped a lovely album called ‘Honey Shake Me’ (and you can catch the title track on the current edition of the weekly-updated HI54 Mix CD ‘YOUR WEEKLY 9(to)5 SHUFFLE’)
#1 - WHAT IS THE ONE ALBUM (OR EP OR SONG) THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE THE VERY NEXT MUSICAL THING THAT EVERYONE PRESSES PLAY ON THE NEXT TIME THEY FIND THEMSELVES THINKING “WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NOW”?
Honestly, there’s this pretty catchy record called Honey Shake Me by cosmic country rock and roll heroes Brewster that just came out this past Friday. I really like it, it kind of sounds like if Graham Parsons hired Yo La Tengo to be his backing band. Springtime windows-down anthems abound! Other than that shameless plug, a recent favorite record of mine is My Life in Hollywood by The Bird Calls.
He played our album release show the other night and it was a really captivating set. It’s very hard to be as funny and heartbreaking and catchy at the same time as Sam Sodomsky is; makes me want to read along the lyrics with liner notes equally as much as shut off and let the twangs wash over me.
#2 - WHAT IS THE ONE MOVIE OR TV SHOW THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE NEXT IN EVERYBODY’S NETFLIX QUEUE (OK, DOESN’T HAVE TO BE NETFLIX, WE’RE ALL INTERNET ADULTS HERE AND KNOW HOW TO FIND ANYTHING ONLINE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER)?
Be Kind Rewind, the heartwarming story of a rundown video store in god’s heartland (New Jersey) fighting for their history to be remembered against the violent tides of the very American economy.
Jack Black, Danny Glover, and Mos Def! Come on!
#3. I (AND BY “I” I MEAN “THE PERSON THAT IS READING THIS”) AM GOING TO THE LOCAL BOOK STORE (OK, MAYBE THE LOCAL LIBRARY FIRST) TO FIND THE VERY NEXT BOOK THAT I WILL BE PUTTING SOME EXTREMELY VALUABLE ‘ME-TIME' ASIDE FOR. WHICH BOOK WOULD YOU GET, IF YOU WERE ME (AND, I SUPPOSE, YOU HADN’T ALREADY READ WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO SUGGEST)?
If you can find a copy of David Berman’s book of poetry Actual Air, everyone needs to read that at least once in their lives.
And then they need to call me before they buy it and tell me it’s there, so I can come down and buy it for myself before they get a chance to because it’s very hard to find.
#4 - WHAT IS THE ONE WEBSITE (OR JUST ANY OLD INTERNET THING: APP, GIF, SERVICE, WHATEVER) THAT YOU WOULD GET REALLY DOWN IN THE DUMPS ABOUT IF IT WERE TO SUDDENLY GO AWAY?
There’s a plug-in for Chrome called “Transpose” that can change the playback speed and pitch of media being played in your browser.
Totally essential for any musician trying to transcribe chicken-pickin’ solos they improvised on a record and then all of a sudden need to learn before tour. Not that I would know anything about that.
#5 - AND FINALLY… PLEASE GIVE ONE COMPLETELY UNAIDED RECOMMENDATION THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD START DOING / USING / WATCHING / EATING / THINKING / QUITTING / ETC-ING TO MAKE THEIR LIVES A LITTLE BIT MORE BETTER AND/OR BEARABLE.
The weather is getting so nice here in the east/Midwest USA. There are four times a year when the seasons change and you can feel the very specific sensation of being reminded how different things can be by mowed grass smell.
Get coffee with your friends and walk there (or more likely drive with the windows down). Try to remember the casual joy the universe is handing out! Also, listen to Little Feat.
OK folks, there you have it. Things that Brewster think you should consider incorporating into your day/life. Before you log off and go remind yourself of the casual joy the universe has on offer, make sure to follow Brewster on the Facebook / Instagram / Twitter and then also give ‘Honey Shake Me’ a listen below…
