PASSIVE /|\ ACTIVE 02
or: Listening Habits for February 2025
February was born of illness in the Roberts household as my kiddo brought home pieces of the flu and/or RSV from school. It was also when the second stylus on my turntable broke in the last 7-8 months or so. The joys of parenthood, lemme tell you.
Anyway - this is going up later than I planned (ok, a day later), so let us dive into February’s Passive /|\ Active column, shall we?
One of my favorite albums from 2024 was Box For Buddy, Box For Star, a joyous collection of sadness from Nate Amos aka This Is Lorelei. It’s an album I was hesitant to listen to at first last summer - not a big fan of Water From Your Eyes (yet?) but it was a great listen, for many reasons, whilst in NYC last summer. Especially one of my favorite songs from last year, “Where’s Your Love Now?” I suffered a heartbreak for certain, but not that kind.
The two albums that have stuck out as records that deserve repeated listens so far from the young 2025 are from Horsegirl and Sharon Van Etten + (her new backing band) The Attachment Theory. The former strips back all the fuzz and grime of their debut LP Versions of Modern Performance and makes some gorgeous catchy guitar tunes produced by Cate Le Bon at Wilco’s Loft in their hometown of Chicago. Meanwhile, Etten decided to bring her touring band into the fold fulltime, adding many a great synth and groovy bass line. Teeny Lieberson of Here We Go Magic, TEEN, and her own Lou Tides fame, is a fantastic foil.
I’m very excited to see Yo La Tengo later this month. It’ll be the 16th time, and my third March in a row where my best friend and I will see them together. I swear, if they end up doing shows next March Voss + I will have make a trip just to keep the streak alive. And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out turned 25 last weekend; I have notes to try something long form on it before too .. long.
Yes I am still going hard on the Grateful Dead front. I restarted the album catalog from the beginning (the first three do nothing for me, but Live/Dead hell yes). Getting through some of the official live records (Europe ‘72 for the win). Also, Bobby’s solo LP Ace — what in the sam hill is "Mexicali Blues” cause I love it.
Oh - new Cloakroom is aces, speaking of that phrase. New Squid, solid. Speaking of my son, he turned 3 a few weeks back. When we came home from the hospital, Lucifer On The Sofa from Spoon was new and on the porch so it was the first album he ever heard. An anniversary I like to keep each year.
Excited that Perfect Teeth, a perfect album from the perfect band Unrest is getting a loving new 2xLP reissue this Spring. Always means that it’s a good time to listen to Air Miami’s lone LP, Me. Me. Me. as well.
Songs from the above mentioned + the ol’ graphic are on this here handy playlist below: