WINDOWS WIDE OPEN
New Adds to the Audio Library, Live Music, Liner Notes, & New Music Playlist
Doesn’t that warm sun feel nice? ☀️
The trees and flowers are in bloom, the birds are chirping again, and daylight doesn't fade until just past 8 p.m. I weeded and planted flowers this weekend, met some new neighbors, listened to a lot of new music, and got my daily dose of Vitamin D while planting and visiting the ocean nearby.
It’s also great to have the windows wide open again, allowing that coastal summer breeze to politely intrude on the Sunday morning jazz playing from the turntable…
NEW MUSIC THIS WEEK
Not much brand new music this week, but there were plenty of newly pressed reissues, music new to me, that I discovered. From perusing Bandcamp to ordering a few albums from Forced Exposure, I have plenty of new sounds to explore this week.
First, here’s something I found on Bandcamp from Brownswood Recordings. It’s a limited-edition compilation celebrating the label’s rich, global catalog. It was founded in 2006 by broadcaster and English DJ Gilles Peterson. It’s worth a listen!
I didn’t visit any record stores this weekend, but a few new albums did land on my doorstep, and I’m looking forward to getting them on the turntable beginning today.
Some of the new LP titles include…
Arthur Russell, Love Is Overtaking Me (Audika Records), a collection of Arthur's folk, pop, and country songs.
Art Ensemble of Chicago, People In Sorrow (Play Loud!) was originally released by EMI's Pathé Marconi imprint in 1969. It’s a 40-minute piece by the quartet that has been unavailable on vinyl or CD for a long time.
Marlena Shaw's The Spice of Life (Vampisoul), also released in 1969, is her second and final studio album for Cadet Records. The album weaves together soul, funk, jazz, gospel, and blues. I’m really looking forward to this one!
And with that, let’s get into some more music talk, shall we?
LIVE MUSIC
Natural Information Society at Space
Portland, Maine | May, 2026
I ventured up Route 95 last Thursday evening for some delicious tacos at Taco Escobarr, a quick arcade visit to get the high score on Galaga, followed by a fine live show from Natural Information Society, almost next door at Space in downtown Portland, Maine.
I have a few albums by this NIS, and I’m somewhat familiar with two of the members, one being a member of BASIC, who I’ll see next month, opening for Tortoise — but that’s another story…
It was my first time seeing them perform live, and it was worth the drive up in the downpouring rain. They performed one piece of music to a sold-out crowd that lasted about 72 minutes. The band consists of founder Joshua Abrams on guimbri and electronics, Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Mikel Patrick Avery on drums, and Jason Stein on bass clarinet.
It’s hard to describe this music because it’s jazz, psychedelic, raga, avant-garde, and experimental, but to me, it sounded great. If you’re a fan of Bitchin’ Bajas or Chicago Underground Duo, you might also dig Natural Information Society.
LINER NOTES
Sharing stories about albums in my collection. My mission is simple: one record and one story at a time. Since I bought my first record in 1982, I’ve been obsessed with the stories hidden in the grooves. This is a sanctuary for the music nerds and the audibly curious, dedicated to records and the liner notes that keep them alive.
Cocteau Twins, Heaven or Las Vegas (4AD, 1990)
It was the spring of 1991 and my senior year of high school was nearly done. I remember visiting Strawberries Records & Tapes on Woodbury Ave. in Portsmouth where they had just reorganized the bins to make room for CDs (those long cardboard boxes that stood as tall as the LPs they were replacing).
You’d flip through them the same way. as vinyl, with the same half-second appraisal of the cover art. And that’s where I found Heaven or Las Vegas. Or maybe it found me?
4AD released the album in September 1990 and it was produced by Robin Guthrie, who also played guitar and programmed the drum machines. Elizabeth Fraser handled all the vocals. The cover art was pure dream logic. It was full of blurred color, no hard edges, it was nothing that wanted to explain itself. It was very 4AD at the time.
I drove home from Strawberries in my 1979 Ford Fairmont with the CD popped into the Sony Discman, running through a cassette adapter into my car’s tape deck. Somewhere on that drive, “Cherry-Coloured Funk” arrived. I tried, but eventually gave up trying to understand exactly what Fraser was singing. Her voice was acting as another instrument, treated and layered by Guthrie into something between a choir and a synthesizer. It was blissfully gorgeous and I was hooked.
Back home, I played the whole album again on my brand new Sony five-disc carousel. Bedroom door closed, lights low. “Heaven or Las Vegas” and “Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires” were pure ethereal dream pop for me... The melancholy was there, and so were the gothic undertones. The whole album felt weightless.
Critics have been catching up ever since. Pitchfork gave the album a perfect 10 in their Classic Albums series and NME called it one of the finest British albums of its era.
I still have that original CD. About ten years ago, on a trip to London, I walked into Rough Trade East near Brick Lane and found the reissued LP. It came home with me without a second thought. Two formats, thirty-plus years apart, and the album still holds the same kind of power it did in that Ford Fairmont.
Heavenly is exactly the right word. I won’t argue.
If this album is new to you, start with “Cherry-Coloured Funk” and “Iceblink Luck.”
PLAYLIST
🎧 New Music Playlist: May 2026
Here’s a collection of ten new songs, from many genres, released this month. Let me know your thoughts and enjoy!
SHOLTO & Phoebe Coco — Everything Is Stolen Anyway
Kevin Morby — Field Guide For The Butterflies
Dua Saleh — Flood (feat. Bon Iver)
Future Islands — The Ink Well
Deer Tick — ACI
of Montreal — Already Dreaming
Aldous Harding — Coats
Fruit Bats — That Goddamn Sun
Graham Coxon — Alright
Jasmine Myra — Some Rain Must Fall
Records, Anytime.
If you’re looking for new or gently used vinyl and CDs, I have a small, handpicked online vinyl shop run from my small room. It’s a delightful collection of Folk, Rock, Jazz, Electronic, and Indie records. Feel free to peruse at nocturnalmusic.net
Until next time, thanks again for reading. I know it’s been a few weeks since my last newsletter arrived in your inbox, but I’ll be back again next week. 🙏
I appreciate all your comments and notes.