Week Four: SOUND | Arthur Verocai – Arthur Verocai Arthur Russell – First Thought Best Thought

I initially intended to highlight some essential soundtrack albums this week, but while thumbing through records I felt suddenly compelled to celebrate some Arthurs in stead. “Personal paradise” is kinda the phrase that comes to mind for both of these albums. While I’m more of a cold weather head, the liminality of the first real summery day of the season still gives me a shock of almost anxious joy, the kind you feel as a kid on the last day of school, staring down three months of nothing in particular to do (and how rad that felt then). Arthur Verocai will have some serendipitous moments for listeners versed in deep-cut hip hop samples. This album is so damn cool and imbued with the meticulous vibery that Brazilians a la Gilberto, Gil, Costa, Veloso, Jobim, Valle, Mutantes, etc. etc. do so well. A phrase my mom likes to use comes to mind: “take a trip without leaving the farm.” This album will have you perspiring like a summer night in Rio– enjoy with a cool drink. First Though Best Thought, more of an ice-cold Miller album, is a collection of long-form vignettes from outsider maestro Arthur Russell. Arthur manages to spin enlightening aural excursions out of deeply personal turmoil, creating breezy meditations that are often as Martian as they are Midwestern. Although this music was released posthumously, it nevertheless feels like a treatise on personal reflection and trusting one’s intuition. Just as an aside, “Instrumentals Volume 2 – Part 2” is oddly reminiscent of Fumio Hayasaka’s excellent score, and specifically the title track, for Seven Samurai (also highly recommended viewing/listening). – DT