SOUNDTRACK: PINO PALLADINO + BLAKE MILLS-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #225 (June 17, 2021).
This is a mellow, jazzy set with four musicians all playing at equal strength. I’ve only heard of Blake Mills (although I might be getting him mixed up with Buck Meek or James Blake or Mike Mills). But apparently I should know more of them.
Pino Palladino is a prolific bassist whose sound you’re already intimately acquainted with (even if you don’t know it). Blake Mills, a guitarist and two-time Grammy nominee for producer of the year, has an impressive catalog of his own. Together, in the studio, the topshelf sidemen are in their element, distilling the sonic creativity that is the first release under Palladino’s name, Notes With Attachments.
“Just Wrong” opens the set
Eight pulsing calls from saxophonist Sam Gendel usher us into “Just Wrong“ a melodic meditation that unfolds like a blossom in timelapse. Guitar, bass, sax and Abe Rounds’ colorful dustings of percussion in this song are magical; we soar with the musicians through varied repetitions of the melody before they gently set us back on our feet.
All three musicians slowly play one note to start. Then Pino Palladino meanders up the neck of his fretless bass while Blake Mills plays higher and higher chords on the guitar. Then he switches to an interesting picked note melody while Abe Rounds adds gentle percussive bells. Sam Gendel on the sax plays the main lead while Paladino adds gentle harmonics. Eventually the drums get louder and Mills and Gendel seems to be responding to each other with leads. Gendel’s sax sounds like it’s processed in interesting ways, making unusual sounds.
“Ekuté,” is a tune that explores traditional West African music, jazz and rock influences with a few modern touches of technology.
A soft shaker opens the song as Palladino plays a fretted bass melody as a lead. Gendel starts adding in some swirling sax melodies before Mills throws in some cool wah wah guitar forms. As the song takes off it’s like a conversation between guitar and bass, both more or less playing lead. Gendel lays some random skronking sax notes over the bed the guitars lay down. Eventually the song settles into a nice groove while Mills plays a fascinatingly complex solo.
“Djurkel” the final offering in this set, is also experimental in nature. Palladino’s trademark bass sound lies in the cut, the fertile ground on which Mills, Gendel and Rounds dance dreamily around each other.
This one opens with sax and guitar washes before Palladino takes over with a cool lead bass line. Mills is playing a fretless guitar on this songs, allowing him to create a really interesting mix of sounds.
I really enjoyed the diverse amount of sounds and the mellow exploration that this set provided.
[READ: June 27, 2021] Heartstopper 3
I’ve really enjoyed this series so far and I’m quite pleased to see that there’s going to be another book after this.
This book centers around a school trip to Paris. Both Charlie and Nick had signed up already.
After Charlies’ mom signs the permission, he bashfully says he has something to tell them. His dad jokingly says “Are you trying to come out again, because we already know.” Charlie laughs and then tells them about Nick and his parents are very happy because they saw how much he liked him. But Nick is definitely banned from sleepovers forever now. (Dad, stop saying “hanky panky.”)
When Nick sees Charlie at school the next day, Nick tells him that he came out to his mum last night and she was really supportive, too. They share a kiss and Nick jokes tat kissing at school is still a terrible idea.
In a later scene Nick’s friends Christian, Sai and Otis apologize to Nick for what happened that night when Nick got into the fight with Harry–they admit that they should have told Harry to fuck off. They all agree that they like Charlie and the four are friends again. When Nick walks away one of them says what was I supposed to say we know you and Charlie are a thing and that’s fine??
Later, after the rugby coach sees the two of them kissing, she calls Nick into her office After offering him the position of captain, she says that she met her wife at university.
People gave us a lot of shit. Things are a little better now but you never know.
It’s a nice moment.
Followed by an unpleasant one, when Nick’s brother has come home from university. He says to Nick that he is talking to Charlie to meet the guy who turned his brother gay. It turns ugly with Charlie lamenting why does being out have to be so complicated.
But there’s the Paris trip, which is definitely going to be cool. The chaperones say…no rooming between boys and girls which gets groans from everyone except for Tara and Darcy and Charlie and Nick. (more…)
