Just like everyone else, we look to the promise of better times in 2022. Foremost, of course, is to be finally free from this pandemic.
And we also look forward to the music that will surely come. Whether from solo acts, bands, or whatever configuration it comes in, we eagerly await that music release from someone whose time to shine is up. We like to be blown away again the same way when first we heard Japanese Breakfast, when they released their remarkable third album “Jubilee.”
It was a pleasure having interviewed its singer-guitarist-songwriter Michelle Zauner, who at the time we talked to about a new single and an eventual album.
Zauner was then at the cusp of being a New York Times bestselling author with her debut book “Crying In H Mart.” There, Zauner “details the devastating loss of her mother, exploring their relationship through a lifetime of shared meals,” writes Rolling Stone. A compelling creative, Zauner is Korean from her mother's side, but grew up in the US, who then formed a band called Japanese Breakfast. We loved “Jubilee” and we have a feeling that it is the perfect soundtrack to her hit memoir.
And speaking of tomes, we’d also like to get our hands on these titles, released in 2021 but it’s still good for the new year.
“The Storyteller” by Dave Grohl.
Anything Dave Grohl has to say must be good. Especially when it is about the music he’s made with the main bands that he’s been on. There’s bound to be an interesting anecdote from him about the band he’s had with Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic. And maybe there’s something here about what it’s like being in the most influential band of the 1990’s. And yeah, there might be an interesting thing or two about the current band he’s in now. “The Storyteller” is Dave Grohl’s chronicle on how it was when he started playing along to The Beatles as a kid, to being the youngest member of a punk band (Scream) to his eventual rock and roll destiny as a member of two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bands. Don’t even have to mention those bands because I know you know them too.
“The Lyrics” by Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney has been all over the place in a good way in 2021. He had “McCartney III Imagined” album reinterpreted by the likes of Beck, Phoebe Bridgers, St. Vincent and the like. Then there’s that special with Rick Rubin wherein they dove in-depth at Beatles recordings. And who hadn’t seen the epic “Get Back” series from Peter Jackson that revived everybody’s dormant love and interest for The Beatles?
Then there’s “The Lyrics.” A two-volume book which shed light on the stories behind the lyrics of all the songs written by Paul McCartney in his legendary music career. Macca said in a statement, “More often than I can count, I’ve been asked if I would write an autobiography, but the time has never been right. The one thing I’ve always managed to do, whether at home or on the road, is to write new songs.”
“I know that some people, when they get to a certain age, like to go to a diary to recall day-to-day events from the past, but I have no such notebooks. What I have are my songs, hundreds of them, which I’ve learned serve much the same purpose, and these songs span my entire life.”
Call it a resolution. We’d like to read more this 2022.