Epic Dancing Guy at Willie Nelson Concert

For those that are avid BDWPS readers, I want to apologize for the lag in writing as of late. If you listen to the podcast, you know that I recently moved from San Antonio to Minneapolis. This past few weeks I’ve been getting acclimated to my new job, and as you may suspect, I’ve been pretty stressed out. As a result, it has been ten days since my last post, a major no-no considering I make it a goal to have a post a week. The video below is not earth-shattering and it’s likely you’ve seen it before, but if you enjoy watching people make fools of themselves as much as I do, it will suffice for this week’s post. I promise to get back to my writing schedule once I’m all settled in here in Minnesota. Thank you for your patience.

Tame Impala “Currents”

Tame Impala

Currents

[Interscope; 2015]

RATING: 8.5

I think Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker is slowly becoming a real life version of Don Draper. The obvious connection can be seen in their shared creative brilliance – Draper in the fictional world of Mad Men with his ability to come up with advertising ideas off the cuff and Parker’s track record of releasing psychedelic pop music tailored for the 21^st century. But the connection goes deeper than just their mutual ingenuity. The similarity I see is in how both struggle with change.

During the final two seasons of Mad Men, many loyal fans jumped ship due in large part to the show’s retreading of familiar tropes. Unlike most dramas, the antagonist never really showed growth. Instead, he continued his cycle of infidelity and alcoholism, followed by a fleeting realization of his mistakes before returning back again to his vices. Even the finale suggested that he hadn’t really changed during his West Coast spirit quest, finding only an idea for a Coke advertisement waiting for him on the cliffs of Big Sur. Instead of seeing Mad Men mastermind Matthew Weiner as a pessimist, I like to believe he wanted to show the struggles found in the human condition, that internal yearning for change and growth followed by the eventual return to our bad habits.

BDWPS Podcast #38

In this month’s episode we check out new tracks from Leon Bridges, Katie Dey, Wilco, The Internet, Wavves X Cloud Nothings, and This Is The Kit. I also discuss the Bob Weir documentary on Netflix and discuss Bob Dylan’s “Blood On the Tracks.” You can check it out HERE or even better yet, go subscribe to the podcast at either iTunes or Stitcher.

TRACKLIST:
Leon Bridges “Coming Home”
Katie Dey “Unkillable”
Wilco “Random Name Generator”
The Internet “Girl”
Wavves X Cloud Nothings “Come Down”
This Is The Kit “Spores All Settling”
Grateful Dead “That’s It For The Other One”
Bob Dylan “Simple Twist of Fate”