Muriel Grossmann
Devotion
scum stats: couple hundred on colored vinyl, worth your effort to grab one of those
A troll through the old "record of the week" archives shows that I first wrote about Muriel back on August 9th, 2019 with absolute GLOWING praise of her Golden Rule LP.
Now, over four years later, Third Man has released our very own Muriel album. I'm of the mindset that people overuse the term "blessed" to the point where it's lost most of its power. Yet in spite of that, I feel blessed to in a position where I am able to work with an artist that has personally moved me in an effort to help share their music, their art, with the wider world.
The tunes here are adventurous. Starting the record with a 20+ minute song is the epitome of brave, and that vibe continues across the entirety of the two discs this album is spread across. I don't know very much about spiritual/free jazz, I just know that Muriel's music makes me happy.
So in the spirit of that, in celebration of Devotion release day, I'm giving away a colored vinyl copy of the album to a comment placed here. Maybe I'll pick at random? Maybe I'll actually read them? Maybe if you write beautifully about music that you just inherently love in spite of knowing nothing about it I'll gift you a copy of the test pressing instead. Just get your comment locked in here by 11:59 Central time on Thursday December 7th.
I don’t understand most music, honestly. But I sure have a good time.
I just really need this in my life!
Please sir, I want some more.
Gloriously vertiginous! Dig the visualizer to boot. Cheers III Men and Women
I know my first name is common, like Jack’s is. I liked the 7” from vault 56.
I’m as old as dirt. You would think my want list would be getting smaller. Nope, I still love discovering new music.
I have a confession to make… my Spanish is terrible. I should know it. I understand some of it, but speaking it is difficult for me. But when I was in 9th grade, a good friend who played trumpet in band invited me to join his mariachi band that his dad started. They needed a violin player and I had been in orchestra for 4 years. I would go to his house on Wednesday nights to practice for Saturday gigs. We all had to sing the chorus if we weren’t playing, which of course is in Spanish. I sang my heart out without knowing what the heck I was singing. Las Mañanitas, El Rey, La Reina es El Rey, were fun to sing but I didn’t really know much about them until years later. I went on to play in a larger mariachi group. They would blast their favorite mariachi singers in the car on the way to the next gig. And even at the gigs, seeing the moms smile and cry on Mother’s day and the happy people dancing and singing at quinceaneras made me not just enjoy mariachi, but appreciate what an impact it’s had on so many people.
Random? That’s my middle name! Well it isn’t but if it were, that’d be really random.
I’m hoping you pick me at random! Thank you.
Listened to the whole album Friday while finishing up Jules Verne’s “From the Earth to the Moon” thereafter I went to the theater to see Godzilla Minus One, that album was the tomato on my BLT of a day, absolutely astounding!