Today we welcome Sputveteran Josh D. to the Digbox. Boy, can he dig!

Over to you, Josh D.. Good luck!

It’s me, the user that’s been on this site for almost half his life. And still, somehow, I can’t seem to remember any site features that really jingled my dingle. But when I saw the birth of Digbox, I thought “cool”. Every other user-posted list is for recs or current digs, so a short but more curated version in blog form is a welcome variation. Especially for me since I write a review every 4 years or so. As for the songs below, I tried to choose things that might be vaguely familiar at best to maximize the amount of unheard music for everyone. This is also the reason I chose people from different eras, surroundings, and styles. Gotta show how eclectic we are while we’re at it. And we’re off:

[“Digbox” – reimagined by SandwichBubble, 2021]

Susumu Yokota – “Purple Rose Minuet”

I hype this album every chance I get to obtain that cool “I love this album you’ve never heard of, check it out” cred, assuming the person likes it after listening. Symbol consists of Susumu’s electronic stylings mixed with samples of classical music, and “Purple Rose Minuet” draws in the piano from Debussy’s “Clair De Lune” to underscore the most dreamy orchestral offering from the album. It’s a blend that almost feels out of place here due to the seemingly incongruous tempo of the piano in the full mix, but he works it so well. No longer with us, he made this in 2005, but it still sounds ahead of its time. Is anyone else doing this kind of stuff? Not that I know of.

Minnie Riperton – “Baby, This Love I Have”

If the cover art of Adventures in Paradise (Minnie sitting calmly next to a lion) tells you anything, it’s about the mellow nature of the music within. And its lead track delivers the smooth, soulful theme in spades, showing off the brilliant arrangement of Larry Carlton and ace production of husband Richard Rudolph. In the peak of its era, Minnie didn’t give in to the popularity of disco and let her vocal range be her own guiding light. And shine brightly it does on this track. She has songs that are much more known than this, of course, you know them. But this one has a foot in both camps between the slow and soft and the groovy R&B. She pulls them off flawlessly.

Arnor Dan – “Stone by Stone”

Ah, Iceland: what do we picture? Reykjavik and the Northern Lights, that’s all I’ve got. But maybe that’s enough for inspiration because those people know how to churn out some tunes. Arnor Dan has his band Agent Fresco, but many people might know him from his vocal contributions to Olafur Arnalds. In 2018 he released this song that sort of encapsulates what goes on out on that frozen island. Motoring stick-like percussion pushes along swelling synths and strings into a cold, airy feeling you’d expect from someone living around permafrost. His calming sotto voce and falsetto lift the song to its resting place of serenity. I need an album of this, Arnor, get on it.

90 Day Men – “A National Car Crash”

I really don’t know anything about 90 Day Men, just that they’re from St. Louis and this song. At nearly nine minutes, it’s a journey. The main thrust is a somewhat disjointed marriage of lovely piano meandering and oddly strummed guitar. It manages to be beautiful before a drone gives way to a confusing turn into a confusing outro that’s really a noisier version of the aforementioned. All in all this is the sort of music I feel like I normally dislike, but I’ve enjoyed this song for a long time. So there’s something about it, and I don’t think it’s the soft spoken word that mumbles over the top of everything. And to boot, bizarre lyrics which include calling Morrissey a bitch. It’s a good tune. Weird, but good.

Gino Paoli – “Vivere Ancora”

If you’re familiar with older Italian music, Gino is an obvious pick. He wrote “Il Cielo In Una Stanza” famously sung by Mina (and wonderfully by Mike Patton on Mondo Cane) and has released studio albums since 1961. But I always have to give it up for a guy that 1) had songs including this one conducted by Ennio Morricone, and 2) tried to kill himself with a gunshot to his chest, but he survived and the bullet is still in there. The star of the show of course is his voice, a duo of smooth and soaring atop the gorgeous music. The music itself contains the common structure of chill verses and raised dynamics and instrumentation in the choruses. But the crescendo of the outro puts it over the top as Gino’s final note stretches his vibrato over dancing strings and waltzing brass as it fades out. It’s a satisfying end.

<Thank you Josh D.!. Savoury stuff all round; what a lovely range of picks!>

<Who will be the next Digbox Person. Will it be you?>