When people who love music speak of life altering events, there is inevitably one story mixed in describing the album purchase that guided them firmly down the righteous musical pathway. Sometimes it’s earth shattering, causing people to dump entire record collections of teenage naiveté. For others, it’s a sign guiding them down a two-way street that doesn’t discount past teachings, rather it builds a new road that takes them someplace wonderful they’ve never been.
This happened to me in the first year of the new century, when Paste Magazine recommended Twilight as Played by the Twilight Singers. I remember driving down to the now defunct Manifest Discs and Tapes in Wilmington, North Carolina, and picking it up. I shelved it for the night, but upon my return after a night like many other college nights, I played it for the first time at around 3 AM while falling into bed fully clothed.
What came out of the speakers that night forever changed the musical experience for me. I remember lying on my back, staring up, and thinking if I made music, this is how it would sound. From the opening note of the record, a hauntingly tapped piano, I was enamored by every project Greg Dulli has ever touched. I was able to listen to Afghan Whigs albums for the first time. 1965 immediately stood out as one of those perfect albums we find so rarely throughout life. Each Twilight Singers album released grew alongside me.
Since Powder Burns was released five years ago, life has moved on at an ever increasing pace. Dulli projects, like The Gutter Twins, were welcomed and wonderful, but that fire still burned for a proper Twilight Singers release.
We’re finally getting close…about a month away. And as songs are slowly released, like “Blackbird and the Fox,” which features Ani DiFranco, the anticipation of experiencing a collective Dulli vision is intensified.
We’re one step closer today with our Jam of the Day, “On the Corner,” which is the the first single from the new record awesomely entitled Dynamite Steps. It in no way disappoints, starting as just a simple fuzzy drum-machine beat, but in true Twilight fashion, builds into something so grand you forget how it even got there.
Listen to it below, or download it by clicking the arrow on the right side. And if you don’t yet have a Twilight Singers album, please go pick one or all of them up. Greg Dulli is a damn national treasure, and I, for one, cannot wait to salute his ass once again when Dynamite Steps drops February 15th via Sub Pop. Grab the pre-order here.