Jam of the Week: "Turn Me Up" by Twin Shadow

I struggled pretty mightily with this Jam of the Week selection. My heart wanted to go with something off The Magic Whip because, obviously, that's all I want to talk about right now. But then there were too many options. "Ong Ong" was the obvious choice, since the weather's been great. But all I want to do is fixate on "My Terracotta Heart" forever!! But also, I'm super enchanted by "Ice Cream Man," and especially the fact that, as of now, the band still has no idea how to play it live! I think there are so many interesting things going on in "There Are Too Many of Us," I could probably talk about that for a solid day and a half! In the end, there were too many options and I got overwhelmed. Plus Blur was already the mixtape of the week, so I decided I needed to take a step back. An enormous step back. Right off a cliff. So, this week's jam is going to be "Turn Me Up" by Twin Shadow.

If you're feeling iffy on this, I'm going to beg you to stick around until at least about the 1:30 mark when shit gets real. This whole album is full of these sweeping, cinematic, climactic jams. The dial is on eleven on almost every track, which makes it literally the most perfect album ever recorded for night runs, especially on empty-ish city streets, especially when your emotions are feeling too big for your skin and you want to channel them into something that can take them.

This is also because I was so happy to see the band playing again after their tour bus crash a few weeks ago. For those unaware, in late April the band was involved in a multi-vehicle collision that left their driver and their drummer hospitalized in serious condition. Frontman George Lewis Jr. had to undergo reconstructive surgery on his hand and the tour was postponed. On Wednesday night, the group (minus Bauer, still in the hospital) played their scheduled musical appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, performing a stirring, stripped-down version of "I'm Ready" and a lovely cover of Sade's "No Ordinary Love", with the assistance of Zoe Kravitz. I'm glad to see the accident isn't setting the band back too far, and I'm hoping everyone makes full recoveries. The album, Eclipse, is currently streaming on Spotify and is available for purchase on iTunes, if you're digging it and looking for a way to throw them some support.