The Legendary Marvin Pontiac - Greatest Hits [2000]

Playing a card off Baywatch's stack, here is a slice from John Lurie's one-off under the pseudonym of Marvin Pontiac. Released at the turn of the century, one of my housemates at the time picked it up and listened to it fairly regularly. I was intrigued by random samples of it as I went about my day, but whenever I would sit down and listen to the entirety I was always a bit put off. The experience was somewhat like looking at the Seven Sisters of Pleiades: whenever it was bouncing on the periphery it was engaging, but when I stared straight at it, something disappeared. Lurie's ever-present jokey atmosphere just didn't have me laughing then. With folks like Marc Ribot and Bill Ware on board, I kept giving this album chances and over time it beat me down. I'm now a disciple of Marvin.


Join the monastery.


Lurie is so respected the allmusic guide allows Marvin Pontiac an artist listing.

John Lurie - Stranger Than Paradise OST, Down By Law OST (1984, 1986)

Inspired request from Curry, who claims he can't live without (albeit temporarily flint). We know only too well what he means. Can't count how many times I've seen these films, let alone listened to their soundtracks. I bought both as soon as I they hit the racks (of Round Records in Rogers Park as I recall), and I managed to hold onto them for 25 years. Both are inspired pieces of music that stand well enough alone -- even without the flickering screen to support them -- but Stranger Than Paradise, especially, is a master-fucking-piece-of-work. As I recall, Lurie composed on piano while watching the film, then scored his pieces for a chamber quartet, that was recorded at a church in NYC. This record was a critical soundtrack throughout our college years (for those times when we were actually studying). And even today, when it's dull and white outside, Stranger is the perfect dose of austere cold comfort.
This, for me, is quite simply, the elegant, elegiac essence of sonic melancholia.

Hear Stranger Than Paradise

Hear Down By Law