So it didn't take me too long to get around to mentioning Sheena Easton again. Say what you will, but she got me into music. First album i ever bought. Just fell in love with "Morning Train" How my parents never knew is beyond me.
Now, interesting fact. That song hit #1 in the US, but NOT in the UK. Sheena only had one number 1 in the uk...the followup, Modern Girl (which peaked at like #19). I loved this song--i thought it was a little hipper (!!!!) than Morning Train. OK, i didnt think that then. I think it now? Ok, its not hip. I embarass myself and digress.
Can i just reference the lyrics?
He wakes and says hello, turns on the breakfast show
She fixes coffee while he takes a shower
Hey that was great, he said, I wish we could stay in bed
But I got to be at work in less than an hour
She manages a smile as he walks out the door
She's a modern girl who's been though this movie before
Chorus:She don't build her world 'round no single man
But she's gettin' by, doin' what she can
She is free to be, what she wants to be'
N all what she wants to be, is a modern girl
Na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na, she's a modern girl
It looks like rain again, she takes a train again
She's on her way again through London town
Where she keeps a tangerine, flicks through a magazine
Until it's time to leave her dreams on the underground
She walks to the office like everyone else
An independent lady, takin' care of herself
chorus: She's been dreaming 'bout it all day long
As soon as she gets home, it's him on the telephone
He asks her to dinner, she says I'm not free
Tonight I'm going to stay at home and watch my TV
I don't build my world 'round no single man
But I'm gettin' by, doin' what I canI am free to be, what I want to be
'N all what I want to be, is a modern girl
Na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na, she's a modern girl
Na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na, she's a modern girl
OK does that not rock or what. Don't you love the sexually blase beginning. Folks, this was 1981!!!! If this ain't a feminist anthem, what is. Its Sleater-Kinney as a Scottish lass! She doesn't want to hang out with her man...TV is enough!
Sheena sings it very straightforward, not surprising. Its very i'm-gonna-make-it and all.
As i grew older and hipper and cooler and more ashamed of my love for Sheena Easton, i began to rationalize "you know, that's actually a cool song, if only somebody would record it for a cool TV show." Is it so not Bridget Jones diary or Sex In The City?
Enter Camera Obscura. Yup! Why am i not running a label (LOL...haven't you heard the Camera Obscura version on the radio...oh wait, that's why!). This band i will forever love for recording this song. They get it!
Interestingly, some 25 years later, the songs lyrics sound different, especially sung by Camera Obscura. Sheena sings this song like its an anthem, an incantation. Hell, she was 20 and it was the early 80's....all faux Thatcher/Reagan economic optimism. She shoulds like she is going to march in and start at secretary and poof! within years, she's the CEO. So 80's.
Tracyanne Campbell sings it very differently. There is something sad about the way the lyrics sound with her. Its basically a totally different interpretation of the lyrics. Her Modern Girl sounds like somebody whose done this time and time again, and isn't really believing that this or any job will amount to much for her. She might be waiting for a guy to come around. Or she might not. Even if he does, i don't think she's so sure he'll work out to be such a prince. Basically , she's happy about going out for drinks with the girls. That she is sure of.
Basically, the tangerine takes on ALOT more significance.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Revenge Of The Slits
Same Old Song-Tulipomania
I don't know a damn thing about this band. This is a grimey bluesy song that makes me want to know a whole hell of a lot more. I love ramshackle songs that barely hold themselves together. That's this song. Somewhat funky, but again, in a sort of non-committal away (its like a tentative kiss).
Earthbeat-The Slits
And they are back! After some 25 years...what are they now, say 30. They were like 12 when the first record came out. This is mature, but not in a VH-1 behind the music way. It sounds like you think the Slits would sound after 25 years. I want to hear the CD...now. This track: imagine if the original lineup of Bananarama was abducted by the natives in the King Kong film...then released a record. Now imagine that as a VERY GOOD THING. There you go...genius.
If you don't know who they are, you should be embarassed. And not mildly. Where there are the Slits, you will find the Go-Go's. And Bananarama. But not the Spice Girls.
Take Care, O Pilgrim-Inch Time
One of those tracks i just cannot describe. So somebody is fucking around on synths....with some vaguely hip-hop track playing. And somebody else keeps pressing some alarm and buzzer. And then your friend comes over and starts fucking around on his sax. And it all works. Beyond-the-wicked of cool, yet vaguely menacing.
The Light-White Magic
After hearing/reading so much about White Magic in the last 3-4 weeks, via papers and reviews, i finally got to hear something. Apparently you can lump them in with Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom and new folk. i am fairly dubious of that whole category to begin with (not necessarily the artists, both examples i like, but the whole category). This is the Siouxsie Sioux of folk, which must be an oxymoron. All i have to say about White Magic track is this...think of some 8 year old playing a very simple piano track while his piano teacher, who is secretly a witch, starts doing incantations. That about sums it up...hey, actually my Siouxsie Sioux reference was not bad. Hear more.
I don't know a damn thing about this band. This is a grimey bluesy song that makes me want to know a whole hell of a lot more. I love ramshackle songs that barely hold themselves together. That's this song. Somewhat funky, but again, in a sort of non-committal away (its like a tentative kiss).
Earthbeat-The Slits
And they are back! After some 25 years...what are they now, say 30. They were like 12 when the first record came out. This is mature, but not in a VH-1 behind the music way. It sounds like you think the Slits would sound after 25 years. I want to hear the CD...now. This track: imagine if the original lineup of Bananarama was abducted by the natives in the King Kong film...then released a record. Now imagine that as a VERY GOOD THING. There you go...genius.
If you don't know who they are, you should be embarassed. And not mildly. Where there are the Slits, you will find the Go-Go's. And Bananarama. But not the Spice Girls.
Take Care, O Pilgrim-Inch Time
One of those tracks i just cannot describe. So somebody is fucking around on synths....with some vaguely hip-hop track playing. And somebody else keeps pressing some alarm and buzzer. And then your friend comes over and starts fucking around on his sax. And it all works. Beyond-the-wicked of cool, yet vaguely menacing.
The Light-White Magic
After hearing/reading so much about White Magic in the last 3-4 weeks, via papers and reviews, i finally got to hear something. Apparently you can lump them in with Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom and new folk. i am fairly dubious of that whole category to begin with (not necessarily the artists, both examples i like, but the whole category). This is the Siouxsie Sioux of folk, which must be an oxymoron. All i have to say about White Magic track is this...think of some 8 year old playing a very simple piano track while his piano teacher, who is secretly a witch, starts doing incantations. That about sums it up...hey, actually my Siouxsie Sioux reference was not bad. Hear more.
Blitzkreig Bop-The Ramones
It's my favorite Ramones song. As often is the case with me, its the first song i ever heard by them. I love the way they sing the word Bop. Brilliance in simplicity. Favorite Ramones song. nothing more to say.
Cheree-Suicide
Is there some kind of award we can give this guy. This shit was so ahead of its time, its remarkable. This song is actually very beautiful, which is not always true about other Suicide tracks. Well, they may be pretty, but they generally tend to be eerie. Like if you read the lyrics, you'd think "oh, he likes that girl" and then you hear it and you think "ok, he's going to kill and eat her."
wait...sorry, i just turned it on while i was writing. I was right, but wrong about this song. This song is fucking beautiful, but its freakin' scary....:Oh baby, oh baby, have you, cheree cheree, my comic book fantasy...i love you...oh baby" and at this point the eerie chimes kick in and then the weird chimes (ala Tubular Bells kick in).
Its beyond genius. But scary. This sounds like this could have been recorded from anytime in history. As long as you had a nutjob. That primal.
It's my favorite Ramones song. As often is the case with me, its the first song i ever heard by them. I love the way they sing the word Bop. Brilliance in simplicity. Favorite Ramones song. nothing more to say.
Cheree-Suicide
Is there some kind of award we can give this guy. This shit was so ahead of its time, its remarkable. This song is actually very beautiful, which is not always true about other Suicide tracks. Well, they may be pretty, but they generally tend to be eerie. Like if you read the lyrics, you'd think "oh, he likes that girl" and then you hear it and you think "ok, he's going to kill and eat her."
wait...sorry, i just turned it on while i was writing. I was right, but wrong about this song. This song is fucking beautiful, but its freakin' scary....:Oh baby, oh baby, have you, cheree cheree, my comic book fantasy...i love you...oh baby" and at this point the eerie chimes kick in and then the weird chimes (ala Tubular Bells kick in).
Its beyond genius. But scary. This sounds like this could have been recorded from anytime in history. As long as you had a nutjob. That primal.
The red look your lips get when you drink too much wine...it sounds like that
Psychocandy-The Jesus & Mary Chain (my paen to Liz and Molly, who better 'get' this)
In the John Hughes film of my revised teenage years, i cannot decide whether or not i want to be kissed by Ralph Macchio at of 1:29 of "Just Like Honey" or at of "The Hardest Walk." Wait...ok, i think "Just Like Honey" would serve as maybe the closing credits...right about 2:06 i go back to the guy who originally dissed me. Like Pretty In Pink. Or do i end up with the guy who pines away (ala Ducky)....AKA Some Kind Of Wonderful. I think I'd use "The Hardest Walk" for the breakup scene...clearly the moment where he sings "Don't want you to need me..." over and over and Ralph is devastated.
Beautful, loud, fucked-up, its just devastating in its delivery....i remember hearing this and thinking there was nothing else like it. Its so beautiful...like some kind of cotton candy that's actually laced or actually insulation (i actually ate insulation once cause it looked like it)...sweet yet bitter...i cannot say enough about Psychocandy...hey, there you go...perfect title.
It meant so much to me them...it was the sound of the world outside my little Loverboy-lovin' (no, i wasn't Lovin' Ever Minute Of It) Indiana town. Its the record you'd make if you wanted to feel what it was like to have your heart broken, but had no fuckin' clue what that meant. It sounds like desire.
In the John Hughes film of my revised teenage years, i cannot decide whether or not i want to be kissed by Ralph Macchio at of 1:29 of "Just Like Honey" or at of "The Hardest Walk." Wait...ok, i think "Just Like Honey" would serve as maybe the closing credits...right about 2:06 i go back to the guy who originally dissed me. Like Pretty In Pink. Or do i end up with the guy who pines away (ala Ducky)....AKA Some Kind Of Wonderful. I think I'd use "The Hardest Walk" for the breakup scene...clearly the moment where he sings "Don't want you to need me..." over and over and Ralph is devastated.
Beautful, loud, fucked-up, its just devastating in its delivery....i remember hearing this and thinking there was nothing else like it. Its so beautiful...like some kind of cotton candy that's actually laced or actually insulation (i actually ate insulation once cause it looked like it)...sweet yet bitter...i cannot say enough about Psychocandy...hey, there you go...perfect title.
It meant so much to me them...it was the sound of the world outside my little Loverboy-lovin' (no, i wasn't Lovin' Ever Minute Of It) Indiana town. Its the record you'd make if you wanted to feel what it was like to have your heart broken, but had no fuckin' clue what that meant. It sounds like desire.
PRK Vs. WD
Amazing label named Sublime Frequencies. Tons of cool stuff (check out their website)--i am sure i will write about them again. They kind of specialize in these amazing records which compile all these rare and obscure tracks from different countries in Asia. There is a whole series called Thai Beat-A-Go-Go, which feature all sorts of 60's and 70's tracks.
Radio Pyongyang: Commie Funk And Agit Pop from The Hermit Kingdom
This is possibly the strangest. Its essentially an audiocollage of music off the radio...military marches, strange pop, commercials (i think), karaoke, i think something resembling opera.....all broadcast at some point from North Korea. I suppose some people might like some context to the tracks...but he just assembles them into 8 distinct tracks.
Honestly, its alot of fun. And strange. Very. But from it i think you get this weird sense of the crazy control that goes into the propoganda (thats on here...broadcast in English). Its all so intricately planned...there is no rock on here...it all sounds like....well, for the life of me i couldn't figure it out...
and then i thought..., no not the Hermit Kingdom, but the Magic Kingdom. This sounds like the music played all over the park...there were many moments on this disc where i could imagine a 7 foot tall Tweedledee chasing me. The reference is probably not that far off...is there anyone more controlling of their "propoganda" than Kim Jong-Il and Walt Disney. Oh yeah, Walmart. Very cool.
Radio Pyongyang: Commie Funk And Agit Pop from The Hermit Kingdom
This is possibly the strangest. Its essentially an audiocollage of music off the radio...military marches, strange pop, commercials (i think), karaoke, i think something resembling opera.....all broadcast at some point from North Korea. I suppose some people might like some context to the tracks...but he just assembles them into 8 distinct tracks.
Honestly, its alot of fun. And strange. Very. But from it i think you get this weird sense of the crazy control that goes into the propoganda (thats on here...broadcast in English). Its all so intricately planned...there is no rock on here...it all sounds like....well, for the life of me i couldn't figure it out...
and then i thought..., no not the Hermit Kingdom, but the Magic Kingdom. This sounds like the music played all over the park...there were many moments on this disc where i could imagine a 7 foot tall Tweedledee chasing me. The reference is probably not that far off...is there anyone more controlling of their "propoganda" than Kim Jong-Il and Walt Disney. Oh yeah, Walmart. Very cool.
Before you go and shoot your load, you better know your hanky code
Hanky Code-Peaches
Is there a list for the gayest songs ever? This is most certainly on it. Its possibly the gayest thing Peaches has done. And for the Jewish Canadian bisexual feminist rapper, that's saying a whole hell of a lot. I am surprised this didn't make the actual CD and ended up a B-side...how does she determine that exactly...i mean, how did this song not make it on there. In any event, i think she is one of the more fun and interesting artists out there...most of the time, i think her attempts at subversiveness work. No surprisingly, this ode to leather men and the different meanings attached to the hankies is hilarious. I kinda wanted to hear her describe more of the act attached to aqua, violet, black etc etc. But no matter...props for even coming up with this song. This is off the "Downtown" single i believe...which is also includes the wicked Simian Mobile Disco mix of "Downtown". Favorite lyric: If you're wearing black on the right, then you know you're gonna hurt tonight. Didn't Madonna spend her entire career trying to come up with something like that. No, wait, Madonna is good at taking subversive and making it mainstream. Peaches is good at making subversive fun and poppy.
Revelee-Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom (Carl Craig Remix)
Off of the DFA label...but not punk-funk.....actually i am not sure what the original sounds like. No matter. This is sublime intricate techno...it sounds like it could be from anytime in history. Driving yet not trancey...hypnotic as all get-out. Honestly, if this song dropped onto a sweaty dark dance floor at 2 a.m., you'd feel fucking high. Whether you were or not. Brilliant.
Is there a list for the gayest songs ever? This is most certainly on it. Its possibly the gayest thing Peaches has done. And for the Jewish Canadian bisexual feminist rapper, that's saying a whole hell of a lot. I am surprised this didn't make the actual CD and ended up a B-side...how does she determine that exactly...i mean, how did this song not make it on there. In any event, i think she is one of the more fun and interesting artists out there...most of the time, i think her attempts at subversiveness work. No surprisingly, this ode to leather men and the different meanings attached to the hankies is hilarious. I kinda wanted to hear her describe more of the act attached to aqua, violet, black etc etc. But no matter...props for even coming up with this song. This is off the "Downtown" single i believe...which is also includes the wicked Simian Mobile Disco mix of "Downtown". Favorite lyric: If you're wearing black on the right, then you know you're gonna hurt tonight. Didn't Madonna spend her entire career trying to come up with something like that. No, wait, Madonna is good at taking subversive and making it mainstream. Peaches is good at making subversive fun and poppy.
Revelee-Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom (Carl Craig Remix)
Off of the DFA label...but not punk-funk.....actually i am not sure what the original sounds like. No matter. This is sublime intricate techno...it sounds like it could be from anytime in history. Driving yet not trancey...hypnotic as all get-out. Honestly, if this song dropped onto a sweaty dark dance floor at 2 a.m., you'd feel fucking high. Whether you were or not. Brilliant.
Does Night Fall Like A Grand Piano?
Hyacinths And Thistles-The 6th's
I was going to just write about one song on this CD, but then i listened to it again and decided to just write about the whole disc. The 6th's is one of the many guises of Stephen Merrit, who is one of the best lyricists in music. As Magnetic Fields, he wrote the opus "69 Love Songs" and also records as Future Bible Heroes (more of an 80's bent) and The Gothic Archies (more of a gothic bent, not surprisingly). The 6th's is his project where he brings in other singers to record songs. I find that many of the songs have a vague Bacharach-esque 60's feel to them. As a whole, this maybe shouldn't work...he brings in people as diverse as Marc Almond (of Soft Cell), Odetta (the folk singer), Sarah Cracknell of Saint Etienne, Gary Numan and Bob Mould of Husker Du (among others...the list kinda goes on and on). Maybe this shouldn't work, but its a beautiful CD, despite the diverse cast. Its kinda hard to pick a favorite...i love everything on this disc and think it has such feeling of hopeless romanticism. Although he can write about anything, he seems best when his heart's been broken. The chorus on "Just Like A Movie Star" (with Dominique A) is gorgeous....a slightly swirling carnivalesque feel. Sarah Cracknell is tailormade to sing these song of 60's influenced pop songs (if there is a more underappreciated vocalist in pop music, somebody tell me). She shines on "Kissing Things" all wistful and broken. Odetta is magnificent with her cracked voice on the vaudevilleish "Waltzing Me All The Way Home." Its hard to pick a favorite.
But i have one, of course.
"I have lain awake, through the longest hours, whether to cry or to scream. You can take my heart, it was always yours, but give me back my dreams".....Sally Timms of the Mekons on the gorgeous understated remarkably sad "Give Me Back My Dreams". Its 3:04 of all the feelings you go through when you lay awake and miss somebody. Simple as that.
Don't Come Down Here-Serena Maneesh
This self-titled CD by Norway's Serena Maneesh ended up on quite a few best lists. I liked it...but i thought it was a bit overrated. It suffers from being very good, very loud yet kinda forgettable in spots. Yet it has moments. And i am not exactly sure if its good for a band to have 3-4 great fantastic songs on a good solid but somewhat standard record. Does it make it better, or does it just highlight what could have been.
So "Don't Come Down Here"....you hear My Bloody Valentine mentioned as soon as their are 3 guitar tracks laid over them. Most of the time, that reference is a horrible fit....almost all bands will suffer from any comparisons to Loveless. What made that record so amazing, and what so few people who try to do that sound get, is that Kevin Shields and Co. buried actual songs under all the haze and fuckedupedness of the sound. This song gets that perfectly--even with the hard driving break in the middle. The melody keeps moving along through the haze...its just sheer wistfulness. I hope their next record has more of this.
I was going to just write about one song on this CD, but then i listened to it again and decided to just write about the whole disc. The 6th's is one of the many guises of Stephen Merrit, who is one of the best lyricists in music. As Magnetic Fields, he wrote the opus "69 Love Songs" and also records as Future Bible Heroes (more of an 80's bent) and The Gothic Archies (more of a gothic bent, not surprisingly). The 6th's is his project where he brings in other singers to record songs. I find that many of the songs have a vague Bacharach-esque 60's feel to them. As a whole, this maybe shouldn't work...he brings in people as diverse as Marc Almond (of Soft Cell), Odetta (the folk singer), Sarah Cracknell of Saint Etienne, Gary Numan and Bob Mould of Husker Du (among others...the list kinda goes on and on). Maybe this shouldn't work, but its a beautiful CD, despite the diverse cast. Its kinda hard to pick a favorite...i love everything on this disc and think it has such feeling of hopeless romanticism. Although he can write about anything, he seems best when his heart's been broken. The chorus on "Just Like A Movie Star" (with Dominique A) is gorgeous....a slightly swirling carnivalesque feel. Sarah Cracknell is tailormade to sing these song of 60's influenced pop songs (if there is a more underappreciated vocalist in pop music, somebody tell me). She shines on "Kissing Things" all wistful and broken. Odetta is magnificent with her cracked voice on the vaudevilleish "Waltzing Me All The Way Home." Its hard to pick a favorite.
But i have one, of course.
"I have lain awake, through the longest hours, whether to cry or to scream. You can take my heart, it was always yours, but give me back my dreams".....Sally Timms of the Mekons on the gorgeous understated remarkably sad "Give Me Back My Dreams". Its 3:04 of all the feelings you go through when you lay awake and miss somebody. Simple as that.
Don't Come Down Here-Serena Maneesh
This self-titled CD by Norway's Serena Maneesh ended up on quite a few best lists. I liked it...but i thought it was a bit overrated. It suffers from being very good, very loud yet kinda forgettable in spots. Yet it has moments. And i am not exactly sure if its good for a band to have 3-4 great fantastic songs on a good solid but somewhat standard record. Does it make it better, or does it just highlight what could have been.
So "Don't Come Down Here"....you hear My Bloody Valentine mentioned as soon as their are 3 guitar tracks laid over them. Most of the time, that reference is a horrible fit....almost all bands will suffer from any comparisons to Loveless. What made that record so amazing, and what so few people who try to do that sound get, is that Kevin Shields and Co. buried actual songs under all the haze and fuckedupedness of the sound. This song gets that perfectly--even with the hard driving break in the middle. The melody keeps moving along through the haze...its just sheer wistfulness. I hope their next record has more of this.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
A dog and I have no idea what they are talking about
O Fridur-Sigur Ros
I could put something up by Sigur Ros daily...i love them that much. I remember the first time i heard them, i was blown away. I described it once as Radiohead and Pink Floyd being abducted by aliens and returning to the earth...via Iceland. Its interesting that they have become so popular. But good. One of my favorite things about them is Jon Birgisson's voice....incredibly strong yet feminine and ethereal. Ghostly of sorts. Funniest thing i ever read about them...when the first CD came out, the New York Times and Spin, tripping over themselves to remain hip and relevant, called his voice the most important female voice to come down the pipe in decades. Or something like that. Whats hilarious is that they fucked up the gender.
Keeping in mind that i think they could sing the phonebook and get away with it (although that might be better suited to Mogwai), this is a actually a b-side to the single "Saeglopur". Its somewhat minimal...it just starts with a loop being played, possibly backwards. This goes on for a minute and a half..slowly building. Then the plaintive sad vocals comes in, repeating a phrase over and over. Its stunningly beautiful.
Old Blue-Joan Baez
I could go on about Joan Baez...her committment to leftist politics, how many of the nu-folk/new-folk (???) revival cannot hold a candle to her etc etc. This song, which i had a very difficult time finding, is on some very old record and about 2 1/2 minutes long. It just starts with her singing in very old timey lyrics about dog Old Blue while playing the guitar. The refrain is her calling (and you can imagine her in the back of a field or yard calling "c'mon blue, you good dog you." At the end, she describes his death with indelible imagery "old blue died and he died so hard, shook the ground in my backyard. Dug a grave with a silver spade, load him down with links of chain. Every link i did call his name..." and here she starts this cry to him.
Where did i hear it? My father...when i was like 6 or 7 years old, would come home from working a long long shift at Inland Steel. He would put on the record, shut off the lights in the living room, smoke a cigarette and listen to this song. Often this song would make me cry, i like most kids, was incredibly upset at the idea of a dog dying (i got hysterical during old yeller, yell, i got hysterical during dumbo and he was only separated from his mother). This song will always remind me of my father. And is one of the many reasons that i think Joan Baez has one of the most remarkable and unique voices of the last century.
I could put something up by Sigur Ros daily...i love them that much. I remember the first time i heard them, i was blown away. I described it once as Radiohead and Pink Floyd being abducted by aliens and returning to the earth...via Iceland. Its interesting that they have become so popular. But good. One of my favorite things about them is Jon Birgisson's voice....incredibly strong yet feminine and ethereal. Ghostly of sorts. Funniest thing i ever read about them...when the first CD came out, the New York Times and Spin, tripping over themselves to remain hip and relevant, called his voice the most important female voice to come down the pipe in decades. Or something like that. Whats hilarious is that they fucked up the gender.
Keeping in mind that i think they could sing the phonebook and get away with it (although that might be better suited to Mogwai), this is a actually a b-side to the single "Saeglopur". Its somewhat minimal...it just starts with a loop being played, possibly backwards. This goes on for a minute and a half..slowly building. Then the plaintive sad vocals comes in, repeating a phrase over and over. Its stunningly beautiful.
Old Blue-Joan Baez
I could go on about Joan Baez...her committment to leftist politics, how many of the nu-folk/new-folk (???) revival cannot hold a candle to her etc etc. This song, which i had a very difficult time finding, is on some very old record and about 2 1/2 minutes long. It just starts with her singing in very old timey lyrics about dog Old Blue while playing the guitar. The refrain is her calling (and you can imagine her in the back of a field or yard calling "c'mon blue, you good dog you." At the end, she describes his death with indelible imagery "old blue died and he died so hard, shook the ground in my backyard. Dug a grave with a silver spade, load him down with links of chain. Every link i did call his name..." and here she starts this cry to him.
Where did i hear it? My father...when i was like 6 or 7 years old, would come home from working a long long shift at Inland Steel. He would put on the record, shut off the lights in the living room, smoke a cigarette and listen to this song. Often this song would make me cry, i like most kids, was incredibly upset at the idea of a dog dying (i got hysterical during old yeller, yell, i got hysterical during dumbo and he was only separated from his mother). This song will always remind me of my father. And is one of the many reasons that i think Joan Baez has one of the most remarkable and unique voices of the last century.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Ahh...ok...sorry...so much for daily :) This will be a brief posting...computer is down at home and i was busy and couldn't get going today. Hey, its a Monday.
Homeless Club Kids-My Favorite
I don't know much about this band. I ended up getting their double CD, which as remixes on the second CD (hit or miss). I originally heard this on a compilation...i think the first time i had it on low and not on my headphones and it just kinda whizzed past me. You know how that happens...how you listen to a CD a million times and then just one time, you hit on a song for the "first time"...you pay attention differently, the lyrics catch you, something.
This song kinda happened to me like that. Its almost shockingly beautiful in this very swirly Cure "Disintergration" kind of way. It doesn't sound like the Cure necessarily, it just has this epic sweep like many of the tracks on that record did...how layers kept coming in adding to the mix. Sung in a slightly atonal beautiful female voice, this is more of a dance floor record, which is fitting because its lyrically all about the dance floor. Its opening line is "when the dance floor's full the kids all look so beautiful." And the refrain "the ghost of dead teenagers sing to me while i am dancing." I mean, fucking beautiful.
I am not sure what My Favorite intended, but i find it ineffably sad and melancholic yet somehow future looking and hopeful. I feel we've all had those moments on the dancefloor, those moments where we are disconnected and self-analytical and we realized that we are in this mass of people, connecting to a beat yet somehow lost and alone. We often think of past lovers and regrets while out there. I don't think thats necessarily sad, perhaps more melancholic. But incredibly solitary, if thats an expression.
The song always reminds me of dancing in gay bars. Maybe i am reading too much into it, but i am often cognizant of the "missing" men in bars. Men who were just cut down in the early part of life. One day they were strutting away to Grace Jones and Arthur Russell and ESG and Shannon in a total escape from the 80's and 90's. Maybe this was their only place where they could be themsleves. and then they are gone. I feel that, particularly in places like the West Village and the Castro, i feel like their are ghosts there. So maybe their ghosts are dancing with us. And good for them...maybe thats the melancholia we feel. I mean, dancing is primal to begin with. So maybe we are connecting through the rhythm strings and beat, to something that we lost.
My Favorite might have some other great tracks. I like alot of them on the disc. But i keep coming back to this, over and over and over. I mean:
"the disremembered stars are as bright and lost as fireflies in jars"
I wont even bother to try to find an adjective to describe that.
Homeless Club Kids-My Favorite
I don't know much about this band. I ended up getting their double CD, which as remixes on the second CD (hit or miss). I originally heard this on a compilation...i think the first time i had it on low and not on my headphones and it just kinda whizzed past me. You know how that happens...how you listen to a CD a million times and then just one time, you hit on a song for the "first time"...you pay attention differently, the lyrics catch you, something.
This song kinda happened to me like that. Its almost shockingly beautiful in this very swirly Cure "Disintergration" kind of way. It doesn't sound like the Cure necessarily, it just has this epic sweep like many of the tracks on that record did...how layers kept coming in adding to the mix. Sung in a slightly atonal beautiful female voice, this is more of a dance floor record, which is fitting because its lyrically all about the dance floor. Its opening line is "when the dance floor's full the kids all look so beautiful." And the refrain "the ghost of dead teenagers sing to me while i am dancing." I mean, fucking beautiful.
I am not sure what My Favorite intended, but i find it ineffably sad and melancholic yet somehow future looking and hopeful. I feel we've all had those moments on the dancefloor, those moments where we are disconnected and self-analytical and we realized that we are in this mass of people, connecting to a beat yet somehow lost and alone. We often think of past lovers and regrets while out there. I don't think thats necessarily sad, perhaps more melancholic. But incredibly solitary, if thats an expression.
The song always reminds me of dancing in gay bars. Maybe i am reading too much into it, but i am often cognizant of the "missing" men in bars. Men who were just cut down in the early part of life. One day they were strutting away to Grace Jones and Arthur Russell and ESG and Shannon in a total escape from the 80's and 90's. Maybe this was their only place where they could be themsleves. and then they are gone. I feel that, particularly in places like the West Village and the Castro, i feel like their are ghosts there. So maybe their ghosts are dancing with us. And good for them...maybe thats the melancholia we feel. I mean, dancing is primal to begin with. So maybe we are connecting through the rhythm strings and beat, to something that we lost.
My Favorite might have some other great tracks. I like alot of them on the disc. But i keep coming back to this, over and over and over. I mean:
"the disremembered stars are as bright and lost as fireflies in jars"
I wont even bother to try to find an adjective to describe that.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
the best things i've heard in 2006
so i thought the first thing to do was a "best of 2006" list. it'll kinda catch everyone up on what i think they need to hear. note: its the best of 2006 in the sense that its the best things i heard in 2006. so if its something older (as in not released in 2006) i still included it. i am not the new york times, so i don't feel i need to be that accurate...
ok here goes
RECORDS:
Aux Sources Du Rai-Cheikha Remitti
I've always like Algerian rai music. I first bought Chaba Fadela in like 93 or 94...i read a review in Alternative Press, which was still cool at the time and a huge source for cool music recommendations. [It has since become the home of every Blink 182 soundalike band and actually recommended an Ashlee Simpson record...a long way from Diamanda Galas, who i learned about and purchased from AP]. If I ever DJ'd out i'd play "Hana Hana" by Chaba Fadela in a second...totally infectious party music. Cheika Remitti is considered the grand dame of Algerian rai, i believe, and her music is much more mournful and sad. But stunningly beautiful. She died this year in Paris. Whats kinda interesting about her is that she sang songs about sex & drinking which were traditionally not sung by women in public...so she caused a great deal of controversy, i believe.
Aerial-Kate Bush
If I did the Grammys, which i loathe, this would be Record of the Year. Its rather shocking in how good it is...basically Kate takes 12 years or so off, then comes back with a double CD with no obvious singles, birdcalls and other strange samples and affects. The songs: she singsa bout her washing machine, child and motherhood, among other things. Its pretentious, but like most things pretentious, when they succeed, they are remarkable. And this is remarkable. First time i heard it, i was at the gym getting ready to work out and i was in a horrible horrible mood. I put it on and just laid in the yoga room and listened to the first disc straight through. At the end, i was happy. Very few artists can actually write a joyous song and pull it off...Kate's done it numerous times in her career (Hounds Of Love is astonishing...Eat The Music....The Big Sky). This whole record is the sound of joy.
Ys-Joanna Newsom
Speaking of pretentious. How about a record with 12-minute songs from a harpist? With lyrics such as
"And all those lonely nights down by the riverBrought me bread and water, water inBut though I tried so hard my little darlingI couldn't keep the night from coming inAnd all those lonely nights down by the riverI was brought my bread and water by the kith and the kinNow in the quiet hour when I am sleepin'I cannot keep the night from comin' "
Yeah, she says kith. Its beautiful, intimate and latenight. I love it
It's So Hard To Tell Who' Going To Love You The Best-Karen Dalton
This got reissued this year, so i guess it falls in 2006. But it was actually recorded in the early 70's. Its a very Sunday morning record--she only released 2 cd's before ending up homeless and crazy. Very beautiful and fragile at times...she shoulds like Billie Holiday doing folk.
Fox Confessor Brings The Flood-Neko Case
This is on everyone's list, i know. But its a great CD. At first i was a bit underwhelmed...i felt some of the songs were actually too short and not as immediate as Blacklisted, which is fantastic. After a few listens, i was hooked. And not many in pop/country/rock music have a better more expressive voice than Neko Case.
The Avalanche-Sufjan Stevens
And these are the other 20 or so songs that DIDN'T make Illinois. Wow, his castoffs are better than 95% of other artists originals. Endlessly interesting and entertaining.
The Warning-Hot Chip
Cool cool cool pop music.
The Greatest-Cat Power
She could record anything and i'd put it on my best-of list. This is very soulful and has a Memphis-sounds. Ever since Moon Pix i've dug her smoky dark voice. Favorite song: Good Woman off of "You Are Free"
Silent Shout-The Knife
Their last record featured quite a few great songs, including one of the best singles i've heard in the last 5 years, Heartbeats. Then Karin Dreijer added her voice to "What Else Is There" by Royksopp, which has to be one of the best remix packages of the year (most notably the Trentemoller mix). This is a brother-sister duo from Sweden...very young and intense. She has a wraith-like voice...somewhere in the Bjork family, but slightly gothic and very scary. This CD is much darker than the stuff they've done in the past...very industrial soundscape-ish. Serious brilliance.
So This Is Goodbye-Junior Boys
Know how everyone raved about the Postal Service record, but were actually talking about the two fantastic singles. This is the CD they wanted "Give Up" to be...quirky, different, beautiful and charming all the way through.
Another Thought-Arthur Russell
Arthur Russell was a member of the NY "downtown" scene and had two famous tracks...."Is It All Over My Face" as Loose Joints and "Go Bang" as Dinosaur L. In the last few years more of his music has come out. Its amazing and so ahead of its time (sometimes its unclear what "time" its from). This has a classical bent...very echoey and underwater. He was famous for editing his tracks over and over and these tracks have lots of loops and are sometimes very dense. I read once that he had very bad skin and was always very shy about going out to the NY gay bars because of it. He died of AIDS very young. To me his music always sounds very sad and fragile and beautiful.
IBM 1401: A User's Manual-Johann Johannsson
This is considered "modern classical" whatever that means. The first track is a huge orchestral number---very sweeping and vast and sounds like a score to a movie. The whole record is astonishingly good. Somebody described this to me in the store as ambient, which is way off. Even if you didn't like any of the first 4 cuts on the record, this is worth it for track 5, "The Sun's Gone Dim And The Sky's Turned Black". This has an actual IBM 1401 computer talking...it sounds like a sad lovesong sung by the computer in 2001: Space Odyssey. Remarkable.
Melody Mountain-Susanna & the Magical Orchestra
Beautiful quiet late-night folk music via Norway. Very sad and eerie in spots. Also weird--its all covers. Most inspired choice "crazy crazy nights" by KISS. Yeah, that KISS. Sung as an elegy.
Through The Windowpane-Guillemots
I initially resisted this--it was raved about in the British music magazines and they are kinda a Next Big Thing in England. Often the next big thing from England is the risible Oasis or the way-overrated Arctic Monkeys or a band like Mansun or the Manic Street Preachers. When i heard it i was floored. I dont know how to describe it...i read somewhere it sounds like Jeff Buckley and Brian Wilson singing the songs of Bjork. Accurate...i don't know. But close. But that brilliant and sweeping and courageous. Its genius. Debut of the year for sure. A work of remarkable beauty.
SINGLES
We Share Our Mother's Health-The Knife (Original & Trentemoller mix)
My Love-Justin Timberlake
Hung Up-Madonna
In Silence-Pet Shop Boys
C'mon-A Sunny Day In Glasgow
All This Love-The Similou
I Will Follow You Into The Dark-Death Cab For Cutie
MOST EMBARASSING GUILTY PLEASURE OF THE YEAR
Unwritten-Natasha Bedingfield
AMAZING LIVE EXPERIENCES
Jose Gonzalez
Magnet (Leslie...Carlos and I know what you did, despite having 8 whiskeys apiece
Stars
Diamanda Galas (on Valentines Day no less!!!)
Sigur Ros
OK--thats it, i think. I am sure i am missing something but i'll put it in here on another day. This is a good start i think. A
ok here goes
RECORDS:
Aux Sources Du Rai-Cheikha Remitti
I've always like Algerian rai music. I first bought Chaba Fadela in like 93 or 94...i read a review in Alternative Press, which was still cool at the time and a huge source for cool music recommendations. [It has since become the home of every Blink 182 soundalike band and actually recommended an Ashlee Simpson record...a long way from Diamanda Galas, who i learned about and purchased from AP]. If I ever DJ'd out i'd play "Hana Hana" by Chaba Fadela in a second...totally infectious party music. Cheika Remitti is considered the grand dame of Algerian rai, i believe, and her music is much more mournful and sad. But stunningly beautiful. She died this year in Paris. Whats kinda interesting about her is that she sang songs about sex & drinking which were traditionally not sung by women in public...so she caused a great deal of controversy, i believe.
Aerial-Kate Bush
If I did the Grammys, which i loathe, this would be Record of the Year. Its rather shocking in how good it is...basically Kate takes 12 years or so off, then comes back with a double CD with no obvious singles, birdcalls and other strange samples and affects. The songs: she singsa bout her washing machine, child and motherhood, among other things. Its pretentious, but like most things pretentious, when they succeed, they are remarkable. And this is remarkable. First time i heard it, i was at the gym getting ready to work out and i was in a horrible horrible mood. I put it on and just laid in the yoga room and listened to the first disc straight through. At the end, i was happy. Very few artists can actually write a joyous song and pull it off...Kate's done it numerous times in her career (Hounds Of Love is astonishing...Eat The Music....The Big Sky). This whole record is the sound of joy.
Ys-Joanna Newsom
Speaking of pretentious. How about a record with 12-minute songs from a harpist? With lyrics such as
"And all those lonely nights down by the riverBrought me bread and water, water inBut though I tried so hard my little darlingI couldn't keep the night from coming inAnd all those lonely nights down by the riverI was brought my bread and water by the kith and the kinNow in the quiet hour when I am sleepin'I cannot keep the night from comin' "
Yeah, she says kith. Its beautiful, intimate and latenight. I love it
It's So Hard To Tell Who' Going To Love You The Best-Karen Dalton
This got reissued this year, so i guess it falls in 2006. But it was actually recorded in the early 70's. Its a very Sunday morning record--she only released 2 cd's before ending up homeless and crazy. Very beautiful and fragile at times...she shoulds like Billie Holiday doing folk.
Fox Confessor Brings The Flood-Neko Case
This is on everyone's list, i know. But its a great CD. At first i was a bit underwhelmed...i felt some of the songs were actually too short and not as immediate as Blacklisted, which is fantastic. After a few listens, i was hooked. And not many in pop/country/rock music have a better more expressive voice than Neko Case.
The Avalanche-Sufjan Stevens
And these are the other 20 or so songs that DIDN'T make Illinois. Wow, his castoffs are better than 95% of other artists originals. Endlessly interesting and entertaining.
The Warning-Hot Chip
Cool cool cool pop music.
The Greatest-Cat Power
She could record anything and i'd put it on my best-of list. This is very soulful and has a Memphis-sounds. Ever since Moon Pix i've dug her smoky dark voice. Favorite song: Good Woman off of "You Are Free"
Silent Shout-The Knife
Their last record featured quite a few great songs, including one of the best singles i've heard in the last 5 years, Heartbeats. Then Karin Dreijer added her voice to "What Else Is There" by Royksopp, which has to be one of the best remix packages of the year (most notably the Trentemoller mix). This is a brother-sister duo from Sweden...very young and intense. She has a wraith-like voice...somewhere in the Bjork family, but slightly gothic and very scary. This CD is much darker than the stuff they've done in the past...very industrial soundscape-ish. Serious brilliance.
So This Is Goodbye-Junior Boys
Know how everyone raved about the Postal Service record, but were actually talking about the two fantastic singles. This is the CD they wanted "Give Up" to be...quirky, different, beautiful and charming all the way through.
Another Thought-Arthur Russell
Arthur Russell was a member of the NY "downtown" scene and had two famous tracks...."Is It All Over My Face" as Loose Joints and "Go Bang" as Dinosaur L. In the last few years more of his music has come out. Its amazing and so ahead of its time (sometimes its unclear what "time" its from). This has a classical bent...very echoey and underwater. He was famous for editing his tracks over and over and these tracks have lots of loops and are sometimes very dense. I read once that he had very bad skin and was always very shy about going out to the NY gay bars because of it. He died of AIDS very young. To me his music always sounds very sad and fragile and beautiful.
IBM 1401: A User's Manual-Johann Johannsson
This is considered "modern classical" whatever that means. The first track is a huge orchestral number---very sweeping and vast and sounds like a score to a movie. The whole record is astonishingly good. Somebody described this to me in the store as ambient, which is way off. Even if you didn't like any of the first 4 cuts on the record, this is worth it for track 5, "The Sun's Gone Dim And The Sky's Turned Black". This has an actual IBM 1401 computer talking...it sounds like a sad lovesong sung by the computer in 2001: Space Odyssey. Remarkable.
Melody Mountain-Susanna & the Magical Orchestra
Beautiful quiet late-night folk music via Norway. Very sad and eerie in spots. Also weird--its all covers. Most inspired choice "crazy crazy nights" by KISS. Yeah, that KISS. Sung as an elegy.
Through The Windowpane-Guillemots
I initially resisted this--it was raved about in the British music magazines and they are kinda a Next Big Thing in England. Often the next big thing from England is the risible Oasis or the way-overrated Arctic Monkeys or a band like Mansun or the Manic Street Preachers. When i heard it i was floored. I dont know how to describe it...i read somewhere it sounds like Jeff Buckley and Brian Wilson singing the songs of Bjork. Accurate...i don't know. But close. But that brilliant and sweeping and courageous. Its genius. Debut of the year for sure. A work of remarkable beauty.
SINGLES
We Share Our Mother's Health-The Knife (Original & Trentemoller mix)
My Love-Justin Timberlake
Hung Up-Madonna
In Silence-Pet Shop Boys
C'mon-A Sunny Day In Glasgow
All This Love-The Similou
I Will Follow You Into The Dark-Death Cab For Cutie
MOST EMBARASSING GUILTY PLEASURE OF THE YEAR
Unwritten-Natasha Bedingfield
AMAZING LIVE EXPERIENCES
Jose Gonzalez
Magnet (Leslie...Carlos and I know what you did, despite having 8 whiskeys apiece
Stars
Diamanda Galas (on Valentines Day no less!!!)
Sigur Ros
OK--thats it, i think. I am sure i am missing something but i'll put it in here on another day. This is a good start i think. A
My Mission Statement
Alright, I've been saying I was going to do this for ages...and here it is. My music blog. How online has survived without me this long, I don't know. I guess the idea behind this is to share my thoughts on whatever it is I am listening to. God knows i listen to enough music, i should share the wealth! As well as connect with other people who are the same kind of dork I am. The first record i ever bought? "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes. First album...the first Sheena Easton record (Yes, there many...). Granted not the coolest of purchases. But they kicked off my lust to hear new sounds. For me, music is attached to my soul...its such an indicator of how i am feeling.
I branched out considerably (although i still love Sheena Easton and much 80's cheese)...i remember when i received 3 cassettes for my 16th birthday: "the queen is dead" by the smiths, "spleen and ideal" by dead can dance and "hyaena" by siouxsie & the banshees. and my world changed forever. i remember listening to "dazzle" and the long orchestra intro kick into siouxsie's voice and thinking "wow, this is like nothing i'd ever heard on the radio." I am from a small farming/steel town in Indiana, so it wasn't exactly a bastian of new sounds and great culture.
How i came up with the name? There was this great record store in Chicago (since closed, unfortunately) that I used to love to go and dig thru. Many great finds there. I always thought the name was very cool. So i guess its a tribute to them.
I branched out considerably (although i still love Sheena Easton and much 80's cheese)...i remember when i received 3 cassettes for my 16th birthday: "the queen is dead" by the smiths, "spleen and ideal" by dead can dance and "hyaena" by siouxsie & the banshees. and my world changed forever. i remember listening to "dazzle" and the long orchestra intro kick into siouxsie's voice and thinking "wow, this is like nothing i'd ever heard on the radio." I am from a small farming/steel town in Indiana, so it wasn't exactly a bastian of new sounds and great culture.
How i came up with the name? There was this great record store in Chicago (since closed, unfortunately) that I used to love to go and dig thru. Many great finds there. I always thought the name was very cool. So i guess its a tribute to them.
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