Debut-ST
First single, hey...it's the debut single of ST, who is actually Stefan Ternemar. Its beautiful airy romantic pop...reminds me of the love child of the Postal Service and the Pet Shop Boys. I don't know yet if this is actually my favorite song off of the record yet (the album in question is "People I Barely Know". The song is all hug yourself lovey dovey. I could go on and on and on (I have before) but I know I'll write about him again...anyone who writes the lyric "if I had to pick a reason, I'd blame it on teenagers."
Homecoming-Teenagers
"On day two, I fucked her, she was such a slut." Oh how we've all been there (switch around the gender as necessary...). Pretty hilarious and pretty great...again, I always say this, but this time, I mean it...if we lived in a better world, this would be all over the charts and radio (with lots of gaps where they edited out stuff). Imagine if Sonic Youth (her voice on the spoken word reminds me of Kim Gordon) was asked...ok, forced to write their version of "Summer Lovin" from Grease. And Joy Division maybe did the backing track....and no, I am not kidding. The Teenagers have been around for a bit...this is off their debut record, helpfully titled "New Songs And Demos". They've also done quite a few great remixes, most notably for Au Revoir Simone and the Black Ghosts. Lots of buzz buzz buzz. Off of this alone, they live up to the hype. Had I heard this as a teenager, I would have had a way better childhood.
Walk On The Moon-Asobi Seksu
Um, if you leave, don't look back. No, they don't sound like OMD in any way...yet this song, I picture that moment from the movie (sans Andrew McCarthy, I refuse to picture him in anything, to be honest...for me he's an appetite suppressant). Asobi Seksu is a Brooklyn-based band with a Japanese singer, hence the name I guess, which is Japanese for "playful sex". It has a definite (and I almost hate to say this word, since it sounds so dated) shoegaze feel to it...think Lush on its poppier moments. They don't sound like Lush, just think that. I'd say there a perfect example of a band that has totally absorbed its influences, yet isn't redundant...they've done something different with the sound. This is not on the album Citrus, which is great as well...frankly, I don't know where you get this. But get it get it get it. You can wear when you imagine yourself in those "pretty in pink" moments.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Nasty Gal-Betty Davis
This is hot hot hot from the opening moments. This sounds like it was recorded in a tiny nightclub where everyone is dancing and its packed and about 95 degrees. And the lyrics, well, the fact that was made in the early 70's, its far ahead of its time.
I'm gonna run it down
tell em anything you want
i ain't nothin' but a nasty gal
so you said
i was a bitch now
All sung in her gravelly deep voice, complete with alley cat skrownks (new word) and an impossibly funky dirty baseline. And all told from a place of a place of enpowerment. She's totally proud of being a 'nasty gal'. Betty Davis is a pretty remarkable character...with hits like "Anti-Love Song" and "If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up" (amen sister) and the fact that she married Miles Davis at the age of 21 (that's her on the cover of his record Filles De Kiliminjaro). It's also rumored that he originally called it Witches Brew and that it was Betty who convinced him to call it Bitches Brew. She went on to work with Carlos Santana, who said that she that she was the first "Madonna", except that "Madonna is more like Marie Osmond compared to Betty." And I can see that...Madonna has always used sexuality but seems to keep it at an arms length, Betty Davis just exudes it.
I swear you could drop this in any club and they would go nuts. Its insane.
Na Cha Cha-DJ Koze
I'm a bit behind the curb on this one...its been out a couple of months. Anyways, its from the Kompakt label and is on the dancier side and its perfect illustration of the genius of the whole Kompakt venture. And it bears the Kompakt 'stamp'. Although the acts on the label are quite diverse, there's just something about it. I think its the care that goes into all the work off of the label. Its very intricate and yet sexy and funky at the same time. It sounds amazing over headphones, particularly walking around a city. It kinda reminds me of something architectural. And yet its totally organic. I can't explain. This also has a feel of early Mr Fingers house. Music made by robots. Sexy robots.
This is hot hot hot from the opening moments. This sounds like it was recorded in a tiny nightclub where everyone is dancing and its packed and about 95 degrees. And the lyrics, well, the fact that was made in the early 70's, its far ahead of its time.
I'm gonna run it down
tell em anything you want
i ain't nothin' but a nasty gal
so you said
i was a bitch now
All sung in her gravelly deep voice, complete with alley cat skrownks (new word) and an impossibly funky dirty baseline. And all told from a place of a place of enpowerment. She's totally proud of being a 'nasty gal'. Betty Davis is a pretty remarkable character...with hits like "Anti-Love Song" and "If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up" (amen sister) and the fact that she married Miles Davis at the age of 21 (that's her on the cover of his record Filles De Kiliminjaro). It's also rumored that he originally called it Witches Brew and that it was Betty who convinced him to call it Bitches Brew. She went on to work with Carlos Santana, who said that she that she was the first "Madonna", except that "Madonna is more like Marie Osmond compared to Betty." And I can see that...Madonna has always used sexuality but seems to keep it at an arms length, Betty Davis just exudes it.
I swear you could drop this in any club and they would go nuts. Its insane.
Na Cha Cha-DJ Koze
I'm a bit behind the curb on this one...its been out a couple of months. Anyways, its from the Kompakt label and is on the dancier side and its perfect illustration of the genius of the whole Kompakt venture. And it bears the Kompakt 'stamp'. Although the acts on the label are quite diverse, there's just something about it. I think its the care that goes into all the work off of the label. Its very intricate and yet sexy and funky at the same time. It sounds amazing over headphones, particularly walking around a city. It kinda reminds me of something architectural. And yet its totally organic. I can't explain. This also has a feel of early Mr Fingers house. Music made by robots. Sexy robots.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
I Hear The Sound Of The Whitecaps
The Platform On The Ocean-Arthur Russell
It was not easy to pick exactly which Arthur Russell song to write about (I was torn between "A Little Lost" and his song "Go Bang" under his Dinosaur L. moniker). So I went with my favorite and the one that best illustrates all his talents.
Arthur Russell was an avantgarde cellist and musician who found most of his success as a dance artist. I think know he would get labelled an electronic artist...in a more general sense. Although some of his tracks are danceable, many are not. He released entire albums that didn't contain a dance song.
I think the qualities that all his productions share are that they are incredibly introspective and contemplative in nature. To me, almost all of his productions are embued with a sense of melancholy. (I could be projecting I suppose) I find them all very insular. Arthur was painfully shy and had a hard time venturing out into the nightlife that his tunes soundtracked. He apparently was very self conscious about his looks...he had facial scarring from really bad acne. The fact that one's physical appearance means so much in a bar setting, let alone a gay bar setting, probably didn't help.
This 8 minute song is absolutely beautiful. Everytime I listen to it, I hear something else going on. Its almost classical in nature the way it is layered, although I suppose you could play it in a club (maybe as an end-of-the-night song). Its very dubby and filled with echo and fragile and melancholy. It an a career of many massive highpoints (all mostly appreciated after he died of AIDS in 1992), this is a zenith. Makes you wonder what he would have produced had he not died so young.
Being Boring-Pet Shop Boys
This is the first Pet Shop Boys song I've written about. It won't be the last. Not only do I think they are one of the most underrated bands of all-time, brilliant lyricists as well as an English treasure, they are one of my favorite bands of all-time.
I picked this song in a sort of a tribute to Arthur Russell. This is by no means the most famous Pet Shop Boys song, nor their biggest hit. Its simply one of their most devastating. In it, the narrator talks about living through different decades, the 60's, the 70's and how "we were never being boring, we had too much time to find for ourselves."
Its when he reaches the 80's that it becomes very clear what he is talking about: survival.
Now I sit with different faces
In rented rooms, in far off places
All the people I was kissing
Some are here
But some are missing
In the 1990's
I never dreamt
that i would get to be
the creature that
i always meant to be
but i thought
in spite of dreams
you'd be sitting somewhere here with me
Its a beautiful elegaic song and one of the first times that the Pet Shop Boys wrote openly about AIDS (notice the decade they skip). It's a tribute to all the people who didn't make it through, "who were never being boring, we were never being bored." Simply stunning. So I picked this for Arthur Russell.
Crimson And Clover-Joan Jett
I know its not her most famous song. Nor her biggest hit. And yeah, it's a remake. I don't know if its even my favorite. But I listened to it today and there are a couple of parts that I find simply amazing. I'm a big fan of the ending, where she sings the refrain over and over. But frankly, the song's best moments (or seconds) are in the first few....Joan sings "Ahhh" then the guitars "but I don't hardly know her"...then the guitars "but I think I could love her" more guitars "crimson and clover" and then the drums kick in and the song rocks but never betters its opening moments. The opening moments are all fuzzy badass sexiness. Its like Stephen Merritt wrote "heaven in a black leather jacket, hit me like a hurricance, heaven in a black leather jacket, I don't even know your name." Exactly.
It was not easy to pick exactly which Arthur Russell song to write about (I was torn between "A Little Lost" and his song "Go Bang" under his Dinosaur L. moniker). So I went with my favorite and the one that best illustrates all his talents.
Arthur Russell was an avantgarde cellist and musician who found most of his success as a dance artist. I think know he would get labelled an electronic artist...in a more general sense. Although some of his tracks are danceable, many are not. He released entire albums that didn't contain a dance song.
I think the qualities that all his productions share are that they are incredibly introspective and contemplative in nature. To me, almost all of his productions are embued with a sense of melancholy. (I could be projecting I suppose) I find them all very insular. Arthur was painfully shy and had a hard time venturing out into the nightlife that his tunes soundtracked. He apparently was very self conscious about his looks...he had facial scarring from really bad acne. The fact that one's physical appearance means so much in a bar setting, let alone a gay bar setting, probably didn't help.
This 8 minute song is absolutely beautiful. Everytime I listen to it, I hear something else going on. Its almost classical in nature the way it is layered, although I suppose you could play it in a club (maybe as an end-of-the-night song). Its very dubby and filled with echo and fragile and melancholy. It an a career of many massive highpoints (all mostly appreciated after he died of AIDS in 1992), this is a zenith. Makes you wonder what he would have produced had he not died so young.
Being Boring-Pet Shop Boys
This is the first Pet Shop Boys song I've written about. It won't be the last. Not only do I think they are one of the most underrated bands of all-time, brilliant lyricists as well as an English treasure, they are one of my favorite bands of all-time.
I picked this song in a sort of a tribute to Arthur Russell. This is by no means the most famous Pet Shop Boys song, nor their biggest hit. Its simply one of their most devastating. In it, the narrator talks about living through different decades, the 60's, the 70's and how "we were never being boring, we had too much time to find for ourselves."
Its when he reaches the 80's that it becomes very clear what he is talking about: survival.
Now I sit with different faces
In rented rooms, in far off places
All the people I was kissing
Some are here
But some are missing
In the 1990's
I never dreamt
that i would get to be
the creature that
i always meant to be
but i thought
in spite of dreams
you'd be sitting somewhere here with me
Its a beautiful elegaic song and one of the first times that the Pet Shop Boys wrote openly about AIDS (notice the decade they skip). It's a tribute to all the people who didn't make it through, "who were never being boring, we were never being bored." Simply stunning. So I picked this for Arthur Russell.
Crimson And Clover-Joan Jett
I know its not her most famous song. Nor her biggest hit. And yeah, it's a remake. I don't know if its even my favorite. But I listened to it today and there are a couple of parts that I find simply amazing. I'm a big fan of the ending, where she sings the refrain over and over. But frankly, the song's best moments (or seconds) are in the first few....Joan sings "Ahhh" then the guitars "but I don't hardly know her"...then the guitars "but I think I could love her" more guitars "crimson and clover" and then the drums kick in and the song rocks but never betters its opening moments. The opening moments are all fuzzy badass sexiness. Its like Stephen Merritt wrote "heaven in a black leather jacket, hit me like a hurricance, heaven in a black leather jacket, I don't even know your name." Exactly.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Cause when love is gone, there's always justice, and when justice is gone, there's always force
Moments In Love & Close (To The Edit)-Art Of Noise
Before the actual top 40 'hits' came...that'd be "Kiss" (with Tom Jones) and "Paranoimia" (with um, Max Headroom). Before Anne Dudley went on to score numerous films, including The Crying Game and The Full Monty (for which she won an Oscar)...before all of this...these were these two songs. Whats interesting about them, to me, is that they actually charted with this stuff in the 80's. This wouldn't happen now...its not that experimental music is not being produced. It's that it has well fled the pop medium and shooting for the charts. In the 80's, this was the charts.
The first song, "Moments In Love", is a one of the most sensual and erotic songs made. Whats odd to me, is that if you were able to actually take the song apart, like if it was a mechanical device, each part would seem, by it self, rather cold. The chilly synth, the ghostly voices, the chimes. And yet...when it all comes together its remains 10 minutes of the most seminal chill-out music ever made. Oh yeah, you've heard it...it'd be impossible for you to not have heard it in the 80's (I imagine it soundtracked some serious makeout sessions). There are a couple of versions of the song floating about, but the Quiet Storm (this version begins with the piano) and Extended mixes are the best. In a career of many high notes, this is arguably Art Of Noise's penultimate moment.
Arguably? Yes, this is the song that rivals "Moments In Love." The truly remarkable "Close (To The Edit)" remains one of the best songs of the 80's, hands down. Again, that it was even out on the mainstream charts (albeit on the fringes) is surprising enough. Featuring a stalling VW Golf as the main "vocalist", this song became a breakdance and beatbox classic. It still sounds like nothing else...hmmmm, well, ok, no, thats not true. I think Aphex Twin and Superpitcher and Funkstorung and Autechre heard this track. Its an impossibly loose track...it almost sounds like it isn't going to hold together, like it will simply just breakdown and stop (like that damn VW Golf). Yet it is continues to expand and is impossibly funky. If you don't have this on your IPod, frankly, you are not cool. Brilliant and genius.
Oh and then there's the video. Banned in some spots for "encouraging" violence in children, it featured 3 men in business suits (meant to spoof the News of Huey Lewis & the News) and a strange young girl (who looked vaguely like a miniature 14-year old Siouxsie) destroying numerous musical instruments (in stop-gap motion photography). Directed by Zbigniew Rybczynski (an acclaimed Oscar winner & HDTV pioneering director), it was, at 14, perhaps the first time I ever watched something and thought: "what the fuck?" I remember that when I first saw it on MuchMusic (no, I am not Canadian, for some inexplicable reason we got Much Music in NW Indiana) it entranced and frightened me at the same time.
O Superman-Laurie Anderson
Another "what the fuck?" moment from childhood. This has been remixed by Booka Shade & M.A.N.D.Y. for the dancefloors (its good, but no match for the original). The original is well, freaky. Its features two alternating chords and the word "ha" repeated over and over and over for 8 minutes while Laurie Anderson talks zen-like through a vocoder. Its eerie and beautiful and not just a little bit disturbing. All the more disturbing because of these lines.
This is the hand, the hand that takes
Here come the planes
They're American planes. Made in America
Smoking or non-smoking?
This was released in 1981, so it obviously is an odd and weird coincidence. (Not just noticed by me...Laurie Anderson revived the song for a concert post 9-11, recognizing the parallels in imagery). Perhaps even weirder, after John Peel played the song on his radio show in England, the song reached...get ready, #2!!! It might be the strangest #2 ever. Here it just simply continued to establish Laurie Anderson as an avantgarde cult artist. Her time has certainly come, as she was involved in creating the opening ceremonies for the 2004 games and is NASA's Artist In Residence.
Its oddly beautiful. Its not scary in a conventional sense. I think the right word is disorienting. Everytime I hear it, despite it being fairly simple in composition, I marvel at how deep the song actually is. And thats what I find so disturbing, I think. When you listen to it, its as if there are other parts to the composition that are present but you cannot actually hear them, you can just sense that they are there, on the fringes of your vision. Just out of reach.
Before the actual top 40 'hits' came...that'd be "Kiss" (with Tom Jones) and "Paranoimia" (with um, Max Headroom). Before Anne Dudley went on to score numerous films, including The Crying Game and The Full Monty (for which she won an Oscar)...before all of this...these were these two songs. Whats interesting about them, to me, is that they actually charted with this stuff in the 80's. This wouldn't happen now...its not that experimental music is not being produced. It's that it has well fled the pop medium and shooting for the charts. In the 80's, this was the charts.
The first song, "Moments In Love", is a one of the most sensual and erotic songs made. Whats odd to me, is that if you were able to actually take the song apart, like if it was a mechanical device, each part would seem, by it self, rather cold. The chilly synth, the ghostly voices, the chimes. And yet...when it all comes together its remains 10 minutes of the most seminal chill-out music ever made. Oh yeah, you've heard it...it'd be impossible for you to not have heard it in the 80's (I imagine it soundtracked some serious makeout sessions). There are a couple of versions of the song floating about, but the Quiet Storm (this version begins with the piano) and Extended mixes are the best. In a career of many high notes, this is arguably Art Of Noise's penultimate moment.
Arguably? Yes, this is the song that rivals "Moments In Love." The truly remarkable "Close (To The Edit)" remains one of the best songs of the 80's, hands down. Again, that it was even out on the mainstream charts (albeit on the fringes) is surprising enough. Featuring a stalling VW Golf as the main "vocalist", this song became a breakdance and beatbox classic. It still sounds like nothing else...hmmmm, well, ok, no, thats not true. I think Aphex Twin and Superpitcher and Funkstorung and Autechre heard this track. Its an impossibly loose track...it almost sounds like it isn't going to hold together, like it will simply just breakdown and stop (like that damn VW Golf). Yet it is continues to expand and is impossibly funky. If you don't have this on your IPod, frankly, you are not cool. Brilliant and genius.
Oh and then there's the video. Banned in some spots for "encouraging" violence in children, it featured 3 men in business suits (meant to spoof the News of Huey Lewis & the News) and a strange young girl (who looked vaguely like a miniature 14-year old Siouxsie) destroying numerous musical instruments (in stop-gap motion photography). Directed by Zbigniew Rybczynski (an acclaimed Oscar winner & HDTV pioneering director), it was, at 14, perhaps the first time I ever watched something and thought: "what the fuck?" I remember that when I first saw it on MuchMusic (no, I am not Canadian, for some inexplicable reason we got Much Music in NW Indiana) it entranced and frightened me at the same time.
O Superman-Laurie Anderson
Another "what the fuck?" moment from childhood. This has been remixed by Booka Shade & M.A.N.D.Y. for the dancefloors (its good, but no match for the original). The original is well, freaky. Its features two alternating chords and the word "ha" repeated over and over and over for 8 minutes while Laurie Anderson talks zen-like through a vocoder. Its eerie and beautiful and not just a little bit disturbing. All the more disturbing because of these lines.
This is the hand, the hand that takes
Here come the planes
They're American planes. Made in America
Smoking or non-smoking?
This was released in 1981, so it obviously is an odd and weird coincidence. (Not just noticed by me...Laurie Anderson revived the song for a concert post 9-11, recognizing the parallels in imagery). Perhaps even weirder, after John Peel played the song on his radio show in England, the song reached...get ready, #2!!! It might be the strangest #2 ever. Here it just simply continued to establish Laurie Anderson as an avantgarde cult artist. Her time has certainly come, as she was involved in creating the opening ceremonies for the 2004 games and is NASA's Artist In Residence.
Its oddly beautiful. Its not scary in a conventional sense. I think the right word is disorienting. Everytime I hear it, despite it being fairly simple in composition, I marvel at how deep the song actually is. And thats what I find so disturbing, I think. When you listen to it, its as if there are other parts to the composition that are present but you cannot actually hear them, you can just sense that they are there, on the fringes of your vision. Just out of reach.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
sex without stress (possible?)
Play Hurt-American Analog Set
I began loving this song at the 7th song, when the lone guitar is joined by the saddest melody you have heard. What's amazing about this song is that shows how you can do so much without histrionics and tricks. It just chugs along at a Galaxie 500 tempo while Andrew Kenny sings forlorn lonely rainy afternoon lyrics about a past lover....heartbreaking
And you don't know what you're doin'
You can only play hurt so much
When you're calling me all about him
And I can't hang up
And you don't know what you're doin'
'Cause he can't be enough
But I could even believe
That he loves you like me 'cause
It's hard when your heart's all cracked up
So sad...
Also, this is one of those bands that if you get into now, you have a huge back catalog to explore.
Barnaby, Hardly Working-Yo La Tengo
Back when I was a 19 or 20 year old college student, I found this newspaper called Alternative Press. It was based out of Ohio and I couldn't always get it every month. Just a few issues later it morphed into a magazine. And for the next 14-15 years, I was a loyal subscriber. I was a loyal subscriber long after I needed to be a loyal subscriber. I forgave them many a sin....from the endless reviews of Fall Out Boy and Rancid-esque punk bands to the disappearance of reviews of artists from all over the spectrum....long gone were the days that a band like The Gossip were covered in the early stages of their career. Too much major label, too many of the same sort of bands...I stayed on principle. Then...the Ashlee Simpson review. Oh, dare I mention a positive review. A talentless horse-like girl, oh I'm sorry, now she's had a nose job, now she looks like a talentless horse with a nose job. My bad.
So I stopped reading and subscribing (each month I'd read less and less of the issue). Maybe I just got old...maybe college kids care to read endless articles about the Distillers Rancid Fall Out Boy etc etc, but I couldn't (but I sure loved to read endless articles about The Smiths, The Cure, Sonic Youth etc etc.). It was fun while it lasted...come back to the five & dime, AP....ah, I won't go there.
During that time, I bought tons of records off of the review alone (this was pre-internet days, kiddos). AP introduced me to countless artists, as crazy diverse as Diamanda Galas, Sleater Kinney, Laika...and this band. Yo La Tengo. I went out and bought President the day after I read the interview.
And the review was right. Pretty much spot on. Its a really good record...not their best, that would come later (I've been a fan ever since remarkable album after remarkable album).
Ah but this song....4:36 of swirling gorgeous hazy beauty....its sounds like condensing Lost In Translation into one sad lonely moment. I think its still my favorite Yo La Tengo song....they've come close over the 20 approximate years they've been releasing records...but this, this is the one.
Sex Without Stress-The Au Pairs
The Au Pairs were an all-girl band from Birmingham England. I'm not sure what they called this kind of music back in 1982, which was when the record that this song is off of came out (Sense And Sensuality). Today it'd be lumped into the post-punk category.
Its dubby and disjointed and very very sexy. If I was a DJ, I'd play this out...its somehow manages to be dirty and grimey and spacey and sexy all at the same time. Not easy to do. Maybe if the Go-Go's and James Brown had a kid....
Unison-Bjork (Ital Tek Remix)
This isn't out officially...I found it floating about on the net....if you love/like the original (I love it...think its one of Bjorks most underrated tracks) then definitely track this down. Its very dubby and clanking and sexy.
I began loving this song at the 7th song, when the lone guitar is joined by the saddest melody you have heard. What's amazing about this song is that shows how you can do so much without histrionics and tricks. It just chugs along at a Galaxie 500 tempo while Andrew Kenny sings forlorn lonely rainy afternoon lyrics about a past lover....heartbreaking
And you don't know what you're doin'
You can only play hurt so much
When you're calling me all about him
And I can't hang up
And you don't know what you're doin'
'Cause he can't be enough
But I could even believe
That he loves you like me 'cause
It's hard when your heart's all cracked up
So sad...
Also, this is one of those bands that if you get into now, you have a huge back catalog to explore.
Barnaby, Hardly Working-Yo La Tengo
Back when I was a 19 or 20 year old college student, I found this newspaper called Alternative Press. It was based out of Ohio and I couldn't always get it every month. Just a few issues later it morphed into a magazine. And for the next 14-15 years, I was a loyal subscriber. I was a loyal subscriber long after I needed to be a loyal subscriber. I forgave them many a sin....from the endless reviews of Fall Out Boy and Rancid-esque punk bands to the disappearance of reviews of artists from all over the spectrum....long gone were the days that a band like The Gossip were covered in the early stages of their career. Too much major label, too many of the same sort of bands...I stayed on principle. Then...the Ashlee Simpson review. Oh, dare I mention a positive review. A talentless horse-like girl, oh I'm sorry, now she's had a nose job, now she looks like a talentless horse with a nose job. My bad.
So I stopped reading and subscribing (each month I'd read less and less of the issue). Maybe I just got old...maybe college kids care to read endless articles about the Distillers Rancid Fall Out Boy etc etc, but I couldn't (but I sure loved to read endless articles about The Smiths, The Cure, Sonic Youth etc etc.). It was fun while it lasted...come back to the five & dime, AP....ah, I won't go there.
During that time, I bought tons of records off of the review alone (this was pre-internet days, kiddos). AP introduced me to countless artists, as crazy diverse as Diamanda Galas, Sleater Kinney, Laika...and this band. Yo La Tengo. I went out and bought President the day after I read the interview.
And the review was right. Pretty much spot on. Its a really good record...not their best, that would come later (I've been a fan ever since remarkable album after remarkable album).
Ah but this song....4:36 of swirling gorgeous hazy beauty....its sounds like condensing Lost In Translation into one sad lonely moment. I think its still my favorite Yo La Tengo song....they've come close over the 20 approximate years they've been releasing records...but this, this is the one.
Sex Without Stress-The Au Pairs
The Au Pairs were an all-girl band from Birmingham England. I'm not sure what they called this kind of music back in 1982, which was when the record that this song is off of came out (Sense And Sensuality). Today it'd be lumped into the post-punk category.
Its dubby and disjointed and very very sexy. If I was a DJ, I'd play this out...its somehow manages to be dirty and grimey and spacey and sexy all at the same time. Not easy to do. Maybe if the Go-Go's and James Brown had a kid....
Unison-Bjork (Ital Tek Remix)
This isn't out officially...I found it floating about on the net....if you love/like the original (I love it...think its one of Bjorks most underrated tracks) then definitely track this down. Its very dubby and clanking and sexy.
Friday, November 9, 2007
William, It Was Really Nothing
This is a tribute to artists that went undiscovered in the 80's, for whatever reason.
Baby-Billy MacKenzie
I was very into music in the 80's. Yet I totally missed this singer and his band, The Associates. Not only had I not heard them, I hadn't even heard of them in the 80's. I never caught up until one day I read an article in a British magazine where Bjork was waxing and waning about what a great singer he was. I thought, hmmmm, I love her. And that time, there were a number of Associates reissues floating about.
But this was the first song I heard. Most of what I am going to tell you I didn't know at the time. That Billy MacKenzie killed himself at the age of 37, right around the time of a solo comeback. That The Cure's song "Cut Here" and The Creatures (Siouxsie again) "Say" are both in reference to him, while "William, It Was Really Nothing" is said to be a tribute by Morrissey.
Whatever the case, this song really blew me away. I have since gotten the Associates greatest hits, which I like as well as the solo record this track is off of, Outernational. The solo record is hit and miss, while the Associates record seems a good primer for them...it definitely makes me want to hear his other stuff.
But back to this song. Lush, romantic, sad...its a true stunner. His voice...wow....extraordinary--its been described as operatic, which I can see. His vocals range from a low Bowie-esque growl to an all out belt. And its at this point that the strings come in. The song is devastating (its all about a failed relationship) and all the more so once you know the circumstances of his death.
Its all rainy nights, walking the streets alone, and doomed love.
Primitive Painters-Felt
Like the Associates, this is a band that I missed entirely. And frankly, I blame my friend Molly, who was all into Goth makeup and Bau Hau, The Cure, Wire and The Smiths. How she could be constantly pushing The Legendary Pink Dots and The Jazz Butcher (Conspiracy) and yet miss this? So its her fault.
I haven't heard everything by them, but they are definitely worth checking out. There earlier stuff has a 4AD feel to it, most notably the Cocteau Twins (particularly this song, my favorite, which actually is a duet with Cocteau Twin Elizabeth Fraser). You could guess this by the title alone, which as a Cocteau feel to it. Later on there music became more jangly (still beautiful). In any event, I'm not Felt expert (they are pretty influential on a number of bands, most notably Belle & Sebastian). But this is a beautiful song.
(You Don't Know How) Glad I Am-Maria McKee
From the getgo, with the strings and piano, this sounds like a lost standard from the early 60's. Maria McKee's enormous vocals even give off a Patsy Cline feel. Its a beautifully upbeat love song...it'd make a great wedding song (dare I say that...ugh, weddings, ugh). In any event, its off her record Peddlin' Dreams.
You should hear this song. You should buy Peddlin' Dreams. But the main reason I picked this song is to tell you about Maria McKee, whose been around over 20 years. She started in the wildly underappreciated (by record buyers, not critics) Lone Justice. In retrospect, Lone Justice was probably doomed from the start, with their rockabilly and country influences. Not the way the new wave college rock river was flowing. They had one near Top 40 hit, "Shelter", which got knocked for being too synth-laden. Interestingly (and as far as I know, I'm the only one to ever notice this, but that cannot be true) Tayor Dayne basically copied huge parts of this song for her hit "I"ll Be Your (yeah, you guessed it) Shelter." Maria McKee should have sued.
In '86, Lone Justice broke up and Maria went solo. Since then she has released fabulous record after fabulous record. To underground and critical acclaim, yes...but she deserves to be heard by a much wider audience. She has one of the clearest most beautiful voices in music today and is a fantastic song writer (listening to "Breathe", "Has He Got A Friend In Me?" and "Show Me Heaven" as well as old Lone Justice songs "Don't Toss Us Away", "You Are The Light" and "Dixie Storms" will ensure that you fall in love).
A lost treasure...you'll thank me for this, trust me.
Baby-Billy MacKenzie
I was very into music in the 80's. Yet I totally missed this singer and his band, The Associates. Not only had I not heard them, I hadn't even heard of them in the 80's. I never caught up until one day I read an article in a British magazine where Bjork was waxing and waning about what a great singer he was. I thought, hmmmm, I love her. And that time, there were a number of Associates reissues floating about.
But this was the first song I heard. Most of what I am going to tell you I didn't know at the time. That Billy MacKenzie killed himself at the age of 37, right around the time of a solo comeback. That The Cure's song "Cut Here" and The Creatures (Siouxsie again) "Say" are both in reference to him, while "William, It Was Really Nothing" is said to be a tribute by Morrissey.
Whatever the case, this song really blew me away. I have since gotten the Associates greatest hits, which I like as well as the solo record this track is off of, Outernational. The solo record is hit and miss, while the Associates record seems a good primer for them...it definitely makes me want to hear his other stuff.
But back to this song. Lush, romantic, sad...its a true stunner. His voice...wow....extraordinary--its been described as operatic, which I can see. His vocals range from a low Bowie-esque growl to an all out belt. And its at this point that the strings come in. The song is devastating (its all about a failed relationship) and all the more so once you know the circumstances of his death.
Its all rainy nights, walking the streets alone, and doomed love.
Primitive Painters-Felt
Like the Associates, this is a band that I missed entirely. And frankly, I blame my friend Molly, who was all into Goth makeup and Bau Hau, The Cure, Wire and The Smiths. How she could be constantly pushing The Legendary Pink Dots and The Jazz Butcher (Conspiracy) and yet miss this? So its her fault.
I haven't heard everything by them, but they are definitely worth checking out. There earlier stuff has a 4AD feel to it, most notably the Cocteau Twins (particularly this song, my favorite, which actually is a duet with Cocteau Twin Elizabeth Fraser). You could guess this by the title alone, which as a Cocteau feel to it. Later on there music became more jangly (still beautiful). In any event, I'm not Felt expert (they are pretty influential on a number of bands, most notably Belle & Sebastian). But this is a beautiful song.
(You Don't Know How) Glad I Am-Maria McKee
From the getgo, with the strings and piano, this sounds like a lost standard from the early 60's. Maria McKee's enormous vocals even give off a Patsy Cline feel. Its a beautifully upbeat love song...it'd make a great wedding song (dare I say that...ugh, weddings, ugh). In any event, its off her record Peddlin' Dreams.
You should hear this song. You should buy Peddlin' Dreams. But the main reason I picked this song is to tell you about Maria McKee, whose been around over 20 years. She started in the wildly underappreciated (by record buyers, not critics) Lone Justice. In retrospect, Lone Justice was probably doomed from the start, with their rockabilly and country influences. Not the way the new wave college rock river was flowing. They had one near Top 40 hit, "Shelter", which got knocked for being too synth-laden. Interestingly (and as far as I know, I'm the only one to ever notice this, but that cannot be true) Tayor Dayne basically copied huge parts of this song for her hit "I"ll Be Your (yeah, you guessed it) Shelter." Maria McKee should have sued.
In '86, Lone Justice broke up and Maria went solo. Since then she has released fabulous record after fabulous record. To underground and critical acclaim, yes...but she deserves to be heard by a much wider audience. She has one of the clearest most beautiful voices in music today and is a fantastic song writer (listening to "Breathe", "Has He Got A Friend In Me?" and "Show Me Heaven" as well as old Lone Justice songs "Don't Toss Us Away", "You Are The Light" and "Dixie Storms" will ensure that you fall in love).
A lost treasure...you'll thank me for this, trust me.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Yr Mangled Heart
Love And Anger-Kate Bush
Its funny, if you asked me which Kate Bush track I'd write about first, this would not be it. But its beautiful. Just insanely so. Even before the Bulgarian choir comes in. And by the way, when the Bulgarian choir comes in, prepare to have your knees buckle.
There are some songs that I feel I should explain why I like. There are some that I think you should just listen to. This is how the song opens, with this
it lay buried here
it lay deep inside me
it's so deep I don't think that I can speak about it
it could take me all my life
but it would only take a moment to
tell you what I'm feeling
but I don't know if I'm ready yet
you come waltzing into this room
like you're walking into my arms
what would I do without you?
frankly, if you haven't reacted to that or don't get it, fuck off
Dazzle-Siouxsie & the Banshees
Purists will say, they were a band. I mean, one of the members was Budgie, Siouxsie's husband and collaborator for 3 decades. Yet, still, the person you'd remember after this band, well....let's just say you wouldn't say "god, I love the drummer"
Yeah, I know. You think she's Goth. Thats not her fault. I mean, yeah, she and The Cure started the whole shebang. The whole Goth thing. Which, like hair metal and folk and well basically any genre, there is quite a bit to make fun of. The Cure took a bit of a different path...they embraced the Goth tag and became enormous. I love the Cure, but they are easy to pick on. He kinda looks like an oompah loompah.
Siouxsie didn't embrace the Goth label. Yet that isn't why she didn't make it big to the same pop level that The Cure did. She has inspired countless imitators...ats these imitators that have gotten Goth such a bad name. Because every witch and wraith and goblin and pancaked face lead singer afterwards just didn't have the chops or talent to compete with her. Maybe thats a slap at Robert Smith (not intended), but The Cure are easier to imitate. With Siouxsie, when you hear her songs, they songs require you to also imagine her singing them. Like Bjork, the Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash, James Brown...you cannot imagine somebody else inhabiting the song in the same way. Certain artists (aforementioned) write songs that are specifically fitted for them. Siouxsie is one of those artists.
In other words, she is the My Bloody Valentine of Goth. My Bloody Valentine put out Loveless, which bankrupted a label and that made the rest of the "shoegazing" phenomenon irrelevant. Siouxsise did the same--she just casts too big of a shadow. Unfortunately that didn't seem to free the artists behind her to follow her own footstep. Thats why female Goth singers get made fun of---they aren't Siouxsie Sioux.
Male Goth singers get off easier. Panic At What Disco? anyone? Its not that the Cure aren't amazing. Its not that Disintergration isnt a remarkable watershed moment? Its just that Robert Smith always read his own reviews, followed and participated in his evolution to icon status. Siouxsie didn't...in fact, she rebelled against. And still ended up there. Much to her chagrin.
As an aside, there are two artists that remind me of her. One is PJ Harvey. Not really vocally. Kinda in the deep parts. More in the approach...in the I-can-do-what-I-want attitude
And Karen O. And yes, vocally. I'm always surprised that reviewers never mention. She can go to the same low register with power. But I digress.
Oh,and this song. Oh again, purists would say this isn't the best moment. Her biggest hit was "Kiss Them For Me"...also one of my faves.
But this was on a tape that a girl named Liz Owlsley made me. She sat in front of me in senior english in Crown Point Indiana and she looked like the lead singer of Romeo Void. A big girl, sexy, dark makeup...kind of foreboding. But she carried herself sexy, which big white girls generally do not do. One day in English, we were talking music and the bands we liked. Couple of weeks later, for my birthday, she brought me the following: Spleen And Ideal by Dead Can Dance, The Queen Is Dead and Juju by Siouxsie & the Banshees. Well, and my world changed forever.
Like "Somewhere" by Sondheim...there is a place for us LOL...well, by chance i listened to Juju first. And thus I heard "Dazzle"...my very first introduction. Is it her best moment? Well to me...yes. Its certainly my favorite. Its also her gayest moment. It certainly couldn't be more dramatic...the orchestra...the strings...then, that voice. THAT voice.
And thats when I knew there was a world outside of what I saw every day. And i got through it all. Did Siouxsie save my high school experience? No.....not exactly. But she should definitely have been invited to my open house. For fucks sake, no expense was spared. We got Bronco's chicken!
White Chalk-PJ Harvey
This is the title track of her new record. It should be called Career Suicide. Just kidding! Yeah, wow. As if she needed some other reason to elevate her to icon status. Yet, she decided to make the equivalent-for-her-fans of Lou Reeds Metal Machine Music. Ok sorority girls...u like to put my songs on break-up tapes....stay with me!
At first....the whole record...wow....I didn't know what to thinkof it. Ok...this is a woman who told an ex to "lick her injury". And its not that she hasn't had soft moments before. Its just ...well, it caught me offguard
And initially Ididn't like it. I kept wanting teeth. But, ah, on this record....well, that requires work. Its not as immediate as her other stuff. But trust me...there's teeth.
To me, this is a record that has to be taken as an 'album'. Its to be listened to as a piece of work...a whole entity. I've been swayed....I kinda think its brilliant. It doesn't sound anything like Aerial by Kate Bush...but there is a similarity in the way its structured. A whole album. But in the day of the IPod.....this isn't as friendly....this is an album. You have to flip it over.
And its a ghost story. The whole thing. Haunted. It flits in and out of your consciousness...like something you can only see in the corner of your eye, not head-on. Thats how I feel when i listen to this.
Yr Mangled Heart-The Gossip
Lest I sound old. Ok.....here we go. Wanna know who is carrying the torch (not that Siouxsie isn't still recording...or Kate Bush...or PJ Harvey)? I'll put it like this...here's a woman whose voice jumps out of the speakers, whose voice soundtracks nights and breakups and whose voice you remember the moment you hear it.
Honest. My boyfriend, who doesn't even like rock, saw The Gossip with me. He think she's incredibly honest and so herself...even if he was wowed.
Is there really a better description than that? Read reviews....they will mention the voice, the fact that she from the Seattle/Olympia Washington Sleater-Kinney sphere....that she is a big ole white trash dyke from Arkansas. Yeah ,yeah...too easy.
It really is, in the end, about her voice. There are not tricks. Just her voice...massive, beautiful, fucking angry. A way-too-much-wine anger. A sincere anger.
Oh and the song LOL. ...well, I just want what I deserve. Thats all
Its funny, if you asked me which Kate Bush track I'd write about first, this would not be it. But its beautiful. Just insanely so. Even before the Bulgarian choir comes in. And by the way, when the Bulgarian choir comes in, prepare to have your knees buckle.
There are some songs that I feel I should explain why I like. There are some that I think you should just listen to. This is how the song opens, with this
it lay buried here
it lay deep inside me
it's so deep I don't think that I can speak about it
it could take me all my life
but it would only take a moment to
tell you what I'm feeling
but I don't know if I'm ready yet
you come waltzing into this room
like you're walking into my arms
what would I do without you?
frankly, if you haven't reacted to that or don't get it, fuck off
Dazzle-Siouxsie & the Banshees
Purists will say, they were a band. I mean, one of the members was Budgie, Siouxsie's husband and collaborator for 3 decades. Yet, still, the person you'd remember after this band, well....let's just say you wouldn't say "god, I love the drummer"
Yeah, I know. You think she's Goth. Thats not her fault. I mean, yeah, she and The Cure started the whole shebang. The whole Goth thing. Which, like hair metal and folk and well basically any genre, there is quite a bit to make fun of. The Cure took a bit of a different path...they embraced the Goth tag and became enormous. I love the Cure, but they are easy to pick on. He kinda looks like an oompah loompah.
Siouxsie didn't embrace the Goth label. Yet that isn't why she didn't make it big to the same pop level that The Cure did. She has inspired countless imitators...ats these imitators that have gotten Goth such a bad name. Because every witch and wraith and goblin and pancaked face lead singer afterwards just didn't have the chops or talent to compete with her. Maybe thats a slap at Robert Smith (not intended), but The Cure are easier to imitate. With Siouxsie, when you hear her songs, they songs require you to also imagine her singing them. Like Bjork, the Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash, James Brown...you cannot imagine somebody else inhabiting the song in the same way. Certain artists (aforementioned) write songs that are specifically fitted for them. Siouxsie is one of those artists.
In other words, she is the My Bloody Valentine of Goth. My Bloody Valentine put out Loveless, which bankrupted a label and that made the rest of the "shoegazing" phenomenon irrelevant. Siouxsise did the same--she just casts too big of a shadow. Unfortunately that didn't seem to free the artists behind her to follow her own footstep. Thats why female Goth singers get made fun of---they aren't Siouxsie Sioux.
Male Goth singers get off easier. Panic At What Disco? anyone? Its not that the Cure aren't amazing. Its not that Disintergration isnt a remarkable watershed moment? Its just that Robert Smith always read his own reviews, followed and participated in his evolution to icon status. Siouxsie didn't...in fact, she rebelled against. And still ended up there. Much to her chagrin.
As an aside, there are two artists that remind me of her. One is PJ Harvey. Not really vocally. Kinda in the deep parts. More in the approach...in the I-can-do-what-I-want attitude
And Karen O. And yes, vocally. I'm always surprised that reviewers never mention. She can go to the same low register with power. But I digress.
Oh,and this song. Oh again, purists would say this isn't the best moment. Her biggest hit was "Kiss Them For Me"...also one of my faves.
But this was on a tape that a girl named Liz Owlsley made me. She sat in front of me in senior english in Crown Point Indiana and she looked like the lead singer of Romeo Void. A big girl, sexy, dark makeup...kind of foreboding. But she carried herself sexy, which big white girls generally do not do. One day in English, we were talking music and the bands we liked. Couple of weeks later, for my birthday, she brought me the following: Spleen And Ideal by Dead Can Dance, The Queen Is Dead and Juju by Siouxsie & the Banshees. Well, and my world changed forever.
Like "Somewhere" by Sondheim...there is a place for us LOL...well, by chance i listened to Juju first. And thus I heard "Dazzle"...my very first introduction. Is it her best moment? Well to me...yes. Its certainly my favorite. Its also her gayest moment. It certainly couldn't be more dramatic...the orchestra...the strings...then, that voice. THAT voice.
And thats when I knew there was a world outside of what I saw every day. And i got through it all. Did Siouxsie save my high school experience? No.....not exactly. But she should definitely have been invited to my open house. For fucks sake, no expense was spared. We got Bronco's chicken!
White Chalk-PJ Harvey
This is the title track of her new record. It should be called Career Suicide. Just kidding! Yeah, wow. As if she needed some other reason to elevate her to icon status. Yet, she decided to make the equivalent-for-her-fans of Lou Reeds Metal Machine Music. Ok sorority girls...u like to put my songs on break-up tapes....stay with me!
At first....the whole record...wow....I didn't know what to thinkof it. Ok...this is a woman who told an ex to "lick her injury". And its not that she hasn't had soft moments before. Its just ...well, it caught me offguard
And initially Ididn't like it. I kept wanting teeth. But, ah, on this record....well, that requires work. Its not as immediate as her other stuff. But trust me...there's teeth.
To me, this is a record that has to be taken as an 'album'. Its to be listened to as a piece of work...a whole entity. I've been swayed....I kinda think its brilliant. It doesn't sound anything like Aerial by Kate Bush...but there is a similarity in the way its structured. A whole album. But in the day of the IPod.....this isn't as friendly....this is an album. You have to flip it over.
And its a ghost story. The whole thing. Haunted. It flits in and out of your consciousness...like something you can only see in the corner of your eye, not head-on. Thats how I feel when i listen to this.
Yr Mangled Heart-The Gossip
Lest I sound old. Ok.....here we go. Wanna know who is carrying the torch (not that Siouxsie isn't still recording...or Kate Bush...or PJ Harvey)? I'll put it like this...here's a woman whose voice jumps out of the speakers, whose voice soundtracks nights and breakups and whose voice you remember the moment you hear it.
Honest. My boyfriend, who doesn't even like rock, saw The Gossip with me. He think she's incredibly honest and so herself...even if he was wowed.
Is there really a better description than that? Read reviews....they will mention the voice, the fact that she from the Seattle/Olympia Washington Sleater-Kinney sphere....that she is a big ole white trash dyke from Arkansas. Yeah ,yeah...too easy.
It really is, in the end, about her voice. There are not tricks. Just her voice...massive, beautiful, fucking angry. A way-too-much-wine anger. A sincere anger.
Oh and the song LOL. ...well, I just want what I deserve. Thats all
I like chicken wings and cheesecake, but homemade
afuckingmen
Give Me The Food-Miss Platnum
No the "I" is not missing...that's how she spells it.
Finally you have the answer to oft-asked question "who is your favorite Romanian rapper?" You can just say "Miss Platnum".
I probably wouldn't have written about this song except I saw her on YouTube. She's kinda utterly charming. And yes, from Romania. Like Nadia Comaneci and. And on and Dracula.
And fortunately she isn't built like a Romanian gymnast.
The song is all about being plus-sized and liking food and dissing boys who don't like big girls. Its very fun, it'd be a great addition to any mixtape--total party song. And live, well like I said, she seems utterly charming.
Definitely check it out...it charted in Romania, so its just a matter of time til she makes it big here.
Plus, the lyrics actually say the word "chicken wings." If a song mentions chicken wings directly, I like it. Its just a rule.
Right dodge!?!?
Andromeda And The Milky Way-Me'Shell Ndegeocello
A massive underrated talent. Its shocking to me that she isn't more famous. What with that catchy name and being a black bisexual or lesbian muslim woman, I mean, its amazing people aren't calling her the next Mandy Moore?
Some artists record 25 songs and still cannot pack as much sexiness and honesty and soul into a song like Me'Shell.
There are other lyrics to this song, but all you will remember is "take me down to the river, I wanna get free with you." Look, I don't know what river she's talking about or what "get free" means but after you hear this song, trust me, you will want to go down there and find out.
Its sexy beyond belief.
It also reminds me of a dear friend of mine, Dodge. Not sexually, although I know she TOTALLY wants to get with me, despite being a dyke. This song reminds me of her energy...like if her soul made a mixtape, this'd be on the soundtrack. I'll leave it at that.
This Woman's Work-Maxwell
Somewhere there is a list. Its a very important list...you must read it before you become a musician. The list is called "Artists whose songs you do not cover". If you don't read it, you suffer at your own peril. Sometimes the offense is well deserved....see the Pet Shop Boys and their take-the-piss-out-of-the pomposity of U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name?". Straight men always think their view on the world is so important, why not let the gayest band in the world discofy it?
Sometimes the sins are minor, like a misdemeanor. Like the Dixie Chicks and "Landslide". Uh yeah, they are way cool and ultra-talented. The song isn't supposed to be sung in harmony. Its a lonely song. Also, its best if you don't try to sound like the icon who previously recorded the song. I love the Dixie Chicks. Alot. But they are not Stevie-fucking-Nicks. As Sandra Bernhard once said, Stevie Nicks is one of the "big-titted bitches of rock". The Dixie Chicks are not there yet.
Then the sins are sometimes egregious. Like a felony, a capitol felony. I am morally opposed to the death penalty. Under any circumstances. Except 2. Jean shorts AND horrible covers. Kill em. Slowly. Exhibit A. The Counting Crows and "Big Yellow Taxi". Yes, the Counting Crows actually covered Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow...wait. You don't need me to go into it. That is more than enough explanation. The artist and the cover. How dare they. Joni Mitchell's song is all about the environment and our wasting of it. The Counting Crows are anti-environment...do you know how many of their CD's are in landfills right now and will never ever decompose. Think about it. A lot of people bought that record. There are a alot fratboys out there.
Guess who is on that list? The incomparable crazy-genius Kate Bush. Oh yeah, she's a nutter...all the greats are. You know who loves her and would do anything to record with her. Outkast. Seriously. Not only is that very cool and an interesting collaboration to think about but the fact that Outkast wants to collaborate with you tells you all you need to know.
So apparently Maxwell didn't get that list. So he attempts to cover "This Woman's Work" and lo-and-fucking-behold, pulls it off. Its a tribute to his talents that he does. He manages to remain faithful to the song (actually his vocals resembles Kate's quite a bit in spots) and make it his own, which is the ideal for a cover of a song like this. But then, Maxwell is pretty fucking talented. I mean, this was kinda cocky to think he could do this, I would have told him no, but I would have been wrong. His version is a beaut. Next question, where the fuck is he?
Give Me The Food-Miss Platnum
No the "I" is not missing...that's how she spells it.
Finally you have the answer to oft-asked question "who is your favorite Romanian rapper?" You can just say "Miss Platnum".
I probably wouldn't have written about this song except I saw her on YouTube. She's kinda utterly charming. And yes, from Romania. Like Nadia Comaneci and. And on and Dracula.
And fortunately she isn't built like a Romanian gymnast.
The song is all about being plus-sized and liking food and dissing boys who don't like big girls. Its very fun, it'd be a great addition to any mixtape--total party song. And live, well like I said, she seems utterly charming.
Definitely check it out...it charted in Romania, so its just a matter of time til she makes it big here.
Plus, the lyrics actually say the word "chicken wings." If a song mentions chicken wings directly, I like it. Its just a rule.
Right dodge!?!?
Andromeda And The Milky Way-Me'Shell Ndegeocello
A massive underrated talent. Its shocking to me that she isn't more famous. What with that catchy name and being a black bisexual or lesbian muslim woman, I mean, its amazing people aren't calling her the next Mandy Moore?
Some artists record 25 songs and still cannot pack as much sexiness and honesty and soul into a song like Me'Shell.
There are other lyrics to this song, but all you will remember is "take me down to the river, I wanna get free with you." Look, I don't know what river she's talking about or what "get free" means but after you hear this song, trust me, you will want to go down there and find out.
Its sexy beyond belief.
It also reminds me of a dear friend of mine, Dodge. Not sexually, although I know she TOTALLY wants to get with me, despite being a dyke. This song reminds me of her energy...like if her soul made a mixtape, this'd be on the soundtrack. I'll leave it at that.
This Woman's Work-Maxwell
Somewhere there is a list. Its a very important list...you must read it before you become a musician. The list is called "Artists whose songs you do not cover". If you don't read it, you suffer at your own peril. Sometimes the offense is well deserved....see the Pet Shop Boys and their take-the-piss-out-of-the pomposity of U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name?". Straight men always think their view on the world is so important, why not let the gayest band in the world discofy it?
Sometimes the sins are minor, like a misdemeanor. Like the Dixie Chicks and "Landslide". Uh yeah, they are way cool and ultra-talented. The song isn't supposed to be sung in harmony. Its a lonely song. Also, its best if you don't try to sound like the icon who previously recorded the song. I love the Dixie Chicks. Alot. But they are not Stevie-fucking-Nicks. As Sandra Bernhard once said, Stevie Nicks is one of the "big-titted bitches of rock". The Dixie Chicks are not there yet.
Then the sins are sometimes egregious. Like a felony, a capitol felony. I am morally opposed to the death penalty. Under any circumstances. Except 2. Jean shorts AND horrible covers. Kill em. Slowly. Exhibit A. The Counting Crows and "Big Yellow Taxi". Yes, the Counting Crows actually covered Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow...wait. You don't need me to go into it. That is more than enough explanation. The artist and the cover. How dare they. Joni Mitchell's song is all about the environment and our wasting of it. The Counting Crows are anti-environment...do you know how many of their CD's are in landfills right now and will never ever decompose. Think about it. A lot of people bought that record. There are a alot fratboys out there.
Guess who is on that list? The incomparable crazy-genius Kate Bush. Oh yeah, she's a nutter...all the greats are. You know who loves her and would do anything to record with her. Outkast. Seriously. Not only is that very cool and an interesting collaboration to think about but the fact that Outkast wants to collaborate with you tells you all you need to know.
So apparently Maxwell didn't get that list. So he attempts to cover "This Woman's Work" and lo-and-fucking-behold, pulls it off. Its a tribute to his talents that he does. He manages to remain faithful to the song (actually his vocals resembles Kate's quite a bit in spots) and make it his own, which is the ideal for a cover of a song like this. But then, Maxwell is pretty fucking talented. I mean, this was kinda cocky to think he could do this, I would have told him no, but I would have been wrong. His version is a beaut. Next question, where the fuck is he?
blue lights are shining all over me
I Just Called To Say I Love You-Stevie Wonder
People knock his 80's stuff--most famously in the movie High Fidelity, where Jack Black throws somebody out of a record store where he works for requesting the soundtrack to The Women In Red. And this isn't his greatest track. However, I just heard it on the radio and its a tribute to his genius. Sometimes it's an artists B-sides that flesh out the picture of an artists capabilities. This isn't a b-side, but in light of his more "important" work, it might as well be.
That said, there are few artists that can do joyful and sweet like Stevie Wonder. Joyful...Bjork, Outkast, Kate Bush? Not many. This, its a minor key love song, I mean, he just called to say he loved you. He doesn't Celine Dion the person to death...he just tells it like it is. Yeah, its Lite FM. Its still good.
Beau Mot Plage-Isolee
There are some tracks I won't bother describing. OK, it sounds like jazz fucked techno with a flute solo. Trust me, you just gotta hear it. Fucking brilliant. You are insane if you don't seek this out to listen to. Loudly. With the lights out. If you dig it, well then, you are welcome. If not, well then, you are wrong.
What Led Me To This Town?-The Jayhawks
This one comes with a story. I have 2 actual sisters. Then I have Angie, who lived behind me. I've known her since I was 8, she was 7. We weren't always best friends. Like brother and sister, we often fought. I hit her once with a stick. In the leg. Hard. I mention this because undoubtably she would mention it. Yeah, well she and her friends made fun of me for dancing gay. Which I wasn't. In retrospect, now that I know what dancing gay is, I wasn't. Trust me on that one.
Mostly we got along famously. She was the first person I smoked a cigarette with. Capri's. I was the first person she got drunk with. And music...we both loved music from the get go--it was something we always had in common, something we could always talk about. I remember she had a Blondie record at the age of 11 (lest you think she is impossibly cool, I believe she owned an Air Supply record as well, the one with the balloon on the cover) and playing reggae when we laid out. Every week, I'd write down the Top 40 every week off the radio and bring it over to her house. We would then go over it. What songs we liked, what songs we didn't, what songs we were surprised charted so poorly, so highly. Its not like we knew everything about each other...she thought I was straight until I was 21. I thought she was still a virgin at 20. I wasn't. She wasn't. We both should have known. I dug the Pet Shop Boys, ABBA and Madonna. She dated super hot guys and loved "Slow Hand" by the Pointer Sisters. And back then that song was very very controversial.
And we had our own language. You hear that alot...childhood friends who have their own language. Our language, well, we spoke "dolphin". No yeah seriously, we spent an entire evening in her pool trying to communicate by making "dolphin" noises. We always bring this up when we get together...we always make fun of how young and dorky we were when doing this. Uh yeah, we were 16 when we began to speak "dolphin". Well, fuck it, its a language that you tend to develop a propensity for later in life.
So Angie made me a mixtape. A couple of years back. She's kinda more into alt-country than me. Alt-country is this weird kinda catch all genre. Wilco, Son Volt. People who tell you they like alt-country want to fuck Ryan Adams. I'd leave it that.
So this song. She made me this tape...couple of tapes actually. And this song...passed me by a good 3 or 4 times. I just never got into it.
So one night I get on a bus from NY to Providence. We leave at 5 PM Friday evening. Its raining. And there's an accident. I usually love to drive at night. There's something about it. But not this night. And of course the bus is packed and hot and loud and annoying etc etc. Lurches forward 4 feet, stops, lurches another 4 feet. You've been there, everybody in NY has a bus horror story. The people who don't are the Republicans.
I have my headphones on and this tape is in. And somehow, even with all the lurching and noise, I fall asleep. Music still on.
And then I wake up. And its totally dark. And totally quiet. All I can hear is the sound of the bus moving and the rain.
And this song. I wake up to a female chorus singing "blue lights are shining over my life." It sounds like angels. I thought it was almost impossibly beautiful. The song is about getting older and realizing you haven't turned out exactly how you thought you would. Its insanely beautiful....best part....female chorus sings "can you keep it a secret, I'm in love with you." Then he sings..."what happened to this boy, ah such a lovely mother's son" and then the chorus.
It was just one of those moments that you recognize how much music means to your life. The equivalent of seeing an amazing view....people who aren't into music never get that...it's like "whats the big deal?". These are the people who camp. They only get that "moment" by living outside and hiking 6 miles up a mountain to see an actual view. They go "wow" by climbing the mountain, we go "wow" by putting on a Sonic Youth record. We're smarter.
When we were kids, I always thought Angie was way cooler than me. Well, either I was wrong or something happened. Because I am now waaaaaayyyyy cooler than her. Especially on music...she always tells me I'm the man in the know.
Except for this...this song, she gave me this.
Hold The Line-Toto
I read that a DJ that I really like plays this at parties. Of course its in Norway, which has a much higher "irony" intelligence than us. However, I get it. Generally, Toto is way more than kinda cheesy. However, this his reminds me of "More Than Feeling" by Boston...it sounds amazing coming out of radio. And it features a piano solo. It'd probably rock a dance floor. Plus you can make that cool horn/V thing with your hand to it.
People knock his 80's stuff--most famously in the movie High Fidelity, where Jack Black throws somebody out of a record store where he works for requesting the soundtrack to The Women In Red. And this isn't his greatest track. However, I just heard it on the radio and its a tribute to his genius. Sometimes it's an artists B-sides that flesh out the picture of an artists capabilities. This isn't a b-side, but in light of his more "important" work, it might as well be.
That said, there are few artists that can do joyful and sweet like Stevie Wonder. Joyful...Bjork, Outkast, Kate Bush? Not many. This, its a minor key love song, I mean, he just called to say he loved you. He doesn't Celine Dion the person to death...he just tells it like it is. Yeah, its Lite FM. Its still good.
Beau Mot Plage-Isolee
There are some tracks I won't bother describing. OK, it sounds like jazz fucked techno with a flute solo. Trust me, you just gotta hear it. Fucking brilliant. You are insane if you don't seek this out to listen to. Loudly. With the lights out. If you dig it, well then, you are welcome. If not, well then, you are wrong.
What Led Me To This Town?-The Jayhawks
This one comes with a story. I have 2 actual sisters. Then I have Angie, who lived behind me. I've known her since I was 8, she was 7. We weren't always best friends. Like brother and sister, we often fought. I hit her once with a stick. In the leg. Hard. I mention this because undoubtably she would mention it. Yeah, well she and her friends made fun of me for dancing gay. Which I wasn't. In retrospect, now that I know what dancing gay is, I wasn't. Trust me on that one.
Mostly we got along famously. She was the first person I smoked a cigarette with. Capri's. I was the first person she got drunk with. And music...we both loved music from the get go--it was something we always had in common, something we could always talk about. I remember she had a Blondie record at the age of 11 (lest you think she is impossibly cool, I believe she owned an Air Supply record as well, the one with the balloon on the cover) and playing reggae when we laid out. Every week, I'd write down the Top 40 every week off the radio and bring it over to her house. We would then go over it. What songs we liked, what songs we didn't, what songs we were surprised charted so poorly, so highly. Its not like we knew everything about each other...she thought I was straight until I was 21. I thought she was still a virgin at 20. I wasn't. She wasn't. We both should have known. I dug the Pet Shop Boys, ABBA and Madonna. She dated super hot guys and loved "Slow Hand" by the Pointer Sisters. And back then that song was very very controversial.
And we had our own language. You hear that alot...childhood friends who have their own language. Our language, well, we spoke "dolphin". No yeah seriously, we spent an entire evening in her pool trying to communicate by making "dolphin" noises. We always bring this up when we get together...we always make fun of how young and dorky we were when doing this. Uh yeah, we were 16 when we began to speak "dolphin". Well, fuck it, its a language that you tend to develop a propensity for later in life.
So Angie made me a mixtape. A couple of years back. She's kinda more into alt-country than me. Alt-country is this weird kinda catch all genre. Wilco, Son Volt. People who tell you they like alt-country want to fuck Ryan Adams. I'd leave it that.
So this song. She made me this tape...couple of tapes actually. And this song...passed me by a good 3 or 4 times. I just never got into it.
So one night I get on a bus from NY to Providence. We leave at 5 PM Friday evening. Its raining. And there's an accident. I usually love to drive at night. There's something about it. But not this night. And of course the bus is packed and hot and loud and annoying etc etc. Lurches forward 4 feet, stops, lurches another 4 feet. You've been there, everybody in NY has a bus horror story. The people who don't are the Republicans.
I have my headphones on and this tape is in. And somehow, even with all the lurching and noise, I fall asleep. Music still on.
And then I wake up. And its totally dark. And totally quiet. All I can hear is the sound of the bus moving and the rain.
And this song. I wake up to a female chorus singing "blue lights are shining over my life." It sounds like angels. I thought it was almost impossibly beautiful. The song is about getting older and realizing you haven't turned out exactly how you thought you would. Its insanely beautiful....best part....female chorus sings "can you keep it a secret, I'm in love with you." Then he sings..."what happened to this boy, ah such a lovely mother's son" and then the chorus.
It was just one of those moments that you recognize how much music means to your life. The equivalent of seeing an amazing view....people who aren't into music never get that...it's like "whats the big deal?". These are the people who camp. They only get that "moment" by living outside and hiking 6 miles up a mountain to see an actual view. They go "wow" by climbing the mountain, we go "wow" by putting on a Sonic Youth record. We're smarter.
When we were kids, I always thought Angie was way cooler than me. Well, either I was wrong or something happened. Because I am now waaaaaayyyyy cooler than her. Especially on music...she always tells me I'm the man in the know.
Except for this...this song, she gave me this.
Hold The Line-Toto
I read that a DJ that I really like plays this at parties. Of course its in Norway, which has a much higher "irony" intelligence than us. However, I get it. Generally, Toto is way more than kinda cheesy. However, this his reminds me of "More Than Feeling" by Boston...it sounds amazing coming out of radio. And it features a piano solo. It'd probably rock a dance floor. Plus you can make that cool horn/V thing with your hand to it.
Gimme Less
Ma Quale Idea-Pino D'Angino
I first heard this song on Royksopp's Back To Mine mix (Great mix...impeccable taste!). I was at the gym and this song came on over my headphones and I was like "Hmmmmmm, where do I know this from?" That, and I laughed. I don't know anything about Pino D'Angino...he doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry, which means even he isn't scribbling his own entry.Yet believe it or not, after Googling him, I found an old album, I Successi/Ma Quale. Judging by the cover, he looks like an Italian playboy who sang eurodisco in the 70's. Oh, this is Euro...no question about that.
Its also unbelievably infectious and fun and an instant party. And where had I heard it before...well, there's a song called "Don't Call Me Baby" by the band Madison Avenue. This is the sample, which was a smart choice on Madison Avenue's part and made Pino some serious cash, as the song went to Number 1 all over the world.
So search it out, turn on your lava lamp, put on some polyester and shag on your shag carpet. Viva la Pino!
I Thought That-The Migrants
If we lived in a country with decent cool radio, like in the 80's and early 90's, you'd have heard this by now. In fact, as I think this went to Number 1 in Australia (today is all about Australia, I just noticed), you'd be sick of it by now. This definitely has an 80's vibe, although it doesn't sound dated. The vocals....very distinctive....the falsetto reminds me of vintage Prince while on the verses the vocals remind me of Gang Of Four. OK, Prince, Gang Of Four...wow, that's a compliment! In any event, its impossible funky, catchy as fuck and in a better world would be an absolutely massive hit. Um, that ain't happenin', as we have to endure the new record from Ms. Department of Children & Family Services, Britney Spears. More about her later.
K...wanna hear this? Go to http://www.beatport.com/. People keep saying that they wish I put links to the tracks on here. Yeah, really...well I haven't mastered that yet. So go to Beatport (another great site is Bleep) and you get a good minute and a half of the track. If you like it, then buy it from Beatport. It might be on ITunes, but support Bleep or Beatport well before you buy from ITunes.
The mixes, which turn it a bit more electro, a bit more house, rock as well (although the UK is loving the Boris Dlugosch mix, which is too loud for me). Ah, but the original....superior.
Love Is Here To Stay-Chungking & 2Hearts-Kylie Minogue
Cher once said that she knew she made it when drag queens started imitating her. Ya know, an imitation as a form of flattery sort of thing. Well, somebody tell Alison Goldfrapp she's made it.
Chungking's track sounds like an "Ooh La La" knockoff if there ever was one. And let me say, "Oh La La" was easily my least favorite track off of Supernature. (For fuck's sake, give this woman a Bond theme...actually, make her the Bond villian). I tread lightly here, she'll kick my ass. The rest of the Chungking record is pretty good....but this is very derivative. To me, here's whats odd. The song sounds EXACTLY like a Goldfrapp track. Yet, its not interesting. Once its over, you forget it. It should register, right, I mean, if the original registers, the copy should too. But alas, its missing that something. The Kissy Sell Out remix doesn't save it from bugging me either (and his mixes usually can). Not one of the mixes could save "Ooh La La" for me either.
Please don't forward this to Alison Goldfrapp. She's a badass.
Kylie, well, kudos for her for revamping her career and recasting herself in the US (she's always been massive elsewhere, 2nd to Madonna in the UK I think). I mean, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" was brilliant in its simplicity and the Scissor Sisters-produced "I Believe In You" was remarkable glitter pop. And "Slow", well, terribly underappreciated...sublime and written by Emiliana Torrini, who I love.
So this, well, this is the first single off her new record. The first 4 beats....guess what it reminds me of....yup, "Ooh La La" again. In fact, if this was Name That Tune and I heard only the first 4 beats, I'd think it was Goldfrapp and aforementioned song. I thought "Lose Control" was the first single (leaked to the net), which I like considerably more. In any event, its grown on me. I'd describe it this way, imagine if Alison Goldfrapp had lunch with Marilyn Manson. Not an entire dinner...they didn't hang out for the whole evening, nothing that extensive. Just lunch. And she wrote a song. And gave it to Kylie.
Its grown on me. The bad parts: well, it sounds like Goldfrapp and when something sounds so much like another artist, you compare the vocals as well. Well, Kylie isn't the same kind of singer. I mean, she has a lovely enough voice and the right track brings out the interesting qualities in it. But she's not a singer's singer. However, the good parts. Its fun, short, funky and the "woohoo" parts remind me so much of Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People." Which rocks. Yeah, no seriously! It does rock. That and "The Dope Show" and especially "Disposable Teens" rock. But I digress.
In summation, someone call Alison Goldfrapp. She's got some royalties comin'.
Gimme More-Britney Spears (featuring T.I.)
Despite myself, I like it. However (and this is a big however), there is nothing about this that isn't anonymous. All the great things about the track, the hook, the production...are the product of someone else. They certainly are not Britney.
I am not writing this because she is an easy target. She doesn't annoy me as much as a band like Nickelback, an "alternative" band. I'd take her B-sides over the risible Oasis, for example. But I'll say what I thought the first time I saw her. She is not interesting. She has never been interesting. She's not charming, she's not smart. She brings no personality to her songs--there is no distinctive sound you identify with her.
Sure, there's been some songs I liked. Quite a few, actually, most notably "I'm A Slave 4 U" (which was very much about the production values of the Neptunes). I've always thought she should do more tracks like "Slave"....putting her weak kittenish voice up in front of some dirty electro. That seems to work well. Oh, and I totally dug "Toxic".
Still...doesn't she have a record contract somebody else is supposed to have?
Her ex did it right. Justin Timberlake was never very interesting in N' Sync. Well, N Sync wasn't very interesting. On going solo, he did what Britney did...he began working with brilliant collaborators. However, he also began to show a more personal side to himself. And thats where, in my opinion, his long-lasting career was born. He never seems to take himself too seriously. Its his recognition of his limitations that will be his key to his success. He knows who he is and what he does well. That's smart.
But its Madonna. She's partially to blame for this. That's who Britney certainly wants to be. She wants her icon status, her career, her ability to generate controversy on her own terms. Well, it ain't happenin'. Britney isn't smart. She isn't interesting. Yeah yeah, I know...thats the point...in these ironic post-something times, isn't being a celebrity for no discernible reason interesting in its own rite? Yeah, you know how Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" contained not one actual ironic occurrence? That wasn't intentional, it wasn't ironic. Britney isn't playing with celebrity or her image on her own terms. By year 7 of Madonna's ascendancy to power, she'd pocketed some 40 million from Pepsi for daring to kiss a black Jesus in her "Like A Prayer" video. I mean, at that point, what was left? [An aside: unfortunately what was left was childrens books, the cover of Good Housekeeping and a faux English accent as she became a UK Jew--I give her credit, she's 2 lederhosen away from successfully appropriating every culture known to man). Madonna had done it all by then--for God's sake, she stuck a crucifix in her vagina ON STAGE! In Italy! Britney has never done that. Well, not on purpose. Who knows what happens when that Big Gulp kicks in and the meth hits.
And for all the endless pop culture analysis of her, sweet lord, please stop. I've read articles that suggest that maybe she's not so dumb, not so untalented...a dumb-as-a-fox, dumb-as-George Bush kinda thing. Wishful thinking its called, I think. First she was a vapid teenage queen, now she's just a train wreck that is happening slowly enough for the media to catch every moment of her sad demise. Its another Anna Nicole! There's blood in the water. I think people like her because she makes them feel better about herself. My sister-in-law cannot figure out why she is obsessed with the debacle Britney has become. I tell her its just cause she is breast-feeding. It'll pass.
Madonna got on the cover after "Like A Virgin" had been Number 1 for a couple of weeks. Britney attained that status.....before her first record came out--it was pre-ordained that she was going to be "interesting", that she was going to be successful. Guess what, she is successful, at least in monetary terms. Interesting...yeah, nope.
Oh, the track...."Gimme More"...ah, what to say. Its not bad, actually, pretty good, it is catchy. Like I said, its the kinda dirty electro backdrop that works well with her voice. And it could have been sung by approximately 15 million other people. It could be credited to anonymous and be just as good. Hey, that'd be more interesting! Milli Vanilli wasn't interesting as singers until we discovered it wasn't them. Maybe thats what Britney should do.
You know what. Maybe its like our President...they say you get the President you deserve. I mean, in a culture that has devoted more words than the Bible to the loathsome trash that is Paris Hilton (who is actually famous for doing absolutely nothing), Britney Spears must seem like Joni Mitchell. A sure sign that the 4 Horsement of the Apocalyse are upon us. Who knew they'd be vapid blonde anorexics! Ah, the banality of evil. Thank you Hannah Arendt. That's Miss Arendt, if you're nasty.
I first heard this song on Royksopp's Back To Mine mix (Great mix...impeccable taste!). I was at the gym and this song came on over my headphones and I was like "Hmmmmmm, where do I know this from?" That, and I laughed. I don't know anything about Pino D'Angino...he doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry, which means even he isn't scribbling his own entry.Yet believe it or not, after Googling him, I found an old album, I Successi/Ma Quale. Judging by the cover, he looks like an Italian playboy who sang eurodisco in the 70's. Oh, this is Euro...no question about that.
Its also unbelievably infectious and fun and an instant party. And where had I heard it before...well, there's a song called "Don't Call Me Baby" by the band Madison Avenue. This is the sample, which was a smart choice on Madison Avenue's part and made Pino some serious cash, as the song went to Number 1 all over the world.
So search it out, turn on your lava lamp, put on some polyester and shag on your shag carpet. Viva la Pino!
I Thought That-The Migrants
If we lived in a country with decent cool radio, like in the 80's and early 90's, you'd have heard this by now. In fact, as I think this went to Number 1 in Australia (today is all about Australia, I just noticed), you'd be sick of it by now. This definitely has an 80's vibe, although it doesn't sound dated. The vocals....very distinctive....the falsetto reminds me of vintage Prince while on the verses the vocals remind me of Gang Of Four. OK, Prince, Gang Of Four...wow, that's a compliment! In any event, its impossible funky, catchy as fuck and in a better world would be an absolutely massive hit. Um, that ain't happenin', as we have to endure the new record from Ms. Department of Children & Family Services, Britney Spears. More about her later.
K...wanna hear this? Go to http://www.beatport.com/. People keep saying that they wish I put links to the tracks on here. Yeah, really...well I haven't mastered that yet. So go to Beatport (another great site is Bleep) and you get a good minute and a half of the track. If you like it, then buy it from Beatport. It might be on ITunes, but support Bleep or Beatport well before you buy from ITunes.
The mixes, which turn it a bit more electro, a bit more house, rock as well (although the UK is loving the Boris Dlugosch mix, which is too loud for me). Ah, but the original....superior.
Love Is Here To Stay-Chungking & 2Hearts-Kylie Minogue
Cher once said that she knew she made it when drag queens started imitating her. Ya know, an imitation as a form of flattery sort of thing. Well, somebody tell Alison Goldfrapp she's made it.
Chungking's track sounds like an "Ooh La La" knockoff if there ever was one. And let me say, "Oh La La" was easily my least favorite track off of Supernature. (For fuck's sake, give this woman a Bond theme...actually, make her the Bond villian). I tread lightly here, she'll kick my ass. The rest of the Chungking record is pretty good....but this is very derivative. To me, here's whats odd. The song sounds EXACTLY like a Goldfrapp track. Yet, its not interesting. Once its over, you forget it. It should register, right, I mean, if the original registers, the copy should too. But alas, its missing that something. The Kissy Sell Out remix doesn't save it from bugging me either (and his mixes usually can). Not one of the mixes could save "Ooh La La" for me either.
Please don't forward this to Alison Goldfrapp. She's a badass.
Kylie, well, kudos for her for revamping her career and recasting herself in the US (she's always been massive elsewhere, 2nd to Madonna in the UK I think). I mean, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" was brilliant in its simplicity and the Scissor Sisters-produced "I Believe In You" was remarkable glitter pop. And "Slow", well, terribly underappreciated...sublime and written by Emiliana Torrini, who I love.
So this, well, this is the first single off her new record. The first 4 beats....guess what it reminds me of....yup, "Ooh La La" again. In fact, if this was Name That Tune and I heard only the first 4 beats, I'd think it was Goldfrapp and aforementioned song. I thought "Lose Control" was the first single (leaked to the net), which I like considerably more. In any event, its grown on me. I'd describe it this way, imagine if Alison Goldfrapp had lunch with Marilyn Manson. Not an entire dinner...they didn't hang out for the whole evening, nothing that extensive. Just lunch. And she wrote a song. And gave it to Kylie.
Its grown on me. The bad parts: well, it sounds like Goldfrapp and when something sounds so much like another artist, you compare the vocals as well. Well, Kylie isn't the same kind of singer. I mean, she has a lovely enough voice and the right track brings out the interesting qualities in it. But she's not a singer's singer. However, the good parts. Its fun, short, funky and the "woohoo" parts remind me so much of Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People." Which rocks. Yeah, no seriously! It does rock. That and "The Dope Show" and especially "Disposable Teens" rock. But I digress.
In summation, someone call Alison Goldfrapp. She's got some royalties comin'.
Gimme More-Britney Spears (featuring T.I.)
Despite myself, I like it. However (and this is a big however), there is nothing about this that isn't anonymous. All the great things about the track, the hook, the production...are the product of someone else. They certainly are not Britney.
I am not writing this because she is an easy target. She doesn't annoy me as much as a band like Nickelback, an "alternative" band. I'd take her B-sides over the risible Oasis, for example. But I'll say what I thought the first time I saw her. She is not interesting. She has never been interesting. She's not charming, she's not smart. She brings no personality to her songs--there is no distinctive sound you identify with her.
Sure, there's been some songs I liked. Quite a few, actually, most notably "I'm A Slave 4 U" (which was very much about the production values of the Neptunes). I've always thought she should do more tracks like "Slave"....putting her weak kittenish voice up in front of some dirty electro. That seems to work well. Oh, and I totally dug "Toxic".
Still...doesn't she have a record contract somebody else is supposed to have?
Her ex did it right. Justin Timberlake was never very interesting in N' Sync. Well, N Sync wasn't very interesting. On going solo, he did what Britney did...he began working with brilliant collaborators. However, he also began to show a more personal side to himself. And thats where, in my opinion, his long-lasting career was born. He never seems to take himself too seriously. Its his recognition of his limitations that will be his key to his success. He knows who he is and what he does well. That's smart.
But its Madonna. She's partially to blame for this. That's who Britney certainly wants to be. She wants her icon status, her career, her ability to generate controversy on her own terms. Well, it ain't happenin'. Britney isn't smart. She isn't interesting. Yeah yeah, I know...thats the point...in these ironic post-something times, isn't being a celebrity for no discernible reason interesting in its own rite? Yeah, you know how Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" contained not one actual ironic occurrence? That wasn't intentional, it wasn't ironic. Britney isn't playing with celebrity or her image on her own terms. By year 7 of Madonna's ascendancy to power, she'd pocketed some 40 million from Pepsi for daring to kiss a black Jesus in her "Like A Prayer" video. I mean, at that point, what was left? [An aside: unfortunately what was left was childrens books, the cover of Good Housekeeping and a faux English accent as she became a UK Jew--I give her credit, she's 2 lederhosen away from successfully appropriating every culture known to man). Madonna had done it all by then--for God's sake, she stuck a crucifix in her vagina ON STAGE! In Italy! Britney has never done that. Well, not on purpose. Who knows what happens when that Big Gulp kicks in and the meth hits.
And for all the endless pop culture analysis of her, sweet lord, please stop. I've read articles that suggest that maybe she's not so dumb, not so untalented...a dumb-as-a-fox, dumb-as-George Bush kinda thing. Wishful thinking its called, I think. First she was a vapid teenage queen, now she's just a train wreck that is happening slowly enough for the media to catch every moment of her sad demise. Its another Anna Nicole! There's blood in the water. I think people like her because she makes them feel better about herself. My sister-in-law cannot figure out why she is obsessed with the debacle Britney has become. I tell her its just cause she is breast-feeding. It'll pass.
Madonna got on the cover after "Like A Virgin" had been Number 1 for a couple of weeks. Britney attained that status.....before her first record came out--it was pre-ordained that she was going to be "interesting", that she was going to be successful. Guess what, she is successful, at least in monetary terms. Interesting...yeah, nope.
Oh, the track...."Gimme More"...ah, what to say. Its not bad, actually, pretty good, it is catchy. Like I said, its the kinda dirty electro backdrop that works well with her voice. And it could have been sung by approximately 15 million other people. It could be credited to anonymous and be just as good. Hey, that'd be more interesting! Milli Vanilli wasn't interesting as singers until we discovered it wasn't them. Maybe thats what Britney should do.
You know what. Maybe its like our President...they say you get the President you deserve. I mean, in a culture that has devoted more words than the Bible to the loathsome trash that is Paris Hilton (who is actually famous for doing absolutely nothing), Britney Spears must seem like Joni Mitchell. A sure sign that the 4 Horsement of the Apocalyse are upon us. Who knew they'd be vapid blonde anorexics! Ah, the banality of evil. Thank you Hannah Arendt. That's Miss Arendt, if you're nasty.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Torch Song Trilogy AKA I Am A Lonely Painter
Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up-Cortney Tidwell
Oft referred to as "country goth", Cortney Tidwell's first record came out last year (there was an EP prior). I've also heard her compared to Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins), Melanie (by Lee Hazlewood no less) and Bjork. I'll go with Bjork. Not so much because of her vocals. Don't get me wrong...there is a similarity between the two. Cortney Tidwell is not Scandinavian, so she is missing that echoey quality so common in the chanteuses from the snowy regions. The songs do have a country quality, and they do remind me of Bjork...but they don't sound like Bjork. I'll explain it like this. Radiohead and Bjork always remind me of each other. Not because they sound alike, but because they make their way around a song the same way. The same unpredicability in their arraignments...I dunno, I can't explain it. It didn't surprise me a bit to discover Thom Yorke dueting with Bjork on her Dancer In The Dark record.
On this song, its the subject matter that draws the Bjork comparison. This song is about a love affair between an earthbound human and a starstruck alien. Seriously. Its beautiful and heartbreaking and remains one of the most beautiful things I've heard all year. The song builds and actually climaxes...these whoops start coming in at the end. The whole record is a beautiful record and an auspicious debut, but it'd be worth the price of admission for this song alone. When she sings "ooooooohhhhhh" at 2:43 into the song, oh lord, prepare yourself.
Now here's the shocker...their is a better version of the song. However, to appreciate it, you have to listen to the original first. It is, without question, not a song that you would listen to and think "hmmmm, I wonder how a remix of that would sound. A dance remix...". And yet....it happens. Ewan Pearson is the culprit. 2007 is almost done, but I'll tell you right now, this is my remix of the year.
Think of a time when you've been drunk. Not wasted, but warm drunk...you feel warm and happy and you don't care about tomorrow and you love everyone and you are dancing. Now imagine this...there is a disco ball and a beautiful happy vibe-ing crowd and the lights and the music and confetti drops from the ceiling which normally you find cheesy but tonight, oh tonight...its too beautiful for words.
that's what this sounds like. It's a song that you never want to end.
The Park-Feist
At the end of the year, it will be difficult to find someone on more "best of" lists that Feist. She is certainly the flavor of this month. Just a few nights ago, she was on Saturday Night Live as the choice of Brian Williams. His first choice was Bruce Springsteen, Feist was his second. Hey, that's saying something.
I didn't fall for her instantly. First song I heard was "Mushaboom". I liked it, I liked the video...however, at the time, i was like "eh, ok, its great" it was too clever for me. Now, I'd heard her before but didn't know I had heard her. Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People...she's on that. I did pick up her last record (Let it Die) and I did like it. That's it....I liked it. I have since gone back (I'm all about her now, after this latest record) and now love it. But at the time, er, ok. She's great and has a great voice but...
Worth the price of admission alone (my analogy of the day) was her cover of "Inside And Out" by the Bee Gees. Bars should be mandated by law to play this as the last song of the night...no, scratch that. The last song to dance to will be Cortney Tidwell. Then is the song you are kicked out of the bar to. Oh, if only I was DJ...
Honestly, its after I heard her latest record that I figured out something about her last record. I felt that on her last record (Let It Die) she held back too much. I wanted to hear more. Make sense?
So her latest is The Reminder. If you are at all into music, you've heard about it. Every reviewer has gushed and gushed and you know what, everyone's right! How often does that happen. Whats interesting is that this record is more stripped down that her past work. And yet...there's way more here. First single, "My Moon, My Man" was a sublime love song....somehow it reminded me of Squeeze (a good association). The remix, by Boyz Noise, also great...basically takes the original and makes Midnight Star sing it. Freak-A-Zoid indeed.
Then the next single, "1234"...well, you've heard it. Oh...don' t think you have. Trust me, you watch TV....you have. The new IPod Nano, this is the song the commercial uses. This kicks the song into the Top 30 on the Billboard chart, a position usually occupied by Carrie Underwood and Hoobastank. And sweet Lord, the crimes against humanity that is Nickelback. The best part is that the song is just a simple love song. And it features a banjo. And some of my favorite lyrics in ages, as in
Those teenage hopes who have tears in their eyes
Too scared to own up to one little lie
But those aren't the best songs on the record. She manages to tackle Nina Simone's "See-Line Woman" (retitled "Sealion Woman" and survive. There are few artists who can stand toe-to-toe with Nina Simone and not look like an idiot. Yet this version does Nina proud.
However, "The Park" is my favorite song. Remember how I said that I wanted more from her last record. I meant I wanted a bit more emotion, a little more gushing. But she's Canadian, where you just wouldn't do that sorta thing, ya know. She's not American, she's not arrogant enough to think that everyone needs to know her every thought and feeling. Are you listening, Alanis? Oh wait, she's Canadian too...
This is just her and her guitar and birds twerping in the background. Initially, its told in the third person...the narrator tells us about a woman who is looking for her former love in a park they used to frequent. But he doesn't show, he doesn't walk through. And Feist chides her for this, asking "why should he come back through the park?" and "Who can be sure of anything through the distance that keeps you from knowing the truth."
Its at the end, the devasting end, where she slips up. That's it, its almost as if she slips up. All her words before are so wise, it simply can't be her. But it is. It's her.
Why would you think your boy could become
The man who could make you sure he was the one?
The one
My one
My one
oh my
A Case Of You-Joni Mitchell
I grew up with folk music...Joan Baez, Boby Dylan, Buffy Saint-Marie, Peter, Paul & Mary. On and on it goes. That and Rumours by Fleetwood Mac and the soundtrack to Shaft and a little Lena Horne. Thats what I remember growing up. My dad would come home from the steel mills and shut of the lights in the living room and lay on the floor and listen to one of his records while my mom would make dinner. Every so often a song would come on which would make my mom walk in and go "oh" and sigh because she loved the song. ("Silver Dagger" by Joan Baez, for example). And I'd go in there and sit with him. In the dark. Its probably where my love of music came from.
Surprisingly enough, my parents missed Joni Mitchell. And I never heard Blue. So I didn't hear this record until I was much older and was a total music dork. I read about it in reviews...its one of 'those' records, like The White Album or Highway 61 Revisited. But I'd never heard it.
The first time I did, I was blown away. Its very honest and clear and every song is beautiful and important. Her voice is angelic and well, the lyrics...its a given that Joni Mitchell is one of the greatest songwriters ever. And interestingly enough, its a folk record. Later the cadences and rhythms on her records would lean more towards jazz. But this is a folk record.
THE song on here, for me, is "A Case Of You". Lyrically its one of the most brilliant records ever written. On the surface, its funny and touching...the refrain is "I can drink a case of you, and still be on my feet, and still be on my feet." Underneath its a bit darker...."I'm frightened by the devil and I'm drawn to the ones who ain't" and "I met a woman, she had a mouth like yours, she knew your life, she knew your devils and your deeds, and she said, go to him, stay with him if you can, but be prepared to bleed." Utterly utterly devasting.
Over the years, Joni Mitchell has smoked her voice away. Gone is the clear folk singer from 30 years ago--on the original she sounds like the young girl she was on Blue. Her voice is much deeper, more world weary...and yet.
Just a few years ago, she released the record Both Sides Now, which consisted of 10 standards and two originals, done with an orchestra. The two originals are the title track and "A Case Of You." I read about it before I bought it...I was so excited but a little afraid...I didn't want this song to be messed up. Well, the first time, the orchestra played, the strings come in....and then her voice. I balled, of course. And yeah, her voice, its Marlboro Red deeper and scratchy and according to some, she can't sing anymore. An assertion I find laughable.
Some people have great voices. But they can't sing a song. They can't make you feel something, they can't break your heart. Ask Celine Dion or Mariah Carey or newly trained Madonna. Or as late, Barbra Streisand. It doesn't sound real, it doesn't sound honest. By striving for perfection, they lose the emotion.
Some people can sing a song. It doesn't matter that their voice is imperfect. They still sing beautifully, because they inhabit the song...the singer and the song fuse. (See Tom Waits and Bob Dylan). That happens on this song.
She retired for 5 years after this record....said she'd never sing again. However, inspired (I think, because of the lyrics) by the state of the world in the George Bush years, she was inspired to write again and recently released Shine. Thank God.
Oft referred to as "country goth", Cortney Tidwell's first record came out last year (there was an EP prior). I've also heard her compared to Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins), Melanie (by Lee Hazlewood no less) and Bjork. I'll go with Bjork. Not so much because of her vocals. Don't get me wrong...there is a similarity between the two. Cortney Tidwell is not Scandinavian, so she is missing that echoey quality so common in the chanteuses from the snowy regions. The songs do have a country quality, and they do remind me of Bjork...but they don't sound like Bjork. I'll explain it like this. Radiohead and Bjork always remind me of each other. Not because they sound alike, but because they make their way around a song the same way. The same unpredicability in their arraignments...I dunno, I can't explain it. It didn't surprise me a bit to discover Thom Yorke dueting with Bjork on her Dancer In The Dark record.
On this song, its the subject matter that draws the Bjork comparison. This song is about a love affair between an earthbound human and a starstruck alien. Seriously. Its beautiful and heartbreaking and remains one of the most beautiful things I've heard all year. The song builds and actually climaxes...these whoops start coming in at the end. The whole record is a beautiful record and an auspicious debut, but it'd be worth the price of admission for this song alone. When she sings "ooooooohhhhhh" at 2:43 into the song, oh lord, prepare yourself.
Now here's the shocker...their is a better version of the song. However, to appreciate it, you have to listen to the original first. It is, without question, not a song that you would listen to and think "hmmmm, I wonder how a remix of that would sound. A dance remix...". And yet....it happens. Ewan Pearson is the culprit. 2007 is almost done, but I'll tell you right now, this is my remix of the year.
Think of a time when you've been drunk. Not wasted, but warm drunk...you feel warm and happy and you don't care about tomorrow and you love everyone and you are dancing. Now imagine this...there is a disco ball and a beautiful happy vibe-ing crowd and the lights and the music and confetti drops from the ceiling which normally you find cheesy but tonight, oh tonight...its too beautiful for words.
that's what this sounds like. It's a song that you never want to end.
The Park-Feist
At the end of the year, it will be difficult to find someone on more "best of" lists that Feist. She is certainly the flavor of this month. Just a few nights ago, she was on Saturday Night Live as the choice of Brian Williams. His first choice was Bruce Springsteen, Feist was his second. Hey, that's saying something.
I didn't fall for her instantly. First song I heard was "Mushaboom". I liked it, I liked the video...however, at the time, i was like "eh, ok, its great" it was too clever for me. Now, I'd heard her before but didn't know I had heard her. Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People...she's on that. I did pick up her last record (Let it Die) and I did like it. That's it....I liked it. I have since gone back (I'm all about her now, after this latest record) and now love it. But at the time, er, ok. She's great and has a great voice but...
Worth the price of admission alone (my analogy of the day) was her cover of "Inside And Out" by the Bee Gees. Bars should be mandated by law to play this as the last song of the night...no, scratch that. The last song to dance to will be Cortney Tidwell. Then is the song you are kicked out of the bar to. Oh, if only I was DJ...
Honestly, its after I heard her latest record that I figured out something about her last record. I felt that on her last record (Let It Die) she held back too much. I wanted to hear more. Make sense?
So her latest is The Reminder. If you are at all into music, you've heard about it. Every reviewer has gushed and gushed and you know what, everyone's right! How often does that happen. Whats interesting is that this record is more stripped down that her past work. And yet...there's way more here. First single, "My Moon, My Man" was a sublime love song....somehow it reminded me of Squeeze (a good association). The remix, by Boyz Noise, also great...basically takes the original and makes Midnight Star sing it. Freak-A-Zoid indeed.
Then the next single, "1234"...well, you've heard it. Oh...don' t think you have. Trust me, you watch TV....you have. The new IPod Nano, this is the song the commercial uses. This kicks the song into the Top 30 on the Billboard chart, a position usually occupied by Carrie Underwood and Hoobastank. And sweet Lord, the crimes against humanity that is Nickelback. The best part is that the song is just a simple love song. And it features a banjo. And some of my favorite lyrics in ages, as in
Those teenage hopes who have tears in their eyes
Too scared to own up to one little lie
But those aren't the best songs on the record. She manages to tackle Nina Simone's "See-Line Woman" (retitled "Sealion Woman" and survive. There are few artists who can stand toe-to-toe with Nina Simone and not look like an idiot. Yet this version does Nina proud.
However, "The Park" is my favorite song. Remember how I said that I wanted more from her last record. I meant I wanted a bit more emotion, a little more gushing. But she's Canadian, where you just wouldn't do that sorta thing, ya know. She's not American, she's not arrogant enough to think that everyone needs to know her every thought and feeling. Are you listening, Alanis? Oh wait, she's Canadian too...
This is just her and her guitar and birds twerping in the background. Initially, its told in the third person...the narrator tells us about a woman who is looking for her former love in a park they used to frequent. But he doesn't show, he doesn't walk through. And Feist chides her for this, asking "why should he come back through the park?" and "Who can be sure of anything through the distance that keeps you from knowing the truth."
Its at the end, the devasting end, where she slips up. That's it, its almost as if she slips up. All her words before are so wise, it simply can't be her. But it is. It's her.
Why would you think your boy could become
The man who could make you sure he was the one?
The one
My one
My one
oh my
A Case Of You-Joni Mitchell
I grew up with folk music...Joan Baez, Boby Dylan, Buffy Saint-Marie, Peter, Paul & Mary. On and on it goes. That and Rumours by Fleetwood Mac and the soundtrack to Shaft and a little Lena Horne. Thats what I remember growing up. My dad would come home from the steel mills and shut of the lights in the living room and lay on the floor and listen to one of his records while my mom would make dinner. Every so often a song would come on which would make my mom walk in and go "oh" and sigh because she loved the song. ("Silver Dagger" by Joan Baez, for example). And I'd go in there and sit with him. In the dark. Its probably where my love of music came from.
Surprisingly enough, my parents missed Joni Mitchell. And I never heard Blue. So I didn't hear this record until I was much older and was a total music dork. I read about it in reviews...its one of 'those' records, like The White Album or Highway 61 Revisited. But I'd never heard it.
The first time I did, I was blown away. Its very honest and clear and every song is beautiful and important. Her voice is angelic and well, the lyrics...its a given that Joni Mitchell is one of the greatest songwriters ever. And interestingly enough, its a folk record. Later the cadences and rhythms on her records would lean more towards jazz. But this is a folk record.
THE song on here, for me, is "A Case Of You". Lyrically its one of the most brilliant records ever written. On the surface, its funny and touching...the refrain is "I can drink a case of you, and still be on my feet, and still be on my feet." Underneath its a bit darker...."I'm frightened by the devil and I'm drawn to the ones who ain't" and "I met a woman, she had a mouth like yours, she knew your life, she knew your devils and your deeds, and she said, go to him, stay with him if you can, but be prepared to bleed." Utterly utterly devasting.
Over the years, Joni Mitchell has smoked her voice away. Gone is the clear folk singer from 30 years ago--on the original she sounds like the young girl she was on Blue. Her voice is much deeper, more world weary...and yet.
Just a few years ago, she released the record Both Sides Now, which consisted of 10 standards and two originals, done with an orchestra. The two originals are the title track and "A Case Of You." I read about it before I bought it...I was so excited but a little afraid...I didn't want this song to be messed up. Well, the first time, the orchestra played, the strings come in....and then her voice. I balled, of course. And yeah, her voice, its Marlboro Red deeper and scratchy and according to some, she can't sing anymore. An assertion I find laughable.
Some people have great voices. But they can't sing a song. They can't make you feel something, they can't break your heart. Ask Celine Dion or Mariah Carey or newly trained Madonna. Or as late, Barbra Streisand. It doesn't sound real, it doesn't sound honest. By striving for perfection, they lose the emotion.
Some people can sing a song. It doesn't matter that their voice is imperfect. They still sing beautifully, because they inhabit the song...the singer and the song fuse. (See Tom Waits and Bob Dylan). That happens on this song.
She retired for 5 years after this record....said she'd never sing again. However, inspired (I think, because of the lyrics) by the state of the world in the George Bush years, she was inspired to write again and recently released Shine. Thank God.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Dare To Be One Of Us, Girl
The White Flash-Modeselektor
All the sudden Radiohead floods the market...first, with the beautiful groundbreaking (in the way its being sold) In Rainbows. And then, Thom Yorke does this. Modeselektor's new record, Happy Birthday (much acclaimed and very cool) which ranges from weird funky deep hip-hop to electro (push came to shove, I would call them an electro band) to house. And this....frankly, I think I like this better than anything off In Rainbows (and that's saying something). I could bother to describe the song (funky-yet-disjointed skittering beats...it sounds very much like a track off of Amnesiac or Kid A).
Think 4 a.m...drunk, lonely, confused...this is the song you'd play. Its eerie and off-kilter and way more than a little heartbreaking. When he sings "You have all the time in the world..." and then his voice comes back in a very high pitch and sings "hello" while what sounds like a choral backdrop swells, honestly, see, I am doing it again...it stopped me in my tracks and I sat and just listened. Late night whiskey fever dreams...simple and beautiful. Check out http://www.modeselektor.com/
Australia (Peter, Bjorn & John Remix)-The Shins
Yeah, I know. I am so late on this its amazing. I had managed to resist the Shins, just one of those bands I don't "get". Such as The Beatles, Pinback, Spoon, New Pornographers...all great bands...they just don't move me. The Shins were one of those bands...and yeah, I liked Caring Is Creepy off Oh Inverted World (and more famously Garden State)...but anyone can write a great song, right?
Well, I wince, but with Wincing The Night Away I've succumbed. So I am writing this in tribute to my friend Liz, who was always going on and on about this band. She had a shitty day today and hopefully it will help cheer her up to get to say "Hey, see I told you so." In any event, its fun to "discover" a band so late...or in this case, "get them" so late...since now I can go back and listen to older stuff and appreciate it.
This song....just a brilliant pop song with brilliant vocals & funny clever lyrics. OK, yeah, I'm hooked. The remix...well, Peter, Bjorn and John, brilliant writers in their own right who came up with one of the best singles of recent memory with "Young Folks" (with help from Victoria Bergman from the Concretes on that)...this is their remix. Honestly, as far as a "remix"...I think they just made the drums sound more hollow, more tinny...more 60's--like the drums on their own songs. Surprisingly, it improves on the original...they don't do much (and why would you).
So yeah, I totally love this record...and don't even get me going about "Phantom Limb" (I absolutely fall apart and melt at the "whoa, whoa" part)
Oh and Liz...
You know, he's holding you down
With the tips of his fingers just the same
Will you be pulled from the ocean
But just a minute too late....
Chimacum Rain-Linda Perhacs
There's been a slew of previously "lost" folk records remastered and reissued (Karen Dalton, for example). This is off of Parallelograms, the only record Linda Perhacs ever made. Frankly, you could tell me she was the new Joanna Newsom and I'd believe it...it sounds very contemporary (or the new "freak" folk artists sound like her). It also reminds me a bit of early Joni Mitchell as well. The song, well, it's very simple song, rainy day beautiful...sung in her clear direct voice. She is also the only writer I know to use the word "lichen" in a song. The sound of the song its a bit off...spacey, almost eerie in the spots. especially where she multitracks her vocals (listen for "he belongs here, can't have him". In addition, the remastered album has demo versions as well, which don't sound that much different from the the original but are still cool as well.
The Promise-When In Rome
If I was forced to pick my 25 favorite songs from the 80's...here's one. Without question. It doesn't bring back any specific memories, except I do remember when I first heard it. Frankly, I think its stunningly gorgeous...like some lost Human League track, vocals, synth...that piano (sigh). Want 80's romantic...this is the definition of 80's romantic "I'm sorry I'm just thinking of the right words to say, I know they don't sound the way I planned them to be, but if you wait around awhile I'll make you fall for me, I promise you, I promise you" repeat and then "if I had to walk the world and make you fall for me, I promise you, I promise you....I will."
Poor When In Rome, they only had one album...and this one big hit...it peaked at #11 (is there any worse place to peak...maybe #41). Actually, the album itself is pretty great...there are like 9 other songs on it that could have been hits on the radio, if the radio was playing shit like the latest Starship record.
I've found a couple of mixes...official I think...the O.N. Mix and the far superior Coliseum mix. There's also a contemporary mix floating about...the very trance-y Koishii & Hush Do As The Romans Mix which I don't love. First off, I am not a big trance fan--I cannot understand how you dance to it, though I do get the appeal, since it tends to be very circular, like classical music (sorry Benj & Laura). Secondly, I hate remixes where the vocals are sped up to match the track...in this case stripping all the poignancy and yearning out of the best part of the song (that said, even if i heard this version on the dance floor...and I was drunk, i'd be thrilled). And just remember ...
"And when your in doubt, and when your in danger, take a look all around, and I'll be there...
i will...."
All the sudden Radiohead floods the market...first, with the beautiful groundbreaking (in the way its being sold) In Rainbows. And then, Thom Yorke does this. Modeselektor's new record, Happy Birthday (much acclaimed and very cool) which ranges from weird funky deep hip-hop to electro (push came to shove, I would call them an electro band) to house. And this....frankly, I think I like this better than anything off In Rainbows (and that's saying something). I could bother to describe the song (funky-yet-disjointed skittering beats...it sounds very much like a track off of Amnesiac or Kid A).
Think 4 a.m...drunk, lonely, confused...this is the song you'd play. Its eerie and off-kilter and way more than a little heartbreaking. When he sings "You have all the time in the world..." and then his voice comes back in a very high pitch and sings "hello" while what sounds like a choral backdrop swells, honestly, see, I am doing it again...it stopped me in my tracks and I sat and just listened. Late night whiskey fever dreams...simple and beautiful. Check out http://www.modeselektor.com/
Australia (Peter, Bjorn & John Remix)-The Shins
Yeah, I know. I am so late on this its amazing. I had managed to resist the Shins, just one of those bands I don't "get". Such as The Beatles, Pinback, Spoon, New Pornographers...all great bands...they just don't move me. The Shins were one of those bands...and yeah, I liked Caring Is Creepy off Oh Inverted World (and more famously Garden State)...but anyone can write a great song, right?
Well, I wince, but with Wincing The Night Away I've succumbed. So I am writing this in tribute to my friend Liz, who was always going on and on about this band. She had a shitty day today and hopefully it will help cheer her up to get to say "Hey, see I told you so." In any event, its fun to "discover" a band so late...or in this case, "get them" so late...since now I can go back and listen to older stuff and appreciate it.
This song....just a brilliant pop song with brilliant vocals & funny clever lyrics. OK, yeah, I'm hooked. The remix...well, Peter, Bjorn and John, brilliant writers in their own right who came up with one of the best singles of recent memory with "Young Folks" (with help from Victoria Bergman from the Concretes on that)...this is their remix. Honestly, as far as a "remix"...I think they just made the drums sound more hollow, more tinny...more 60's--like the drums on their own songs. Surprisingly, it improves on the original...they don't do much (and why would you).
So yeah, I totally love this record...and don't even get me going about "Phantom Limb" (I absolutely fall apart and melt at the "whoa, whoa" part)
Oh and Liz...
You know, he's holding you down
With the tips of his fingers just the same
Will you be pulled from the ocean
But just a minute too late....
Chimacum Rain-Linda Perhacs
There's been a slew of previously "lost" folk records remastered and reissued (Karen Dalton, for example). This is off of Parallelograms, the only record Linda Perhacs ever made. Frankly, you could tell me she was the new Joanna Newsom and I'd believe it...it sounds very contemporary (or the new "freak" folk artists sound like her). It also reminds me a bit of early Joni Mitchell as well. The song, well, it's very simple song, rainy day beautiful...sung in her clear direct voice. She is also the only writer I know to use the word "lichen" in a song. The sound of the song its a bit off...spacey, almost eerie in the spots. especially where she multitracks her vocals (listen for "he belongs here, can't have him". In addition, the remastered album has demo versions as well, which don't sound that much different from the the original but are still cool as well.
The Promise-When In Rome
If I was forced to pick my 25 favorite songs from the 80's...here's one. Without question. It doesn't bring back any specific memories, except I do remember when I first heard it. Frankly, I think its stunningly gorgeous...like some lost Human League track, vocals, synth...that piano (sigh). Want 80's romantic...this is the definition of 80's romantic "I'm sorry I'm just thinking of the right words to say, I know they don't sound the way I planned them to be, but if you wait around awhile I'll make you fall for me, I promise you, I promise you" repeat and then "if I had to walk the world and make you fall for me, I promise you, I promise you....I will."
Poor When In Rome, they only had one album...and this one big hit...it peaked at #11 (is there any worse place to peak...maybe #41). Actually, the album itself is pretty great...there are like 9 other songs on it that could have been hits on the radio, if the radio was playing shit like the latest Starship record.
I've found a couple of mixes...official I think...the O.N. Mix and the far superior Coliseum mix. There's also a contemporary mix floating about...the very trance-y Koishii & Hush Do As The Romans Mix which I don't love. First off, I am not a big trance fan--I cannot understand how you dance to it, though I do get the appeal, since it tends to be very circular, like classical music (sorry Benj & Laura). Secondly, I hate remixes where the vocals are sped up to match the track...in this case stripping all the poignancy and yearning out of the best part of the song (that said, even if i heard this version on the dance floor...and I was drunk, i'd be thrilled). And just remember ...
"And when your in doubt, and when your in danger, take a look all around, and I'll be there...
i will...."
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