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...."