"Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" by She & Him was playing on my radio when I woke up this morning, and although Zooey Deschanel never fails to remind me of Elf (a movie that holds a special place in my heart), I was also reminded of something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Zooey's voice is not a Jazz voice a la Billie Holiday, it carries a little twang of folk and country that often undoes the softness in her vocals ("I Should Have Known Better" is one of the few tracks on the album Volume One that cultivates that softness, and even forces it to the forefront). Still, I was searching through my music this morning, trying (although that word really conveys a level of work that was not present in my wanderings) to find a voice that combines Holiday and Deschanel.
I found it in Madeleine Peyroux, who dropped a new album, Bare Bones, on the 10th. This is the first of Peyroux's albums that ignores Jazz standards, and just caters to her own songs. "Instead" starts the album with a realistic entreaty to think positively. It takes on that Jazz tradition of recognizing pain, but pushing for hope (one of my favorite characteristics of Jazz, even when it sounds hopeless). "Bare Bones" goes beyond Jazz standards however, channeling a little Randy Newman. With that realization, I begin to see where Zooey and Madeleine are so similar. They combine softness and strength (Billie Holiday-esque qualities, in my humble opinion) with clever sarcasm and self-deprecation (oh so very Randy Newman). It is all achieved through music that is consistently aurally pleasing and unobtrusive. So much so, in fact, that Zooey and Madeleine kind of sneak up on you, be it when you're in your favorite little coffee shop or just shuffling through your iPod. They are quality, but they are not fantastic, and it is precisely because of this that they both make amazing soundtracks for everyday life. This is not to say that they fail in any regard as singer-songwriters, but only that they capture something very realistic and encapsulate it in song. Their music is where you find comfort and home on a sunny Friday afternoon.
20 March, 2009
19 March, 2009
This was just asking to be re-posted!
Alternative Energy Revolution (from XKCD)
(To be perfectly honest, the Nuke plants creep me out much more than the turbines, but I still think the Europeans have the right idea with their vertical blades. Check out these designs: Beautiful Wind Turbines. Number 4 is my favorite!)
(To be perfectly honest, the Nuke plants creep me out much more than the turbines, but I still think the Europeans have the right idea with their vertical blades. Check out these designs: Beautiful Wind Turbines. Number 4 is my favorite!)
18 March, 2009
"Tunnelvision" - Here We Go Magic
Here We Go Magic is the new Luke Temple project. It is a kaleidoscopic trip into the musical margins. The self-titled album is available on iTunes. I love the whole album, but I especially love the songs "Only Pieces" and "Ahab." "Only Pieces" is a rhythmic musical orgy placed in the circular scheme of a repeated lyric (Temple's delivery reminds me of Paul Simon). "Ahab" grooves like the captain never could, with a mellow, whispered delivery.
A Twitter inspired shout out
I tweet. I do. I chronicle my life (not in minute detail, but with a few details nonetheless). Still, until very recently, it was a private affair shared with only a few key individuals.
As of late, I have been receiving a lot of "follow" requests. I think this probably stems from the fact that I began "following" Rachel Maddow and Sasha Frere-Jones, and some Twitterites assumed that I would be an interesting person to follow due to my choice of company. They assumed incorrectly, and I saved them the pain of reading my banal updates by denying their requests.
My curiosity got the best of me, however, when it came to one Twitter request from a Sam Jacobs (a.k.a. The Flying Change). I jumped down the rabbit hole, following the link from his Twitter account to his website. Lo and behold: music!
I'll allow Sam to speak for himself (words from the website's Bio page):
The Flying Change is the songwriting and performance vehicle driven by New York-based artist and technologist Sam Jacobs. Sam used to write and record under the name Lipstik but people found the name distracting and he didn’t care enough not to change it. As Lipstik, Jacobs released one full length titled ‘Everything Is Good’ in 2006, one EP titled ‘There Is Only One Thing’ in Winter 2008 and numerous demos, covers, and experiments through his monthly email list (which remains, thankfully, intact).
When you’re riding a horse, there are two types of lead changes, whereby the horse moving in a canter or gallop, changes leads. The first is the simple change. The second and more difficult maneuver is the flying change. You can, or should be able to, see how this could be a metaphor for life and living.
Most importantly, the title comes from the Pulitzer-prize winning book of poems titled ‘The Flying Change’ written by Henry Taylor. Henry went to school with Sam’s father...
You can listen to the Lipstik LP and EP on the Flying Change website under the Discography section, and you can buy these albums from the same place or through the iTunes music store. You can also listen to the new album, Pain Is A Reliable Signal, with the website music player. The music is well-crafted, fun, and reminds me of some beautiful State Radio/Jack Johnson/Jack's Mannequin hybrid. My favorite song, so far, is "Don't Look Away," a little tune that starts off sounding a bit melancholy, but fleshes out that feeling with horn-work and tech-noises. I am so glad that Sam Jacobs tried to friend me on Twitter, and succeeded in adding a wonderful layer to my Spring 2009 soundtrack.
As of late, I have been receiving a lot of "follow" requests. I think this probably stems from the fact that I began "following" Rachel Maddow and Sasha Frere-Jones, and some Twitterites assumed that I would be an interesting person to follow due to my choice of company. They assumed incorrectly, and I saved them the pain of reading my banal updates by denying their requests.
My curiosity got the best of me, however, when it came to one Twitter request from a Sam Jacobs (a.k.a. The Flying Change). I jumped down the rabbit hole, following the link from his Twitter account to his website. Lo and behold: music!
I'll allow Sam to speak for himself (words from the website's Bio page):
The Flying Change is the songwriting and performance vehicle driven by New York-based artist and technologist Sam Jacobs. Sam used to write and record under the name Lipstik but people found the name distracting and he didn’t care enough not to change it. As Lipstik, Jacobs released one full length titled ‘Everything Is Good’ in 2006, one EP titled ‘There Is Only One Thing’ in Winter 2008 and numerous demos, covers, and experiments through his monthly email list (which remains, thankfully, intact).
When you’re riding a horse, there are two types of lead changes, whereby the horse moving in a canter or gallop, changes leads. The first is the simple change. The second and more difficult maneuver is the flying change. You can, or should be able to, see how this could be a metaphor for life and living.
Most importantly, the title comes from the Pulitzer-prize winning book of poems titled ‘The Flying Change’ written by Henry Taylor. Henry went to school with Sam’s father...
You can listen to the Lipstik LP and EP on the Flying Change website under the Discography section, and you can buy these albums from the same place or through the iTunes music store. You can also listen to the new album, Pain Is A Reliable Signal, with the website music player. The music is well-crafted, fun, and reminds me of some beautiful State Radio/Jack Johnson/Jack's Mannequin hybrid. My favorite song, so far, is "Don't Look Away," a little tune that starts off sounding a bit melancholy, but fleshes out that feeling with horn-work and tech-noises. I am so glad that Sam Jacobs tried to friend me on Twitter, and succeeded in adding a wonderful layer to my Spring 2009 soundtrack.
17 March, 2009
SXSW Buzz Punk: the Thermals
The B-52's meets the Hold Steady meets the moody weather of Portland, Oregon (plus one hot, rocking female bassist)?
The Thermals.
They are playing eight shows at SXSW, and then heading out to tour behind their fourth release Now We Can See, which will drop in early April. They will even be in my area...WOOT. It's probably time to bring out the Chuck Taylor's and get ready for a mosh-pit party.
Pillar of Salt
The Thermals.
They are playing eight shows at SXSW, and then heading out to tour behind their fourth release Now We Can See, which will drop in early April. They will even be in my area...WOOT. It's probably time to bring out the Chuck Taylor's and get ready for a mosh-pit party.
Pillar of Salt
Exile in Guyville LIVE
I listened to Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville live recording through NPR's All Songs Considered recording podcasts yesterday, and I was blown away. I love this album ("Fuck and Run" is at about 30 minutes into the podcast, in case you just want to listen to one song). This is a truly amazing recording. This is not to say that Liz Phair is an exceptional musician: she isn't. The music isn't amazing, the recordings are rough and raw, and what is really amazing is how visceral all of the music sounds live. The lyrics are hard-hitting on the original record, and in the context of fifteen years of lived experience they are even more potent.
Exile in Guyville Live on NPR
Reading through the lyrics to "Fuck and Run," I have realized that there is a strong feminist quality to these lyrics that is alarmingly understated in reviews. Yes, people always point out the sexually explicit and empowering lyrics, but there are layers to this song-crafting that must be explored further. In "Fuck and Run" you find regret, remorse, doubt, vulnerability, anger, cynicism, irony, sarcasm, and real, sweet longing. A precursor to Jagged Little Pill, Exile in Guyville succeeds in channeling multifaceted characteristics of womanhood and the female experience. Phair's strength lies in her ability to acknowledge her weaknesses, and this is fully present on Exile in Guyville.
I woke up alarmed
I didn't know where I was at first
Just that I woke up in your arms
And almost immediately I felt sorry
Cause I didn't think this would happen again
No matter what I could do or say
Just that I didn't think this would happen again
With or without my best intentions
And whatever happened to a boyfriend
The kind of guy that tries to win you over?
And whatever happened to a boyfriend
The kind of guy who makes love cause he's in it?
And I want a boyfriend
I want a boyfriend
I want all that stupid old shit like letters and sodas
Letters and sodas
You got up out of bed
You said you had a lot of work to do
But I heard the rest in my head
And almost immediately I felt sorry
Cause I didn't think this would happen again
No matter what I could do or say
Just that I didn't think this would happen again
With or without my best intentions
And I want a boyfriend
I want a boyfriend
I want all that stupid old shit like letters and sodas
Letters and sodas
And I can feel it in my bones
I'm gonna spend another year alone
It's fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was seventeen
Fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was twelve
You almost felt bad
You said that I should call you up
But I knew much better than that
And almost immediately I felt sorry
Cause I didn't think this would happen again
No matter what I could do or say
Just that I didn't think this would happen again
With or without my best intentions
And I can feel it in my bones
I'm gonna spend my whole life alone
It's fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was seventeen
Fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was twelve
Exile in Guyville Live on NPR
Reading through the lyrics to "Fuck and Run," I have realized that there is a strong feminist quality to these lyrics that is alarmingly understated in reviews. Yes, people always point out the sexually explicit and empowering lyrics, but there are layers to this song-crafting that must be explored further. In "Fuck and Run" you find regret, remorse, doubt, vulnerability, anger, cynicism, irony, sarcasm, and real, sweet longing. A precursor to Jagged Little Pill, Exile in Guyville succeeds in channeling multifaceted characteristics of womanhood and the female experience. Phair's strength lies in her ability to acknowledge her weaknesses, and this is fully present on Exile in Guyville.
I woke up alarmed
I didn't know where I was at first
Just that I woke up in your arms
And almost immediately I felt sorry
Cause I didn't think this would happen again
No matter what I could do or say
Just that I didn't think this would happen again
With or without my best intentions
And whatever happened to a boyfriend
The kind of guy that tries to win you over?
And whatever happened to a boyfriend
The kind of guy who makes love cause he's in it?
And I want a boyfriend
I want a boyfriend
I want all that stupid old shit like letters and sodas
Letters and sodas
You got up out of bed
You said you had a lot of work to do
But I heard the rest in my head
And almost immediately I felt sorry
Cause I didn't think this would happen again
No matter what I could do or say
Just that I didn't think this would happen again
With or without my best intentions
And I want a boyfriend
I want a boyfriend
I want all that stupid old shit like letters and sodas
Letters and sodas
And I can feel it in my bones
I'm gonna spend another year alone
It's fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was seventeen
Fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was twelve
You almost felt bad
You said that I should call you up
But I knew much better than that
And almost immediately I felt sorry
Cause I didn't think this would happen again
No matter what I could do or say
Just that I didn't think this would happen again
With or without my best intentions
And I can feel it in my bones
I'm gonna spend my whole life alone
It's fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was seventeen
Fuck and run, fuck and run
Even when I was twelve
"I'm Shipping Up to Boston" - Dropkick Murphy's
I wanted to add an Irish proverb for good measure, but I really could not decided which one to include. I have grown up hearing most of these in some context:
A diplomat must always think twice before he says nothing.
A dog owns nothing, yet is seldom dissatisfied.
A hair on the head is worth two on the brush.
A kind word never broke anyone's mouth.
A lie travels farther than the truth.
A light heart lives long.
A silent mouth is sweet to hear.
A turkey never voted for an early Christmas.
Better be quarreling than lonesome.
Bricks and mortar make a house, but the laughter of children makes a home.
Don't break your shin on a stool that is not in your way.
Even the longest day has its end.
Give away all you like, but keep your bills and your temper.
Good luck beats early rising.
If you dig a grave for others, you might fall into it yourself.
If you get a reputation as an early riser, you can sleep till noon.
It's no use carrying an umbrella if your shoes are leaking.
Praise youth and it will prosper.
16 March, 2009
"Mesmerizing" - Liz Phair
Exile in Guyville is a masterpiece, and this one of the best songs on the album. Don't watch the video, just listen to the song.
You said things I wouldn't say
Straight to my face, boy
You tossed the egg up
And I found my hands in place, boy
After backing up as far as you could get
Don't you know nobody parts two rivers met?
Don't you know I'm very happy?
You know me well
I'm even happier
I like it
I like it
With all of the time in the world to spend it
Wild and unwise, I wanna be mesmerizing too
Mesmerizing too
Mesmerizing to you
With all of the time in the world to spend it
Wild and unwise, I wanna be mesmerizing too
Mesmerizing too
Mesmerizing to you
You said things I wouldn't say
Straight to my face, boy
You tossed the egg up
And I found my hands in place, boy
After backing up as far as you could get
Don't you know nobody parts two rivers met?
Don't you know I'm very happy?
You know me well
I'm even happier
I like it
I like it
With all of the time in the world to spend it
Wild and unwise, I wanna be mesmerizing too
Mesmerizing too
Mesmerizing to you
With all of the time in the world to spend it
Wild and unwise, I wanna be mesmerizing too
Mesmerizing too
Mesmerizing to you
Jenny Holzer's Projections
Jenny Holzer has an exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC. I love her Projections series of light/language "sculptures" that were broadcast 43 separate times on buildings in cities around the world from 1996 - 2007. These will not be included in her exhibition at the Whitney. Instead, you can now find a series of paintings by Holzer entitled Redactions, where she silkscreens text from declassified government documents onto canvases. There will also be a section dedicated to her LED work. She takes aesthetics into account when designing the color and shape of her LED signs, and has also programmed declassified government documents into this work. All of this is so very powerful and poignant, and it makes me wish I lived in New York. Above all, however, I still love her Projections.
Whitney Exhibition Description
Website for Projections
These are some of Holzer's Projections from Florence, Italy in 1996:
Whitney Exhibition Description
Website for Projections
These are some of Holzer's Projections from Florence, Italy in 1996:
15 March, 2009
Zen Garden Rock
I do not usually enjoy music that is purely psychedelic, relying on sitar and theremin, and meaningless poetics to accomplish a semblance of substance. Harsh? Maybe, but I have had too much experience with bands (and people) who hide their inanity and flakiness behind a facade of spiritual depth.
This obvious generalization does not hold true for Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound who come charged and fully rocking from San Francisco, California, and psychedelic in the most wonderful way. Their epic rock songs remain grounded in the art of the blues, but loosely grounded and ready to levitate. Root-rumbling bass flows underfoot like an epiphonic stream, and taps into the delicious, growling guitar. The percussion adds flashes of light to the landscape, every drumbeat an exclamation point, a thunder clap following the stream.
In 2007 Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound released their second album on Tee Pee records. It is entitled Ekranoplan (in case you are wondering what an Ekranoplan is, it is a Ground Effect Vehicle which falls somewhere between an airplane and a hovercraft on the flight vehicle spectrum) and it certainly has its valleys and peaks. The title track tries to accomplish too much in my opinion. It becomes an aural tornado when it would have succeeded as a tamer storm. The third track, "Rudy on The Corner," is melodic and moody, and the odd vocal effects (fuzziness and tunnel sound combined) achieve a certain level of eccentricity without alienating the listener. "Occult Roots" hits the Blue Oyster Cult button directly on the head, while smoldering and simmering like the creepiest Black Sabbath songs. My personal favorite track from the entire album is "D Brown." I feel as if Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound is creating a landscape with this song. It reminds me of the building of Narnia in The Magician's Nephew (although I am almost certain that this soundtrack is better). Every section of the song adds a new element to the landscape, and the Earth starts humming along, always growing, moving, changing. The thing about Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound is that they groove and jam, but they rarely become bland. I am impressed.
Side note: I wish I had a little artistic talent so that I could design concert posters for a living. I think they are amazing and beautiful.
This obvious generalization does not hold true for Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound who come charged and fully rocking from San Francisco, California, and psychedelic in the most wonderful way. Their epic rock songs remain grounded in the art of the blues, but loosely grounded and ready to levitate. Root-rumbling bass flows underfoot like an epiphonic stream, and taps into the delicious, growling guitar. The percussion adds flashes of light to the landscape, every drumbeat an exclamation point, a thunder clap following the stream.
In 2007 Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound released their second album on Tee Pee records. It is entitled Ekranoplan (in case you are wondering what an Ekranoplan is, it is a Ground Effect Vehicle which falls somewhere between an airplane and a hovercraft on the flight vehicle spectrum) and it certainly has its valleys and peaks. The title track tries to accomplish too much in my opinion. It becomes an aural tornado when it would have succeeded as a tamer storm. The third track, "Rudy on The Corner," is melodic and moody, and the odd vocal effects (fuzziness and tunnel sound combined) achieve a certain level of eccentricity without alienating the listener. "Occult Roots" hits the Blue Oyster Cult button directly on the head, while smoldering and simmering like the creepiest Black Sabbath songs. My personal favorite track from the entire album is "D Brown." I feel as if Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound is creating a landscape with this song. It reminds me of the building of Narnia in The Magician's Nephew (although I am almost certain that this soundtrack is better). Every section of the song adds a new element to the landscape, and the Earth starts humming along, always growing, moving, changing. The thing about Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound is that they groove and jam, but they rarely become bland. I am impressed.
Side note: I wish I had a little artistic talent so that I could design concert posters for a living. I think they are amazing and beautiful.
13 March, 2009
12 March, 2009
09 March, 2009
08 March, 2009
Live Music Archive....!!!!
Hey all you lovely readers! The sun is shining in my part of the world, and I thought I would take this moment to share a little link that was passed on to me by my blogging buddy Sean:
The Live Music Archive is a wonderful source for amazing (and free) recordings of concerts by your favorite artists.
Here is a little preview of the bands whose shows can be found on the site:
Jason Mraz
Kimya Dawson
Tegan and Sara
Cowboy Junkies
Against Me!
Andrew Bird
Apollo Sunshine
Beirut
Ben Kweller
Billy Bragg
Blind Melon
...if I kept writing the bands like this, then I could really type all day long.
Here's a show performed by Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra in 2003:
Track List
Intro
My Lady Frustration
Talk-a-Tif
Pay Back Africa
Big Man
Sister
Excuse-o / Who No Know Go Know
Untitled (Vic In Ethiopia)
MTTT (Mother Tucker Tick Tock)
Government Magic > Indictment
Music How We Sit
The Live Music Archive is a wonderful source for amazing (and free) recordings of concerts by your favorite artists.
Here is a little preview of the bands whose shows can be found on the site:
Jason Mraz
Kimya Dawson
Tegan and Sara
Cowboy Junkies
Against Me!
Andrew Bird
Apollo Sunshine
Beirut
Ben Kweller
Billy Bragg
Blind Melon
...if I kept writing the bands like this, then I could really type all day long.
Here's a show performed by Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra in 2003:
Track List
Intro
My Lady Frustration
Talk-a-Tif
Pay Back Africa
Big Man
Sister
Excuse-o / Who No Know Go Know
Untitled (Vic In Ethiopia)
MTTT (Mother Tucker Tick Tock)
Government Magic > Indictment
Music How We Sit
07 March, 2009
Discordant Dance Music
The album Who is this America? came up on my shuffle this morning, and I found myself wondering if I had ever written about Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, or if I have always just savored their music through my headphones. When you are living with tons of other people, you really do have to choose your moments for playing rambunctious and often discordant music. Especially when said music exists on a plane where resonant horn phrases and a decidedly political message are a necessity.
I wanted to share the song "Big Man" with my lovely readers, because it is the first song that I ever heard by Antibalas. Back in 2004, I was cruising in my parents' van, listening to WERS (this is more of an accomplishment than you know! In order to listen to WERS in that van, I had to alternate between stations to maintain a strong signal. At the same time, I was always trying to listen to the music. This is a difficult balancing act because your mind is occupied both with listening for the first hints of static and to the song that is currently playing.) Some goofy college student came on the radio and introduced "Antibalas...it means Anti-bullets. I can dig that!" The introduction didn't detract from the song, which is an neo-Afrobeat dance tune with an amazing underlying rhythm, and horn-work that made my heart sing. The lyrics are anti-Capitalist, but in a way that maintains a sense of personal responsibility, a quality I think is too often lost when political statements are turned into music. Unfortunately, a top-quality recording of "Big Man" is not available through YouTube, but I am going to share this with you anyway (I like the introduction):
I wanted to share the song "Big Man" with my lovely readers, because it is the first song that I ever heard by Antibalas. Back in 2004, I was cruising in my parents' van, listening to WERS (this is more of an accomplishment than you know! In order to listen to WERS in that van, I had to alternate between stations to maintain a strong signal. At the same time, I was always trying to listen to the music. This is a difficult balancing act because your mind is occupied both with listening for the first hints of static and to the song that is currently playing.) Some goofy college student came on the radio and introduced "Antibalas...it means Anti-bullets. I can dig that!" The introduction didn't detract from the song, which is an neo-Afrobeat dance tune with an amazing underlying rhythm, and horn-work that made my heart sing. The lyrics are anti-Capitalist, but in a way that maintains a sense of personal responsibility, a quality I think is too often lost when political statements are turned into music. Unfortunately, a top-quality recording of "Big Man" is not available through YouTube, but I am going to share this with you anyway (I like the introduction):
06 March, 2009
"Daydreamin' (Live)" - Lupe Fiasco & Jill Scott
Spring is right around the corner, and I am now daydreaming about daydreaming beneath the flowers...on a beautiful day.
04 March, 2009
"Something to Do With My Hands" - Her Space Holiday
Just listen...
You know it kills me to see such a pretty girl so tired
You've got your mother's cheekbones and your father's crooked smile
Forget all those places that you've never really been
And all those situations you somehow found yourself in
Let your body sink into me
Like your favorite memory
Like a line of poetry
Or a fucking fit of honesty
I'll do my best to keep you, keep you sleepy as the south
With my old watch on your wrist
And my thumbs inside your mouth
Suck on my fingertips until you kill all my prints
So your boyfriend has no clue
Of how much I've been touching you
My problem with me is my problem with you
It doesn't take much
For me to come unglued
I put my headphones on
And hear your favorite songs
And it kills me to know
That this won't be one of them
You know it saves me to think even for a little while
I owned the set of shoulders that you came to rely on
Like in that movie theater when you whispered in my ear
I almost didn't make it
This has been my hardest year
Your job is killing you faster than a cancer could
So now you're giving up like they always said you would
You've got that old map out now and you found the farthest town
You hope that if you're lucky this is where you'll settle down
I don't care where you move I don't care if it's far
All that I ask is that I know where you are
In case our timing is right
In case you need more from me
Than a bit of advice
Or a tongue full of sympathy
You know it kills me to see such a pretty girl so tired
You've got your mother's cheekbones and your father's crooked smile
Forget all those places that you've never really been
And all those situations you somehow found yourself in
Let your body sink into me
Like your favorite memory
Like a line of poetry
Or a fucking fit of honesty
I'll do my best to keep you, keep you sleepy as the south
With my old watch on your wrist
And my thumbs inside your mouth
Suck on my fingertips until you kill all my prints
So my girlfriend has no clue
Of how much I've been touching you
You know it kills me to see such a pretty girl so tired
You've got your mother's cheekbones and your father's crooked smile
Forget all those places that you've never really been
And all those situations you somehow found yourself in
Let your body sink into me
Like your favorite memory
Like a line of poetry
Or a fucking fit of honesty
I'll do my best to keep you, keep you sleepy as the south
With my old watch on your wrist
And my thumbs inside your mouth
Suck on my fingertips until you kill all my prints
So your boyfriend has no clue
Of how much I've been touching you
My problem with me is my problem with you
It doesn't take much
For me to come unglued
I put my headphones on
And hear your favorite songs
And it kills me to know
That this won't be one of them
You know it saves me to think even for a little while
I owned the set of shoulders that you came to rely on
Like in that movie theater when you whispered in my ear
I almost didn't make it
This has been my hardest year
Your job is killing you faster than a cancer could
So now you're giving up like they always said you would
You've got that old map out now and you found the farthest town
You hope that if you're lucky this is where you'll settle down
I don't care where you move I don't care if it's far
All that I ask is that I know where you are
In case our timing is right
In case you need more from me
Than a bit of advice
Or a tongue full of sympathy
You know it kills me to see such a pretty girl so tired
You've got your mother's cheekbones and your father's crooked smile
Forget all those places that you've never really been
And all those situations you somehow found yourself in
Let your body sink into me
Like your favorite memory
Like a line of poetry
Or a fucking fit of honesty
I'll do my best to keep you, keep you sleepy as the south
With my old watch on your wrist
And my thumbs inside your mouth
Suck on my fingertips until you kill all my prints
So my girlfriend has no clue
Of how much I've been touching you
02 March, 2009
"I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In" - Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
I know I have posted this video in the past, but it certainly warrants a double-posting. Oh Sharon Jones, you make my heart sing.
28 February, 2009
"Cross Your Fingers/Crawled Out of the Sea" - Laura Marling
Marling is exactly fifteen days my elder. You can listen to her entire album, Alas, I Cannot Swim, by clicking on the SongBox application on her website. Believe me, it is worth your time.
27 February, 2009
"Time to Pretend (LIVE)" - MGMT
I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw, I'm in the prime of my life
Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives
I'll move to Paris, shoot some heroin and fuck with the stars
You man the island and the cocaine and the elegant cars
This is our decision to live fast and die young
We've got the vision, now let's have some fun!
Yeah it's overwhelming, but what else can we do?
Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute?
Forget about our mothers and our friends
We were fated to pretend
I'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms
I'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world
I'll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home
Yeah, I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone
But there is really nothing, nothing we can do
Love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew
The models will have children, we'll get a divorce
We'll find some more models, everything must run its course
We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end
We were fated to pretend
Yeah, yeah, yeah
26 February, 2009
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies of the Last Decade (according to Paste magazine)
I think seventeen is a bit of an arbitrary number. However, I cannot help my personal infatuation with romantic comedies, and I cannot help feeling a little disappointed that I have only watched six of the seventeen on Paste's only slightly pretentious list.
Now, I do have my qualms with this list. One thing that I find disappointing is the lack of John Cusack movies (there's only one on the list). If I were writing this post I would break my own rules and extend the time period to encompass Grosse Pointe Blank, which is essentially my all-time favorite romantic comedy. Still, I am more than a little enamored with the idea of so many romantic comedies as yet unappreciated. My goal is to watch the other eleven movies this year. That seems feasible, doesn't it? It isn't like I really have to do anything.
24 February, 2009
Mise en abyme
I have been struggling for words to describe Beirut's newly released song "My Night With the Prostitute from Marseille", from the double EP March of the Zapotec & Realpeople - Holland, and for a few days now I have been stumped. There is this overwhelming sensation that first slips into my periphery while I am listening. It is like the shadows of tree-limbs on the falling snow. The song grows and stretches and I realize that this feeling is not retreating, it encompasses my eardrums and slides into the pit of my stomach. It is almost like a sickness: I feel a little washed out, a little unreal. I feel like I have just stepped into someone else's daydream. I am encapsulated in a perfect snowflake. This is the "dream within a dream," the mise en abyme.
I am not claiming by any stretch of the imagination that this song is perfect, but only that it is the perfect soundtrack to this frozen moment in my own life. "My Night With the Prostitute from Marseille" carries all of the airy melancholy that is evident in the best scenes of Sofia Coppolla's Marie Antoinette without the sheen and the glitter. It is carnivalesque, but far from multi-colored, far from bright. It feels to me as if the song had been recorded within a vacuum, which is often a description applied to challenge the merit of a musical piece. In this instance, I use vacuum as a positive signifier. Often I listen to songs and feel as if something is missing, but I have no certain method for understanding and apprehending that "something." In this song everything is missing. There is no natural noise behind the recording. At the same time, I feel like this is completely natural, like maybe nothing was there that could be missing.
I could compare the instrumentals and lyric work to New Order or the Magnetic Fields (or even Sufjan), but I think it is pointless to compare. There is intangibility woven into the fabric of the song, and I am completely fascinated with my own fascination.
My Night with the Prostitute from Marseille by Beirut
I am not claiming by any stretch of the imagination that this song is perfect, but only that it is the perfect soundtrack to this frozen moment in my own life. "My Night With the Prostitute from Marseille" carries all of the airy melancholy that is evident in the best scenes of Sofia Coppolla's Marie Antoinette without the sheen and the glitter. It is carnivalesque, but far from multi-colored, far from bright. It feels to me as if the song had been recorded within a vacuum, which is often a description applied to challenge the merit of a musical piece. In this instance, I use vacuum as a positive signifier. Often I listen to songs and feel as if something is missing, but I have no certain method for understanding and apprehending that "something." In this song everything is missing. There is no natural noise behind the recording. At the same time, I feel like this is completely natural, like maybe nothing was there that could be missing.
I could compare the instrumentals and lyric work to New Order or the Magnetic Fields (or even Sufjan), but I think it is pointless to compare. There is intangibility woven into the fabric of the song, and I am completely fascinated with my own fascination.
My Night with the Prostitute from Marseille by Beirut
"Straight to Hell" - Lily Allen (featuring Mick Jones)
This is my favorite Clash song (at the moment). This is also one of those videos that should be minimized while the song is playing. The graphic adds absolutely nothing to the experience.
23 February, 2009
The World's Smallest Puzzles
Indium Rose
I think someone should write popular songs about science, and however much I love Schoolhouse Rock, these new science songs should break from that mold. Didacticism is hot, but autodidacticism is fucking enthralling. These pictures could be the muse for that struggling scientist/musician looking for inspiration.
I think someone should write popular songs about science, and however much I love Schoolhouse Rock, these new science songs should break from that mold. Didacticism is hot, but autodidacticism is fucking enthralling. These pictures could be the muse for that struggling scientist/musician looking for inspiration.
"Singing to the Earth (To Thank Her For You)" - Apollo Sunshine
Apollo Sunshine 'Singing to The Earth' from Jagger McDaniels on Vimeo.
I love this song. As a side note, this is my 500th post. It is beyond strange to think that I have been blogging for almost four years.
22 February, 2009
Barack and Blanchot
I have recently been in a kind of contemplative collecting mood where I unconsciously amass bundles of words and ideas from the corners of my life. It isn't the most productive mood, and last night I even described it as apathetic, but I think it is actually almost the opposite of apathy. I feel like I am pulling together thoughts, pictures, words, and sounds and storing them away for a later date. It is almost like a plant storing the nutrients required to produce a flower. It is only the promise of something worthwhile at the end that is preventing me from being completely discouraged with myself at the moment. To paraphrase Maurice Blanchot in The Writing of the Disaster, passion and patience are in some senses singular: two halves of the same coin. As my patience fails to wear thin, my passion grows exponentially, and I hope that some type of productivity grows alongside my passion (with time for me to write my final papers).
Here are a couple of things which have caught my interest and attention in the past few days.
The Writing of the Disaster by Maurice Blanchot is a book compiled of paragraphs of insight. The book is disjointed in its presentation, but I think this constant rearranging and patch-working of ideas tends to open space for the reader to engage the material. There are logical pauses and spaces for contemplation, and often these pauses are followed by a striking and profound thought which forces you to pause again. The design of this book is very intelligent. Here is one of my favorite quotations from the first fifty pages:
If the dilemma is to go mad or to die, then the answer will not lack and madness will be mortal.
Earlier in the book there are a pair of ideas that fall on opposing pages. They are particularly interesting because they are working within this theme of transference through language which is so central to the book, and they discuss the capacity and incapacity of language to act as an extension of experience between people. I personally find this fascinating, and I think these quotes are really remarkable.
Reading is anguish, and this is because any text, however important, or amusing, or interesting it may be (and the more engaging it seems to be), is empty - at bottom it doesn't exist; you have to cross an abyss, and if you do not jump, you do not comprehend.
To want to write: what an absurdity. Writing is the decay of the will, just as it is the loss of power, and the fall of the regular fall of the beat, the disaster again.
You can see that there is a real cadence to this language. It is very percussive and musical, and it resonates through my head as I read (and reread) the passages.
On a different note entirely, I found this article about the use of hip-hop music by the Democratic Party during Obama's campaign. Appropriation and exploitation are terms that should be contemplated when dealing with any political movement, but I find this article poorly written and poorly organized in its critique of the campaign's utilization of music when attempting to attract young voters. What I do find interesting is Obama's take on the whole genre:
Here are a couple of things which have caught my interest and attention in the past few days.
The Writing of the Disaster by Maurice Blanchot is a book compiled of paragraphs of insight. The book is disjointed in its presentation, but I think this constant rearranging and patch-working of ideas tends to open space for the reader to engage the material. There are logical pauses and spaces for contemplation, and often these pauses are followed by a striking and profound thought which forces you to pause again. The design of this book is very intelligent. Here is one of my favorite quotations from the first fifty pages:
If the dilemma is to go mad or to die, then the answer will not lack and madness will be mortal.
Earlier in the book there are a pair of ideas that fall on opposing pages. They are particularly interesting because they are working within this theme of transference through language which is so central to the book, and they discuss the capacity and incapacity of language to act as an extension of experience between people. I personally find this fascinating, and I think these quotes are really remarkable.
Reading is anguish, and this is because any text, however important, or amusing, or interesting it may be (and the more engaging it seems to be), is empty - at bottom it doesn't exist; you have to cross an abyss, and if you do not jump, you do not comprehend.
To want to write: what an absurdity. Writing is the decay of the will, just as it is the loss of power, and the fall of the regular fall of the beat, the disaster again.
You can see that there is a real cadence to this language. It is very percussive and musical, and it resonates through my head as I read (and reread) the passages.
On a different note entirely, I found this article about the use of hip-hop music by the Democratic Party during Obama's campaign. Appropriation and exploitation are terms that should be contemplated when dealing with any political movement, but I find this article poorly written and poorly organized in its critique of the campaign's utilization of music when attempting to attract young voters. What I do find interesting is Obama's take on the whole genre:
20 February, 2009
17 February, 2009
Visual Stimulation (a.k.a. Why I Use YouTube)
If you go to my Valentine's Day post, and read the attached comment, then I think you will understand the impetus for this post. I want to focus in on the question "are visuals just spectacle?" for a couple of reasons. 1) I utilize visuals regularly in my blog; and 2) I think they are an important part of the aural experience, and one that is often overlooked when discussing music. As a side note, I am a little blown away by the fact that one of my friends so readily tapped into the collective unconscious yesterday by asking the excellent question: what do you see when you listen to music? He got me thinking again about the close connections of the senses and the roles which visuals do play in the musical experiences of the individual.
I use YouTube for a number of reasons. The most practical reason is that I do not have a lot of money at my disposal and I choose to refrain from downloading illegally. YouTube then, is often my musical sharing tool of choice. I spend a great deal of time choosing videos that are of high quality and that are also visually stimulating in some new and interesting way. Performance and music videos fascinate me, and I find them appealing as a sort of microscope into the minds of other people who are attempting to decipher or convey an aural experience in a new way. Strong words, melodies, or rhythms can enter your mind softly and situate themselves in comfortable positions until you choose to engage them on some type of conscious level. A good song falls within the standards of good poetry, but has layers of meaning that are conveyed instrumentally as well as lyrically. Adding a visual layer to a song can introduce a new level of meaning, which can be equally as subtle as the lyrics or the fleeting violins in the introduction, but are also penetrating and striking in a completely original way. Instrumentals, lyrics, and pictures combined in the best of possible ways, can create a three-dimensional experience. I already find music tactile and multidimensional, so adding a layer of visuals generally only enhances this quality, although it is true that those YouTube montage videos can severely detract from the enjoyability of a song.
What do I see when I listen to music? This question caught me off guard because generally I find myself caught up in the act of listening to a song, and I do not take the time to think as much about visual stimulation. I realized after a little thinking that I often see the lyrics imprinted upon my mind, as if I am reading a musical book. At the same time, my mind also strongly registers percussion and rhythm in kinds of visual waves, which contribute strongly to that sense of musical tactility that I mentioned before. I am entranced by repetition and rhythm schematics and at the same time caught by the underlying meaning of songs. The more I look at what constitutes the majority of my favorite music, the more I realize that I am attracted to a certain aural type. There is a reason why Jimi Hendrix's Axis: Bold As Love is my favorite album, and it has nothing to do with my current surroundings and everything to do with my inner workings.
I use YouTube for a number of reasons. The most practical reason is that I do not have a lot of money at my disposal and I choose to refrain from downloading illegally. YouTube then, is often my musical sharing tool of choice. I spend a great deal of time choosing videos that are of high quality and that are also visually stimulating in some new and interesting way. Performance and music videos fascinate me, and I find them appealing as a sort of microscope into the minds of other people who are attempting to decipher or convey an aural experience in a new way. Strong words, melodies, or rhythms can enter your mind softly and situate themselves in comfortable positions until you choose to engage them on some type of conscious level. A good song falls within the standards of good poetry, but has layers of meaning that are conveyed instrumentally as well as lyrically. Adding a visual layer to a song can introduce a new level of meaning, which can be equally as subtle as the lyrics or the fleeting violins in the introduction, but are also penetrating and striking in a completely original way. Instrumentals, lyrics, and pictures combined in the best of possible ways, can create a three-dimensional experience. I already find music tactile and multidimensional, so adding a layer of visuals generally only enhances this quality, although it is true that those YouTube montage videos can severely detract from the enjoyability of a song.
What do I see when I listen to music? This question caught me off guard because generally I find myself caught up in the act of listening to a song, and I do not take the time to think as much about visual stimulation. I realized after a little thinking that I often see the lyrics imprinted upon my mind, as if I am reading a musical book. At the same time, my mind also strongly registers percussion and rhythm in kinds of visual waves, which contribute strongly to that sense of musical tactility that I mentioned before. I am entranced by repetition and rhythm schematics and at the same time caught by the underlying meaning of songs. The more I look at what constitutes the majority of my favorite music, the more I realize that I am attracted to a certain aural type. There is a reason why Jimi Hendrix's Axis: Bold As Love is my favorite album, and it has nothing to do with my current surroundings and everything to do with my inner workings.
16 February, 2009
"Solace" - Dorothy Parker
There was a rose that faded young;
I saw its shattered beauty hung
Upon a broken stem.
I heard them say, "What need to care
With roses budding everywhere?"
I did not answer them.
There was a bird, brought down to die;
They said, "A hundred fill the sky-
What reason to be sad?"
There was a girl, whose lover fled;
I did not wait, the while they said,
"There's many another lad."
I saw its shattered beauty hung
Upon a broken stem.
I heard them say, "What need to care
With roses budding everywhere?"
I did not answer them.
There was a bird, brought down to die;
They said, "A hundred fill the sky-
What reason to be sad?"
There was a girl, whose lover fled;
I did not wait, the while they said,
"There's many another lad."
14 February, 2009
Happy V-Day from Otis Redding
Try A Little Tenderness (Live)
Last year I picked some less than amazing songs on Valentine's Day. This is the real shit, man.
<3
12 February, 2009
There are days when I think of all the reasons why I hate Boston...
and then I remember the Dresden Dolls. I was thirteen when I heard "Coin-Operated Boy" for the first time, and I honestly didn't understand all of the nuances of that song. I was a little naive, or maybe I was just thirteen. I did, however, understand the immensity of such a song being played on popular radio. A Boston band influenced by German cabaret was playing regularly alongside the formidable, but completely uninteresting Dropkick Murphy's (formidable and uninteresting, humorously enough, are often the same words I use to describe Boston itself. Throw "ugly" in for a little bit of flavor, and you can mimic me!) I loved "Coin-Operated Boy," but I was completely enthralled by "Girl Anachronism" with all of its beautifully twisted language and crashing melody. "This passion is a plagiarism" has to be one of the most honest lines I have heard in a song in a long time. Yes, Virginia was not a bad follow-up, especially with delightfully macabre songs "Sing" and "First Orgasm." Now, Amanda Palmer has released her own album, which is also macabre, delightful, twisted, and gory. I tend to think of it as some kind of Tim Burton confection fit to be played alongside Sleepy Hollow. "Astronaut" is the first single, and it is absolutely worth your time and energy.
Flexibility
When I used to drive my brother around regularly, I would subject him to all kinds of music. I tried not to make things unbearable for us both by playing anything too girly (Something Corporate, Sara Bareilles, and Regina Spektor were saved for solo drives). Often we would listen to Muse, Pink Floyd, Lupe Fiasco, and Amy Winehouse. During one period of time Radiohead's Pablo Honey was on indefinite repeat. I could not get enough, my brother, however, thought it was suicide music.
"You" is amazing, and neither of us had a bad word to say about that effervescent miracle of a song, but it only lasted us to the first set of traffic lights. "You" would give way to "Creep," and then the "blood is thicker than water" maxim would be tested. I had heard "Creep" so many times before that it wasn't really an issue to push the skip button, but at the same time I felt as if I was doing a musical disservice to my brother. It is a great song, and it flows so well with the rest of the album that it is almost sacrilegious to move directly from "You" to "How Do You?". What did I do? Well, it was my car so you can venture a guess.
The point of this story I suppose is that there are some songs that are inescapable. There are some songs that seem to follow you around. For me, "Creep" has been one of those songs, and I am completely fascinated by the fact that it never wears my ears thin. It is as if the universe knows that I am destined to listen to this song, so why not let me enjoy the thing.
Creep by Amanda Palmer
"You" is amazing, and neither of us had a bad word to say about that effervescent miracle of a song, but it only lasted us to the first set of traffic lights. "You" would give way to "Creep," and then the "blood is thicker than water" maxim would be tested. I had heard "Creep" so many times before that it wasn't really an issue to push the skip button, but at the same time I felt as if I was doing a musical disservice to my brother. It is a great song, and it flows so well with the rest of the album that it is almost sacrilegious to move directly from "You" to "How Do You?". What did I do? Well, it was my car so you can venture a guess.
The point of this story I suppose is that there are some songs that are inescapable. There are some songs that seem to follow you around. For me, "Creep" has been one of those songs, and I am completely fascinated by the fact that it never wears my ears thin. It is as if the universe knows that I am destined to listen to this song, so why not let me enjoy the thing.
Creep by Amanda Palmer
Walking On Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
This is the most randomly awesome video that I have witnessed in a long time. It begs the question, why three boys in trench coats and Chuck Taylor Converse? I say, why not?
D-d-d-desolation Row
Desolation Row by My Chemical Romance
Desolation Row by the Grateful Dead
Desolation Row by Bob Dylan
11 February, 2009
And now for something competely different!
Hey all!
I know I've been out of commission for awhile, and I do apologize for this (deeply and from the bottom of my heart. Do hearts have bottoms? What does the bottom of a heart look like, and what's actually there?). Anyway, I am looking out my window right now and watching cars gallumph through the sad-looking trees along the road. They are dead of winter trees that are standing so still and silent in this little breath of Spring air (ah, Spring). The trees are the smart ones because they know that there is still no reason to celebrate the warmth, it is uncertain and will probably disappear before the weekend is upon us. I still haven't learned that Spring never comes when it says it will. What a tease!
With my own naivete in mind, I have decided to craft a mixed masterpiece of life in the most stagnant months of the year. With my birthday coming up, I am feeling a little depressed, taking stock and wondering what I have actually accomplished in an entire year. Last year at this time, I was in a similar place. In fact, every year at this time I am in this place. My mood at this moment is just about as uncertain as the weather, and I find myself tiring of my constant self-assessment. I have been consumed by my work during the last week, with my free time eaten away by new media. Is that shallow? It feels to me like I am hiding from something, and maybe like the groundhog, I don't really want to see my own shadow.
Shakespeare said that "the play is the thing." I love plays, but for me the mix is the thing, it is the only type of crafting which I excel at on a regular basis (Side note: You know those craft projects that come pre-packaged in the cute boxes? I cannot, for the life of me, put them together. I always end up fucking something up, usually by jumping ahead and realizing that I cannot go back. Such is life.)
So here is a mix for my faithful readers. It will hopefully be less schizophrenic than this post. Peace, love, and all that jazz.
"Meltdown" by Ash
With galvanizing power this song wails into existence born on a message of revolt. The drums and guitars centralize over the repeated line: "I think (I think) my head is gonna explode," a line that was unbelievably apropos in Shaun of the Dead. Right now this song is one of the few songs (besides Stravinsky and Led Zeppelin) that can keep me in the moment for longer than ten seconds. It is focused like a laser beam.
"Atomic" by Blondie
Time for a revelation from my musical past. I don't think anyone knows this little factoid. The boy who I "liked" in fifth grade had a penchant for Blondie (he also loved playing card games: 45's, War, etc.) At the time, the only knowledge I had of Blondie was the random Debbie Harry song on The Rugrats Movie soundtrack *cough* LAME *cough*. This song is pretty fucking amazing, with lyrics that could come off as desperate in many contexts, but instead sound amazingly smooth and shiny. It is the kind of song that would be played on a spaceship, but the type of spaceship that caters to strippers? I think it's amazing.
"Time is Tight" by Booker T. & the MG's
This is a funky intermission song. When I listen, I feel like I am at a 1970s drive-in movie theatre getting ready to watch the second half of a double-feature. The instrumentation is very tight and metronomic, and in this case these qualities are comforting and far from banal.
"Straight to Hell" by the Clash
This song is sampled in M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes," and I found this odd upon first listen, because this song is fairly odd for The Clash. For example, the lyrics are almost stream of consciousness, and whenever I hear the song I feel like Joe Strummer and Mick Jones were pulling a kind of Jackson Pollock with their song-writing. It seems like a cathartic, "let's throw shit at the wall" kind of song, and I really enjoy the surrealism of their polemics. It is refreshing lyrically, and the music is stimulating and layered. This is one of my favorite Clash songs.
"Don't Go Down" by Elliott Smith
A song of doomed love that sounds like a train wreck musically personified. I find the mess both stimulating and frightening. Smith has a way of using very few words to invoke a veritable relationship chasm. He opens the wound and you fill the space with your own pain. This can be a therapeutic type of digression, but it can also become emotive in the worst possible sense of the word. There are times when you just need to decide to be happy.
"I Will Survive" by Cake
This is one of those times. Cake makes me happy, especially when they cover Gloria Gaynor songs with aplomb and a wonderful portion of funk. John McCrea's has a monotone and ironic voice which adds a wonderful layer of sarcasm to a song that deserved a good dose. Behind the vocal work is the steady, pumping bass-line that resonates through your mind. Then there are the horns, oh the horns. If there is one thing in a great funk/soul song that I cannot resist, it is a wonderful smattering of tasteful horn-work. I'm in lust with this song.
"Down to the Waterline" by Dire Straits
Silence is a paintbrush, and the guitar work makes me swoon. Check out these lyrics:
Sweet surrender on the quayside.
You remember we used to run and hide.
In the shadow of the cargoes I take you one time.
And we're counting all the numbers down to the waterline.
Near misses on the dogleap stairways.
French kisses in the darkened doorways.
A foghorn blowing out wild and cold.
A policeman shines a light upon my shoulder.
Up comes a coaster fast and silent in the night.
Over my shoulder all you can see are the pilot lights.
No money in our jackets and our jeans are torn.
Your hands are cold but your lips are warm.
She can see him on the jetty where they used to go.
She can feel him in the places where the sailors go.
When she's walking by the river and the railway line.
She can still hear him whisper:
"Let's go down to the waterline."
I know I've been out of commission for awhile, and I do apologize for this (deeply and from the bottom of my heart. Do hearts have bottoms? What does the bottom of a heart look like, and what's actually there?). Anyway, I am looking out my window right now and watching cars gallumph through the sad-looking trees along the road. They are dead of winter trees that are standing so still and silent in this little breath of Spring air (ah, Spring). The trees are the smart ones because they know that there is still no reason to celebrate the warmth, it is uncertain and will probably disappear before the weekend is upon us. I still haven't learned that Spring never comes when it says it will. What a tease!
With my own naivete in mind, I have decided to craft a mixed masterpiece of life in the most stagnant months of the year. With my birthday coming up, I am feeling a little depressed, taking stock and wondering what I have actually accomplished in an entire year. Last year at this time, I was in a similar place. In fact, every year at this time I am in this place. My mood at this moment is just about as uncertain as the weather, and I find myself tiring of my constant self-assessment. I have been consumed by my work during the last week, with my free time eaten away by new media. Is that shallow? It feels to me like I am hiding from something, and maybe like the groundhog, I don't really want to see my own shadow.
Shakespeare said that "the play is the thing." I love plays, but for me the mix is the thing, it is the only type of crafting which I excel at on a regular basis (Side note: You know those craft projects that come pre-packaged in the cute boxes? I cannot, for the life of me, put them together. I always end up fucking something up, usually by jumping ahead and realizing that I cannot go back. Such is life.)
So here is a mix for my faithful readers. It will hopefully be less schizophrenic than this post. Peace, love, and all that jazz.
"Meltdown" by Ash
With galvanizing power this song wails into existence born on a message of revolt. The drums and guitars centralize over the repeated line: "I think (I think) my head is gonna explode," a line that was unbelievably apropos in Shaun of the Dead. Right now this song is one of the few songs (besides Stravinsky and Led Zeppelin) that can keep me in the moment for longer than ten seconds. It is focused like a laser beam.
"Atomic" by Blondie
Time for a revelation from my musical past. I don't think anyone knows this little factoid. The boy who I "liked" in fifth grade had a penchant for Blondie (he also loved playing card games: 45's, War, etc.) At the time, the only knowledge I had of Blondie was the random Debbie Harry song on The Rugrats Movie soundtrack *cough* LAME *cough*. This song is pretty fucking amazing, with lyrics that could come off as desperate in many contexts, but instead sound amazingly smooth and shiny. It is the kind of song that would be played on a spaceship, but the type of spaceship that caters to strippers? I think it's amazing.
"Time is Tight" by Booker T. & the MG's
This is a funky intermission song. When I listen, I feel like I am at a 1970s drive-in movie theatre getting ready to watch the second half of a double-feature. The instrumentation is very tight and metronomic, and in this case these qualities are comforting and far from banal.
"Straight to Hell" by the Clash
This song is sampled in M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes," and I found this odd upon first listen, because this song is fairly odd for The Clash. For example, the lyrics are almost stream of consciousness, and whenever I hear the song I feel like Joe Strummer and Mick Jones were pulling a kind of Jackson Pollock with their song-writing. It seems like a cathartic, "let's throw shit at the wall" kind of song, and I really enjoy the surrealism of their polemics. It is refreshing lyrically, and the music is stimulating and layered. This is one of my favorite Clash songs.
"Don't Go Down" by Elliott Smith
A song of doomed love that sounds like a train wreck musically personified. I find the mess both stimulating and frightening. Smith has a way of using very few words to invoke a veritable relationship chasm. He opens the wound and you fill the space with your own pain. This can be a therapeutic type of digression, but it can also become emotive in the worst possible sense of the word. There are times when you just need to decide to be happy.
"I Will Survive" by Cake
This is one of those times. Cake makes me happy, especially when they cover Gloria Gaynor songs with aplomb and a wonderful portion of funk. John McCrea's has a monotone and ironic voice which adds a wonderful layer of sarcasm to a song that deserved a good dose. Behind the vocal work is the steady, pumping bass-line that resonates through your mind. Then there are the horns, oh the horns. If there is one thing in a great funk/soul song that I cannot resist, it is a wonderful smattering of tasteful horn-work. I'm in lust with this song.
"Down to the Waterline" by Dire Straits
Silence is a paintbrush, and the guitar work makes me swoon. Check out these lyrics:
Sweet surrender on the quayside.
You remember we used to run and hide.
In the shadow of the cargoes I take you one time.
And we're counting all the numbers down to the waterline.
Near misses on the dogleap stairways.
French kisses in the darkened doorways.
A foghorn blowing out wild and cold.
A policeman shines a light upon my shoulder.
Up comes a coaster fast and silent in the night.
Over my shoulder all you can see are the pilot lights.
No money in our jackets and our jeans are torn.
Your hands are cold but your lips are warm.
She can see him on the jetty where they used to go.
She can feel him in the places where the sailors go.
When she's walking by the river and the railway line.
She can still hear him whisper:
"Let's go down to the waterline."
18 January, 2009
"Bottle It Up (LIVE)" by Sara Bareilles
There'll be girls across the nation
That will eat this up babe
I know that it's your soul but could you bottle it up and
Get down to the heart of it,
No it's my heart you're shit out of your luck
Don't make me tell you again my love love love love.
Love love love love.
I am aiming to be somebody this somebody trusts
With her delicate soul
I don't claim to know much except soon as you start
To make room for the parts
That aren't you it gets harder to bloom in a garden of
Love love love love
Love Love love love
Only thing I ever could need, only one good thing
Worth trying to be and it's
Love
Love
Love
Love
I do it for Love
Love
Love
Love
We can understand the sentiment you're saying to us
Oh,
But sensible sells so could you kindly shut up
And get started
At keeping your part of the bargain aw please
Little darlin'
You're killing me sweetly with love love love love
Love love love love
Only thing I ever could need only one good thing
Worth trying to be
Love
Love
Love
Love
I do it for Love
Love
Love
Love
Started as a flicker meant to be a flame
Skin has gotten thicker but it burns the same
Still a baby in a cradle got to take my first fall
Baby's getting next to nowhere with her back
Against the wall.
You meant to make me happy make me sad.
Want to make it better better so bad.
But save your resolutions for your never new year
There is only one solution I can see here.
Love you're all I ever could need only one good thing
Worth trying to be and it's
Love
Love
Love
Love
I do it for love, love, love, love
Oh, only gonna get get what you give away,
So give love, love
Only gonna get get what you give away
Love.
17 January, 2009
Look Around You - Episode 1 (Maths)
According to WIRED magazine the complete series of Look Around You educational spoof videos will be available to view on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. You can also just watch them on YouTube now!
16 January, 2009
Bollywood Millionaire
I recently watched the movie Slumdog Millionaire, and beside being struck by its beautiful and story and filmed brilliance (kudos Danny Boyle), I found myself completely entranced by the soundtrack. The music is like a cocoon over a butterfly, it covered and consumed me at various points during the film, almost overwhelming, but always encompassing and encouraging the dream within.
A great portion of this soundtrack was created by the Tamil artist A.R. Rahman, who has crafted scores of scores for movies from Elizabeth - The Golden Age to Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. His sound combines the mechanical and "industrial" feeling of Nine Inch Nails with highly artistic and delicate styles of Classical Indian music. It is post-modern in a very ironic and beautiful way. "Riots" sounds like something pulled from Blue Man Group's Bollywood excursion, while "Ringa Ringa" is repetitive and fragile, but has a strong percussion section that supports the rest of the song. "Latika's Theme" could have come from a Zero 7 album, it hums and throbs with the heartbeat of the love story that is the soul of this movie. "O...Saya" is the song that best chronicles the feeling of intensity and the racing pace of the movie. It completely encapsulates the feeling of running from and towards something momentous.
There are three songs on the album that do not include A.R. Rahman. The first is the surprise hit of the year "Paper Planes," while the second is the remix of this song by DFA. In the movie, "Paper Planes" has a strong place, soundtracking the main characters' movements into the world of crime. The song has a certain amount of the innocence and resignation that makes it a perfect backing track for frightened youth corrupted by necessity. It is for this same reason that the sample of the song "Paper Planes" does not work at all in the song "Swagga Like Us" by Jay-Z, T.I., Kanye West, and Lil Wayne. These artists may have once been as caged by their circumstances as the boys in Slumdog Millionaire, but as adults they have little connection to the innocence of youth, and their song only comes off as a venue for showcasing their lack of humility. The DFA remix of "Paper Planes" is a funky version that adds some bass and a dynamic feel to a smooth song. The final smooth song is "Aaj Ki Raat" by Sonu Nagam, Mahalaxmi Iyer and Alisha Chinai. The song has a danceable club beat with strong vocal work, and various backing sounds that continue to promote that feeling of the old and the new, the mechanical and the organic.
Overall, the soundtrack is a strong casing for an amazing movie. Each song propels the plot forward and adds to audience enjoyment. On its own, the album is highly danceable; it also makes you think.
A great portion of this soundtrack was created by the Tamil artist A.R. Rahman, who has crafted scores of scores for movies from Elizabeth - The Golden Age to Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. His sound combines the mechanical and "industrial" feeling of Nine Inch Nails with highly artistic and delicate styles of Classical Indian music. It is post-modern in a very ironic and beautiful way. "Riots" sounds like something pulled from Blue Man Group's Bollywood excursion, while "Ringa Ringa" is repetitive and fragile, but has a strong percussion section that supports the rest of the song. "Latika's Theme" could have come from a Zero 7 album, it hums and throbs with the heartbeat of the love story that is the soul of this movie. "O...Saya" is the song that best chronicles the feeling of intensity and the racing pace of the movie. It completely encapsulates the feeling of running from and towards something momentous.
There are three songs on the album that do not include A.R. Rahman. The first is the surprise hit of the year "Paper Planes," while the second is the remix of this song by DFA. In the movie, "Paper Planes" has a strong place, soundtracking the main characters' movements into the world of crime. The song has a certain amount of the innocence and resignation that makes it a perfect backing track for frightened youth corrupted by necessity. It is for this same reason that the sample of the song "Paper Planes" does not work at all in the song "Swagga Like Us" by Jay-Z, T.I., Kanye West, and Lil Wayne. These artists may have once been as caged by their circumstances as the boys in Slumdog Millionaire, but as adults they have little connection to the innocence of youth, and their song only comes off as a venue for showcasing their lack of humility. The DFA remix of "Paper Planes" is a funky version that adds some bass and a dynamic feel to a smooth song. The final smooth song is "Aaj Ki Raat" by Sonu Nagam, Mahalaxmi Iyer and Alisha Chinai. The song has a danceable club beat with strong vocal work, and various backing sounds that continue to promote that feeling of the old and the new, the mechanical and the organic.
Overall, the soundtrack is a strong casing for an amazing movie. Each song propels the plot forward and adds to audience enjoyment. On its own, the album is highly danceable; it also makes you think.
15 January, 2009
14 January, 2009
"Walking With A Ghost" - Tegan and Sara
"No matter which way you go. No matter which way you stay. You're out of my mind (out of my mind)..."
13 January, 2009
"Doing It Right (Live at Bestival)" - The Go! Team
I think this video is amazing. I especially enjoy the random shot of the woman in the chicken suit pleading not to be eaten.
Here are the difficult to decipher lyrics:
Do it! Do it! All right!
Do it! Do it! All right!
Do it! Do it! All right!
Do it! Do it! All right!
You got a mouth, don’t you act like you
ain't heard a thing.
Who told you to play the victim, you ain't suffering.
I see that lazy-ass attitude, hey let it drop.
You got potential, come on take it to the tippity-top.
Come on and show that energy that you always give out.
Use it for something good,
Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.
Keep jumping, reaching higher, you can’t take a fall,
Give it all!
Give it all!
Give it all!
Give it all!
Do it! Do it! All right!
Do it! Do it! All right!
Got ideas to supply,
And a passport to try,
Everything we should but don’t.
Everything we could but won’t.
Got out backs to the pack,
And no plans to take back,
Anything we’ve ever owned.
Anything we’ve ever known.
And what happens next will be yours now,
'cause we’ve gotta figure out,
If we’re gonna show you how.
Do it! Do it! All right!
Do it! Do it! All right!
We have the right combination, we got everything.
And to strike faster than lightning, we raise what we bring.
We have the right combination,
It ain’t time to crawl.
Give it all!
Give it all!
Give it all!
Give it all!
Do it! Do it! All right!
Do it! Do it! All right!
Got ideas to supply,
And a passport to try,
Everything we should but don’t,
Everything we could but won’t.
Got out backs to the pack,
And no plans to take back,
Anything we’ve ever owned.
Anything we’ve ever known.
And what happens next will be yours now,
'cause we’ve gotta figure out,
If we’re gonna show you how.
Do it! Do it! All right!
Do it! Do it! All right!
Do it! Do it! All right!
Do it! Do it! All right!
Aztec Two-Step and Jack Kerouac
A kind of creamy 1970s blend of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and Creedence Clearwater Revival, Aztec Two-Step is playing at the Iron Horse on the 24th of January. I am not going to see this show, but I hope they play the song "The Persecution and Restoration of Dean Moriarty (On The Road)" which is a ballad to the man who makes Jack Kerouac's most famous book move.
Let me rephrase that, Dean Moriarty is the "white rabbit" of On the Road, while Sal Paradise is Kerouac himself and a post-WWII American Alice. The song is flat compared to the book itself, but it is an interesting history lesson for anyone who knows about Kerouac. Only free-jazz on par with Miles and Coltrane could ever hope to claim a handful of the spirit of On the Road, which has all the light and noise of a "flash in the pan", and the depth and layered quality of great poetry. The Aztec Two-Step ballad has the best intentions with no climax, no fabulous roman candles that pop and flash across the open night sky. If I had to attach songs to the characters in On the Road, I would have to say that Carlo Marx is John Coltrane's "Impressions", Dean Moriarty is Miles Davis' "Budo", and Sal Paradise is something at once old and new, possibly a careful mix of Duke Ellington's "Caravan" with a hint of "Django's Tiger", and a smooth finish with Coltrane's "India".
When it comes to songs that reference the book, I would always rather listen to The Hold Steady's recent Springsteen-esque "Stuck Between Stations," instead of singer-songwriter ballads. They don't have enough punch. "Stuck Between Stations" is a song that succeeds in calling up the connections between Sal Paradise and John Berryman, and every young man or woman looking for America. This is a magnificent feat when you think of how often a single literary allusion works in a song, not to mention two!
Let me rephrase that, Dean Moriarty is the "white rabbit" of On the Road, while Sal Paradise is Kerouac himself and a post-WWII American Alice. The song is flat compared to the book itself, but it is an interesting history lesson for anyone who knows about Kerouac. Only free-jazz on par with Miles and Coltrane could ever hope to claim a handful of the spirit of On the Road, which has all the light and noise of a "flash in the pan", and the depth and layered quality of great poetry. The Aztec Two-Step ballad has the best intentions with no climax, no fabulous roman candles that pop and flash across the open night sky. If I had to attach songs to the characters in On the Road, I would have to say that Carlo Marx is John Coltrane's "Impressions", Dean Moriarty is Miles Davis' "Budo", and Sal Paradise is something at once old and new, possibly a careful mix of Duke Ellington's "Caravan" with a hint of "Django's Tiger", and a smooth finish with Coltrane's "India".
When it comes to songs that reference the book, I would always rather listen to The Hold Steady's recent Springsteen-esque "Stuck Between Stations," instead of singer-songwriter ballads. They don't have enough punch. "Stuck Between Stations" is a song that succeeds in calling up the connections between Sal Paradise and John Berryman, and every young man or woman looking for America. This is a magnificent feat when you think of how often a single literary allusion works in a song, not to mention two!
"Where Do We Go" - Sandrine
I read somewhere that this was the best day-dreaming music of the last few years, and I would certainly equate this song with the dreaminess of "New Soul" by Yael Naim (the song that tops my day-dream playlist). You can hear it in the movie Last Chance Harvey which I really want to see! Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, where can you go wrong?
08 January, 2009
Electric Owl Land
Hailing from Asheville, North Carolina - a vegetarian-friendly mecca in the midst of, well, North Carolina - Andy Herod is Electric Owls, a band that has yet to release more than five songs, but had me hooked from the first chord. Continuing the tradition of Bright Eyes before him, Andy is a one-man band with occasional backup from various musically talented friends. His extended play, Magic Show, was released by Vagrant records in early November of last year.
The cover art itself is enough to make you wish those hard copies were available in stores near you. The music beneath that art is tantalizing and stronger than most EP music. "Magic Show" sounds to me like some wonderful combination of ELO and Wolfmother. There is a definite psychedelic underpinning for a sound that swirls into a windy guitar riff and drums like hoof-beats. It makes me feel like I should be on a wild snowy mountain, in the midst of a storm (this is good). "Darken Me" has an extremely different feeling. In fact, as I listen to "Darken Me" I cannot help but think of Sufjan Stevens' Christmas carols. The lyric "I have tried to be your friend, but self-respect has worn so thin" is strong and soft in the song. It is a funny kind of sad song that doesn't bring you down until you really start to think about the words. "Cannibal Superstar" is similarly melancholy with a wild streak. Whereas most melancholy music is somewhat heavy and dense, this song is all about the wind and string instruments, and all about this feeling of levity that comes with certain kinds of sadness. "Throw the Switch" is the final song on the album, and it has an energy reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen, and a musical intensity similar again to ELO. It is very difficult to believe that these songs were created by one man with the help of a few friends, because the sound often feels cavernous and practically orchestral. I cannot wait for the full-length album, and I believe, if you listen along, you'll feel the same way.
07 January, 2009
Why I Can't Get Enough of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours"
I am an extremely contrary person, and upon finding myself in a community that prides itself on music-snobbery, I decided to go in the other direction completely. In about four months time, I could be found listening primarily to pop music from my youth (Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, Something Corporate, Blink-182) and almost completely shunning the Grateful Dead and the Beatles (although the latter group is very difficult to shake). I had just had enough lyrical dissection sessions, and what I really wanted was a dance party. (What you need to know however, is that if I were to suddenly find myself in a world populated by people who only had dance parties to popular music, I would be the person locked in my room dissecting Beatles and Grateful Dead songs. It is just my nature.) Disney music and showtunes also took priority over campus-popular groups like MGMT and Au (this is not to say that I dislike any of this music. I just got sick and tired of the hype.)
During December, and now in the first days of the New Year, I have forged a passionate connection to Rihanna, T.I., certain songs by Beyonce (not "Single Ladies"), and the irrepressible Jason Mraz. Also, for some inexplicable reason, I have been listening to the BBC News. It is an odd combination, I must admit. The first three artists were not particularly attractive to me until recently, but I keep coming back to Mr. A-Z, and I feel like this deserves a coherent and logical explanation.
On We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., Mraz finds a new side to his own brand of musical magic. Whereas Waiting for My Rocket to Come was somewhat angsty but always hopeful, and tongue-in-cheek, and Mr. A-Z followed this pattern with enough experimentation (the bossa nova "Bella Luna" and the R&B inspired "Geek in the Pink" come to mind) to spice things up a little, this new album opens up a brand new world of pop goodness. The experimentation feels less forced, and the songs are smoother. I listened to "Make It Mine," "Butterfly," "Coyotes," and "The Dynamo of Volition," and they all reminded me of Jamiroquai songs like "Canned Heat" and "Blow Your Mind." It is a strong transition for Mraz, who was a strong songwriter from the get-go. The other songs on the album, including the first single "I'm Yours" are pretty stripped-down, laid-back, singer-songwriter R&B songs. "If It Kills Me" is the only song that really breaks from the two themes of the record, and it sounds like it belongs on Broadway in a love story. The album is well-worth a listen.
This post was meant to discuss the merits of "I'm Yours," because it is this song that has become my reason for listening to popular radio. The musical elements are intelligently mellow and equally upbeat. Everything rests on a light Reggae sound, a sound that is all about positivity and soul. The lyrics are positive, in fact they rest on this deep belief that you can find true love with fewer complications, and express this love without reservations (something that I personally wonder about, and that I am constantly working towards). It is a bittersweet feeling to hear these lyrics, and even the way that Jason Mraz sings them is bittersweet, a taste that adds depth to this song and brings it to a level far above the David Archuleta drivel that finds itself on the charts. I would go so far as to say that Jason Mraz is a more ironic and sarcastic incarnation of the talented John Mayer. They write music that is very different, but the sentiment is often similar and similarly catchy.
I'm Yours (Live) by Jason Mraz
Well you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks, now I'm trying to get back
Before the cool done run out, I'll be giving it my bestest
And nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some
But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours
Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
Listen to the music of the moment people, dance and sing
We're just one big family
And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved loved
So I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm sure
There's no need to complicate, our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours
D-d-do do you, but do you, d-d-do
But do you want to come on
Scooch on over closer dear
And I will nibble your ear
I've been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror
And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer
But my breath fogged up the glass
And so I drew a new face and I laughed
I guess what I be saying is there ain't no better reason
To rid yourself of vanities and just go with the seasons
It's what we aim to do, our name is our virtue
But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours
Come on and open up your mind and see like me
(I won't hesitate)
Open up your plans and damn you're free
(No more, no more)
Look into your heart and you'll find that the sky is yours
(It cannot wait, I'm sure)
So please don't, there's no need
(There's no need to complicate)
There's no need to complicate
(Our time is short)
'Cause our time is short
(This is our fate)
This is, this is, this is our fate
I'm yours
Oh, I'm yours
Oh, I'm yours
Oh, whoa, baby you believe I'm yours
You best believe, best believe I'm yours
During December, and now in the first days of the New Year, I have forged a passionate connection to Rihanna, T.I., certain songs by Beyonce (not "Single Ladies"), and the irrepressible Jason Mraz. Also, for some inexplicable reason, I have been listening to the BBC News. It is an odd combination, I must admit. The first three artists were not particularly attractive to me until recently, but I keep coming back to Mr. A-Z, and I feel like this deserves a coherent and logical explanation.
On We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., Mraz finds a new side to his own brand of musical magic. Whereas Waiting for My Rocket to Come was somewhat angsty but always hopeful, and tongue-in-cheek, and Mr. A-Z followed this pattern with enough experimentation (the bossa nova "Bella Luna" and the R&B inspired "Geek in the Pink" come to mind) to spice things up a little, this new album opens up a brand new world of pop goodness. The experimentation feels less forced, and the songs are smoother. I listened to "Make It Mine," "Butterfly," "Coyotes," and "The Dynamo of Volition," and they all reminded me of Jamiroquai songs like "Canned Heat" and "Blow Your Mind." It is a strong transition for Mraz, who was a strong songwriter from the get-go. The other songs on the album, including the first single "I'm Yours" are pretty stripped-down, laid-back, singer-songwriter R&B songs. "If It Kills Me" is the only song that really breaks from the two themes of the record, and it sounds like it belongs on Broadway in a love story. The album is well-worth a listen.
This post was meant to discuss the merits of "I'm Yours," because it is this song that has become my reason for listening to popular radio. The musical elements are intelligently mellow and equally upbeat. Everything rests on a light Reggae sound, a sound that is all about positivity and soul. The lyrics are positive, in fact they rest on this deep belief that you can find true love with fewer complications, and express this love without reservations (something that I personally wonder about, and that I am constantly working towards). It is a bittersweet feeling to hear these lyrics, and even the way that Jason Mraz sings them is bittersweet, a taste that adds depth to this song and brings it to a level far above the David Archuleta drivel that finds itself on the charts. I would go so far as to say that Jason Mraz is a more ironic and sarcastic incarnation of the talented John Mayer. They write music that is very different, but the sentiment is often similar and similarly catchy.
I'm Yours (Live) by Jason Mraz
Well you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks, now I'm trying to get back
Before the cool done run out, I'll be giving it my bestest
And nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some
But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours
Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
Listen to the music of the moment people, dance and sing
We're just one big family
And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved loved
So I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm sure
There's no need to complicate, our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours
D-d-do do you, but do you, d-d-do
But do you want to come on
Scooch on over closer dear
And I will nibble your ear
I've been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror
And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer
But my breath fogged up the glass
And so I drew a new face and I laughed
I guess what I be saying is there ain't no better reason
To rid yourself of vanities and just go with the seasons
It's what we aim to do, our name is our virtue
But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours
Come on and open up your mind and see like me
(I won't hesitate)
Open up your plans and damn you're free
(No more, no more)
Look into your heart and you'll find that the sky is yours
(It cannot wait, I'm sure)
So please don't, there's no need
(There's no need to complicate)
There's no need to complicate
(Our time is short)
'Cause our time is short
(This is our fate)
This is, this is, this is our fate
I'm yours
Oh, I'm yours
Oh, I'm yours
Oh, whoa, baby you believe I'm yours
You best believe, best believe I'm yours
29 November, 2008
27 October, 2008
25 October, 2008
21 October, 2008
19 October, 2008
18 October, 2008
The Definition of Hardcore
I've been missing real soul-lifting, earth-shaking music as of late. Not because there is a lack of great music, but instead because I have been unable to stop and smell the proverbial roses for the last couple of months. I hate being busy, but at the same time, I love what I am doing (and I always want to do more).
Tonight I was reborn, refreshed, and reinvigorated by the sounds of Broadcast Live, a more-than-just-hip-hop/rock outfit from Albany, New York. The quartet form a quirky collaborative who - in the same concert - covered Dylan and Dead Prez. The music of Broadcast Live is charged with the musical activist electricity of Rage Against the Machine, and their instrumentation is tightly layered and interwoven. Songs draw on jazz, classic rock, folk, punk, hip-hop (old and new), hardcore, and jam while still remaining cohesive and natural.
Playing a mix of songs from their older album Underground, and their yet-to-be-released (sure to be amazing) album Boomerang Metropolis, the band touched on issues that cannot be ignored (gentrification, homophobia, racism, oppression, modern day US slavery, disenchantment, radicalism). At the same time the music flowed and gelled, providing the words steady passage without detracting from their weight. It is difficult to do justice in words alone to a band that uses their own poetry of words and music to convey their beliefs and spread their knowledge. All I can say is that if you are a fan of music, and a fan of justice and the beauty of free expression, listen to Broadcast Live.
Broadcast Live website
Broadcast Live MySpace
Tonight I was reborn, refreshed, and reinvigorated by the sounds of Broadcast Live, a more-than-just-hip-hop/rock outfit from Albany, New York. The quartet form a quirky collaborative who - in the same concert - covered Dylan and Dead Prez. The music of Broadcast Live is charged with the musical activist electricity of Rage Against the Machine, and their instrumentation is tightly layered and interwoven. Songs draw on jazz, classic rock, folk, punk, hip-hop (old and new), hardcore, and jam while still remaining cohesive and natural.
Playing a mix of songs from their older album Underground, and their yet-to-be-released (sure to be amazing) album Boomerang Metropolis, the band touched on issues that cannot be ignored (gentrification, homophobia, racism, oppression, modern day US slavery, disenchantment, radicalism). At the same time the music flowed and gelled, providing the words steady passage without detracting from their weight. It is difficult to do justice in words alone to a band that uses their own poetry of words and music to convey their beliefs and spread their knowledge. All I can say is that if you are a fan of music, and a fan of justice and the beauty of free expression, listen to Broadcast Live.
Broadcast Live website
Broadcast Live MySpace
14 October, 2008
13 October, 2008
Soundtrack to my Fall: Glasvegas
This fall has landed in my heart holding hands with a massive case of deja vu. I cannot disconnect the two. It isn't that I can remember past events more clearly than I can the rest of the year. Those snapshots of life are still blurry. What is different, and slightly disconcerting, is that I am feeling closer emotionally to the "self" of last year, than I am to my current "self". There are only shades of difference between the two selves, and yet I often feel as if I am being haunted by my own ghost. I suppose this feeling is appropriate given my proximity to Halloween, but it is still slightly confusing.
I found the most appropriate music to soundtrack this feeling: Glasvegas by Glasvegas.
This album is epic in a way that I have not heard since Muse's Black Holes and Revelations (Wow, I just felt a wave of strong deja vu. Black Holes and Revelations happened to play a big role in my life last fall). There is a certain glamor and sheen surrounding Glasvegas which is unusual to find in new artists. I am not certain that I can even do justice to the album with the words at my disposal. In fact, I am not sure that I can process this album with constant replays of emotions from last fall running through my head. Suffice it to say that "It's My Own Cheating Heart that Makes me Cry" and "Lonesome Swan" fill some of the deja vu ridden areas of my brain, allowing me to focus on both the present and the past. Without music, I would be a real mess.
Go watch "Daddy's Gone" on YouTube: "Daddy's Gone" - Glasvegas
Then listen to It's My Own Cheating Heart that Makes me Cry - Glasvegas
I found the most appropriate music to soundtrack this feeling: Glasvegas by Glasvegas.
This album is epic in a way that I have not heard since Muse's Black Holes and Revelations (Wow, I just felt a wave of strong deja vu. Black Holes and Revelations happened to play a big role in my life last fall). There is a certain glamor and sheen surrounding Glasvegas which is unusual to find in new artists. I am not certain that I can even do justice to the album with the words at my disposal. In fact, I am not sure that I can process this album with constant replays of emotions from last fall running through my head. Suffice it to say that "It's My Own Cheating Heart that Makes me Cry" and "Lonesome Swan" fill some of the deja vu ridden areas of my brain, allowing me to focus on both the present and the past. Without music, I would be a real mess.
Go watch "Daddy's Gone" on YouTube: "Daddy's Gone" - Glasvegas
Then listen to It's My Own Cheating Heart that Makes me Cry - Glasvegas
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