Song: Trains Across the Sea
Artist: Silver Jews
Album: Starlite Walker
Also try: Will Oldham, Uncle Tupelo, Stephen Malkmus, M. Ward, Devendra Banhart
Commentary: David Berman is easier to swallow if you always thought voices like James Taylor's were plain and boring to the point of being unlistenable. Eminently quotable, yet singing with a sort of laissez-faire approach to tonality, Berman has a book of poetry if the voice grates on you. I guess it also takes a certain suspension of disbelief to accept the complete oeuvre with its perfect, American similes ("his sister was like the heat coming off the back of an old TV") and an admixture of bad puns ("come to Tennessee, 'cause you're the only ten I see") and earnest one-liners culled from bumper stickers and "men's room walls." The Silver Jews are part of the strong core of the Drag City catalog, listen up.
choice lyrical sample: "In 27 years
I've drunk fifty thousand beers & they just
wash against me like the sea into a pier"
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Monday, April 29, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
"headz in da cloudz" by the Danielson Famile
Song: headz in da cloudz
Artist: Danielson Famile
Album: A Prayer for Every Hour
Also try: Half-Handed Cloud, CocoRosie
Commentary: I read about Daniel Smith's 1995 thesis project-cum-concert-cum-family reunion almost a decade after the fact when I was like 14 and thought he was so cool. They dressed up like nurses, a giant tree, and later sailors. And then there's their deranged circus music with the yelping falsetto of Daniel Smith. Music this far left-of-the-dial, but with both evangelical lyrics about Jesus and indie rock cred is a pretty interesting phenomenon (matched only, perhaps, by Danielson's sometime collaborators, Soul Junk). Danielson's something special.
PS - The original performance of the song (not the music video) sounds like it was some *awesome* performance art (ask the Internet for deets).
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Artist: Danielson Famile
Album: A Prayer for Every Hour
Also try: Half-Handed Cloud, CocoRosie
Commentary: I read about Daniel Smith's 1995 thesis project-cum-concert-cum-family reunion almost a decade after the fact when I was like 14 and thought he was so cool. They dressed up like nurses, a giant tree, and later sailors. And then there's their deranged circus music with the yelping falsetto of Daniel Smith. Music this far left-of-the-dial, but with both evangelical lyrics about Jesus and indie rock cred is a pretty interesting phenomenon (matched only, perhaps, by Danielson's sometime collaborators, Soul Junk). Danielson's something special.
PS - The original performance of the song (not the music video) sounds like it was some *awesome* performance art (ask the Internet for deets).
Version:
Monday, April 22, 2013
"Wishes" by Beach House
Song: Wishes
Artist: Beach House
Album:
Also try: Youth Lagoon's The Year of Hibernation, Real Estate, Washed Out, Perfume Genius
Commentary: So this music video alone is worth the post. But Beach House is solid. I really enjoy listening to their albums, but when I'm done I look back at the listening experience and have trouble discerning strong and distinct songs. I recommend listening by song or single, rather than through the whole album for them.
But seriously, the music video for this.
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Artist: Beach House
Album:
Also try: Youth Lagoon's The Year of Hibernation, Real Estate, Washed Out, Perfume Genius
Commentary: So this music video alone is worth the post. But Beach House is solid. I really enjoy listening to their albums, but when I'm done I look back at the listening experience and have trouble discerning strong and distinct songs. I recommend listening by song or single, rather than through the whole album for them.
But seriously, the music video for this.
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"The Thing" by the Pixies
Song: The Thing
Artist: the Pixies
Album: The Complete "B" Sides
Also try: The Vaselines
Commentary: So I tend to post songs that get stuck in my head on this blog. Which is why this song makes it, but Surfer Rosa--which I listened to obsessively through most of high school (and now just regularly and alternating with Doolittle)--doesn't. "The Thing" comes off the remarkably solid Complete "B" Sides, but, I guess, it is the Pixies, so no surprise that they have awesome B-sides.
Choice lyrical cut: "I soon forgot myself and I forgot about the brake"
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Artist: the Pixies
Album: The Complete "B" Sides
Also try: The Vaselines
Commentary: So I tend to post songs that get stuck in my head on this blog. Which is why this song makes it, but Surfer Rosa--which I listened to obsessively through most of high school (and now just regularly and alternating with Doolittle)--doesn't. "The Thing" comes off the remarkably solid Complete "B" Sides, but, I guess, it is the Pixies, so no surprise that they have awesome B-sides.
Choice lyrical cut: "I soon forgot myself and I forgot about the brake"
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Monday, April 8, 2013
"Great Ghosts" by Phil Elvrum
Song: Great Ghosts (live in Japan)
Artist: Phil Elvrum
Album: Live in Japan
Also try: Panda Bear, Bill Callahan, Mountain Goats, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Commentary: Maybe I'm susceptible to solo voice and acoustic guitar, but Phil Elvrum pulls me right in here. He always manages to evoke an individual's intensely personal struggle with immense forces, even if the meaning of every lyric is not transparent. Phil is a remarkable artist with an impressive oeuvre with the Microphones and Mt. Eerie. I figured it was okay to post him again, after 6 years.
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Artist: Phil Elvrum
Album: Live in Japan
Also try: Panda Bear, Bill Callahan, Mountain Goats, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Commentary: Maybe I'm susceptible to solo voice and acoustic guitar, but Phil Elvrum pulls me right in here. He always manages to evoke an individual's intensely personal struggle with immense forces, even if the meaning of every lyric is not transparent. Phil is a remarkable artist with an impressive oeuvre with the Microphones and Mt. Eerie. I figured it was okay to post him again, after 6 years.
Version:
Friday, April 5, 2013
"Harness Your Hopes" by Pavement
Song: Harness Your Hopes (BBC Session)
Artist: Pavement
Album: Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition
Also try: The Silver Jews when Stephen Malkmus still sang, Built to Spill, Das Racist for similarly fun wordplay and tunes
Commentary: I think this version is better than the version from either Terror Twilight or the Spit on A Stranger single. The great thing about the Pavement deluxe re-releases, in my mind, is the inclusion of awesome alternate versions of already awesome songs. It highlights the versatility and talent of Pavement in making original and innovative, but still catchy, pop music.
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Artist: Pavement
Album: Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition
Also try: The Silver Jews when Stephen Malkmus still sang, Built to Spill, Das Racist for similarly fun wordplay and tunes
Commentary: I think this version is better than the version from either Terror Twilight or the Spit on A Stranger single. The great thing about the Pavement deluxe re-releases, in my mind, is the inclusion of awesome alternate versions of already awesome songs. It highlights the versatility and talent of Pavement in making original and innovative, but still catchy, pop music.
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Tuesday, April 2, 2013
"And I in a Meadow" by Konstantin Massalitinov
Song: А я по лугу
Artist: К. И. Массалитинова
Commentary: If you loved "Kuk kuger", you're sure to love this entrancing Russian offering from one К. И. Массалитинова. I believe this to be Konstantin Iraklievich Massalitinov, Soviet composer, choral conductor, and collector of Russian folk songs, although my knowledge of Russian slash my ethnomusicological investigatory skills take me only that far. But you don't have to speak the language to appreciate the interplay between the solo vocalist and the ensemble in this song entitled "And I in a Meadow."
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Artist: К. И. Массалитинова
Commentary: If you loved "Kuk kuger", you're sure to love this entrancing Russian offering from one К. И. Массалитинова. I believe this to be Konstantin Iraklievich Massalitinov, Soviet composer, choral conductor, and collector of Russian folk songs, although my knowledge of Russian slash my ethnomusicological investigatory skills take me only that far. But you don't have to speak the language to appreciate the interplay between the solo vocalist and the ensemble in this song entitled "And I in a Meadow."
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