29.11.06

IT'S FUCKING COLD!

It's so cold here, the sky and clouds have turned icy blue. This is a view of San Francisco's Embarcadero, taken from the Bay Bridge.

It's not even winter yet, and it's really fucking cold here. It's in the mid 40s right now. I mean, come on...this is California. Palm trees, blue skies, movie stars...you know the cliches. I can't deal with this cold. Anyways, I've been listening to some random stuff lately. I've been trying to think of one coherent subject, but nothing is jumping out at the moment. Brain freeze, I guess.

The Ramones > California Sun

We're out here havin' fun, in the warm California sun. Riiiiiight. Love this track, tho, the Ramones have always been favorites of mine. Back in junior high, we used to watch Rock N' Roll High School at least twice a week. Man, those were the days. Gabba gabba hey, bitches!

Ted Leo > Dirty Old Town

Pogues cover, in case you didn't know. Although, I'm unsure if it's a traditional song or a Pogues original. I've been listening to Ted Leo quite a bit the past couple days. I love the way Mr. Leo pours himself into this one, it feels right. It's on his "Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead" album, which sorta reminds me of Billy Bragg's Peel Sessions album.

Capsule > Idol Fancy

I put this one on a mix for Mr. Wood for the bowlie mix cd exchange. This track is so fucking catchy, it's ridiculous. I could listen to this all day long and not tire of it. If you're looking for the album, it's called "Phony Phonic". This comes from Madcat (another bowlie peep), who was kind enough to send me nearly 5gb of brilliant jpop.

David Bowie > Rebel Rebel


When I was 8 or 9, my uncle John got me CHANGESONEBOWIE for Christmas. I have since concluded that this was a monumental point in my musical life. I had no idea who David Bowie was at the time, but uncle John was perhaps my favorite uncle and we spent a lot of time together. In any case, I played that album to death. Space Oddity was one of my favorite songs. I didn't get it at the time, but I thought it was cool because he was singing about spaceships and stuff. I also vaguely knew of 2001: A Space Odyssey and thought they were connected. C'mon, I was just a kid. Rebel Rebel was my absolute favorite, tho. I used to run around the house singing it. Who knew it was about cross-dressing? I sure didn't. I'm guessing my uncle didn't, either. Or he didn't care. Knowing him, I'll pick the former.

27.11.06

Off your face

Perhaps my favorite My Bloody Valentine track. I love the way Bilinda sings it, so sweet and melancholy. I remember having the strangest feeling the first time I'd heard it. I had bought Loveless and the Glider EP (which contains this track) after seeing the Only Shallow video on 120 Minutes way back in 91 or 92, when Loveless first hit. I think, musically, I lived off 120 Minutes back then, it was one of the few ways to hear new music out of the mainstream that I was interested in. Anyways, Only Shallow was the song that hooked me. The soothing, sexy vocals set against that glorious noise. The backup vocals, with the oohs and aahs. It was cool how the vocals weren't pushed to the front of the mix, the way they blended in with the rest of the instruments. Off Your Face is a perfect pop song to me, it sounds like the way it would feel to float on clouds in a clear, blue sky.

My Bloody Valentine > Off Your Face

26.11.06

The Fountain


The other night, I saw a movie called The Fountain. I'd been waiting for it since I had heard of it, roughly about a year ago. The director is Darren Aronofsky, whose previous work is Pi and Requiem For A Dream, which were a couple of the more interesting movies I've seen in past years. The Fountain is the story of a man who is trying to find a cure for his dying wife's disease. There are three parallel stories being told at the same time, concerning life, love, death, and spirituality. As I mentioned, I had been waiting for it for quite some time and generally, I'm a total sucker for stuff like this. Sadly, I felt disappointed when it was all said and done. The story felt convoluted and incomplete. It felt repetitive and perhaps a bit forced. This is me trying to be nice. In the end, I was disappointed with the film. Visually, it's gorgeous. The soundtrack, done by Clint Mansell, The Kronos Quartet, and Mogwai, is excellent as well, and worth your time. The movie, perhaps not so much, but you never know, this is just my view.

Stay With Me (from The Fountain OST)

23.11.06

Once, I wanted to be the greatest

One of the worst gigs I've ever seen was Cat Power at the Noise Pop fest a few years ago. It started off fine but quickly descended into crap. She complained about the reverb on her guitar. She complained about the tuning of the piano. She complained about the stage lighting. She soon had the lighting dude dim the lights til it was nearly complete darkness onstage. She slowly kept creeping towards the back of the stage until it reached the point where I couldn't see her. It was a shame, because I had really been looking forward to seeing her and this is my one Cat Power memory I've been left with.

Now I've read that she's gotten help and cleaned up her act. No more freaking out on stage, no more emotional outbursts...or at least she's cut it all to a minimum. I might try to catch her again so I can replace the shit experience with a good one, but we'll see. In any case, I'm still a fan of her, live performances notwithstanding. Check out these solo versions, they're pretty sweet. Apparently they were recorded for eMusic, although I couldn't vouch for it. And isn't she stunning in that pic? Goodness...

Listen:
The Greatest
Remember Me
Ramblin' Man
Good Woman

18.11.06

Zidane

I don't know much about the guy, I'm not much of a footy fan. I do know that there's a new documentary on him, "Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait", which follows him around during a Spanish league game on April 23, 2005, in which Real Madrid beat Villareal, 2-1. The music for the movie is done by Mogwai. I haven't seen the film, so I can't comment on it, except to say that I'd like to see it.

I've heard the Mogwai album and I have to say I really like it. It's not the usual quiet-loud-quiet-loud dynamic that goes on. It's more like quiet-quiet-and more quiet, quite the opposite of what one would expect to hear in a sports film. Sort of in the way that Explosions in the Sky lent some of their quieter tunes for "Friday Night Lights". The melodies haven't really stuck with me, like how a film score doesn't always linger and instead sets a mood, but they're very pretty and the album is lovely to hear.

Listen:
Mogwai > 7:25

15.11.06

The troubled words of a troubled mind

I'd forgotten about it, but the last couple times I've seen Gillian Welch, she's covered Radiohead's Black Star. It seems unlikely on the surface; Gillian Welch being a folk or alt-country artist and Radiohead being progressive or alternative (and labels being labels); but it fits. In any case, I stumbled upon this the other night while wandering the www, and it's been stuck in my head the past couple days.

Listen:
Gillian Welch > Black Star (live)

12.11.06

Awaiting an audience

I saw Asobi Seksu tonight at the Riottt (don't ask me about the spelling, I have no idea) fest. They were the one band on the bill that I was extremely excited to see. One drawback was that the venue was the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. It's a shitty place to see a show, really, but you take what you can get. Their set wasn't loud enough, the sound kept getting lost or just bouncing off the walls. They were victims of horrible acoustics. I got to talk to Yuki a bit afterwards and she said they didn't even get to soundcheck, which sucked. On the good side, they had a pretty sweet setlist, drawing mostly from Citrus, which is their newest album. They also did a kickass cover of Then He Kissed Me, which was kind of an unlikely, but cool choice of song. I asked her how they chose that song, and she said it was just a song she'd always loved as a kid. Fair enough.

Anyways, I realize there's still a month and a half left in this year, but I might as well say it now, Citrus is my favorite album of 2006. It's ridiculous how many times I've played it during the past six months and I still haven't tired of it. Do yourself a favor, go to their website and place your order. If you still need to be convinced, you can stream clips on their site, there are a few free mp3s you can download, and you can listen on their myspace page. Lastly, they were selling cd's of their 10/6 gig at the Echo (in LA, I believe) that has the aformentioned Crystals cover. Asobi Seksu are coming back to SF on 11/22, supporting Mates of State at the Great American Music Hall. See you there...

Listen:
Asobi Seksu > Then He Kissed Me

6.11.06

Fading reflection of what was...


I really don't know much about her, but Holly Golightly's "There Is An End" has been kicking my ass lately. It's another track that's on the Broken Flowers soundtrack, which she performs with a band called The Greenhornes. I don't know anything about The Greenhornes except that they do a sort of 60s British Invasion kinda sound. Apparently, I don't know much of anything. In any case, somebody please correct me if I'm wrong. The original version of "There Is An End" can be found on Holly's "Truly She Is None Other" album. At this point, I prefer the Broken Flowers version, probably just because that's the first one I'd heard. Previously, I'd only heard of her because of that White Stripes track she shows up on, "It's True That We Love One Another", and I can't stand that one. It makes me wanna smack all three of them and tell them to shut the fuck up. And of course, I'd also heard of her because of "Breakfast At Tiffany's", although that's a different Holly Golightly if you can believe that. Mmm, Audrey Hepburn.

Listen:
The Greenhornes and Holly Golightly > There Is An End

*EDIT*

Okay, I've done a little bit of reading and now it all seems to make sense. Check out this powerpoint presentation, complete with bullet points, I've prepared for you in order to simplify the complicated world of rock n' roll.
  • The song was originally written by one of the Greenhornes, Craig Fox.
  • It appears The Greenhornes are friends with Jack White, he produced a couple of tracks for them.
  • Holly Golightly shows up on the White Stripes album, "Elephant", and possibly is introduced to The Greenhornes.
  • She then records"There Is An End" with The Greenhornes, which appears on their album, "Dual Mono".
  • "Dual Mono" predates, by about a year, Holly's solo version which appears on her album, "Truly She Is None Other".
  • The Greenhornes' Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence are the rhythm section for The Raconteurs, who are fronted by Brendan Benson and, ta-da, Jack White.
  • The Greenhornes + Holly Golightly version of "There Is An End" is also the one that's on the Broken Flowers soundtrack, and here we are.
Keep in mind, this is a lot of speculation in the space of about 30 minutes and 4 beers, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

5.11.06

You're on time out.

Hmm, I was gonna post something tonight but yousendit seems to be down. This brings me to something I've been thinking about...does anyone have any recommendations for inexpensive online storage for music files? I haven't really looked into it, but perhaps I will this week.

4.11.06

I came around to tear your little world apart

I feel compelled to write this just as an aside to the Garbage vs. Curve thing. Remember when Vow first came out in the mid nineties? I think the single preceded the album by a month or so and it was oh so sexy. I mean, really, was there anyone hotter than Shirley Manson back then? Anyways, not gonna put too much else here, as I've been promised a Garbage post before the end of the year. So for now, relive the brilliant darkness...

Garbage > Vow

2.11.06

Death at one's elbows...


So yesterday I had this brush with death. Well, not exactly brush with death, I just said that because it sounds cool, but the chance for a pretty nasty injury was there. I had been photographing. I was finishing up and about to turn off the flood light when there was a buzzing noise and the bulb exploded. I had turned away in that half second when I heard the buzzing, and luckily so. The shards flew everywhere and were so hot that they had melted into the carpet. It was so weird, I've never seen anything like that happen. I imagine if I had been facing the bulb, the shards would have landed on my face and arms, the heat melting them into my skin. I'd guess my eyes would have been fairly safe, since I wear glasses. But yeah, me...dead.

Joe Jackson > Jack, You're Dead
Joy Division > Dead Souls
M83 > Gone
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds > Death Is Not The End

I'm impatient for the sun to go down

Somebody over at one of the BBs I haunt posted about Curve, whom I haven't listened to in a while. Curve were always pretty underrated, I felt. They were dance, industrial, electronic, goth, shoegaze, etc all rolled up into one. Toni Halliday had (and probably still has) the voice of a siren temptress, not to mention that she's completely gorgeous. Jennifer dissed me for my love of Curve (I forget exactly what she said, but she didn't like them), but this will have to be one of those times we simply disagree. These are some of my favorite Curve songs.

Listen:
Missing Link
Cherry
I Feel Love (Donna Summer cover)

1.11.06

Wishing life wouldn't be so dull...

Recently, I'd been tipped to The Konki Duet. I've been listening to their album, "Il Fait Tout Gris", obsessively. It could be the perfect soundtrack to a bizarre fairy tale or a journey down a forest path lined with gnarled, old trees. Aside from what I've read on their website, I don't know much about the three girls in the band (Zoe, Tam, and Kumi). They have an album, "Mountain Mouton", coming next week. You can buy it here. Also, you can, of course, listen to them on their myspace page. They've got some downloadable goodies on their site, as well as the tracks I'm going to preview here. These are the third, fourth, and fifth tracks on the album. I really love the sequencing and the way they flow in and out of each other. That can be said of the whole album in general, but these tracks are particularly striking to me.

*Please note that these files are m4a, as I generally post mp3 (just in case it makes a difference)

Check em out:
Tu Vas Partir Sans Moi
Il Fait Tout Gris
Melody