29.8.07

It's us.

My favorite Eluvium track is As I Drift Off, from When I Live By The Garden and the Sea. The intro has dialog, from a movie I presume, but I have no idea where it's from or what context it's in. Somebody is screaming "we're the ones who are acting suspicious and lighting fires, we're the lunatics, it's us, not them!" Then, and this is the moment that really gets me for some reason, he pauses and quietly says, "it's us", as if he's finished with his tirade and is turning away to leave. The music transports me away, maybe to an alien planet, floating on a cloud past mountains made of metal and glass; through canyons and valleys, screaming with static and electricity. It is cold and quite abrasive, but there's also an underlying warmth and calmness at the center of it all. Maybe the music is like a key to a portal, or maybe it's only in my mind. Maybe it's just past the hillside that's depicted on the cover of the EP, or maybe it's nothing at all.

I'm off to sunny Florida for a week or so, you kids be good.

Eluvium > As I Drift Off

Get Come Back

So I've been offline for a few days (read: I forgot to pay my internet bill) and I am back. I mean, I was never really gone, but you know what I mean...and stuff. Anyways, this dude in Chile peeped me to this band called the Fleeting Joys, and they're from fucking Sacramento, which is like an hour and a half drive from here. The internet is making the world smaller and smaller, I tell ya. So yeah, this guy is into MBV (like, who isn't?) and pointed me towards the Fleeting Joys. The album, Despondent Transponder, is verrrry Loveless, I think it's pretty darn good. I'm especially taken with this particular track, Get Come Back. Fucking hell, it's just so, so gorgeous. I love it. Listen to them over at myspaXXX and buy their album over at Only Forever Recordings, which is their own label, I believe. Also, they are playing Cafe du Nord in early October, I think i'm gonna hit that gig.

Fleeting Joys > Get Come Back

22.8.07

You gotta give to get

I love El Perro Del Mar. This song is ten kinds of wonderful, and the video is really great.

El Perro Del Mar > God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)

21.8.07

It's the color of your skin

I used to really like the Catherine Wheel's, Black Metallic, way back when. It came up briefly in conversation this past weekend, which made me want to listen to it again. I like the fuzzy, shoegazey noise and the density of the song. It just feels big and heavy to me. I came to them by way of an old housemate who loved them, and this was the song I liked best. Dunno what ever happened to them, they just seemed to disappear. I think Rob Dickinson may have released a solo album or two, but I can't say that I'm too fussed to look them up.

Catherine Wheel > Black Metallic

14.8.07

L'accord Parfait

This song is absolute bliss. Since I don't speak French, I have no idea what it's about so I will make up my own meaning. It's probably about lying on green green grass next to a cool cool river while underneath blue blue skies and a giant yellow sun on a warm summer day. Or maybe about zombies that go around eating the faces of the survivors of a deadly government-created plague. Uhh, riiiiight.

Autour de Lucie > L'accord Parfait

11.8.07

Baby, are you dyin' to fly?

Tanya Donelly has one of the sweetest voices I've heard. Restless is about a lover who is, well, restless. It's the little things she notices about him, still starin' at that wall like it's a window and you hold my hand like it's a razor, that build up to the point where she finally asks, baby, are you dyin' to fly? I always wondered what the answer was that she heard. The moment is sooooo heartachingly gorgeous, I love it. At the time I had first heard this song, I had been trying to talk myself into breaking up with the then current girlf, and Restless earned many repeat listens for me during that period of time. So the answer for me was, yes. Dyin' to fly, indeed.

The EP upon which this track appears, Sliding and Diving, is out of print now, from what I can tell. You'll have to look for a download or maybe hope the tracks get posted, in some form or another, on Tanya's site, but the 4-track disc is quite worth it (if just for Restless and Swoon) if you feel like hunting it down. There are also a couple (different) tracks for you to check out (from her excellent newest album, This Hungry Life) via myspaXXX.

Tanya Donelly > Restless

5.8.07

There was no reason to complain

This song sounds and feels so serene (it just played on random), it's kinda nice to hear it late at night. It's sounding especially good right now at 10pm on a Sunday night. The canned drums sound cool against her voice in the beginning, and the melody kind of soars. It's just...really pleasant, for lack of a better adjective. I also dig the little siren sounds that sound like they're about to get all distorted, but then they end just as quickly as they start up. I ended up buying this album, Scary World Theory, because of the articles that said Radiohead's Kid A was a ripoff of this band called Lali Puna. I think I'd like to check out more of them, as I have only this album. It didn't stun me or anything, but it's really quite good.

Lali Puna > Nin-Com-Pop

One summer evenin', drunk to hell

So, I'm about to buy a pair of tickets to see The Pogues, they're playing here in October. I remember the first time I had ever seen or heard of them. They were playing on Saturday Night Live, fuck, I don't even remember what year it was. I just couldn't wrap my head around them at the time, and I thought Shane MacGowan's voice was awful. Fast forward some years later, a friend gives me a copy of Rum Sodomy and The Lash, and I finally get it. I can feel the energy, what they're trying to do, and I love Shane MacGowan's voice. It all just fits so perfectly. I'm not an uber fan by any stretch, but I really enjoy them. I've never seen them live, so this is my chance. Even Shane is back with the band, after having been kicked out for whatever reasons they may have been. It should be fun.

The Pogues > A Pair of Brown Eyes

2.8.07

We got the feelin' now!

Cover tunes are weird. I mean, you either love them or hate them. In the case of, let's say, Michael Bolton doing Sittin' On The Dock of The Bay (just because it's an easy target), you're left scratching your head, wondering why, in the name of all that is good, was he allowed to do that song. Who actually said, "Yeah Mike, this is a great choice for a cover. You will completely own this song." And if he came up with it on his own, why didn't anybody try to talk him out of it? It just sounds so soulless and over-produced. It's music for people who don't like music. Okay, so that is one example of a bad cover.

A good cover might be The Clash (yeah, I'm still in Clash mode, sorry) doing the Bobby Fuller Four's I Fought The Law. It's a good choice because that song totally encapsulates what the Clash were all about and it's also a catchy pop tune. It was played so well and got enough airplay, that people often mistake it for a Clash original.

In any case, I came across this track recently and was a little bit hesitant to check it out. I don't know a lot about Al Green, but I do know he's an amazing singer. Add a classic Beatles tune to that equation and I wasn't sure what to expect, but....it's pretty awesome. I especially like the horns, and the beginning of the song where he says "We got the feelin' now!" Hell fucking yeah, we do. In my mind, this is every bit as good as the original, and I love the Beatles. Who's the man? Al Green is the man. You can find this track on his Green Is Blues album, if you like it.

Al Green > I Want To Hold Your Hand