Author Archive

We Will Become A Happy Ending

Page France “Chariot” – I probably should have waited until after the leaves turned to put up this song, but hey, I’m low on postable material (truth is, most of the stuff I’m very excited about at the moment is megapopular – Kanye, Mike Jones, Paul Wall, Missy Elliott, that Fall Out Boy hit), and it’s close enough to the autumn either way. Kids are back in school now, and though I’m well out of school by now, I just moved to a new place and I’m getting the same sort of “it’s a brand new era” feeling that I used to get at the start of fall semesters. It’s a cautious sort of optimism, and this is a cautiously optimistic sort of song. (Click here to pre-order it from Fall Records.)

The String Quartet Tribute To Madonna “Ray Of Light” – As regular readers of this site surely know by now, I have an enduring fascination with string adaptations of pop songs, particularly those released on the Vitamin Records label. As a rule, whenever the session musicians and/or producers attempt to mimic a studio effect from the original recording, it normally results in something quite awful that distracts from the appeal of a string quartet arrangement and just seems lame and pointless. A good case in point would be the version of “Undone (The Sweater Song)” from Vitamin’s Weezer tribute – some pointless overdrive distortion is added as it hits the chorus, and the whole thing derails, not just because the effect sounds corny, but because every other “hit the fuzz pedal” moment on most every other string tribute they’ve made (including the Weezer one!) does not bother to be so pedantic and obvious.

This adaptation of Madonna’s “Ray Of Light” is the one exception that I’ve encountered to date. The approximation of the vaguely psychedelic electronic effects from the original end up sounding a thousand times stranger in this context, as the tones flutter, oscillate, clang, and warp in the red in a way that seems very fresh to my ears, especially as it contrasts with the straight playing on the main melodic motifs. I’d love to see some smart band run with some of the ideas presented in this arrangement. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Step Right On The Beat

Royksopp “49 Percent (Ewan Pearson Glass Half Full Remix)” – It’s interesting how this guy’s voice is so pretty that it’s actually sort of ugly. This is the Adult Contemporary voice, the kind of singing that generally registers for me as being smug and emotionally vacant in spite of its treacly surface sentimentality. I’ve heard so much of that music over the years that when the vocal style pops up in a genuinely moving song such as this one, there’s a sort of disconnect in my mind that I have to work at to reconcile, especially when that style is so perfectly matched to the melody and general tone of the piece. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon UK.)

Love Is All “Felt Tip” – Back in February, I posted a different, sparser and more melancholy version of this track. I have no idea what the deal with that recording is at the moment – demo? live radio session? – but this is the officially released single version. The composition loses some of its ambience, but gains a tighter, more dynamic structure that only serves to enhance the essential romance of the song. (Click here to buy it from Smashing Time.)

Never Expect To Be Sure Of Who You’re Working For

Metric “Police and the Private” – At her best, Emily Haines has an incredible gift for zeroing in on faults, and articulating her critique with pithy one-liners that set things in their place like the lyrical equivalent of a withering stare. But instead of going after easy targets like right wing hawks and boring emo boys as she did on the first Metric record, she’s now lamenting all the loneliness in the world, and it seems as though she’s taking it out mostly on herself. It takes some real talent (or maybe just a lot of empathy) to make angsty complaining sound more like a broad critique. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

Quintron & Miss Pussycat “Shoplifter” – Quintron and Miss Pussycat are among the more than one million people from New Orleans who have had their homes and worldly possessions destroyed by Katrina. I did not select this track for that reason – I didn’t discover this bit of information until after I picked the song and had to go looking for a store or an official site – but it’s certainly timely. The Tigerbeat6 site has some information on how you can help them out, which is great, and I hope that some people go ahead and do just that. If you have the means to help anyone directly effected by this catastrophe, you really ought to. I feel very guilty about having so little to give at the moment. (Click here for the official Quintron & Miss Pussycat site.)

Hermit Kingdom

Jackson and His Computer Band “Hard Tits” – I have no idea what Jackson was thinking of when he arrived at the title “Hard Tits” for this song, but it’s kinda perfect, as this track sounds almost like it could be the soundtrack to some cheesy Cinemax softcore sex scene. But, you know, good. It’s one part elegance, two parts decadence. It’s music for sexy villains. (Click here to buy it from Warp.)

Excerpt from Radio Pyongyang “New Model Army” – Christiaan Virant’s Radio Pyongyang compilation/collage for the Sublime Frequencies label is a fascinating, impressionistic peak into the pop culture of Kim Jong-il’s North Korea, shifting from corny North Korean pop with apparently jingoistic lyrics to recordings from People’s Army television dramas, Mass Games demonstrations, fragments from numbers stations, and clips of news broadcasts in Korean and English. (Click here to buy it from Ear-Rational.)

A Crazy Energy Burning

Spektrum “May Day” – This is the sort of song that gives me trouble, at least in terms of writing for this site. It blows me away so much that I can’t concentrate enough to string together any sort of blurb, even something sort of half-assed. When I’m hearing something this exciting, my thoughts are just a long string of exclamation points. It’s so good that it just short-circuits my critical faculties altogether. This is the reason why when I go back through old entries, many of my favorite songs that I’ve ever posted here have relatively terrible write-ups. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

The Research “I Love You, But…” – There’s got to be thousands of songs that say more or less the same thing, but The Research cut straight to the point without dressing it up in bad poetry: “I love you, but I’m scared of fucking up.” Still, that doesn’t make it any easier on an emotional level – if anything, being so incredibly earnest and straightforward only sharpens the sting. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

It’s Hard To Find A Pearl In The Heart Of A Girl

Junior Senior “Take My Time” – Much of the new Junior Senior record is exactly what you might expect from them, which isn’t a bad thing at all, but sorta feels that way when it’s contrasted with this track.. It’s not exactly worlds apart from what they normally do, but the over the top tweeness is dialed down considerably, they pass the mic to an unknown woman (I have no liner notes, sorry) and the result is something like Off The Wall-era Michael Jackson with vocals by Kate Pierson from the B52s. (Edit: It actually is Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson from the B52s!) Excellent stuff, and not nearly as selfconciously joycore as the rest of the songs from the album. (Click here to pre-order it from HMV Japan.)

Blood on the Wall “Mary Susan” – I worry sometimes that my response to faux-Kim Deal/Krist Novaselic basslines like the one in this song is strictly Pavlovian, and I’m just conditioned from my youth to immediately love most anything that sounds like it. I know this isn’t totally true, but it’s amazing how much this brand new song can make me feel like I’m back in 1994, drawing pictures in my bedroom and rewinding songs on tape over and over again. I knew that this song would eventually end up here from back when I saw Blood on the Wall play it live when they opened for the Fiery Furnaces back in the spring – it was just that potent and immediate for me. I guess there’s always been a void in my life waiting to be filled by a song that sounds almost exactly like Doolittle-era Pixies being performed by Mudhoney. (Click here to buy it from Smartpunk.)

Twenty Four Hours A Day I’ll Give You Love

Excerpt from Annie’s DJ Kicks – Bumblebee Unlimited “Lady Bug (I Wanna Be Your)” / Annie “Gimme Your Money” – There are no big surprises on Annie’s DJ Kicks, but that’s very good news actually. Aside from Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy,” there aren’t any obvious/ubiquitous selections, but I’m sure that most fans of Annimal will recognize quite a bit from this mix, especially if they’ve been reading this blog over the past few years – three songs have appeared here in the recent past, and several other artists have been featured here, but for different songs. (Bless her heart, she even included my favorite ESG song!) I’d never heard this Bumblebee Unlimited track before, but it’s a total disco gem, and it flows very naturally into a funky new Annie track exclusively recorded for this mix. Nicely done. (Click here for the K7 DJ Kicks site.)

Vanessihna & Alessandra “Gira” – This is Brazillian funk, and as such, it’s very physical and sexual, but at the same time, there’s this very childlike feeling in the melody, and the singer sounds as though she’s no older than fourteen years old. It’s vaguely creepy, but it serves to lighten the tone from outright lechery to something closer to flirtatious frivolity. (Click here to buy it from Essay Recordings.)

2004 / 2003 / 2002

8:00 Green Day start the show off with “Blvd. Of Broken Dreams.” Billy Joe Armstrong looks sorta like a hot goth chick. Or Liza Minelli.

8:05 Diddy is clearly making a bid to be the black Hugh Hefner. We are told that we must follow his instructions by a sexy female computer voice.

8:07 Diddy emerges! Hopefully they will use the chamber below him to freeze someone in carbonite later in the show.

8:08 Fuck a monologue! Diddy’s gonna rap!

8:09 “There’s only one host tonight!” And it’s Jesus?

8:10 Now there’s some Cirque de Soleil thing going on. Chicks in white dangling from toilet paper! There’s a strange churchy vibe going on here.

8:11 Fuck a monologue! Diddy’s gonna dance!

8:12 Why is Nelly wearing a Batman t-shirt from the movie with Val Kilmer? Why is Lindsay Lohan wearing a glittery chain mail tunic?

8:13 What’s with the Donnie Darko water snakes being shot into the videos?

8:14 My girl Kelly Clarkson wins! Kanye gets a win for “Jesus Walks.” Kelly is posse-less and looks like an Oscar statuette.

8:16 Kanye West is bragging about paying for his own music video, seemingly oblivious to the fact that virtually every artist in the music industry does that!

8:17 Who is the more reassuring presence: Kurt Loder, or Butthead?

8:22 Time to start playing Count The Crucifixes. Kanye had two, Missy’s got one, and Ciara has a big skinny one, but it’s more like a plus sign.

8:24 Ludacris and Bobby Valentino perform “Pimpin’ All Over The World” with a wedding band.

8:27 And now it’s like Epcot Center if it was managed by Lil Jon.

8:28 Wait, it’s monologue time now? “The theme of tonight is anything can happen.”

8:29 Diddy proves this by giving a watch to some guy in the audience, presumably his bling manager.

8:32 Kirsten Dunst is looking cute in her little bathrobe thing.

8:34 Green Day win best rock video, though I would’ve given it to My Chemical Romance.

8:35 Awwwww, poor Good Charlotte guy. Nothing makes a man look more hangdog than little metal nubbins on the sides of his mouth.

8:39 Diddy’s got another crucifix.

8:40 DANCE OFF!

8:42 Okay, no Dance Off, just a lot of dancing.

8:43 “Secret peformer” MC Hammer is performing a new version of “U Can’t Touch This”! And it’s not bad! And it’s over as soon as it begins.

8:44 Ashlee and Jessica Simpson are here, but even with Ashlee’s new blonde hair, they still don’t really look much alike. Jessica is wearing a hideous, super trashy outfit, but that’s not much of a shocker.

8:46 Alicia Keys wins and does her best to seem even remotely charismatic.

8:47 Jessica Alba and Dwayne Wade (eschewing a crucifix for a dog tag) are here to bring out Shaquille O’Neal for no apparent reason. It’s very hard to keep Alba and Shaq in the same frame.

8:50 Shakira is here to lip synch in Spanish and slink around. With the damaged hair and leathery skin, she’s looking a bit like Sheryl Crow. It seems as though she’s threatening to shake her pants right off.

9:00 Usher emerges from the fountain. He’s here to bring us some clowning and krumping.

9:03 Missy and Ciara win for best dance video, but must first traverse the garden sprinkler system. They’ve got a Pope and Nun look going on together.

9:05 Eric Roberts???

9:07 R. Kelly is going to perform a one-man show version of “Trapped In The Closet.”

9:08 Wait, what? This is just clips from the video crudely edited together…

9:10 This is more like it. It’s still a shame that he’s lip synching, but it’s somehow way more funny this way. He’s acting out all the parts himself and making faces. This is sort of classic. Avant garde, even! It’s something that must be seen to be believed. “Kathy says Rufus says Kathy says Chuck says Rufus says Rufus says Kathy!”

9:12 Crucifix watch – R. Kelly strikes the Jesus Christ pose.

9:13 “Trapped In The Closet” spoiler alert: Chuck goes back to his wife. Very disappointing.

9:20 Diddy explains the evolution of his name. Zzzzzzzzzz.

9:22 The Killers perform “Mr. Brightside” by a pool in a Melrose Place-ish courtyard. They aren’t even allowed to perform inside of the building, keeping up with tonight’s tone of subtle segregation, as though the white male performers and presenters are only there as a compromise. Apparently white guys can only be on MTV now if they wear eyeliner.

9:27 Jeremy Piven and Lil Kim engage in light banter, possibly because Piven asked to be paired with someone, anyone who would make him seem tall.

9:29 Ludacris wins best video for his Austin Powers thing! Okay, sure. Good news for Mike Myers, I guess.

9:31 Butthead explains tonight’s water theme. I now realize that Napoleon Dynamite is really just a lame Butthead impression.

9:38 Diddy conducts an orchestra playing along to an a cappella video of Biggie doing “Juicy.” It doesn’t really work.

9:42 Common freestyles at the behest of Johnny Knoxville. Fall Out Boy win the MTV2 award. Amazingly, I never caught that their name is a Simpsons reference until it was pointed out to me tonight. I’m not sure how that happened.

9:52 It’s time for the reggaeton appetizer sampler platter. In this context, Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” is the mozarella sticks.

9:57 Missy Elliott wins best hip hop video.

9:59 Diddy dresses down for a moment in his New Negro t-shirt.

10:00 Coldplay perform “Fields of Gold” “Speed of Sound.” Int

eresting to note that MTV is going against their own conventions this year by forcing the bands to play their big recent hit, and not their new singles. I find this somewhat disappointing, because you know, we already have a Grammys.

10:10 Ricky Martin and Joss Stone. Dull.

10:12 Kelly Clarkson wins for best pop video, as she should. Kelly is back in rock gear, thankfully. She’s much cuter that way.

10:13 Kanye West and Jamie Foxx perform “Gold Digger.” Kanye’s red pocket square is a nice touch with the black and white suit – most everyone else is going for the dual colors, but this adds a bit of Jack White-ness to things.

10:24 Snoop Dogg brings out Dane Cook to do some stand-up, presumably because his comedy cd is a surprise hit and the producers wanted to seem as current as possible. I don’t like this fratboy turbodouche at all.

10:28 The Killers win for best new artist. Man, I can’t believe My Chemical Romance is being totally shut out tonight. They seem to be the only band nominated who actually made a really great video.

10:30 I am growing very weary of Diddy at this point in the show. Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg have won some kind of raffle.

10:32 Eva Longoria is dressed as a giant cameltoe. Viewers with HDTV are treated to a topographic map of Eva’s vulva.

10:33 Mariah Carey performs “Shake It Off” on a platform above a pool. She seems a little nervous about moving for fear of falling into the pool full of mermen.

10:36 Mariah switches to “We Belong Together” and stands around on a throne. She moves slowly and deliberately between poses, like a human Barbie doll.

10:46 Gorillaz win for breakthrough video.

10:47 50 Cent has a HUGE crucifix. He has baggy black leather trousers that look sort of like a very expensive Hefty bag.

10:59 Diddy insists that he loves rock and roll music and brings out My Chemical Romance for an unannounced performance. They’ve got a lovely goth girl twirling around onstage who I assume is meant to represent Helena.

11:02 Green Day win the viewer’s choice award, but this is not exciting at all because they kept showing the results all through the evening, and they were always winning by a large margin. How is that that Billy Joe looks ten years younger than he did in 1995?

11:12 I’m not very clear on the concept of having presenters introduce other presenters. That’s some warped matryoshka doll logic. Jamie Foxx brings out Destiny’s Child, who are here to announce the video of the year nominees.

11:15 Green Day win best video for “Blvd. of Broken Dreams.”

11:17 Diddy is back with a crucifix and a God Is The Greatest t-shirt.

11:18 Kelly Clarkson performs a truly wonderful version of “Since U Been Gone,” and the show ends on a high point. Well, really, the only high point. Unfortunately the Alligator, Walrus, and Tiger are not present.

11:20 Kelly is soaking wet! Is this meant to be a shout out to the hurricane?

11:23 And it’s over.

(Co-written by Todd from The Face Knife.)

Twice The Thrills With Half The Action

This is part of an unofficial series of posts dedicated to revisiting songs that were staples of my old mix tapes and cds circa 1996-2001.

Virgin-Whore Complex “Four Alarm Fire In Lovers’ Lane” – One of the best things about the sort of flat sing-songy vocal style that was so common in the indie rock of the 90s is that it had a way of modifying the emotional content of the songs; dialing down the drama in the lyrics to something more low key and everyday, or underplaying huge feelings to reflect the artist/character’s guarded, uptight nature. This song is a bit of both, with two singers singing about crushes and looking forward to dates, both clearly excited, but holding back because they don’t want to seem overeager or get disappointed. It’s all about the conflict of having these big expectations, and then fighting them for your own emotional survival. (Click here to attempt to buy it used from Amazon.)

Solex “Waking Up With Solex” – The title is pretty literal, as Elisabeth “Solex” Esselink describes a presumably anecdotal scene in a bathtub with her lover in the morning, as “the smells from the kitchen filled the room.” It nails a very particular form of low key sexiness, but it’s mainly just fun/funny. My favorite thing about the track now is how its form and content is so elliptical – the song and the scene in the lyrics have a beginning and an end, but feel very open-ended, as there are clearly many good things that came before and after this little vignette. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Too Many Fools Following Too Many Rules

Ludus “Breaking The Rules” – How is it that I had never heard (or heard of) this song before acquiring the new GRLZ compilation? (I suppose the easy answer is that I never bothered to listen to Morrissey’s Under The Influence record.) It’s not difficult to understand why Moz would take a liking to this track, what with its exhuberant embrace of homoeroticism in general and polyamory in particular. There’s so much joy and enthusiasm in this song, but also a surprising amount of sweetness, as it associates sexuality with excitement, fun, and generosity cut off from insecurity and selfishness. (Click here to buy it from Crippled Dick Hot Wax.)

Bertrand Burgalat “Colour Wheel” – Fans of the April March song that I posted recently should take note of this track by Burgalat, who co-wrote and produced that composition. March (aka Eleanor Blake) is given a co-writing credit on this track, but sadly does not contribute any vocals as far as I can tell. Burgalat’s voice is fine enough, but is a bit more an acquired taste. As with “Sugar,” there’s a lovely sweep to this track, as well as a great sense of implied color and movement. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

How Obvious Should A Girl Be?

Sugababes “Push The Button” – “Push The Button” finds the Sugababes wondering why the object of their (collective?) affection had seemed so oblivious to their interest before he opted to “get with” one or all of them, even in spite of the fact that one of the Sugababes had somehow sent him to “the new dimension” with her “sexy ass.” It’s actually not so hard to understand why he’d seem so distant and confused given the girls’ incomprehensible seduction techniques and questionable grammar. (Click here to pre-order it from HMV.)

Stereolab “I Was A Sunny Rainphase” – Oh my God, you guys – Stereolab woke up! After spending entirely too much time stuck in a samey rut in which even their most elaborate tracks seemed lacking in dynamics, it sounds like the band is getting back into form with a renewed emphasis on live percussion and arrangements that slither and slink rather than stammer and slunk. (Click here to pre-order it from Inertia.)

I Tried Hard To Make The World An Exotic Place

The Fiery Furnaces “Seven Silver Curses” – It seems somewhat inevitable that most people are going to dislike Rehearsing My Choir. For one thing, it is the long promised “grandmother album,” and Olga Sarantos’ voice is not exactly pop-friendly – as observed by Jody Beth Rosen, it’s a bit like Elaine Stritch crossed with a carnival barker. The music is full of abrupt shifts, enough so that the most sprawling songs on Blueberry Boat seem rather uncomplicated in comparison. But as with their previous work, patience and close attention yield enormous dividends, as repeat listening to the album has revealed a surprisingly linear and involving story cycle full of absurd humor, pathos, and adventure. In spite of some rather shallow similarities with the Decemberists, this record makes it very clear why they are in fact the total opposite of that band – rather than tacking stories on to fairly standard folk-pop songforms, the Furnaces always make a point of making the music itself part of the narrative, pushing the story along by establishing scenes, characters, and shifts in time. As a whole, Rehearsing My Choir is an elaborate suite that is certainly intended to be heard as a single unit, with recurring lyrical and instrumental themes and motifs. It’s highly ambitious and initially off-putting in its mutant vaudeville/art-rock/opera/disco/blues/folk nature, but once you become acclimated to its internal logic, it is very entertaining. (Click here to pre-order it from Insound.)

Childballads “The Onion Domes of Tallahassee” – It’s been years since any new material has surfaced featuring the vocals of one Stewart Lupton, the genius singer/lyricist of the late, great Jonathan Fire*Eater. As his former bandmates have gone on to modest success as The Walkmen, fans of the old band were left to wonder what ever became of Lupton, occasionally muttering something about a new project called Childballads. After years of waiting, at least one song has finally leaked, and thankfully the guy hasn’t lost it all in the time since Wolf Songs For Lambs. “The Onion Domes of Tallahassee” is a gentle shuffle falling halfway between Dylan and the Stones, but not so far removed from the best of JFE. Oh, and there’s a stray line sung by a woman that is unexpected and brilliant and compliments Stewart’s voice wonderfully. Hopefully she shows up on some of the other new tracks whenever they come out.

You’re Beautiful But Your Heart’s On Fire

Faunts “Memories Of Places We’ve Never Been” – This song is driving along the same star-lit road as The Smiths’ “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out,” but these love-sick passengers are lucky enough not to get hit head-on by that double-decker bus. In spite of the obvious similarities to that song, the track owes a greater debt to the melancholy hits of 70s soft rock and lite FM, from the graceful shift into the heartstring-tugging chorus to the gorgeous Fleetwood Mac-esque guitar tone on the verses. (Click here for the official Faunts site.)

Brakes “You’ll Always Have A Place To Stay” – It’s fairly common that I find myself having to choose between two songs from a record in order to determine what gets posted on this site, and more often than not, the decision is based on what I can come up with in terms of writing the review. This is definitely the case for Brakes – I chose “Heard About Your Band” over “You’ll Always Have A Place To Stay” because it was much easier to write about, and I was in a rush that day. As good as that song was, “You’ll Always Have A Place To Stay” is the song with greater staying power, the one that has left a lingering imprint on my psyche. I don’t think it was ever their intention, but Brakes manage to fuse the epic desperation and loneliness of Jandek to the construct of the alt-rock ballad, which is actually sort of brilliant since it allows for the emotional release that Jandek almost never provides in his own music. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I Bite My Lip And Let You Know

Rachel Stevens “I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)” – Oh, Rachel Stevens – never stop with the glammy schaffel-pop! It is your thing and only Goldfrapp can touch you on this score. And please, let’s not fill up the comments box with some variation on the Goldfrapp backlash that’s going around lately, okay? I’ve had quite enough of this weird cola war nonsense – they are both great for more or less the same reason, and if you exist outside of the reach of their respective marketing in the UK, it’s very clear. (Click here to pre-order it from HMV UK.)

Gorillaz “Dare (Soulwax Mix)” – I wasn’t very clear on why this song was selected as the follow up single to “Feel Good Inc.,” but I get it now – it’s all about the remixes. The DFA mix is okay, but definitely a dud in terms of what they are capable of, but this Soulwax mix tightens up the song, emphasizes it strengths, and tones down the Shaun Ryder guest vocals a bit. Nicely done, though I still think they are going to have to run with something else in the US if they’d like to stay on the airwaves. “Dirty Harry,” maybe? (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Crowded Room, It’s Been So Long

Aluminum Babe “Everything 2 Me (DJ Downfall Mix)” – John Downfall continues his hot streak with this French house pilfering remix of a track by a bi-curious bi-continental pop group that splits their time between Sweden and NYC, but seems to focus mainly on marketing their music in the UK. Though Aluminum Babe’s vocalist lacks the effortless sexiness of Downfall’s regular partner Gene Serene, she has her own sort of demure charm that works for the track, especially when the song eventually arrives to its chorus. (Click here for the Aluminum Babe site. If you would like to contact DJ Downfall please email djdownfall @ hotmail.com)

Excerpt from RVNG PRSNTS MX4: Crazy Rhythms – Wide Boy Awake “Slang Teacher” – Mike Simonetti and Dan Selzer resurrect several rare/OOP singles on their new Crazy Rhythms mix, but I’m most grateful for this cut by Wide Boy Awake, an Adam and the Ants offshoot whose tiny, album-less catalog has never been properly issued on cd to my knowledge. Its beats, melodies, and textures are distinctly 80s in the best possible way, but it thankfully lacks the overfamiliar feeling of much of the music from that era. It’s a little like finding a twenty dollar bill in a pair of pants you haven’t worn in several years while cleaning out your closet. (Click here to buy it from RVNG.)

The Onus Is On Me

Steve Spacek “Slave” – Video treatment, “choose your own adventure” grab bag edition.

Column A
Steve Spacek is in a pimped-out space suite. He is singing to a lovely young woman with lavender-colored skin and wearing a metallic silver daishiki OR Steve Spacek’s face is attached to the body of a very buff oiled-up naked guy in a an empty room, kinda like that one D’Angelo video, but Steve keeps looking down at his ‘body’ with enthusiastic approval OR Steve Spacek (wearing a pair of flashy high tech goggles a la Cyclops from the X-Men) is lounging about in a vague space that is a bit like the Holodeck on Star Trek mixed with the grotto at the Playboy Mansion.

Column B
There are frequent cuts to: R2-D2 serving top shelf drinks to party girls on a space yacht OR Maria from Metropolis in a pink bikini washing a small space cruiser OR some random manga robot girl repairing herself in a way that is at least theoretically sexy OR a stationary machine that looks not unlike an ATM pumps phallic rods from its sides, suggestively.

(Click here to buy it from Sound In Color.)

A Song Or Two, A Boy, A Girl, and A Rendezvous

As far as official mid-career biographies of indie bands go, Paul Whitelaw’s Belle & Sebastian: Just A Modern Rock Story is well above average as it presents a detailed history of the band and most of its members, and provides some insight into their character and group dynamic. It’s an excellent source for trivia, and does a good job of putting their catalog into some perspective*, but since it is approved by the band themselves, the book often seems to be leaving out significant chunks of sensitive information key to the book’s narrative. In particular, the writer often makes references to Isobel Campbell and Stuart Murdoch’s turbulant relationship, but never elaborates on the topic in any satisfactory way, instead electing to drop tantalizing hints that left me frustrated and wishing that they had never brought it up at all.

The story arc presented by Whitelaw is clear and logical, if not especially dramatic. The first third of the book is spent getting acquainted with the key members of the group, placing emphasis on primary songwriter Stuart Murdoch and founding member Stuart David, and giving the reader about as much historical information on supporting players Sarah Martin and Mick Cooke as is neccessary. The second act focuses on their debut and immediate success, and the third on overcoming the relative disappointments of their third and fourth albums, and how they eventually evolved into the confident, professional band that they are today. Though it is clear that the author is often making a deliberate attempt to debunk certain myths about the band (certainly in terms of common misconceptions of what they are like in their personal lives – he goes through great pains to make sure that the reader knows that Murdoch is – OHMYGOD – an athlete!), the notion that the band is very punk in spirit in spite of their gentle music is trumpeted at any given opportunity, even when the claim is somewhat specious.

In order to maintain the dramatic structure outlined above, it was necessary for Whitelaw to depart from his general tone of B&S boosterism in order to present The Boy With The Arab Strap and Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant as flawed and uneven albums. Though most everyone (including the band themselves) can agree on that premise, I strongly disagree about many of the songs he deemed to be unworthy, especially since his selections generally follow a sort of party line that seems very common in my strictly anecdotal experience with B&S fandom. I simply cannot understand how anyone could think of “The Rollercoaster Ride” from Arab Strap to be a dud, for example – that’s surely one of the top ten songs in their catalog! Similarly, I will never understand the contempt many people have for Stevie Jackson’s sweetly melancholy “Chickfactor” while his inferior “Seymour Stein” is generally held up as a gem.

Belle & Sebastian “Women’s Realm” – The most egregious example of Whitelaw’s questionable taste, however, is in his dispassionate dismissal of the glorious “Women’s Realm,” the song I have long considered to be the wildly uneven Fold Your Hands‘ saving grace. I honestly can’t comprehend how anyone who likes the band could not love that song, especially since it seems to distill most everything great about their catalog into just under five minutes. Not only that, but it makes the best possible use of Isobel Campbell’s narrow vocal range, and plays up her undeniable chemistry with Murdoch by casting her as his foil for the final time on record. Ultimately, it’s that gorgeous round at the end that gets to me, as a handful of overdubbed Murdochs overlap as they sing some lines which rank among the most resonant words in their songbook, if just for me: Are you coming or are you not? / There is nothing that would sort you out / An interesting way of life / Deny yourself the benefits of being alive. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

*For some reason I never seemed to notice how quickly they were turning out product in the late 90s – between June 1996 and October 1997 they had released two albums and three EPs – possibly because I started with If You’re Feeling Sinister in late ’96 and acquired the rest out of order as they became available to me through the beginning of 1998.

Nature’s Radio Plays Music In Our Homes

Animal Collective “Grass” – After teasing their audience with occasional dabblings in quasi-pop songwriting for as long as they have existed, the Animal Collective have finally caved and made a (relatively) accessable art rock record with some songs that could fit comfortably on the radio alongside The Arcade Fire, Mercury Rev, Modest Mouse, Interpol, and The Flaming Lips. Now I don’t want to seem as though I’m accusing them of “selling out” or being crass – if anything, I applaud them for showing some sign of careerism and the common sense to continue to cultivate and expand their already inexplicably large audience. (The Sun City Girls surely never had it so good.) I suppose what I appreciate the most about this new record is that it seems so deliberate and disciplined, whereas much of the material released after Spirit They’re Gone Spirit They’ve Vanished often seemed like tossed-off improvisation that was only ever as good as chance would allow. (Click here to pre-order from No Karma.)

The Rosebuds “Blue Bird” – Video treatment: A man in his early to mid 30s is cleaning his apartment. He’s not freaking out, but he’s clearly a bit anxious – you can see him second guessing himself in some minor decisions along the way, and you can get the sense that he’s not particularly happy with his home. It’s a very modest apartment at best, and he has a bit too much stuff and not enough places to put things. He hides a few potentially embarrassing items from plain site, and foregrounds some other things (i.e. strategically chosen “intellectual” books and magazines). You see him leave and go to some stores – he buys some wine, some food. He gets home and begins to cook. You see him struggle a bit, but he’s not an incompetant. He goes back out into his living room and continues to clean out of nervousness. He tries to read, but he can’t concentrate. He checks his watch. As the song concludes, the doorbell rings and you see him buzz the guest up. In the final moments of the song, he answers the door and his date enters. She’s about the same age and is pretty but not model/actress/Suicide Girl-ish at all. She smiles, and as she enters the door closes behind her, and we fade to black as it shuts. (Click here to pre-order it from Merge Records.)

I’m Not A Piece Of Meat, Stimulate My Brain

Sara Jorge “Dirty Business” – I’m curious as to whether or not this song was written with Kylie in mind. It seems like it would have been a pretty good fit, and Jorge’s vocal similarity to Ms. Minogue only reinforces that notion. The track is elegant and sleek, so much so that it seems to be the entire point of its existence. It has this way of making me feel very poor when I listen to it, which is maybe a peculiar thing to get out of something that I definitely enjoy. (Click here for the official Sara Jorge site.)

Clea “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” – It’s not entirely clear on why this group of British televised singing-contest also-rans decided to resurrect Jermaine Stewart’s pro-abstinence (and cherry wine) anthem, but the kitsch-loving part of me cannot possibly complain, especially since the song has a special place in my heart after it was immortalized in this Failed Pilot phone prank by Andy Earles. It’s a great pop song, but it seems like such a random thing to cover, especially with this sort of earnestness. (Click here for the official Clea site and here to buy the Just Farr A Laugh cd from Failed Pilot.)

Isn’t It Good?

The Fiery Furnaces “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” – It’s a bit perverse to cover a Beatles song and take substantial liberties with the melody, of all things. I had been hoping that this recording (made for a compilation celebrating the 40th anniversary of Rubber Soul) would play it fairly straight and feature the vocals of Matt Friedberger, whose voice and persona seem perfectly suited to the melody and lyrics of this particular song. Instead, we get a peculiar psychedelic lounge arrangement that feels slippery and restless but strangely stagnant, eventually slowing down and reaching an abrubt conclusion. Eleanor Friedberger sings the song with an odd sort of bewildered breathlessness, almost as though she intended to make the character sound a bit naive, dim, and more than a little bit stoned. This is certainly not their best work, but it is definitely an intriguing experiment. (Click here for the official site of the This Bird Has Flown compilation.)